a fearfull expectation of eternall death I doubt not but that some of you were pricked in heart with this sharp reproofe of sinne which ye heard in the handling of the former Verses and ye resolved forthwith to turne from your evill wayes and walke in the pathes of Gods commandments what remaines but that yee hold on your holy course to the end that ye may winne a garland of the flowers of Paradise Beware of turning out of the way to take up the golden apples which the Divell casteth before you if ye turne never so little aside ye endanger your crowne of glory and hazzard your lives All your former righteousnesse which ye have done shall not be mentioned and in the trespasse that yee have trespassed and in the sinne that ye have sinned in them yee shall dye What a soule and shamefull thing is it with the dogge to returne to your vomit of luxury and with the swine to your wallowing in the mire of sensuall pleasures As in the diseases of the body so also much more of the soule all relapses are dangerous and in some diseases altogether incurable the reason whereof alledged by some learned Physicians is this that when wee first take our bed the malignity of the disease worketh upon corrupt humours in the body which when they are purged and we restored to health if after by any distemper we fall into the same malady the malignity of the disease worketh upon our vitall spirits in like manner the malignity of sinne before our conversion worketh but upon our corrupt nature but after upon the graces of Gods Spirit Remember the possessed man in the Gospel who when the t Luke 11.26 uncleane spirit went out of him returned to his owne home and finding it swept and garnished took seven worse spirits than that which before haunted him and so his last state was worse than his first u John 8.11 Sinne no more saith our Saviour to the impotent man lest a worse thing befall thee * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Improbè Neptunum accusat qui bis naufragium fecit Eras Adag Lysimachus was wont to say that it was impardonable carelesnesse to stumble twice at the same stone The first time we offend we may plead ignorance and over-sight but hee that twice runneth upon the same rocke if hee bee cast away cannot blame his hard chance but his retchlesse folly x Tertul. de poenitent Comparationem videtur egisse qui utrumque cognoverit judicato pronunciasse eum meliorem cujus se rursus esse maluerit Tertullian acutely observeth that he who after his conversion to God and giving his name to Christ falls againe to serve Sathan in any vicious course of life seemeth to have put God and the Divell in the same ballance and having weighed both their services deliberately and upon a settled judgement to have preferred the service of the Divell and pronounced him the better Master of the two whom he the second time chuseth to serve after hee hath made tryall of both To be overtaken with some kind of temptation or other is the lot of all the sonnes of Adam but when God hath delivered us out of the snare of the Divell and we have escaped the danger and undertaken a new course of life and held it for some time then to turne backe to the wiles of sinne and walke of Sathan what is it else than to breake all our former promises and vowes made to God to resist the motions of the Spirit to strive against grace to cast his feare and commandements behind us and presuming upon his gentlenesse and patience to runne desperately upon the point of his glittering sword which hee hath whet and threatned to make it drunke with the bloud of all retchlesse and presumptuous sinners Notwithstanding all these great and fearfull dangers which we incurre by relapses how many turnings doe we make in our way to Heaven how often doe wee slacke our pace how often doe wee unbend our desires nay rather flye backe like a broken bow After wee have made an open confession of our sinnes and a solemne profession of amendment after wee have protested against our former courses and vowed to walke in newnesse of life and taken the holy Sacrament of our Lords blessed body and bloud upon it yet how soone doe we looke backe to Sodome with Lots wife how soone doe we forget that in private which we promised in publike how soone doe we leave the strait pathes of Gods commandements and follow the sent of our former sinfull pleasures After we have eaten the food of Angels we devoure Sathans morsels after we have drunke the bloud of our Redeemer we greedily swill in iniquity like water Wee find in Scripture many desperately sicke yet cured the first time by our Saviour but where doe we reade in all the Gospel of any blind mans eyes twice enlightened of any deafe eares twice opened of any tyed tongue twice loosened of any possessed with Divels twice dispossessed of any dead twice raised No doubt Christ could have done it but we reade not that ever he did it that we should be most carefull to avoid relapses into our former sins the recovery whereof is alwayes most difficult and in some case as the Apostle teacheth us impossible I tremble almost to rehearse his words y Heb. 6.4 5 6 7 8. It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them againe unto repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Sonne of God afresh and put him to an open shame For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft upon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which bringeth thornes and bryars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The z Plin. nat hist l. 9. c. 43. Scolopendra hamo devorato omnia interiora evomit donec hamum egerat deinde resorbet Scolopendra having devoured the bait when shee feeleth the hooke to pricke her casteth up all that is in her belly till shee have got up the hooke but as soone as ever that is out of her bowells she suppeth up all that which before she had cast from her How excellently hath nature in the property of this fish set before our eyes the condition and manner of a sinner who after he hath devoured Sathans morsells feeling the hook in his conscience and being pricked with some remorse rids the stomacke of his soule by confession and never leaveth fasting and praying and sighing and sobbing till the hooke be out and the wound of his conscience healed with the balme of Gilead but that being done resorbet interiora omnia he returneth to his former vomit and greedily
CLAVIS MYSTICA A KEY OPENING DIVERS DIFFICULT AND MYSTERIOUS TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE HANDLED IN SEVENTY SERMONS preached at solemn and most celebrious Assemblies upon speciall occasions in ENGLAND and FRANCE By DANIEL FEATLEY D.D. PROV 2.4 Seeke knowledge as silver and search after understanding as for hid treasures Chrysost in Gen. orat 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senec. Ep. 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti AVSPICANTE DEO LONDON Printed by R.Y. for Nicolas Bourne at the South entrance of the royall Exchange An. Dom. 1636. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIE CHARLES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER OF THE FAITH Most gracious and dread Soveraigne I Would not presume to present these crude conceptions and expressions to your Highnesse if I had not offered them before to an higher Majestie in whose Courts with how much the more feare and trembling I delivered them so much the greater hope I conceive of your Majesties gracious acceptance The Texts of Scriptures here expounded are all select and most of them mysticall in the declaration whereof if my observations second not your Majesties thoughts yet I perswade my selfe they will occasion more divine raptures in your royall heart The Crocodiles which besiege the bankes of Nilus and way-lay those that travell into Egypt a Caussinus parab hist l. 8. c. 31. Compertum est Crocodilum improbissimum animal si penna Ibidis defricetur adeò obtorpescere debilitari ut immobilis reddatur if they be rubbed or but pricked with the quill of the Ibis are so weakened and stupified thereby that they cannot stirre and in like manner experience teacheth that the presentest remedies against those venemous Serpents which infest the Church of Christ whether Heretickes or Schismatickes are the pens of Orthodoxe Writers For that which is spoken commeth but to a few that are within hearing and stayeth not by them but that which is written and much more that which is printed presenteth it selfe to the view of all and is alwaies ready at hand and as it receiveth so it maketh an impression Which consideration among others induced mee to give way to the desires of some friends for the bringing of these illustrations of darker places of Scripture to light especially because therein the proper Heresies of these times are encountred and the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England maintained by the Oracles of God and the joynt testimony of prime Antiquity In this Worke I owne nothing but the labour of many moneths nay rather yeeres in culling choice of flowers out of many hundreds of gardens and platting them into a garland for Christ his Spouse From which I humbly beseech Almighty God that your Majestie and all that touch any leafe thereof may smell a savour of life unto life The price and worth in all things maketh not the dedication but in some the dedication maketh the price Plin. praef nat hist Multa in pretio habentur quia sacris dicata And if there appeare in these unpolished lines any lustre it is no other than that they receive from the beames of your Majesties eye if your Majestie vouchsafe a glaunce thereof on them for which as we are all otherwise most bound I shall ever fixe my eyes and devotions on Heaven and uncessantly pray for the continuance and encrease of your Majesties temporall and assurance of eternall happinesse Your Majesties most loyally and humbly devoted Subject DANIEL FEATLEY ⧠THE TABLE The bruised Reed page 1. A Sermon preached before his Grace and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth TEXT Matthew 12. 20. ex Esa 42.3 A bruised reed shall he not breake and smoaking flaxe shall he not quench till he send forth judgement unto victory Or as we reade in Esay He shall bring forth judgement unto truth The smoaking Flaxe page 12. A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace the Lord Bishop of London and other his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 5. 1618. Matthew 12.20 And smoaking flaxe shall he not quench The still Voice page 28. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Novemb. 20. 1619. Matthew 12.19 He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streets The Lambe turned Lion page 41. A Sermon preached in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth December 6. 1619. before his Majesties high Commissioners there assembled Matthew 12.20 Till he send forth judgement unto victory The Traitours Guerdon page 53. A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracie before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. 1618. Psal 63. Vers 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lies shall be stopped The Lord Protectour of Princes page 69. A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon August 5. 1620. Psal 21.1 The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Or as we reade in the Bishops Bible The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation Pandora her boxe or Origo omnium malorum pa. 80. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe The Characters of heavenly wisedome page 93. A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall at Lambeth Psalme 2.10 Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth The Judges charge page 105. A Sermon preached at the Readers feast in Lincolnes Inne Psalme 2.10 Be instructed or learned ye Judges of the earth The Apostolick Bishop page 122. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Lord Bishop of Bristoll before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the great Seale and divers other Lords spirituall and temporall and other persons of eminent quality in Lambeth Chappell March 23. 1622. John 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive yee the holy Ghost The faithfull Shepherd page 131. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of three Bishops viz. of Oxford Bristoll and Chester in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth May 9. An. Dom. 1619. 1 Peter 5.2 3 4. 2. Feed the flocke of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a
have no opinion of his wisedome but to know that undoubtedly he knoweth nothing at least as he ought to know Justinian though a great Emperour could not avoid the censure of folly for calling his wife by the name of Sapientia because saith Saint Austin nomen illud augustius est quam ut homini conveniat because the name of wise and much more of wisedome in the abstract is too high a title for any on earth to beare What greater folly then can be imagined in any man or woman to assume wisedome to themselves whose greatest wisedome consisteth in the humble acknowledgement of their follies and manifold oversights Therefore Lactantius wittily comes over the seven wise masters as they are called whom antiquity no lesse observed than Sea-men doe the seven Starres about the North Pole When saith he n Lact. â— 4. divin institâ— 1. Sicaeterâ— omnes praeter ipsos stulti fuerâ—nt ne illi quidem sapientes quâ—aneâ—â— sapiens veâ—e stâ—ltorum judicio esse potest there were but seven wise men in all the world I would faine know in whose judgement they were held so in their owne or the judgement of others if in the judgement of others then of fooles by their owne supposition empaling all wisedome within the breasts of those seven if in their owne judgement they were esteemed the onely wise of that age then must they needs be fooles for no such foole as he who is wise in his owne conceit This consideration induced Socrates to pull downe his crest and renounce the name of a wise man and exchange Sophon into Philosophon the name of Sophister into Philosopher of wise into a lover of wisedome with which title all that succeeded him in his Schoole of wisedome contented themselves When the o Sphinx Philosoph c. 7. Gryphus Milesian Fishermen drew up in their net a massie piece of gold in the forme of a Table or planke there grew a great strife and contention in Law whose that draught should be whether the Fishermens who rented the fishing in that river or the Lords of the soyle and water In the end fearing on all hands lest this Altar of gold should melt away in law charges they deferre the judgement of this controversie to Apollo who by his Oracle answered that it neither appertained to the Fishermen nor to the Lord of the Mannor but ought to bee delivered as a present to the wisest man then living Whereupon this golden Table was first tendered to Thales the Milesian who sendeth it to Bias Bias to Solon Solon in the end to Apollo whom the heathen adored as the God of wisdome By this shoving of the Table from wise man to wise man and in the end fixing it in the Temple of Apollo they all in effect subscribed to the judgement of him who thus concludes his Epistle To p Rom 16.27 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King immortall invisible the onely wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever God onely wise bee glory for ever And questionlesse if wee speake of perfect and absolute wisedome it must bee adored in heaven not sought for on the earth Hee alone knoweth all things who made all things hee comprehendeth them in his science who containeth them in his essence Yet ought we to seeke for the wisedome here meant as for treasure and although wee may not hope in this life to be wise unto perfection yet may we and ought we to know the holy Scriptures which are able to make us q 2 Tim. 3.15 wise unto salvation In these we find a fourefold wisedome mentioned 1. Godly 1. Godly wisedome is piety 2. Worldly 2. Worldly wisedome is policy 3. Fleshly 3. Fleshly wisedome is sensuality 4. Divelish 4. Divelish wisedome is mischievous subtlety 1. Godly wisedome is here meant as the words following make it evident Serve the Lord with feare and reason makes it yet more evident For the Prophet needed not to exhort Princes to worldly wisdome the point of Policie is too well studied by them nor to fleshly wisdome for they mostly take but too much care to fulfill their lusts and maintain their Port and provide for their temporall peace and safetie As for divellish wisedome which makes men wise to doe r Jer. 4.22 evill so holy a Prophet as David was would not so much as have taken it in his lips unlesse peradventure to brand it with the note of perpetuall infamie The wisedome therefore which he here commendeth to Kings is a godly a holy and a heavenly wisedome A wisedome which beginneth in the feare of God and endeth in the salvation of man A wisedome that rebuketh the wisedome of the flesh and despiseth the wisedome of the world and confoundeth the wisedome of the Divell A wisedome that advertiseth us of a life after this life and a death after this death and sheweth us the meanes to attaine the one and avoid the other Morall or civill wisedome is as the eye of the soule but this wisedome the Spirit here preferreth to Kings is the eye of the spirit Ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus where the Philosopher ends there the spirituall Physician begins The highest step of humane wisedome is but the lowest and first of divine As Moses his face shined after he communed with God so all morall and intellectuall vertues after we have communion with Christ and he commeth neere to us by his spirit receive a new lustre from supernaturall grace Prudence or civill wisedome is in the soule as a precious diamond in a ring but spirituall wisedome is like Solis jubar the Sunnes rayes falling upon this Diamond wonderfully beautifying and illustrating it Of this heavenly light at this time by the eye-salve of the Spirit cleering our sight wee will display five beames 1. The first to beginne with our end and to provide for our eternall estate after this life in the first place For here we stay but a while and be our condition what it will be it may be altered there wee must abide by it without any hope of change Here wee slide over the Sea of glasse mentioned in the Å¿ Apoc. 15.2 And I saw as it were a sea of glasse Apocalyps but there we stand immoveable in our stations here we are like wandring starres erraticke in our motions there we are fixed for ever either as starres in heaven to shine in glorie or as brandirons in hell to glowe in flames Therefore undoubtedly the unum necessarium the one thing above all things to be thought upon is what shall become of us after we goe hence and be no more seene The heathen saw the light of this truth at a chincke as it were who being demanded why they built for themselves glorious sepulchres but low and base houses answered because in the one they sojourned but for a short space in the other they dwelt To this Solomon had an eye when hee termeth the grave mans t Eccles 12.5 Man goeth
holy place the Temple I come to the Holy of holies the owner of this holy place the Doctr. 6 Living God The Apostle so stileth God here in my Text to terrifie the Corinthians from provoking him either to jealousie by their Idolatry or to anger by their impure conversation with the Gentiles whose gods were dead and senselesse stockes not able to apprehend much lesse revenge any wrong offered unto them by their worshippers and therefore they might bee bold with them as the Philosopher was with Hercules putting him to his thirteenth labour in seething his dinner and Martial with Priapus in threatning to throw him in the fire if hee looked not well to his trees and * Eras apoph l. 5. Jovi Olympio detraxit magni ponderis amiculum dicens aestare grave hyeme frigidum Aesculapii auream barbam detraxit quod negaret decorum patrem Apollinem imberbem ipsum barbatum conspici Dyonisius with Aesculapius in cutting off his golden beard alledging for it that it was not fit the sonne should have a beard seeing the Father had none but let Christians take heed of the least provocation of the living God x Heb. 12.29 for hee is a consuming fire A childe may play at the hole of a dead cockatrice and a silly woman may strike a dead lion but who dares handle a live serpent or play with the paw of a ramping and roaring lion how much more fearfull by infinite degrees a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God who with the breath of his mouth is able to blow downe the whole frame of nature and destroy all creatures from the face of the earth There is spirit and life in this attribute living which comprehendeth in it all that wee can comprehend and all that wee cannot comprehend of the Deity For the life of God is his beeing and his beeing is his nature and his nature is all things When wee call upon the living God wee call upon the true God the everlasting God the Father of spirits the Author of life the Almighty All-sufficient All-working God and what is not comprised in all these The more excellent the nature is of any thing the more excellent is the life thereof as is the life of beasts than of trees of men than of beasts of Angels than of men What then may wee conceive of the life of God himselfe from whence hee hath his name in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and because it is his chiefest attribute hee most frequently sweareth by it in holy Scripture As I live saith the Lord. This attribute living is applyed to God in a threefold regard 1. To distinguish him from the false gods of the Gentiles which were dead and senselesse stockes bearing for the most part the image of a dead man deified after death 2. To represent unto us the sprightly and actuous nature of God which is alwayes in action and ever moving in it selfe 3. To direct us to the Fountaine of life from whom all life is derived into the creature by a threefold streame of 1 Nature 2 Grace 3 Glory 1 First the true God is stiled the living God in opposition to the heathen Idols which were without life sense or motion they had eyes and saw not eares and heard not hands and handled not whereas the true God hath no eyes yet seeth no eares yet heareth no hands yet worketh all things The heathen Idols were carried upon mens shoulders or camels backs as the Prophet y Esa 46.1.2.3 Esay excellently describeth the manner of their procession but contrariwise the true God beareth his children and supporteth them from the wombe even to their old age and gray haires Mothers and nurses carry children but for a short space God beareth his children all the dayes of their life The heathen gods as Saint z L. 1. de civit Dei Neque enim homines a simulachtis sed simulachra ab hominibus servabantur quomodo vero colebantur ut patriam custodirent cives quae suos non valuere custodire custodes Austine observeth in the siege of Troy saved not them that worshipped them but were saved by them from fire and spoyle whereupon hee inferreth What folly was it to worship such gods for the preservation of the city and countrey which were not able to keepe their owne keepers but the true God preserveth them that serve him and hideth them under the shadow of his wings 2 God is called the living God because hee is all life hee understandeth and willeth decreeth and executeth beginneth and endeth observeth and ordereth appointeth and effecteth all things hee whirleth about the heavens raiseth stormes and tempests thundering and lightning in the aire hee moveth upon the waters and shaketh the pillars of the earth hee turneth about the whole frame of nature and setteth all creatures on work in a word as Trismegistus excellently expresseth this truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He potentiateth all acts and actuateth all powers 3 Living because hee giveth life to all that enjoy it and preserveth also it in them to the period thereof set by himselfe All other living creatures as they have but one soule so they have but one life man to whom divers Philosophers assigne three soules hath a threefold kinde of life 1 Vegetative 2 Sensible 3 Reasonable But over and above every faithfull man hath an estate of three lives in Gods promises 1 The life of nature which implyeth the former three at our entrance into the world 2 The life of grace at our entrance into the Church 3 The life of glory at our entrance into Heaven Nature is the perfection of every creature grace the perfection of nature glory the perfection of grace The life of nature is given to us to seek the life of grace which bringeth us to the life of glory That God is the author of the life of nature nature her selfe teacheth a Act. 17.28 In him wee live c. as some of your Poets have sayd In ipso vivimus In him wee live move and have our being That hee is the author of the life of grace Saint John whose name signifieth grace testifieth b Joh. 1.2 In ipso vita erat In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkenesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Lastly that hee is the author of the life of glory Christ who is the way the truth and the life declareth sâ—ying c Joâ— 11.25 I am the resurrection and the life whosoever believeth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live There remaineth nothing to the illustration of this point but the removing of an objection which somewhat cloudeth the truth For thus a man may argue If God as the Prophet speaketh is the Well of life in which there are the three springs abovenamed one above the other then is life conveighed to all creatures according
must all appeare before his tribunall which is so certaine a thing to come to passe that Saint y Apoc. 20.12 13. John in a vision saw it as present And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the bookes were opened and they were judged according to the things wrote in those bookes Now for the terrour of that day I tremble almost to rehearse how it is described in holy Scriptures by S. z Apoc. 20.11 John I saw a great white throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and by Saint * 1 Pet. 4.17 Peter The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God and if it begin there what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel and if the righteous shall scarce bee saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appeare It is hard to say whether the antecedents are more direfull or the concomitants more dolefull or the consequents more dreadfull The antecedents are formidable The a Mat. 24.29 Sunne shall be darkened and the Moone shall be turned into bloud and the starres shall fall from the skies and the powers of heaven shall bee shâ—â—â—â— b Luk. 21.25 26. In the earth shall be distresse of Nations and perplexity and the sea and tâ—â— waters shall roare and mens hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that are comming on the earth The concomitants are lamentable Behold he c Apoc. 1.7 commeth in the clouds and all eyes shall see him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him And yet the consequeâ—â— are more fearfull than either the antecedants or concomitants For the bookes of all mens consciences shall be spread abroad and every man shall answer for all the d Eccles 12.14 workes that he hath done nay for every e Mat. 12.36 word he hath spoken nay for every thought purpose and intent of the heart For when the Lord commeth he will bring to light the f 1 Cor. 4.5 hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart Having set up a faire light I will now take away some blockes and râ—â—â— that lye in the way of my discourse The first is that God executeth judgement in this world and therefore Salvianus hath written a booke Deâ—â—â—â—â— senti Dei judicio of Gods providence over his Church and present judgement Doth hee not open his treasures to the righteous and poure downe the vialls of his wrath upon the wicked in this life Doth not Saint Paul affirme that those that beleeve are g Rom. 5.1 justified already And Saint John that those that beleeve not are condemned h John 3.18 already What place then remaines for a future tryall Secondly immediately upon our death our soule is carried either by good Angels into Abrahams bosome or by evill into the dungeon of hell what then need they come to the generall assizes who have received their doome at the quarter sessions Thirdly if all mens consciences shall bee ripped up and all their secret sinnes be discovered in the face of the Sunne at the day of judgement that day cannot be but dreadfull to the most righteous man on earth yet Christ saith to his Disciples i Luke 21.28 When these things come to passe lift you up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh and they in this regard long for his second comming and pray continually Come Lord k Apoc. 22.20 Jesu come quickly The first rubbe is thus removed though Gods judgements overtake some yet not all in this life For the afflictions of the godly and the prosperity of the wicked were a great eye-sore to l Psal 73.12 David and m Jerem. 5.28 Jeremy Moreover God hath rewards both temporall and eternall the former he dispenceth in this life the later in that which is to come Hee that beleeveth is justified already before God and in the sense of his owne conscience for he hath peace with God And in like manner hee that beleeveth not is condemned already in Gods decree and hee hath received also the sentence of condemnation within himselfe as a fellon is hanged in the law and may know what his sentence shall be before it bee executed or pronounced against him This hindreth not but that the publike sentence shall passe upon both at the last day for eternall salvation or damnation The second is thus removed Immediately upon death every soule knoweth what shee is to trust to but this it not knowne to the world Besides the body must bee rewarded or punished as well as the soule therefore partly to cleare the justice of God in the sight of men and Angels partly to render to the body and soule that have been partners in evill and good their entire recompence after the private session at our death God hath appointed a publike assizes at the day of judgement The third rubbe is thus taken away The day of judgement is both terrible and comfortable to the godly terrible in the beginning comfortable in the end terrible in the accusation by Sathan comfortable in the defence by Christ our Advocate terrible in the examination but comfortable in the sentence Yea but their sores are laid open and they are fowle their debts are exhibited and they are very many their rents in their conscience are shewed and they are great It is true their sores are laid open but annointed with Balsamum their debts are exhibited but with a faire acquittance signed with Christs bloud their rents in their conscience are seene but mended and filled up with jewels of grace It is farre otherwise with the wicked their sores appeare without any salve their debts appeare but no acquittance their rent in their conscience appeareth and remaineth as wide as ever it was being never made up or mended by repentance therefore they cry n Apoc. 6.16 to the mountaines fall on us and to the hills cover us from the presence of the Lord and from the wrath of the Lambe This point of doctrine is not more evident in the proofe than profitable in the use which is threefold 1. To comfort the innocent 2. To terrifie the secure 3. To instruct all First to comfort the innocent For many that have walked sincerely before God have been censured for hypocrites many innocents have been falsly condemned many just men have suffered for righteousnesse sake and many faithfull Christians have been adjudged to mercilesse flames for their most holy profession To all these the day of judgement will bee the brightest day that ever shone on them For then their innocency shall break out as the light and their righteous dealing as the noone day then they shall have the hand of their false accusers and judge their Judges then they shall see him for whom they have stood all their life time and strived even to bloud Every losse they have sustained for his
sinkes of impurity to purge out the filth that is in the skirts of Jerusalem to reforme all abuses and to prevent Gods judgements upon this Realme by punishing all the violaters of his lawes Remember that thou who here sittest upon the bench shalt one day be called to the barre to be tryed for eternall life or death before the Judge of all flesh from whose face the heavens and the earth fled and their place could no where bee found O thinke in time to make a better reckoning before thy summons to give in thy last account in the words of my Text Give an account c. viz. of thy authority and commission After the Ministers of the Gospel and the Magistrate 3. To the rich and covetous come the rich of this world to be admonished to looke to their accounts Thou whom thy Master hath trusted with much of his goods and coine to beautifie his Sanctuary to maintaine them that serve at his Altar and to stay and silence the lowd cryes and deep sighes of the hungry thirsty naked oppressed imprisoned and captivated members of thy Redeemer doest thou bury thy mony under the ground or locke it up in thy iron chest till it rust Doest thou like the Gryphine in the naturall story keep others from the precious metall whereof thy selfe makest no use at all Thou g Cypr. de cleemos Servas pecuniam quae te servata non servat c. savest the mony which being saved will not save thee and losest by keeping it the blessing of God the prayers of the poore nay thine owne soule by preferring thy Mammon and setting it in thine owne affection before thy Saviour How canst thou give an account of thy Stewardship who hast laid out nothing for thy Masters use who yet will certainly question thee as well pro lucro cessante as pro damno emergente as well for not imploying his mony for his advantage as for that thou hast imployed to losse In which regard Saint h James 5.1 James ringeth them a sad peale after the passing bell hath gone for them Goe to now you rich men weep and howle for the miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witnes against you and shall eate your flesh as it were fire 4. To the Prodigall Here let not the prodigall spender vainly flatter himselfe that his condition shall be easier at the day of judgement than that of the covetous because he suffereth not his mony to rust but rather causeth it to glissen in his plate glare in his jewells glitter in his apparrell shine in his gilt rooms cabbinets furnitures and hangings For all this lustre shall bee a cleare evidence against him of his wasting his Masters substance and if it shall goe hard with the hard and covetous man who layeth not out his Masters mony what may this exhauster expect if the Miser shall suffer as a i Cypr de elecmos Sacrilegium est rem pauperum non dare pauperibus sacrilegious person because he giveth not the poore their due what punishment is he like to endure who robbeth the Church racketh his tenants oppresseth the poore extorteth from or exacteth upon all to maintaine either his vain glorious pride or delicate pallate or idle sports or impure pleasures How many hunger and cold starved poore will have an action against this Steward for preferring his Hawkes and Hounds before them and riotously expending that in one luxurious feast which would have fed them for many yeeres and laying out that in one costly sute or rich jewell wherewith hundreds of them might have been clothed in the bitterest winter season and thereby their lives preserved how will they be ashamed and confounded at the great audit day to deliver in an account after this manner In vain sports thus much in satisfying my lust thus much to make ostentation of my greatnesse thus much to be revenged of my enemies thus much for maintenance of Gods worship not the tenth of my tenth nay not the hundreth part of my rapines for the reliefe of the poore a trifle in voluntary oblations nothing at all O thinke upon this in time that you may make better reckonings before you bee summoned to give in your last accounts in the words of my Text Give an account of thy Stewardship of thy wealth and worldly blessings 5. To all men in generall Are all dispensers of the Word and Sacraments are all in authority are all commanders have all the wealth of the world surely no yet all are accountants some for their trade and course of life others for their naturall parts and gifts and all for their time Few I perswade my selfe can give a good account of the first fewer of the second but fewest of all of the third It was spoken by a Heathen of the Heathen but I feare it may be truely said of many Christians in profession k Sen. ep 1. ad Lucil. Magna pars vitae labitur malè agentibus maxima nihil agentibus tota aliud agentibus that they spend a great part of their life in sinfull actions the greatest in idlenesse the whole in impertinent businesse The dearest losse of all is of time because if wee have imbezelled our estate by ill husbandry we may repaire it by thrift and industry if we have pawned our plate and houshold-stuffe jewells they may be redeemed againe if we have morgaged our lands the morgage may be satisfied and our lands restored but the time that we have idlely or lewdly or loosely spent can never bee recovered No man need Bellerophon like spurre a flying horse time posteth of it selfe yet many men not content to let time goe from them in her swiftest motions they drive her out and devise how they may set her packing and bee soonest rid of her like the l Aelian var. hist l. 1. Persian King who proposed a great reward to any that could invent any new pastime they highly value such companions with whom they may lavish out the flower and best of their time The account of these brave Gallants and noble Sparkes as they are termed is soone cast Halfe the night gamed and revelled and as much of the day slept out and the remainder indifferently shared between the Taverne and the Play and the worst of the three Neither can the other sexe give an account much better 6. To Women whose day after a ramisticall dichotomy being divided into forenoone and afternoone the former part is usually taken up in dressing trimming and I feare in that for which they have no colour in holy Scriptures nor the example of the best times painting the later in idle visits and seeking after the fashions They allow themselves little time for the contemplation of any thing save their face and dresses in their glasses nor trouble they their heads with any
worse may be is the case of Christs Spouse the true Inheritrix of his Crosse which he bequeathed her at his death having indeed little else to leave her for his soule he was to surrender to God his Father his body Joseph of Arimathea begged of Pilat his cloathes the souldiers parted among them onely his crosse and nailes and crowne of thornes remained to dispose of for his dearest Spouse which she continually beareth about with her and in this vision carried with her into the wildernesse whither she fled to save her life And the woman Fled This picture might have beene taken of the Church as she fled from Pharaoh into the wildernesse or as she fled into Egypt from Herod or as she fled into all parts of the earth in the time of the ten first persecutions from heathen Emperors or in the succeeding ages from the Arrian Emperours and last of all from Antichrist and his instruments in all which her trialls and troubles she gained more than she lost For as Justine Martyr rightly observed t Just apolog Id est persecutio Ecclesiae quod vineae putatio persecution is that to the Church which pruning is to the vine whereby it is made more fruitfull with whom Tertullian accordeth thus jearing at the Gentiles who made full account by their barbarous cruelty to exhaust the whole Church and extinguish the name of Christians u Tert. apolog c. ult Nequicquam tamen proficit exquisita quaeque crudelitas vestra illecebra est magis sectae plures esficimur quoties metimur a vobis semen est sanguis Christianorum What gaine you by your exquisite crueltie and studied torments which you inflict upon us they are no scarre-crowes to fright but rather baites and lures to draw men to our profession we ever grow faster and thicker after we are mowed by you the shedding the bloud of Christians is the sowing the seed of the Gospell And St. Leo x I eoserm 1. in nat Petri Pauli Non minuitur persecutionibus Ecclesia Dei sed augetur magis ager Dominicus segete ditiore vestitur dum grana quae singula cadunt multiplicata nascuntur The Church of God is not diminished by persecutions but increased rather the Lords field is cloathed with a richer crop whilest the seed or graines which fall one by one after they are dead in the earth rise up againe in great numbers Moreover whilest in the chief Cities those who are called by God to depose for his truth win many thousands to the Christian faith other servants of Christ to whom he hath vouchsafed meanes to escape by dispersing themselves into all parts of the world propagate the doctrine of the Gospell and plant new Churches Upon this flight of the woman in my text many of the learned Interpreters take occasion to handle that great case of conscience whether it be lawfull to fly in time of persecution or whether all zealous Christians are not bound to stand to their tackling and strive for the truth even to the effusion of their bloud y Aug. l. 22. de civ Dei c. 7. Pullulatura foecunditis cum in sanguine Martyâ—um seretur y Tert. infug in erscâ—ut Tertullian in his booke professedly written of this subject is altogether against flight grounding his judgement upon the words of our Saviour John 10.11 c. I am the good shepheard the good shepheard giveth his life for the sheepe But he that is an hireling and not the shepheard whose owne the sheep are not seeth the Wolfe comming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth the hireling flyeth because he is an hireling c. And Marke 8.35 38. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of mee and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commeth in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels But Saint Austin and others allow of flight in some case and they bring very good warrant for it Christs expresse command Matth. 10.23 When they persecute you in this city flee into another And Matth. 24.15 16. When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountaines And to the end we should count it no shame to flye in this case they bring noble presidents for it and shew us the footsteps in Scripture of Jacob when he fled from Esau and Moses when hee fled from Pharaoh and Eliah when hee fled from Ahab and Jezabel and David when hee fled from Saul and Joseph and Mary when they fled from Herod They adde also that by this flight of many in time of persecution the Church reapeth a double benefit first hereby many worthy Doctors and eminent Professours reserve themselves for better times next they in their flight scatter the seeds of the Gospel whereby the great Husbandman gathereth a plentifull crop If the Apostles had not been scattered by the persecution of Herod and the primitive Christians by the persecutions of the Heathen Emperours and the true Professours in later times by the persecution of Antichrist many countries in all likelihood had not been sowen with the pure seed of the Word The resolution of this question may be taken from my Text in such a case as the womans was here we may flie that is when there is no safety in staying and God offereth us Eagles wings that is a faire and certaine meanes to escape danger Yea but Christian courage will rise up against this and object Is not Martyrdome a garland of red Roses is not the bloud of Saints the best watering of Gods field can wee shew more love to Christ than to signe the Gospell with our bloud will you perswade Christian souldiers to flye from their colours nay from their crowne God forbid I answer all are not appointed by God to bee Martyrs nor qualified for so noble and eminent service To a Martyr two things are required 1. A speciall calling 2. An extraordinary spirit Even in our Courts of justice a witnes that offereth himself is not accepted he must be brought in by order of law neither will Christ have any depose for him that are not called to it whom he calleth he endueth them with an heroicke spirit and armeth them with faith and patience like armour of proofe into which the fiery darts of the wicked cannot enter Every sincere beleever hath not a spirit of fortitude given him to conquer the violence of fire and dull the edge of the sharpest swords and weary all tortures and torments Moreover God like a provident Husbandman though he send much corne to the Mill to be ground as Ignatius and others that they might be served in as fine manchet at his owne table yet he reserveth alwayes some corne for seed I meane
of the Martyrs sepulchres when she had no Churches but caves under ground no wealth but grace no exercises but sufferings no crowne but of martyrdome yet then she thrived best then she spread farthest then she kept her purity in doctrine and conversation then she convinced the Jewes then she converted the Gentiles then shee subdued Kingdomes whence I inferre three corollaries 1 That the Roman Church cannot be the true Church of Christ For the true Church of Christ as she is described in the holy Scriptures hath for long time lien hid beene often obscured and eclipsed by bloudy persecutions but the Roman or Papall Church hath never beene so her advocates plead for her that she hath beene alwayes not onely visible but conspicuous not onely knowne but notorious And among the many plausible arguments of perswasion and deceiveable shewes of reason wherewith they amuse and abuse the world none prevaileth so much with the common sort and unskilfull multitude as the outward pomp and glory of the Papall See For sith most men are led by sense and judge according to outward appearance the Church of Rome which maketh so goodly a shew and hath born so great sway in the world for many ages easily induceth them to beleeve that she is that City whereof the Prophet speaks x Psal 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God What more glorious and glittering to the eie than the Popes triple crowne and the Cardinals hats and their Archbishops Palls and their Bishops miters and crozures their shining images their beautifull pictures their rich hangings their gilt rood lofts their crosses and reliques covered in gold and beset with all sorts of pretious stones These with their brightnesse and resplendency dazle the eyes of the multitude and verily if the Queenes daughters glory were all without and the kingdome of Christ of this world and his Church triumphant upon earth all the knowne Churches in the Christian world must give place to the See of Rome which hath borne up her head when theirs have beene under water hath sate as Queene when they have kneeled as captives hath braved it in purple when they have mourned in sackcloth and ashes But beloved y Rom. 10 17. faith commeth not by sight but by hearing and we are not to search the Church in the map of the world but in the Scriptures of God where we find her a pilgrim in Genesis a bondwoman in Exodus a prisoner in Judges a captive in the book of Kings a widow in the Prophets and here in my text a woman labouring with child flying from a red Dragon into the wildernesse I grant that Christ promiseth her a kingdome but not of this world and peace but it is the peace of God and joy but it is in the Holy Ghost and great glory but it is within z Psal 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within c. 2 That none ought to despise the Churches beyond the seas under the Crosse but according to the command of the blessed Apostle a Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversitie as heing our selves also in the body Their turne of sorrow is now ours may be hereafter God hath begun to them in a cup of trembling it is to be feared it will not passe us but we and all the reformed Churches shall drink of it Our Church in Queene Maries dayes resembled this woman in my text theirs now doth both never a whit the lesse but rather the more the true Churches of Christ because they weare his red livery and beare his Crosse 3 That we ought not to looke for great things in this world but having food and raiment as the woman had here in my text to be therewith contented and as she withdrew her self from the eye of the world so ought we to retire our selves into our closets there to have private conference with God to examine our spirituall estate to make up the breaches in our conscience to poure out our soules in teares of compunction for our sins of compassion for the calamities of our brethren of an ardent desire and longing affection for the second comming of our Lord when he shall put an end as to all sinne and temptation so to all sorrow and feare Amen Even so come Lord Jesu To whom c. THE SAINTS VEST A Sermon preached on All-Saints day at Lincolnes-Inne for Doctor Preston THE XXIV SERMON APOC. 7.14 These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe question which the Elder moved to Saint John in the precedent verse to my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what are these mee thinks I heare some put to mee at this present saying What are these holy ones whose feast yee keep what meane these devotions what doe these festivities intend what speake these solemnities what Saints are they Virgins Confessours or Martyrs whose memory by the anniversary returne of this day you eternize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence came they or rather how came they to bee thus honoured and canonized in our Kalendar My direct answer hereunto is my Text These are they c. and the exemplification thereof shall be my Sermon The palmes they beare are ensignes of their victory the robes they weare are emblemes of their glory the bloud wherein they dyed their robes representeth the object of their faith the white and bright colour of them their joy and the length of them the continuance thereof Yea but these holy ones you may object at least the chiefe of them had their dayes apart the blessed Virgin hers apart and the Innocents apart the Apostles apart and the Evangelists apart how come they now to be repeated why committeth the Church a tautologie in her menologie what needeth this sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or congeries of feasts blending of devotions thrusting all Saints into one day and that a short one in the rubricke It is that men may see by that which we doe what we beleeve in that Article of our Creed the communion of Saints Wee joyne them all in one collect wee remember them all upon one day because they are all united into one body admitted into one society naturalized into one Kingdome made free Denisons of one City and partakers of one a Col. 1.12 inheritance of the Saints in light In a word we keep one feast for them all upon earth because they all keep one everlasting feast in heaven the marriage b Apoc. 19.9 supper of the Lambe The Romanes beside severall Temples dedicated to severall deities had their Pantheon or all-gods temple See wee not in the skie here single starres glistering by themselves there constellations or a concourse of many heavenly lampes joyning their lights do we not heare with exceeding delight in the singing of our Church
unto our spirits that wee are the sonnes of God Pretious metals are digged out of the bowels of the earth and pearles are found in the bottome of the sea and truely seldome shall we fall upon this treasure of spirituall joy and pearle of the Gospell but in the depth of godly sorrow and bottome and lowest point of our humiliation before God 1. The first taste wee have of the hidden Manna of the Spirit is in the beginning of our conversion and nonage of our spirituall life when after unutterable remorse sorrow and feare arising from the apprehension of the corruption and guilt of our naturall estate and a dreadfull expectation of wrath laid up for us against the day of wrath and everlasting weeping howling and gnashing of teeth with the damned in hell wee on the suddaine see a glympse of Gods countenance shining on us and by faith though yet weake hope for a perfect reconciliation to him 2. A second taste wee have when wee sensibly perceive the Spirit of grace working upon our heart thawing it as it were and melting it into godly sorrow and after enflaming it with an everlasting love of him who by his infinite torments and unconceivable sorrowes hath purchased unto us eternall joyes 3. A third taste wee have of it when after a long fight with our naturall corruptions wee meet with the Divels Lievtenant the sinne that reigneth in us which the Scripture calleth the plague of the heart that vice to which either the temper of our body or our age or condition of life enclineth us unto our bosome abomination to which for a long time wee have enthralled our selves and having perfectly discovered it by employing the whole armour of God against it in the end wee get the victory of it 4. A fourth taste wee have after some heavie crosse or long sicknesse when God delivereth us above hope and sanctifieth our affliction unto us and by his Spirit calleth to our remembrance all his goodnesse to us from our childhood and anointeth our eyes with eye-salve that wee may see the manifold fruits of the crosse and finde in our selves with David that it was good for us thus to bee afflicted 5. A fift taste wee have at some extafie in our life or a trance at our death when wee are rapt up as it were into the third heaven with St. Paul and see those things that eye never saw and heare words that cannot be uttered Thus have I opened unto you five springs of the waters of comfort in which after you have stript your selves of wordly cares and earthly delights you may bathe your soules in the bottome whereof you may see the white stone which Christ promiseth to him that overcommeth saying To him that overcommeth I will give to eate of the hidden Manna To whom c. THE WHITE STONE THE XXVII SERMON APOC. 2.17 And I will give him a white stone Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IT was the manner of the Thracians to reckon up all the happy dayes of their life and marke them in a booke or table with a white stone whereunto the Poet alluding saith a Pers satyr Hunc Macrine diem numera meliore lapillo May it please God by his Spirit to imprint those mysteries in your hearts which are engraven upon this stone I doubt not but this day in which I am to describe unto you the nature of it will prove so happy that it shall deserve to bee scored up with the like stone For this white stone is a certaine token and pledge of present remission of sinnes and future admission into Christs kingdome Whereof through divine assistance by your wonted patience I will speake at large after I have refreshed the characters in your memory of my former observations upon this Scripture which setteth before all that overcome in the threefold christian warre 1 Forraine against Sathan Recapitulat 2 Civill against the world 3 Servile against fleshly lusts three boones or speciall gifts 1 Hidden Manna a type of spirituall consolation 2 A white stone the embleme of justification 3 A new name the imprese of glorification There is 1 Sweetnesse in the hidden Manna 2 Comfort in the white stone 3 Glory in the new name The sweetnesse of the hidden Manna wee tasted 1 In the mysticall meaning of the Word 2 In the secret power of the Sacrament 3 In the unutterable comfort of the Spirit And now I am to deliver unto you in the next place the white stone In the handling whereof I will levell at those three scientificall questions mentioned by b Aristot analyt post l. 2. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notand quod sit referti ad an sit ubi de accidente quaeritur quia accidentis esse est messe Aristotle in his bookes of demonstration Divis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An sit aut quod sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propter quod sit First whether there be any such white stone Secondly what it is Thirdly to what end it is given and what use wee are to make of it for our instruction correction or comfort First of the An sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether there be any such stone or no. There hath beene for many ages a great question De lapide Philosophico of the Philosophers stone to which they ascribe a rare vertue to turne baser metals into gold but there is no question at all among the sincere professours of the Gospell De lapide theologico of the divine stone in my text which yet is far more worth and of greater vertue than that For that if we have any faith in Alchymy after much labour and infinite cost will turne base metall into gold but this will undoubtedly turne penitent teares into pearle and drops of blood shed for the testimony of the Gospell into rubies and hematites to beset our crowne of glory With this stone as a speciall love-token Christ assureth his dearest spouse that c Rom. 8.28 all things shall turn to her good and worke together for her endlesse happinesse Hee that hath this white stone shall by the eye of faith see it suddenly turne all temporall losses into spirituall advantages all crosses into blessings all afflictions into comforts What though some heretickes or profane persons have no beliefe of this white stone no more than they have of that d Mat. 13.46 pearle of great price which the Merchant sold all that hee had to buy What though some have beene abused by counterfeit stones like to this shall wee not therefore regard this or seeke after it This were all one as if an expert Gold-smith should refuse to look after pure gold because some ignorant Merchant hath beene cheated with sophisticated alchymie stuffe for gold or if a skilfull Jeweller should offer nothing for an orient Diamond because an unskilfull Lapidary hath beene corisened with a Cornish or Bristow stone in stead of it The
of taste bitterish at first and sweetish at last Whether is it a sweet or a bitter fruit To the first we must not answer simply that he was a right handed or left handed man but as the Historian termeth him an Ambodexter To the second we must not answer simply that it is a noune or a verbe but as the Grammarians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 participium a participle To the third we must not answer simply that it is a maid or a fish but with the Poet a Syren in some respect a maid in some a fish Prima hominis facies pulchro corpore virgo Pube tenus postremâ immani corpore pistrix To the fourth we must not answer simply that it is a plant or a beast but with the Geographer a Plantanimall To the fift we must not answer simply that it is a man or a woman but with the naturall Philosopher an Hermaphrodite To the sixt we must not answer simply that it is a sweeting or a bitter apple but with Seneca that it is pomum suave-amarum a bitter-sweet So if the question be of a Christian by profession of all or the most fundamentall points who yet holdeth some hereticall opinion wee must not answer simply that he is a Christian or a Miscreant but a Miscreant or mis-beleeving Christian Some write of the River Jordane that the water thereof is sweet and that store of fish breed and live in it others that it is brackish yea and venemous also in such sort that no fish can live in it and both write most truly in a reference to divers parts thereof For all that is behether the lake Asphaltites is most sweet and wholesome all that is beyond it is salt and brackish and in some places poysonous and accordingly the fish that swim not beyond the lake or tasting the water salt return speedily back to the sweet springs live but if they are carried farther with a full streame into Mare mortuum or the dead sea they instantly perish What then shall wee deny Jordan in which Christ himself was baptized to be a sweet river or do we doubt but that the doctrine of the Church of Rome like the river Jordan is sweet in the spring I mean the Font of baptisme in which so many thousands of our fathers were christened or that good Christians may live the life of grace there so long as they keepe within the bounds of the common Principles of Christianity or if they have tasted some of the brackish waters the errours of popery if yet they returne back to the springs of holy Scripture may they not recover questionlesse they may but if they passe over the lake Asphaltites and swimme with the full current into the midst of the Mare mortuum of Antichristian errours superstitions and Idolatries and are not taken up in the net of the Gospell before the venemous water hath sunke into their heart and bowels and corrupted all their blood wee can have little if any hope of their safety Those that are such and have a resolution to continue such I leave In mari mortuo in the sea of death and come to the Disciple in the bosome of Jesus the Fountaine of life even that Disciple Object Whom Jesus loved Did Jesus love him onely did hee not love all his Apostles save Judas to the end nay doth hee not love us all with an endlesse love z Joh. 10.11 Surely greater love than this can no man shew to lay downe his life for his friend Is not hee the good Shepheard that gave his life for the sheepe did he not lay down his life for us all did one of us cost him more than another shed he not as much and as pure life blood for one as for another doth the Sunne of righteousnesse shine brighter upon one than another in perfection of love can there be any remission or intention in that which is infinite are there any degrees can any thing be said to bee more or lesse infinite The determination of this point dependeth upon the consideration of our blessed Saviour 1 As God 2 As Man 3 As Mediatour As God his love is his nature and his nature is himselfe Solut. and himselfe is infinite and in that which is infinite no degrees can bee distinguished As Mediatour hee seemeth to bee like the Center from which all lines drawne to the circumference are equall hee casteth the like beames of affection if not upon all yet certainly upon all his Elect for whom hee prayed jointly and satisfied entirely whom hee washeth equally in the same Font of Baptisme feedeth equally with his blood incorporateth equally in his body and maketh equally coheires with him of his kingdome in heaven Notwithstanding as man hee might and did affect one more than another and in particular hee loved John more than the rest of his Disciples Neither is it any disparagement at all to our discretion or charity to enlarge our hearts more to one than another if the cause bee not a by or carnall respect but a different measure of gifts if those bee more in our grace in whom Gods graces shine brighter Saint Paul had his Barnabas Saint Austine his Alypius Saint Jerome his Heliodorus Saint Bernard his Gervafius Saint Basil his Nazianzene Eusebius his Pamphilus David his Jonathan and Jesus here in my text his beloved Disciple But here Saint Austine putteth in a curious Quere Why did Jesus love John best sith it should seeme Peter loved Jesus best else why doth Christ say unto him * Tract 124. in Joh. lovest thou mee more than these Hee who more loved Jesus is the better but he whom Jesus more loveth is the happier To avoid this seeming jarre in Christs affections S. Austin streineth up the plaine history to a mystery Saint Peter saith hee was a type of the Church militant Saint John of the triumphant now the Church militant expresseth more love to Christ in fighting his battailes and suffering for him but Christ manifesteth more love to the Church triumphant crowning her with celestiall glory in this life like Peter we more shew our love to Christ in the other Christ sheweth more love to us as he did here to Saint John These conceptions of that seraphicall Doctour like a waxe light newly blowne out yeeld a sweet savour and have much heat in them of pious affection but little light of knowledge For as Christs love to us is consummate in heaven at the Lambes marriage so is then our love most complete in him And for the two Disciples Saint Peter and Saint John betweene whom there was never any contention greater than this Whether should more love our Saviour wee may safely resolve that though both exceedingly loved him yet if wee must needs enter into a comparison betweene them that the oddes is on Saint Johns side For doubtlesse hee whom Christ more loved hee found or made him more thankefull the ground of our Saviours love could
be no other than grace and he who hath a greater measure of grace must needs more love the Fountaine of grace Christ Jesus As Jesus therefore more loved John so John more loved Jesus hee followed him boldly to the high Priests hall hee never denyed him once as Peter did thrice hee with his mother attended him at the crosse and from that day tooke the blessed Virgin to his owne home and therefore though Christ promised the keyes of heaven to Peter first yet hee gave Saint John a greater priviledge to leane on his breast Which leaned on his breast Of Saint Johns leaning on Christs breast foure kindes of reasons are given 1 A civill by Calvin 2 A Morall by Theophylact. 3 A mysticall by Saint Austine 4 A tropologicall by Guilliandus Though saith a Calv. in Harmon Calvin for a servant to lye on his masters breast may seeme unseemly yet the custome of the Jewes being not to fit at table as we do but at their meales to lye on beds or carpets on the ground it was no more for Saint John to lye on Christs breast than with us to sit next to him unlesse with Theophylact we conceive that Saint John upon the mention of our Lords death and that by treason tooke on most grievously and beginning to languish through griefe was taken by Christ into his bosome to comfort him or wee interpret with Saint Austin and others of the Ancients Sinum Christi Sapientiae secretum the bosome of Christ the cabinet of celestiall jewels or treasury of wisedome and inferre with Saint Ambrose from thence b In psal 118. Johannes cum caput suum super pectus domini reclinaret hauriebat profunda secreta sapientiae That John when hee laid his head to Christs breasts sucked from thence the profound secrets of wisedome and with c Beda in Evang Johan Quia in pectore Christi sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae scientiae reconditi meritò super pectus ejus recumbit quem majore caeteris sapientiae scientiae singularis munere donat Beda That Christ revealed to Saint John as his bosome friend more secrets and that the reason why his writings are more enriched with knowledge especially of things future than the rest is because he had free accesse to Christs breast wherein all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge were hid Moreover as d Guil. com in Johan c. 21. Guilliandus observeth S. John lay upon Christs breast for the same reason that Moses appointed in the law the breast of all sacrifices for the Priest to teach us that wisedome and understanding whose seat is the breast and heart ought to be the speciall portion of the Priests Among so many ingenuous reasons of this gesture of Saint John if wee leane to Saint Austines opinion the use wee are to make of it is with reverence and religious preparation to read and heare all the bookes of holy Scripture and especially Saint Johns writings who received those hidden and heavenly mysteries in Jesus his bosome which Jesus * Joh. 1.18 No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father hath revealed him heard in his Fathers bosome All Scriptures are given by e 2 Tim. 3.16 divine inspiration and are equally pillars of our faith anchors of our hope deeds and evidences of our salvation yet as the heaven is more starry in one part than another and the seas deeper in one place than another so it is evident that some passages of Scripture are more lightsome than others and some books contain in them more profound mysteries and hidden secrets and most of all S. Johns Gosspell and his Apocalypse wherein by Saint Jeromes reckoning the number of the mysteries neare answereth the number of the words quot verba tot sacramenta If wee like of Theophylact his reason wee are from thence to learne not to adde affliction to the afflicted not to vexe them that are wounded at the heart but to stay with flaggons and comfort with apples those that are in a spirituall swoune and by no meanes to withhold from them that faint under the burden of their sinnes the comforts of the Gospell to support them especially considering that hee as well killeth a man who ministreth not to him in due time those things which may hold life in him as hee that slayeth him downe right Lastly if wee sticke with Calvin to the letter it will discover unto us the errour of many among us that contend so much for sitting at the Communion and a table gesture as they speake whereas Christ at his last Supper neither sate nor used any table at all In eating of the Passeover wee read f Mat. 26.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 14.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 22.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Christ with the twelve fell down or lay downe after the Jewish manner which was nearer to kneeling than sitting But what gesture precisely hee used in the delivery of the holy mysteries it is not expressed in Scripture most probable it is that he kneeled or at least that the Apostles kneeled when they received the sanctified Elements from him For no doubt they who in the first ages immediatly succeeded the Apostles received the Communion as the Apostles maner was and that they kneeled the heathen cavill against them that they worshipped bread and wine maketh it in a maner evident For had they sate or stood in the celebration of the Sacrament the Gentiles could have had no colour to cast an aspersion of bread-worship on them but because in receiving the sacred elements of bread and wine they kneeled downe and religiously called upon God the Paynims conceived that they adored the creatures of bread and wine And they among us who cannot distinguish betweene kneeling at the Sacrament and kneeling to the element bread worship and the worship of Christ in religiously and reverently participating the holy mysteries of his body and blood are as grossely ignorant in Christian rites as the ancient heathen were Verely did they consider seriously who it is that under the forme of bread and wine offereth unto them his body and blood even Christ himselfe by his Spirit and what they at the same time in a thankfull love offer to God their bodies for a holy and living sacrifice and what then they receive a generall pardon of all their sinnes under the seale of the King of heaven I perswade my selfe their hearts would smite them if they strived not to receive so great a benefit from so gracious a Majesty as in the most thankfull so in the most humble manner But it is not the position of your bodies but the disposition of your mindes which in this rare patterne of my text I would commend to your Christian imitation The best keeping the Feast of a Saint is to raise him as it were to life by expressing his vertues and
that spit upon him whipped him smote him on the face crowned him with thornes tare him with nailes these were they who in the act of his bitter passion when his soule bereft of all comfort laden with the sinne of all the world and fiercenesse of his Fathers wrath enforced from him that speech than which the world never heard a more lamentable My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee then in stead of comfort they reviled him If thou be the Son of God come downe from the crosse all this notwithstanding though they persecuted him hee loved them though they cryed Away with him he dyed for them at his death prayed for them Father forgive and pleaded for them they know not what they doe and wept for them offering supplications in their behalfe with prayers strong cries Greater love than this can no man shew to lay downe his life for his friend yet thou O blessed Saviour art a patterne of greater love laying downe thy life for this people whilest they were thine enemies but not for this people only the Holy Ghost so speakes O Lord we were thine enemies as well as they and whilest we were thine enemies we were reconciled to God the Father by the precious death of thee his Son For the Scripture setteth forth his love to us that whilest we were yet sinners he dyed for us He for us alone for us all the same spirit which set before him expedit mori did sweeten the brim of that sowre cup with this promise that when hee should make his soule an offering for sin hee should see his seed that as the whole earth was planted so it might be redeemed by one bloud as by one offence condemnation seized upon all so by the justification of one the benefit might redound unto all to the justification of life And this bloud thirsty Caiphas unwittingly intimated saying Expedit unum mori pro populo If one and he then dead could do thus much what can he not do now now that he liveth for ever He trod the wine-presse alone neither is there salvation in any other S. Stephen was stoned S. Paul beheaded Nunquid pro nobis No it cost more than so it is done to their hands there is one who by the oblation of himselfe alone once offered hath made a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world And that whilest it is a world for our Saviour that stood in the gap betwixt Gods wrath us catching the blow in his own body hath by his bloud purchased an eternal redemption every one that beleeveth in him shal not perish but have life everlasting In the number of which beleevers if we be then is the fruit of his meritorious passion extended to us we may challenge our interest therein and in our persons the Prophet speaketh He bare our infirmities and carried our sorrowes he was wounded for our transgressions the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes are we healed Which great benefit as it is our bounden duty to remember at all times so this time this day Vivaciorem animi sensum puriorem mentis exigit intuitum recursus temporis textus lectionis as S. Leo speaketh The annuall recourse of the day and this text fitted to it calleth to our minde the worke wrought the means by which it was wrought on this day to him a day of wrath of darknesse of blacknesse heavie vengeance but to us a good day a good Friday a day of deliverance freedome a day of jubilee and triumph For as on this day by the power of his Crosse were we delivered from the sting of sin and tyranny of Satan so that whereas we might for ever have sung that mournfull Elegy O wretched men that we are who shal deliver us from death hell we are now enabled to insult over both O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory Which victory of our Saviour and ours through him so dearly purchased when we call to mind let us consider withall that as the cause of this conflict on his part was his love to us so on our parts it was the hainousness of our sinne not otherwise to be expiated than by his death And as the first ought to raise us up to give annuall daily continuall thankes to him who did and suffered so much for us so the second should withhold us keep us back from sin that since our Saviour dyed for our sin we should dye to sin rather dye than sin This bloud once shed is good to us Expedit nobis if to faith in that bloud we joyn a life beseeming Christianity but if by our crying sins trespasses we crucifie him againe we make even that bloud which of it selfe speaketh for us better things than the bloud of Abel in stead of pardon to cry for vengeance against us Let us therfore looke up to him the author and finisher of our salvation beseeching him who with the bloud of his passion clave rockes stones asunder with the same bloud which is not yet nor ever will be dry to mollifie and soften our hard hearts that seriously considering the hainousnesse of our sins which put him to death and his unexpressible unconceivable love that for us he would dye the death even the death of the Crosse we may in token of our thankfulness endeavour to offer up our soules and bodies as a reasonable sacrifice to him that offered himselfe a sacrifice for us and now sitteth at the right hand of God to this end that where he our Redeemer is there wee his people and dearest purchase may be for ever THE SECOND ROW And in the second row thou shalt set a Carbuncle a Saphir and a Diamond THat the second Speaker that sweet singer of Israel whose ditty was Awake sing ye that sleep in dust made according to my Text a row or Canticum graduum a Psalme of ascents or degrees I cannot but even in a duty of thankfulnesse acknowledge for the help of memory I received from it had not he made a row that is digested disposed his matter in excellent order I should never have bin able to present to you the jewels set in this row which are all as you see most orient Of all red stones the Carbuncle of all blew the Saphir Plin. nat hist l. 37. of all simply the Diamond hath been ever held in highest esteem Maximum in rebus humanis pretium adamas habet non tantum inter gemmas Comment in Esay Carbunculus saith S. Jerome videtur mihi sermo doctrinae qui fugato errore tenebrarum illuminat corda credentium hic est quem unus de Seraphim tulit farcipe comprehensum ad Esayae labra purganda Whether this second Preacher in S. Pauls phrase a Prophet his tongue were not touched with such a coale I referre my selfe to your hearts and consciences Nonne
singular Priest an everlasting Priest a royall Priest a Priest who neither succeeded any nor any him a Priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek For the opening of this passage three points are to be cleared 1. The name 2. The person 3. The order or office of this singular and extraordinary type of Christ 1. Touching the name though it bee one word in the Greeke and Latine and carry the forme of a proper name yet in the originall it is two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seemeth rather to be an appellative signifying my righteous Lord or the righteous Lord of my appointment as Psal 2.6 I have set my King c. Howbeit as the name of Augustus was the common stile of all the Romane Emperours yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sirname of Octavius from whom the rest received it so it is not unlikely that the stile of Melchizedek was at the first attributed to this famous King of Salem who met Abraham with a present as he returned from the slaughter of the Kings yet afterwards either by adulation or for other reasons it might be given to his successors Of the interpretation of this name we can make no doubt sith the Apostle hath construed it unto us viz. ſ Hebr 7.2 King of righteousnesse and after that King of Salem which is King of peace whence some gather consequently that the most righteous Kings are most peaceable and that hee can bee no King of peace who is not a King of righteousnesse Where righteousnesse doth flourish there shall be abundance of peace As in the name of Melchizedek King of Salem so in the heart of every good King righteousnesse and peace ought to kisse each other Now Christ is a King of righteousnesse in three respects 1. Administrando because he administreth 2. Operando because he wrought and still worketh 3. Imputando because he imputeth righteousnesse He administreth righteousnesse because hee ruleth his Church with a t Psal 45 6. The scepter of thy Kingdome is a right scepter scepter of righteousnesse he wrought righteousnesse in fulfilling the Law which is called u Mat. 3.15 Thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnesse righteousnesse and by his grace also he enableth us to work righteousnesse and in some good measure to fulfill his commandements he imputeth righteousnesse when he justifieth the ungodly and accounteth faith for * Rom. 4.5 righteousnesse to him that worketh not but beleeveth for God made him that knew no sinne to be x 2 Cor. 5.21 sinne for us that wee might be made the righteousness of God in him that no flesh should glory in his presence for of him are y 1 Cor. 1.30 we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisedome and righteousnes and sanctification and redemption 2. Tovching the person of Melchizedek there are sixe opinions the first 1. Of certaine Heretickes called the Melchizedekians who taught that Melchizedek was a z Epiph. haeres 55. power of God greater than Christ and that hee was the Mediatour and Advocate of Angels as Christ is of men 2. Of Hierax the Egyptian and his followers who taught that Melchizedek was a Ystella in Gen. 14. Christ himselfe who before his incarnation appeared in a humane shape to Abraham 3. Of the author of the booke q. Vet. N. Test who writeth that Melchizedek is the Holy Ghost 4. Of Origen and Didymus who thought Melchizedek to be an b Hieron ep ad Evag. Angel 5. Of Aben Ezra Bagud Haturim Levi Benyerson David Chimki and of the c Jer. Epiph loc sup cit Samaritans and Hebrewes generally who confidently affirme that Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah 6. Of d Coel. hierarc c. 9. Haeres 55. in Gen. 14. Dionysius Areopagita Epiphanius Theodoret Hippolytus Procopius Eusebius Eustathius Calvin Junius Musculus Mercerus Pererius Pareus and divers others who hold it most probable that this Melchizedek was one of the Kings of Canaan In this variety of opinions backed with manifold authorities as Tully spake of the soule that it was lesse difficult to resolve what she is not than what she is so we may say of Melchizedek that it is a far easier matter to determine who he was not than who he was Refut 1 1. He was not any power of God greater than our Saviour or the Angels Advocate for neither is there any inequality between the divine persons neither have the evill Angels any Advocate to plead for them who are condemned already and reserved in chaines of darkness till the great day The text of Scripture which they wrested to their fancy no way advantageth them For Christ is said a Priest after the order of Melchizedek not because he was inferiour to him in person or office but because he succeeded him in time and bare an office framed after a sort according to the patterne of his Refut 2 2. He was not the Sonne of God the second person in Trinity for the type must needs be distinguished from the truth but Melchizedek was a glorious type of Christ and is said e Hebr. 7.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assimilari to be likened to the Son of God he was not therefore the Son of God but his fore-runner in the office of Priesthood Refut 3 3. He was not the Holy Ghost for Moses describeth him to bee a man that ruled in Salem and executed also the office of a Priest to God which cannot be affirmed of the Holy Ghost who never tooke our nature upon him nor is any where in holy Scripture termed a Priest of the most high God The onely footing which this opinion hath is upon that ground that Melchizedek is said to be f Hebr. 7.3 without father which ground no way supporteth this opinion For wee cannot argue from one attribute of Melchizedek affirmatively though we may negatively This argument is good He that hath a father reckoned among men is not Melchizedek but this is not so The Holy Ghost is without father therefore he is Melchizedek For God the Father the first person in Trinity is as also Adam the first man was without father or mother yet neither of them Melchizedek Refut 4 4. He was not an Angel for it is a thing unheard of in the Church of God that the angels of heaven should sway earthly scepters or discharge the function of Priests What have Angels of heaven to do with feasting armies or receiving tythes of spoyles as Melchizedek did from the hands of Abraham These foure opinions have been long agoe exploded the two remaining stand still in competition for the truth 5. The advocates for Sem plead hard Sem say they as appeareth in the story of Genesis lived to the time of Abrahams victory to him it was promised that the Canaanites should be his servants and consequently that Salem their Metropolis should be his seat where Melchizedek was King Neither was there any greater man than Abraham to
the wrath of God and hee shall be tormented in fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lamb and the smoak of their torments shall ascend for ever And they shall have no rest day nor night which worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the print of his name I dare boldly say that none of you my Beloved have received any print of the beast yee are yet free from the least suspition of familiarity with the Whore of Babylon yee have kept your selves unspotted of Popery wherefore as yee tender your honour and reputation nay the salvation of your bodies and soules keep your selves still from Idols be zealous for Gods honour and hee will bee zealous for your safety abstaine from all appearance of that evill which the spirit of God ranketh with sorcery and witch-craft If in your travels you chance to see the heathenish superstitions and abominable idolatries of the Roman Church make this profitable use thereof let it incite you to compassionate the blindnesse and ignorance of so many silly soules nuzzled in superstition who verifie the speech of the Psalmist d Psal 115.8 They that worship idols are like unto them they have eyes and see not the wonderfull things of Gods Law they have eares and heare not the word of life they have hands and handle not the seales of grace they have feet and walke not in the wayes of Gods commandements What a lamentable thing is it to see the living image of God to fall downe before a dead and dumb picture for men endued with sense and reason to worship unreasonable and senslesse metall wise men to aske e Hosea 4.12 My people aske counsel at their stocks their staffe teacheth them for the spirit of whoredome hath caused them to erre and they have gone a whoring from under their God counsell of stocks and stones for them who in regard of their soules are nobly descended from Heaven to doe homage and performe religious services and devotions to the vilest and basest creatures upon the earth yea to dust and rottennesse How much are wee bound to render perpetuall thanks to God who hath opened our eyes that wee see the grossnesse of their superstition and hath presented unto us a lively image of himselfe drawne to the life in holy Scripture an image which to looke upon is not curiositie but dutie to embrace not spirituall uncleannesse but holy love to adore not idolatrie but religion to invocate not superstition but pietie If the Lord be God follow him Turne we the Rhetoricke of this text into Logicke and the Dilemma consisting of two suppositions into two doctrinall positions the points which I am to cleare to your understanding and presse upon your religious affections will be these 1. That there is but one true God either the Lord or Baal not both 2. That this one true God is alone to be worshipped either Baal must be followed or Jehovah not both But the Prophet will prove by miracle and the evidence of fire that Baal is not God nor to be worshipped the conclusion is therefore that Jehovah the God of Israel is the onely true God and he alone to be worshipped That there is but one true God is one of the first principles which all Christians are catechized in the Decalogue Lords prayer and Creed all three begin with one God to teach us 1. Religious worship of one God 2. Zealous devotion to one God 3. Assured confidence in one God At our first Metriculation if I may so speake into the Universitie of Christs Catholique Church wee are required to subscribe to these three prime verities 1. That there is a Deitie 1. Above all 2. Over all 3. In all 2. That this Deitie is one 3. That in this Unitie there is a Trinitie of persons We acknowledge 1. A Deitie against all Atheists 2. The Unitie of this Deitie against all Paynims 3. A Trinitie in this Unitie against all Jewes Mahumetans and Heretiques Through the whole old Testament this one note is sounded by everie voyce in the Quire We heare it in the Law Heare O Israel the Lord our God is f Deut. 6.4 one Lord. We heare it in the Psalmes g Psal 18.31 Who is God but the Lord We heare it in the Prophets h Hosea 13.4 Thou shalt know no God but mee for there is no Saviour besides me and i Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one father hath one not God created us The new Testament is as an eccho resounding the same note k Ephes 4.5 6. 1 Tim. 2.5 One Lord one faith one baptisme One God and father of all who is above all and through you all and in you all For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and men the man Christ Jesus And This is l John 17.3 life eternall to know thee the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ For although we read m Gen. 1.1 Elohim as if ye would say Gods in the plurall number yet the verb Bara is in the singular number to signifie the Trinitie in the Unitie howsoever we find the Lord n Gen. 19.24 rained upon Sodome Gomorrah brimstone fire from the Lord out of heaven and likewise in the Psalmes o Psal 110.1 The Lord said to my Lord yet S. Athanasius in his Creed resolveth us there are not more Gods or more Lords nor more eternals nor more incomprehensibles but one eternall and one in comprehensible In the mysterie of the Trinitie there is alius and alius not aliud and aliud on the contrarie in the mysterie of the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour there is not alius and alius but aliud and aliud in the one diversity of persons in one nature in the other diversity of natures in one person Sol quasi solus God is as Plato stileth him the Sunne of the invisible world and it is as cleare to the eye of reason that there is one God as to the eye of sense that there is one Sunne for God must be sovereigne and there cannot be more sovereignes The principles of Metaphysick laid together demonstrate this truth after this manner There is an infinite distance betweene something and nothing therefore the power which bringeth them together and maketh something nay all things of nothing must needs be infinite but there cannot be more infinite powers because either one of them should include the other and so the included must needs bee finite or not extend to the other and so it selfe not be infinite Out of naturall Philosophie such an argument is framed Whatsoever is either hath a cause of its being or not if it hath a cause of its being it cannot be the first cause if it have no cause of its being it must needs bee the cause of all causes For there cannot be an infinite processe from causes to causes which nature abhorres therefore wee must needs
there But Christ himselfe assureth us to the contrary not every one that saith Lord Lord z Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Doing and life working and salvation running and obtaining winning and wearing overcomming and reigning in holy Scripture follow one the other Wherefore the young man puts the question to our Saviour What a Mark 10.17 thing shall I doe that I may attaine evelasting life and the people likewise and the Publicans and the Souldiers to b Luk 3.10.12.14 S. John and the keepers of the prison to c Act. 16.30 Saint Paul and the Jewes in my text to Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles What shall wee doe not What shall wee say or What shall wee beleeve but What shall wee doe This is the tenour of the Law Doe this and thou shalt live Whosoever doth these things shall never fall And the Gospel also carryeth the same tune full d Mat. 7.24 If ye know these things happie are yee of yee doe them Hee that heareth and doeth buildeth upon a rocke Not the hearers but the doers of the e James 1.22 Ezek. 1.8 Law shall bee justified Why are the Cherubims described with the hands of a man under their wings but to teach us that none shall see God who under the wings of faith and hope whereby they flâ—e to heaven have not the hand of charity to doe good workes As Darius used the Macedonian souldiers whom hee tooke prisoners so the divell doth those over whom hee hath any power hee cutts off their hands that they may be able to do no service The heathen Philosopher observed that of three of the best things in the world through the wickednesse of men three of the worst things proceeded and grew 1 Of vertue envie 2 Of truth hatred 3 Of familiarity contempt Wee Christians may adde a fourth viz. of the doctrine of free justification carnall liberty The catholike doctrine of justification by faith alone is the true Nectar of the soule so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it keepeth from death yet this sweetest Wine in the Spouses Flagons proves no better than Vinegar or rather poyson in their stomackes who turne grace into wantonnesse and liberty into licence fit Nectar acetum Et vaticam perfida vappa cadi But let no man adulterate the truth nor impose upon Christs mercy what it will not beare nor endeavour to sever faith from good workes lest hee sever his soule from life For though faith justifie our workes before God yet our workes justifie our faith before men though the just shall g Habac. 2.4 Rom. 1.17 live by his faith yet this his faith must live by h James 2.20 charity as never man any dyed with a living faith so never any man lived by a dead faith I grant when we have all done wee may nay wee must say i Luk. 17.10 Wee are unprofitable servants yet while we have time k Gal. 6.10 we must doe good unto all especially to those of the houshold of faith None may trust in their owne righteousnesse but on the contrary all ought to pray that they may be found in Christ l Phil. 3.9 not having their owne righteousnesse yet their righteousnesse must exceed the m Mat. 5.20 righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees or else they shall never enter into the kingdome of heaven It is evident unto all except they be blinde that the eye alone seeth in the body yet the eye which seeth is not alone in the body without the other senses the forefinger alone pointeth yet that finger is not alone on the hand the hammer alone striketh the bell yet the hammer which striketh is not alone in the clocke the heate alone in the fire burneth and not the light yet that heate is not alone without light the helme alone guideth the ship and not the tackling yet the helme is not alone nor without the tackling in a compound electuarie Rubarb alone purgeth choler yet the Rubarb is not alone there without other ingredients Thus wee are to conceive that though faith alone doth justifie yet that faith which justifieth is not alone but joyned with charity and good workes Many please themselves with a resemblance of Castor and Pollux two lights appearing on shippes sometimes severally sometimes joyntly If either appeareth by it selfe it presageth a storme if both together a suddaine calme yet with their good leave be it spoken this their simile is dissimile For those lights may be severed actually are often but justifying faith cannot be severed from charity nor charity from it Thus farre onely it holdeth that unlesse we have a sense and feeling of both in our soules we may well feare a storme S. Bernards distinction of via regni and causa regnandi cleareth the truth in this point Though good workes are not the cause why God crowneth us yet we must take them in our way to heaven or else we shall never come there It is as impious to deny the necessity as to maintaine the merit of good workes sed Cynthius aurem Vellit The time calleth mee off and therefore that it may not exclude mee I will conclude with it In this holy time of Lent three duties are required Prayer Fasting and Almes prayer is the bird of Paradise fasting and almes are her two wings the lighter is fasting but the stronger is almes use both to carry your prayers to heaven that you may bring from thence a blessing upon you through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ Cui c. THE LAST OFFER OF PEACE A Sermon preached at a publike Fast THE LXX SERMON LUK 19.41 42. 41. And when he was come neere he beheld the City and wept over it 42. Saying If thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes WHen the Romans fought a pitched field after the rankes of their prime Leaders and chiefe Souldiers which they called Principes had charged valiantly if the enemy still kept his ground the Triarii containing the whole shock of the army put on and upon their prowesse and valour depended the fortune of the day and chance if I may so speake of the bloudy die of war Whereupon it grew to be a proverb a Eras chil Res rediit ad Triarios it now stands upon the Triarii as if you would say it is now put to the last plunge And is it not so now my Christian brethren We have taken to us the proper weapons of Christians fasting prayers and teares to fight against the fearfull combinations of powerfull vigilant enemies The rank of our Principes the King himself the Princes Nobles and Peeres have already watered this field with their teares and put on with all their force of zealous praiers how far they have prevailed
Col. 1612. Solinus Paris 1577. Sozomen Basil 1570. Stapletonus Paris 1606. Stella Antw. 1618. R. Stephanus Paris 1532. J. Stobeus Franc. 1581. Strabo Paris 1587. Strigelius Lips 1591. Suetonius Paris 1610. Symmachus ex Bin. Col. 1618. Synesius Paris 1612. T. TAcitus Lugd. Bat. 1621. Talmud ex Wemse Lond. 1623. Taxa Camerae Apost Paris 1597. Terentius Basil 1538. Tertullianus Antw. 1584. Theocritus Paris 1586. Theodoretus Paris 1608. Theognis Paris 1608. Theophylactus Basil 1525. A. Thuanus Paris 1604. J. de Turre Gremata Venet. 1578. Tostatus Abulensis Venet. 1596. Tyrius Basil 1549. V. VAlerius Maximus Venet. 1573. G. Vasques Venet. 1600. Vega Madrid 1602. Fl. Vegetius Paris 1535. Velleius Paterculus Antw. 1607. Vincentius Bellov Venet. 1591. Vincent Lerinensis Col. 1622. Victor Pictaboniensis Bib. pat T. 6. Col. 1622. Vigilius Tig. 1573. P. Virgilius Basil 1586. L. Vives Tig. 1563. Fl. Vopiscus Paris 1544. W. J. WEmes Lond. 1623. Wesselus Groningens Basil 1524. Guil. Witakerus Gen. 1610. Geo. Wicelius Lips 1537. Jo. Wiclefus MS. J. Wolphius Tig. 1578. Jo. Woverus Antw. 1605. X. XEnophon Basil 1545. Jo. Xiphilinus Fran. 1590. Y. L. YStella Romae 1601. Z. J. ZAbarella Col. 1598. H. Zanchius Han. 1609. S. Zeno Bib. pat T. 3. Col. 1622. Zonaras Basil 1557. THE BRUISED REED A Sermon preached before his Grace and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall Decemb. 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth THE FIRST SERMON MATTH 12. 20. ex ESA. 42. 3. A bruised reed shall hee not breake and smoaking flaxe shall hee not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory or as we reade in Esay hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth Most REVEREND c. I Would not presume to found a bruised Reed or winde a crack't Pipe in this place destinated and appointed for the silver Trumpets of Sion nor blow my smoaking Flaxe here where the cleerest Lights of the Sanctuary usually shine if the Text of Scripture even now read in your eares encouraged mee not thereunto teaching the strongest and tallest Cedars of Lebanon by the example of the Highest not to fall upon and breake the bruised Reed and likewise the brightest burning Lampes of the Church not to do ut and quench the smoaking or as the Hebrew beares it the dimly burning Flaxe of their brethrens obscurer parts and labours A bruised Reed c. Whether by bruised Reed with S. Gregory we understand the broken Scepter of the Jewish Kingdome and by smoaking Flaxe the Aaronicall Priesthood destitute of the light of Faith and now ready to goe out and expire or by Arundinem conquassatam the shaken Reed as S. Hierome reades the words wee conceive the wavering faith of the Jewes to bee meant and by the smoaking Flaxe the momentary fervour of the Gentiles which is Tertullians exposition seconded by Rhemigius or we take the bruised Reeds in Saint Hilaries construction for the maimed bodies of such as were brought to Christ and smoaking Flaxe for their troubled mindes and distressed consciences or we be carried with the maine current of later Interpreters who are all strongly for all penitent sinners oppressed with the heavie burden of their sinnes and stricken with the horrour of Gods judgements in whom there remaines any sparke of grace to be shadowed under the Metaphors of the bruised Reed and smoaking Flaxe Vox diversa sonat doctorum est vox tamen una The descant is somewhat different the ground is the same all warbling the sweet note of our Redeemers most gracious and mercifull disposition who was so meek in his speeches that hee never strained his voice to exclaime bitterly and inveigh vehemently against any Ver. 19. He shall not cry nor lift up his voice and so milde and altogether innocent in his actions that he never brake so much as a bruised Reed nor trode out a smothering Week or smoaking Flaxe To cleere then the meaning of this Scripture from all mists of obscurity arising from variety of Interpretations give mee leave as it were to melt many small waxe lights into a great Taper by a generall Paraphrase upon the words Hee that is Jesus the second person in Trinity our Mediatour and Saviour as S. Matthew by applying this Prophecy unto him consequently expoundeth it Shall or will not breake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is destroy or cast away a bruised Reed or Cane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an afflicted and contrite sinner be he Prince or Priest in Saint Gregories sense Jew or Gentile according to Tertullians interpretation afflicted in body or in minde agreeable to S. Hilaries exposition And smoaking flaxe he shall or will not quench that is hee will not dishearten or discourage any Puny or Novice in his Schoole but on the contrary he will cherish the smallest seeds of grace and weake beginnings in new converts neither will he take away his Spirit from any relapsed and languishing Christian exhaling bitter and darke fumes of sighes for his sinnes if there remaine any light of faith in him though never so obscure any heat of true zeale and devotion though very weake and scarce sensible Behold here then store and aboundance of the Balme of Gilead dropping from this sweet Cane in my Text. A Reed what so weak and that bruised what so unprofitable yet shall not be broken And Flaxe or the weeke of a lampe or candle what so vile and that smoaking what so loathsome yet shall not be quenched By this cursory interpretation and illustration of the words you may easily distinguish in them 1. Two members of this Propheticall sentence A bruised c. A smoaking c. 2. Two subjects answerable to the two members Reed Flaxe 3. Two attributes proper to these subjects Bruising Smoaking 4. Two acts sutable to these attributes Breake Quench both removed from and denied of Christ he shall not breake he shall not quench Of these by the concurrence of Gods assistance with your patience now and hereafter according to the order of the words in the originall A reed bruised he shall not breake A reed Although the reed in my Text may seeme hollow and consequently empty of matter fit for our use yet if you please to look narrowly into it you shall finde it like that precious staffe which Brutus offered to Apollo in the hollow whereof much massie gold was inclosed Cujus intus solidum autum corneo velabatur cortice Liv. Dec. Pri. l. 2. To open this horne or cane that wee may finde the treasure hid in it may it please you to take notice of a foure-fold Reed described in holy Scriptures 1. Mysticall 2. Artificiall 3. Naturall 4. Morall Of the Mysticall you have heard already out of the Fathers The Artificiall reed is a golden instrument to mete withall mentioned Ezek. 40.5 Apoc. 21.15 I need not speake of the Naturall reed And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the City it is so well knowne to be a watery plant or tree wherewith nature
after a more effectuall manner even because hee cannot utter his prayer by speech his very dumbnesse pleads for him so the sorrow of a penitent sinner which faine would expresse it selfe by teares but cannot which rendeth the heart continually and maketh it evaporate into secret sighes best expresseth it selfe to him of whom the Prophet speaketh Psal 38.9 Lord thou knowest all my desires and my groaning is not hid from thee 6. If he sink so low that the pit is ready to shut her mouth over him and he being now even swallowed up in the gulfe of despaire breathe out his last sigh and roares most fearfully to the great dis-heartening of all that come about him saying I have no touch of remorse no sense of joy no apprehension of faith no comfort of hope My wounds stinke and are putrefied and all the balme of Gilead cannot now cure mee The Spirit is utterly extinct in me and therefore my case desperate In this extreme fit of despaire give him this cordiall out of the words of my Text Hast thou never felt any remorse of conscience in all thy life Wast thou never pricked in heart at the Sermon of some Peter Wert thou never ravished with joy when the generall pardon of all thy sinnes hath been exemplified to thee in the application of the promises of the Gospel and sealed to thee by the Sacrament Hast thou never had any sensible token of Gods love I know thou hast thou acknowledgest as much in confessing amongst other thy sins thine intolerable ingratitude towards the Lord that bought thee then bee yet of good comfort the flaxe yet smoaketh the fire is not clean out thou hast lost the sense but not the essence of faith Thou art cast out of Gods favour in thy apprehension not in truth Thou art but in a swoune thy soule is in thee Thou discernest no signe or motion of life in thee but others may Thy conscience will beare thee record that sometimes thou didst truly beleeve and true faith cannot be lost Gods covenant of grace is immoveable his affection is unchangeable he whom God loveth he loveth to the end and hee whom God loveth to the end must needs bee saved in the end and so I end And thus have I blowne the smoaking flaxe in my Text and you see what light it affordeth to our understanding and warmth to our consciences what remaineth but that I pray to God to kindle in us this light and inflame this heate more and more to revive the spirit of the humble to cheare up the drouping lookes and cure the wounded consciences and heale the broken hearts of them that mourne for their sinnes that is to beare up the bruised and bowed reed that it be not broken and revive and kindle againe the dying lampe that it bee not quite extinguished So be it O Father of mercy for the passion of thy Sonne through the Spirit of grace To whom three persons and one God bee ascribed all honour glory praise and thanks-giving now and for ever Amen THE STILL VOICE A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Novemb. 20. 1619. THE THIRD SERMON MATTH 12.19 Hee shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streets Most REVEREND c. IN these words we have set before us in the person of our Saviour an Idea and perfect image of meeknesse the characters whereof are three 1. Calmenesse in affection He will not strive 2. Softnesse and lownesse in speech Hee will not cry c. 3. Innocency in action He will not breake c. 1. Impatience is contentious He will not strive 2. Contention is clamorous He will not cry 3. Clamour is querulous No man shall heare his voice in the street If it be objected that he did strive and that with such vehemency that he sweat bloud and that hee did cry and that very loud for as wee reade Hebr. 5.7 he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares unto him that was able to save him from death and that his voice was heard in the streets when he stood up in the last day the great day of the Feast John 7.37 and cried saying If any man thirst let him come unto mee and drinke wee need not flye to Anselme and Carthusians allegory for the matter who thus glosse upon the words of my Text His voice shall not be heard in the streets that is in the broad way that leadeth to destruction Such Delian divers may spare their paines for the objections are but shallow and admit of a very facile solution without any forced trope Hee will not strive viz. in revenge but in love he will not cry in anger but in zeale neither shall his voice be heard in the street viz. vox querelae but doctrinae no voice of complaint but of instruction or comfort So that the three members in this sentence are like the three strings in a Dulcimer all Unisons Wherefore in the handling of this Text I will strike them all together Seneca in his books of clemency Cambden hist Reg. Eliz. Seneca l. 1. de clem Conditum imò constrictum apud te ferrum sit summa parsimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis humili loco positis litigare in rixam procurrere liberius est leves inter pares ictus sunt regi quoque vociferatio verborumque intemperantia non ex Majestate est which Queene Elizabeth so highly esteemed that shee gave them the next place to the holy Scriptures reades a divine Lecture to a Prince in these words Let thy sword not onely be put up in the sheath but also tyed fast in it bee sparing of the meanest and basest bloud It is for men of lower condition to fall into quarrels and strifes equals may exchange blowes one with another without much danger it standeth not with the Majesty of a Prince to engage himselfe in any quarrell or fight because he hath no equall to contend with him so far ought it to be from a Prince to brawle or wrangle that the straining of his voice is unbefitting him upon any occasion whatsoever What the wise Philosopher prescribeth to a good Prince the Prophet Esay describeth in our King Messias who was so milde in his disposition that hee was never stirred to passion so gentle in his speech that he never strained his voice in choler so innocent in his actions that he never put forth his strength to hurt any We reade in the booke of a 1. Kin. 19.11 12. Kings that there was a mighty wind but God was not in the wind and after the wind an earth-quake but God was not in the earth-quake and after the earth-quake a fire but God was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice in which God was There God was in the still voice but here the Evangelist out of the Prophet informeth us that there was a small still voice in
grace especially the grace of meeknesse which in the heart is tendernesse in the disposition softnesse in the affections temper in the minde calmenesse in the carriage sweetnesse Aristotle briefly defineth it Rhet. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bridle of wrath which because it is a passion of all other most head-strong it requireth both a strong curb and a skilfull rider for whose direction the Spirit of God in holy Scripture hath set downe divers rules The first rule is not to be suddenly or easily provoked This is laid downe for us by the Apostle St. James Let every man bee swift to heare James 1.19 slow to speake slow to wrath To follow this rule it will be behoofull according to the advice of a Hyper. citat à Lips Comment in Sen. de clem l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hyperides to prevent the occasion of quarrels and stop the passages of wrongs to nip the seeds of discords because if anger take root like an inveterate disease it will hardly bee cured b Senec. l. 1. de clem In primis finibus hostis arcendus est nam cum portis se intulit modum à captivis non capit Seneca strikes the same note though on a different string Above all things saith hee keep the enemy from entring the City for if hee once thrust his head into the gate he will give thee the law and not take it from thee Ovid giveth it as a character of a gracious Prince to be tardus ad iram Slow to wrath Certainly it is no strong piece that will suddenly bee out of frame the bone was never well set that easily slips out of joynt A man full of juice and sap of grace is like green wood which is long before it be kindled they who easily take fire seem rather to be annointed with brimstone than the sweet oyntment of the spirit above mentioned The second rule is to tolerate some infirmities in others as likewise others tolerate us in many things for as St. Austin speaketh Toleramus toleramur we tolerate and are tolerated our selves James 3.2 Galat. 6.2 because all offend in many things and many in all This rule is laid downe by St. Paul Be are yee one anothers burthens and so fulfill the law of Christ in which words hee enjoyneth us not onely to beare light injuries but those that are grievous and burthensome and the more burthens we beare in this kinde the lesse we have upon our owne conscience How can we expect that Christ should put his shoulders to our crosses if wee withdraw our necke from his yoke The third rule is to consider the nature of our brothers temptation and accordingly to deale with him This is laid down by the Apostle Galat. 6.1 If any man be overtaken in a fault restore such an one in the spirit of meeknesse considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted Abraham lyed to Abimelech Peter denied his Master Job uttereth speeches of impatience Paul answereth very smartly to Ananias The Lord smite thee thou painted wall Acts 23.3 but this they did either transported in passion or upon great provocation or out of feare to save their lives The greater the temptation is and the more forcible the assault of Sathan upon the frailty of our nature the lesse the sinne is or at least more pardonable This sole consideration moved Saint Cyprian to take pity on some of them that in time of persecution denied their Master and were therefore deservedly excommunicated whom hee thus bringeth in pleading for themselves not with teares but with drops of bloud falling from their tortured members * Câ—pr de lapsis Manabat proffetibâ—s sanguis pro lachrymis câ—â—ot semâ—â—stulatis viscetibâ—â— defluebâ—t stâ—tit mens stabilis fide fortis cum torqâ—entibus pâ—â—nis â—mmobilis dâ—â— anima lactata est sed cum duâ—â—ssimi Judicis recrudescente saevituâ â—am fatigatum corpus nunc flagella scinderent nunc contunderent fustes c. caro nos in colluctatione destruit For a long time say they our resolution remained firme and our faith strong and we held out the fight against our tormenting paines but when the malice and cruelty of the Judge was exasperated against us and our savage tormentors fell afresh upon our wearied and worne-out bodie sometimes tearing it with whips sometimes bruising it with clubs sometimes stretching it upon the racke sometimes scorching it with fire our flesh forsooke us in the conflict the weaknesse of our bowels gave place and our body not our soule was in the end overcome with the violence of paine Beloved you were never yet brought to the fiery tryall that you might know how farre the extremity of torment might worke and prevaile upon the infirmity of your flesh thanke God for it and judge charitably of them whose faith and constancy shone not so cleerly in the middest of the fire but that they might be compared to the smoaking flaxe in the Verse following my Text. The fourth rule is to admonish before we punish and give warning before wee strike This is laid downe by a Deut. 12.10 Moses When thou commest nigh to a City to besiege it first offer conditions of peace to it This course God hath most strictly kept sending Noah to the old World Moses and Aaron to Egypt Lot to Sodome Obadiah to Edom Jonah to Nineveh the old Prophets and Christ himselfe to Jerusalem that they might prevent Gods judgements by repenting them of their sinne as the Ninevites had the grace to doe who had certainly been destroyed if destruction had not been threatned them by the Prophet Whereat Saint Chrysostome standeth amazed and in the end breakes out into this passionate exclamation O new and admirable thing the denuntiation of death brought forth life the prophecy of the overthrow overthrew the prophecy the sentence of destruction made a nullity in the sentence And if Jerusalem had knowne the things that belonged to her peace even in that day in which our Saviour fore-shewed her fatall doome his prophecy had fell and the City had stood For therefore God and man threaten to inflict severe punishment that they may not inflict what they threaten as b Phil â—ct l. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philostrates and c Nazian epist 194. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianzen observe The fifth rule is first to use faire and gentle meanes before wee take a more severe course This is laid downe by the Apostle 1 Corinth 4.21 What will you shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and the spirit of meeknesse You see the soft drops of raine pierce the hardest stones and the warme bloud of a Goat dissolveth the Adamant Nature seemeth to prescribe this method which alwayes sendeth a flash of lightening before we heare a clap of thunder Et afflatur omne priusquam percutitur And nothing is struck which is not blasted before And Art
him Apoc. 1.7 even they that nailed him to the Crosse and pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him Yea and Amen then he shall bring or send forth judgement unto victory He brought forth judgement in his life by preaching the Gospel in his owne person and he sent it forth after his death by the ministery of his Apostles and doth still by propagating the Church but hee bringeth not forth judgement unto victory in the Evangelists phrase because this his judgement is much oppressed the light of his truth smoothered the pure doctrine of the Gospel suppressed the greater part of the Kings of the earth and Potentates of this world refusing to submit their scepter to his Crosse and saying as it is in St. Lukes Gospel Luke 17.14 Wee will not have this man to reigne over us but when the sonne of man shall display his banner in the clouds and the winds shall have breathed out their last gaspes and the sea and the waters shall roare when heaven and earth shall make one great bonefire when the stage of this world shall be removed and all the actors in it shall put off their feigned persons and guises and appeare in their owne likenesse when the man of sinne 2 Thes 2.3 8. that exalteth himselfe above all that is called God shall be fully revealed and after consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and be destroyed by the brightnesse of his comming then he shall suddenly confound the rest of his enemies Atheists Hypocrites Jewes Turkes Idolatrous Gentiles and Heretikes and breake the neckes of all that stubbornly resist him and then the truth shall universally prevaile and victoriously triumph All this variety of descant which you heare is but upon two notes a higher and a lower the humility and the majesty the infirmity and the power the obscurity and the glory the mildnesse and the severity of our Lord and Saviour his humility upon earth his majesty in heaven his infirmities in the dayes of his flesh and his power since hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father the obscurity and privacy of his first comming and solemnity of his second his mildnesse and clemency during the time of grace and mercy and his wrath and severity at the day of Judgement and Vengeance Ecce tibiâ cecinimus vobis Behold out of this Scripture I have piped unto you recording the pleasing notes of our Redeemers mildnesse and mercy who never brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe now I am to mourne unto you sounding out the dolefull notes of his justice and severity which shall one day bring forth judgement unto victory But before I set to the sad tune pricked before mee in the rules of my Text I am to entreat you to listen a while till I shall have declared unto you the harmony of the Prophet Esay and the Evangelist S. Matthew the rather because there seemeth some dissonancy and jarre between them For in Esay we reade Esay 42.3 Hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth that is give sentence according to truth but in St. Matthew He shall send forth judgement unto victory which importeth somewhat more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that the judgement he shall send forth viam inveniet aut faciet shall either finde way or force it take place or make place no man or divell being able to withstand it Besides this discord in their notes there is a sweet straine in the Prophet he shall not faile Verse 4. nor bee discouraged till hee have set judgement on the earth left out in the Evangelist To the first exception the Jesuit Maldonat saith that the Syriack word signifieth both truth and victory and that Saint Matthew wrote not in pure Hebrew but in the Hebrew then currant which was somewhat alloyed and embased with other languages which if it were granted unto him as it is not by those who defend that the Greeke in the New Testament is the originall yet the breach is not fully made up For still the originall Hebrew in Esay and the Greeke in Saint Matthew which hath been ever held authenticall are at odds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifying truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke signifying victory and not truth I grant the truth of Christ is most victorious and hath subdued all the false gods of the Heathen as the Arke laid Dagon on his face and the rod of Aaron devoured all the rods of the Magicians yet truth and victory are not all one A weake Judge may bring forth judgement unto truth yet not unto victory as on the contrary a potent and corrupt Judge may bring forth judgement unto victory yet not unto truth Tully in a bad cause prevailed against Oppianicus by casting dust in the Judges eyes And Aeschines prevailed not against Ctesiphon in a good cause Right is often overcome by might and sometimes by the sleight of a cunning Advocate for the false part To the second objection Beza answereth that these words that hee will not faile nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement on the earth were anciently in St. Matthew but of late through the carelesnesse of some transcriber from whose copy ours were drawne are left out But sith this Verse is wanting in all the copies of Saint Matthew now extant neither can Beza bring good proofe of any one in which this Verse was ever found it is not safe to lay any such imputation upon the first transcribers of St. Matthewes Gospel whereby a gap may be opened to Infidels and Heretickes to cavell at the impeachable authority of the holy Scriptures in the originall languages A safe and easie way to winde out of these perplexed difficulties is to acknowledge that the Evangelist who wrote by the same spirit wherewith the Prophet Esay was inspired tyed nor himselfe precisely to the Prophets words but fitteth the Prophets sense to his owne purpose and what the Prophet delivered in two Verses he contracteth into one For what is hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth and he shall not faint nor be discouraged till hee hath done it but that he shall doe it effectually and powerfully and what is that but he shall send forth judgement unto victory Hee shall send forth Cal. in Mat. 1. Hoc verbum educere quo utitur Propheta significat officium Christi esse Regnum Dei quod tum inclusum erat in angulo Judeae propagare in totum orbem This phrase reacheth forth unto us a twofold observation the first touching the extent the second touching the freedome of this judgement here spoken of By judgement is here meant the Kingdome of Christ which must not bee confined to Jury nor bounded within the pale of Palaestine but hee sent forth that is propagated and spread over the whole world according to the prophecy of the Psalmist a Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send a rod of thy strength out
thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction death with death and the grave with destruction Howbeit destruction here as it is applied to Israel seemeth not so much to signifie destruction in the vulgar acception that is the pulling downe of the houses or sacking of townes and villages as the dissolution of the state and downefall of the Kingdome of Israel and therefore the point herein to be seriously thought upon is the Soph Pasuck full point and fatall period of all earthly States Societies Common-wealths and Kingdomes All naturall things carry in their stile Corruptible all humane in their stile mortall all earthly in their stile Temporall to distinguish the first sort from things supernaturall which are incorruptible the second sort from things divine which are immortall the third sort from heavenly which are eternall The things which are seene saith the h 2. Cor. 4.18 Apostle are temporall but the things which are not seene are eternall It is the royall prerogative of him who i Apoc. 19.16 17.14 hath written upon his thigh and on his vesture King of Kings and Lord of Lords that his Kingdome is bounded with no limits nor confined to time the eternity whereof is proclaimed in holy Scriptures by five noble Heralds two Kings two Prophets and an Archangell The two Kings are k Psal 45 6. Thy throne O God is for ever David and l Dan. 4.32 Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion Nebuchadnezzar The two Prophets are m Cap. 17.14 His kingdome is that which shall not be destroyed Daniel and n Micah 4.7 The Lord shall reigne from henceforth even for ever Micah The Archangell is o Luke 1.31 32 33. Horat. car l. 1. od 3. Semotique prius tarda necessitas leti corripuit gradum Gabriel whose trumpet soundeth most shrill and giveth a most certaine sound Behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Jesus ver 31. He shall be great and shall be called the sonne of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David ver 32. And he shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shal be no end ver 33. Of all other there shal be For all politike bodies are in some sort subject to the condition of natural bodies As these so they have their beginning or birth growth perfection state decay and dissolution And as the statures of men in this decrepit and feeble age of the world are much diminished and their life shortened so even States and Empires fall short of their former greatnesse and are like sooner to arrive to their period naturall end or to speake more properly civill death and dissolution called in my text destruction Some who have taken upon them to calculate as it were the nativitie of the world and erect a scheme of all the living have set the utmost day of the duration of the one and life of all the other to fall within foure hundred yeares according to an ancient tradition of the Jewes fathered upon the house of p Melancthon in Chron. l. 1. p. 10. Sex millia annorum mundus duo millia inane duo millia lex duo millia dies Messiae propter peccata nostra quae multa magna sunt deerunt anni qui decrunt Elias The world shall last sixe thousand yeeres two thousand thereof there shall be a vacuitie or emptinesse two thousand the Law shall continue and the dayes of the Messiah shall make out two thousand more of which if any be lacking by reason of our many and grievous sinnes they shall be lacking The Cabalists favour this conceit and labour to wierdraw it out of the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis where because they finde sixe Alephs or A's which in numerall characters signifie so many thousand yeares conclude the duration of the world from the first creation to the end shall make up just that number of yeeres And many also of our Christian Chronologists streining the letter of q 2 Pet. 3.8 One day with the Lord is as a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres as one day St. Peter too farre allot precisely sixe thousand yeares for the continuance of the world at the seventh thousand they beleeve we shall all begin to keepe our everlasting Sabbath in heaven For the period of particular Kingdomes Gasper q Pâ—ucer praesat in Chron. Carion Hanc periodum lege quadam sancitam divinitâ—s magnis Impeâ—iis fatalem esse universales mutationes afferre ostendunt omnium temporum historiae Peucerus observeth that it seldome or never exceedeth 500. years which he proveth by these instances following From the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt to the building of the first Temple we finde much about five hundred yeeres run out the first as also the second Temple stood thereabouts the Assyrians ruled in Asia so long Athens was ruled by Kings Rome by Consuls just so many yeers From Augustus to Valentinian the last five hundred yeeres are reckoned all which time the seat of the fourth Monarchy of the world was fixed at Rome The Church of Rome in a sort continued in her puritie for five hundred yeeres After the Papacie and superstition grew to the height in the westerne parts before the thousanth yeere and five hundred yeeres after the happy reformation begun by Martin Luther Yet neither that tradition of the house of Elias nor the observation of Peucerus are of infallible certaintie r Acts 1.7 which the Father hath 〈◊〉 in his owne power It belongeth not to us to know times and seasons and though often God hath translated Kingdomes within the limits of five hundred yeeres yet not alwayes some have lasted longer as the Monarchy of the Assyrians some farre shorter as the monarchy of the Persians and after them of the Grecians The Christian Kings of Jerusalem finished their course within a hundred yeeres Men may probably ghesse at the circumvolution of great Empires and Kingdomes but neither can the Astrologers certainely foresee by the course of the starres nor Å¿ Bod. de rep l. 4. c. 2. ex Plat. pol. 8. Platonicks define by the accomplishment of the nuptiall number nor Politicians foretell by their intelligence with forreine States nor Magicians determine by conference with their familiar spirits but the Prophets of God onely forewarne by inspiration from him who hath decreed before all time the dayes of man and continuance of families and periods of Kingdomes and ages of the world and lasting of time it selfe That which Belshazzar saw t Dan. 5.25.26 a hand writing upon the wall all Princes and States may see and read in the records of heaven kept in holy Scripture Mene Mene thou art numbred thou art numbred thy yeares are summed thy dayes are appointed thine houre is set Be thou as great and glorious as Nebuchadnezzars Image
not to make satisfaction so long as he held the sterne right and guided it by the compasse in like maner though our actions and good intentions miscarrie in the event we are not to be blamed if we steered our course by the compasse of Gods word though the barke be cast away as St. Pauls was the lives of all in it shall be safe and our temporall losses shall alway turne to our spirituall and eternall advantage Yea but God is in heaven we are upon earth how may we come to have speech with him or open our case to him or receive answer from him The Jewes had two meanes to receive answer from him either by the mouth of the Prophets when the spirit was on them or from the Priests when they had put on the breast-plate of judgement we have no such meanes now to enquire the will of God neither are visions nor dreames by which men in former times understood the pleasure of God now either frequent or undoubted oracles of truth yet have we still meanes to advise with God both by prayer and consulting the holy Scriptures Of the former St. James speaketh Å¿ Jam. 1.5 If any man lacke wisedome that is counsell and direction in his affaires let his aske it of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shal be given him But let him aske in faith nothing wavering c. Of the second the Prophet David t Psal 119.24 Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellers in the Hebrew men of my counsell Having now composed the presse what remains but to clap it to the sheets and labour by a word of exhortation to print some of these rules in your harts Be wise now c. Be wise 1. In the choice of your wisdome 2. Be instructed in the means of your instruction make choice of the wisdome that commeth from above from the Father of lights not that which commeth from beneath from the Prince of darkness receive instruction from the spirit not from the flesh from God not from the world so shall you be wise unto salvation and instructed to eternal life Be your selves clients and sutors to God before your clients and sutors have accesse unto you ask counsel of him before you give counsell to them and content not your selves with the waters of the brooke or rivelet but have recourse to the u Cic. de orat l. 2. Tardâ— est ingeniâ— rivulos consectari fontes rerum non videre fountain Now the fountaine of all law is the wisedome of God as the wisest of the heathen Law-givers in effect acknowledged it Zamolxis ascribing the lawes he delivered to the people to Vesta Zoroaster to Hormasis Trismegistus to Mercurie Lycurgus to Apollo Solon to Minerva Numa to the Nymph Aegeria Minos to Jupiter If time be well spent in searching records of Courts and evidences of conveyances and titles of lands how much better in searching the holy Scriptures which are the records of heaven the deeds of Almighty God and evidences of our salvation Who would not search where he may be sure to find treasure In Scriptures you may be sure to finde it wherein all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid the treasures of naturall Philosophy in Genesis of morall Philosophy in Exodus Deuteronomie and Ecclesiastes of the Politickes in the Judicials of Moses and the Proverbes of Solomon of Poetry in the Psalmes of History in the bookes of Chronicles Judges and Kings of the Mathematickes in the dimensions of the Arke and Temple of the Metaphysickes in the bookes of the Prophets and the Apocalyps Doe you desire that the tree of your knowledge in the Law should spread farre and neere and that all men should shade themselves under your boughes Water the root of the tree which beareth up your lawes and sendeth sap and life to all the branches thereof and that is true religion for x Psal 111.10 the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome and a good understanding and care have all they that follow after it First to look to the maine chance and provide for their eternall estate in another world next to learne certainly that they are in state of grace here thirdly to observe where they are weakest and there to strengthen themselves against the assaults of the enemie fourthly to make use of the historie of the world and comment upon the speciall workes of Gods providence lastly to entertaine God his Prophets and Apostles for their learned counsell to direct them in all their suits in the Court of heaven and managing all their weightiest affaires on earth so shall they be sure to attain that which David so earnestly sought of God by prayer saying y Psal 73.24 Guide me by thy counsell and after that receive me to thy glory To whom c. THE JUDGES CHARGE A Sermon preached at the Readers Feast in LINCOLNES Inne THE NINTH SERMON PSAL. 2.10 Be instructed or learned yee Judges of the earth Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. AT the siege of Tarentum a Aelian de Var. hist l. 5. when the Citizens were driven by extremitie of famine to the point of yeelding themselves into the hands of the Romans they were strangely relieved by the charity of their neighbours at Rhegium who every tenth day fasted themselves and sent in their provision for that day to the Tarentines In memory of which reliefe they kept ever after a feast which they called Jejunium oâ— Festum jejunii the Fasts feast or a feast grounded on a fast Such is the Feast bid at this time in this place gained by a long prescription out of the Lent Fast It may rightly be called Festum Jejunii the Feast of the Fast a Feast of the Law beside if not contrarie to the Law of Feasts appointed by the Church Wherein yet I conceive according to the right meaning of the first founders of this exercise and Feast the Ecclesiasticall cannons of the Church and locall statutes of these houses doe not harshly clash one against the other but rather like strings tuned alike and dexterously touched make a perfect chord and strike full unisons both intending Festum Jejunii the one a spirituall the other a scholasticall the one an Evangelicall the other a Legall Feast in the time of Fast For the Church appointeth more frequent exercises of pietie and devotion Prayers Lectures and Sermons which are the soules dainties at this time than any other season of the yeere And agreeable hereunto in the Universities which are the Nurseries of Religion and Arts and in these noble Seminaries of justice and knowledge in the lawes the most solemne and profitable exercises for the proficiencie of students whether readings disputations or determinations have beene time out of minde and are yet performed in the Lent wherein the eye of the soule is the more apt and single for the contemplation of divine and humane knowledge by how much it is
little Christian bloud in as much as Dioclesian plucked but out the bodily eyes of Saints and Martyrs the holes whereof the good Emperour Constantine kissed whereas Julian by shutting up all Christian schooles and bereaving them of the light of knowledge after a sort plucked out the eyes of their soules Which I speake not for that I conceive the Scriptures are not sufficient of themselves for our instruction to enlighten our understanding but because we are not sufficient for the opening of the meaning of them without the helps of arts and sciences the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost ceasing long before our time The light of divers rapers in the same roome though united yet is not confounded as the opticks demonstrate by the distinct shadowes which they cast neither doth the light of divine knowledge confound that of humane in the soule but both concurre to the full illumination of the understanding And as the organe of the bodily eye cannot discerne any thing without a double light viz. 1. h Brierhood tractat de oculo M.S. Lumine innato an inward light in the christalline humour of the eye 2. Lumine illato an outward light in the aire and on the object so neither can the eye of the soule in this region of darknesse perfectly distinguish the colours of good and evill without a double light the in-bred light of nature and the outward light which is acquired by learning being Lumen not innatum but illatum not naturally resplendent in the soule and brought with it into the world but ab extrinseco brought into the soule by reading hearing discoursing contemplating or divine inspiration Solomon who best knew what belonged to wisedome sets his wise man to i Pro. 1.5 Aâ—â—se man will heare and will understand learning schoole and promiseth for him that he will take his k Pâ— 9.9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will he yet wiser teach a â—â—t man and he will in crease in learning learning and bee a good proficient in it And behold a wiser than Solomon l Mat. 13.52 Christ himselfe compareth every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdome of heaven to a man that is an housholder who bringeth out of his treasury new things and old He likeneth him not to a pedler that hath nothing but inkle tape and such like trash in his pack which he openeth at every mans doore but to a rich ware-house man who out of his treasury or ware-house bringeth out precious things either new or old as they are called for Such a Scribe was Moses who m Acts 7.22 was learned in all the wisedome of the Aegyptians Such a Scribe was Daniel and the foure children that were bred up with him to whom God n Dan. 1.17 gave knowledge and skill in all learning Such a Scribe was S. Paul who was o Act. 22.3 brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers Neither was he conversant onely in the writings of the Rabbines but also expert in the heathen Philosophers Orators and Poets whom he after a sort defloureth of their choicest sentences observations incorporating them into his most learned and eloquent epistles Such a Scribe was Clemens Alexandrinus whose writings in regard of all variety of good literature in them are called stromata rare pieces of Arras or Tapestry Such a Scribe was S. Cyprian who by Rhetoricke Tertullian who by the civill Law Justin Martyr and Origen who by Philosophy S. Basil who by Physicke S. Austin who by Logicke Eusebius who by history Prudentius who by Poetry Gregory Nazianzen Jerome and many other of the ancient Doctors of the Church who by exquisite skill in the Arts and learned Languages exceedingly improved their sacred talent of Scripture-knowledge p Vid. Lyps Manuducti ad Stoicam Philosophiam Philo that accomplished Jew deviseth an elegant allegory upon Abrahams companying with Hagar before he could have issue by Sara Hagar the bond-woman is secular or humane learning with which we must have to doe before wee can promise our selves fruit by Sarah that is much profit by the study of divinity Neither doth this argue any imperfection in the Scriptures but in us the starres are most visible in themselves yet through the imbecillity of our sight without a perspective glasse we cannot exactly take their elevation or true magnitude What though God in the first plantation of the Gospell used the industry of illiterate men and made Fishermen fishers of men that our q 1 Cor. 2.5 faith should not stand in the wisedome of men but in the power of God yet after the miraculous gifts of the Spirit fayled in the Church wee shall read of no Rammes hornes but Silver Trumpets emploied in the throwing down of Sathans forts Since that the promise of dabitur in illa hora it shall bee given you in that houre is turned into the precept of attende lectioni give r 1 Tim. 4.13.15 attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine meditate upon these things give thy selfe wholly unto them that thy profiting may appeare unto all men Since the dayes of the Apostles and their immediate Successors the learnedst men have proved the worthiest instruments of Gods glory in Church or Commonwealth Be learned therefore Yee Judges Religion commends learning and learning a Judge Å¿ Numb 11.17 The Lord tooke of the Spirit which was upon Moses and put it upon seventy Elders This Spirit it is which animateth a Judge whose briefest and yet fullest definition is Jus animatum enlived right or the living law For the law is a dead and mute Judge and the Judge is a living and speaking law As the Philosopher termeth t Arist Rhet. l. 3. Pictura muta poesis poesis loquens pictura painting silent Poetry and Poetry a speaking picture Now how can a Judge speake the law or the law speake by him if he know not the law It implyeth a kinde of contradiction for an Actor to bee without action or an Orator without words or a Labourer without worke or a Counsellor without advice or a Judge without judgement in the law Can an Artificer worke by his rule who holdeth it not in his hand or a Pilot steere by the compasse who hath not the compasse before his eye or understandeth it not no more can a Judge give sentence according to the law who is ignorant of the law Ignorance in a private man is a prejudice and some blemish to himselfe but u Aug. de civ Dei Ignorantia Judicis est calamitas innocentis ignorance in a Judge is the calamity of the innocent nay may prove the ruine of a State What greater mischiefe in any society than that the estates good name livelihood yea and lives too of men should lye in the breast of a Judge who out of ignorance is faine to aske Quid est justitia what is justice as Pilate
in Lambeth Chappell A.D. 1622. March 23. THE TENTH SERMON JOHN 20.22 And when hee had said this hee breathed on them and saith unto them receive yee the holy Ghost Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Reverend Right Worshipfull c. A Diamond is not cut but by the point of a Diamond nor the sunne-beame discerned but by the light of the beame nor the understanding faculty of the soule apprehended but by the faculty of understanding nor can the receiving of the holy Ghost bee conceived or delivered without receiving in some a Aug tract 16. in Joh. Adsit ipse spiritus ut sic eloqui possimus degree that holiest Spirit b Ciâ— de mat Qui eloquentiam laudat debet illam ipsam adhibere quam lâ—â—dat Hee that will blazon the armes of the Queen of affections Eloquence must borrow her own pencill and colours nor may any undertake to expound this text and declare the power of this gift here mentioned but by the gift of this power Wherefore as in the interpretation of other inspired Scriptures wee are humbly to intreat the assistance of the Inspirer so more especially in the explication and application of this which is not onely effectivè à spiritu but also objectivè de spiritu not onely indited and penned as all other by the spirit but also of the spirit This of all other is a most mysterious text which being rightly understood and pressed home will not only remove the weaker fence betweene us and the Greeke Church touching the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Sonne but also beat downe and demolish the strong and high partition wall betweene the reformed and the Romane Church built upon S. Peters supremacy For if Christ therefore used the Ceremony of breathing upon his Apostles with this forme of words Receive yee the Holy Ghost as it were of set purpose visibly to represent the proceeding of the holy Spirit from himselfe why should not the Greeke Church acknowledge with us the eternall emanation of the holy Ghost from the Sonne as well as the Father and acknowledging it joyne with us in the fellowship of the same spirit Our difference and contestation with the Church of Rome in point of S. Peters primacy is far greater I confesse For the head of all controversies between us and them is the controversie concerning the head of the Church Yet even this how involved soever they make it may be resolved by this text alone For if Christ sent all his Apostles as his Father sent him if he breathed indifferently upon all if he gave his spirit and with it full power of remittting and retaining sinnes to them all then is there no ground here for S. Peters jurisdiction over the rest much lesse the Popes and if none here none elsewhere as the sequell will shew For howsoever Cajetan and Hart and some few Papists by jingling Saint Peters c Mat. 16.19 Keyes and distinguishing of a key 1 Of knowledge 2 Of power and this 1 Of order 2 Of jurisdiction and that 1 In foro exteriori the outward court 2 Foro interiori the inward court of conscience goe about to confound the harmony of the Evangelists who set all the same tune but to a different key yet this is confessed on all sides by the Fathers Hilary Jerome Austine Anselme and by the Schoole-men Lumbard Aquinas Allensis and Scotus alledged by Cardinall d Bellar. de Rom. pont l. 1. c. 12. Bellarmine that what Christ promised to Peter e Mat. 16. he performed and made good to him here but here the whole f Hieronymus adver Lucifer Cuncti claves accipiunt super omnes ex aequô ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur bunch of keyes is offered to all the Apostles and all of them receive them all are joyned with S. Peter as well in the mission as my Father sent mee so I send you as in the Commission Lastly as this text containes a soveraigne Antidote against the infection of later heresies so also against the poyson of the more ancient and farther spread impieties of Arrius and Macedonius whereof the one denyed the divinity and eternity of the Sonne the other of the holy Ghost both whose damnable assertions are confuted by consequence from this text For if Christ by breathing giveth the holy Ghost and by giving the holy Ghost power of remitting sinne then must Christ needs bee God for who but God can give or send a divine person The holy Ghost also from hence is proved to be God for who can g Mar. 2.7 or Esay 43.25 forgive sinnes but God alone So much is our faith indebted to this Scripture yet our calling is much more for what can bee spoken more honourably of the sacred function of Bishops and Priests than that the investiture and admittance into it is the receiving of the holy Ghost * Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura regula caeterorum The first action in every kind of this nature is a president to all the rest as all the furniture of the Ceremoniall law was made according to the first patterne in the Mount such is this consecration in my text the originall and patterne of all other wherein these particulars invite your religious attention 1 The person consecrating Christ the chiefe Bishop of our soules 2 The persons consecrated The Apostles the prime Pastours of the Church 3 The holy action it selfe set forth 1 With a mysterious rite he breathed on them 2 A sanctified forme of words receive ye the holy Ghost 1 First for the person consecrating All Bishops are consecrated by him originally to whom they are consecrated all Priests are ordained by him to whom they are ordained Priests the power which they are to employ for him they receive from him to whom h Matth. 28.18 all power is given both in heaven and in earth By vertue of which deed of gift he maketh i Matth. 10.2 choice of his ministers and hee sendeth them with authority k Jâ—h 20.21 as my Father sent me so I send you And hee furnisheth them with gifts saying receive yee the holy Ghost and enableth them with a double power of order to l Matth. 28.19 Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 11.24 This do in the remembrance of me preach and administer both the sacraments and of jurisdiction also Matth. 18.18 Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bee bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And that this sacred order is to continue in the Church and this spirituall power in this order even till Christ resigneth up his keyes and kingdome to God his Father S. Paul assureth us Eph. 4.10.11.12 Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some
Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastours and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Ver. 12. Till wee all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ Till all the Elect be come God ceaseth not to call by the ministery of the word and none may call without a calling to call Needs must there be therefore a settled order in the Church for the calling of those to the ministery of the word sacraments who are to call others by their ministery This constant ordination of a succession in the Church some make a royalty of Christ or an appendant to his princely function for it is for Kings to set men in authority under them in the affaires of the Kingdome Others annexe it to his priesthood because the high Priest was to consecrate inferiour Priests A third sort will have it a branch of his propheticall office because Prophets were to anoint Prophets All these reasons are concludent but none of them excludent For the entire truth in which these three opinions have an equall share is that the establishing the ministery of the Gospell and furnishing the Church with able Pastours hath a dependance on all three offices 1 On the Kingly in respect of heavenly power 2 On the Priestly in respect of sacred order 3 On the Propheticall in respect of ministeriall gifts Each of Christs offices deliver into our hands as it were a key 1. Clavem Coeli 2. Clavem Sanctuarii or Templi 3. Clavem sacrae Scripturae 1. His Kingly office conferreth on us the key of heaven to open and shut it 2. His Priestly the key of the Temple to enter into it and administer holy things 3. His Propheticall the key of holy Scripture to open the meaning thereof Thus you see ordinem ordinis an order for holy orders you heare who is the founder of our religious order and whose keyes we keepe Which consideration as it much improveth the dignity of our calling so it reproveth their indignity who walke not agreeable thereunto A scar in the face is a greater deformity than a wound or sore in any other part of the body such is the eminency of our calling beloved brethren that our spots can no more be hid than the spots in the Moone nay that it maketh every spot in us a staine every blemish a scar every pricke a wound every drop of Inke a blot every trip a fall every fault a crime If we defile Christs priesthood with an impure life we do worse than those his professed enemies who spit on his face If we foule and black with giving and receiving the wages of unrighteousnes those hands wherwith we deliver the price of mans redemption in the blessed Sacraments we more wrong our Saviour than those who pierced his sacred hands with nailes If we in these holy Mounts of God wherein we should presse the purest liquor out of the grapes of the Vines of Engaddi vent our owne spleene and malice what doe we else than offer to Christ againe vinegar and gall If we Christs meniall and domesticall servants turne m Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some copies mis-read and serve the time instead of serving the Lord. If we preach our selves and not Christ crucified if we beare the world in hand to wooe for our master but indeed speake for our selves if we use the staires of the Pulpit as steps only to our preferment if we heare our Lord and Master highly dishonoured and dissemble it if we see the Sea of Rome continually to eat into the bankes of our Church and never goe about to make up the breaches if that should ever fall out which a sweet sounding Cymball sometimes tinckled into the eares of the Pope that n Bernard de considerat ad Eugen Multi necessarii multi adversarii non Doctores sed Seductores non Praelati sed Pilati the greatest enemies of Christ should be those of his owne house if Pastours turne Impostours if Doctours Seductours if Prelates Pilates if Ministers of Christ servants of Antichrist either by silence to give way or by smoothing Romish tenets to make way for Popery no marvaile then if judgement begin at the house of God as it did in the siege at Jerusalem with the slaughter of Ananus the high Priest no marvaile if God suffer sacriledge to rob the Church of her maintenance almost in all places when the Church her selfe is guilty of worse sacriledge by robbing God of his worship and service But on the contrarie if as Ambassadours for Christ we deliver our message faithfully and roundly if we seeke not our owne but the things that are Jesus Christs if we esteeme not our preferments no nor our lives deere unto us in comparison of our Masters honour if we preach Christ crucified in our lives as well as in our sermons if in our good name we are the sweet smelling favour of God as well as in our doctrine we may then Christi nomine in Christs stead challenge audience yea and reverence too from the greatest powers upon earth whatsoever State-flies buzze to the contrary For as he that o Luke 10.16 despiseth Christs ministers despiseth him so he that p Mat. 10.40 receiveth him receiveth them also No man who honoureth the Prince can dis-esteeme his Ambassadours If Scribes and Pharisees must be heard because they teach in Moses chaire how much more Saith St. Chrysostome may they command our attention who sit in Christs chaire The same Apostle who chargeth every soule to be q Rom. 13.1.4 subject to the higher powers who beare not the sword in vaine as strictly requireth the faithfull to r Heb. 13.17 obey them that have the rule over them in the Lord and submit unto them for they watch saith he for your soules as they that must give account that they may doe it with joy and not with griefe for that is unprofitable for you Therefore ſ Sym. epist ad Anast Defer Deo in nobis nos Deo in te Symmachus kept within compasse when he thus spake to Anastasius the Emperour Acknowledge God in us and we will acknowledge him in thee Deus est in utroque parente we hold from Christ as you from God as we submit ourselves to Gods sword in your hands so you ought to obey Christs word in our mouthes And so I passe from the person consecrating to the persons consecrated He breathed on them and said receive ye the holy Ghost The holy Martyr St. t Cypr. de unita Eccles Apostolis omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem tribuit dicit sicut misit me pater ego mitto vos accipite Spiritum sanctum si cui remiseritis peccata remittentur ei c. Hoc
of sinnes is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit and by a metonymie termed the Holy Ghost Barradius bringeth us an answer out of the schooles that z Barrad in harmon Evang. remission of sinnes is a worke of Gods goodnesse and mercy now workes of goodnesse are peculiarly attributed to the holy Spirit who proceedeth as they determine from the will of the Father and the Sonne whose object is goodnesse as workes of wisedome are attributed to the Sonne because hee is the word proceeding by way of generation from the understanding of his Father This reason may goe for currant in their way neither have I any purpose at this time to crosse it but to haste to the period of this discourse in which that I may better discover the path of truth in stead of many little lights which others have brought I will set up one great taper made of the sweetest of their waxe The Holy Ghost is sometimes taken for the person of the Comforter which sealeth Gods chosen to salvation sometimes for the gifts effects or operations of the Holy Ghost as it were the prints of his scale left in the soule these are principally three 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall power or authority 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue or ghostly ability to worke wonders and speake with divers languages 1 Is common to all them that are sanctified 2 Is peculiar to Christs Ministers 3 Restrayned to the Apostles themselves and some few others of their immediate successors z Joh. 3.5 Exceâ—t a man be borne of the water and of the spirit 1 Regenerating grace is termed the holyGhost 2 Spirituall order or ministeriall power is called the Spirit or holy Ghost in this place and Luk. 4.18 Esay 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospell c. 3 Miraculous vertue is called the holy Ghost Act. 2.4 And they were filled with the holy Ghost and spake with divers tongues 1 The Spirit of grace and regeneration the Apostles received at their first calling 2 The Spirit of ecclesiasticall government they received at this time c. 3 The Spirit of powerfull and extraordinary operation they received in the day of Pentecost 1 In their mindes by infallible inspiration 2 In their tongues by multiplicity of languages 3 In their hands by miraculous cures Receive then the Holy Ghost is 1 A ghostly function to ordaine Pastors and sanctifie congregations to God 2 Spirituall gifts to execute and discharge that function 3 Spirituall power or jurisdiction to countenance and support both your function and gifts Thus have I opened the treasury of this Scripture out of which I now offer to your religious thoughts and affections these ensuing observations And first in generall I commend to the fervour of your zeale and devotion the excessive heat of Christs love which absumed and spent him all for us flesh and spirit His flesh he offereth us in the Sacrament of his Supper his spirit hee conferreth in the sacred rite of consecration His body hee gave by those words Take eate this is my body his spirit hee gave by these Receive ye the holy Ghost a gift unestimable a treasure unvaluable for it was this spirit which quickned us when wee were dead in trespasses and sinnes it is this spirit which fetcheth us againe when wee swoune in despaire it is this spirit that refresheth and cooleth us in the extreme heat of all persecutions afflictions sorrowes and diseases to it we owe 1 Light in our mindes 2 Warmth in our desires 3 Temper in our affections 4 Grace in our wils 5 Peace in our consciences 6 Joy in our hearts and unspeakeable comfort in life and death This is the winde which bloweth a Cant. 4.16 Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits upon the Spouse her garden that the spices thereof might flow out This is the breath which formeth the words in the cloven tongues this is the breath which bloweth and openeth all the flowers of Paradise This is the blast which diffuseth the savour of life through the whole Church This is the gale which carryeth us through all the troublesome waves of this world and bringeth us safe to the haven where we would be And as the Spouse of Christ which is his mysticall body is infinitely indebted to her head for this gift of the spirit whereby holy congregations are furnished with Pastors and they with gifts and the ministery of the Gospell continually propagated so wee above all nations in the world at this day are most bound to extoll and magnifie his goodnesse towards us herein among whom in a manner alone this holy seed of the Church remaineth unmixed and uncorrupt not onely as propagated but propagating also not children onely but Fathers Apostolicall doctrine other reformed Churches maintaine but doe they retaine also Apostolicall discipline laying of hands they have on Ministers and Pastors but consecration of Archbishops and Bishops they have not And because they want consecrated Bishops to ordaine Pastors their very ordination is not according to ancient order Because they want spirituall Fathers in Christ to beget children in their ministery their Ministers by the adversary are accounted no better than filii populi whereas will they nill they even in regard of our Hierarchy the most frontlesse Papists must confesse the children begot by our reverend Fathers in the ministery of the Gospell to be as legitimate as their owne For albeit they put the hereticke upon us as the Arrians did upon the Catholike Fathers calling them Athanasians c. yet this no way disableth either the consecration of our Bishops nor the ordination of our Priests not onely because we have proved the dogge lyeth at their doores and that they are a kinde of mungrils of divers sorts of heretickes but because it is the doctrine of their Church b See Croy in his third conformity Whitaker in fine resp ad demonstrat Sanderi Rivet procem de haeref q. 1. Cath. orthod that the character of order is indeleble and therefore Archbishop Cranmer and other of our Bishops ordained by them if they had afterwards as Papists most falsly suppose fallen into heresie could not lose their faculty of consecration and ordination The consecration of Catholicke Bishops by Arrians and baptisme of faithfull Christians children by Donatists though heretickes is made good as well by the decrees of ancient as later Councels determining that Sacraments administred even by heretickes so they observe the rite and forme of words prescribed in holy scripture bee of force and validity Praysed therefore for ever bee the good will of him that dwelt in the bush that the Rod of Aaron still flourisheth among us and planteth and propagateth it selfe like that Indian fig-tree so much admired by all Travellers from the utmost branch whereof issueth a gummy juyce which hangeth
downe like a cord or finew and within a few months reacheth the ground which it no sooner toucheth than it taketh root and maketh it selfe a tree and that likewise another and that likewise a third and so forward till they over-runne the whole grove To draw nearer to you my Lord to bee consecrated and so to an end This scripture is part of the Gospell appointed for the Sunday after Easter knowne to the Latine Church by the name of Dominica in albis Which Lords day though in the slower motion of time in our Calendar is not yet come yet according to exact computation this Sunday is Dominica in albis and if you either respect the reverend presence Candidantium or Candidandi or the sacred order of Investiture now to be performed let your eyes be judges whether it may not truely be termed Dominica in albis a Sunday in whites The text it selfe as before in the retexture thereof I shewed is the prototypon or original of all consecrations properly so called For howsoever these words may bee used and are also in the ordination of Priests because they also receive the holy Ghost that is spirituall power and authority yet they receive it not so amply and fully nor without some limitation sith ordination and excommunication have bin ever appropriated and reserved to Bishops And it is to be noted that the Apostles long before this were sent by Christ to preach and baptize and therefore they were not now ordained Priests but consecrated Bishops as Saint c Greg. in Evan. Horum nunc in ecclesiâ Episcopi locum tenent qui gradum regiminis sortiuntur grandis honor sed grave pondus est istius honoris Gregory saith expressely in his illustration of these words Receive the holy Ghost whose sinnes yee remit c. Now Bishops who fit at the sterne of the Church hold the place of those to whom Christ gave here the ghostly power of forgiving sinnes a great honour indeed but a great charge withall and a heavie burden so ponderous in Saint Barnards judgement that it needs the shoulders of an Angell to beare it The Apostles had made good proofe of their faithfulnesse in the ministry of the Word and Sacraments before Christ lifted them up to this higher staire as likewise the venerable Personage now to bee taken up into that ranke hath done For more than thirty yeeres hee hath shined as a starre in the firmament of our Church and now by the primus motor in our heaven is designed to bee an Angell or to speake in the phrase of the Peripatetickes an Intelligence to guide the motion of one of our Spheres Which though it be one of the least his Episcopall dignity is no whit diminished thereby In Saint d Hiero. ad Evag Omnis Episcopus sive Romae sive Eugubii aequalis est meriti Hieromes account every Bishop be his Diocesse great or small is equally a Bishop Episcopatus non suscipit magis minus one Bishop may be richer than another or learneder but hee cannot bee more a Bishop Therefore howsoever e Basil epist 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianzen tooke it unkindly at Saint Basils hands after hee was advanced to the Metropolitical See of Cappadocia and had many good Bishopricks in his gift that he put him upon one of the meanest being ill situated and of small revenue telling him flatly that he gained nothing by his friendship but this lesson not to trust a friend yet it never troubled great Austine that obscure Aurelius worked himselfe into the great and famous Archbishopricke of Carthage whilest this eminent light of the Church stucke all his life at poore Hippo for hee well remembred the words of our Lord and Master f Matth. 25.21 Be thou faithfull in a little and I will set thee over much Suffer I beseech you a word of exhortation and but a word Be faithfull to your Master seeke not your owne but the things that are Jesus Christs It is not sufficient in Nazianzens judgement for a Bishop not to be soyled with the dust of covetousnesse or any other vice g Nazian orat 1 de fuga in pont Privati quidem hominis vitium esse existimet turpia supplicioque digna perpetrare praefecti autem vel antistitis non quam optimum esse he must shine in vertue and if hee bee not much better than other men h Idem orat 20. Antistes improbitatis notam effugere non potest nisi multum antecellat hee is no good Bishop Wherefore as it was said at the creation of the Romane Consul praesta nomen tuum thou art made Consul make good thy name consule reipublicae So give mee leave in this day of your consecration to use a like forme of words to you my Lord Elect Episcopus es praesta nomen tuum you are now to be made a Bishop an Overseer of the Lords flocke make good your name looke over your whole Diocesse observe not onely the sheepe but the Pastors not only those that are lyable to your authority jurisdiction but those also who execute it under you Have an eye to your eyes and hold a strict hand over your hands I meane your officials collectors and receivers and if your eye cause you to offend plucke it out and if your hand cut it off Let it never bee said by any of your Diocesse that they are the better in health for your not visiting them as the i Eras apoth Eò melius habeo quod te medico non utor Lacedemonian Pausanias answered an unskilfull Physician that asked him how hee did the better quoth he because I take none of your Physick Imprint these words alwayes in your heart which give you your indeleble character consider whose spirit you receive by imposition of hands and the Lord give you right understanding in all things it is the spirit of Jesus Christ he breathed and said receive the holy Spirit This spirit of Jesus Christ is 1 The spirit of zeale Joh. 2.17 Bee you not cold in Gods cause whip out buyers and sellers out of the Church 2 The spirit of discretion Joh. 10.14 I am the good shepheard and know my sheepe and am knowne of them Know them well whom you trust with the mysteries of salvation to whom you commit those soules which God hath purchased with his owne blood lay not hands rashly upon any for if the k Matth. 6.23 light be darkenesse how great will the darkenesse be If in giving holy orders and imposition of hands there be a confusion hand over head how great will the confusion be in the Church 3 The spirit of meeknesse Matth. 11.29 Learne of me that I am meek breake not a bruised reede nor quench the smoaking flaxe sis bonus O foelixque tuis be good especially to those of your own calling Take not l Histor Aug. in Aureliano Aurelian for your patterne whose souldiers more feared him than the enemy
walkest a turne in a pleasant garden so the eye of our minde is cleared and our spirituall senses much revived by walking in the garden of holy Scriptures and smelling to the flowers of Paradise but if wee run about in the smoake that is busie our selves about earthly affaires we shall shed many a teare and be in danger of quite losing our sight I will conclude and briefely represent all the principall points of the Apostles exhortation to your view in one type of the law In the Arke of the covenant there was the rod of a Exod. 24.25 Aaron that budded and about it a crown of gold By the rod of Aaron you easily apprehend the Priests office or pastorall charge the buds of this rod or parts of this charge are two feeding and overseeing which ought to bee performed not by constraint but willingly as the buddes were not drawne out of Aarons rod but put forth of their owne accord And herein wee are not to respect our owne good but the good of our flocke wee must doe nothing for filthy lucre but of a free minde to benefit others as the rod of Aaron bare not blossomes or fruit to or for it selfe but to and for others By the fruits of Aarons rod you may understand the good life of a faithfull Pastor who is to be an example to his flock this fruit enclineth him to true humility opposite to Lord-like pride as the fruit of a tree weigheth the branches downe to the earth Lastly by the Crowne above the rod and round about the Arke is represented the reward of a faithfull Shepheard and vigilant Bishop You have the embleme of your office the word or Motto shall be Germinet virga Aaronis Let the rod of Aaron blossome in your mouths by preaching the word and budde in your hands by the exercise of ecclesiasticall discipline and beare fruit in your lives by being ensamples to your flocke and the crowne above the rod and about the Arke shall bee yours as it is promised ver 4. And when the chiefe shepheard shall appeare you shall receive a crowne of glory that fadeth not away Which God the Father grant for the price of his Sonnes blood to whom with the holy Spirit be all honour glory praise and thanks-giving now and for ever Amen THE TREE OF SAVING KNOVVLEDGE OR Schola Crucis Schola Lucis A Sermon preached in Lent March 16. before the King at White-hall THE TWELFTH SERMON 1 COR. 2.2 I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified IF any here present bee of so dainty eares and delicate a palate that wholesome meat will not downe with them unlesse it bee curiously dressed by art and exquisitely dished and set forth with variety of costly sawces I desire them to consider that there may bee intemperancy in the eare as well as the taste and that to feede such a luxurious humour in them were a kind of breach of the holy Fast wee now keep Where beautifull pictures and sacred imagery are most in use I should say abuse I meane in the Church of Rome during the whole time of Lent sad a P. Moul. cont Coeffet p. 2. curtaines and darke vailes are drawn before them and in like maner our divine Apelles's if they have any rare and eminent piece for stuffe as well as workmanship by them they may doe well to vaile or shadow them at this season that art may sympathize with religion and humane learning as it were put on blacks when divine puts on sacke cloth For my selfe I need make no other Apology to you than the Apostle doth to the Corinthians in my text The words which I handle are a warrant for the plaine handling thereof for what is I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified but in effect to say I b Chrys in Gen. orat 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purposed not to make any banquet I bid you to no feast I have provided you but one dish of meate the Lambe of God and it but ordinarily dressed broached upon the Crosse that is Jesus Christ and him crucified Too exact division hath the same inconvenience with c â—â—uinct instit orat l. 4. Id viti um habet nimia quod nulla divisio confuso simile est quicquid in pâ—lverem usque secatur deinde cum fecerunt multas partiâ—ulas in eandem incidant obscuritatem contra quam inventa partitio est The division want of division for it breedeth confusion which it should prevent and troubleth the memory which it should helpe and ease As to handle severall parts without premising a convenient partition is to teare asunder and not to carve up so on the contrary over-curiously to divide upon division and sub-divide sub-divisions is to crumble not breake the bread of life or as Fabius speaketh frusta facere non membra that is to mince and not as the Apostle requireth rightly to divide the word of truth May it please you therefore to goe along with me through the few parts of this facile and passabâ—le division 1 The profession of the Apostle I determined to know 2 The object of his profession positively Jesus Christ privatively nothing but him 3 The condition of the object And him crucified As the d Zab lib. de tribâ—â— prâ—â—agnitis Logicians in the subjects of all sciences distinguish rem consideratam modum considerandi the matter considerable which they call the materiall object and the manner of considering it which they call the formall as in Physick the res considerata or material object is corpus humanum mans body the modus considerandi or formall object is quá sanabile as curable in Musick the res considerata is numerus number the modus considerandi is quá sonorus as it is found in sounds and serveth to harmony So here the res considerata the thing or rather person to bee considered is Jesus Christ the modus considerandi manner of considering him is quà crucifixus as crucified The best nurture is in the schoole of the crosse but then this crosse must bee the crosse of Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus must bee knowne and lastly this knowledge must bee desired or resolved to bee got 1 Nothing is more to bee desired than knowledge I desire or have determined to know 2 No knowledge more to be desired than of Jesus Christ Nothing but Jesus Christ 3 Nothing of Jesus Christ is more to bee desired to bee knowne than that hee was crucified And him crucified Of all things knowledge is most to be set by for e Joh. 17.3 this is life eternall to know thee to be very God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Of all knowledge this of Christ is most excellent f Phil. 3 8. for I account saith the Apostle all things as dung in comparison of the knowledge of Christ Of all Christian knowledge this of the crosse is
points another Jesus Christ instructeth and encourageth Jesus Nave the substance formes the shadow the face drawes the picture the truth fitteth and accommodateth the type As those who deale in curious stuffes that are wrought on both sides view the flowers as well in the in-side as the out so in the sacred context of this book we are as well to handle and take speciall notice of the in-side as well as the out-side the mysticall reference as well as the historicall relation When wee reade of Josuah let the eye of our faith bee upon Jesus when wee reade of his passing over Jordan before hee gained his greatest victories we must thinke of Jesus passing the river Cedron before his passion when we reade of Josuahs k Jos 4.8 placing 12. stones for a memoriall to the children of Israel for ever let us thinke of Jesus his setting 12. precious l Apoc. 21.19 stones in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem when we reade of * Jos 12.7 Josuahs slaying or driving out of all the old Inhabitants of Canaan let us thinke of Jesus his destroying the * Eph. 4.22 old man in us and driving out all the native and if I may so speake aboriginall sinnes out of our consciences when wee reade of Josuahs vanquishing 31. Kings let us thinke on Jesus his victories over sinne hell and death his leading captivity captive and subduing all principalities and powers and thrones and dominions and whatsoever lifteth it selfe up against his Crosse when we reade of the Sunne standing still in m Jos 10.12 Josuah his battell against the Amorites let us thinke of the Sunnes vailing himselfe and the Heavens mourning in sables at the passion of our Saviour Lastly when we reade of Josuahs forcible entry and taking possession of the earthly let us meditate upon Jesus his victorious entry into the celestiall Canaan Thus briefly of the person commanding and the person commanded both literally and mystically The command it selfe is to be a valiant Commander and Leader of Gods people against the Amorites Amalekites Jebusites and all the severall sorts of the Canaanites For the clearing of which commission of Josuah two questions are to be debated 1. Whether warre in generall can stand with Religion 2. Whether this warre in particular could stand with Justice Both are briefly resolved in one word I God commandeth Josuah to fight therefore warre is lawfull hee appointeth Josuah to command in chiefe in this warre against the Canaanites this warre therefore was just Yet to remove all scruples out of weake consciences I crave leave to bring out before you and breake in peeces those weake and dull weapons wherewith some fight against all warre and fighting in generall and this warre in speciall First they alledge that Christ our Lord is stiled the Prince of peace that his Spouse the Church is said to have nothing red about her but her lips which are described to bee ruddy because all her discourse is of Christs bloudy passion Secondly by the Christian law say they wee must rather dye than kill rather patiently suffer our owne bloud to bee spilt than spill any others if we must render to no man evill for evill nor rebuke for rebuke much lesse blows for blows they that smite with a sword shall n Mat. 26 52. perish with a sword Thirdly they labour also to make the ancient Fathers on their parts and by name Lactantius and Cyprian o Lactant. diâ—in 〈◊〉 Si qu◠〈◊〉 hominâ—â—â—â—gulaver 〈◊〉 â—nta 〈◊〉 ac â—â—â—atâ—â—oâ—â— betur nâ—â—â—â—d teâ—â—eâ—â— hoc domicilium eum admittifas putant ille autem qui infinita hominum millia trucâ—daveâ—it cruore campos inundaverit slumina infecerit non modo in Templuâ— sed etiam in coelum admittitur Lactantius argueth thus If any man cut the throat of one man alone he is taken for a nefarious malefactor and bloudy murtherer and shut out of the house of God on earth and shall he who hath been the death of many millions who hath coloured the rivers with mans bloud and made an inundation thereof in many pitched fields not only be admitted into the Temple but into Heaven And Saint p Cypr. ep l. 2. Madet orbis mutuo sanguine homicidium cum admittant singuli câ—â—men est virtâ—s vorat iâ— cum publicè petituâ— Cyprian pursueth the same argument The world saith hee swimmeth with mans bloud and murder if it bee committed by single men or one by one is a hainous crime but an heroicall vertue when by publike authority thousands of men are miserably slaughtered Can hee be a good Warriour who is taught to seeke peace and ensue it if his enemies strike him on the right hand to turne the left if he compell him to follow him one mile to accompany him two With these weapons certaine cowardly Heretickes warre against all warre and sharpen their pens against the sword but they are easily beat backe As Christ is stiled the Prince of peace so God is in holy Scripture every where honoured with the title of the Lord of hosts and the Spouse of Christ is described to be terrible as an q Cant. 6.4 Army with banners It followeth not that because Christian Religion perswadeth patience that therefore it abates courage that because it forbiddeth private revenge therefore publike justice because it condemneth bloudy cruelty therefore martiall prowesse Hee which striketh with a sword unlesse lawfull authority put it into his hand shall perish with a sword but where God and his Vicegerent putteth a sword into our hands wee must smite with it or wee deserve to be smitten with it Wee must seeke peace and ensue it by all meanes whereof one and that a most powerfull one and sometimes the onely one is by managing a just warre And therefore as Saint Jerome though otherwise hee seem partiall for virginity against marriage yet in this respect hee preferreth marriage because it begets virgins in like manner those who are most averse from warre must yet hold with it in this respect because oftentimes nothing but a good sword can make a sure and settled peace And therefore though in the first building of the Temple there were no noise of any iron toole yet in the second they built with their r Nehem. 4.13 tooles in one hand and their sword in the other And doe wee not reade that the servants of God by Å¿ Hebr. 11.33 faith have subdued Kingdomes Was it not fore-told of them that they should binde Kings in chaines and Nobles in linkes of iron to execute upon them the judgement written This honour have all his t Psal 149.8 9. Saints Doth not the Kingly Prophet David by the spirit give them the word Arme arme Let the high praises of God be in their mouths Ver. 6. and a two edged sword in their hands If Saint John Baptist had judged the profession of a souldier incompatible with the calling of a Christian when
thirsteth for righteousnesse and therefore is satisfied The modest man hath no opinion of his owne wit or wisedome and therefore willingly bringeth every thought into captivity and every affection to the obedience of the Gospel The lowly in heart esteemeth more vilely of himselfe than the world can and therefore hee chearfully taketh up his crosse and followeth Christ Thus have I cleared the title of the poore in spirit to the Kingdome of Heaven which is so sure and unquestionable that our Saviour saith not Theirs shall be in the future but in the present tense Theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And likewise Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto mee for of such r Matth. 19.14 is the Kingdome of Heaven As we say of such an one that hath the advowson of a Benefice or reversion of an Office under seale or of an heire to a wealthy father such a Lordship or such a Mannour or such an Office or such a Benefice is his either because hee is as sure thereof as if he were possessed of it or because he hath actually jus ad rem though not in re a right to it though not in it so in regard of the poore in spirit their undoubted right to and their present interest in some of the priviledges and profits of their heavenly Fathers Kingdome that Kingdome is said here to be theirs already When Cyneas the Embassadour of Pyrrhus after his returne from Rome was asked by his Master what hee thought of the City and State he answered that it seemed to him Respublica Regum A State of none but great States-men and a Common-wealth of Kings Put the same question to Saint John concerning Jerusalem that descended from God he will answer you in like manner Videri rempublicam Regum that it is no other than a Parliament of Emperours or a Common-wealth of Kings For in the Kingdome of grace upon earth all Kings are subjects but in the Kingdome of glory in Heaven all subjects are Kings Every humble and faithfull soule is coheire with Christ and hath a robe of honour and a scepter of power and a throne of majesty and a crowne of glory If you peruse the records and evidences of Heaven exemplified in holy Scripture you shall finde no estates there but inheritances no inheritances but kingdomes no houses but palaces no meales but feasts no noyse but musicke no rods but scepters no garments but robes no seates but thrones no head ornaments but crownes these inheritances these palaces these feasts these songs these scepters these thrones these robes these crownes God bring us unto and possesse us with through poverty in spirit in the right and title purchased for us by our elder brother Christ Jesus To whom c. THE COGNISANCE OF A CHRISTIAN OR CHRIST HIS NEW COMMANDEMENT A Sermon preached in VVooll-Church THE TWENTIETH SERMON JOH 13.34 A new commandement give I unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that yee also love one another Right Worshipfull c. ALL that by a Christian vocation are severed from the world and cut as it were out of the common rock of mankinde and by faith relye upon Christ are like so many hewen stones laid upon the chiefe a Eph. 2.20 corner stone rising to a spirituall building reaching from the earth to heaven The line by which they are built is the Word of God the cement wherwith they are held fast together is Christian charity the soder of mindes the couple of dispositions the glew of affections and the bond of all perfection which to fasten the more strongly among all that gave their name to Christ the Primitive Church in the daies of the Apostles added a double tye 1. Sacred 2. Civill The sacred was the frequent receiving of the Lords Supper the civill was the celebrating their Agapae's or keeping their love-feasts Which though they were in after ages taken away by reason of manifold abuses and disorders committed in them even in the place of holy assemblies yet it were to be wished that all our feasts were truly love-feasts I meane that the rich among us would imitate holy Job and not eat their morsels alone but invite those of the poorer sort to their Tables whom Christ bids to his board or at least that they would defaulke a great part of that charge which is spent in furnishing these luxurious feasts wherein this City exceedeth all in the Christian world and convert it to the refreshing of the bowels of poore prisoners or clothing the naked or redeeming captives or to some other pious and charitable use so should your City and Company feasts be true Agapae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love-feasts and you testifie to all the world what account you make of Christ his new commandement in my Text Love one another Of all speeches we ought to give most heed to those of our Saviour of all speeches of our Saviour to his commands of all commands to this of Christian charity 1. Because it is a rare and choice one A new 2. Because it is a sweet and easie one To love 3. Because it is a just and reasonable one One another 4. Because wee have such a singular President for it As I have loved you c. Wee have all Athenian eares thirsting after newes behold a new Wee all professe obedience to Lawes behold a commandement Wee all acknowledge Christ to bee our supreme Lord who hath absolute power of life and death hearken then to his Proclamation I give unto you If hee had laid a heavie burthen and hard yoke upon us wee must have submitted our neckes and shoulders to it and wee have all reason so to doe For hee tooke b Esay 53.4 Surely be hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes upon him our infirmities and bare our sorrowes how much more when hee layeth so sweet a yoke upon us as to love so light a burthen as to love one another Nothing more agreeable to our nature than to love nothing more needfull to our condition than to love one another Wee all stand in need one of another this need is supported by love this love is commanded by Christ this command of Christ is new As c M. Tul. Cicer. Orator Numerum verborum numero sententiarum complexus est Tully spake of Thucydides his stile that in his Orations every word was a sentence And as Saint Jerome observeth in the Apocalyps Quot verba tot sacramenta that there are so many mysteries in it as words so wee may say of this Text Quot verba tot argumenta so many words so many arguments so many notions so many motions or motives to this duty of mutuall love To which we ought to have a speciall eye and extraordinary regard First because it is a new commandement Secondly because it is Christs commandement I give unto you Thirdly because it is an amiable and easie one To love Fourthly because it is
the ground The Cherubins faces in the c Exod. 37.9 Arke were one to another Alter in alterius jacientes lumina vultum And the wheeles in Ezekiels d Ezek. 1.16 vision were one in the midst of the other to teach us that we ought not only to cast a benigne aspect one upon another like Cherubins but also to be inwardly knit one in another like the wheels that we may be one in another as Christ is in e John 17.23 the Father and wee in him I in them and they in mee that they may be made perfect in one Wheresoever almost in holy Scripture this obligation of love is mentioned the condition is expressed that it be mutuall as in affection Be like f Rom. 12.10 one to another in courtesie to salute g Rom. 16.16 one another in humility to wash h John 13.14 one anothers feet in love to serve i Gal. 5.13 one another in hospitality to k 1 Pet. 4.9 entertaine one another in patience to l Colos 3.13 forbeare one another in compassion to beare m Gal. 6.2 one anothers burdens in devotion to pray n Jam. 5.16 one for another in holy communication to o 1. Thes 5.11 edifie one another Here morall Philosophy goeth hand in hand with Divinity demonstrating that true friendship cannot but be mutuall because the foundation of it is a similitude of manners and dispositions which similitude being a relation cannot but be in both And daily experience teacheth us that as fire in an apt subject generateth fire so love begetteth love I will tell thee saith p Seneca ep 9. Ego tibi monstrabo amatorium sine medicamento sine herba Si amari vis ama Seneca how thou maist make another love thee without any love potion spell or witchcraft if thou desirest to bee beloved love thou first sincerely and entirely This recipe is approved by q Arist rhet l. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle who saith that of all men they are the most lovely that are most loving And by the Poet who adviseth him who desireth to endeare the affections of another to himselfe first to endeare his affections to her and to kindle fully that fire in his owne breast which hee would have burne in hers Sit procul omne nefas ut ameris amabilis esto Plato writeth under this his probatum est and he instanceth in Socrates and Alcibiades the one whereof had no sooner began a health of love but the other pledged him in the same cup atque ita mutuum imbiberunt amorem He must needs be of a very ill disposition qui amorem si nolit impendere nolit rependere who if he will not begin love and provoke this affection in another will not yet repay love and answer love with love and courtesie with courtesie considering that as the affection is mutuall so the gaine is reciprocall As in a Hop-yard the poles sustaine the Hops and the Hops by imbracing adorne the poles and as in a building the walls beare up the roofe and the roofe keepeth the walls and timber from wet so it is among friends the wise directeth the strong and the strong defendeth the wise the wealthy maintaines the honourable and the honourable supporteth the wealthy There is not onely a re-action between naturall but also between morall agents Philosophy demonstrateth omne agens repati omne patiens reagere that every agent suffereth from his patient and every patient worketh againe upon the agent either in the same or in a divers and contrary kinde In the same kind as when the hammer and the anvile one harden the other or when two Mill-stones grate one on the other or two tooles whet and sharpen one the other In a divers and contrary kinde as when the warme hand heateth the cold the cold hand cooleth the warme the stone drieth the drop of raine and the drop moisteneth the stone And in physicke the corasives sharpen the lenitives and the lenitives mitigate the corasives In like manner every one that doth good should receive and every one that receiveth from another should do good to the other either in the same kinde as when two Preachers like lights kindle one the others knowledge or two Physicians heale one the other or two Bone-setters set one the others joynts or two Lawyers plead one for the other or two Souldiers fight one for the other Or in a divers and contrary kinde as when the confident Christian comforteth the weake and the weake Christian by relating his conflicts and temptations is a meanes to keep the strong and confident Christian from presumption the zealous professour inflameth the moderate and the moderate temperateth the zealous the rich supplyeth the want of the poore and the poore taketh away from the superfluity of the rich Thus in the same kinde or in a divers and contrary every one that is willing may hold correspondency and faire quarter in love If no otherwise wee can requite the kindnesse of our friends yet in thankfull acceptance we may and the acknowledgement of the debt of love is a good part of the payment The jewell which is illustrated by the Sun beames coloureth the beames and the earth which receiveth moisture from the skie repayeth it backe againe in vapours and exhalations yea the rockes and stones which receive a sound from the ayre before it bee fully given returne it by an eccho onely selfe-love and ingratitude returne nothing backe againe Selfe-love is a bad creditour it will lay out nothing and ingratitude is a bad debtour it will repay nothing The former resembleth the Pumish stone from which no moisture at all can bee extracted the later is like the stone of Syphnos which being steeped in oyle becommeth the harder by it such is an ungratefull person the better you are to him the worse he demeaneth himselfe towards you Dearly beloved Christians if any man could live of himselfe hee might have some colour to live to himselfe onely but sith all civill life and humane society is maintained by giving and receiving as the naturall is by taking in and letting out breath let us abandon those vices above all others that stop the entercourse of courteous offices passing from one friend to another and let us all imbrace that Christian vertue which joyneth all men unto us and us unto all men in the glew of affections and bond of perfection Let us give that we may receive let us sow liberally that wee may reap plentifully let us scatter abroad earthly that we may gather heavenly treasure While we have time let us do good unto all especially to the houshold of faith and in this time of fulnesse thinke of the empty belly and out of our superfluity supply their extreme want We reade in the Jewish Talmud that the grapes in Babel upon a time sent to the vines in Judea for some of their broad leaves to overshade them otherwise the
of the 81. Psalme If Israel would have walked in my waies c. that is if you will yeeld to mee and acknowledge mee for your Lord and accept of my lawes I will take the protection of you against all your bodily and ghostly enemies I will secure you from all danger enrich you with grace give you all the contentment you desire upon earth and preferre you to a crowne of glory in heaven Can you desire fairer conditions than these know yee who it is that tendereth them he is your Lord and Maker who need not condition with you that which hee meekly craves he could powerfully force you unto hee sueth for that by entreaty which hee may challenge by right all that hee requireth on our part is but our bounden duty and his desire is that we should bind him to us for doing that service which wee are bound to doe Was there ever such a creditour heard of that would come in bonds for his owne debt and become a debtour to his debtour Saint r Aug l 5. confes c. 9. Dignaris quoniam in seculum misericordia tua est iis quibus omnia debita dimittis promissionibus tuis debitor fieri Austin could not hold when he fell upon this meditation but breaketh out into a passion Thou vouchsafest O Lord by thy promises to become debtour to them to whom thou remittest all debts What happinesse what honour is it to have Almighty God come in bonds to us I beseech you thinke what they deserve who set light by so great a favour and refuse such love Application Now God maketh as it were love to us and in dolefull Sonnets complaines of our unkindnesse O that my people would have hearkened to my voice c. To which his amorous expostulations if wee now turne a deafe eare the time will come when wee shall take up the words of God in our owne persons and with hearts griefe and sorrow say O that we had hearkened to the Lord O that we had walked in his wayes then should we have seen the felicity of his chosen and rejoyced with the joy of his people and gloried with his inheritance but now wee behold nothing but the misery of his enemies and are confounded with the shame of reprobates and suffer the torments of the damned and shall till wee have satisfied to the utmost farthing Now God wooeth us with deepest protestations of love and largest promises of celestiall graces which if we make light of it will one day fall heavie upon us The sweetest wine corrupteth into the sharpest vinegar and the most fragrant oyntments if they putrefie exhale most pestilent savours and greatest love if it be wronged turneth into the greatest hatred Now God as a lover passionately wooeth us but if wee sleighten him and despise his kinde offers he will change his note and turne his wooe into a woe as we heare ſ Hos 7.13 Woe be unto them for they have fled away from mee destruction shall be unto them because they have rebelled against mee though I have redeemed them yet they have spoken lyes against mee After the clearest flash of lightening followeth the terriblest clap of thunder in like maner after Gods mercy in Scripture hath for a long time lightened most clearly shewed it selfe to any people or nation his justice thundereth out most dreadfull threats For example after Gods familiar disputation with his Vineyard t Esay 5.1 2 3 4. My beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and hee fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine-presse therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wilde grapes And now O inhabitants of Jerusalem men of Judah judge I pray you between me my Vineyard what could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done c. mark the fearfull conclusion Verse 5. I will tell you what I will do to my Vineyard I will take away the hedge thereof it shall he eaten up I will breake downe the wall thereof and it shall be troden downe And what ensued upon our Saviours teares over Jerusalem which would not sinke into their stony hearts but the bloudy tragedy which was acted upon them 40. yeeres after by the Romans who spared neither the annointed head of the Priest nor the hoary head of the aged nor the weaker sexe of women nor the tender age of infants but put all to the sword sacked the walls rifled the houses burned the Temple downe to the ground and left not one stone upon another O that wee were wise then wee would understand and observe the method of Gods proceedings and in the ruine of Gods people if wee repent not consider our later end O that they were Wise The Philosophers distinguish wisedome into Observ 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sapience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prudence Sapience they define to be the knowledge of all divine humane things so farre as they fall within the scantling of mans reason Prudence they restraine to the ordering of humane affaires and this they divide into 1. Private 2. Publike and this they subdivide into 1. Civill 2. Military Military prudence maketh a wise souldier civill a wise statesman domesticke a wise housholder and sapience a wise contemplative and morall prudence in generall a wise practick man The rules of this wisedome are to be taken from the precepts of Philosophy discourses of Policy the apophthegmes stratagems sentences and examples of those whom the world hath cryed up for Sages but this is not the wisedome which Moses here requireth in Gods people and passionately complaineth of the want of it but a wisedome of a higher nature or to speake more properly a wisedome above nature a wisedome which descendeth from the Father of lights which directeth us so to order and governe our short life here that thereby we may gaine eternity hereafter so to worship and serve God in Christ in this world that we may reigne with him in the world to come The infallible rules of this wisedome are to be fetched onely from the inspired Oracles of God extant in the Old and New Testament the chiefe whereof are these 1. To receive and entertaine the doctrine of salvation Rules of spirituall wisedome which is the wisedome of God in a mystery confuting the errours and convincing the folly of all worldly wise men 2. To deny our selves and our carnall wisedome and reason and bring every thought in obedience to the Gospel 3. To account our selves strangers and pilgrimes here upon earth and so to use this world as though wee used it not 4. To know that we are not Lords of our lands wealth and goods but only Stewards to account for them and therefore so to dispense and distribute them that we make friends of unrighteous Mammon that when it faileth
Babylon before his comming into the flesh and after his death first under the fury of the Heathen next the cruelty of the Arrian Emperours and since that under the insolency of the Turke in the East and tyranny of Antichrist in the West As hee is termed by the Prophet Esay Vir dolorum a man of sorrowes so we finde her Uxorem lachrymarum a wife of teares as he was crowned with thorns so she lyeth in the briars as he was laid in wait for at his birth so she at her new birth as he fled from Herod into Egypt so she from the Dragon into the wildernesse as he was tempted once so she is alwayes as he bare his crosse to Golgotha so she hath borne hers in all parts and ages of the world Indeed sometimes she hath had lucida intervalla times of lightsomenesse and joy when Kings have been her nursing fathers and Queenes her nursing mothers but for the most part she sitteth in darknesse as a close mourner yet solacing her selfe with c Micah 7.8 Rejoyce not against mee O my enemy When I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be light unto mee hope of better times Hence it is that all the pictures that are drawne of her in Scripture are either taken from a d Apoc. 12.13 child-bearing woman frighted by a Dragon gaping to devoure her babe or a e Lament 1.1 widow making lamentation for her husband or a mother f Matth. 2.18 weeping for her children or a g Psal 39.12 pilgrime passing from country to country or an hermite lodged in the wildernesse as here in my Text. The Saints of God are described in holy Scripture clad in three sutes of apparrell different in colour 1. Blacke 2. Red. 3. White Blacke is their mourning weed Red their military ornament White their wedding garment They mourne in blacke for their sinnes and grievous afflictions They fight in red against their bloudy persecutours They triumph and sit at the marriage feast of the h Apoc. 16.11 And white robes were given to every one of them Lambe in white Two of their sutes they are well knowne by on earth the third is reserved in Gods Wardrob and shall be given them in Heaven The two former may be called their working day apparrell but the last their Holy-day or Sunday For they weare it not but upon their everlasting Sabbath in Heaven Their red and blacke vests doe not so much cover their bodies as discover their state and condition in this world where they alwayes either stand and fight with their bodily and ghostly enemies or sit downe and i Job 7.1 weep for their irrecoverable losses and incurable wounds Their life is a i Job 7.1 continuall warfare upon earth three potent enemies continually bid them battell 1 The World Without 2 The Flesh Within 3 The Divell Both within and without The Divell never ceaseth to suggest wicked thoughts the World to present dangerous baites the Flesh to ingender noysome lusts The Divell mainly assaulteth their faith the World their hope the Flesh their love and they fight with three speciall weapons 1 Temptations 2 Heresies 3 Persecutions Temptations I call all vitious provocations heresies all false doctrines in matter of faith and salvation persecutions all outward afflictions Temptations properly lay at the will heresies at the understanding persecutions at the whole person which though the Church of Christ for the most part in her noble members couragiously endureth and therefore is fitly compared to the Pyrausts which are nourished in the fire and to the Phoenix because she riseth againe out of the ashes of the burnt bodies of Martyrs yet sometimes especially in her weake and more feeble members to escape this fire she flies into some wildernesse or remote or obscure place where God alwayes provideth for her Division And the woman there is the frailtie of her nature fled there is the uncertainty of her state into the wildernesse there is the place of her retirednesse where she is nourished by God there is the staffe of her comfort a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes there is the terme of her obscuritie and the period of all her troubles And the woman c. Though all the prophecies of this booke are darkned with much obscurity yet by illustrating the vision set downe through this whole chapter and hanging it as it were a great light in the most eminent part of it we shall easily discover what divine truth lyeth hid in every corner thereof The holy Apostle and the Evangelist S. John in a divine rapture saw a most faire and glorious woman in travell and an ugly red Dragon with seven heads and ten hornes standing before her with open mouth ready to devoure her child of which she was no sooner delivered but her son was taken up to the Throne of God and she carried with the wings of an Eagle into the Wildernesse the Dragon thus deceived of his prey after which his mouth watered cast out of his mouth water as a floud after her to drowne her Such was the vision marke now I beseech you the interpretation thereof By the woman all that have dived deepe into the profound mysteries of this booke understand the Church whose beautie and glory is k Ver. 1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the Sunne and the Moone under her feet and upon her head a crowne of twelve starres illustrated by the Sunne cloathing her and the Moone supporting her and the Starres crowning her The Sunne either signifieth the knowledge of Gods Word which enlighteneth the Church throughout or Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse who cloathes her with the robes of his righteousnesse Mal. 4 2. and exalteth her to his throne of glory above the Moone on which she standeth and thereby sheweth her contempt of this uncertaine and mutable world ruled by the Moone and subject to as many changes as that planet Thus it seemeth cleere what is meant by the Sunne and Moone but what shall we make of the crowne of twelve starres set upon her head It seemeth to represent either the number of the twelve Patriarkes the Crowne of the Jewish or the twelve Apostles the Crown of the Christian Church The man child which this woman had no sooner brought forth but he was caught up unto God in his Throne Ver. 5. and was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron is undoubtedly our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as by comparing the fift verse of this chapter with Psal 2. v. 9. and Apoc. 2.27 and 19.15 appeareth most evidently As for the Dragon he is so set out in his colours v. 9. that any may know him there he is called the old Serpent the Divell and Satan which deceiveth the whole world The waters which he casteth out of his mouth are multitudes of people which he stirreth up to persecute the Church He is described with
seven heads and ten hornes like to the woman whereby the Roman Empire or Church is meant called Babylon the Mother of fornications and abominations on the earth ver 5. because the Dragon employed the seven heads and ten hornes Apoc. 17 3.5 that is the policie and strength of the Roman State especially to suppresse the true Religion and overthrow the Church Other Kingdomes and States have beene stained with the bloud of Christians but Rome is that Whore of Babylon which hath died her garments scarlet red with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Christ others have licked or tasted thereof but she in regard of her barbarous crueltie in this kind is said to be l Apoc. 17.6 drunke with their bloud The vision thus cleared the meaning of my text and the speciall points of observation in each word therein may easily be discerned The first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the woman figureth unto us the Church her 1 Originall 2 Fruitfulnesse 3 Tendernesse 4 Weakenesse 5 Frailtie 1 First her Originall As the first Adam being cast into a slumber the woman was formed of a rib taken out of his side so when the second Adam fell into a dead sleepe on the Crosse his side was opened and thence issued this woman here in my text Christs dearest Spouse 2 Her fruitfulnesse The honour of women is their childbearing For therefore was Heva called the mother of the living because all save Adam came from her such is the Church a most indulgent and fruitfull mother Heva mater viventium the mother of all that live by faith And as St. m Cypr de unit Eccles Deum non habet patrem qui ecclesiam non habet matrem Cyprian concluded against all the Schismatikes in his time we may resolve against all the Separatists in our daies they cannot have God to their Father who acknowledge not the Church for their Mother 3 Her tendernesse Mulier saith Varro quasi mollior women take their name in latine from tendernesse or softnesse because they are usually of a softer temper than men and much more subject to passions especially of feare griefe love and longing their feare is almost perpetuall their griefe immoderate their love ardent and their longing most vehement such is the temper of the militant Church in feare alwayes weeping continually for her children never out of trouble in one place or other sicke for love of her husband Christ Jesus and ever longing for his second comming 4 Her weakenesse or impotencie Women are the weaker n 1 Pet. 3.7 Giving honour to the wife as to the weaker vessell vessels they have no strength in comparison of men they are able to make small or no resistance and in this also the militant Church resembleth a woman for howsoever she be alwayes strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and albeit for a short time when she had Kings and Princes for her Champions as in the daies of David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah and other Kings of Judah and in the reigne of Constantine Theodosius Martianus Justinian and other Emperours of Rome by the temporall sword she put her enemies to the worst and had a great hand over them yet in other ages as well before Christs incarnation as after she hath bin destitute of the arm of flesh and hath had no other than womens weapons to defend her self viz. prayers and teares These alone St. Ambrose tooke up for his defence against the Arrian Emperour o Amb. ep 33. R gamus Auguste non pugnamus We bow downe before thee we rise not up against thee our dread Lord. For my owne part I can sorrow I can sigh I can weepe by other meanes I neither may nor can resist 5 Her frailtie Women are not only weaker in body than men and lesse able to resist violence but also weaker in mind and lesse able to hold out in temptations and therefore the Divell first set upon the woman as conceiving it a matter of more facilitie to supplant her than the man I would the militant Church were not in this also too like the weaker sexe Faire she is I grant but p Cant. 6.10 faire as the Moone in which there are darke and blacke spots Origen in Cant. homâ— an illa verba Nigâ—a sâ—â— Nigra est sponsa pulchra tamen inter mulicres ita ut habeat aliquid Aethiopici candoris Or as St. Origen noteth pulchra inter mulieres not perfectly faire but faire among women her brightest colours are somewhat stained her graces clouded her beauty Sun-burnt Let the Pelagians and Papists stand never so much upon the perfection of inherent righteousnesse they shall never be able to wash cleane the q Esay 64 6. We are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse is as filthy ragges menstruous cloutes and filthy ragges the Prophet Esay speaketh of St. Austin who was more inward to the servants of God in his time and better acquainted with their thoughts than any Heretikes could be telleth us that if all the Saints from the beginning of the world were together upon earth and should joyne in one prayer it would be this or the like Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Nothing is so easie as to slip whilest wee walke upon a r Apoc 15 2. And I saw as it wâ—re aâ—ea of glasse mingled with fire sea of glasse For this reason it is that our Saviour teacheth us to pray Å¿ Mat. 6.13 lead us not into temptation because there is not any temptation so weake that putteth not our frailtie to the worse and albeit it overcome not our faith yet it maketh our sinewes so shrinke as Jacobs did after hee wrestled with the Angell that by it we are lamed in holy duties All those usuall similitudes whereby the Scripture setteth the Church militant before our eyes shew her frailtie and imbecilitie She is a vine a lilly a dove a flocke of sheepe in the midst of ravening wolves What tree so subject to take hurt as a vine which is so weake that it needeth continuall binding and supporting so tender that if it be prickt deepe it bleedeth to death No flower so soft and without all defence or shelter as a lilly no fowle so harmlesse as the dove that hath no gallat all no cattell so oft in danger as sheep and lambes in the midst of wolves Yet neither the weake vine nor the soft lilly nor the fearefull dove nor the harmelesse sheepe so lively expresseth the infirmitie and danger of the wayfaring or rather warfaring Church as the travelling woman in this vision What more pitifull object or lamentable spectacle can present it selfe to our eyes than a woman great with child scared with a fierie serpent ready to devoure her child and driven to fly away with her heavie burden with which she is scarce able to wag This and worse if
owne the pearles of the Gospell To heare one who hath the tongue of the learned discourse of the worke of grace enlightning the minde regenerating the heart rectifying the will moderating the desires quieting the affections and filling the soule with unspeakable joy is a great delight to us yet nothing to that we take when we feele grace working upon our soules and producing all these divine effects within us When wee read in holy Scriptures what are the priviledges of the sonnes of God wee see the hidden Manna but when the p Rom. 8.16.17 Spirit testifieth to our spirit that wee are the sons of God and if sonnes then heires heires of God and joint heires with Christ then we eat The hidden Manna Some take the hidden Manna in my text for the mysteries of the Gospel others for the secret vertues of the Sacraments q Primasius in Apoc. Christus factus est homo ut panem Angelorum comederet homo Primasius for Christ himselfe who as he saith was made man that man might eate Manna the food of Angels Pererius for incomparable sweetnesse in the contemplation of heavenly things Cornelius à Lapide for spirituall comforts after temptations all in generall speake to good purpose But if you demand of me in particular what is this hidden Manna I must answer as Cato did when one asked him what he carried so fast lockt up in a chest It is lockt up saith he that thou shouldest not looke into it nor know I cannot tell you what it is because it is hidden onely this is open and manifest in the Scriptures that in the Word the Sacraments Prayer and Meditation the Elect of God find hidden Manna that spirituall sweetnesse which may be compared unto or rather preferred before the relish of Manna to the corporall taste And what St. Cyprian speaketh of the worke of grace in our conversion Sentitur priusquam dicitur it is felt before it can be uttered may be applied to this hidden Manna gustatur priusquam dicitur no tongue can speake of it worthily that hath not tasted it as r Psal 119.103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste 〈◊〉 they are sweeter than hony to my mouth David did who preferreth it before the hony and the hony-combe And St. Å¿ Aug. confes l. 9. c. 1. O quam suave mihi repentè fuit carere mundi suavitatibus quas amittere metus fuit am dimittere gaudium crat tu enim proâ—â—s intraâ—as omni voluptate dulcior Austine O what pleasure tooke I in abandoning all worldly pleasure for thou O Lord enteredst into me for them sweeter than any pleasure And St. Jerome who calleth God to witnesse that sometimes he found heaven upon earth and in his spirituall elevations and raptures thought that hee communed with quieres of Angels And St. t St. Eph. Domine recede à me parumper quia vasis infirmitas ferre non potest Ephraim who was so over-filled with joy in the Holy Ghost that he made a strange prayer O Lord for a little while depart from me and restraine the influence of spirituall joy lest the vessell breake And St. u Mihi hae pruna rosae videntur Citat Cornelius à lap Comment Tiburtius whose inward joyes and spirituall raptures so drowned his bodily tortures that when he trod upon live coales he cryed out saying These live coales seeme to me no other than red roses The scholars of Pythagoras beleeved that the celestiall bodies by their regular motions caused an harmonicall sound and made admirable musicke though neither he nor any other ever heard it and shall not we beleeve that there is hidden Manna though we never tasted it if not upon the report of these Saints who spake of their owne sense and experience yet upon the credit of him who both promiseth to give this hidden Manna and is it himselfe x John 6.51 I am the living bread which came downe from heaven Christ and his word retaine not only the name of Manna but the chiefe qualities and properties thereof First Manna rained from the skies Christ and his word came from heaven Secondly Manna had a most sweet yet a new and strange taste so hath the word it is sweeter than hony to the spirituall tast though the carnall man like better of the flesh pots of Egypt than of it Thirdly Manna relished according to the stomackes of them that ate it and answered all appetites so the word of God is milke to children and strong meat to men Fourthly Manna erat cibus reficiens nunquam deficiens the children of Israel fed on Manna in the wildernesse till they entred into the earthly Canaan in like manner the Word and Sacraments are our spirituall food till we arrive at the celestiall Canaan Fiftly Manna was eaten by it selfe without any other meat or sauce added to it the word of God must not be mingled with human traditions and inventions They who goe about to sweeten it with such spices marre the tast of it and may more justly be taxed than that King of Persia was by Antalcidas who by pouring oyntment upon a garland of roses corrupted the naturall smell and fragrancie thereof by the adulterors sophistication of art Sixtly some portion of the Manna was laid up in the Arke and kept in a golden pot for after-times and part of the mysteries of holy Scripture are reserved for us till we come to heaven and in regard of such truthes as are not ordinarily revealed in this life some conceive the word to be here termed Hidden Manna Howbeit we need not restraine the words to those abstruse mysteries the declaration whereof shall be a part of our celestiall happinesse for the whole doctrine of the Gospell may in a true sense be called hidden Manna because it containeth in it Sapientiam Dei in mysterio the wisedome of God x 1 Cor. 2.7 hidden in a mysterie For albeit the sound of the word is gone into all the world yet the harmonie in it is not observed by all The chapters and verses of the Scripture are generally knowne but not all the contents He that saw the outside of Solomons tents could not ghesse at the royaltie of that Prince but he that entred in and took a particular view and inventory of his pretious furniture rich hangings massie plate full coffers orient jewels and glittering apparell might make a good estimate thereof A blind man from his birth though he may heare of the Sun and discourse of his golden raies from the mouth of others yet can he not possibly conceive what delight the seeing eye taketh in beholding that glorious brouch of heaven and Prince of the starres When we heare the last will of a rich man read unto us which we beleeve little concerneth us though it be never so well penned or copied out it little affecteth us but if we have certaine notice that by it some great legacie in lands or money is
bequeathed unto us then we hearken to it with thirsty eares and as curiously observe every line and sillable therein as Jewellers doe every carrat in a Diamond Such is the difference betweene the carnall and the spirituall mans apprehension and affection in the reading and hearing of the written word the letters and points are not hidden to any that can reade but the treasures of wisedome and knowledge laid up in it the power and efficacy of it the price and value of it is hidden to all those y Acts 16.14 whose heart God openeth not as he did the heart of Lidia And if the Manna of the word be thus hidden how much more the Manna of the Spirit I meane the inward comforts and joyes of the z 1 Pet. 3.4 bidden man of the heart a Plutarch de tranquil animae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diogenes the Philosopher bid every day holy in a good mans calendar turne Diogenes his good man into a regenerate Christian and his Philosophy will prove good Divinity For to a sanctified soule every day is holy on which he keepeth a great feast the b Pro. 15.15 feast of a good conscience at which the principal service is the hidden Manna in my text In the fields of c Solinus polyhist Campus Ennensis semper in floribus est omni vernus die Enna in Sicily there is a continuall spring and flowers all the yeere so are there in the mind of a faithfull Christian it is spring there all the yeere and though he hath not alwayes the sense and smelling because sometimes his spirituall nostrils are stuffed with earthly cares and worldly comforts yet he hath alwaies within him the sent of the flowers of Paradise I grant there is a time to rejoyce and a time also to weepe and I acknowledge that the devoutest man upon earth who is most ravished with divine contemplation yet doth not alwayes actually rejoyce that is apprehend or expresse his joy yet as St. d Pros de vit contemplat l. 1. Non potest defraudari delectationibus cui Christus est gaudium quia bono delectatur aeterno Prosper soundly argueth He can never be without joy and comfort whose joy is Christ because the fuell of this sacred flame is eternall Though the earth be sometimes as now it is beyond the seas full of darknesse and cruell habitations yet there is still e Psal 97.11 Light is sowne for the righteous gladness for the upright in heart light in Goshen in the conscience of a righteous man Light is as it were the joy of the skie and joy is the light of the minde now as lights so joyes are of two sorts 1 Purer and finer 2 Impurer and grosser The purer lights burne clearer last longer and leave a sweeter savour behinde them the grosser and impurer burne dimly spend fast running into gutters and goe out with an ill favour You may observe the like difference betweene carnall and spirituall joyes carnall delights that are fed with impure matter such as are the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eye 1. Burne dimly they yeeld no cleere light of comfort to the minde they are mixed joyes and insincere Medio de fonte leporum surgit amarum aliquid 2. They spend fast and are quickly over Seneca rightly observeth f Voluptas cum accenditur extinguitur Ita quibus delectatur vulgus tennem habent ac perfusoriam voluptatem quodeunque invectitium gaudium est fundamento caret Sen. ep 23. In praecipiti est voluptas ad dolorem vergit nisi modum teneat That pleasure is quenched in the kindling of it much like dry thorns under a pot which make a blaze sodainly are turned into ashes In which regard the Romans set up the image of Angerona the goddesse of anguish and sorrow in the Temple of Volupia the Goddesse of pleasure to shew that pain treadeth upon the heele of pleasure and anguish of mirth 3. They goe out with a stinke they leave behinde them amara foeda vestigia as Saint Bernard speaketh a bitter fume and noysome stench in our consciences and a foule print upon our name But spirituall joyes on the contrary 1. Burne clearely send forth a bright flame for these joyes are sincere exceeding unspeakable and glorious 2. They last long for they are as Saint Austine calleth them * Sen. ep 23. Hoc ad quod te conor perducere solidum est quod plus pateat introrsus c. fortes delitiae solida gaudia during delights and solid joyes 3. They leave a sweet savour behind them a good report in the world and a sweet contentment in the soule For they are Solomons g Pro. 16.24 Dulcedo animae Davids h Psal 45.7 Oleum laetitiae Saint Pauls i 2 Cor. 2.16 Odor suavitatis and S. Johns Manna reconditum sweet to the soule and health to the bones the oyle of gladnesse the savour of life the hidden Manna O felix paucis nota voluptas The world is all set upon a merry pinne though God knowes there is little cause we are all for pleasure but it is a paine to a righteous soule to thinke what pleasure it is griefe to name what joy In Pontus there is a flower called Rodo-dendrum of which the honey that is made is rank poyson such is the sensuall delight that is taken in the use or rather the abuse of worldly pleasures it distempereth the taste and poysoneth the soule Not to forsake the Metaphor in my text all inordinate pleasures immoderate joyes and impure delights are like the Manna that was gathered on the Sabbath day which corrupted suddenly and became full of wormes but pure and spirituall joyes are like that Manna which Moses by Gods appointment laid up in a golden pot which corrupted not but preserved it selfe from putrefaction and the gold also from rust the lid or cover of which pot I will endevour to open a little wider that you may have yet a fuller sight and quicker taste of the hidden Manna There are three kindes of the hidden Manna 1 Of the Word 2 Of the Sacrament 3 Of the Spirit 1 The Manna of the Word is that delight which is taken by the hearers in the opening the mysteries of holy Scripture and applying the sweet comforts of the Gospell to the conscience and this k Ep. ad Hier. Damasus conceived to be the greatest happinesse in the world 2. The Manna of the Sacrament is that comfort which the worthy receivers feele in themselves after the sanctified use of the elements by growth in grace and increase of spirituall strength and of this Saint l Ep. l. 2. Cyprian was as it were in travell till hee was delivered of it in his Epistle to Cornelius 3. The Manna of the Spirit is that unspeakable joy wherewith the heart is filled and even leapeth and danceth within us when wee heare the Spirit testifying
Carry-away as they called it that is some jewell or piece of coine with his name engraven on it or some speciall poesie Such entertainment is promised in my text and performed on this holy Table Christ who is both Hoste and feast biddeth you to his hidden Manna in the Sacrament and tendereth to every one of you a white stone with your new name written in it for your Apophoreton What remaineth but that by particular examination and fervent prayer and speciall faith and intention of devotion yee prepare your stomacks for these covered dishes and the hidden Manna and after you have fed upon it receive the white stone of absolution and keepe it safe by you and have it alwayes in your eyes Let not your importunate clients so trespasse upon your time but that you reserve alwayes some golden moments in every day and especially on the Lords day to bee clients to God So peruse other writings and Records that you forget not to search the deeds and evidences of your owne salvation before you give learned counsaile to others to secure and cleare their titles to their lands on earth aske you counsaile of the spirit and with David u Psal 119.24 make Gods statutes your counsailers to secure your title to a kingdome in heaven Make your election whereof the white stone in my text is a cleare evidence sure unto your selves by the markes which I have described unto you hatred of sinne and contempt of the world and desire of heaven secure it to your soules by the life of your faith and strength of your hope and ardency of your love and extremity of your hunger and thirst for righteousnesse and your earnest strife and most vehement fight against all your corruptions by your deepe sorrow for your sinnes carefull watching over all your wayes sonnelike feare of displeasing your heavenly father universall conformity to his will and humble submission to his rod with continuall growth in grace and mending your pace towards heaven the nearer you come to your journyes end So shall you overcome the devill by your faith the world by your hope the flesh by your spirituall love sinfull joyes by your godly sorrow carnall security by your watchfull care and filiall feare dreadfull crosses by your comfortable patience and dangerous relapses by your proficiencie in godlinesse and all sorts of temptations by your constant perseverance And thus overcomming Christ will make good his promise unto you set before you the hidden Manna and give you this white stone which none shall be able to take away from you and lay you all as so many pretious stones in the x Apoc. 21.19 foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem descending from God To whom c. THE NEW NAME THE XXVIII SERMON APOC. 2.17 And in the same stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IN this close of a letter endited by the Spirit and endorsed to the Angell of the Church of Pergamus our Emperour Christ Jesus his donatives to his victorious souldiers are set forth to the best advantage of art To him that is to every one whosoever hee bee Jew or Gentile bond or free young or old Captaine or common souldier that overcommeth the flesh by subduing it the world by despising it the devill by defying him and quenching all his fiery darts on the buckler of his faith dipt in Christs blood I will give out of my bounty not for the merit of their service the hidden Manna of consolation the white stone of absolution and the new name of adoption which no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it The hidden Manna I set before you when I first entertained your religious attention with the mysticall delicacies this text affordeth The last time I delivered unto you the white stone and now I am to spell and read unto you your new name and both declare what it is and why engraven in this white stone as also how so engraven that it can bee read by none save him who owneth it For my method I will take it from Masters of Musicke and dancing for as they first tune their instruments then finger the streines of some exquisite lessons on it finally teach their scholars how to foot the dance accordingly so the divine assistance concurring with your patience I will first by endevouring to accord the severall interpretations of the words as it were tune the strings next by delivering unto you the doctrines of this scripture set to the lessons and last of all by applying them to your lives and conversations direct you how you are to order your feet according to the heavenly musicke pricked by the Spirit in the rules of my text But because it is very hard to read letters or characters engraven in brasse or stone if the brasse or stone bee covered with dirt or blotted with inke before I proceed to spell your name I hold it requisite to rubbe out those spots and wipe away those blots which the ancient Pelagians and late Pontificians have cast upon this white stone I meane our Protestant doctrine concerning the assurance of our salvation in particular Object 1. They cast this blurre upon it That it hath no foundation in holy Scripture for where read wee say they thou William or thou John or thou Peter art assured of thy salvation 2. They cast this blurre upon it That it hath no place in the Apostles Creed and therefore in scorne and derision they tearme it the thirteenth article 3. They alledge against it That it hath no footing at all in reason For say they wee ought continually to pray for the remission of our sinnes which wee need not to doe if wee were assured of our justification and salvation 4. They article against it That it crosseth all such texts of Scripture wherein feare is commended unto us as a speciall helpe and furtherance to eternall salvation To what end doth David advise a Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with feare and Saint Paul admonish b Rom 11.20 Be not high minded but feare and c Phil. 2.12 work out your salvation with feare and trembling and Saint Peter exhort d 1 Pet. 1.17 passe the time of your sojourning here in feare if all true beleevers are so assured of their salvation that they are in no danger of forfeiting their estate of grace here or losing their crowne of glory hereafter 5. They alleage against it That it dulleth the edge of industry and cooleth the heat of zeale and taketh away all care of walking exactly before God and uprightly before men care and watchfulnesse in their judgement are superfluous where salvation and eternall happinesse is secured The first blot is thus wiped out Resp ad 1. As all parts are contained in the whole body so all particulars and singulars are vertually enclosed in generals and universals and therefore as when wee read That all men are sinners and
all men are deprived of the glory of God and in many things wee offend all every man layeth his hand upon his heart and acknowledgeth himselfe to bee of the number and as when wee read Wee must all appeare before the tribunall seat of Christ every good Christian applieth it unto himselfe and maketh full account one day to answer at that barre so when peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and assurance of eternall blisse are promised to all beleevers in Scripture every faithfull heart rejoiceth at them as having speciall interest in them I would faine know of our adversaries when a Proclamation is published in the Kings name to all his loyall subjects whether every particular man within his realmes and dominions bee not liable to the Kings high displeasure in case hee disobey this his Majesties edict though no man be therein particularly named Now what are the Ministers of the Gospell but Gods Cryers to proclaime his good pleasure concerning the receiving all penitent sinners and beleevers into grace and favour Our adversaries themselves beleeve that this Pope Urban the eighth is Christs Vicar and cannot erre in Cathedrâ and that this Priest viz. Fisher or Musket hath power to remit sinnes and in the administration of the Sacrament to turne the bread into Christs body yet let them turne over all the Bible they shall no where finde the name of Priest Musket Father Fisher or Pope Urban Here if they flye to generall promises made to all the Apostles and their successors they stifle the winde-pipe of their owne objection and confesse consequently so the generall be in Scripture wee need not trouble our selves with the particular But the generall I have proved at large out of Scripture that assurance of salvation is a priviledge granted to all the children of God that heare the testimony of the Spirit and see the infallible markes of Gods chosen in themselves Resp ad 2. The second blot is thus rubbed out This white stone the assurance of a mans particular salvation is comprised in the first words of the Creed which according to the exposition of the e Eusch Emissen in symb Ancieâ—â—s importeth I trust in God for salvation For wee say not I beleeve there is a God which is credere Deum nor I beleeve God which is credere Deo but I beleeve in God that is I put my religious trust and confidence in him Beside the true meaning of that article I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes is not only I beleeve there is a remission of sinnes in the Church which the divell himselfe doth and yet is no whit the better for it but I beleeve the remission of my owne sinnes as I doe the resurrection of my owne flesh And if this bee the true meaning of that Article which Rome and Rhemes shall never bee able to disprove the assurance of our owne justification and salvation is not as they cavill a thirteenth article of the Creed but part of the tenth To which Saint f In psal 32. Dicit anima fecura Deus meus es tu quia dicit Deus animae ego sum tua sâ—lus Austine subscribed The devout soule saith confidently thou art my God because God saith to the soule I am thy salvation Resp ad 3. The third blot is thus wiped out Prayer for remission of sinnes and assurance thereof may well stand together After the Prophet Nathan had said to David The Lord hath taken away thy sinne David beleeved the remission thereof yet hee prayed most fervently for it g Psal 51.7.14 Purge mee with Hyssope and I shall be cleane wash mee and I shall bee whiter than snow Hide thy face from my sinnes and blot out all mine iniquities deliver me from blood guiltinesse O God thou God of my salvation Our blessed Redeemer was assured that God would deliver him from the power of death and h Psal 16.10 hell yet in the i Heb. 5.7 dayes of his flesh he offered up prayers with strong cryes to him that was able to save him Saint Paul was assured by faith that God would k 2 Tim. 4.18 deliver him from every evill worke and preserve him to his heavenly kingdome yet hee ceased not to pray Libera nos à malo Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill To cut all the sinewes of this objection at once wee distinguish of three sorts of Christians 1 Incipients 2 Proficients 3 Perfect Incipients pray for the remission of their sinnes and assurance thereof to their conscience Proficients for greater assurance and farther growth in grace those that are perfect so farre as perfection may be attained in this life for the abolishing of all power of sinne in them and their publike acquitting at the last day and all three for a pardon of course at least for such sinnes of infirmity as sticke so close unto us that we cannot shake them off till we put off this earthly tabernacle For albeit every true beleever is firmely perswaded of the love of God and the free pardon of all his sinnes in generall yet because no particular sinne can be actually remitted before it be committed neither is the remission of any promised but upon condition of repentance and confession to God of all knowne sinnes in speciall and l Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours O cleanse thou me from secret faults unknowne in generall every one that is carefull of his salvation and mindfull of the command of Christ implyed in the patterne of all prayer will sue out a pardon for every new sin which through the frailty of his nature he falleth into by humble confession and prayer to God Which prayer because it cannot be acceptable to him without faith he who prayeth for the remission of his sinnes in the very instant when he prayeth beleeveth that God will heare him and that he either hath or will certainely pardon him And so we see that this third objection either hath no edge at all or if it hath any woundeth the adversaries cause if it be thus retorted against him Whatsoever we pray to God for according to his will we ought stedfastly to beleeve that we shall receive it But every true beleever prayeth for the remission of his sins according to Gods will and command Therefore every true beleever ought stedfastly to perswade himselfe that his sinnes are or shall be certainely forgiven him The fourth blot is thus wiped out Feare is twofold 1 That which is opposed to carnall security 2 That which is opposed to spirituall confidence The former is commanded in all the texts above alledged and must stand with assurance of salvation the latter is forbidden by Esay m Esay 41.14 Feare not thou worme Jacob and ye men of Israel I will helpe thee saith the Lord and thy Redeemer n c. 43. ver 1. Feare not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine
And by o Luk. 1.68 69 74. Zachary in his Hymne Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up an horne of salvation for us in the house of his servant David That we being delivered from the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare And by St. Paul p Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage againe to feare And by q Luke 12.32 Christ himselfe Feare not little flocke for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome This latter feare because it excludeth confidence in God is excluded it selfe but the former not onely standeth with certainty of perseverance in grace but mightily supporteth it For even for this end God promiseth to put that feare in the hearts of all true believers that r Jer. 32.40 they may not fall away from him Whereupon Tertullian acutely inferreth playing upon the double sense of the Latine word securus * De cult Jerâ—n Qui secutus est non est solicitus qui est solicitus potest esse secutus Hee that is secure that is carelesse of the meanes of his salvation is not solicitous or watchfull but hee that is solicitous or watchfull may bee secure that is free from all feare of unavoidable danger The last objection which our adversaries make against the doctrine delivered is taken out of the worme-eaten evidence of the ancient Pelagians as wee may see in Saint Å¿ Ep. ad August Dicunt lapsis curam resurgendi adunt sanctis occasionem teporis offerri eo quod electi nulla negligentiâ possint excidere Hage conference p. 12. c. Prosper They viz. the Pelagians upbraid that all care of rising out of sinne is taken away from those that are lapsed that to holy men is ministred an occasion of slacknesse in their devotion or lukewarmnesse inasmuch as the Elect according to our doctrine cannot fall away by any negligence howsoever they behave themselves that consequently this doctrine taketh away all praiers obsecrations obtestations exercise of mortification care of the means of renewing our covenant with God and watchfulnesse over all our wayes But wee answer with the ancient t Aug. de correp grat Prosp resp ad obâ—ect Vincent Fathers that the certainty of the end no way derogateth from the necessity of the means of salvation which on Gods part are admonitions threatnings promises commands counsels punishments and rewards on our part continuall prayer watchfulnesse progresse in godlinesse unfained desire of and earnest striving for perfection After Christ prayed for S. Peters faith that u Luk. 22.32 I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not it might not faile Peter was assured of his perseverance yet Christ commandeth him with the rest * Mar. 14.37.38 Christ saith to Peter Simon sleepest thou couldst not thou watch with mee one houre watch pray lest yee enter into temptation to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation watchfulnesse therefore and assurance are not incompatible None ever had greater assurance of their salvation than the Apostles after Christ cheared their hearts x Luk. 10.20 In this rejoice not that spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven yet our Saviour admonisheth them to y Luk. 12.35 stand with their loynes girt about and their lights burning and to take heed to themselves z Lâ—k 21.34 lest at any time their hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkennesse and cares of this life and so that day come upon them at unawares Questionlesse after Christ had given to Saint * Act. 27.24 Paul the life of all them that were in the ship with him hee was assured of their safe arrivall yet when the shipmen were about to flye out of the ship under colour as though they would have cast anchor Paul said to the Centurion and to the souldiers except these abide in the ship you cannot bee saved None may otherwise receive or apply to themselves the promises of grace and remission of sinnes than they are tendred to them in holy Scripture but in them they are propounded unto all upon condition of repentance faith holinesse of life new obedience and perseverance in it to the end To beleeve therefore the remission of sinnes and to bee assured of Gods favour notwithstanding wee hold on our sinfull courses is not spirituall confidence but carnall presumption Assurance of salvation is an effect of a lively faith which a Gal. 5.6 worketh by love and consequently all that have it the more they are assured of Gods love to them in Christ the more their hearts are enflamed with love towards God and their neighbour also for Gods sake the more zealous they will bee of his glory the more thankefull for his mercy the more desirous to please him the more fearfull to offend him the more carefull to obey him the more wounded with godly sorrow for their incurring his displeasure and the more ready to turne unto him by unfained repentance Admit what they so much clamour against us for that the adopted sonnes of God are in no feare or distrust that their heavenly Father will disinherite them yet neither may they nor can they presume hereupon wilfully to provoke him because they know that hee hath many sharpe roddes to chasten them with besides as temporall plagues painefull sicknesse irrecoverable losses terrours of conscience and spirituall desertion To conclude the certainty of our beliefe that wee shall undoubtedly arrive at the celestiall Canaan is no reason why we should flacke but rather mend our pace thither Thus having wiped out the spots and blots which the ancient and latter Pelagians have fast upon the white stone we shall more easily be able to discerne the characters engraven in it and read The new name Wee receive many new things from our Saviour 1 A b Mat. 26.28 new Testament signed with his blood 2 In this new Testament a new c Heb. 8.8 Covenant 3 In this new Covenant a new d Joh. 13.34 Commandement 4 To obey this new Commandement a new e Ezek. 36.26 heart 5 And answerable to this new Heart new f Mar. 16.17 Tongues 6 And consonant to these new Tongues new g Apoc. 14.3 Songs Behold h Apoc. 21.5 I make all things new a new i 2 Pet. 3.13 heaven and a new earth and a new k Apoc. 21.2 city and in it new l Eph. 4.24 inhabitants to whom the Spirit here promiseth a m 2 Cor. 5.17 new name upon which the Interpreters have many new conceits Alcazar the Jesuite whose profound head the Pope lately graced with a Cardinals hat in his prolixe commentaries upon the Apocalyps falling upon the words of my text will needs have this new name to be some derivative from Jesus as Jesuitae or Jesuati or the like For this name Jesus as out
hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God hee gave credit unto it as all must doe who look for the inheritance * 1 Pet. 1.4 incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for them a 1 Pet. 1.3 for all those are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ not with corruptible seed but with incorruptible and after they are begotten they are born again of water and the Spirit b 1 Pet. 2.2 as new born babes they desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow therby and as they grow c 2 Cor. 4.16 the old man decayeth in them and the inward man is renewed daily Inregard of which great alteration and change wrought in them by the Spirit of regeneration was it that the holy Father when hee was solicited by the Mistresse of his affections in former times claiming ancient familiarity with him put her off saying Ego nunc non sum ego I am not the man thou takest me for thou art indeed thou remaining still in thy unregenerate estate but I am not I. And unlesse wee all feele and observe in us d Rom. 12.2 a transformation by the renewing of our minde that wee may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God we cannot challenge to our selves this new name whereunto the Saints of God have yet a second right by the e Rom. 8.15 Spirit of adoption Adoption as f Sum 1. p. â— 93. Art 4. Adopâ—o filiorum Dâ—i est per conformitaâ—em ad â—maginem filâ—â— natur lis â—nperfâ—â—tè pudeâ— pâ—â— gâ—â—tiam perfâ—câ—e per glorâ—â—m Aquinas defineth it is by conformity to the image of the naturall sonne of God imperfectly by grace here and perfectly by glory hereafter But this great Schoole-man it seemeth was no great Lawyer nor dived deepe into the nature of Adoption which he here counfoundeth partly with sanctification which is our conformity in part to Christ by grace and partly with glorification which is our perfect conformity to him when our sanctification is consummate in heaven In precise truth adoption is not by our conformity to the image of Christ but our conformity to the image of Christ is by the spirit of adoption Adoption saith g Sen. controv Ad pâ—â— est â—â—siâ—tâ— quae benefiâ—â— naturae juris imitatur Seneca is a most sacred thing containing in it an imitation of nature civilly giving them sonnes whom nature hath left childlesse and it may be briefly defined a legall supply of a naturall defect whereby they who can beget no children yet make heires to propagate their names to posterity ut sic abolita seculis nomina per successores novos fulgeant According to which definition God cannot be properly said to adopt any children though he give them the titles of sons and make them coheirs with Christ for adoptio est fortunae remedium is provided as a remedy and comfort of those who are destitute of children and want heires God wanteth none neither doth hee adopt for his contentment but for our solace and comfort In civill adoption the son begotten is not adopted the adopted is not begotten Nulla viro soboles imitatur adoptio prolem But in the divine adoption it is otherwise For God adopteth no sonne by grace whom hee regenerateth not by his Spirit Moreover in civill adoption the ground is either consanguinity or affinity which moved Julius to adopt Octavius or if neither eminencie of vertue and similitude of disposition which induced Nerva to adopt Trajan But in the divine h Pliâ— panâ—gyr Nulla adoptati cum adoptato cognatio nullâ—â—â—cessitudo nisi quod uterque optimâ—s â—rat dignâ—sâ— alter â—ligi alter eligere adoption on the contrary God adopteth not us because of any kindred or alliance in us to him antecedently but he sent his sonne to take our nature upon him and become kinne to us that for his sake hee might have some occasion to adopt us Men adopt those in whom they see worth but God first loveth and giveth worth that he may more worthily adopt and they whom he so adopteth by the grace which he conferreth upon them procure to themselves a third right to this title of sonnes by imitation of their father This imitation consisteth in walking after the Spirit as he is a Spirit in following after holinesse as he is most holy in loving mercy as his mercy is over all his workes in purifying our hearts and hands as he is purity it selfe in doing good to those that deserve ill of us as he causeth his i Mat. 5.45 sunne to rise upon the good and the bad and his raine to fall upon the just and the unjust lastly to aspire to perfection as he is perfection it selfe In the holy language of Scripture rather expression of vertue than impression of feature maketh a sonne all that through faith prevaile with God are accounted of the seed of Israel and all beleevers the sonnes of Abraham and because the unbeleeving Jewes did not the workes of Abraham Christ denyeth them to be his children k John 8.39 If yee were the children of Abraham yee would doe the workes of Abraham Whereupon l Serm. 125. in Evang. Qui genitotis opeâ—â—â—n facit aâ—â—aâ— genus Chrysologus inferreth He that doth not the workes of his Progenitors in effect disclaimeth his linage Constantine the great tooke not such joy in his sonne Constantius because he favoured him in his countenance as because he m Nazarius in panogyr Praestantissimum Principem hoc maximè juvit quod in primoribus annis ductae sunt lineae quibus virtutumsuarum effigies posset includi saw in his tender yeeres an assay and as it were the first draught of his owne vertues On the contrary the Roman Censors tooke such a distast at the sonne of Africanus for his debauched life that they tooke a ring off his finger in which the image of his father was ingraven because he so much degenerated from his fathers excellent vertues they would not suffer him to weare his fathers picture in a ring whose image he bare not in his minde neither will God suffer any to beare his name and be accounted his sonnes who beare not his image who resemble not his attributes in their vertues his simplicity in their sincerity his immutability in their constancy his purity in their chastity his goodnesse in their charity his holinesse in their piety his justice in their integrity Regeneration is wrought in the heart knowne to God onely adoption is an act sped in the court of heaven which none knoweth on earth but he that receiveth an exemplification of it by the Spirit but imitation of our heavenly Father by a heavenly conversation proclaimeth us to all the world to be his sonnes The title thus cleared the next point is the perpetuity thereof represented unto us by the engraving the new name in the white
there be no assurance of faith it selfe Saint u Ep. 112 c 3. Fides ipsa mente uâ—que videtur quamvis hoc fide credatur quod non videtur Austine is most expresse for this reflexive act of faith Faith it selfe saith hee is seene in the minde though wee believe those things by faith which wee cannot see and again * De trin l. 13. c. 2. Fides est in intimis nostris mentibus nec eam quisquam hominum videt in alio sed in semet-ipso Faith is in the inward parts of the soule neither can any man see it in another but in himselfe hee may Could there bee any doubt of this I would evict it out of the expresse words of our Saviour Joh. 14.20 In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in mee and I in you And of Saint Paul x 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith or no. Know yee not your selves that Christ is in you except you bee reprobates And y 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed And z 1 Cor. 2.12 Wee have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit of God that wee might know the things that are freely given us of God Hang up a taper or a carbuncle in a darke roome and you shall perceive that first it discovereth it selfe by its owne light and then all things in the roome This taper or carbuncle is faith in the soule which as it manifesteth all other graces so most clearly also it selfe The heat by the incident beame of the sunne is but weake the greatest is by the reflected so is it in the act of faith there is but small warmth of comfort from the direct act whereby wee beleeve the singular priviledges of all true beleevers the greatest comfort is by the reflexive viz. that wee are true beleevers and share in those comforts Without this reflexive knowledge there can bee a Rom. 14.5 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full perswasion in our mindes much lesse b Eph. 3.12 In whom wee have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him accesse with confidence Which yet the auncient Fathers not onely teach plainly out of the Apostle but also shew manifestly how it may be obtained S. c Moral q. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil putteth this case of conscience How may the soule assuredly bee perswaded that God hath forgiven unto her her sinnes And hee resolveth it thus When shee findeth in her selfe the like disposition and affection to his that said I hate iniquity and all false wayes I utterly abhorre Saint d Amb. Serm. 2. de serm Ambrose thus He that cleaveth to that leaven is made himselfe leaven and thereby sure of his owne salvation and secure of gaining others to the faith Saint e Leo Serm. 2. de pasch Leo thus If they finde any of the fruits of charity in their conscience let them not doubt but that God is in them But wee need not borrow torch light where the sunne shineth so bright in holy scriptures f 1 Joh. 5.10 Hee that beleeveth in the sonne of God hath the testimony in himselfe And the g Rom. 8.16 Spirit testifieth to our spirit that we are the sonnes of God the Spirit of God warranteth the major In whomsoever the markes of Gods children set downe in scripture are conspicuous they are the sonnes of God our Spirit testifieth the minor that these marks are in us Now because this assumption can be proved no otherwise than by experience and our owne inward sense my fourth observation hence directly ensueth That no man knoweth the new name save he that receiveth it which is the last point now to be touched and note to be quavered on in my close viz. the propriety of this knowledge None knoweth save he that receiveth it For no man knoweth the things of a man save the h 1 Cor. 2.11 spirit of man that is in him If this white stone were visible to the eye of the body and it were given to us in presence of others it could not be but that some should see and know it besides him that receiveth it But this white stone is conspicuous only to the eye of faith which is the i Heb. 11.1 evidence of things not seene and it is given by the Spirit which is invisible and received also by the inward faculties of our soule which are likewise invisible Were this knowledge onely conjecturall and gathered from outward signes and tokens others might have notice thereof as well as our selves but the Spirit saith here No man knoweth save he that receiveth it It must be therefore a speciall act of speciall faith whereby we are assured of our adoption by faith and of faith by the Spirit k In Apoc. Sint duo quorum uterque laudat mel sed alterus lingua loquitur quod fauces ignorant alterius quod delectatio gustus cum docuerit Ansbertus giveth good aime to the meaning of this text Suppose two saith he commending hony of whom the first discourseth out of his reading the tongue of the second hath tasted that he speaketh of such saith he is the knowledge of him who hath received the white stone Others may know it in specie but he in individuo others contemplatively but he experimentally l in Apoc. Tantae excellentiae est nomen istud ut nemo sciat quid valeat quantum boni comprehendat nisi qui adoptatus est Sardus commeth nearer the marke This name saith he is of such excellency that no man knoweth it that is the value and worth of it but he who is adopted by God m Rupert in Apoc. Cui nemo scit nisi qui accipit quia nominis ejus scientiam non alterius extrinsecus documentum sed proprium interius efficit experimentum ideo nemo scit nisi quem spiritus regenerando filium Dei effecerit ipsâ regeneratione scientem ejus rei doctumque suo tactu effecerit Rupertus hitteth it Why saith he doth no man know this name saving he that receiveth it Because this name cannot be knowne by any outward document but by an inward experiment not by externall evidence but by inward sense therefore no man knoweth it saving he whom the Spirit by regeneration maketh the sonne of God and by the same act maketh him know it There is a great difference betweene a contemplative and an experimentall knowledge of the priviledges of Gods children A blind man from his birth may heare the theory of the Sun read unto him but he can never conceive rightly of the beauty of that glorious lamp of heaven or take the hundreth part of that delight which we doe who see it The discourse of the Jewish Rabbins concerning the delicacy of this Manna in my text is sweet but nothing to the taste of it The meditations of Divines upon the joyes of
heaven are able to ravish the soule with delight yet are they nothing to St. n 2. Cor. 12.2 Pauls rapture into the third heaven so farre experimentall knowledge in particular exceedeth contemplative in generall Out of this experimentall knowledge the Spouse testifieth o Cant. 5 1. I have eaten my hony combe with my hony To this the Prophet David inviteth p Psal 34.8 O taste and see how gracious the Lord is For this the Apostle prayeth that the Philippians might abound in all spirituall wisedome and q Psal 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 experience or sense and this is the knowledge here meant You have heard the lessons set in the lines of my text what remaineth but that according to my proposed method I direct you to foot the spirituall dance accordingly 1 And in the stone a new name Mutatio nominis mutatio hominis Applicat a new name should carry with it a new man When God changed r Gen. 32.28 Jacobs name into Israel he changed his condition and certainely Christ giveth this new name to none to whom he giveth not withall a new nature If therefore we expect that Christ should write this new name in a white stone and give it us let us give all diligence that the image of the new man may shine in our soules otherwise if the old Adam be young in us if our old infirmities be strong in us if the old leven puffing us up with pride and sowring the whole lumpe of our nature is still in us if our old corruptions be they vitious or ambitious or a varitious or superstitious still master us this white stone here mentioned will prove a black stone to us and this new name written in it a hand-writing against us For a ſ Salvianus de provid l. 4. Reatus impii pium nomen l. 3. Quid est in quo nobis de Christiano nomine blandiamur cum utique hoc ipso magis per nomen sacratissimum rei simus quod a sanctimoniâ discrepamus holy and godly title in a wicked man improveth the guilt of his sinne This new name is the title of the Son of God which appellation should bind us to our good behaviour that we carry our selves so in private towards God so in publike towards men so holily in our devotion so faithfully in our vocation so uprightly in our conversation that we may be Proles tanto non inficianda parenti children not unworthy to be owned by such a Father who hath adopted us in Christ What a shame is it for a Prince or the sonne of a Noble man to filch and cheat and take base courses and live sordidly Tertullian strongly refuteth Montanus his prophecies by his personall infirmities What saith he a Prophet and a Dicer a Prophet and an Usurer a Prophet and fleshly given a Prophet and distemper himselfe with drinke Wee may streigne this string higher What a Christian beleever and a Pagan liver the Sonne of God and doe the workes of the Divell the childe of light and walke in darknesse in gluttony chambering and wantonnesse strife and envying an heire of heaven and all his mind and thoughts upon the mucke and dung of the earth Why dost thou reproach thine owne t Basil seleuc Cur appellationi cujus virtute cares contumelium irrogas quid gestas cognomen quid personae probro sit quid factis appelationem impugnas calumniâ nomen tuum afficis name Why dost thou disgrace thy greatest honour Why dost thou overthrow thine owne title by thy deeds 3 If Christ hath written our new name in a white stone let us imprint his name in our hearts as Ignatius did and that so deepely if we may beleeve the Legend that the characters thereof were legible in it after his death let us sing a new song to him that hath given us this new name 4 If no man upon earth know to whom Christ hath given this white stone saving he that receiveth it let us take heed how we suddenly write any mans name in a blacke stone I meane passe the censure of Reprobates upon them The u Mat. 7.1 Judge himselfe adviseth not to judge lest we be judged The foundation of God remaineth sure having this seale God knoweth who are his not we we ought to labour for the reformation and pray for the conversion and hope for the salvation of any to whom God for ought we know may give repentance unto life as he hath given to us They cannot be worse than we have beene x Cypr. ep l. 3. Nemo id sibi arroget quod sibi soli reservat pater Let no man arrogantly assume that to himselfe which the Father hath reserved to himselfe alone viz. the fanne to sever the wheate from the chaffe in Christs floore 5 Lastly if we desire to eat of the hidden Manna let us loathe the flesh-pots of Egypt if we covet this white stone let us value it above all precious stones if we expect this new name let us contemne the titles of the world let us study lesse other mens titles and states on earth and more our owne state in Gods promises and title to heaven let us view in the glasse of holy Scripture the true markes of Gods children and seeke to find them all in our selves So shall we be sure before death closeth up our eies to have a sight of this new name here and after we remove hence to read it written in glorious characters in the gates and walls of the new Jerusalem descending from God whose x Apoc. 21.19 streets are paved with gold and the gates and foundations of the walls garnished with pearles and all sorts of precious stones into which heavenly Mansions when we are ready for them God receive us for his sake who is gone thither before to prepare them for us To whom c. SATANAE STRATAGEMATA THE XXIX SERMON 2 COR. 2.11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. SCaliger hath long since set forth an excellent worke de emendatione temporum but wee need rather bookes de emendatione morum For in this Chrisis of distempered humours such is the condition of most hearers that the Minister of God though upon good warrant from his text can hardly rebuke the publike enemies of Church or State but hee shall procure private enemies to himselfe Every one is jealous that something is said or meant by our Pauls against his great Diana If he stand for or be inclinable unto the new or newly taken up expressions of devotion he suspects the Preacher glanceth at him under the name of a temporizer or symbolizer with Papists If hee bee averse from such customes and rites hee conceiveth himselfe to bee taxed under the name of a refractary Non-conformitant If hee make any great shew of religion hee thinkes himselfe pointed at in the reproofe of an
Hypocrite if little or no shew hee feeles himselfe galled in the reprehension of the prophane worldling If hee rellish the leaven of Arminius he takes himselfe to bee wounded through the Pelagians if of Cartwright through the Brownists if of Cassander or the Catholike Moderatour through the luke-warme Laodicean sides Yet I have met with an enemy through whose sides I am sure no man will hold himselfe wounded whose part no man will take whose quarrels no man will owne against whom it is lawfull to cast not onely fiery but also poysoned darts Tincta Lycambaeo spicula felle whom to particularize is discretion to stigmatize moderation to curse to the deepe pit of hell piety to hate with a perfect hatred the top of Christian charity I meane the grand enemy of mankind whose name and spirituall snares you heare of in the reading of my text but through Gods helpe shall see and handle them and pull them asunder in the explication and application thereof a Plut. in Apoph Optimus ille est Imperator qui maximè cognitas habet res hostium Et Eras ap l. 5. Chabryas was wont to say that hee was the best Commander in warre who best understood his enemies For knowing wherein their strength consisted he could prepare against it and being acquainted with the maner of their fight he could discipline his souldiers accordingly and having good intelligence what courses they meant to take hee could prevent them therein and alwayes worke upon the advantage As in all other sciences and arts so in the military profession there are certaine axiomes maximes or generall rules whereof the first is b Vegetius de re milit l. 3. c. 26. Quicquid tibi prodest adversario nocet quicquid illum juva tibi semper officit Whatsoever is good for our enemies is alwayes hurtfull to us for his gaine is our losse his rise is our fall his honour is our infamy his helpe is our hinderance his devices are our snares his plots are our traps his inventions are our circumventions Wherefore it cannot but be a matter of great importance to all that fight under the banner of Christs crosse against Satan and all his infernall forces to bee informed out of Scripture and the observations of the best experienced souldiers in our spirituall warfare wherein our ghostly enemies strength lyeth after what manner hee assaulteth us and what are his usuall stratagems whereby hee most prevaileth ut praemoniti simus praemuniti that being forewarned of them wee way bee forearmed against them To which end among others I pitched my serious thoughts upon this passage of Scripture wherein one of Christs Worthies who in his time fought many noble battailes and was more than conquerour in them all advertiseth the Corinthians of a designe that Satan had upon them viz. by the rigour of their severity to cast away one of the members of their Church whom they had cast out of their congregation for his incestuous match Occas There was great reason the Elders and Governours at Corinth should be exasperated against this delinquent c Cal com in 2 ad Cor. qui primus nitorem ecclesiae tam turpi notâ maculasset who was the first that blemished that Virgin Spouse of Christ and therefore having received warrant from the Apostle to proceed against him they draw out their sharpe sword of excommunication and presently cut him off from their assemblies never thinking they could doe enough to manifest to the world their detestation of so foule a fact and fouler a scandale Hereupon the common adversary worketh hardening their hearts more and more by a colourable pretence of zeale and locking up their eares against the prayers and shutting their eyes at the teares and lowest submission of this disconsolate penitent that so hee being out of all hope of restitution to his former state might runne some desperate course And very like it was that Satan would have gone beyond them all had not the Apostle descried this his subtle device and discovered it unto them in this clause of his letter which carryeth this sense Paraphr My beloved brethren at Corinth it grieveth mee to write any thing to you to grieve you who are the crowne of my joy and therefore I wrote heretofore more smartly against him who troubled you that I might make a trial of your love towards me in vindicating the honor of your Church my plantation and you have abundantly testified your obedience to me and zeale for the Gospel by putting him from among you who brought an obloquy upon you and blasted the fruits of my labours But now the case is much altered hee is not what hee was he swelleth not with pride but is fallen away with griefe and will undoubtedly sinke in despaire if you reach not out your hand of compassion to save him from drowning in a sea of salt teares Wherefore things standing thus with him let my pen which gave the wound heale it and if upon my former letter to shew your obedience to mee you bound him with an anathema to confirme the same upon this letter release him Una eademque manus vulnus opemque ferat If I forgave others for your sake forgive him now for my sake or at least for your owne sake lest the common adversary make an advantage of your zeale for the Church to maime it and abuse that power which God hath given you for edification to the destruction of one who before was and after reparation may bee a living Temple of the holy Ghost The words containe in them a wise prevention of a subtle circumvention wherein I observe 1 A caution Divis 2 A reason The caution most seasonable lest Satan should get an advantage The reason most forcible for wee are not ignorant of his devices In the former wee are to take speciall notice 1 Of the caveat put in ne circumveniat 2 Of the party against whom it is put in Satanas 3 Of the parties in whose behalfe it is put in nos 1 Him 2 You. 3 Mee The reason is drawne from two heads 1 The cause of the danger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are devices 2 The notice thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are not ignorant of them First of the caution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some render these words lest Sathan should usurpe upon you and they give this reason because say they d Theod. com in 2 ad Cor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satan hath no right to any place wheresoever hee getteth footing hee is an intruder and usurper like Antiochus surnamed Hierax the Hawke who had no estate or patrimony left him but preyed upon others territories and by rapine patched out a kingdome to himselfe Others read lest Satan circumvent us agreeably to the circumstances of the place and the practice of the devill who being demanded by God e Job 1.7 from whence he came answered from compassing the earth cur circuit nisi ut
circumveniat why doth he compasse the earth but to circumvent us Circumvention is more easily understood than prevented or avoided A Wrestler who can circumvenire come about his adversary taketh hold where hee list to his best advantage in a duell fought on horse-backe hee that can nimbly turne his beast and circumvenire come about his Antagonist hee striketh him at pleasure when a passenger is met by a theefe at every turne he is properly circumvented when a city is environed and begirt with a puissant army that is circumvented there is no hope to escape By which few instances you may perceive how apt this phrase is to expresse the great danger of Satan his temptations Yet the Kings Translation lest Satan get advantage of us commeth neerest to the Greeke Etymology which imports to have more or the better to gaine over and above and Oecumenius the Greeke Scholiast descanteth upon this signification of the word after this manner * Oecumenius in 2 Cor. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doth not Satan gaine over and above when hee gaines upon us both wayes when hee getteth an advantage of us both by sinne and repentance both by vitious pleasures and by godly sorrow as hee would have done upon this Corinthian whom first hee perswaded to make an incestuous match to satisfie his lustfull desires and after hee felt the smart of his sinne and severe censure of the Church hee wrought upon his sorrow and sought to drive him into desparation But why doth the Apostle say lest hee get advantage of us was Saint Paul in any danger or had Satan any designe upon him We may piously conceive that Saint Paul joynes himselfe with them because hee esteemed all those whom hee begot to Christ by the Gospell no other than his own children and the Father cannot but suffer in the losse of his childe The f Cypr. de laps Plus pastor in gregis sui vulnere vulneratur shepheard must needs be endamaged when any of his flocke is diminished g 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is offended saith Saint Paul and I burne not yet this is not all Saint Paul was further interessed in this businesse than so for the Corinthians had excommunicated this incestuous person by order from the Apostle himselfe and therefore if he had miscarried Satan had made his advantage upon all upon the incestuous person whose soule hee would have ruined upon the Church which hee had maimed of a member upon the Corinthians and S. Paul himselfe under whose hands this patient had beene so roughly handled that hee died in the cure These were Satans reaches or as they are here called devices which he could not carry so closely but that the Apostles vigilant eye descryed them for saith hee Wee are not ignorant of his devices Did the housholder know what night the thiefe would come to rob him he would certainly guard his house did the birds know a snare were laid for them would they come neare it were the fishes aware that a net were spread for them would they run into it had the souldiers certaine notice of an ambush set for them would they bee surprized Loe here beloved snares of temptation nets of circumvention ambushes of destruction prepared by a most subtle enemy and wee are not ignorant of them if then we be taken entangled or surprized can we lay the blame upon any thing but upon our carelesse and retchlesse folly Could wee plead with him in the Poet Non expectato vulnus ab hoste tuli I was wounded by a dart I was not aware of our case deserved some compassion but when wee know our enemy and are foreshewed what fiery darts hee prepareth for us and when and how hee will cast them at us if we receive our deaths wound our blood must needs bee upon our selves Satan assaults us two maner of waies by his lions paw by his serpents sting by open force and by cunning sleights by the one in time of persecution by the other in time of peace of the latter the Apostle here speaks saying wee are not ignorant of his Devices Devices are subtle meanes to compasse our ends such as are trickes in gaming fallacies in disputing sleights in wrestling mysteries in trading policies in state and stratagems in war the enemy of our soule is full of them cui nomina mille Mille nocendi artes Lypsius hath written of all the warlike engines used by the ancients and Vegetius of their military policies and Captaine-craft but never any yet was able to recount much lesse describe all Satans poliorcetickes and stratagems Some of the chief and most dangerous partly out of scripture and partly out of experienced souldiers of Christ I purpose to acquaint you with at this time 1. The first stratagem policy or device of Satan is To observe the naturall constitution of every mans minde and body and to fit his temptations thereunto For hee knoweth well that as every plant thrives not in every soyle so neither every vice in every temper and complexion Though there bee in every man a generall aversenesse from good and propension to evill and albeit nature as it is corrupted since the fall bee a step-dame to all vertue and a mother to all vices yet shee is not equally affected in every one to all her owne children Some ill conditions are more incident to some climats to some countries to some families than others The Easterne people were for the most part given to sorcery the auncient Jewes to idolatry the Greeks to curious heresie the Latine Church to superstition Unnaturall lust seemeth to bee naturalized in Italy pride in Spaine levity in France drunkennesse in Germany gluttony and new fangled fashions in great Brittaine Ambition haunteth the Court mostly faction the University luxury and usury the City oppression and extortion the Countrey bribery and forged cavillations the Courts of justice schisme and simony the Church Pliny writeth of some families that they had privie marks in their bodies peculiar to those of that line the like may bee found in mens mindes and every one herein is like the Leopard Cognatis maculis parcit fera hee h Greg. mor. in Job l. 29. Priùs conspersionem uniuscujusque intuctur pòst tentationum laqueos apponit favoureth his owne spots These spots Satan curiously marketh and accordingly frames his suggestions hee observes our walkes and spies our usuall haunts and there sets gins for us As the Mariner marks the wind and accordingly hoiseth up or striketh saile or as the cunning Oratour learneth which way the Judge propendeth and ever draweth him where hee seeth him comming on so the Devill maketh perpetuall use of the bent of our nature to helpe forward his temptations rightly considering that it is a very easie matter to bow a tree the way it bendeth of it selfe to cast a bowle swiftly downe the hill to push downe a wall where it swaggeth already to trip up his heeles whose foot is sliding Hee
blessed Virgin the babe a Luke 1.41 sprang in the wombe of Elizabeth so I doubt not but that at the reading of this text in your eares the fruits of your devotion which are your religious thoughts and zealous affections leap and spring for joy in the wombe of your soule for now is the accepted time the time of grace now is the day of salvation the day of our Lords Incarnation As the golden tongued Father spake of a Martyr Martyrem dixisse laudâsse est to name a man a Martyr is to commend him sufficiently so it may be said of this text to rehearse it is to apply it I need not fit it to the time for the time falleth upon this time and the day upon this day now if ever is this Now in season If any time in all the yeere be more acceptable than other it is the holy time we now celebrate now is the accepted time on Gods part by accepting us to favour now is the day of salvation by exhibiting to us a Saviour in our flesh let us make it so on our parts also by accepting the grace offered unto us and by laying hands on our Saviour by faith and embracing him by love and by joy dilating our hearts to entertain him with all his glorious attendants a troupe of heavenly Souldiers singing b Luke 2.14 Glory be to God on high on earth peace and good will towards men c Esay 49.13 Sing O heavens and be joyfull O earth and breake forth into shouting O ye mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon the afflicted Keepe this holy day above others because chosen by God to manifest himselfe in the flesh bid by an Angell and by him furnished both with a lesson and with an Anthem also Well might the Angell as on this day sing glory in excelsis Deo c. for on this day the Son of God out of his good will towards men became man and thereby set peace on earth and brought infinite glory to God in the highest heavens Well may this be called by the Apostle d Gal. 4.4 The fulnesse of time or a time of fulnesse which filled heaven with glory the earth with blessings of peace and men with graces flowing from Gods good will The heavens which till this time were as clasped boxes now not able longer to containe in them the soveraigne balsamum of wounded mankind burst open and he whose name is e Cant. 1.3 an ointment poured forth was plentifully shed upon the earth to revive the decayed spirits and heale the festered sores of wounded mankind Lift up then your heavie lookes and heavier hearts yee that are in the midst of danger and in the sight nay within the claspes of eternall death you have a Saviour borne to rescue you Cheare up your drouping and fainting spirits all ye that feele the smart and anguish of a bruised conscience and broken heart to you Christ is borne to annoint your wounds bruises and sores Exult and triumph ye gally slaves of Satan and captives of Hell fast bound with the chaine of your sinnes to you a Redeemer is borne to ransome you from spirituall thraldome Two reasons are assigned why festivities are religiously to be kept 1. The speciall benefits of God conferred upon his Church at such times which by the anniversary celebration of the dayes are refreshed in our memories and visibly declared to all succeeding ages 2 The expresse command of God which adjoyned to the former reason maketh the exercises of devotion performed at these solemnities duties of obedience It cannot be denied that in this latter consideration those feasts which are set downe in the booke of God have some prerogative above those that are found wrtiten onely in the Calendar of the Church But in the former respect no day may challenge a precedencie of this no not the Sabbath it selfe which the more to honour him whose birth we now celebrate resigned both his name place and rites to the f Athanas hom de semenie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords day and if we impartially compare them the worke wrought on this day was farre more difficult and the benefit received upon it greater than that to the memory whereof the Sabbath was at the first dedicated It was a greater miracle that God should be made a creature than that he should make all creatures and the redemption of the world so farre exceeds the creation as the means by which it was wrought were more difficult and the time larger the one was finished in sixe dayes by the commandement of God the other not in lesse than foure and thirty yeeres by the obedience of Christ the one was but a word with God the breath of his mouth gave life to all creatures the other cost him much labour sweat and bloud and what comparison is there betweene an earthly and an heavenly Paradise Nay if wee will judge by the event the benefit of our creation had beene none without our redemption For by it we received an immortall spirit with excellent faculties as it were sharpe and strong weapons wherewith wee mortally wounded our selves and had everlastingly laid weltring in our own blood had not our Saviour healed our wounds by his wounds and death and raised us up againe by the power of his resurrection To which point Saint Austine speaking feelingly saith Si natus non fuisset bonum fuisset si homo natus non fuisset If hee had not beene borne it had beene good for man never to have beene borne if this accepted time had not come all men had beene rejected if this day of salvation had not appeared wee had all perished in the night of eternall perdition Behold now is the accepted time In this Scripture as in a Dyall wee may observe 1 The Index 2 The Circles Certaine Behold Different 1 The larger 2 The narrower The accepted time The day of salvation To man in generall it is an accepted time to every beleever in particular it is a day of salvation Lynx cum cessat intueri cessat recordari Because we are like the Lynx which mindeth nothing no longer than her eye is upon it the Spirit every where calleth upon us to looke or behold Behold not alwayes or at any time but now not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not time simply but season the flower of time not barely accepted but according to the originall well accepted or most acceptable not the day of helpe or grace but a day of salvation As in the bodies which consist of similar parts the forme of the whole and the forme of every part is all one for example the whole ocean is but water and yet every drop thereof is water the whole land is but earth and yet every clod thereof is earth the
eternity yet I deny that this is any good description of time because every description ought to be per notius by something that is more known whereas eternity is farre more obscure than time it selfe all men have a common notion of the one few or none of the other Neither doe they give any better satisfaction who define time by duration For albeit there is a time of duration of every thing and a duration also of time it selfe yet duration is not time duration is the existence of any thing in time not the terme or time it selfe They define time most agreeable to the Scriptures who affirme it to be the continuall fluxe of moments minutes houres dayes weekes moneths yeeres ages from the creation of the world to the dissolution thereof after which the u Apoc. 10.6 Angel sware that time should be no more But I need to speake no more of time at this time because the word in my text is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time but season or as it is here rendered The accepted time The season is that in time which light is in the aire lustre in metals the flower in plants creame in milke quintessence in hearbs the prime and best of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now there being a threefold season 1. Naturall which Husbandmen observe in sowing Gardeners in planting and graffing Mariners in putting to Sea Chirurgians in letting bloud Physicians in purging c. 2. Civill of which the Poet speaketh Mollissima fandi tempora which all humble suppliants observe in preferring petitions to Princes and great Personages 3. Spirituall which all that have a care of their salvation must observe in seeking the Lord while he may be found The Apostle in this place pointeth to this third and his meaning is Behold now presse hard to get into the kingdome of heaven for now the gate is open now labour hard in Gods vineyard for now is the eleventh houre now put up your petitions to the Prince of peace for now is the day of audience now provide your selves of spirituall merchandize for now is the mart now cast your selves into the Bethesda of Christs bloud for now the Angel troubleth the water now get a generall pardon for all your sinnes under the broad seale of the King of heaven for now is a day of sealing When the King commeth saith St. x Chrys in hunc locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome there is no time for sessions or assises but for pardon and favour Behold now the King is come to visit his subjects upon earth and from his first comming to his last the day of grace continueth Behold now is this accepted time He calleth it an accepted time saith St. y Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome because now God accepteth them to favour who a thousand times incurred his displeasure It is called in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a time of good will and favour as Calvin rendereth the words who biddeth us marke the order first a time of grace is promised and after a day of salvation to intimate unto us that salvation floweth from the meere grace and mercy of God We are active in sinne to our owne damnation but meere passive to the first grace we draw on damnation with the cart-ropes of vanity but God draweth us to salvation with the cords of love The speciall point of doctrine to which this ecce or index in my text pointeth is that we ought to take speciall notice of the time of grace beginning at the birth of our Saviour and ending to us at the day of our death and to all men that shall be upon the earth at the consummation of the world As the celestiall spheres are wrapt one in another and the greatest which the Philosophers terme the Primum mobile invelopeth all the rest so the parts of time are enclosed the lesser in the greater houres in dayes dayes in yeeres yeers in ages and ages in the time of the duration of the world To explicate then to the full the time of our Lords birth it will be requisite to treat 1 Of the age of the world 2 Of the yeere of the age 3 Of the day of the yeere in which the true z John 1.9 light that lighteneth every man that commeth into the world first shined on the earth 1 Of the age of the world The Jewes according to an ancient tradition received from the house of Elias make three ages of the world as it were so many stages of time 1 From the creation to the law 2 From the law to the Messias 3 From the comming of the Messias to the end of the world To each of these they allow two thousand yeeres counting thus 1 a Carion in Chron. Duo millia vacuum 2 Duo millia lex 3 Duo millia Messias post mundi deflagratio Saint y Aug. de civit Dei l. 22 c 30. Post hanc tan quam in die septimo requi escet Deus cum eundem septimum diem quod nos erimus in seipso faciet requiescere Austine doubleth these files and maketh reckoning of sixe ages 1 From Adam to the Deluge 2 From the Deluge to Abraham 3 From Abraham to Solomon 4 From Solomon to the captivity 5 From the captivity to Christs birth 6 From Christs birth to the day of judgement after which in the seventh we shall all keepe an eternall Sabbath in heaven By both which computations it appeareth that the birth of our Saviour fell late towards the declining and end of time as b Maxin Taur hom 6 de nativ In fine temporum natus est ille cujus aeternitatem nulla saeculorum tempora comprehendunt Maximus Taurinensis observeth Here the wit of man which like the Sea will still be working though oftentimes foaming out his owne shame curiously enquireth why the desire and joy of all mankind was so long delayed why he was so late born whose birth was of more importance than of all the Potentates Princes Kings Emperours and Monarchs of the whole world Was not Christ the bright morning starre how came it then to passe that he appeared not till the afternoone if not evening of the world Was not he the bridegroome whose * Marriage song Epithalamium Solomon by the spirit of prophesie endited in the booke of Canticles how could hee then heare his dearest Spouse breathe out so many sighes and shed such abundance of teares in so many ages still longing for his comming and crying c Cant. 1.1 Let him come into the flesh and kisse mee with the kisses of his lips Was not hee the good Samaritan which healed the wounded man after Moses the Levite and Aaron the Priest passing by left him as they found him and did him no ease at all how then could this tender hearted Chirurgian suffer wounded mankinde to lie so many ages weltring in his owne bloud and
in Here I might take occasion to congratulate our Churches of great Britaine which alone among all the Reformed have preserved from sacriledge ransacking holy things under pretence of zeale against Idolatry some remaines of Ecclesiasticall preferments and sacred ornaments as it were borders of gold But the time and your expectation call mee from the explication of this Scripture to make some application thereof to this present exercise Whereto I would presently addresse my selfe if I were not arrested by a new action repetundarum commenced justly against those who before mee have repeated in this place It is alledged against them that they have turned recensere into censere or censuram ferre rehearsing into censuring and contraction of Sermons into detraction from the Preachers This is utterly a fault and I hold it most necessary at this time and in this place to reprove it that the plaster may be applyed where the wound hath been given It is no better than in stead of wine to offer to Christ on this Crosse the sharpest vinegar after which if any thirst here I thinke fit to send him packing on Martial the Poet his errand Vaticana bibas si delectaris aceto non facit ad stomachum nostra lagena tuum Can a fountaine out of the same place send forth bitter * Jam. 3.11 waters and sweet can a man with the same breath blesse God and scandalize his Ministers glorifie him and disgrace their brethren If any Rehearser hereafter shall turne Satyrist and take delight in spilling much wit and reading in this kinde I desire him seriously to consider that as y Ausonius in epig. Autorem feriunt tela retorta suum Achyllas was hurt in the eye by the rebound of that very stone which hee inhumanely coited at a skull so that they cannot cast any contumelious aspersion in this kind upon their brethren in the Ministery but that it will rebound backe upon themselves and wound them in the eye of their discretion to say no more For even they who most applaud their pregnancy or rather luxuriancy of wit secretly condemne their want of judgement as Tully did his who wonderfully pleased himselfe in that Paronomasie Videte patres conscripti ne circumscripti videamini whereby he offended all the Senate Ego verò non tanti fecissem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would not have set so much by a figure or cadency of sentence as for it to fall out with the Councell of State z Lib. 6. instit Orator Nimium risus pretium est si probitatis impendio constat Quintilian gravely schooles such telling them that â—e buyeth a witty conceit or jest at too deare a rate who pawneth his honesty for it Much more he who pawneth Christian charity for it The Ministers of the Gospel who are stiled a Rev. 1.20 angels in holy Scripture ought to resemble the Cherubims in the Arke which cast a gracious aspect one upon the other and Rehearsers should be like the golden snuffers of the Temple not like extinguishers of baser metall they ought to take away the superfluity and cleere the light of their brethrens labours not put it out as some have done of late and left a loathsome savour behind them or to make use of the similitude which I find in my Text they should be like studs of silver in borders of gold receive and give a mutuall lustre one to the other Thus having given a law to my selfe as well as others I proceed to speak of the worthy Speakers whose resounding eccho the redoubled command of authority hath made mee at this present who like the Romane b Cic. divinat in Ver. Quemvis ut mallem eorum qui possunt quà m me me ut mallem quam neminem Orator in his divination in Verrem had rather that any should have undertaken this taske than my selfe my selfe rather than none If as the Proverbe is tria sunt omnia so it might be said truly quatuor sunt omnia I should not doubt but to fit the foure Speakers whose remembrancer I must be with a similitude running upon foure feet But it is far otherwise there are few quaternians in nature and these have been laid out for and anticipated long agoe Besides as c Nat. hist l. 28. c. 8. Camelion salutaris est parturientibus si sit domi si verò inferatur pernitiosissimus Pliny writeth of the flesh of a Camelion that it is very wholesome for women in labour if the Camelion were bred in the country but very unwholsome if it be brought from forraine parts so it may be truely said of allusions and applications If they are home borne as it were and taken from things neere at hand they are in request but if they be farre fetched they lose their grace Howsoever they who never meane to touch this heavie burthen so much as with a little finger should forbeare to censure those who in these later yeeres are to furnish this exercise yea though we send farre for our provision in this kind sith our just apology may be that Pliny and Solinus their markets have bin fore-stalled and there is nothing to be had neere at hand The foure Postes have long agoe rode their foure stages The foure parts of the World have been traversed The foure rivers of Paradise have been drawne dry The foure winds have breathed out their last gaspe The foure rich Merchants have sold their commodities The foure Embassadours have delivered their embassages What shall I adde more Heaven it selfe hath been ransacked and from thence foure Angels have been called down to sound the foure last Trumps Nay Hell it selfe hath been raked for similitudes and from thence Proteus was conjured up to turne himselfe into foure shapes This as I conceive occasioned my immediate predecessour with whose praises the Crosse yet rings to chime the Rehearsers knell with foure Bells in this place where there was never yet any one hung Nothing remaineth for mee who am to fish for allusions after all these but to make use of the words of my Text according to the seventies Translation faciamus similitudines to set forth a new Pliny and forge new similitudes of things that never were nor will be But see as Apelles when hee had often tryed to paint the d Plin. nat hist l. 32. Apelles cum spumam pingere vellet saepiùs frustrà expertus esset iratus arti spongram impegit in viso loco tabulae illa reposuit ablatos colores qualiter cura optabat fecitque in picturâ fortuna naturam foming of a horse and could never come neere it at last in a rage flung his spunge carelesly upon his worke and chance expressed that which art could not so after much labour taken in devising an embleme and pourtraying a lively draught of these foure Speakers at last unsatisfied with any I threw downe my pensill upon my worke and behold quod ars non potuit casus expressit I
winde The heavenly doctrine of the Preachers powred downe in great abundance like great showers of raine from heaven they themselves were as golden spouts at whose mouth though I set my pitchers as close and steady as I could yet many silver drops went besides them notwithstanding you see they are full and runne over Take you yet another similitude that you may have similitudines according to the letter of my Text as the Seventy reade it The foure Sermons were like foure Garlands crowning the Spouse of Christ out of which I have culled some of the chiefest flowers and howsoever in the plucking of them and sorting them many leaves are shattered and some flowers lost yet there are more left than can bee contained within the handfull of the time allotted Wherefore now I will leave gathering and fall to making up my Posie winding up all the flowers orationis meae filo with the remainder of the thrid of my discourse upon the Text. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver As out of the branches of trees there shoot first buds then blossomes and last of all fruit so out of Texts of Scripture which are branches of the tree of life issueth first the literall sense which because it groweth immediatly out of the barke and stocke of the letter resembleth the bud and then the spirituall which because it is most pleasant and beautifull to the eye of the soule may bee likened to the blossome and thirdly the morall sense which because it is most fruitfull and immediatly profitable for our instruction may be termed the fruit To illustrate this by the words of my Text or rather the words of my Text by it The literall sense is of Solomon his Queen richly decked the spirituall is of Christ his Church rarely furnished the morall is of sacred vowes religiously to be performed You see 1 The bud of the literall 2 The blossome of the spirituall 3 The fruit of the morall sense But herein you are to observe a remarkable difference between the tree of life and other trees for their buds are but a degree to the blossomes and the blossomes to their fruit neither bud nor blossome beare fruit but in the tree of life both the bud which I compared to the literall and the blossome which I called the spirituall and the fruit which I termed the morall beare severall and distinct fruits For instance the bud yeelds this fruit That it is lawfull for noble and honourable women especially Kings wives daughters to weare rich attire and costly ornaments The blossome yeelds this fruit That as Gods goodnesse hath abounded to the Church under the Gospel so all Christians ought to abound in love and thankfulnesse to him Lastly the morall sense which I termed the fruit yeeldeth over and above this fruit That what the friends of the Spouse here promise all godly pastors and people ought to performe that is these out of the riches of their learning they out of their worldly wealth ought to adorne and beautifie the Church and in different kindes make for the Spouse of Christ borders of gold with studs of silver To gather first the fruit of the bud or literall sense If costly apparrell and precious attire were an abomination to the Lord if cloth of gold and silver and borders of pearle and precious stones were as great a deformity to the minde as they are an ornament to the body the Scripture would not set out b Gen. 24.22 Rebecca in bracelets and abiliments of gold nor c Ezek. 6.11 12. Ezekiel in the person of God upbraid the Synagogue as he doth I decked thee with ornaments and I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chaine on thy necke and I put a jewell on thy fore-head and eare-rings in thine eares Ver 13. and a beautifull crowne upon thy head thus wast thou decked with gold and silver and thy raiment was of fine linnen and silke nor Solomon described his d Psal 45.9 Queene in a vesture of gold of Ophir neither the Prophet e Esay 61.10 Esay have compared the Spouse of Christ clothed with the garments of salvation and covered with the robes of righteousnesse to a Bride adorned with jewells And therefore howsoever Saint f 1 Tim. 2.9 Paul and Saint g 1 Pet. 3.3 Peter forbid women to aray themselves with gold or pearles or costly aray and Saint h De habitu Virg. Cyprian is yet severer against costly apparrell saying Nullarum ferè pretiosior cultus est quà m quarum pudor vilis est and Serico purpurâ indutae Christum induere non possunt auro margaritis monilibus ornatae ornamenta pectoris perdiderunt which I spare to English in favour of that sexe yet as I conceive the holy Apostles the devout Father in these the like wholsome and necessary admonitions condemne not simply Gods servants for the use but rather prophane persons for the abuse of these beautifull creatures of God they seek to abase the pride of the heart not abate the price of these merchandizes They taxe and that most justly three vices too common in these luxurious times 1 Vanity in the garish forme of apparrell 2 Excesse in the costly matter or stuffe 3 Indecency and immodesty in both or either Or they speake comparatively that women should not so much desire to i Antiph Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adorne their out-side with resplendent pearles as their inward parts with jewells of vertue and grace We have gathered the fruit of the bud come we now to the blossome that is the beautifull allegory or spirituall sense which containeth in it a gracious promise made to the Church either of larger bounds and limits likened to the borders of gold or of a greater measure of knowledge in holy Scriptures quae sensibus aureae sunt eloquii nitore argenteae Rupertus Isidorus and Gregorius or abundance of the gifts of the spirit which no otherwise adorne the Church with their variety than a golden chaine or border wrought about with studs or specks of silver Now if God hath made good these his promises to us shall we make frustrate our holy vowes to him the better he hath been to us the worse shall we prove to him hath hee made more of us than any Nation upon the earth and shall we make lesse of him No the more we have received at his hands the more let us lift up our hearts and hands unto him or else for our unthankfulnesse hee will take the chaines and borders of gold from our Church and put them on some other that will more thankfully accept them O let us resemble these resemblances in my Text the borders of gold with studs of silver which as they receive lustre from the Sunne-beames so they gild them and reflect them backe with clearer light and greater heat Sacriledge hath already picked out and plucked away many Oe's and Spangles of
silver from our Church Heresie begins to corrupt her gold God grant for our ungratitude and security in time we lose not both I will close up your stomacke and my discourse with the fruits of the morall sense of this Text. For the tree of life herein resembleth the Persian Pomecitrine which as Theophrastus and Pliny write Simul frondescit florescit fructificat at the same time hath buds blossomes and fruits on it and which is more strange in this than in that each of these beare their severall fruits You have tasted the fruits of the bud or literall sense and of the blossome and spirituall let us now plucke the fruits of the morall Wee Who speak here The three persons say three of our prime late Divines Junius Mercer and Whitaker nay rather saith Rosetus out of Origen and Jerome the friends of the Bride or her companions For this Song is a kind of divine Pastorall or Marriage play consisting of divers acts and scenes or a sacred Dialogue with many interlocutory passages First the Bride comes in and saith Let him kisse mee with the kisses of his lips then the Bridegroome I have compared thee O my love to a troupe of horses in Pharaoh's chariots thy cheekes are comely with rowes of stones and thy necke with chaines After which words he withdraweth himselfe and sitteth at his repast Ver. 12. and leaveth the Bride with her companions as it were alone on the Stage who thus speake to her Wee will make thee c. The words in the originall being indifferent to either Interpretation I will rather be an Electicke than a Criticke chuse out of both than censure either Admitting then the friends of the Bride to parley with her what say they We will Which we we of the Clergy or you of the Laity We of the Clergy saith Aquinas Rupertus k Sanct. in bunc loc Nam in murenulis Scriptura sacra ostenditur quae auro spiritualium sensuum fulget interiùs argento coelestis eloquii nitet exterius Sanctius and Isidorus Hispalensis For by the borders of gold are meant the holy Scriptures which shine inwardly with the gold of spirituall senses and outwardly with the silver of heavenly elocution Nay rather yee of the Laity will others say for we of the Clergy may say truly with Peter Aurum argentum non habemus wee have no gold to make borders of nor silver to make studs of If it be lawfull for mee to interpose my sentence I would say questionlesse both for both are retainers to this Queene both are friends and servants of this Spouse bothy owe homage unto her both must offer unto her gold silver and precious stones we out of the treasury of our knowledge you of your wealth and substance Our borders of gold are methodicall and elaborate Sermons and Treatises yours are charitable deeds wee make the Spouse borders of gold by sacred collections out of Scripture you by liberall collections according to Scripture we by setting forth learned works tending to devotion you by shewing forth noble works of bounty magnificency proceeding from devotion first of our workes and then of yours 1 First I observe it is said we will make thee borders in the plurall number not a border of gold with studs of silver in the singular It is not sufficient to make the Spouse one border be it never so rich we must make her many borders Christ his threefold pasce injoyneth at least a double diligence in preaching l John 21.15 16 17. Syn. sect c. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. pasce after pasce teacheth us that we must draw line upon line urge precept upon precept lay linke upon linke and joyne pearle to pearle to make the Spouse a border Peradventure you will say better one excellent Sermon than many meane and ordinary Nardi parvus onyx eliciet vini cadum one border of true pearle is more worth than a thousand of glasse or sophisticate stones one picture drawne with true and rich colours stands in more than many slubbered over with sleight wash colours I grant it and it were to be wished that they who preach seldomer did it alwayes more accurately that the defect in the number might be supplied in the weight of their Sermons but certainely experience sheweth that the water corrupteth in the conduits that are so stopt that they either runne not at all or but sparingly and that the golden spouts which adorne the Temple and run more frequently and fully yeeld the sweetest and most wholesome water and St. m Basil ep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil observes the like of Wells that they grow the better the more water is drawne out of them Howsoever considering the dulnesse of hearing and meane capacity of the ordinary hearer and brittlenesse of memorie in all I wish those that are of most eminent gifts to dispense the mysteries of salvation more frequently than they usually doe under pretence of more accurate preparation because it is most true which n Eras Apoph in Catone Cato said in his defence for distributing pieces of silver amongst his souldiers whereas other Captaines bestowed gold on them Melius est ut plures argentum quam pauci aurum referant it is better that many should beare away silver than a few onely gold or to clothe my allegorie with the words of my text that many if not all receive from them studs of silver than a few or perhaps some one a border of gold 2 Secondly I observe that it is here said borders of gold the matter of the borders or chaines must be gold the matter of our Sermons must be the pure word of God which is compared in Scripture to the purest o 1 Pet. 4.11 gold If any man speake saith St. Peter let him speake as the Oracles of God not Popish legends not scholasticall subtleties not morall essayes no nor sentences of holy Fathers as the ground-worke of their building but as buttresses or ornaments onely For as p In Mat. hom 21. Origen rightly inferreth Sicut omne aurum quod fuit extra templum non est sanctificatum ita omnis sensus qui reperitur extra divinam Scripturam etsi admirabilis non est sanctus as no gold without the Temple was sanctified so no sense or sentence is holy though it seeme never so admirable if it bee without the Scripture that is neither expressed therein nor deduced by good consequence from thence 3 Thirdly I observe that it is said borders of gold with studs of silver this gold must be wrought into borders our observations and meditations upon Scripture must be digested into order and they may be illustrated also with varietie of humane learning and choyce observations and sentences of other eminent writers as it were studs of silver such as we finde not onely in St. Jeromes epistles and St. Austines bookes of the Citie of God and Eusebius his tractates De praeparatione demonstratione
the writer of them such was the story of Genesis before the Floud whereof Moses could bee no otherwise infallibly enformed than by Gods revealing them unto him 2. Of things to come which is properly termed prophecy and this may be either 1. By instinct when men or women fore-tell things to come not knowing the certainty or being fully perswaded of the things themselves 2. Per raptum or ravishing of Spirit when they fore-tell such things whereof they are infallibly assured either 1. By voice as Moses was 2. By dreame as Daniel 3. By vision as Esay Ezekiel Zechary and other Prophets By instinct I am easily induced to beleeve that many especially before their death may fore-tell many things that come to passe shortly after and I deny not but some also may per raptum as I am perswaded John Hus did before his martyrdome in those words which are stampt in the coyne of those dayes yet to be seen Centum revolutis annis respondebitis Deo mihi after a hundred yeeres you shall bee called to an accompt for these things about which time they were openly challenged for them by Martin Luther and other zealous Reformers Yet are wee not to build our Christian faith upon any prophesies save those only which holy men have set downe in Scripture as they were guided by the holy Ghost Among which this is to bee ranked which Saint John received not from man or Angel but from e Cap. 1. V. 9 10. Jesus Christ not per instinctum but per raptum as himselfe testifieth I John which also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdome and patience of Jesus Christ was in the Isle of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ I was in the spirit on the Lords day and heard behind mee a great voice as of a Trumpet Note wee herein that Saint John received this revelation in his exile or banishment to teach us that Gods servants may be banished out of their native soyle and the Court of Princes but not out of the Catholicke Church or the presence of God Secondly Saint John received this prophesie as he was in the spirit to intimate unto us that this booke is of a spirituall interpretation Thirdly he received it on the Lords day to lesson us that God most blesseth our meditations on this day and that they must bee at peace with him and free from worldly cares and businesse who expect revelations from him For the title of the booke of Apocalypse or Revelation it is taken either from the manner whereby it came to Saint John before mentioned or from the matter herein contained which is mysticall hidden and for the most part of things future very obscure before the event and issue manifest them not from Saint Johns manner of expressing them for that for the most part is very intricate For as Plato sometimes spake of an obscure example Exemplum O hospes eget exemplo You had need to illustrate your example by another example so of all the bookes in Scripture the booke of Revelation most needs a revelation and cleare exposition in which as Saint Jerome hath observed Quot verba tot Sacramenta there are neere as many mysteries and figures and aenigmaticall expressions as words for this is the booke spoken of in this booke f Apoc. 5.1 sealed with seven seales answerable to the seven letters enclosed in it directed to the seven Churches of Asia to Ephesus Smyrna Sardis Pergamus Philadelphia Laodicea and Thyatira which names are as it were a small table and short draught of the lineaments of these Churches As Irenaeus his peaceable temper and Lactantius his milkie veine and Eusebius his piety and Chrysostomes golden mouth and contrariwise Jacobs subtilty and Edoms cruelty and Nabals folly and Seneca his end Se necans and Protesilaus his destiny were written in their names g Ovid. ep Protesilae tibi nomen sic fata dedêre victima quod Troiae prima futurus eras so the speciall and most noted vertues and vices in these Churches may bee read by the learned in the Greeke tongue in their names I dare not affirme that the holy Ghost either imposed or made choice of these names to intimate any such thing especially because these names were given to these Cities before they gave their names to Christ Neither doe we reade that these names at the first were put upon these Townes by men endued with a Propheticall spirit but by their Heathen Founders or Governours yet is the correspondency between these names and the condition of these Churches at the time when Saint John as Christ his amanuensis wrote these letters to them very remarkable and they may serve the learned as places in artificiall memory to fixe the character of these Churches in them 1. By the name Ephesus so termed quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying remission or slacking they may bee put in minde of slacking or back-sliding wherewith the Spirit upbraideth this Church h Cap. 2. Ver. 4. Thou hast left thy first love remember whence thou art fallen and repent 2. By the name Smyrna signifying lacrymam myrrhae the dropping or teares of myrrhe they may be put in mind of the i Ver. 10. cup of teares which this Angel was to drinke Yee shall have great tribulation for ten dayes 3. By the name Pergamus quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying beyond or out of the bounds of marriage they may be put in mind of the Nicolaitans abounding in this Church who were great abusers of k Ver. 15. marriage Thou hast them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate 4. By the name Sardis quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying fleshly they may be put in minde of many in this Church that were l Cap. 3. Ver. 4. fleshly given for as we reade This Angel had but a few names which had not defiled their garments 5. By the name Philadelphia signifying brotherly love they may bee put in minde of this vertue whose proper worke it is to cover multitude of sinnes which because it was eminent in many of this Church the Spirit covereth all her infirmities and rebuketh her openly for nothing but contrariwise commendeth her and promiseth because she m Ca. 3. Ver. 10. had kept the word of his patience to keep her from the houre of temptation 6. By the name Laodicea quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the righteousnesse or customes of the people they may bee put in minde of the condition of the common sort in this Church and else-where who are well conceited of themselves though God knowes for little cause they imagine that they are very forward in the way that leades to eternall life that they are rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing when indeed in their spirituall estate they are
word of God as it is written which here I must change and say Hearken unto the word of God as it writeth For to the Angel of Thyatira the second Person which is the Word of God thus writeth Write It is a great honour to receive a letter from a noble Personage how much more from the Sonne of God St. d Eâ— 40. Quid est aliud Scripture sacra n â—i quaedam epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad creaturam suam Gregorie excellently amplifieth upon this point in his epistle to Theodorus the Physician If your excellencie saith he were from the Court and should receive a letter from the Emperour you would never be quiet till you had opened it you would never suffer your eyes to sleepe nor your eye lids to slumber nor the temples of your head to take any rest till you had read it over againe and againe Behold the Emperour of heaven the Lord of men and Angels hath sent you a letter for the good of your soule and will you neglect to peruse it Peruse it my son studie it I pray thee meditate upon it day and night Where letters passe one from another there is a kinde of correspondencie and societie and such honour have all Gods Saints they have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne O let us not sleighten such a societie whereby we hold intelligence with heaven let us with all reverence receive and with all diligence peruse and with all carefulnesse answer letters and messages sent from the Sonne of God by returning sighes and prayers backe to heaven and making our selves in the Apostles phrase commendatorie letters written not with inke but with the Spirit Thus saith the Son of God Not by spirituall regeneration as all the children of promise are the sonnes of God but by eternall generation not by grace of adoption but by nature Who hath eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brasse Eyes like a flame of fire piercing through the thickest darknesse feete like brasse to support his Chuch and stamp to pouder whatsoever riseth up against it like fine brasse pure and no way defiled by walking through the midst of the golden candlestickes Wheresoever he walkes he maketh it holy ground Quicquid calcaverit hic rosa fiet There are three sorts of members in holy Scripture attributed to our head Christ Jesus 1 Naturall 2 Mysticall 3 Metaphoricall Naturall hee hath as perfect man Mysticall as head of the Church Metaphoricall as God By these members wee may divide all the learned Commentatours expositions They who follow the naturall or literall construction of the words apply this description to the members of Christs glorified body in Heaven which shine like flaming fire or metall glowing in a furnace But Lyra and Carthusian have an eye to Christ his mysticall eyes viz. Bishops and Pastours who are the over-seers of Christ his flocke resembling fire in the heat of their zeale and light of their knowledge whereby they direct the feet of Christ that is in their understanding his inferiour members on earth likened to fine brasse to set forth the purity of their conversation and described burning in a furnace to expresse their fiery tryall by martyrdome Alcasar by the feet of fine brasse understandeth the Preachers of the Word whom Christ sendeth into all parts to carry the Gospel Those feet which e Esay 52.7 Rom. 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace Esay calleth beautifull Saint John here compareth to the finest brasse which f Beda in Apoc Pedes sunt Christiani in fine seculi qui similes erunt orichalcho quod est aes per ignem plura medicamina perductum ad auri colorem sic illi per acerbissimas persecutiones exercebuntur perducentur ad plenam charitatis fulgorem Beda and Haimo will have to bee copper rendring the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the most resplendent brasse such as was digged out of Mount Libanus but Orichalchum that is copper and thus they worke it to their purpose As brasse the matter of copper by the force of fire and strong waters and powders receiveth the tincture of gold so say they the Christians that shall stand last upon the earth termed in that respect Christs feet shall by many exercises of their patience and fiery tryalls of their faith be purified and refined and changed into precious metall and become golden members of a golden head I doe not utterly reject this interpretation of the mysticall eyes and feet of Christ nor the former of the naturall members of his glorified body because they carry a faire shew and goodly lustre with them yet I more encline to the third opinion which referreth them to the attributes of God For me thinkes I see in the fiery eyes the perfection of Christ his knowledge to which nothing can bee darke or obscure as also his vigilant zeale over his Church and the fiercenesse of his wrath against the enemies thereof Bullenger conceiveth our Saviour to be pourtrayed by the Spirit with eyes like a flame of fire because hee enlighteneth the eyes of the godly but Meyerus because he suddenly consumeth the wicked both the knowne properties of fire for in flaming fire there is both cleare light and intensive heat The light is an embleme of his piercing sight the heat of his burning wrath Where the eye is lightsome and the object exposed to it the eye must needs apprehend it but the Sonne of Gods eyes are most lightsome nay rather light it selfe in which there is no darknesse and g Heb. 4 13. all things lye open and naked before him yea the h Apoc. 2.23 heart and the reines which he searcheth In Courts of humane justice thoughts and intentions and first motions to evill beare no actions because they come not within the walke of mans justice but it will not be so at Christs Tribunall where the secrets of all hearts shall be opened Let no man then hope by power or fraud or bribes to smother the truth or bleare the eyes of the Judge of all flesh For his eyes like flames of fire dispell all darknesse and carry a bright light before them Let not the adulterer watch for the twi-light and when hee hath met with his wanton Dalila carry her into the inmost roomes and locke doore upon doore and then take his fill of love saying The shadow of the night and the privacy of the roome shall conceale mee For though none else be by and all the lights be put out yet he is seen and the Sonne of God is by him with eyes like a flaming fire Let not the Projector pretend the publike good when he intends nothing but to robbe the rich and cheate the poore Let not the cunning Papist under colour of decent ornaments of the Church bring in Images and Idols under colour of commemoration of the deceased bring in invocation of Saints departed under colour
and easilier spell the letters of the Gospel he vouchsafed to worke them in embroidered silkes and engrave them in gold silver and such precious treasure as fill the rowes in my text Thus much concerning the legall Hieroglyphicks we learne by St. Paul who in his Epistles to the Galathians Corinthians and Hebrewes expounding divers types and stories of the old law spiritually satis ostendit caetera quoque ejusdem esse intelligentiae b Hieron ep ad Fabiol teacheth us plainly that the rest are of the same nature and admit of the like interpretation And hereto S. c In Cant. hom 1. Origen fitteth the words spoken to the Spouse in the Canticles Faciemus tibi similitudines auri cum puncturis argenti we will make thee golden resemblances of true things cum * With certain points rayes notes or sparkles of spirituall meaning puncturis argenti id est scintillis quibusdam spiritualis intelligentiae According to which allusive interpretation of that allegorizing Writer the gold it selfe of the Altar was but a similitude of the true gold d Apoc. 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou maist be rich profered by our Saviour to the Angell of Laodicea and the precious stones named in my text are but similitudes of that precious stone to which St. e 1 Pet. 2.6 Peter pointeth Behold I lay in Sion a chiefe corner stone elect precious whereupon St. f Jer. in Ezek. de gemmis coro Reg. Tyr. 28.13 Jerome sweetly inferres that all the Jewels mentioned in my text are to bee sold by the wise Christian Merchant to buy that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pearle of great price mentioned in the g Mat. 13.46 Gospel Omnes istae gemmae Prophetarum Apostolorum sunt quae comparatione Christi venduntur in Evangelio ut ematur preciocissima Margarita h Mart. ep l. 5. Sardonychas Smaragd ' Adamantas Jaspidas uno Portat in articulo stella Severe tuus O Severus thou settest out thy mistresse most richly with every joint in her fingers laden with Jewels Rubies Emralds Jaspers and Diamonds but pardon me if I beleeve there are more gemmes of art in thy verses than of nature on her fingers Multas in digitis plures in carmine gemmas Invenies inde est haec puto culta manus Behold here in Aarons breast-plate all those and many more precious stones in all twelve bearing the name of the twelve Patriarkes set in ouches of gold and tied to the golden rings of the Ephod a sacred vestment which Aaron and his successours were to put on before they gave judgement when the people asked counsell of God So much of the pectorall is cleerely set downe in this booke but that Aarons breast-plate of judgement was a perfect astrolab is but Abenezra his fantasie without judgement refuted by Tostatus Likewise that together with the names of the Patriarkes there was engraven in every stone the name of some Starre or Angel ut confirmaretur memoria tribus apud Deum is but a muddie talmuddie tradition implying ridiculously and impiously that God needeth or useth the helps of artificiall memorie i Antiq. Judaic l. 3. c. 9. Per duodecimas gemmas quas in pectoâ—â—â—â—ontifex insuâ—â—◠〈◊〉 in bello â—â—â—toriam Deus pronunciare solebat Nam priusquam exercitus se moveret tantus fulgor ex iis emicabat ut toti populo facilè innotesceret adesle Deum opemque iis esse allaturum Josephus telleth us a faire tale and Baronius graceth his annals with it of an unusuall and marvellous lightning of some of these gemmes which clearly foreshewed victory to the people when they asked counsell of God by the Ephod before they went into warre a strange kinde of propheticall illumination not by the irradiation of the Spirit into their mindes but by the scintillation and lustre of stones to the eye But the Scriptures silence in a matter of such note and Josephus his owne confession that for the space of two hundred yeares before his time there was no such new kind of soothsaying not by the aspect of the heavens but of the Priests breast not by twinckling starres but by sparkling stones giveth us just cause to suspect the truth of this narration and much more of an appendix thereunto which we find in Suidas and Epiphanius that the Diamond in the second row of stones as it cleerely foreshewed victorie by the extraordinary glare of it so it portended bloody slaughter by suddenly turning into a red colour and finall desolation by changing into blacke For in the booke of Judges we have the manner of Gods revealing future events to the Priests when they had on the linnen Ephod set downe not by mute signes but by created voyce and therefore St. l Qu. 117. in Exod. Austine accounteth the former relation to be a meere fable Fabulantur quidam lapidem fuisse cujus color sive ad prospera sive ad adversa mutaretur Howbeit sith the m Ca. 18. v. 24. Author of the booke of wisedome affirmeth that the glorie or as others translate the memorable acts of the patriarches were engraven in the foure rowes of stones whether in the choyce of these jewels respect were not had to such as fittest resembled by their beautie or vertue something memorable concerning the Patriarch or his posteritie whose name it bare I determine not absolutely on either side First because neither the Jewish nor the Christian Interpreters agree in the reckoning of the stones or the order of the Patriarches names engraven in them The Thargum of Jerusalem and the Chaldee Paraphrase expresse them after this manner Upon the 1 Sardine was graven 1 Reuben Sonnes of Leah 2 Topaze 2 Simeon 3 Smaragd 3 Levi 4 Chalcedonie 4 Judah 5 Saphir 5 Issachar 6 Sardonyx 6 Zabulon 7 Hyacinth 7 Dan Of Bilhah Rachels maid 8 Chrysoprase 8 Napthali 9 Amethyst 9 Gad Of Zilpha Leahs maid 10 Chrysolite 10 Asher 11 Beryll 11 Joseph Of Rachel 12 Jasper 12 Benjamin Others differ in translation of the stones and conceive the names of the Patriarches to have beene graven in them according to the order of nature according to which after Judah they place Dan and then Napthali after Gad then Asher after Issachar then Zabulon then Joseph and Benjamin The Author of the vulgar translation which the Councell of Trent defineth to be authenticall thus ranketh the stones in the foure rowes In the first 1 Sardius 2 Topazius 3 Smaragdus In the second 4 Carbunculus 5 Saphirus 6 Jaspis In the third 7 Ligyrius 8 Achates 9 Amethystus In the fourth 10 Chrysolitus 11 Onychinus 12 Beryllus The Kings Translatours thus In the first 1 Sardius 2 Topaze 3 Carbuncle In the second 4 Emrald 5 Saphire 6 Diamond In the third 7 Alygure 8 Agate 9 Amethyst In the fourth 10 Beryll 11 Onyx 12 Jasper Secondly because Aben Ezra a great Rabbin ingenuously confesseth that there is no certainty to
begotten Sonne a Priest for ever to sanctifie our persons and purge our sins and tender all our petitions to his Father What sinne so hainous what abomination so grievous for which such a Priest cannot satisfie by the oblation of himselfe What cause so desperate in which such an Advocate if he plead will not prevaile What suit so difficult which such a Mediatour will not carry We may be sure God will not be hard to be intreated of us who himselfe hath appointed us such an Intercessour to whom he can deny nothing Therefore surely if there be any Balme in Gilead it may be found on or gathered from the branches of this text The Lord sware And will not repent Is not this addition needlesse and superfluous Doth God ever repent him of any thing May wee be bold to use any such speech concerning God that he repented or retracted any thing We may the Scripture will beare us out in it which in many places warranteth the phrase as l Gen. 6.6 Then it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth and he was sorrie in his heart and m 1 Sam. 15.35 It repenteth me that I have made Saul King for he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandements and n Psal 106.15 He remembred his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies and o Jer. 18.10 If this Nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their wickednesse I will repent of the plagues that I thought to bring upon them but if they doe evill in my sight I will repent of the good that I thought to doe unto them therefore now amend your wayes and your works and heare the word of the Lord God that the Lord may repent him of the plagues that he hath pronounced against you and p Jon. 3.9 God saw their workes that they turned from their evill wayes and God repented of all the evill that he had said he would do unto them and he did it not All which passages I have entirely related quia de Deo etiam vera dicere periculosum est as the heathen q Hil. de Trin. l. 5. Non potest Deus nisi per Deum intelligi à Deo discendum est quid de Deo intelligendum est Sage wisely observeth It is dangerous to speake even true things of God for we may speake nothing safely of him which is not spoken by him in holy Scriptures And above others the Ministers of the Gospel have a speciall charge given them not onely to looke to their matter but to have a care also retinere sanam formam verborum to keepe unto a wholesome platforme of words and phrases such as all those are which the holy Ghost hath sanctified unto us whereof this is one God repented c. which may be safely uttered if it be rightly understood Certaine it is and a most undoubted truth that the nature of God is free from passion his actions from exception his will from controll his purpose from casualty his sentence from revocation and therefore when God is said in holy Scripture to repent of any good by him promised or actually conferred upon any or any evill inflicted or menaced we are not from thence to inferre that there are any after-thoughts in God but onely some alteration in the things themselves As Parents and Nurses that they may be the better understood of their Infants clip their words or speake in a like tone to them so also our heavenly Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we may the better understand him speaketh to us in our owne language Num. 23.19 God is not a man that hee should lie nor the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall be not doe it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good and expresseth himselfe in such termes as best sort with our conceits and apprehensions When we condemne the courses which we have formerly taken or undoe any thing which we have done our after-thoughts checke our former and we retract our errour and this retraction of our opinions and change in our minde we call repentance which though it be farre from the nature of God yet is it by a figure attributed unto him the more significantly to expresse his infinite hatred and detestation of sin in regard whereof he cast man out of his favour as if he had repented that he had made him he cast Saul out of his throne as if he had repented that he had set him in it as also to represent his compassionate love towards penitent sinners which prevaileth so farre with him that upon the least relenting and humiliation on our parts he reverseth the fearefull sentence he passed upon us as if it repented him that he ever had pronounced it We repeale some act or constitution of ours or cancell some deed because we repent of that which formerly we had done but God is said to repent not because his minde or affection is changed but because his actions are such as when the like are done by men they truely repent Thus St. n L. 9. de Civ Dei Poenitentiae nomen usurpavit effectus non illius turbulentus affectus Austine resolveth the case Some such effects which in men proceed from repentance descried in the Actions of God have occasioned these and the like phrases God repented and was sorrie in his heart Yea but what effects are these Hath he ever reversed any sentence repealed any act nay recalled so much as any word passed from him Is the * 1 Sam. 15.29 strength of Israel as man that he should lie or as the sonne of man that hee should repent Is not hee the o Hâ—b 13.8 same yesterday and to day and for ever Are not all his menaces and promises all his mercies and judgements all his words and workes p 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us Yea and Amen Doubtlesse it shall stand for an unmoveable truth when heaven and earth shall passe away Mal. 3.6 Ego Deus non mutor I am the Lord I change not therefore we are yet in the suds there appeareth no ground to fasten repentance upon God either quoad affectum or quoad effectum But here the q Aquin. par 1. q. 16. art 7. Aliud est mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem Schoolemen reach us a distinction to take hold on whereby we may get out of the mire It is one thing to change the will and another thing to will a change God willeth a change in some things at some times but he never changeth his will Some things God appointeth to continue for ever as the dictates of the law of nature and the Priesthood of Christ some things for a time onely as the Legall Ceremonies and the Aaronicall Priesthood Againe some things he promiseth absolutely as
our Saviour yet it pierceth the heart of most that are meere men whom when hee cannot terrifie with feares he setteth upon them argenteis hastis suggesting after this manner Haec omnia tibi dabo thus and thus it shall be with thee by usury and oppression and sacriledge and cousenage thou shalt gather much wealth and become a great man Wherefore it standeth us much upon to be able to rebate the edge of this sharpe and dangerous weapon of Satan or to wrest it out of his hands and fight against himselfe with it as the Apostle here doth What fruit had yee What advantage have you made of sinne what commeth in by your unjust and ungodly courses what doe ye gaine by ventring your bodies and soules in Satans bottome what commodities doe your hellish voyages bring you If the Apostle had framed his interrogation thus What pleasure had you in those things whereof yee are now ashamed they might easily have put it by saying No wise man maketh pleasure his summum bonum or the mark he chiefly aimeth at If he had shaped it thus What honour or credit got you by those things whereof yee are now ashamed a colourable answer might have been We are not vain-glorious we build not our fortunes in the ayre upon the breath of other mens mouthes but when hee thus brandisheth his sword What fruit had yee in those things hee toucheth them to the quicke and enforceth them to answer directly to his interrogatory or condemne themselves of greatest folly which imputation of all other men cannot brooke It is acutely observed by e Arist Ret. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle who with the same sharpnesse of wit pierced into the secrets of nature and mysteries of policy that if you deale with a Counceller of state about any motion of his in any publike consultation and prove unto him that what he propounded stood not with equity or the honour of the state as for example to take advantage upon the weaknesse of our neighbours and confederates to bring them under us though they never offered us any wrong hee will give you the hearing and not vehemently contest with you but if you goe about to demonstrate that such a proposition of his if it had taken place would have proved disadvantageous to the Common-wealth hee will be at daggers drawing with you and never bee brought to yeeld to you in that point Whereupon he inferreth that howsoever justice honesty the dignity and honour of the Common-wealth are things to be thought upon and serve for ornaments of speech and motives to some few yet that which turneth the ballance and carrieth the greatest sway in all politicke consultations is matter of profit and emolument which hee there determineth to be the end of all deliberations And though Tully in his books f Cic. de lib 7. de oratore disliketh Aristotles opinion herein alledging against it the practice of the Romane state which as he there would beare us in hand ever stood more upon nobler termes of their honour and soveraignty than upon baser respects of gaine and profit yet when he grew elder and experience better instructed him in his booke of partitions he concurreth with Aristotle in judgement and the Lacedaemonians in practice who though they were otherwise commended for their upright dealing and harmlesse carriage yet were noted alwaies to wave the point of honesty ubi de commodis Reipublicae ageretur when the commodity of the Common-wealth was interessed therein That Maxime of the Parthians Nulla fides nisi prout expedit no faith or keeping touch with any but as it maketh for advantage is not more abhorred by Statesmen in their words and confuted in their discourses than exemplified by them in their actions Wherefore sith the consideration of profit and emolument is of so great importance in all affaires and passages of life let us see whether the vines of Sodome or the trees of Paradise are more fruitfull or rather whether sin be not altogether unfruitfull For if it appeare so then hath the worldly man no cover or shelter for his sinne and that it is so appeareth not only by this interrogatory of the Apostle and the paralleld Text thereunto g Ephes 5.11 have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but reprove them rather but also by the most usuall names of sinne in Scripture 1. Folly 2. Vanity 3. A Lye 1. Sinne is called folly because the sinner is very witty in inventing sleights to deceive himselfe withall cunning and secret in spreading a net and laying a snare to catch his owne soule in hee taketh great paines and keepeth much adoe to undoe himselfe and can there bee greater folly than this As the wisedome of God made knowne by the preaching of the Gospel seemeth foolishnesse to the worldly man so it is most true that the wisedome of this world is folly with God and often called by that name in the Proverbes and Ecclesiastes 2. As sinne is called folly so it is called also h Psal 14.1 Pro. 7.22 11.29 12.15 19.1 c. vanity for sinne is vain because empty of all goodnesse because it hath nothing in it because the projects and enterprises of the sinner take no effect or not such as he promised himselfe 3 In the same respect all sinnes in generall are tearmed lyes because they promise and make shew of great gaine comfort and contentment to be reaped by them whereas they bring nothing lesse but are like the deceitfull ground in the Poet that mocketh the husbandman i Virg. Geor. 1. Expectata seges vanis elusit avenis This reason Saint k L. 14. de Civ Dei c 4. Beatus vult ess etiam non sic vive ido ut possit esse quid est hac voluntate mendacius unde non frustra dici potest omne peccatum esse mendacium non enim sit peccatum nisi eà voluntate quâ volumus ut bene sit nobis vel nolumus ut malè ergô mendacium est quòd cum fiat ut benè sit nobis hinc potiùs male est nobis vel cum fiat ut meliùs sit nobis hinc potiùs pejùs est nobis Austine was well pleased with as appeareth by his often running upon it They would saith hee bee blessed who take a course to hinder themselves from blessednesse or deprive themselves of it in which regard all sinne may bee called a lye because no man committeth sinne but out of a desire to doe good to himselfe whereas indeed by his sinne hee hurteth and endammageth himselfe I finde three Emblemes in holy Scripture whereby this truth is represented to the eye The first is Psal 12.8 Impii ambulant in circuitu the wicked walke in a circle or a ring which the Holy Ghost affirmeth of them not so much because they often traverse the same thoughts and tread a kind of maze in their mindes as because their labours
and rested themselves these three Lords dayes it beareth fruit and that in great variety not only upon the branches but upon the maine stocke which yeeldeth us this fruitfull observation That the sense and taste of the bitternesse of sinnes past and remorse of conscience for them are most forcible motives and meanes to restraine the desires and weane the affections of Gods children from them This fruit we gathered heretofore and since plucked to us the first branch of the Text which affordeth this most wholsome observation That sinne is altogether unfruitfull As no meditation is more serious than upon the vanity of the world no contemplation more pleasant to a regenerate Christian than of the unpleasantnesse of impure delights so no observation is more fruitfull than of the unfruitfulnesse of sinne Who cannot copiously declaime against sinne against which it is a sinne not to declaime Who cannot easily recount all the evils which sinne hath brought into the world which are summarily all that are in the world insomuch that all sciences arts and professions have a blow at sinne The Metaphysicke Philosopher demonstrateth that sinne is non ens naught and therefore to be set at naught The Naturalist sheweth that it destroyeth nature and therefore ought to be exterminated out of nature The Moralists muster all the forces of vertue against it as being the chiefest enemy of mans chiefe good which they define to be actio virtutis in vitâ perfectâ the continuall practice of vertue in a happy life The Physicians observe that the greater part of the diseases of the body arise from sins which are the diseases of the soule Plures gulâ quà m gladio more come to their end by gluttony drunkennesse and incontinency than by the halter or the sword The Grammarians condemne sinne as incongruous the Logicians as illogicall that is unreasonable and all other arts and sciences as irregular but Divinity alone knocketh it downe and battereth it to pieces with the hammer of the Word There is more weight of argument in this one Verse of the Apostle than in all the Oratours declamations and Poets satyres and the Philosophers invectives against vice that ever were published to the world What fruit had yee in those things whereof yee are now ashamed for the end of those things is death As the same metall running upon divers moulds is cast into divers formes so the words of this Text admit of divers divisions according to severall moulds and frames of art It shall suffice to give you your choice of three 1. The Rhetoricall which breaketh them into 1. A poignant interrogation What fruit had yee 2. A forcible reason For the end of those things is death 2. The Logicall which observeth in them 1. The persons Yee 2. The object Those things 3. The attributes which are three 1. Losse What fruit had yee 2. Confusion Whereof yee are now ashamed 3. Perill For the end of those things is death 3. The Theologicall which considereth sinne in a three-fold relation 1. To the time past and so it is unfruitfull What fruit 2. To the time present and so it is shamefull Whereof c. 3. To the time to come and so it is dreadfull or deadly For the end of those things is death First of sinne considered in a relation to the time past What fruit had yee Xerxes as Herodotus reporteth bare a strange affection to the Plane tree which hee hung about with chaines and deckt with jewells of greatest price A fond and foolish affection as being to a tree and such a tree as is good for nothing but to shade us out of the Sunne This folly of so great a Monarch very well resembleth the humour of all those who are not guided by the Spirit of God into the wayes of truth and life but are led by the spirit of errour or the errour of their owne spirit to ungodly and sinfull courses the very beaten paths to hell and death The tree they are in love with adorne and spend so much cost upon is the forbidden tree of sinne altogether as unfruitfull as that of Xerxes it hath neither faire blossomes nor sweet fruit on it onely it is well growne and hath large armes and broad boughes and casteth a good shade or to speake more properly a shadow of good For the shade it selfe of this tree is like the shade of the Cyprus tree gravis umbra a noysome or pestilent shade making the ground barren and killing the best plants of vertues by depriving them of the Sun-shine of Gods grace Yet as divers Nations in the dayes of b Nat. hist l. 12. Tributum pro umbrâ pendunt Pliny paid tribute to the Romanes for the shade of these trees so doe these men pay for the seeming pleasure and delight of sinne being indeed but a shadow of vanity to the Divell the greatest tribute that can be payd the tribute of their soules To reprove this folly to bee bewailed with bloudy teares I have heretofore produced divers passages of holy Scripture the point of doctrine I beat upon and laboured especially to fasten in your hearts was the unprofitablenesse and the unfruitfulnesse of sinne which was proved 1. By the three names of sinne imposed by the Holy Ghost folly vanitie and a lye The reason whereof was because all sinne maketh a shew of and as it were promiseth to the sinner either pleasure or profit or honour or some good whereas indeed it bringeth not any thing to him but shame nor him to any thing but death 2. By divers lively comparisons and resemblances in holy Scripture of sinfull labours and travells as the running in a ring or circle whereby hee that moveth and tireth himselfe getteth no ground impii ambulant in circuitu the weaving of the Spiders web which maketh no garment the sowing of wind whereof nothing can be reaped but the whirlewind stormes and tempests of conscience 3. By the judgements of God falling upon them who seem to drive the most gainfull trade with Sathan For either they themselves are taken away in the midst of their prosperity and as soone as they have gotten the wealth of the world are constrained to leave a world of wealth c Luk. 12.20 O foole this night they shall take away thy soule Stulte hac nocte eripient tibi animam tuam or God bloweth upon their ill gotten goods and they are suddenly consumed or passe the same way that they came as the fogges that are raised by the Sunne when they come to their height are dispelled by his beames Or they prove like the horse of Sejanus or the gold of Tolous or the vessels and treasures of the Temple at Jerusalem which became the bane and ruine of all that laid hands on them Or if they long enjoy their wealth yet they joy not in it at all For howsoever none lay claime to their unrighteous Mammon yet they can never perswade themselves that it is their owne and between
serious lesson of the vanity of earthly delights worldly comforts we reade in many Texts of Scriptures heare in divers Sermons see in daily spectacles of men troubled in mind at their death yet we never thoroughly apprehend it till Gods rod hath imprinted it in our bodies and soules then finding by our wofull experience that earthly felicity is nothing but misery masked in gaudy shewes and that all the wealth of the world together with all carnall delights cannot ease a burthened conscience nor abate any whit of our paine we begin to distaste them all we grow out of love with this life and entertaine death in our most serious thoughts Here the eye of faith enlightened by divine revelation seeth beyond death the celestiall Paradise in it a chrystall ſ Apoc. 22.1 2. river of the water of life by it a tree of life which beares twelve sorts of fruits and besides these a heavenly City shining with t Apoc. 21.18 19. streets of gold and foundations of pearle and precious stones the sight wherof leaveth an unspeakable delight in the soule which sweetneth all temporall afflictions and stirreth up in us an unspeakable desire of those solid comforts and substantiall joyes u Ramus in orat Heliogabalus was wont to set before his parasites a banquet painted on cloth or carved in wood or cut in stone and whatsoever hee fed upon in truth they had drawne before them in pictures and images such are the joyes and delights which the Divell the World presenteth unto us false shadowie vaine The true are to be found no where but in heaven where those joyes are in substance which we have here but in shadowes x Aug. confes l. 2. c. 5. Fornicatur anima quae avertitur abs te quaerit extra te ea quae pura liquida non invenit nisi cùm redit ad te pure which we have here polluted full which we have here empty sincere which wee have here mixt perpetually flourishing which we have here continually fading to these substantiall full pure sincere everlasting joyes God bring us for his Son Jesus Christ his sake Cui c. THE NURTURE OF CHILDREN THE XLVII SERMON APOC. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. THat which Pliny writeth and experience confirmeth concerning hony-combes that the thinner and weaker hony runs out of them at the first but the thickest and best is pressed squeezed out of them at the last we find for the most part in handling Texts of holy Scripture compared by the Prophet a Psal 19.10 David to hony-combs the easier more vulgar observations flow out of them upon the lightest touch but we are to presse each phrase and circumstance before we can get out the thickest hony the choicest and most usefull doctrines of inspired wisedome The more we sucke these combes the more we may the hony proveth the sweeter the combe the moister and which is nothing lesse to be admired the spirituall taste is no way cloyed therewith Wherefore with your good liking and approbation I will presse again and againe these mellifluous combes in our Saviours lips dropping celestiall doctrine sweeter than hony to delight the most distempered taste and sharper than it to cleanse the most putrefied sore I rebuke and chasten there is the sharpnesse and as it were the searching vertue of hony As many as I love there is the sweetnesse Parallel Texts of Scripture like glasses set one against another cast a mutuall light such is this Text and that Deut. 8.5 Thou shalt also consider in thy heart that as a man chasteneth his sonne so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee and Job 5.17 Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty and Prov. 3.11 12. My sonne despise not the chastening of the Lord neither bee weary of his correction for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father doth the sonne in whom he delighteth and Hebr. 12.7 If yee endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sonnes for what sonne is he whom the father chasteneth not As a Musician often toucheth upon the sweetest note in his song Paven or Galliard so doth the holy Spirit upon this and therefore we ought more especially to listen to it For 1. It convinceth the Papists who over-value crosses and afflictions accounting the bearing of them satisfactions for sinnes For with a like pride whereby they cry up their actions to be meritorious they would improve their passions to be workes satisfactory by satisfactory intending such as make amends unto the justice of God wherein they as much over-reach as they supererogate or rather superarrogate in the former Satisfactions to our brethren for wrongs done unto them by restitution mulct or acknowledgement of our fault with asking forgivenesse for it we both teach and practise but they shall never be able to satisfie us in this point that any thing they can doe or suffer can satisfie God Neither can our actions satisfie his law nor our penall sufferings his justice none can satisfie for sinne but he that was without sinne nothing can recompence an infinite transgression but an infinite submission or to speake more properly the submission and passion of him that was infinite It cost more to redeem sinnes than the world is worth and therefore they must let that alone for him who f Esay 63.3 trod the wine-presse alone Before I noted the difference between chastisement and punishment in the one a compensation of wrong done to the person or law is intended in the other a testifying of love and a care of amendment of the party chastened Who would ever be so unreasonable as to thinke that a few stripes given by a tender-hearted father to the childe whom he most dearly affecteth were a satisfaction for the losse of a Diamond of great price yet our sufferings hold not such a proportion For what are our finite and momentary sufferings to the offence given to an infinite Majesty Nothing can be set in the other scale against it to weigh it downe but the manifold sufferings of an equall and infinite person the eternall Sonne of God Neither will it help our adversaries any whit to say that Christ satisfied for the eternall but not for the temporall punishment of our sinnes For this is all one as to say that our Redeemer laid downe a talent of gold for us yet not a brasse token or payd many millions of pounds yet not a piece The Apostle said hee gave himselfe a g 1 Tim. 2.6 ransome for all will they deny it to be a sufficient one or was there any defect in his good intention They have not rubbed their foreheads so hard as to affirme any such thing Well then let them tell us how that man is perfectly ransomed by another who is still kept in prison till he have discharged part of his ransome himselfe This very conceit that they merit by
last of all by Antichrist and his adherents Yee see by this Epitomy of her story the reason of her complaints n Cant. 1.6 Regard mee not because I am blacke for the sunne hath looked upon mee the sonnes of my mother were angry against mee o Cant. 5.7 The watchmen that went about the City found me they smote mee and wounded mee and tooke away my vaile from me Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sick for love Hereby also you may give a fit motto to those emblemes in holy Scripture A lilly among thornes A dove whose note is mourning A vine spoyled by little foxes and partly rooted out by the wild bore of the forrest A woman great with childe and a fiery dragon pursuing her According to which patternes Saint Jerome frameth his p Rubus ardens est figura ecclesiae quae flammis persecutionum non consumitur sed viret magis Hier. in verb. Exod. 3.2 A bush burning yet not consuming and as fitly Saint Gregory draweth her with Christs crosse in her hand with her challenge there unto Ecclesia haeres crucis The Church is an inheretrix of the crosse And it appeareth by all records hitherto that she hath possessed it and if wee examine the matter well wee shall finde that Christ had nothing else to leave her at his death For goods and lands upon earth hee never had q Mat. 8.20 The foxes saith hee have holes and the birds nests but the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head His soule hee bequeathed to his father his body was begged by Joseph of Arimathea his garments the souldiers tooke for their fee and cast lots upon his vestments onely the crosse together with the nailes and gall and vinegar bestowed upon him at his death hee left her as a Heriot For these withall the appurtenances scourges cryes sighes groanes stripes and wounds hee bequeathed to her by his life time in those words r Joh. 16.33 Mat. 10.17 18. 24.9 10 11. Joh. 16.10 In the world yee shall have troubles they shall persecute you in their Synagogues and scourge you and yee shall bee hated of all men for my names sake insomuch that they that kill you shall thinke they doe God good service Yee shall weepe and mourne but the world shall rejoice Upon which words Å¿ Lib. de spectac c. 28. Vicibus res disposita est lugeamus ergò dum ethnici gaudeÌ„t ut cum lugere coeperint gaudeamus ne paritèr nunc gaudentes cum quoque paritèr lugeamus delicatus es Christiane si in seculo voluptatem concupiscis imò niâ—iâ—is stultus si hoc existimas voluptatem Tertullian inferreth God hath disposed of joyes and sorrowes by turnes let us mourne when worldlings rejoice that when they mourne wee may rejoice Thou art too dainty and choice O Christian if besides the joyes of heaven laid up for thee thou lookest for a liberall portion of delights and pleasures in this world nay thou art too foolish if thou countest there is any true pleasure in such things wherein they place their happinesse I need not presse many texts of Scripture which yeeld this sharp juice as t Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the righteous u 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution * 1 Pet. 4.17 Judgment begins at the house of God this verse alone which I now handle is sufficient to cleare Christs afflicted members from all note of heresie and imputation of reprobates For if afflictions are chastisements of Gods children and tokens of his love I rebuke and chasten as many as I love then are they not necessarily judgements for sinne messengers of wrath much lesse proper markes of heretickes and reprobates The kingdome of heaven is not necessarily annexed to earthly crownes nor is eternall glory any way an appendant to worldly pompe To conclude affluence of temporall blessings is no note of the true because store of afflictions is no note of the false Church Which truth is so apparent that many Papists of note have expresly delivered it in their annotations upon holy Scripture as u Stap. in verb Joh. In mundo pressuras habebitis Stapleton the Rhemists and x Mald. in Mat. 5. Facit solem orire supâ—r bonos malos unde perspicuum est hominum aut nationum prosperos successus nullum signum aut testimonium esse verioris aut purioris religionis Maldonate God causeth his Sunne to rise upon the just and upon the unjust whence saith the Jesuite it is evident that the prosperity of men or nations is no certaine signe or argument of the truth or purity of religion which they professe Howbeit as Praxiteles drew Venus after the picture of Cratina his Mistresse and all the Painters of Thebes after the similitude of Phryne a beautifull strumpet so Bellarmine being to paint and limme Christs Spouse took his notes from his own Mistresse the Romane Phryne the whore of Babylon and mother of fornications Looke upon the picture of that strumpet drawne to the life by Saint John Apoc. 17. and let your eyes bee Judges I saw saith hee a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast vers 3. full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten hornes vers 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and pretious stones and pearles what is this but Bellarmine his note of temporall felicity having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations of which it seemeth the Cardinall dranke deepe when he tooke the pencill in his hand to pourtray the true Church else hee could not be so out in his draught nor so utterly forget not only what others but himselfe also had formerly set downe in this point For in his solution of an objection of Martin Luther who stood in the opposite extreme affirming afflictions to bee an inseparable note of the Church hee confesseth freely that the Church in the beginning and in the end was in great straights and for this purpose to shew that persecutions though they eclipse the glory of the Church yet can never utterly extinguish it hee alledges such remarkable passages out of the ancient Fathers as these y Justin Mart. in apolog Persecution is but the pruning of Christs vine and z Tertul. in Apologet the blood of Martyrs is as seed and * Leo Ser. 1. de Pet. Paul the graines that fall one by one and dye in the earth rise up againe in great numbers If the Church runne into superfluous stemmes without the pruning knife of afflictions if the blood of martyrs turneth into seed to generate new Martyrs if the Church in her nonage had many sore conflicts and shall have greater in her old age certainly abundance ease pleasure and glory which make up temporall felicity are no notes of her for a L. 1. de
love Nay how canst thou not be perswaded sith hee himselfe hath said it I chasten as many as I love which words that thou maist take more hold of he hath often repeated them in holy Scripture Desirest thou greater assurance than his words which is all that heaven and earth have to shew for their continuance yet if thou desire more rather helpes of thine infirmity than confirmations of this truth observe who are oftenest longest under Gods afflicting hand who are fullest of his markes if they are deepest in sorrow who are highest in his favour if they mourne in Sion who sing Halelujah in the heavenly Jerusalem if they goe in blacke and sables here who are arrayed in long white robes there if they lay their heart a soake in teares who are men after Gods owne heart if Benjamins portion be greatest in afflictions assuredly manifold tribulations and Gods favour may stand together In the truth of which assertion all those Texts of Scripture may establish us which set before us the sweet fruits that are gathered from the crosse as 1. Knowledge It is good for mee that I have been k Psa 119.71 afflicted that I may learne thy statutes 2. Zeale I will l Hosea 5.15 goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offences and seeke my face in their affliction they will seeke mee diligently 3. Repentance I truly am m Psal 38.17 18. set in the plague and my heavinesse is ever in my sight I will confesse my wickednesse and be sorry for my sinnes When the people were stung with fiery serpents they came to Moses and said We have n Num. 21.7 sinned for wee have spoken against the Lord and against thee And againe In their o 2 Chro. 15.4 trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him and he was found of them When the Prodigall was pinched with famine he came to himselfe and said How many hired p Luke 15.16 17 18. servants in my fathers house have meat enough and I perish with hunger I will arise therefore and goe to my father c. 4. Patience Tribulation worketh q Rom. 5.3 4. patience and patience experience and experience hope 5. Joy in the Holy Ghost Receiving the Word with much affliction with r 1 Thes 1.6 joy in the Holy Ghost 6. Triall of our faith which like Å¿ 1 Pet. 1.7 gold is purged by the fire of afflictions Though he t Job 13.15 slay mee yet will I trust in him Our u Psal 44.18 19 20. heart is not turned backe nor our steps gone out of the way no not when thou hast smitten us into the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death 7. Righteousnesse No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but * Heb. 12.11 grievous neverthelesse yet afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby 8. Holinesse It x Heb. 2.10 became him for whom were all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to consecrate the Captaine of our salvation through afflictions The y Heb. 12.10 fathers of our flesh for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but hee for our profit that wee may bee partakers of his holinesse 9. Estranging our affections from the world and earthly desires Eliah requested that he might dye It is z 1 Kin. 19.4 enough Lord take away my life I am no better than my fathers We that are in this tabernacle doe * 2 Cor. 5.4 groane being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 11. Humility The a 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet mee and that I should not be exalted above measure there was given mee a thorne in my flesh 11. Renovation and ghostly strength Therefore I b 2 Cor. 12.10 take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for when I am weake then am I strong and though our outward man decay yet our inward man is renewed day by day 12. Freedome from everlasting torments When c 1 Cor. 11.32 wee are judged wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not bee condemned with the world 13. Encrease of celestiall glory For our d 2 Cor. 4.17 light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory The Heathen that never tasted the least part of these fruits yet feeling by experience that the mind cloyed with continuall felicity grew a burden to it selfe was deprived hereby of matter and occasion of excellent vertues and not so onely but infatuated and wholly corrupt thereby maintained this memorable Paradoxe e Demet. apud Sen. Nihil eo infelicius cui nihil intelix contigit That none was so unhappy as bee who knew no mishap nor adversity at any time Nay they went farther in that their conceit and thereby came nearer to my text affirming that store of wealth large possessions high places and great honours were not alwaies signes and tokens of the love of God God saith the wise Poet and the best Philosopher taketh it out of him f Aristot Rhet. l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sendeth many men great prosperity not out of love and good will but to the end that they may bee capable of greater misery and that the calamities which they are after to endure may bee more g â—uven sit Numerosa parabat excelsae turris tabulata unde altior esset casus impulsae praeceps immane rumae eminent and signall Tolluntur in altum Ut lapsu graviore ruant Misery is alwayes querulous and even weake objections often ruine them who are already cast downe with griefe such as are these Doth not God threaten to powre out his plagues upon the wicked Doe wee not read in Saint h Rom. 2.9 Paul Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Are not losses infamy captivity banishment tortures and torments judgements of wrath how then can they bee arguments of love I answer that originally all the evils of this life came in with sinne and were punishments of it and they retaine their nature still in the wicked but in the godly by the mercy of God and merits of Christ they are changed from judgements of wrath into chastisements of love from stings of sinne to remedies against sinne from executions of vengeance to exercises of excellent vertues and the inflicting of them so little prejudiceth Gods love to his chosen that hee no way more sheweth it to them than by thus awaking them out of their sleepe and by this meanes pulling them out of hell fire And therefore the Prophets threaten it after all other judgements as the greatest of all that for their obstinacy and impenitency God would punish them no more
to the cast of a Die for a matter of naught a toy a trifle a jussle a taking of the wall an affront a word Doe wee make so small reckoning of that which cost our Saviour his dearest hearts bloud 2. If Judges all those who sit upon life and death did enter into a serious consideration thereof they would not so easily as sometimes they doe cast away a thing that is so precious much lesse receive the price of bloud For if it be accounted and that deservedly a sinne of a deep die to buy and sell things dedicated to the service of God what punishment doe they deserve who buy and sell the living image of God It is reported of Augustus that he never pronounced a capitall sentence without fetching a deep sigh and of Titus the Emperour that hee willingly accepted of the Priests office that hee might never have his hand dipped in bloud and of Nero that when he was to set his hand to a capitall sentence he wished that he could not write Utinam literas nescirem therefore let those Judges think what answer they will make at Christs Tribunall who are so farre from Christian compassion and hearts griefe and sorrow when they are forced to cut off a member of Christ by the sword of justice that they sport themselves and breake jests and most inhumanely insult upon the poore prisoner whose necke lyeth at the stake If any sinne against our neighbour leave a deep staine in our conscience it is the bloudy sinne of cruelty Other sinnes may be hushed in the conscience and rocked asleep with a song of Gods mercy but this is reckoned in holy Scripture among those ſ Gen. 4.10 crying sins that never will be quiet till they have awaked Gods revenging justice This is a crimson sinne and I pray God it cleave not to their consciences who wear the scarlet robe If there be any such Judges I leave them to their Judge and briefly come to you Right Honourable c. with the short exhortation of the Apostle Put you on the t Colos 3.12 bowells of mercy and compassion and if ever the life of your brethren be in your hands make speciall reckoning of it in no wise rashly cast it away let it not goe out of your hands unlesse the law and justice violently wrest and extort it from you Assure your selves that it is a farre more honourable thing and will gaine you greater love and favour with God and reputation with men to u Cicer. pro Quint. de Aquil Mavult commemorare se cùm perdere potuerat pepercisse quà m cùm parcere potuerat perdidisse save a man whom yee might have cast away than to cast him away under any pretence whom yee might have saved 4. If a malefactour arraigned at the barre of justice should perceive by any speech gesture signe or token an inclination in the Judge to mercy how would he worke upon this advantage what suit what meanes would he make for his life how would he importune all his friends to intreat for him how would he fall down upon his knees beseech the Judge for the mercies of God to be good unto him Hoe all ye that have guilty consciences and are privie to your selves of many capitall crimes though peradventure no other can appeach you behold the Judge of all flesh makes an overture of mercy he bewrayeth more than a propension or inclination he discovereth a desire to save you why doe ye not make meanes unto him why do ye not appeale from the barre of his justice to his throne of grace why doe ye not flye from him as he is a terrible Judge to him as he is a mercifull Father Though by nature ye are the sonnes of wrath yet by grace ye are the adopted sonnes of the Father of mercy and God of all consolation who stretcheth out his armes all the day long unto us Let us turne to him yea though it be at the last houre of our death and he will turne to us let us repent us of our sinnes and he will repent him of his judgements let us retract our errours and he will reverse his sentence let us wash away our sinnes with our teares and he will blot out our sentence with his Sonnes bloud When * Dan. 5.5 Belshazzar saw the hand-writing against him on the wall his heart mis-gave him all his joynts trembled and his knees smote one against the other Beloved Christians there is a x Colos 2.14 hand-writing of ordinances against us all and if we see or minde it not it writeth more terrible things against us What shall wee doe to be rid of this feare Is there any means under heaven to take out the writing of God against us Yes beloved teares of repentance with faith in Christs blood maketh that aqua fortis that will fetch out even the hand-writing of God against us The Prophet recordeth it for a miraculous accident that the sun went back many degrees in the Dyall of y Esa 38.8 Ahaz Beloved our fervent prayers and penitent tears will work a greater miracle than this they will bring back again the z Mal. 4.2 Sun of righteousnesse after he is set in our soules God cannot sin Angels cannot repent onely man that sinneth is capable of repentance and shall wee not embrace that vertue which is onely ours Other vertues are remedies against speciall maladies of the soule as humility against pride hope against despaire courage against feare chastity against lust meeknesse against wrath faith against diffidence charity against covetousnesse but repentance is a soveraigne remedy against all the maladies of the minde Other vertues have their seasons as patience in adversity temperance in prosperity almes-deeds when our brothers necessity calleth upon our charity fasting when wee afflict our soules in time of plague or any other judgement of God but repentance is alwayes in season either for our grosser sinnes or for failing in our best actions if for no other cause yet wee are to repent for the insincerity and imperfection of our repentance I will end this my exhortation as the Prophet doth this chapter * Ezek. 18.30.31 Repent and turne your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not bee your ruine Cast away all your transgressions whereby yee have transgressed and make you new hearts and new spirits for why will yee die O ye house of Israel saith the Lord God wherefore turne your selves and live yee O Lord who desirest not that wee should die in our sinnes but our sinnes in us mortifie our fleshly members by the power of thy Sonnes death and renew us in the spirit of our mindes by the vertue of his resurrection that wee may die daily to the world but live to heaven die to sinne but live to righteousnesse die to our selves but live to thee Thou by the Prophet professest thy desire of our conversion say but the word and wee shall bee converted
the Prophet should have made an end of his exhortation This Sermon the Prophet Ezechiel now maketh unto us all here present f Ezek. 33.11 18.30.31 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that he turne from his wayes and live turne ye turne ye from your evill wayes for why will yee die Repent and turne your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not bee your destruction Cast away all your transgressions whereby yee have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye perish Shake off the shackles of your sinnes and quit the companie of the prisoners of death and gally-slaves of Satan put in sureties for your good behaviour hereafter turne to the Lord your God with all your heart and live yea live gloriously live happily live eternally which the Father of mercy grant for the merits of his Sonne through the grace of the Spirit To whom three persons and one God be ascribed all honour glorie praise and thankes now and for ever Amen THE DANGER OF RELAPSE THE LVI SERMON EZEK 18.24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee live All his righteousnesse that hee hath done shall not bee mentioned in his trespasse that hee hath trespassed and in his sin that hee hath sinned in them shall hee dye Right Honourable c. SAint Jerome maketh a profitable use of the a Gen. 28.12 And hee dreamed behold a ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending on it Angels ascending and descending upon the ladder which Jacob saw in a dreame reaching from the earth to heaven The ladder hee will have to bee the whole frame of a godly life set upwards towards heaven whereupon the children of God who continually aspire to their inheritance that is above arise from the ground of humility and climbe by divine vertues as it were so many rounds one above another till Christ take them by the hand of their faith and receive them into heaven They are stiled Angels in regard of their b Phil. 3.20 heavenly conversation these Jacob saw continually ascending and descending upon that ladder viz. ascending by the motions of the spirit but descending through the weight of the flesh rising by the strength of grace but falling through the infirmity of nature and hereby saith that learned Father c Hieron ep 11. Videbat scalam per quam ascendebant Angeli descendebant ut nec peccator desperet salutem nec justus de suâ virtute securus sit wee are lessoned not to despaire of grace because Jacob saw Angels ascending as they fell so they rose nor yet presume of their owne strength for hee saw Angels descending also as they rose so they fell Presumption and desperation are two dangerous maladies not more opposite one to the other than to the health of the soule presumption overpriseth Gods mercy and undervalueth our sinnes and on the contrarie desperation overpriseth our sinnes and undervalueth Gods mercy both are most injurious to God the one derogateth from his mercy the other from his justice both band against hearty and speedy repentance the one opposing it as needlesse the other as bootlesse presumption saith thou maist repent at leasure gather the buds of sinfull pleasures before they wither repentance is not yet seasonable desperation saith the root of faith is withered it is now too late to repent The learned dispute whether of these two be the more pernicious and dangerous the answer is easie presumption is the more epidemicall desperation the more mortall disease Presumption like the Adder stingeth more but desperation like the Basiliske stings more deadly many meet with Adders which are almost found in all parts of the world but few with Basiliskes Presumption is more dangerous extensivè for it carrieth more to hell but desperation intensivè for those whom it seizeth upon it carrieth more forcibly and altogether irrecoverably thither and finall desperation never bringeth men to presumption but presumption bringeth men often to finall desperation To meete with these most pernicious evils God hath given us both the Law and the Gospel the Law to keepe us under in feare that wee rise not proudly and presumptuously against him and the Gospel to raise us up in hope that the weight of our sinnes sinke us not in despaire the threats of the one serve to draw and asswage the tumour of pride the promises of the other to heale the sores of wounded consciences and the Scripture as Saint Basil rightly calleth it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common Apothecaries shop or physicke schoole wherein are remedies for all the diseases of the soule In these verses as in two boxes there are soveraigne recipes against both the maladies above named against the former to wit desperation vers 23. against the later viz. presumption v. 24. And it is not unworthy your observation that as in the beginning of the Spring when Serpents breed and peepe d Adrianus Chamierus in ep dedicat Eccles Gal. Pastor Sicut ineunte vere cùm primùm è terrae cuniculis prodeunt serpentes ad nocendum parati fraxinum adversus venenatos eorum morsus praesens remedium laturam educit out of their holes the Ash puts forth which is a present remedie against their stings and teeth so the holy Ghost in Scripture for the most part delivereth an antidote in or hard by those texts from whence libertines and carnall men sucke the poyson of presumption The texts are these God hath raised up an horne of salvation for us that we beeing delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare f Rom. 5.20 Where sinne abounded grace did much more abound g Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus * Gal. 5.13 We are called to liberty Now see an antidote in the verses following Lest any man should suck poyson from these words in the first text Serve him without feare it is added in the next words in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life Lest any man should abuse the second the Apostle within a verse putteth in a caveat What shall we say then shall we continue in sinne that grace may abound e Luk. 1.69 72 74. God forbid how shall wee that are dead to sin live any longer therein vers 1 2. Lest any should gather too farre upon that generall speech of the Apostle There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus h Luk. 1.75 there followes a restriction in the same verse who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit Lest any should stumble at those words of the same Apostle Ye are called to libertie he reacheth them a
inference is pernicious To establish you in the truth of this supposition or rather hypotheticall commination it will be needfull to lay downe certaine grounds 1. That the certainty of the end no whit impeacheth the necessary use of all meanes for the attaining it For the end and meanes are coordinata and both involved in the same decree As the meanes are appointed for the end so the end is decreed to bee attained by such meanes for example the propagation of mankinde by marriage the maintaining our temporall life by food and sustenance the recovery of health by physicke the reaping the fruits of the earth by manuring and tillage the governement of the world by lawes the calling of men to the knowledge of the truth by the Word and Sacraments the keeping the children of God from presumptuous sinnes by admonitions and comminations The heathen themselves saw a glimmering of this truth for the Stoicke Philosophers who taught the foreknowledge of God and thence inferred inevitable necessity of all events according to that foreknowledge yet most strictly urged the performance of all morall duties and vertuous actions and generally the use of all meanes for the attaining that end any man proposeth to himselfe Bee it thy destiny say they to have many children by thy wife yet thou must not neglect conjugall duties be it thy destiny to recover of thy disease yet thou must not neglect the prescriptions of the Physician bee it thy destiny to conquer thine enemy yet thou must not forget to bring thy weapon with thee into the field bee it thy destiny to bee a great Professour in Philosophy yet thou must not neglect thy study bee it thy destiny to dye a rich man yet thou must not be carelesse of thy estate 2. That this and the like comminations in holy Scripture are spoken generally to all Elect as well as Reprobate and they are of speciall use to both to terrifie the Reprobate and keepe them within some bounds or at least to convince their consciences and debarre them from all excuse at the day of judgement and to stirre up the Elect to watchfulnesse over all their wayes and diligence and constancy in the use of all such meanes as by Gods grace may keepe them from backe-sliding and dangerous relapses to hold them in continuall awe and excite them to make their calling and election sure and work out their salvation with feare and trembling as Saint Austine declareth at large through his whole booke de correptione gratiá 3. That all Israelites are not true Nathaniels all converts are not absolutely so nor all penitents throughly cleansed from their sinnes many are regenerated but in part they repent of their sinnes but not of all they keepe a sweet bit under their tongue they have a Dalilah in their bosome or an Herodias at their table or a Bathsheba in their bed though they bee healed of all other diseases yet not of the plague of the heart some secret sinne hath a kinde of predominancy in them Now as the Peacockes flâ—sh if it hath but an ordinary seething growes raw againe cocta recrudescit and wounds that are not perfectly healed though they may be skinned over breake out againe and bleed afresh so a man that is not perfectly regenerated in all parts though hee hath a tast of the heavenly gift and may beleeve with Simon Magus and tremble at Gods judgements with Felix and heare the Word gladly with Herod and doe many things yet because the seed of the word hath not taken deepe root in him it is possible for him with Demas to forsake the Gospel and embrace this present world with Himeneus and Philetus to make shipwracke of faith and a good conscience with Julian to become an Apostata and a persecuter of the truth 4. The Prophet Ezekiel in this place speaketh not of Evangelicall righteousnesse but of legall for he saith not simply when a man turneth from righteousnesse but from his righteousnesse And vers 5. hee defineth a just man to be he That doth that which is lawfull and right and hath not eaten upon the mountaines nor defiled his neighbours wife c. Now whatsoever may be alledged for the stability of evangelicall righteousnesse and their permanency who are engraffed into the true Vine Christ Jesus daily experience sheweth that the most righteous on earth may and somtimes do remit of their strict observance of their duty that it is not only possible but very facile for them to let loose the reines to sensuall desires and to follow the gainefull or ambitious or voluptuous courses of the world at least for a time For the way to heaven is up-hill but the way to hell is down-hill and thither the weight of our sinfull flesh forcibly tendeth Facilis discensus averni A man may without any paine slip downe to the place of everlasting paines and torments Yea saith Seneca a Å¿ De mort Clau. Caes Omnia proclivia sunt facilè dâ—scenditur itâ—que quâ—mvis poda gricus momento temporis pervenit ad januam ditis gouty man may get thither in a trice Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras Hoc opus hic labor est But saith the Poet all the labour is to come backe from hell and get up out of the deep pit so hee But the truth is no labour can worke it no skill compasse it for from hell there is no redemption Wee know there is great strength required to bend a bow of steele which will unbend it selfe if the string breake or but slip Our motions to God-ward and proceedings in a sanctified course of life are like the rowing of a small boat against a strong wind and tide the blasts of the evill spirit and the propension of our corrupt nature much labour and sweat is required and very little is done with much adoe and if wee slâ—cke our hands and misse but one stroake we are carried downe with the streame and cast further backe than wee can fetch againe with many stroakes Did not Solomon turne away from his righteousnesse and commit iniquity and doe according to all the abominations of the wicked when he defiled his body and soule with spirituall and corporall fornication Did not David likewise when he spilt the bloud of Uriah that hee might more freely stay in the bed of Bathsheba I spare the rest because I would be loth with my breath to stain the golden and silver vessels of the Sanctuary and come à Thesi ad Hypothesin from the indefinite to the singular from the hearers at large to this present auditory Ye heare out of the Text how incommodious and dangerous a thing it is for a righteous man to degenerate and turne away from his righteousnesse it depriveth him of all the benefit of his former travells in the way to heaven it blasteth all the fruits of his labours without a second return to God dasheth all his hope of reward leaveth him in
Papists in their transcendent charity exclude Protestants out of all possibility of salvation See Wright his motives That Protestants have no faith no God no religion Fisher his Treat Out of the Romish Church no salvation Bellar. apol 8. Jacobus quia Catholicus non est Christianus non est W.B. his discourse entituled the Non entitie of Protestants religion deny them to have any Church any faith any hope of salvation any interest in Christ any part in God yet wee have learned from the Apostle to render to no man evill for evill nor rebuke for rebuke nor slander for slander wee deny them not to have a Church though very corrupt and unsound wee doubt not but through Gods mercy many thousands of our fore-fathers who lived and dyed in the communion of their Church and according to that measure of knowledge which was revealed unto them out of holy Scripture in the mysteries of salvation led a godly and innocent life not holding any errour against their conscience nor allowing themselves in any knowne sinne continually asking pardon for their negligences and ignorances of God through Christs merits might bee saved though not as Papists that is not by their Popish additions and superstitions but as Protestants that is by those common grounds of Christianity which they hold with us All that I intend to shew herein is that in some practices of theirs they may bee rightly compared to the Heathen as when the Apostle saith that he that provideth not for his owne family is worse than an Infidell his meaning is not that every Christian that is a carelesse housholder is simply in worse state than a Heathen but onely by way of aggravation of that sinne hee teacheth all unthrifts that in that particular they are more culpable than Heathen In like manner my meaning is not to put Papists and Heathen in the same state and ranke as if there were not more hope of a Papist than a Painims salvation but to breed a greater loathing and detestation of Popish idolatry and superstition by paralleling Baalites and other Heathens together I will make it evidently appeare that some particular practices of the Romane Church are no better than Heathenish See Hom. against the perill of Idolatry p. 3. Of this mind were they who laid the first stones of the happy reformation in England Our Image maintainers and worshippers have used and use the same outward rites and manner of honouring and worshipping their Images as the Gentiles did use before their Idols and that therefore they commit idolatry as well inwardly as outwardly as did the wicked Gentile Idolaters If any reply that these Homilies were but Sermons of private men transported with zeale and carry not with them the authority of the whole Church of England I answer that as those Verses of Poets alledged by the Apostle were made part of the Canonicall Scripture by being inserted into his inspired Epistles so the Homilies which are mentioned by name in the 35. Article and commended as containing godly and g His Majesties declaration We doe therefore ratifie and confrme the said Articles which doe containe the doctrine of the Church of Eâ—gland requiring all our loving subjects to continue in the uniforme profession thereof and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles wholesome doctrine and necessary for the times are made part of the Articles of Religion which are established by authority of the whole Convocation and ratified and confirmed by the royall assent Were not this the expresse judgement of the Church of England whose authority ought to stop the mouth of all that professe themselves to be her children from any way blaunching the idolatrous practices of the Romane Church yet were not the fore-heads of our Image-worshippers made of as hard metall as their Images they would blush to say as they doe that the testimonies which wee alledge out of Scriptures and Fathers make against Idols and not against Image-worship For the words are h Levit. 26.1 Yee shall make no Idoll or graven Images nor reare up any standing Image nor set up any Image of stone to bow downe to it The words are i Exod. 20 4. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any Pesel that is any thing carved or graven And if there may seem any mist in this generall word to any the words following cleerly dispell it Nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above nor in the earth beneath nor in the waters under the earth The third Text is thus rendered in their own vulgar Latine k Deut. 4.15 16 17. Take therefore good heed to your soules for yee saw no manner of similitude in the day which the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire lest peradventure being deceived Custodite sollicitâ— animas vestras non vidistis aliquam similitudinem in die quâ Dominus vobis locutus est in Horeb in medio igne ne fortè faciatis vobis sculptam imaginem vel similitudinem masculi vel foeminae ye make you a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth the likenesse of any winged fowle that flyeth in the aire the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the ground the likenesse of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth Neither is our allegation out of the Prophet Esay lesse poignant than the former To whom will m Esay 40.18 19 20. ye liken God or what likenesse will yee compare unto him The workman melteth a graven Image and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chaines Hee that is so impoverished that hee hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot hee seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven Image c. As tor the words Imago and Idolum if wee respect the originall they are all one for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the shape or species of any thing and therefore not onely Aristotle calleth the shapes of things which are received into our senses the idols of the senses but Cardinall n Com. in c. 20. Exod. Cajetan also the images of the Angels in the Arke Idola Cherubinorum If wee regard the most common use of the words they differ as mulier and scortum that is a woman and a strumpet For as a woman abused or defiled by corporall fornication is called a strumpet so all such Images as are abused to spirituall fornication are called Idols Thus Saint o Lib. 8. de orig c. 11. Idolum est simulachrum quod humanâ effigie est consecraâ—um Isidore defineth an Idoll An Idoll is an Image consecrated in an humane shape And at the first all Idols were such but after men fell into grosser idolatry and turned the glory of God not only into the similitude of a p Rom. 1.23
the New the one proper and materiall the other figurative mysticall the one the seat of Nebuchadnezzar the Emperors of Assyria the other the seat of Antichrist the on situate by the great river by whose banks the Israelites sate downe and wept the other sitting upon many waters that is as the Angel expoundeth it many u Apoc. 17.15 peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues the one keeping the bodies of Gods people the other their soules in captivity and bondage This latter not only the ancient Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian Saint Jerome and Saint Austine but also the Jesuites themselves Ribera Vegas and Bellarmine put upon the racke and sorely tortured with the arguments of Protestants confesse to bee Rome For the Whore of * Apoc. 17.18 Babylon is said to be the great City which reigneth over the Kings of the earth and ver 17. Shee is said to sit upon a beast having seven heads which are seven hills ver 9. Now there was no City in the world which ruled over the Kings of the earth at that time when St. John wrote but Rome neither was there any place so famously and generally knowne by any marke as Rome by the seven hills upon which it is built which is therefore called septi-collis urbs and her inhabitants in Tertullians time septem collium plebs and the chiefest feast which they kept in December upon those seven hills septi-montium What of all this will some Papists say let the daughter of Babylon be the mother of fornications let the speech of Saint x Aug. l. 18. de civit Dei c. 20. Rom◠altera Babylon prioris filia Ibid. Vives in comment Hieronym epist ad Marcellam Non aliam existimat describi à Johanne in Apocalypsi Babylonem quà m urbem Romam Austine be as true as it is elegant Babylon quasi prima Roma Roma quasi secunda Babylon what will ensue hereupon nothing but this That the Pope is Antichrist This consequent cannot be avoided by their usuall distinction of ancient and new Rome Heathenish and Christian Imperiall and Papall for Saint John speaketh of Rome in her later time when Antichrist should sit in her when Babylon should fall and be broken into ten peeces or kingdomes which was not fulfilled in the reigne of the Heathen Emperours and therefore must be accomplished in the reigne of Popes who are the seventh head of the Beast that is the seventh forme of government of that City Five were fallen in Saint Johns time viz. Kings Consuls Tribunes Dictators Decemvirs the sixth was upon it viz. the head of Emperours the seventh was to rise up viz. the head of Popes But because ye may suspect that out of prejudicate opinion against the Pope we wrest these Sciptures against the See of Rome I will bring in all my evidence at this time against the Pope out of the writings of the ancient Fathers who cannot be thought to deprave Scriptures out of an ill affection to Rome For they then honoured and highly esteemed the Church of Rome as a principall member of Christs Spouse yet even then they conceived that she would in time become the Whore of Babylon For Irenaeus calculating the number of the Beast 666. maketh of it this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The name of Latinus saith he containeth the number 666. and is very likely to be the name of the y Iren. l. 5. adv haer c. 30. Beast for they are the Latines that now reigne And Tertullian ghessing at the time of Antichrists rising saith z Tertul. de resurrect Romani Imperii abscessio in decem reges divisi Antichristum superinducit The decay of the Romane Empire being divided into ten kingdomes shall bring in Antichrist Saint * Ep. ad Algas Jerome strikes neerer the Popes triple crowne The purple Whore is Rome and her name of blasphemy is Roma aeterna Saint a Ep. ad Thes Vacantem Imperii principatum invadet Chrysostome expresly affirmeth that Antichrist his throne shall be the vacant seat of the Romane Empire Saint b Greg. ep l. 4. Sacerdotum ei paratur exercitus Gregory seemeth to have received some particular advertisement of the approach of the man of sinne in his dayes Antichrist saith he is setting forth and an army of Priests is levied for him Lay all these particulars together and the totall summe will be that the Pope is Antichrist The name of Antichrist is Latinus his seat is Rome his rising is upon the fall of the Empire his guard is an army of Priests Saint Gregory implies that Antichrist shall be a Bishop c P. Mouline contr Coeffet part 3. Accomprirement des prophecies Irenaeus that he shall be a Latine or of the Latine Church Saint Jerome that Rome shall be his See Tertullian and Chrysostome that hee shall waxe in the waine of the Romane Empire The Romane Empire is fallen long since being divided into ten kingdomes to wit of the Almanes England France Spaine Denmarke Scotland Poland Navarre Hungary Naples and Sicilie These ancients were farre from the times of Antichrist and yet you see how right they aime at him d Catalog test verit the lesser marvell that many in succeeding ages as Echardus Otho Frisingensis Robert Grosthead Dulcinus Navarenus Marsilius Patavinus Dante 's Michael Cesenus Johannes de Rupe-scissa Franciscus Petrarcha Henricus de Hassia Walter Brute John Huz Johannes de Vesalia divers others hit him full and fastened upon him the name of Antichrist For they as being neere him saw in him cleerly all those markes whereby Saint Paul and Saint John describe that man of sinne and son of perdition from which we thus argue He in whom all or the principall marks of Antichrist are found he is the Antichrist But in the Pope all or the principall marks of Antichrist are to be found Ergo the Pope is the Antichrist By Pope we understand not this or that Pope in individuo but rather in specie or to speak more properly the whole succession of Popes from Boniface the third or at least Gregory the seventh otherwise called Heldebrand As the word Divell in the New Testament for the most part signifieth not any particular spirit but indefinitely an evill spirit or the kingdome of Sathan and as the foure beasts in Daniel stand not for foure Monarchs but foure Monarchies so the Beast in the Apocalypse in whose ougly shape Antichrist appeares seemeth not to represent any singular Pope but the See of Rome after it degenerated into the Papacy Now in the Bishops of Rome after Boniface and Heldebrand we find the name the seat the apparrell the pride the cruelty the idolatry the covetousnesse the imposture the power and the fortune of Antichrist 1. The name of Antichrist containeth in it the number 666. which Irenaeus findeth in the word Latinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The seat of Antichrist is a City built upon seven hills that ruleth over the whole
f De coron mil. Ap d Deum tam miles est Paganus fidelis quam Paganus est miles infidelis a faithfull Pagan is as well a Souldier in Gods account as an unfaithfull Souldier is a Pagan so we may truly say that an unbeleeving Israelite is a Gentile and a beleeving Gentile is a true Israelite Howbeit the former division is not adequate a more complete may be this Israel is taken in holy Scripture 1. For the root to wit Jacob himselfe to whom first the name of Israel was given upon a speciall occasion 2. For the stocke or trunke the whole posteritie of Jacob. 3. For the branch to wit the ten Tribes divided from the other two in Rehoboams time 4. For the whole tree as it were that is the whole number of the elect who because they prevaile with God are tearmed Israelites and of Israel in this last and largest sense the words of S. Paul are to bee understood g Rom. 11.26 All Israel shall be saved Here Israel is taken primarily for the Church and Common-wealth of the Jewes but secondarily and consequently for all Kingdomes and States professing the true worship of God and commending themselves to his protection As God is the Saviour of all but especially the elect so he is the keeper of all his creatures but of man above all and of Israel above all men Hee keepeth all 1. Creatures in their state 2. Men in their wayes and callings 3. Israel in his favour 1. All creatures by his power 2. All men by his providence 3. Israel by his grace 1. All creatures from disorder and utter confusion 2. All men from manifold calamities and miseries 3. Israel from the power of sinne and death Hee keepeth Israel 1. As his chiefe treasure most watchfully 2. As his dearest spouse most tenderly 3. As the apple of his eye most charily and warily Hee keepeth every faithfull soule 1. As his chiefe treasure that the Divell steale it not 2. As his chaste spouse that the flesh abuse it not 3. As the apple of his eye that the world hurt it not In this respect as Israel is elsewhere called his h Exod. 19.5 Deut. 14.2 peculiar people so here his peculiar charge he maketh more account of Israel than all the world besides he keepeth Israel above all nay he keepeth all for his Israels sake that is the elect As he preserved the Arke for Noahs sake and Goshen for the ancient Israelites sake and all that were in the ship for S. Pauls sake and all that were in the bath for S. Johns sake and all that fled to the tombs of the Martyrs in Rome when the Goths sacked the citie for the Christians sake so at this day hee supporteth all Kingdomes and States for the Churches sake The world is as an hop-yard the Church as the hops Kingdomes States and Common-wealths as the poles and as the owner of the hop-yard preserveth the poles and stakes carefully not for themselves but that the hops may grow upon them so God preserveth all states and societies of men that they may be a support to his Church We may take this note higher and truly affirme that he keepeth heaven and earth for her sake the earth to be as a nursery for her children to grow a while and the Heaven for his garden and celestiall Paradise whither hee will transplant them all in the end Wherefore although the world never so much scorne and contemne and maligne and persecute Gods chosen yet it is indebted to them for its being and continuance for God keepeth the heavens for the earth the earth for living creatures other living creatures for men men for Israel and Israel for the elect sake For their sake it is that the heavens move the sunne moone and starres shine the winds blow the springs flow the rivers run the plants grow the earth fructifieth the beasts fowles and fishes multiply for as soone as grace hath finished her worke and the whole number of the elect is accomplished nature shall utterly cease and this world shall give place to a better in which righteousnesse shall i 2 Pet. 3.13 dwell Yet when heaven and earth shall passe this word of God shall not passe for he that now keepeth militant Israel in the bosome of the earth shall then keepe triumphant Israel in Abrahams bosome Shall neither slumber nor sleepe What the Roman Oratour spake pleasantly of Caninius his Consulship that set with the sunne and lasted but for one day k Erasm in Apoph Cic. Vigilantissimum habuimus Consulem qui toto Consulatu suo somnum non cepit there was never so vigilant a Consul as Caninius who during all the time of his Consulship never tooke a nap may truly be said of the keeper of Israel that he never suffereth his eyes to sleepe nor his eye-lids to slumber Rejoyce O daughter of Sion for the keeper of Israel continually watcheth over thee for good but tremble O thou whore of Babylon for hee continually watcheth over thee for evill Ne time à malo externo fidelis anima quia non dormit custos qui te conservat time tibi à peccato malo interno quia non dormit custos qui te observat O faithfull soule feare not outward evils because hee sleepeth not who conserveth thee but bee afraid of sin and inward evill because hee sleepeth not who observeth thee God receiveth Israel into his speciall protection and there is no safetie out of it Israel is now confined within the bounds of the Church and questionlesse out of it there is no safety While the Souldiers are within the leaguer they may sleepe all night securely because they know the Sentinels keepe their watches but if they wander abroad and sleepe overtake them they are every houre in danger to have their throats cut Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleepe What the Apostle S. Paul professeth of himselfe l Aug. ep ad Hieron non mentientis astu sed compatientis affectu m 1 Cor. 9.22 I am made all things to all men that I may by all meanes win some may in a true and pious sense be applyed to God himselfe who to turne us and gaine us to himselfe turneth himselfe after a sort into all formes and natures To allure the hungry hee becomes bread to excite the thirsty a fountaine of living water to draw to him the naked a wedding garment to bring in them that are astray the way to revive the dead the resurrection and the life This accordeth with n Hom. 1. in Cant. Singulis quibusque sensibus animae singula quaeque Christus efficitur idcirco verum lumen ut habeant animae quo illuminentur idcirco verbū ut habeant aures quod audiant idcirco panis vitae ut habeat gustus quod degustet idcirco unguentum nardus ut habeat odoratus animae fragrantiam verbi idcirco palpabilis verbum caro
and occupation of the Sechemites but of the Hittites 3. Whether Hamor were the father or sonne of Sechem For in Genesis we reade that he was the father of Sechem but in the Acts many translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of Sechem 1. The first doubt may be thus cleared Joseph alone was buried in Sechem and rested there but the other Patriarchs were at the first buried at Sechem but afterwards removed from thence to Ephron and were buried all in Abrahams vault or cave thus Josephus S. Jerome are easily reconciled For though the bones of them all lay in Ephron yet at Sechem there might be some monument of them remaining as empty tombes with some inscription 2. The second difficulty is much more intricate and those who have stroven to get out of it have more intangled themselves and others in it Calvins answer is somewhat too peremptory that there is an errour in all our copies of the New Testament and ought to be corrected and though Beza goe about to excuse the matter by a semblance of some like misnomer in the Gospel yet this his observation unlesse he could produce some ancient copies wherein such mistakes were not to be found openeth a dangerous gap to Infidels and Heretickes who hereby will be apt to take occasion to question the infallible truth of the holy Writ Canus in going about to take out the blot maketh it bigger saying that Saint Luke erred not in relating Saint Stephens speech but that Saint Stephens memory failed him and that through errour or inadvertency hee confounded Jacobs purchase with Abrahams This answer commeth neere to blasphemy for no man doubteth but that Saint Stephen in his speech spake as hee was inspired by the holy Ghost Therefore Lyranus Lorinus and many others think to salve all by putting two names upon the same man whom they will have sometimes to be called Ephron sometimes Hamor but they bring no good proofe out of Scripture for it and though they could make Ephron and Hamor the same man yet they can never make the cave in the land of the Hittites and that in the land of the Sechemites to be one and the same parcell of ground With submission to more learned judgements quia hic Delio opus est natatore I take it that either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendred by joyned to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a comma at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the sense is That the Patriarchs were translated into Sechem by the Sechemites and laid in Abrahams sepulchre which he bought for mony or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be understood and then the meaning will be this That some of the Patriarchs were laid in Abrahams sepulchre some in the field that Jacob bought Thus then according to the originall wee may render this verse And they were carried over into Sechem and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought besides that which Jacob bought of Hamor that is Jacob dyed and our fathers and some of them were bestowed in Sechem in the cave which Jacob bought and some of them in that which Abraham bought 3. The third doubt is easily resolved For Hamor was the father of Sechem as we reade Genes 33.19 neither doth S. Stephen gain-say it for his words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Sechem which should have been translated the father of Sechem as Herodotus in Clio saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Thalia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 15.40 and Saint Mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adrastus of Mydas to wit the father of Mydas Cyrus of Cambyses that is the father of Cambyses Mary of James that is Mary the mother of James The mist being thus dispelled we may cleerly see our way and readily follow the Patriarchs in the funerall procession from Egypt first to Sechem and afterwards to Ephron And they were carried over c. This transportation offereth to our religious thoughts two acts 1. Of Piety 2. Of Charity both significative and mysticall For the carrying the Patriarchs bones from Egypt to Canaan shadoweth our removall after death from Egyptian darknesse to the inheritance of Saints in light and the laying them by the bones of Abraham may represent unto us how the soules of all the faithfull immediately after they were severed from their bodies are carried by Angels into the bosome of Abraham The first I call an act of piety or religion because the Patriarchs before their death by faith gave charge of their bones and their posterity executed their last Will in this point to professe their faith in Gods promise which was to give the land of Canaan to their seed for an inheritance and accordingly by their dead bodies they tooke a kind of reall possession thereof And they As by a Synecdoche the soule is put for the man Anima cujusque is est quisque so by the same figure the corpses of the Patriarchs are called the Patriarchs Poole elegantly called his dead body his depositum Scaliger his relique Saint Paul the tent-maker agreeable to his profession called it an earthly tabernacle And although indeed it bee but the casket which containes in it the precious ring our immortall spirit yet in regard of the union of it to the soule and because it concurreth with the soule to the physicall constitution of a man it may by a figure be called a man Yea but had the Patriarchs no priviledge but must they goe the way of all flesh They must for earth is in their composition and into the earth must be their resolution As the world is a circle so all things in the world in this are like a circle that they end where or as they began The vapours that are drawne up from the earth fall downe againe upon the earth in rain The fire that descended at the first from the region of fire in the g Pickolom Phys hollow of the Moone ascends up thither againe The waters that flow from the sea returne backe to the sea in like manner the soule of man which was infused by God returneth to God that gave it but the body which was made of red earth returneth to dust as it was We need not inquire of Scripture where reason speaketh so plaine nor interrogate reason where sense giveth daily testimony to the truth Every passing bell rings this lesson in our eares Omnis loculus locus est every coffin is a topicke to prove it every grave layes it open to us every speechlesse man on his death-bed cries out to us Memento mori quod tueris eris Were carried over into Sechem The life of man is a double pilgrimage 1. Of the outward man 2. Of the inward man The outward travelleth from the cradle to the coffin the inward from earth to heaven Of all creatures man only is properly a pilgrim on earth because he alone is borne and liveth all his time here out of his own country of all men the Patriarchs
complexa gremio jam reliquà naturà abdicatos tum maximé ut mater operiens nomen prorogat tiâ—ulis c. Pliny calleth the earth our tender mother which receiveth us into her bosome when wee are excluded as it were out of the world and covereth our nakednesse and shame and guardeth us from beasts and fowles that they offer no indignity to our carkasses Now because it is to small purpose to bestow the dead in roomes under ground if they may not keep them Abraham wisely provided for this for hee laid downe a valuable consideration for the field where the cave was Were laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a summe of money As Abraham here bought a field out-right and thereby assured the possession thereof to his posterity so by his example the Synagogue under the Law and the Catholike Church under the Gospel especially in dayes of peace secured certaine places for the buriall of the dead either purchased for money or received by deed of gift and after they were possessed of them sequestred them from all other and appropiated them to this use onely by which sequestration and appropriation all such parcells of ground became holy in such sort that none might otherwise use or imploy them than for the buriall of the dead without sacriledge or profanation As the holy oyle ran from Aarons head to his body and the skirts of his garments so holinesse stayeth not in the Chancell as the head but descendeth to the whole body of the Church and the Church-yard as the skirt thereof Mistake mee not brethren I say not that one clod of earth is holier than another or any one place or day absolutely but relatively only For as it is superstition to attribute formall or inherent holinesse to times places parcells of ground fruits of the earth vessell or vestments so it is profanenesse to deny them some kind of relative sanctity which the holy Ghost attributeth unto them in Scripture where wee reade expresly of holy ground holy daies holy oyle and the like To cleare the point wee are to distinguish of holinesse yet more particularly which belongeth 1. To God the Father Sonne and Spirit by essence 2. To Angels and men by participation of the divine nature or grace 3. To the Word and Oracles of God by inspiration 4. To types figures sacraments rites and ceremonies by divine institution 5. To places lands and fruits of the earth as also sacred utensils by use and dedication as 1. Temples with their furniture consecrated to the service of God 2. Tithes and glebe lands to the maintenance of the Priests 3. Church-yards to the buriall of the dead Others come off shorter and dichotomize holy things which say they are 1. Sanctified because they are holy as God his name and attributes c. 2. Holy because they are sanctified 1. Either by God to man as the Word and Sacraments 2. Or by man to God as Priests Temples Altars Tables c. Of this last kind of holy things by dedication some are dedicated to him 1. Immediately as all things used in his service 2. Mediately as all such things without which his service cannot be conveniently done and here come in Church-yards without which some religious workes of charity cannot be done with such conveniency or decency as they ought The Church is as Gods house and the yard is as the court before his doore how then dare any defile it or alienate it or imploy it to any secular use for profit or pleasure To conclude all Church-yards by the Ancients are termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dormitories or dortories wherein they lye that sleep in Jesus Now it is most uncivill to presse into or any way abuse the bed-chamber of the living and much more of the dead What are graves in this dormitory but sacred vestries wherein we lay up our old garments for a time and after take them out and resume them new dressed and trimmed and gloriously adorned and made shining and Å¿ Mar. 9.3 exceeding white as snow so as no Fuller on earth can white them These shining raiments God bestow upon us all at the last day for the merits of the death and buriall of our Lord and Saviour Cui c. THE FEAST OF PENTECOST A Sermon preached on Whitsunday THE LXIII SERMON ATCS 2.1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all together with one accord in one place SAint a Hom. in die ascens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome comparing the works of redemption with the works of creation observeth that as the Father finished the former so the Sonne the later in six dayes especially in memorie whereof his dearest Spouse the Catholique Church hath appointed six solemnities to be kept by all Christians with greatest fervour of devotion and highest elevation of religious affections These are Christ his 1. Virgin birth 2. Illustrious Epiphanie 3. Ignominious death 4. His powerfull resurrection 5. His glorious ascension 6. His gracious sending downe of the holy Ghost The day of 1. His incarnation by which he entred into the world 2. His manifestation on which he entred upon his office of Mediatour 3. His passion on which he expiated our sinnes 4. His resuscitation by which he conquered death the grave 5. His triumphant returne into heaven on which hee tooke seizin and possession of that kingdome for us 6. His visible mission of the holy Ghost in the similitude of fiery cloven tongues on which he sealed all his former benefits to us and us to the day of redemption This last festivall in order of time was yet the first and chiefest in order of dignity For on Christs birth day hee was made partaker of our nature but on this wee were made partakers after a sort of his in the Epiphany one starre onely stood over the house where hee lay on this twelve fiery tongues like so many celestiall lights appeared in the roome where the Apostles were assembled on the day of his passion he rendred his humane spirit to God his father on this hee sent downe his divine spirit upon us on the resurrection his spirit quickened his naturall body on this it quickened his mysticall the Catholique Church on the ascension he tooke a pledge from us viz. our flesh and carried it into heaven on this hee sent us his pledge viz. his spirit in the likenesse of fiery tongues with the sound of a mighty rushing wind After which the Spouse as Gorrhan conceiveth panted saying b Cant. 4.16 Awake O North wind and come thou South blow upon my garden that the spices therof may flow out let my Beloved come into his garden eat his pleasant fruits The wind she gasped for what was it but the spirit and what are the fragrant spices shee wishes may flow but the graces of the holy Ghost which David calleth gifts for men in the eighteenth verse of the 68. Psalme the former part whereof may furnish the feast we
Joh. 6.10 11 12 13. multiplyed the loaves and fishes hee gave this sensible and undeniable proofe of the truth of this miracle both by saturitie in the stomacks of the people and by substantiall remnants thereof in the baskets When they were filled saith the Evangelist hee said to his disciples Gather the fragments that remaine that nothing be lost Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above to them that had eaten Cloven tongues The holy Ghost which now first appeared in the likenesse of tongues moved the tongues of all the Prophets that have spoken since the world began For the l 2 Pet. 1.21 prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Of all the parts of the body God especially requireth two the heart the tongue the heart whereby m Rom. 10.10 man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and the tongue whereby he maketh confession unto salvation the heart to love God the tongue to praise him Out of which consideration the Heathen as Plutarch observeth dedicated the Peach-tree to the Deitie because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart of man and the leafe his tongue And to teach us that the principall use of our tongue is to sound out the praises of our maker the Hebrew calleth the tongue Cobod that is glory as My heart was glad n Psal 16.9 30.13 57.9 Buxtorph Epit radic and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue also Hebrew my glory also rejoyceth They who glorifie not God with their tongue may be truly said to have no tongue in the Hebrew language and verily they deserve no tongues who make them not silver trumpets to sound out the glory of God And if such forfeit their tongues how much more doe they who whet them against God and his truth whose mouths are full of cursing and bitternesse direfull imprecations and blasphemous oathes These have fierie tongues but not kindled from heaven but rather as S. o Chap. 3.6 James speaketh set on fire of hell and their tongues also are cloven by schisme faction and contention not as these in my text for a mysticall signification Cloven Some by cloven understand linguas bifidas two-forked tongues and they will have them to be an embleme of discretion and serpentine wisdome others linguas dissectas slit tongues like the tongues of such birds as are taught to speake and these conceive them to have beene an embleme of eloquence For such kinde of tongues p Hieroglyph l. 33. Pierius affirmeth that the Heathen offered in sacrifice to Mercurie their god of eloquence and they made them after a sort fierie by casting them into the fire ad expurgandas perperam dictorum labes to purge out the drosse of vain discourses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tongues parted at the top but joyned at the roote and they represented saith q In Act. Quia in proximo debebant dividi in omnes terras Gorrhan the dispersion of the Apostles which after ensued into all countries These tongues were not of fire but As it were of fire The matter of which these tongues consisted was not grosse and earthly but aeriall or rather heavenly like the fire which r Exod. 3.2 Moses saw in the bush for as that so this had the light but not the burning heat of fire It is not said of fires in the plurall but of fire in the singular number because as the silver trumpets were made all of one piece so these twelve tongues were made of one fierie matter to illustrate the diversitie of gifts proceeding from the same spirit And it sate Sitting in the proper sense is a bodily gesture and agreeth not to tongues or fire yet because it is a gesture of permanencie or continuance the word is generally used in the originall for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ſ Chrys in Act. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to abide or reside and so it may expresse unto us the continuance of these gifts of the Spirit in the Apostles and may put us in minde of our dutie which is to sit to our preaching and continue in the labours of the ministrie Give t 1 Tim. 4.13 14 15. attendance saith the Apostle to reading to exhortation to doctrine Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecie with the laying on of the hands of the presbyterie Meditate upon these things give thy selfe wholly to them that thy profiting may appeare to all Upon each of them Whether these tongues entred into the mouths of the Apostles as Amphilochius writeth of S. Basil or rested upon their heads as S. Cyril imagined whence some derive the custome of u Lorinus in Act. c. 2. imposition of hands upon the heads of those who are consecrated Bishops or ordained Priests it is not evident out of the text but this is certaine and evident that it sate upon each of them It sate not upon Peter onely but upon the rest as well as him S. Chrysostome saith upon the * Chrys in act c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hundred and twentie that were assembled in that upper roome those who say least affirme that it rested upon all the Apostles For howsoever the Papists take all occasions to advance S. Peter above the rest of the Apostles that the Roman See might be advanced through him as Hortensius the Oratour extolled eloquence to the skies that hee might bee lifted up thither with her yet the Scripture giveth him no preheminence here or elsewhere for Christ delivereth the keyes of heaven with the power of binding and loosing into all x Matt. 18.18 Whatsoever ye binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever yee loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven of their hands he breathes vpon them all John 20.21 22. and sendeth them with as full commission as his Father sent him All their names shine in the y Apoc. 21.14 foundation and gates of the heavenly Jerusalem and here in my text fierie cloven tongues sate upon each of them And there appeared unto them c. As in the Sacrament of Christs body so in these symbols of the spirit we are to consider two things 1. The signes or outward elements 2. The thing signified by them Of the signes yee have heard heretofore hold out I beseech you your religious attention to the remainder of the time and yee shall heare in briefe of the thing signified by them Miracles for the most part in holy Scripture are significant the cloudie pillar signified the obscure knowledge of Christ under the Law the pillar of fire the brighter knowledge of him in the Gospell the renting of the veile at the death of our Saviour the opening of the way to the Sanctum Sanctorum into which our high
Hence it is compared to a goad m Eccles 12.11 or naile fastened by the masters of the assemblies nay to a n Heb. 4.12 two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and joynts and marrow nay to thunder which breaketh the bones not hurting the yeelding flesh at the sound whereof o Luke 10.18 Satan fals like lightening from heaven This efficacie of the word of God proves the Divinitie thereof as it could not be divine but it must needs be effectuall so it could not be so effectuall as it is if it were not divine As the demolishing the wals of Jericho proved that there was something more in the sounding of the Rams hornes than the violent expulsion or percussion of the aire so the conquering all the eloquence and power and wealth and wisdome of the world and subduing it to the Gospel by the preaching of the Apostles poore simple and illiterate men of no more account in comparison of the Oratours and Philosophers of the heathen than the Rams hornes in comparison of silver trumpets demonstrateth that their words were not the words of men but the words of God p Zab. Phys Zabarel treating of nutrition in the stomacke and perfect concoction propoundeth this question How commeth it to passe that heat being but an accident and a simple qualitie can digest our meat sever the thicker parts from the thinner turne the chylus into chymus and chymus into bloud and disperse this bloud into all parts resolveth it thus that Heat may be considered two wayes either as it is a meere qualitie and accident and so it hath but one simple operation or as it is an instrument of the soule and so it produceth all the effects above mentioned In like manner if it be demanded how the word preached instructeth correcteth and comforteth and maketh the man of God q 2 Tim. 3.17 perfect and thorowly furnished to everie good worke how it frameth and mouldeth the heart how it printeth it like a stamp melteth it like fire bruizeth it like a hammer pricketh it like a naile and cutteth it asunder like a sword the ready answer is that it produceth these effects Non ut sonus sed ut instrumentum Dei not as it is a sound or a collision of the aire but as it is an instrument of God Or to use the phrase of the Apostle as it is the r Rom. 1.16 power of God unto salvation to everie one that beleeveth This power wee may easily beleeve to bee in the whole when wee see such efficacie in one text ſ Junius in vita Junius was reclaimed from Atheisme by casting his eye on the new Testament lying open in his study and reading the first words of S. Johns Gospel In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God These words which strucke such a reverence in the hearts of the heathenish Platonicks that they wrote them in golden letters in their Churches so amazed him with the strange majestie of the stile and profoundnesse of the mysteries therein contained that hee never after entertained the least thought of his former atheisticall conceit As Antony passing in his journey and comming to a Chappell heard the Priest read those words in the Gospel t Luke 18.22 If thou wilt be perfect goe sell all that thou hast and give to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven hee tooke the words as spoken to himselfe in particular and fulfilling the precept of Christ accordingly of a covetous worldling became a most holy recluse What should I speake of S. Austine who was strangely converted by hearing a voyce saying Tolle lege fastening his eies upon the first passage of Scripture he lighted upon which was this u Rom. 13.13 14. Let us walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envying but put yee on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof No sooner was the verse read than the worke of his conversion was finished and a pious resolution for amendment of life setled in him * Aug. conf l. 8. c. 12. Surgens ab Alypio ut flerem de vicinâ domo audivi vocem Tolle lege tum cogitabam puerine solebant tale aliquid cantare nec occurrebat audivisse me Uspiam represso impetu lachrymarū surrexi interpretans me divinitùs doceri codicem aperire legere Itaque reversus ad locum ubi sedebat Alypius ibi enim posucram codicem aperui legi in caput quo conjecti sunt oculi mei Rom. 13. Non in comessationibus c. Rem Alypio indicavi petit videre quod legissem ostendit ultrà quà m ego legeram quod sequitur Infirmū in fide assumite quod ille ad se retulit Alypius certified hereof desireth to peruse the place and falleth upon the verse immediately following Him that is weake in the faith receive you Rom. 14.1 which he applying to himselfe besought S. Austine to strengthen him in the truth according to the command of Christ to Peter Luke 22.32 Tu conversus confirma fratres When thou art converted confirme thy brethren which taske he so well performed that with a little travell in a short space two twins were brought forth to Christ at one birth To fasten the truth of this observation concerning the efficacie of Scripture texts seasonably applyed I will borrow a golden naile from S. Chrysostome It is not so in the Church where the Word is powerfully taught as it was in the Arke of Noah for there the beast that entred into the Arke received no change nor alteration at all by the imbarking there during the deluge if they were cleane at their comming in they were so at their going out if they came in uncleane they went out uncleane if they came in wilde they went out wilde but it is not so here we come in uncleane but we goe out cleane we come in wild we goe out tame wee come in wolves wee goe out lambs we come in lions we goe out deere we come in vultures wee goe out doves we come in beasts we goe out men or to speake more properly regenerate Christians And thus much concerning compunction in reference to the cause as it is an effect of the word preached now let us consider it in a reference to the subject as it is an affection in the sinner The locusts are described by x Apoc. 9.7 10. S. John with faces like men but stings in their tailes like scorpions not to disparage any mysticall interpretation a morall may be this Sinnes especially of pleasure like these locusts have beautifull faces and a delightfull appearance at the first but those that deale and dally with them shall finde that they have stings in their tailes and leave pricks and venomous wounds in the conscience in the end for
the Apostles men Ver. 13. whom a little before they esteemed no better of than drunken beasts 2. Charity Brethren Not aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel not strangers 2. An important question which is a question of 1. Feare What shall we doe to escape the wrath to come for that we have done 2. Care What shall we doe to make some part of amends for our crimson sinne in shedding the bloud of that righteous and holy One 3. Piety What shall we doe that we may reape benefit by his death whom ignorantly we slew with wicked hands Thus have I chalked unto you the way of my present and future discourses upon this Scripture wherein I intreat your attention and devotion to goe along with mee that I and you may first know in the speculative part what wee are to doe and then in the practicke doe what wee know to be necessary for the obtaining the remission of our sins Men. Is there not a Pleonasmus or redundancy in the words Men and Brethren Is not this appellative men rather a burthen than an ornament to the sentence Are there any brethren that are not men Yes if we will beleeve the Legend of Saint Francis for he found a new alliance and brotherhood amongst beasts ordinarily saluting them in this manner when he met them Brother Oxe brother Beare brother Wolfe and it is marvell that the chronicles of his life related not that some of them resaluted him againe by the title of brother Asse for his labour But this is a note beneath Gammoth and a degree below lowlinesse it selfe for humility will admit none to be of her kinred and brotherhood that beare not the image of God our Father The beasts of the field are indeed fellow-creatures with us but they are our juments and servants no way our brethren Was then the word men added to intimate that such is the inhumanity or unmanlinesse of many that a man may meet with many brethren by bloud by alliance by profession by country who yet deserve not the stile of men because brethren without all humanity and so no men without heart or courage and so no men effeminate in their speech habit carriage trim and dresse and so no men Neither can this be the meaning of the words For the Jewes were not now in a Satyricall veine but like men that had been newly let bloud by a deep incision they speake faintly and in an humble manner beseech their Physicians to prescribe what they must doe to recover their health We are therefore to understand that in the originall there is no pleonasme nor bitter sarcasme but an elegancie and an emphasis in our tongue there is but one name for men of the better sort inferiour ranke but in greeke there are two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they differ as much as ayre and earth or christall and glasse or pearle and stone for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth an ordinary man of the vulgar sort but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of parts a man of worth a man of note a man full of humanity pity and compassion and herein they secretly couch an argument to induce the Apostles to take some care of their soules as if they should say Though ye are men of God yet ye are men as we are the divine graces in you bereave you not of humane passions Suffer then not men as you are to be cast away bring not the bloud of this righteous man upon us pity us in this our perplexity pray to God for us advise us what we are to doe stretch a hand of charity to us to plucke us out of the chops of Sathan and flames of hell fire Me thinkes I should passe this note in so Christian an auditory and not stand to prove that we ought to be men not like beasts without reason not like monsters without all bowels without naturall affection and compassion yet were many that call themselves brethren men could they grind the faces of the poore as they doe could they not only tondere but deglubere not only sheare but flea Christs sheep were they men would they use men like beasts would they make themselves beasts and expresse the condition of the worst of beasts by returning with the dogge to their vomit and with the sow to their wallowing in the mire are they men who take greatest delight in drowning their reason and extinguishing that light of understanding in them which maketh them men are they men have they hearts of flesh have they eyes consisting of an aqueous humour who suffer men made after Gods image to pine away before their eyes for want of a crumme of their store a graine of their magazine a drop of their ocean a mite of their treasury a cluster of grapes of their vintage a gleaning of their harvest are they men that never remember the affliction of Joseph that never thinke of the besieged in Rochel of the persecuted in Bohemia and the Palatinate and almost all parts of Germany as good men as themselves and better Christians who endure either the violence of oppression or the shame of infamy or the servitude of captivity or the insolency of tiranny or the griping of famine or the terrours of sundry kinds of death It grieved the Oratour to proclaime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O my friends there is no true friend among you but it much more grieveth those that are to give an account of your soules to be enforced to complaine Men and brethren there are few men or brethren among you but few that deserve the name of men and fewer of Brethren They call the Apostles brethren either in a kind of correspondency of courtesie because the Apostles so stiled them before Men and brethren Ver. 29. let mee freely speake unto you of the Patriarch David or to insinuate themselves into their love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 co-uterini sprigs issuing out of the same root men issuing out of the same wombe 1. Either of flesh as brothers that have the same mother 2. Or of the Church as all that are new borne in it 3. Or of the earth as all men Some who delight more in the sound of words than soundnesse of matter make their cimbals thus tinckle in our eares There are brethren say they of three sorts either by race as all of the same linage or by place as all of the same country or city or by grace as all of the same religion But I like better of St. a Cont. Helvid c. 7. Scriptura divina dicit fratres 1. naturâ 2. gente 3. cognatione 4 affectu quod postremum dividitur in spirituale commune spirituale quo omnes Christiani fratres vocantur commune quo omnes homines ex uno patre nati pari inter se germanitate conjunguntur Jeromes distinction of brethren 1. by nature or bloud 2. by
to an account to consider how deeply thou hast engaged Gods justice to poure down the vialls of his vengeance upon thee for thy rebellion against his ordinances thy corporall and spirituall fornication thy resisting the spirit of grace thy peremptory refusing of the meanes of salvation thy persecuting the truth even to the death and imbruing thy hands in the bloud of Gods dearest servants sent to thee early and late for thy peace Jerusalem had a day and every City every Nation every Church every congregation every man hath a day of grace if he have grace to take notice of it hath an accepted time if he accept of it and he may find God if he seek him in time It was day at Jerusalem in Christs time at Ephesus in S. Johns time at Corinth Philippi c. in S. Pauls time at Creet in Titus time at Alexandria in S. Markes time at Smyrna in Polycarps time at Pergamus in Antipas time at Antiochia in Evodius and Ignatius time at Constantinople in S. Andrew and Chrysostomes time at Hippo in Saint Austines time now in most of these it is night it is yet day with us O let us worke out our n Phil. 2.12 salvation with feare and trembling whilest it is o Heb. 3.7 13. called to day if the Sun of righteousnesse goe downe upon us we must looke for nothing but perpetuall darknesse and the shadow of death Although Ninevehs day lasted forty daies and Jerusalems forty yeers and the old worlds 120. yeers and although God should prolong our daies to many hundred yeeres yet we should find our day short enough to finish our intricate accounts That day in the language of the holy Ghost is called our day wherein wee either doe our own will and pleasure or which God giveth us of speciall grace to cleare our accounts and make our peace with him but that is called the Lords day either which he challengeth to himselfe for his speciall service or which he hath appointed for all men to appeare before his Tribunall to give an account of their own workes A wicked man maketh Gods day his owne by following his owne pleasures and doing his own will upon it and living wholly to himselfe and not to God but the godly maketh his owne daies Gods daies by imploying them in Gods service and devoting them as farre as his necessary occasion will permit wholly to him Wherefore it is just with God to take away from the wicked part of his owne daies by shortening his life upon earth and to give to the godly part of his day which is eternity in heaven I noted before a flaw and breach in the sentence as it were a bracke in a rich cloth of Tissu If thou knewest in this thy day what then thou wouldst weep saith S. p Homil. in Evang Gregory thou wouldest not neglect so great salvation saith q Comment in Evaâ—g Euthyrtius it would bee better with thee saith Titus Bostrensis thou wouldst repent in sackcloth and ashes saith r Brug in Evang Brugensis But I will not presume to adde a line to a draughâ— from which such a workman hath taken off his pensill and for the print I should make after the pattern in my Text and now in the application lay it close to your devout affections I may spare my farther labour and your trouble for it is made by authority which hath commanded us to take notice of those things that belong to our peace viz. to walke humbly with our God by fasting and prayer wherefore jungamus fletibus fletus lachrymas lachrymis misceamus let us conspire in our sighes let us accord in our groanes let us mingle our teares let us send up our joynt praiers as a vollie of shot to batter the walls of heaven let all our hearts consort with our tongues and our soules with our bodies what wee doe or suffer in our humiliation let it be willingly and not by constrant let our praiers and strong cries in publike be ecchoed by the voice of our weeping in private who knoweth whether God may not send us an issue out of our present troubles by meanes unexpected who knoweth not whether he may not have calicem benedictionis a cup of blessing in store for those his servants beyond the sea who have drank deep of the cup of trembling Christ his bowells are not streightened but our sins are enlarged else it would be otherwise with them and with us I have given you a generall prescription will ye yet have more particular recipe's take then an electuary of foure simples The first I gather from our Saviours garden Let your Å¿ Luke 12.35 loines be girt and your lamps in your hands Let your loines be girt that is your lusts be curbed restrained and your lamps burning that is your devotions enflamed Gird up your loines by mortification discipline and have your lamps burning both the light of faith in your hearts and of good workes in your hands The second I gather from S. John Baptists garden t Matth. 3.8 Bring forth fruits meet for repentance or worthy amendment of life let your sorrowes be * Cyp de laps Quam grandia peccavimus tam granditer defleamus answerable to your sinfull joyes let the fruit of your repentance equall if not exceed the forbidden fruit of your sin wherein ye have most displeased God seek most to please him Have ye offended him in your tongue by oathes please him now by lauding and praising his dreadfull name and reproving swearing in others Have ye offended in your eies by beholding vanity and casting lascivious glances upon fading beauty enticing to folly make a covenant from henceforth with your eies that they cast not a look upon the world or the flesh's baits imploy them especially from henceforth in reading holy Scriptures and weeping for your sins Have ye offended in thought sanctifie now all your meditations unto him Have ye offended in your sports let now your delight be u Psal 1.2 in the Law of God let the Scriptures bee your * Aug. l. 11. confes c. 2 Sint deliciae meae Scripturae tuae nec fallar in iis nec fallam ex iis delicacies with S. Austine meditate upon them day and night make the Lords holy-day your delight Esay 58.15 and honour him thereon not following your owne waies nor finding your owne pleasure nor speaking your owne words The third I gather from S. James his garden x Jam. 4.10 Cast down your selves before the Lord and he will lift you up The Lion contenteth himselfe with casting downe a man if he couch under him and make no resistance he offereth no more violence Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrâsse Leoni It is most true if we speake of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah for hee will not break a bruised reed much lesse grind to powder a contrite heart If Ahabs outward humiliation who notwithstanding had sold himselfe