all were beholding to him for restoring him the tenth part of his owne To conclude long prayers and building the sepulchres of the prophets which of all other were their most colourable virtues were they not indeed crying sinnes in the sight of God when they were I say not onely vtterd arrogantly in euery corner of the street that they might bee seene of men and not closeted vp for GOD alone to see them but when vnder pretence of long prayers they deuour'd widowes houses and vnder colour of building the tombes of the Prophets which were dead they had no other intent but with the more safety and lesse suspition to slay the sonne of God who was then aliue among them the Prince of the Prophets Looke then as beautifull and fayre fruit to see too yet if it be rotten at the core when the outside is par'd off hath no such goodlynesse within as outwardly appear'd but very rottennesse at the heart or to vse a more proper similitude As a piece of smooth and rotten wood if it bee set in the darke and seene onely in the night makes a great blaze and showes to bee a very lightsome body but assoone as the day rises it forfeits the flame and the rottennes of it is plainely discouered so was it with these appearing truths which the Pharisees obtruded and thrust vpon the darke vnderstandings of the common people for most heauenly lights lamps full of glory they were all but vizards of truth rotten opinions lies with painted faces And as these were the false-lights that dazeled the eyes of the wiser sort of people so there were beside these certaine coÌ„mon errors which went abroad as most receiued and graunted positions verities which all men beleeu'd as That they had good cause to reioyce who had euery mans good word for them and many friends in the world whom they might trust to That rich men were happy For they liued at hearts ease That they liued the most comfortable liues in the world that were alwayes merry hearted and were euer laughing To name no more That it was a most wretched estate not to haue sufficient meate and drinke but to liue alwayes as in a famine in hunger and thirst But our Sauiour as before hee extinguisht their false and pharisaical lights so in these hee opposed himselfe against their popular and common errors And therefore he sayes not as they Reioyce because ye haue many and great friends in the world and because you haue euery mans good word for you but the playne contrary Reioyce and bee exceeding glad what when you haue many friends that speake well of you and do you good no but when you haue many enemies that shall reuile you and persecute you and say all manner of euill against you falsely for my names sake verses the 10. 11. And blessed are who the rich in estate no but the poore in spirit ver the 3. And not they who were merry hearted alwaies laughing had the most comfortable liues but blessed are they that mourne verse the 4. For they shal be comforted In a word to land my self at home vpon the present words That not they which abounded with all things and could say to their soule as Diues did Luke the 12. Soule eate drinke aud bee merry for thou hast much goods layed vp for many yeares were blessed but blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnes For they shall bee satisfied For the truth is It was a most absurd improper soloecisme of speech when the riche foole so our Sauiour cals him and therefore I doe him no wrong bid his soule eate and drinke those goods that hee had layed vp for his body to eat drinke For the soule with such food could neuer haue beene satisfied but those soules onely shal be replenished and filled that hunger after the kingdome of Heauen and the righteousnesse thereof For as righteousnes here so the Kingdome of God hereafter as grace here so glory hereafter are the onely repaste to banquet a Soule with First therfore let vs see II. How Righteousnesse and Grace are the food of our Soules THat is properly called the food of any thing whereby it is inwardly preserued from consumption corruption and death And therfore as the Body hath something to preserue it for a time which is bodily food so must the Soule haue some spirituall repast to perpetuat and preserue it for euer For nothing beside a diuine nature can bee of it selfe aye during Let vs therfore because this paradox to a naturall man will seeme strange goe with him to his owne arte the arte of nature There we shall find these two Sanctions publisht as receiued trueths of all first â—isdem alimur ex quibus constamus Euery nature is nourished by that whereof it is first made and the second is Simile nutritur a simile Like is nourisht of like Now it is a speech of our Sauiour which it may bee euery man remembers but few men marke when after fourty dayes fast in the wildernesse he was tempted to satisfie his hunger by making bread of stones he answered That Man liu'd not by bread onely but by euery word that proceeded out of the mouth of God Which speech though a prophane Ignorant will perhaps derisonly scoffe at as thinking it impossible to liue by words yet such words as proceed out of the mouth of God haue more vitall sweetenesse and nourishable sap in them than all his corne and oyle and wine haue Was not the whole world made by the word of God Was not the soule of euery reasonable creature made by the same word and so imbreathed into the body of the first father of our humane nature and is now still infused into euery one of our bodies when they are perfectly instrumented and made fit for the soule to dwell â— This a naturall man cannot deny in reason because they of his owne â—ribe Socrates Plato Aristoâ—le and all wise men euer confest it not only to vse â—heir owne words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as some of â—hem speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a foris ingredi â—aelitus aduenire But proue it by necessary demonstration I will vse â—ut one argument beâ—ore I proceed to euidence it because religion shall not be beholding to a naturall man for her ground worke which Iustin Martyr one of the first penmen of God after the time of the blessed Apostles who was called by all men for his depth of Learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vses to euiâ—ce the opposers of this truth in his time All things sayes he arose first eyther out of the power of nature or fortune of God Out of a power of nature they could not For tell mee sayes the father whom could nature by her power first bring forth Could the fruits of the earth or the foules of heauen or the trees of the forrest or the beasts of the field or the Cittizen of the world man issue
found no where heere And where are they but at the right hand of God only Psalm 16. 11. In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore the first takes away all defect In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy and the second admits of no end at thy right hand are pleasures for euer And this is the first fulnesse or saturity of the soule the second is of the body And the naturall desires of the body are life health and beautie Now where can we finde life but in that Country which is the land of the liuing whether no death is suffered to approach or whether should we go to meet with indeflowrishing and vnattainted health but where there is no sorrow no paine no sicknesse at all And that is no where but onely in the Holy City which S. Iohn calls the new Hierusalem Reuel 21. 4. There shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine but as the two glories of the Old and New Testaments Dauid and S. Paul speake God shall deck his Saints with health and wee shall put on incorruption and immortality in those Courts of Honour And thus as the soule and body haue their natural desires so the whole person of man desires naturally as close an vnion with the Diuine being as it is possibly capable of secondly it desires glorie and honour being one of the beames of GODS countenance which hee casts vpon his most noble creatures For there is a sparke of Diuinity in Glory which makes all men I had almost said all creatures naturally appetent of it according to the size they haue measured them out by God to vessell it vp in Cupido gloriae nouissimè exuitur etiam a sapiente sayes the wise Historian many to giue life to their Honor hauing lost their owne And this holy Ambition as it deriues it selfe to another world so it is in man both a naturall and lawfull desire within the expectation of which the whole creature stretching out the neck of it as S. Paul most significantly speakes waites for and sighes for and like a woman is in a dolorous trauaile for to be deliuered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the free libertie of glory granted to the sonnes of God The last hunger both of soule and body as they are vnited is of diuine societie and friendship and therefore as the Philosopher calls man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sociable Creature so the Apostle would haue vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to associate our selues at least in our trauelling thoughts with the Citizens of Heauen who as for number they are infinitely more so for nature are farre more illustrious and blessed then our vnder companions that liue here below centred with our selfs in this little point of earth are For God himselfe being a Diuine Spirit and those Palaces of glory being farre more extensiue and spacious then our narrow regions how can there but be as Dauid and Daniel both witnesse ten thousand times ten thousand and thousand thousands of ministring Spirits to wait vpon their high and transcendent Soueraigne the King of Spirits Royal and therefore S. Paul reckoning vp our heauenly companions Hebr. 12. 22. begins with an innumerable cōpany of Angels so that this desire shall aboundantly be satiated and content But of heauen we that are on earth cannot say much For though Satan took our Sauiour vp into a high mountaine and thence shewed him all the Kingdomes of the earth and the glory of them in a moment of time Luk. 4. 5. which shewes of how small moment they are that in one short instant and article of time could sodainelie giue a blaze and so vanish yet there is no mountaine high enough nor any time long enough but eternity to vnuaile the glory of the Kingdome of Heauen which God purposely no doubt hath concealed that he might know who would loue him for himselfe because all men could not but loue him for his glory if he should let it fall vpon our eyes and display it selfe in the diuine beames of it Yet as farre as the eye of right reason guided like the wise men in the search of our Sauiour by the heauenly starres of light that shine euery where in Gods word may discouer this holy land let vs not wrong our sacred hunger of knowledge as blindely to wrap vp all in a cloud and to denye it this iust satisfaction which especially consists in a threefold glorious vnion wherewith God hath promised in his Word to vnite the persons of the Elect to himselfe which close with the Diuine Being I mentioned before to be the most ardent and naturall desire of our whole person and that wherwith the whole man is most delighted satisfied and filled First therefore wee are vnited vnto Christ as vnto our Head and so wee make but one body with him and this is a closer vnion then eyther children can be vnited to Parents for they are diuided parts from their Father but wee are vnited parts to Christ our Lord or married couples can be vnited each to other For they being diuerse bodies are vnited but into one flesh but wee to Christ are vnited into one body and one flesh as the Apostle speaks we are all set into his body and are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee with a most significant elegancy speakes in the 4. and 6. to the Ephesians And this is the first vnion of our persons with God by his Son Iesus Christ which makes vs way and entrance to the two remanent The second vnion is whereby our persons are spiritually vnited to God by the very Diuine and Holy Spirit of God him selfe so that this infinite and glorious and euer-liuing Spirit diffusing it selfe through euery member of Christs mysticall body makes vs of one spirit and one soule as it were with the Diuine being not by the vnion of essence and information but of inhabitance and participation The last vnion is that whereby the Diuinity of God dwelling in vs after an vnspeakeable gracious manner vnites himselfe whole although not wholly to vs far beyond the possibility of any other creature in the World For other creatures haue no power of vniting themselues so as God hath The reason is cause they are of so grosse and if not corporeall yet materiall being that it is impossible for them to make vs partakers of their Essences which haue all of them certaine Characteristicall and indiuiduall differences whereby they are incommunicable in their Natures to any other beside themselues But wee are made as S. Peter tells vs partakers of the Diuine Nature after an eminent manner which though it cannot be plenarily exprest yet it may bee shadowed by some weak resemblances The Rule whereby we may conceiue of this vnion is that Euery thing the more subtill and pure and immateriall it is the more closelie it may vnite it selfe
to run the heauenly races God hath set him with all the lesse starres of the glorious body might shed their beames vpon the Earth in the seasons of it so bring foorth hearbes and fruites for the seruice of man and beast It is indeede a naturall Truth Omne Corpus naturale quiescit in loco proprio Euery naturall body is quiescent in his owne proper place and yet wee see though all gladly rest in their owne regions and inuade not the confines of their neighbour Elements yet they are alwayes mouing and coasting about in their owne orbes and circuits thereby teaching vs to labour euery man in the circle of his owne calling and not to busie-body out abroad with other newe workes The Aire breakes not into the quarters of Heauen and yet wee see it is alwayes fann'd from place to place and neuer sleepes idly in his owne regions the reason is because otherwise it would soone putrifie it selfe and poyson vs all with the stinking breath of it did not the diuine prouidence of God driue it about the World with his Windes that so it might both preserue it selfe and serue to preserue vs which otherwise it could neuer doe And truly whether we ascend vp into Heauen or descend with Dauid into the deepe we may discerne the whole Ocean which is a farre more sluggish element then the Ayre neuer rest but euer moued either by the Windes or by a proper motion whereby naturally it ebbes and flowes to preserue it selfe sweet and wholesome for those creatures that liue in it and withall that it might by such inter-tides be the more seruiceable to the vse of man in the conueiance of commodities from shoare to shoare So that in a word euery thing moues for man should man only himselfe be idle stand still Giue mee but one example in the whole World of sloath and restiue idlenesse but one and I will giue thee leaue to keepe Holy-day and play away all thy life without sweat or labour only perhaps of a standing poole and that growes noisome that no man can endure it or of some deformed Toade and that is full swolne with rankour and poison or it may be of an idle Droane and that because it plaies in Summer dies in Winter But if wee looke vp to Heauen that will teach vs to runne the races God sets before vs with ioy and gladnesse if the holy Angels may instruct vs they will take vs out a lesson of faithfull labour both in our thoughts to God and actions to men All the Creatures of God will set vs a worke by their examples Chuse therefore whether thou wilt with thy vitious idlenesse be of a corrupted and venemous nature and so die or exercise thy selfe in the holy labours thy vocation cals thee to like the blessed Angels and all other the more noble Creatures of God And that we may see reason why wee should labour wee must know that it is both a Diuine and naturall Truth Deus Natura nihil faciunt frustra God and Nature made nothing idle It is for vs the heards of the field and the fowles of Heauen and the fish in the Seas labour to bring forth their young It is for vs the wearie Oxe is yoakt to labour and the Horse takes the bridle into his mouth to ease vs by his trauaile It is for vs the poore Silke-worm spinnes her clew and the thriftie Bee gathers her honey to the combe but as all these labour for vs so it is our labour that orders and guides them and sets them all a worke first Indeed God hath of his goodnesse made them our seruants and put our feare vpon them The feare of you shall be vpon all Creatures Gen. 9. 2. But it is not our parts to vse their labours to make our selues idle but if wee would haue them labour for vs wee must be fellow-labourers with them for our selues And indeed two speciall reasons would God haue vs labour for one to keep vs from the greene-sicknesse of Idlenes which in truth is the immediate mother of all Sinne as wee may see by Dauids Tower-walke and the other for the more full enioying of our life and health For as it is labour that procures all things necessary for our life and health as meates and drink clothing housing so it is labour that preserues our health by warming our blood that it be not gellied with vnkindly colds into rheums and dispersing those ill humors which with idlenesse would grow vpon vs and by prepuring the body more delightfully both to receiue nourishment without surfet and without disquiet rest sleepe Ye see therefore there is both great reason for vs to labour if wee would enioy our health and necessitie if we would supply the wants of our own liues and example if wee would follow either the command of God or the patterne of other the most honourable creatures God hath made Now let not here the good husbandman because he as Isaac tills his ground and sowes it engrosse all labour into his owne calling and so thinking himselfe onely the true labourer quarrell with all other professions as more idle and lesse necessarie Let the good husbandman haue alwayes his due honour reserued him but let not the good husbandman thinke all other men bad-husbands because hee is good for hee may bee a bad man though hee bee a good husbandman in so thinking For as man himselfe is diuided into seuerall respects of body and soule estate and person so euery calling that is lawfully employed in the prouiding for any of these hath in it true labouring men The husbandman indeed he sees the body the shepheard cloathes it the Architect houses it and the Physitian cures it It were a labour but to reckon vp the seuerall calling that labour about the body and indeede would passe my skill to name them so about the estates of men Iudges and Lawyers and Notaries and Officers labour and about the persons of men Princes and Magistrates labour to keepe them in ciuill order and gouernment and about the soule of man the Minister of God labours I cannot stand to euidence the labour of all these callings I will onely make it plaine because the calling of a Minister is by some slighted as a matter of no great paines and sweat That II. A faithfull Minister is a great labourer I Would not willingly make comparisons betweene him and the husbandman and say his labour is beyond theirs but this I may safely say that God himselfe compares him not onely to a husbandman but to shew the greatnesse of his labour to euery calling indeed that is most sweated with industrie and toyle I know all men thinke their owne callings most laborious but whether thinke you it easier to plow vpon hard ground or vpon hard stones whether to commit your seed to those furrowes that will return you fruitfull thankes or those that for your labor will spoyle your seed requite you
THE REVVARD of the Faithfull MATH 5. 6. They shall be satisfied THE LABOVR OF the Faithfull GENES 26. 12. Then Isaac sowed in that Land THE GROVNDS of our Faith ACTS 10. 43. To him giue all the Prophets witnesse At London printed by B. A. for Beniamin Fisher and are to be sold at the signe of the Talbot in Pater-noster row 1623. To the right Honorable and Religious Sir Roger Townshend Knight Baronet all grace and peace Honorable Sir BENEFITS they say are alwayes best giuen when they are most concealed but thanks when they are made most knowne Giue my priuate estate leaue therefore to borrow the Art of the Printer which is the publike Tongue of the learned to expresse my selfe though with no other learning then what your kinde respects haue taught mee most gratefull vnto you who indeed am bound though principally yet not onely to your Honoured selfe but totj Gentj tuae to the worthy Lady your mother the religious Knight Sir Nathaniel your second Father without thought not beyond my desire to your most noble learned Vncle the Right Honorable Francis Lord Verulam Viscount Saint Albones my free and very Honourable Benefactor whose Gift as it was worthy his bestowing so was it speedily sent and not tediously sued for Honourably giuen not bought with shame to one whom he neuer knew or saw but onely heard kindly slaundered with a good report of others and opinion conceiued by himselfe of sufficiencie and worth For by your Fauours I confesse my estate is something but the sence of my pouertie much more increased For if we may beleeue Neros wise Maister and Martyr There is none so poore as he who cannot requite a benefit but I am glad your Estates will be alwayes beyond any retaliating kindnesses of mine who could not indeed with out doing you much iniury wish my selfe able to make you amends As therefore Aristippus came to Dionysius so doe I to you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hauing receiued what I wanted to returne what I had Though in trueth this small pâ—esent may bee better sayed to bee giuen by you to others then by my self to you who thought it worthy of more mens reading then your owne which I pray God it may be Surely if there be any worth in it it is in the dignitie of the matter and the fitnesse of it for our nature and times The matters are the Grounds Exercise and Reward of the faithfull Heauenly Light Bodily labour Spirituall rest The first of which brings with it light for our Soules the second Health for our bodies and the third for them both eternall Blessednesse But in our times there is three Vertues are so great strangers in which there are so many euill heartes of vnbeliefe all standing ready to depart from the liuing God that wee had need to offer a holy violence to our nature and to fall out with our times that fall so fast away from God or else it is to be feared least the tide and streame of them both carry vs not into the riuers of Paradise there to bee landed vpon the mountaines of our saluation but into the riuers of Brimstone whether all are wasted that depart from GOD as himselfe telleth vs Depart from mee yee cursed into euerlasting fire And so much the more need had wee that liue in this last Age of the world to looke to the infirmitie of our natures and diseases of the time because natural infirmities are alwayes greatest Tyrants in our Age and it is no otherwise in this old world then in old persons If we were borne weake sighted it is a venture but in age a great dimnesse if not a totall blindnesse doe not befall vs. If a lame hand by nature hath disabled the actions of our youth the hand which in youth could doe little will doe nothing in our age if we haue traduced a personal inclination from our parents to any vice it is a grace if that inclination grow not to an affection in our youth and in our age to a habite So fast grow the ill weedes of Nature when Nature it selfe decayes in vs. Now wee cannot bee ignorant that in the very Spring of nature these three strong infirmities were seeded in vs. The first vpon the effacing of Gods Image a dimme eye-sight or darknesse in our soule the second a lame hand or idlenesse in the body which grew when Mortalitie first broke in vpon vs and left our nature consumed of that first-borne strength it then flowrished with bringing in vpon our labour an accursed sweat vpon our sweat wearinesse and consequently faynting and languishing the whole body with vnrest and disease The third vpon the losse of our heauenly inheritance an inclination and affection of the whole man to such a happinesse as wee cannot build for our selues out of the beautie and delights lights of this world which Salomon happily alluded vnto Eccles. 3. 11. where speaking of Humane happinesse to reioyce and doe good that is to eate and to drinke and to enioy the good of all our Labour verse 13 Which questionlesse is therefore lawfull because it is there sayd to bee the gift of GOD hee telleth vs that God hath made euery thing beautifull in his season and hath set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coelum the worlde as it is translated or the desire of perpetuitie in their heartes so that no man can finde out the worke that God maketh from the beginning to the end Whereas it seemes to me Salomon allowing vs this Humane felicitie as good in it selfe yet secretly accuseth it by reason of the immoderate affection and desire of perpetuitie wee cast after it for blinding the eye of our consideration so farre as thereby wee cannot finde out the worke that God maketh from the beginning to the end which doublesse can bee no other then his worke of our Redemption purposed from all eternitie in CHRIST our Lord who therefore as himself is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first borne of all creatures so his day is cald Nouissimus Dierum the last of all dayes he onely being as himselfe witnesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Frst and the Last the beginning of all things and the ende of all things Colos 11. and in this worke onely consists the knowledge of our perfit happines wherein is both perpetuitie and sufficiency which work of Gods most men therefore cannot finde out because they acquiet their desires with this humane felicitie and lie downe vnder Issachars blessing which indeed is but a cursory and viatorie happinesse seruing vs onely for the time and by the way These then are the three great diseases of our soules bodies and persons Blindnesse of Spirit Idlenesse of Body Loue and rest in the world which the beginning of the world made by corruption naturall and the Age of the world by the second nature and of custome hath made delight full to vs. And truely if our owne
first from the wombe of nature but where I pray should nature find seed 〈◊〉 some the earth but from the fruites of the earth before growing where should shee seeke for egges to breed her â—owles with but from â—owles already bred whither should she goe to gather her akrons but vnder the oake before flourishing what neede â—nfinite knotts It is not in the power of nature to bring forth a man but he must first be borne a child and of whom should that child bee borne had not there been already in nature both man and woman nature then we see could not by any power in her produce the least creature but shee must needs haue her semniall causes and whence are they seeded but from things already beeing Much lesse could chance for what is fortune but onely something in nature wherof we know not the cause If a man digging in a field find a mine we cal this fortune but a mine must bee first there by nature before any can finde it there by fortune And therefore fortune that comes alwayes after nature cannot bee the cause of nature It followes then that the whole world and the soules of men proceeded neither from nature nor chance but from the power and wisedome of God himselfe who is as much more powerfull then nature to call out his worke perfect in his kind at first as he is more wise then fortune to adorne his worke with the most graceful order with out any chaunceable or blind confusion This then being either graunted or extorted from a naturall man what followes hence Truely this That the soule of man doth consist by the word of God Secondly That the soule of man beeing onely able of all creatures visibly in heauen or earth to conceiue and vnderstand a diuine beeing which our experience teaches vs must needs be a spirituall substance like God himselfe and created after his image For this in reason and nature is a selfe-credible truth That no Creator can rayse the power of his action beyond the sphaere of his owne actiuity A stone cannot liue A plant cannot see A beast cannot vnderstand a diuine nature because it hath no such receptiuity no such actiue and diuine power in it as to take into it an insensible obiect For then it should work extra sphaeraÌ„ beyond the pitch of a sensible being man therfore onely who hath such an eye of vnderstanding in him whereby he is able to liue as it is sayd of Moses Heb. 11. 27. as seeing him who is inuisible must needs be fashioned and form'd in the similitude of the inuisible God For what creature worships a diuine power sanctifies holy dayes and Sabaoths obserues solemne feasts and assemblies offers sacrifices of prayer praise to God but man onely Vpon whose soule doth the law of God naturally reflect it selfe in the knowledge of that which is good and the conscience of that which is euill but onely vpon man's What nature in earth obserues the different motions of the heauenly bodies and admires the methodicall Wisedome of God in them or thinkes vpon his couenant of mercy when he sees the token of it shining in the waterie cloud sweetly abusing the same waters to bee a token of his mercy which before were the instrument of his iust reuenge but only man's whose eye lookes beyond the bright hilles of time and there beholds eternity or sees a spirituall world beyond this body esteeming that farre discoasted region his natiue countey but onely man Which diuine thought wee shall not find in the hearts alone of the children of light that haue the starres of heauen shining thicke in them Hebr. 11. 16. but in the minds of heathen men that lay shadowed in their owne naturall wisedome out of which the banisht Consul of Rome Boetius could sing Haec dices memini patria est mihi Hinc ortus hic sistam gradum O this my country is thy soule shall say Hence was my birth here shall be my stay And of which Anaxagoras liuing a stranger among the Athenian Philosophers and being chid for regarding so little his natiue soile by one that asked him why he minded no more his owne country answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ô sayes he pointing vp to heauen I am exceeding mindfull of my natiue countrie Now to apply all this discourse home man we haue prou'd was created by the word of God man only was form'd in Gods image and similitude And who then is the word of God but the Sonne of God who the expresse image of the Father but the Sonne Ioh. 1. 1. Heb. 1. 3. Since therefore our soules consist by the Word Christ and euery thing is preseru'd of that it consists as Nature it selfe teaches since our soules are made after the image and similitude of Christ and euery thing is most agreeably nourished by that it is most assimilated vnto is it not euen in reason an irrepugnable Truth that our soules must needs be nourished and preserued by the power of our Lord CHRIST who is Gods Essentiall Word and Image And heere by the way but I speake of it onely incidentally as it falls into discourse wee may see as the high dignity so the causall differeÌ„ce between the reasonable soule of man and the liuing souls of bruit beasts For doe but looke into the booke of the generatioÌ„ of creatures and you shall see there Mans soule was immediately breathed into his body by God himselfe and was created after his Diuine image but the Liuing Soules of bruit beasts were educ't out of their elementarie wombes those bodies which were most like theÌ„selues For so sayes our Lord God Let the Earth bring forth euery liuing thing according to his kind and it was so so the sea was commaÌ„ded to bring foorth issue according to his kind and so it was which is the reason the liuing souls of beasts fal again into the same matter out of which they were first taken and of whose kinde likeness they are as our corruptible bodies doe Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt returne but the diuine and reasonable Spirit of man returns to God that gaue it as Salomon speakes Eccles 12. 7. being immediately created by him of his owne similitude and kinde so breath'd into the body which is indeede the true prime cause of the immortality of our souls So that they being created immediately by the Word breath of God out of nothing and not arising from any praeexistent matter caÌ„not possibly be corrupted into any other nature or annihilated by any other word except we childishly suppose some word more powerful then the Word of God himselfe I haue now prou'd that our soules all consisting by the word of the Father which is Christ and being imag'd most like vnto him they must needs as euery thing else is by their like be preserued and nourisht by Christ whose image they are and who may therefore with greater truth and reason be called
the food of our soules then our earthy diet can bee the food of our bodies because hee is euery way both in respect of himselfe and vs more preseruatiue then to bodies any bodily sustenance can be For that makes vs continue by being destroyed it selfe and destroyes vs too if it be taken in excesse though it be neuer so often vsed yet soone after we shall hunger againe and thirst againe neither can it repaire our nature in the headlong ruines of age so fast but that we must euery day forfeite a little spoile to mortality which it can no way possibly recouer and in conclusion vnable to hold out any longer it must yeeld vp the whole body as a pray to death But we cannot drinke too much of our spirituall rocke nor eate too much of our heauenly Manna which after we haue feasted our hearts with we shall find noe more hunger or thirst feele noe more iniuries of age or time feare noe more spoiles of mortality or death Neither is the soule nourished by this diuine food as the body is by wasting that whereby it selfe is preserued and consuming that to maintaine it selfe whereby it selfe is kept from corruption but as the sight of al eyes is preserued and perfected by the light of the Sunne whose beames can neuer be exhaust so our spirituall life is nourished by the participation of the life of Christ which is indeede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 annona cali the flower of heauen neuer engrost by possessing nor lost by vsing nor wasted by nourishing nor spent by enioying but hath that heauenly and vnconsumable nature in it being to nourish immortall soules that it preserues all without decaying it selfe it diuides it selfe to al without losse or diminution of it selfe it is imparted to all and not impayred by any of those replenished soules that banquet vpon it Now if the quaere be made how our soules are thus by Christ preserued from their owne corruption and beyond their owne natural life to a life Celestiall diuine there can be no other answere giuen but by beeing implanted into the life of righteousnes which fontally is in him As if the branches of a wild oliue being cut off from the reall stocke where it grew naturally should be kept from withering and corruption by ingrassing it into the stocke of a sweet and flourishing Oliue-tree So our soules beeing created in naturall righteousnesse and holylinesse by God and being soone after by our fall cut off from that life and so remayning in the state of corruption and decay would soone wither and dye totally were they not eftsoons reymbark't and stock't againe into the Tree of life from whence they sucke a more diuine life of righteousnes then that they were created or now liue in For the natural righteousnes thogh it were in the kind of it perfect yet it was of a short continuance as nature left to it selfe alwayes is and our habituall righteousnesse though it continue for euer yet it is very imperfect like the twilight of an euening or the first breake of day in which the shadows of earth and the light of heauen are confused and therfore the soule of man vnable to liue perpetually by any of these liues which were defectiue could haue no way bene preseru'd from his owne corruption but by the participation of this diuine Righteousnesse of Christ which is infinitely more durable then Adams naturall and more perfect then our poore habituall righteousnes either is or euer could haue bin Neyther let it seeme strange to any that the Soule which dies by vnrighteousnes and sinne should be sayd by grace onely and righteousnesse to receyue againe life and preseruation Hence are those scripture phrases so frequent You are dead in your sinnes ye are strangers from the life of God of the wanton and sinfull widow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she was dead being aliue that is dead to God and the righteousnesse of Christ and aliue onely to nature and the corruption of it Hence againe on the contrary the Iust man is sayd to liue by the righteousnes of faith Hab. 2. 4. Heb. 10. 37. and therfore this life which we could not acquire by our nature because it is eternall God is said in he first Epistle of Sa. Iohn 5. 11. to haue giuen it to vs and least wee should trouble our selues to know where this life was found out for vs it is added in the same place And this life is in his Sonne Thus Saint Paul speakes Col. 3. 3. that â—ur life is hid in Christ and that it was no more he that liued but Christ that liued in him Galat. 2. 20. thus hee tells the Corinthians that wee were made the Righteousnesse of God in Christ 2. Cor. 5. 21. and 1 Cor. the 1. the 30. that Christ was made of God vnto vs Wisedome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption and therefore twice the Prophet Ieremy tells vs that This is his name wherby he shall be called IEHOVAH tsidkenu THE LORD OVR RIGHTEOVSNESSE Ie. 23. 6. and 33. 16. For as verily as our sinnes tooke away his life so assuredly shall his righteousnesse preserue ours in which because wee haue a double state one in our apprehension of it by faith the other in our comprehension of it by vision and intuition therefore here the Saints of god are sayd to be blessed onely in their hunger but hereafter they shal be happy in their fulnes here God onely feeds them with a sufficiency of grace there he fills them with such a satietie of glory in which their soules with the greatest excesse without the least surfet shall bee feasted for euer For God is not like old Isaac that hath but one blessing for his sonnes and therefore as wee must learne of S. Paul with our sufficiency to bee content My grace is sufficient for thee so let vs with him striue at least in our most heauenly thoughts get awing and rauisht into the third heauen then to behold III. What is the fulnesse wherewith those Soules that hunger after Righteousnesse shal be satisfied THE fulnesse heere meant is nothing else but a perfect expletion of all the naturall desires of Soule Body and Person according to the vttermost receptiuity of them all which their owne proper and most agreeable obiects wherein euery desire rests it self wholly acquited and filled For instance nothing can arrest the vnderstanding of man but that which is absolutely true or rather Truth it selfe For that is the most proper and agreeable obiect to our vnderstanding and who is that but Christ our Lord I am the Truth saies our Sauiour Nothing can satisfie the reasonable will of man but onely that which is perfectly good or rather goodnesse it selfe and who is that but onely God For as our Sauior speakes there is none good but God nothing can fill the restlesse affections of man but onely those fountaines of pleasure that haue in them neither defect nor end such as can be
And there is a Spirituall Vnion whereby all th' Elect soules and bodies are not onely inspired and I may so speake Spirited with the Holy Ghost who rules and swayes all the thoughts and actions of the soule as the soule doth all the parts and affections of the body And last of all there is a gracious and admirable Vnion of similitude whereby wee are made whollie conformable and alike to the Diuine being which is the most desireable accumulate blessednesse of our Nature So that looke as you see the very bright image of the Sunne so reflected vpō the water somtimes that the dull Element seemes to haue caught downe the very glorious body it selfe to paint her watry face with and lookes more like a part of heauen then like it selfe who in the absence of the Sunne is all fabled with blacknesse and darknesse and sad obscurity but vpon the first beames of the heauenly body is glazed with a most noble illustrious brightnesse so is it with our whole man For when God shall thus imprint and strike himselfe into our darke being O how beautifull shall the feet of Gods Saints bee Esay 52. 7. What a Diadem of stars shall crowne their glorious heads Reuelat. 12. How shall their amiable bodies shine in Sun-like Maiesty Mat. 13. 4. Neither let it bee thought a vaine audacity of speech to say that the countenance and face of Gods children shall break forth into beames of more celestiall glory then the mid-day sunne euer yet sent abroad into the World For as S. Paule tells vs they shall be conform'd to the Image of his glorious body so he tels Agrippa Acts 26. 13. At mid-day O King I saw in the way a light from heauen aboue the brightnes of the Sunne shining round about me which was no other then the Light of the countenance of our Lord Iesus which sight as it struck blindnesse into the face and thicke scales into the eies of persecuting Saul so it dressed the whole countenance of suffering Stephen with a most Diuine and Angelical glory and had not the Light in reason beene greater then the Suns it would haue beene like the Moon and Starres at mid-day wholly extinguisht and inuisible Neyther let any man amaze his vnderstanding with the manner how a Spirituall substance can so sparkle and be as it were visible in the body Saint Austins comparison hath life in it in the expression of that point Life in it selfe is inuisible and cannot be seene yet it so freshes the countenance and beautifies the eyes that when the body wants it and is dead nothing lookes more dreary and ghastly then a Corps doth We see not life in it selfe sayes the Father but wee see it shining in the brightnesse of the eyes and smiling in the liuelihood and cheerefulnesse of the countenance And so it is with a glorious body God is Life and like Life cannot bee seene in himselfe by any ocular aspect but as Life in a Naturall so God in a glorious body is most apparant and plainely visible and conspicuous euen vnto our eyes But some perhaps will thinke this discourse of spirituall satiety I call it spirituall not excluding the Body but because our Bodies themselues shall be then spirituall as now our very spirits are in a manner carnall to be fetch'd rather out of the schooles of Reason then of Gods Word and to haue more ground in Philosophy then Faith For where in Scripture shall we read of any such image of God to satisfie our Natures with If we turne to the 17. Psalme and the 15. verse we shal there finde the portion of the righteous excellently described by Dauid who hauing before set out the men of this world who haue their portion in this life their dimensum which is their belly full of Treasures abundance of Children and their happinesse to leaue their substance to their Babes verse 14. hee reflects his thoughts into his owne brest and sings As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnesse I shall bee satisfied when I awake with thy Image This made Dauids heart pant after the sight of Gods face for so the words originally signifie Psalm 42. 1. This made him pray Lighten mine eyes that I sleepe not in death and needes must the eyes of the righteous be lightened and then awaken when the wicked shall haue theirs shut vp in eternall darkenesse when they shall behold the face of God and shall satisfie with his Image their euigilant soules Wee shall finde in Scripture besides this Image of God that for aye blesses the soules of the righteous two other Images of the wicked world and of wicked men wherewith the wicked striue to satisfie their soules but as S. Paul 〈◊〉 vs the image of the world does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loose continually his forme and fashion so Dauid tells vs Psalme the 73. the 20. that when God awakes he shal despise their image The image of God satisfies the righteous when they awake to their reward because there is substance and truth and goodnesse in it but when God awakes to the punishment of the wicked their image is so far from bringing with it any satisfaction of glory that in the iudgment of God himselfe who cannot but iudge most vprightly it is full of shame most ignoble and worthy to be despised hauing no substance but onely shadow no truth but onely appearance no ground but onely opinion to paint it selfe with and therefore looke what difference of things there is in the sound iudgment of one waking and the skipping and dauncing phansies of a dreaming braine so much more is there betweene the swelling images of secular glory and the diuine image of God when wee shall awaken from those dreams which the world as long as shee can keepe vs in the cradle of our flesh rocks and pleasantly sings vs a-sleep in And therefore Dauid hauing spoken of the death of the wicked in the former verse of the fore-cited Psalme O how suddenly doe they consume and perish and come to a fearefull end presently annexes As a dreame when one awaketh so O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image But let vs leaue this golden Image with all the dreaming World with Nebuchadnezar is troubled with in their sleepe and is angry with all that will not fall down to worship it and returne to that Image that deludes not dreaming but satisfies our awaking spirits As Dauid speaks of his owne so S. Paul speakes of all the Elect soules of God Rom. 8. 29. that they were predestinated to be conform'd to this Diuine image and therefore in the 2. to the Corinthians the 3. 13. 14. c. he makes his difference betweene the obstinate Iew and the beleeuing Christian that their hearts was stil veild and blinded with their olde Mosaicall shadows and ceremonies but wee all saies the Apostle hauing the veyle done away in Christ with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory
yet is it not a prouerbe as poore as Iob. Besides Mathew and Zachaeus Ioseph of Arimathaea were all before rich men but as soone as they followed Christ their riches left theÌ„ and they became poore religious men together Again was it not Dauids coÌ„plaint in the 73. Psal That the wicked are not troubled like other men neither are they plagued like others but their eyes stand out with fatnesse they haue more thâ—n heart can wish And the prophet Ier. as he succeeded him in time so he followd him in his complaint Ier. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talke with thee of thy iudgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deale very deceit fully That we may the better know then V. Why the godly are many times poore how the wicked are often rich in this world WE must learne to distinguish rightly of the times when the children of God are poore and of the persons of wicked men how they are rich There is a time of pouertie and a time of riches and to say true except Gods children were first poore how could Gods blessing enrich them after So Abraham and Dauid and Iacob had their times of pouertie they were poore at first but their end was rich and full of Gods blessing where contrary the wicked man is neuer rich in the conclusion So Dauid tells vs in the 37. and 73. Psalmes when he went into the Sanctuarie to see the end of these men hee saw the end of the vpright to be peace Marke the vpright man for the end of that man is peace sayes the Prophet but what sayes he of the wicked The end of the wicked shall be cut aff So was the end of Diues in the 12. of Luke Hee had no sooner sung the merry Carroll to his soule of Soule eate drinke and bee merry c. he had no sooner ended his Antheme but the same night his soule was begd from him and hee could not get a drop of drinke for it hee had prouided much for his soule but he had not prouided his soule a whit for God the therefore spirituall furies did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soone begd away his soule from al the pleasurns hee had loaded his new built Repositaries to banquet it with and in a moment ingulft it into perpetuall torment for as Iob speakes of the wicked Momento descendunt in infernum Pphylosophy teaches vs that there can bee no motion in an instant but sin lies so heauy vpon the soule of the wicked that it is no sooner out of his body but it is descended in a moment to hell and therefore though it be sayd of Lazarus and the Begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome yet it is no sooner sayd The rich man died also but as if there had bin no time betweene his dying and being in hell it streight followes And in hell lift vp hiss eyes c. O how sodainly sings the Psalmist doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Psal 73 18. The new translation turnes it how as in a moment and indeed the originall is Be-raga in momento So Dauids greene Bay-tree Psal 3. 35. a tree that euer beares leaues but neuer fruit therefore fit to shadow vnder the lawes of it a a fruitlesse professour though hee floorisht it for awhile yet suddainly Dauid did but turne him about and he could not finde so much as the place where he stood But let vs graunt Diues the happinesse to die a rich man which he shall neuer doe for as the heathen sings of death I â—uoluit humile pariter celsum caput Aequatque summis infirna Death and the Graue make euen all estates There high and low rich poor are mates Yet the riches they haue are not like Wisedomes durable riches but God blowes vpon them not only cutting off themselues and their remembrance as sparkes from the earth but scattering their estates and blasting their seede and posteritie so that he perisheth both sooner and oftner then other men He spends his daies in wealth Iob 21. 13. and in a moment descends into hell there how soon is his soule lost His bodie is as chaffe that the storme carries awey ver 17. 18. there he loseth his body as soone And what pleasure hath hee in his house after him when the number of his moneths is cut off in the middest ver 21. there perisheth his estate And to conclude God laies vp the punishment of his iniquitie for his children ver 19. there hee dies in his posteritie So that although he flatter himselfe with an opinion of his riches that it will keepe him aliue in his name and memorie and posteritie and houses and lands beyond the condition of other men as Dauid tels vs Psal 49. 11. that this is his very thought yet to speake soothly as the last of the best and the best of the last Poets saies of all morall helpes which Fabricius and Cato and Brutus three of the most famous of the Romane Worthies thought to eternize themselues by Cume sera vobis rapiet hoc etiam dies Iam vos secunda mors manet So may the vngodly rich more truly say of himselfe and all worldly meanes whereby he hoped to perpetrate his life and memorie The poor man dies but once but O that I Already dead haue yet three deaths to die For being dead in his bodie he still remaines aliue in his soule estate and posteritie to suffer death and therefore death is said to gnaw and feed vpon him Psal 49. 14. And it is worth the obseruing how soone his name rots which that it might flie into eternitie beyond the names of poorer men he so feathered himselfe with houses and lands and children and called them all by his owne name And therefore our Sauiour in the Storie of Lazarus and Diues keepes the poore mans name aliue to the worldes end but industriously leaues the rich mans name at vncertaintie with There was a certaine rich man This is the first and maine difference of the times but there is another For there are some times of persecution and some of peace When we therefore say that a religious man is a Thriuer we meane in the time of peace when God bleses the Land he liues in with quiet and lets the beames of his Gospell freely display themselues but in the times of persecution when clowds and storms arise when the Arke of God is tempested about and failes as it were in the bloud of his Children it is contrarie For as before the poore religious man growes rich with Abraham and Iacob and Dauid and Isaac so in the times of bloudy persecution the rich man that is truly religious voluntarily grows poore as Mathew and Barnabas and Zachaeus did But their riches then left not them for want of Gods blessing but they to get a blessing
Patriarckes to Pharaoh Gen. the 47. Thy seruants are shepheards both wee and all our fathers Where we may see that Pharaoh himselfe had his heards and flocks of cattell to feed abroade in his own crowne lands and royall inheritance And among the Princes of Israel was not Gedeon taken from the threshing floore Iudg. 6. 11. Moses Dauid from the Ewes great with young to feed Israel Gods people and Iacob his inheritance Exodus 3. 1. Sam. 16. 11. may wee not meete Saul after hee was annoynted king ouer Israel following his Oxen. 1. Sam. 11. 5 and therefore the ancient phrase of the world for kings was the shepheards of people so Homer vsually stiles Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and nothing is more frequent in the stories of elder times then to see the greatest Princes of the world taken with Cincinnattus and C. Fabricius and Curius Dentatus as they were following the plow to bee the Consuls and Dictators of Rome which was then the Queene of Nations and the Lady of the world And this not so much the necessitie of their estates droue them as the honesty delight and naturall sweetnes of these countrey and fieldlabours woed them vnto And therefore old Cato after hee had out of his censorious grauity well rated and scolded withall other pleasures as the lasciuious Mistresse of lewd youth and the onely harlots of the whole world cannot in conclusion dissemble his loue to this same countrey Galatea as Virgil cals this field-life but as soone as he begins to speake of it Redeamus in gratiam cum voluptate sayes the rough Censour of the world Let vs bee friends againe with pleasure as confessing it to be not so much a clownish labour as the most naturall and therefore lawfull delight allowed a wise man And therefore in the youthful flourish of Rome we shal finde it obserued by Columella that their faires which the Romans call Nundinae quasi nono die habitae were kept once onely in nine dayes because they would not leaue their country houses to be drawne into the idle troubles of the cittie more then needes must and if they were by exigence called to the Senate house for their aduise they had publike officers whom they called Viatores their countrey posts attending such occasions and when they gaue any man extraordinary commendation ita laudabant sayes the first Latine writer de re rustica Bonum agricolam bonumque colonum as for the generall Trade some fewer then but now so many deale with of vsury the Romane Law was sayes the same Cato Furem dupli condemnari foeneratorem quadrupli and with good reason is this Art of getting by our mony not by our labour inueighed against of all such as commend husbandry as most vnnaturall husbandry and contrary to the life they write of being as M. Varro speakes of it most hated of those who are beholding to it but for the certainty of gaine and the pietie of the getter and the safety and health of him that vses it and the apting the bodies of men military seruices in the defence of the common-wealth those haue euerbin accounted most happie sayes the same Authour Qui in eo studio occupati sunt By all which it sufficiently appeares that husbandry hath bin both an ancient and honourable meanes of life before pride and the fashion began to bee vertues of so speciall request in the world as they are now thought and that all bee in the glory of Nature before sinne had hlemisht the world we were by creation all diuines and Priests of God not to offer bloudy sacrifices but of praise and obedience which should make vs thinke honorably of that calling which we were al born to except we would cast dirt in the face of our innocent nature yet presently after the soyle of our sin had strucke barennes into the womb of our mother her brests were dried vp that suckled vs husbandry succeeded to bee the next vocation The first call was of the minde the second of the body the first of heauen the secoÌ„d of the earth the first to the glory of God the second for the necessitie of man and yet I thinke both of them may make the same complaint for themselues which Iunius Moderatus Columela does for them Sola res rustica quae sine dubitatione proxima quasi coÌ„sanguinea sapientia est tam discentibus egeat quam ma gistris Onely the Art of husbandry which doubtlesse is next and nearest a kinne to wisedome wants both schollers and teachers meeting very seldome with such religious votaries towards them as the Prince of the Latin Poets was who in his Georgicks or poeticall Husbandrie breaks out into this godly wish Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae QuaruÌ„ sacra fero ingenti percislsus amore Accipiant caelique vias sidera monstrent Sin has non possim Naturae accedere partes c. Rura mihi rigui placeant in vallibus amnes Flumina amen syluasque inglorias No first of all O let the Muses wings Whose sacred foâ—ntaine in my bosome springs Receiue and landing mee aboue the starres Shew me the waies of heueÌ„ but if the barres Of vnkinde Nature stoppe so high a flight The Woods and Fields shall be my next delight Thus were the opinions of the old world but it is a world to see now the prodigious change of Nature when not onelie most men count Husbandrie a base and sordid businesse vnfit to soyle their hands with but some who thinkes his breast tempered of siner clay then ours of the vulgar sort call such as haue spent their times in the studies of Diuinity no better then rixosum disputatorum genus quorum vix in coquendis oleribus consilium admittit It is the speech of one Bartaeus a Germane disclaimer who was better borne theÌ„ taught more eloquent then learned against the Diuines of his Countrie too busily wrangling as he thought about the Paradoxes of Arminius who I feare will change if not his false opinion of the cause yet his prophane censure of the men nisi ipse forte inter olera sit quae in inferno sint conquenda Before our bodies were only instruments to serue our soules and wee delighted our selues in the study of heauenly diuine knowledge now our soules drudges onely vpon the bodies seruice runnes onely vpon the fleshes errands neyther is any thing more wearisom to it selfe or more out of credit in the world then a soule walking climbing vp the holy mountaines from whence commeth our saluation til it be out of breath after the knowledge of heauenly things before our labour for the body was soone dispatched when wee all went naked and the ground seeded it selfe brought forth a voluntary haruest to feede vs but now all our labour is for food cloathing as the wise maÌ„ tells vs in his Prouerbes our nakednesse was then our glory it is now our shame it was a curse
the Corner-stone is layd by the Prophets in the Church of God and how mightily Christ vpholdes the Scriptures that are built vpon him one by foretelling the other by fulfilling the written word how the liuing should be borne and liue and die should bee buried and raised and the Liuing word by so entring the wombe and his graue so liuing dying rising as was written so that if our Gospel be hid it is hid to those onely whose minds are blinded by the God of this world as the Apostle speakes But as our Christian Faith is much dishonoured by a company of rude and vnsettled Professours so it is vtterly ashamed of the multitude of false blind which is strange dumb witnesses the Church of God is pestered with I will end therefore with V. A iust Invectiue against all false blind and dumbe Prophets who are indeed no true Witnesses of the Lord. LEt the Iesuit now the Sophister of Christianitie cal to vs to beg light and sufficiencie and auritie to Gods word from their Romane Church tell vs tell vs that we must run to Rome to their Spirituall Man to enterpret the Scriptures who commonly vnderstands not the Tongues they were writ in Let their Apostolicall Chaâ—re vaunt it selfe it cannot fall from the Faith because the two noble Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul sate in it by their doctrine ymbrightened it by their example and with their owne blouds baptized it Alas did not our Sauiour himselfe sow Hierusalem with his doctrine grace it with his Miracles shine vpon it with the light of his vniuitable example water it with the showre the best showre that euer fell from heauen of his owne blood And yet is not that Vine-yeard become a wildernesse hath it not losse with the leaues the fruit with the power of Religion the profession of it And is it possible that Gods word should bee darke it selfe that giues light to the simple insufficient and vnperfect in it selfe that makes perfit the Man of God that Gods word should begge authorities from mans and such a mans who is either the man of Sin or the Beast drunke with the blood of the Saintes and Martyrs of Iesus from such a beastly and sinfull mans word That hee should bee the sole and Infallible Interpretour of Gods word and his diuine Lawe in whose chayre-sentence all our thoughts must acquiet themselues who by his dispensatory court of Faculties is the daily Cancelour of it and is therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stiled by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lawlesse Man Who can make Apocryphal Authors Canonicall Humane Traditions of Diuine Authoritie disanulling in Princes holy Marriages and making Legitimate amongst them incestuous Contracts Inioyning his Fryars vnlawfull chastity forbidding his Seculars holy Wedlocke commending in his Cardinals royal excessiue pride commanding in his votaries abiect humilitie counsayling in his Iesuits blind and sinfull obedience countenancing in forrein Subiects secret and Sainctly Rebellion creating heere among vs a Religious murder and meritorious treason and making the bulletting of a whole Commonwealth vp into the ayre at a shot an Action not onely vndiscouerable and to bee sealed vp vnder the holy Signet of Confession but canonizing the father of the Action for a most heauenly and venerable saint All which to the word of GOD are most repugnant and gladiatorie Is this the man vpon whose lip of knowledge they would haue vs and all the Prophets hang to kisse whose toes and commit idolatrie with the golden Crosse vpon his Pantofle they would haue vs flye ouer the seas Well when wee heare say hee is better able to make good his Interpretations by the Lights of Art helpe of Tongues and authoritie of Scriptures rightly inferred from the Collation of places the significancy of phrases the light of circumstances the Ayme of the words and the Analogie of Faith and hath ioyned to all these a sincere loue of the Trueth without any siding and part-taking for gainefull and honourable respects and an vnwearied search for it without prae-iudicating affections all which together make vp not an infallible but the least fallible Interpretour we will then thinke whether it bee fit to put out all these Lights in other men thorough the whole Church of GOD and with the losse of our Christian libertie to imbondage our selues to his Romane Chayre It is best therefore to keep on this side the seas from the false and whorish Prophet of Babylon that beares onely false witnesse to Christ and to consider those Ecclesiasticall home-Droanes of our owne which hiue themselues vnder the shadow of our Church the wicked thiefe money that siluer dropsie that now raigns in vnconscionable Patrons making way for them so beare indeed either no witnesse to Christ at all or but very slight and rash witnesse It was Eliahs speech from God to Ahab Hast thou slaine and also taken possession and it may well be his Churches to either of theirs Hast thou taken possession and wilt thou slay also not the body once but for euer the soules of innocent men Let no man quarrell with me as Ahab did with Eliah Hast thou found me O mine Enemie If he doe I must borrow Saint Paules answer Am I thine enemy because I tell thee the Truth No I speake not out of rash but charitable zeale thou art thine owne Enimie thou art Gods Enimie thou art the enimie of his Church For if thou didst loue him thou wouldst feede his flocke feede his Sheepe feed his Lambs If thou diddest loue his Church thou wouldest shew thy loue by thy obedience to it Who enioynes euery one eleuen moneths residence vpon his cure and graunts him but one months absence whereas it is a venture but without long search you may finde one that absents himselfe eleauen moneths and is resident but once a yeare and that is perhaps at haruest or peraduenture at Easter when his owne and not so much the Churches profit calles him to his benefit not his Benefice He would being resident preach euery Sunday as shee commaunds him in her 45. Cannon Hee would labour to coÌ„uince Heretiques which now in his absence growes vppon her or see them at least censured as she bids him in her 65. and 66. Canons He would keepe the sound in safety and visit the sicke as shee directs him in her 67. Canon Thus he would do and not laugh at them that did thus and would haue him doe so as men more precise than wise of more heate than discretion I am not so intemperate as to rage against all Non-residency which in case of insufficiencie of one Liuing or publique and necessarie imployment either in Vniuersities or Court must needs be allowable but either our Church it selfe is precise that bids him doe thus or he that does the contrary without any ouer-ballancing reason prooues himselfe a Bastard and none of hir Children A double wound it is our church receiues from these men For as themselues haue not
the grace to correct their owne sinne so they haue commonly in their roomes certaine vnder-curats so grossely ignorant as not to know theirs They that know nothing thēselues are set by these to teach others of whom we cannot say dies diei but nox nocti indicat scientiam One night teaches another a blinde Prophet a blinde People yet I haue seene some of these not onely stand high vppon their bare and solitary honesty but peremptorily censured graue and worthy Ministers as Demosthenes an Arrian the Cooke of Valens the Emperours kitchin did Saint Ambrose as men not throughly gifted for their place which reproach Saint Ambrose smiling put vp and off with this merry answere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue met with to day a barbarous Demosthenes but to the common virtues of a Christiā vpright feet and honest hands it were good these men would adde the tongue of the learned Esay chap. 50. v. 4. else the Greeke Epigram will finde fault with their sermons and tell them sound hands and feete will not excuse lame heades and crackt braines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do not deny but that God is able to perfect his power in these mens weakenesse For it is not impossible for our spirituall Sampson as hee ouercame his enemies and was refreshed with a iawe of the seely beast so to make the waters of Life spring between the teeth of these simple creatures but these vnsent Runners might do well to content thēselues with one Cure and not to be too busie in trudging between many as some of them are for to bee so officious must needs proue offensiue to the church till they know better how to applie more seasonably than yet they can the sacred word of God to the pretious soules of their Hearers and to set those Apples of siluer into these pictures of golde Neyther doe I denie but that such trading Preachers may find work enough for their mouths by making other mens labours runne through them But this is to get their Liuing by the sweat of other men to wipe it off to their owne browes And if we should see a rude Carter offer to play vpon the instrument of a fine-fingred and dactrycall Musitian suppose one of these Trades-men vpon the golden Harpe of the sweet Singer of Israel who could but laugh at him and say as the Greeke Prouerbe goes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asinus ad lyram But such derisorie reproofes are too milde for such tayles of Ieroboam more fit indeede to make Priests for Baal thē Prophets for God who intrude themselues into the Ministery for meere necessity and therefore may say indeede with St. Paul A necesesitie is layed vpon me But whereas the Apostle proceedes And woe vnto me if I preach not the Gospell How much better may they say to themselues and woe vnto mee if I preach the Gospell And lest wee should feare to speake against such vagabond Shepheards as are not able to feed the flockes they are fed by Prophesie against them saies the Lord woe to the Shepheards that feede themselues that is their end but Gods end in appointing Shepheards followes Should not the sheepheards seed the flocks Nay what can they exspect but the double woe of Ieremy and Ezekiel woe woe to the Shepheards that destroy and scatter my sheepe But as these blinde Guides are most insensible of their owne maladies because ignorance is a disease as the Greeke Tragedian calls it that neuer paines a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is no lesse then a myracle to a man of vnderstanding to see the great zeale and little knowledge some well but weake minded people vse to defend these Trades-men with Was not our Sauiour say they a Carpenter Marke 6. 3. before he was sent to preach S. Peter a Fisherman Matthew a Publican S. Paul a Tent-maker True indeed but our Sauiour ventured not himselfe to preach before the Spirit of GOD sent him Luk. 4. 18. and lay'd a most district charge vpō his Apostles to tarry at Hierusalem till by the commission of the Holy Ghost they should be indued with power from on high Luk. 24. 49. But these men as they cannot arrogate the ordinary means to make their Calling iustifiable so I suppose no man euer saw the Spirit of God descending vpon them and fitting them with extraordinary and infused gifts of knowledge Christ indeede was a Carpenter but to build heauen and earth and his Church in them both S. Peter was a Fisher but to angle in all the Circumcision to the Faith of Christ to circumcise not their fore-skins but their hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as an ancient Father alluding to the fifth and second of Iosua where the Israelites were circumcised with kniues of stone most elogantly speaketh of him Mathew was a Publican but to gather the precious soules of men into the Heauenlie Treasury of the King of Kings Saint Paul was a Tent-maker but to perswade Iaphet to dwell in the Tents of Sem and to spread Christs Tabernacle all the world ouer among the Gentiles But in the great day of their Reckoning when the Disciples of our Lord shall bring in their Accomps and S. Paul shall say I haue gathered to the faith all the Riches of the Gentiles and S. Thomas I haue gained all the treasures of India and S. Peter I haue gathered the dispersions of Iudah What shall these hirelings say but wee in our little flocks haue scattered so many and we haue destroyed so many and we haue wasted prey'd vpon deuour'd so many And therefore as the feete of these wise Stewards shall shine like the Starres of heauen for brightnesse so these had need to take heed least their heads for the clowdes of ignorance they are wrapt vp in meet not with Marcellus his fate apud inferos Cui non atra caput tristi circum volat vmbra Pardon mee right deerely beloued in our Lord and Sauiour if when Thorns Thiftles grow vpon Gods Altar as the Prophet Hosea speakes I am forced to vse a little fire of Zeale to consume them I am sorry there is such a necessity still for Gods spirit to descend in fiery Tongues O that it might alwaies flie down with the wings of a Doue from heauen vpon vs. But as long as common Customes lawfully robbe the Churches Treasure and commit open sacriledge euery day more then other vpon Melchisedcks Tithes the Patrimony of Christ insomuch as it is verilie thought the Church within these threescore yeres by concealements incroachments and customary thefts hath been spoyled of no lesse then 40000. yearely What hope can there be of sufficiency of the Prophets when the insufficiency of their meanes will not afford it when one Subiect into whose cofers 20000 pounds when a Lay Parson into whose Cofers 20000. pounds annually flow in and therefore if he were but a Pharisee in profession should out of his aboundant streames of wealth cast in much into the common Treasury of the Church shall taken into his owne possession fifteeene houses of God and sticke downe but the bare feathers of ten pounds or twenty Nobles a yeere for the needy seruice of Gods Altar Can all the flourishing and pragmaticall wits in the world if they were headed in one braine shew by what iust right a Laye hand can inuade coast vpon Gods portion of Tithes which he hath giuē to those that wait vpon his Altar for the food of their bodies and the poore people change with vs for the foode of their soules Is not this the reason why in the great haruest there are so few Laboures For the Psalmist had no sooner said They haue sent fire into thy Sanctuary meaning perhaps the fire of Couetousnesse that deuoures all or as he speaks of them in another Psalm Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession but presently it followeth There is no more any Prophet neither is there among vs any that knowes But GOD perswade those whom it most concernes to regard in time the common pouerty of the Church and to set a sea-banke against this diluviating euill of Satan who as GOD drowned all the world in the beginning of it and sau'd aliue onely the Arke of his Church so now in the end of it would the Diuel drowne the Arke and Church of God it selfe with these inundations of blinde Seers dumbe Teachers betraying Patrones Sacrilegious Customes Lay-Parsons theeuish Tithings and which by the abuse of them were become so many Chappell 's of Sathan where many a soule turn'd the Sabbaoth of God into the Deuils holi-day drunken Tap-houses vnder the weight of which sinne the whole Land staggered and the Churches of God like poore Sion euen vpon his own day lay desolate and waste But these gates of Hell shall neuer preuaile against the Suburbs of Heauen Gods sainctly Colony here on earth and therefore wee will end as Dauid doth Psa 20. 9. Say Lord Let the King heare vs when we call FINIS