thy self from the visible Church of Christ O how nice and circumspect wouldst thou be in the government of thy Life thus known how thou wouldst eam circumquaque polire limâ file and polish it on every side But because thou art encompassed with uncertainties which of themselves invite us to watchfulness thou art Callo obductus hardned with use and continuall attendance upon them and call'd to look farther by Hope and Expectation and art therefore supinely negligent I have a third Handâ—ull The written Law of God is a Rule to us while this Life endureth Which being ended the Book shall be shut and no more opened to us My Brethren shall I commend a Looking-Glass to you Take that which the skilfull Spaniard made in the Dayes of our Fathers In the which Glass whosoever looked into it beheld two shapes of himself the one perfectly representing him alive and the other shewing him as having faciem Cadaverosam the face of a dead Man Thomas à Kempis reasons matters as if he had been altogether Thom. à Kemp. de Imit Christi lib. 1. cap. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God Quà m felix prudens qui talis nunc nititur esse in vita qualis optat inveniri in morteâ— O how happy and how wise is that Man who now strives to be such a one in his life as he wishes to be found in his Death Thou wilt cry then my Brother with a dolefull Voice and a wofull Heart O that I had lived agreeably to the most Perfect Law of God! Now therefore live as thou wilt then wish to have liv'd the World being behind thee and before thee Heaven or Hell The young-Man perswaded into a Bed as his Death-Bed and hearing the Bell as tolling for him rose a Penitent The Hour of Death is in some a Seeing Hour Do'st thou not see now all Things here tenui pendentia filo hanging by a small thred In the antient Greek Church Excommunication the Greater was called Vide S. Greg. Neocaesariensem in Ep. Canonicâ quae adjungi solet Canonibus Photii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persons manacled with it stood altogether without the Church beseeching all whose faces were towards it as with prayers so with tears to be humble Suters to God who dwelt in that House for Mercy towards them Which action of crying and wet Devotion gave them the Name Plorantes Weepers To some was interdicted the use of the Eucharist only Some were moreover put Hospin Tract de Templis Vide Justell Notas in Codicem Canonum Eccles Vnivers ad Can. 25. into the Chatechumenium as Hospinian calls it and according to Order departed before the Celebration of the Mysteries with the Catechumeni when the word was given towards them Ite Depart ye Another Sort of Excommunicate Persons were thrown from the majesticall Presence of God in the Temple to attend him in the Porch according to Vitruvius his Reason for Porches All Vitruvius lib. 6. c. 8. these were ejected from the Communion of the Faithfull but not as Excrements For still they might beg and cry for entrance and they might be graciously re-admitted But by an evill Death we are pull'd up Root and Branch and exuti Bonis omnibus ac spoliati turn'd out of all After such a Death there is no place for Prayers or Tears It is a Truth beyond the reach of Opposition though Gelasius spake it and though it be recorded by Gratianus Mortuos suscitâsse legimus Gela. 1. in commâ—nitâ—rio ad Faustum Legatum Constantinopâ—litanum allegat Gratianus Causâ 24. Qu. 2 cap. Legatur Similia habet idem Gelos Ep. ad Episcopos Dardaniae allegat Gratianus ibid. cap. Nec quisquam Concil Cor. thag 3. Can. 6. Christum in errore mortuos absolvisse non legimus We read that Christ raised some from Death We read not that he pardoned any dying in their Sins Wherefore the Hebrew Language calls the Grave Duma which properly signifies Silence And the Greeks call the Burying-Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Dermitorie Because there is no crying or groaning for our Sins in the Grave Hither looks an old Canon of a Council of Carthage in the which St. Austin was present and to the which he subscribed Placuit ut Corporibus Defunctorum Eucharistia non detur Dictum est enim à Domino Accipite Edite Cadavera autem nec accipere possunt nec edere It hath pleased the Holy Ghost and us That no Man shall put the Eucharist into the Mouths of dead Persons as some unwary Christians have For Christ said Take ye and eat But Carcasses can neither eat nor take O that I could in Animas Hominum irrepere creep into the Souls of People and lay this home to them I yeeld it that the Jews even to this Day call their Burying-places Batte Caiim the House of the Living And that the High Dutch know their Church-yards by the Name of God's Glebe-Land because our Body is therein sown a natural Body 1 Cor. 15. 44. But all thiâ—does homage to the Resurrection in the which our Body shall be raised a Spiritual Body the Soul in the Saved transfusing into the Body as far as may be her Spiritual Perfections it is contrary-wise in the Damned My Heart akes when I read of Wicked Men Psal 9. 6. their memoriall is perished Edit vulgat with them The Vulgar Latin serveth up Periit memoria corum cum sonitu Their Memory hath perished with the noise or sound The Lovers of the World are in this line of Relation as in others compared to Hogs When a Hog is laid hold on cries all the other Hogs both little and great that are neer come running from every side and cry too O what a mixt noise there is But when the first Hog that rais'd the Cry ceases to cry though this be because he is dead and can cry no more they cease all and turn themselves presently to their former digging and tumbling in the mire without any fear or apprehension that their turn is also comming to cry and to raise a cry and to cry no more So while a Sick Friend or other dying Person groans and cries out we are moved Porcos dicam alto grunnitu grunnientes But the noise and sound ceasing arescunt lacrymae our tears dry up and our memories are short and we forget the dead Friend and looking out from our selves and seeing the World before us we turn to our old wallowing in the mire never considering that the Law of God is perfect Vide Paracels in libris de vita longa and that though Paracelsus were alive again and had the dieting and keeping of us we must dye as our Friends dye If ever O man from the Earth Earthy thou wilt meditate upon the night of which the Gospel Io. 9. 4. the night cometh when no man can work Do it now die jam in occasum flexo appetente Crepusculâ— the
nothing sought or affected in Prayer in Preaching in Pronunciation or in Matter nought of the dull and sensuall Beast in him He is altogether manly and his words and actions are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they move onwards in the same yoke Ye cannot exclame of him O sweet O pious O valiant voice or say reasonably to him as the Lacedemonian Plut. in Apophtbeg Lacon in Plutarch to the dead Nightingale having found little sap and substance for his nourishment in her musicall Body Vâ—x es praetere à nihil Thou art a voice and nothing but a voice He will deny himself to be the Christ even by his preaching the Christ and to be Elias or a Prophet And he will humbly define himself in his Office The voice of one crying in the wildernesse as the Baptist did Joh. 1. And therefore he shall be most highly approved by the divine Testimony of the Christ and be declared to come in the Spirit of Elias and to be more than a Prophet yea the choice Angel of the great God as it was declar'd of John O my dear Consorts of Nature Coelum coelorum the Heaven of Heavens or the highest Heaven which is Coelum Beatorum the Heaven of the Blessed wherein the blessed Saints and Angels dwell is not rapted or carried about as those Vnder-Spheres are Nor is a Man from Heaven being God's Angel or Messenger to Mankinde career'd about And the Messenger qui versatur in circulo that moves circularly though he comes from Heaven-ward comes onely from the Sphere of Mercury or of the Moon being himself like the nimble Spheres under our Heaven of the which great Aristotle asserts That if one of them should Arist lib. 2. de Coelo stand a while while a small Flye could be rais'd to settle upon it it would be whirling about in the very first onset of the silly poor Fly I hear it Thunder Psal 77. 18. The Voice of thy Thunder in the Heaven or in the Sphere the Originall word with like affection importing a Text. Hebr Sphere a Wheel and every thing the motion of which is circular Which moved the Vulgar Latin to run parallel with our Codex vulgatus Sense Vox Tonitrui tui in Rotâ The voice of thy Thunder thy Anger thy Judgement is heard in the motion of the Wheel And the same Propher reaches even to this Age and to this Nation with a propheticall Eye and Prayer Psal 83. 13. O my God make them like a Wheel that being drawn a little turns upwards downwards towards Heaven and towards Hell forwards and backwards turning a new way and to the way from which it lately turn'd wheeling about and about and about again this way that way the other way any way every way all wayes The second of the Three things stands forth And it pleads for the maintenance of certain unoffensive Rights concerning the materials and composure of this Discourse I have receiv'd it flowing from the Pen-Distillations of the mighty Controvertist whose very Name gives us an Alarum and sounds Bellum Arma War and Armes that we may wisely return and run back with our Pitchers to the Greek and Hebrew Fountains driven Robert Bellarm. lib. 2. de Verbo Dei cap. 11. Tom. 1. within the lists and restraint of four Cases or Exigencies Whereof the third is Quandò verbum aut Sententia in Latino est anceps when a word or sentence in the Vulgar Bible is doubtfull and stands upright in aequilibrio looking at once two wayes or many but inclining or propending no way And the fourth ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprietatem vocabulorum intelligendam for our clear understanding of the secret energy or efficacy and smoothdeep current of words running majestically and with grave silence in their own Channel As when the word or phrase in the Fountain is beautifully bigg with an Emphasis or tacit signification The wise Alchymist in the whole progress of his Art extracts Things purer and purer from grosser Things And a Text sometimes is like a double Picture wherein they wipe off with a wet cloath the water-colours that the during oyly Picture in recessu in it's withdrawing place and retiring-Chamber may now be unveil'd and come in view which oft times is contrary to the Picture carrying the first face Brethren There was a a kind of mortall punishment amongst the old Jews badg'd with the title of Combustio Animae the Burning of the Soul My Author is R. Levi Ben Gerson R. Levi Ben Gerson in Levil 10. wherein they poured scalding Lead into the mouth of the condemned person by the which his inwards were consumed the shape and outward bark of his body remaining still with due proportion So there be Translatours of the lower Classis O dismall and odious name that with a leaden sense yet full of Malignant heat and base passion scalld away the Spirit Soul and Life of the Text leaving nought often times but a shell Superfice and outward letter Moreover I disclame and abandon as I do the Angel of the Bottomeless pit Abaddon King of the strange Locusts Apoc. 9. 11. who in the Greek tongue hath his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is exterminans exterminating as the vulgar Latin as Erasmus perdens Lectio vulgata Erasm Roterodam in Apoc. 9. Text. Heb. destroying according to the letter in the Hebrew Perdition destruction here being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effecti a Figurative speech in the which Effectus loco Causae ponitur the Effect is honorably substituted for the Cause after the leading of the Hebrew Dialect Destruction in the abstract for a superlative Destroyer As I abandon this Abaddon this Devill-angel I renounce all those who in their Use Abuse is the Word of holy Scripture God's pure word as if it were homogeneal with Anaxagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon Aristotle's Record draw Aristot de Generaâ— Animal lib. 4 cap. 3. quidlibet ex quolibet every thing out of any thing and make divine Scripture in omnia sequacem readily following them in their proof of all things and God the holy Author of Scripture like a Cunning Man that is versatili ad omnia pariâ—èr Ingenio of a wit or nature applying and turning it self to every thing alike and thus destroy the firmness of Scripture and exterminate God out of his own Word These are unnaturall Children who for want of Superiour moderation pull too strongly and seeking Milk suck Blood from the soft and tender Breasts of sacred Scripture It is Aristotle-proof That Faculties Arist lib. 1. Eâ—hicor cap. 1. powers sciences c. are supreme or subordinate as their Ends are subordinate or supreme Therefore those Sciences those powers those faculties which are immediately helpfull to the consecution of our last End are the supreme and superiour of all other and the other are Servants and waiting-maids in respect of them How dare those Brethren of
of Iustice to punish the Breakers and Violaters of it Wherefore Paulus Burgensis contends that the Mercy of God is insinuated Paul Eurgens in Scrâ—tin Part. 1. by Adonai standing for Jehovah The Name Iah being the Name Iehovah with a curb or check or taken up into short and signifying I am is enrob'd in the same Perfection A Doctrine stands up here He that breaks the Law of God sins against the Divine Essence O thou Spirit of Truth assist me farther The Prophet David cries out towards Heaven Psal 8. 4. What is Man that thou art mindfull of him Where Enos which the Interpreters call Man doth not signifie Man quocunque modo but Euseb de Demonstr Evangâ—l lib. 2. cap. 7. as Eusebius learnedly Man quatenus est arâ—â—fex aut architectâ—s scelerâ—s ac immen or Dei sui The Paraphrase may be O what is forgetfull Man that thou art mindfull of him who forgets thee and himself and what he does when he sets himself against thy very Essence against thee as thou art Iehovah Who fears not to make a rude Assault upon the very substantiall Essence of God Vpon God as he is Primum Ens per se subsistens The First of all Things subsisting by Himself As he is Fons Essendi atque Existendi The Foutain of all Essence and Existence of all Being and Well Being Most Good and most Great and most greatly Good in being most Mercifull Sin proprium periculum increpuit But if there be the least noise or crack of Danger in other Things mean things starts and looks pale and puts wings to his Heels and runs to save himself crying make room for God's sake And though lying under the Rod he lets fly a multitude of good Words and Prayers and fairly promiseth to be reform'd framing likewise a promising Countenance adjoyning an humble Voice with some groans and a goodly number of sighes the hands and eyes all the while working mainly yet the Rod being laid aside and the smart off presently â—redit ad ingenium returns to his vomit the Rod being yet in sight and Iehovah with all his Divine Essence being present and looking upon him What is Enos or Enosh forgetfull Man that thou art mindfull of him This Law of God is yet more known to be most perfect by it's Contrary For if this Will or Law of God were not infinitely great and good and perfect the Thing contrary to it could not be Malum infinitum an infinite Evill the Truth of this every Man sees nemo tam Talpa est quin videat and have infinite Imperfect on in it as it hath according to Divines and the Angelicall Doctor their Speaker speaking for them as followeth Peccatum contra Deum commissum quandam infinitatem habet ex infinitate D. Tho. part 3. quaest 1. art 2. ad 2. Divinae Majestatis tanto enim Offensa est gravior quanto major est ille in quem delinquitur Sin committed against God hath a certain infinity from the infinity of the Divine Majesty For an Offence is by so much the more grievous by how much he is more great against whom we offend The most adequate and fundamentall Reason is Because in our Elections of moral Good and Evil we hold a Ballance weighing in a manner the Creator and the Creature O great Indignity And in our Applications to Evill as if the Creature were of more weight and worth than the Creator we scornfully turn from the Creator and joyn affectionately with the Creature bidding defiance to the Creator And as the melancholy-She in Trallianus as he delivers it Putavit se Alexand Trallian lib. 1. cap. 16. uno digito posse totum Mundum conterere thought she could break to peeces the whole world with the motion of one short finger and crush it into a Miscel any with the clinching of her little Hand So we more mad and melancholy set up our selves and stretch out our Hands for the time above God and his whole Creation In the which foul Act there is Aversio à Deo Conversio ad Creaturam an Aversion from God and a Conversion to the Creature And therein consequently Bonum commutabi e praefertur Incommutabili Bono a changeable Good yea sometimes a villanous and filthy Lust O Man Siccine te ipâ—e abjicies wilt thou so debase thy self is preferred before a Good and a God that is unchangeable And the Offender ab imâ— everâ—it â—omnia overturns the whole Frame of the Universe exalting Earth to the place of Heaven and subjecting God and God's Heaven under his dirty feet From this foresight Isidor Pelufiot St. Chrysustom's apt Schollar exacts of a Isid Pelus lib. 1. Ep. 424. Religious Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and truly-faithfull Holder of the Ballance And in answer to that Aversion and Conversion there is in Hell Poena Damni the Pain of Loss by the which we shall everlastingly be averted from God and Paena Sensûs the Pain of Sense by the which we shall remain for ever assigned and confined to the Creature I mean to Fire which being the most pragmaticall busy-Busy-Body of all earthly Creatures shall actively revenge the Wrongs done to the Creator and the Creature and which because Sinners have transgressed the Law of Nature shall be promoted and elevated above Nature and beyond its own rank to act upon the Soul by Him who did not intend the burning of Spirits and Souls primariâ Intentione quâ rem propter se intend it with a primarâ—e Intention by the which he intends a thing for it self sed secundariâ quando rem vult propter alâ—ud praemissa alterius Consideratione but with a secundarie Intention when he wills a thing urged to it in the consideration of a thing premised And thus our Commission of an infinite Evil is rebus nunâ— aequâ lance pensatis things now being equally weighed proportionably and most justly punished We are averted from an infinite Good and affixed to a most intollerable Evil being a materiall Instrument of Iustice and representing our adhesion to materiall Things which in Duration à parte post shall be infinite and infinitely subject a superiour Spirit to an earthly base Body Ye demand Why God punisheth a Sin committed in Time a short Time a Moment with Hell a Place of eternall Torment Is this Law of God perfect I answer First If he to whose charge a matter of infinite price and worth is committed should by his gross default and 〈◊〉 negligence lose yea contemn and willfully disavow it ought he not to pay an infinite price for it or if he be not able to pay ought he not to suffer an infinite punishment according to the plain Rule and Letter of Iustice In like manner He to whom the infinite God is given with Grace he who is entrusted with the infinite Son of God in the sacred Symbols of our Lord's Supper he who is redeemed with an infinite price if by Sin he shall
the divinest Divines both in the School and from the School Orderly Subjection and Superiority bud forth and blossome rais'd in the bud and promoted in the blossome by a first direction and motion of pure Nature For even in Heaven the Created Spirits are all rallyed in Order Of these and their Orders Dionysius Areopagita that knowing Dionâ—s Aâ—eop in Eccles Hierarch Vide Nâ—ceph Eccl. Hist lib. 2. c. 20. Mose Bâ—r Ceâ—h de parud p. â— Vide Perer in Gâ—â—ej cap 2. Scholar of Saint Paul to whom he had imparted the Secrets of the third Heaven And in the pure Condition of Innocency there was a most Eminent Superiority first in Man over all other Earthly Creatures and of this Moses Bar-Cephas Secondly in Man over Woman not only because the Male is by right of Nature Suâ—eriouâ— to the Female and because Reason is more reasonable and Strength more vivid and strong in him but also for mystical Considerations And had they continued in Eden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Garden of Pleasure or Delights untill Adam had been a Father there should have been Patria Patestas a Fatherly Power and Superiority or the Commandment with a promise Honora Patrem tuum Honour thy Father is not a moral precept And when Children had broached themselves into Families even there also must have been Superior Potestas a Superiour Power or the best Life upon Earth must have wanted one of the greatest created Perfections consequent to Diversity Disparity Multiplicity upon Earth and in Heaven which is Order Let not our Brethren of the Scotch Mist exalt the Perfection of their Parity with such a noise Because Disparity in it self whatsoever may happen Casually and disorderly is not a Witness of Imperfection For this very State of Innocency would not have been void of Disparity even amongst Men and Women as in their Sex so in their Age Knowledge Justice And their Bodies were not so far exempted from the Laws of Nature that they should not have received divers Helps from Meats and also different Dispositions from the Air and Stars advanced by which some should have been greater fairer stronger But with a Restriction that no Defect should have harboured in those either in Soul or Body who should have been excelled had they been viewed not comparatively but in themselves Yet This Power meerly natural and of Paradise is only a directive not a coercive Power by the which Fathers should have governed their Children and the lesse Wise such there should have been to maintain Dependence and Subordination have been ruled by the Wiser Propter Obtemperantium Bonum chiefly for the Good of the Persons Obediently Subject This being immoveable All Governors are engag'd from Heaven to reform and bring back their Government as home as they can to the Government of Paradise as all our work of Godlinesse in all Kinds draws altogether towards Paradise from the which we fell and set before them in all their Acts the godly Direction and Christian welfare of those whom they govern Therefore O Governour Si Regiminis tui Acies aliquantulùm hebescat tu illam excita when the Edge of your Government grows a little dull and flat degenerating Times ever contracting Corruptions pull it back to the Primitive Edge and sharpness not sharp severity that sharpness was not Primitive but the sharpnesse of Perfection Severity-being only a Child of Necessity And no Generation of Men is so degenerous or usque adeò Struthiocamelus ut ferrum potuerit decoquere so much an Ostrich as to digest Iron For Princely Honours and other Privileges of Kings in their first Fundamentals were not allotted and heaped with a full Eyâ— or half a look set upon Imperial or Princely Dignity But were chiefly given to the Vigils Labours and Troubles of a King undergone in his industrious Contriving the Good of his People ut Oneri Honos responderet that Honour might Answer to the Burden Otherwise no man would stoop his tender Shoulders and be a Governour for the many Cares intending and lying heavy upon him in his Government And Aristotle dividing Arist lib. 8. Ethic. cap. 10. betwixt a King and a Tyrant parts them by this That a Tyrant seeks altogether his own profit as if he were the great and absolute God of the People and of Nature a King or Prince principally the Good and Profit of his People Power is not a Vertue neither are the Acts of Power morally good or evill in themselves but are made such or such by their Concomitants good if accompanyed with Mercy Justice Truth Holiness if otherwise evill Wherefore the Legislative Power being of God who as God hath Supreme Dominion over us and may therefore law us falls under certain Conditions and Rules And four Conditions make a Law just The first ex Parte Finis That it be ordained to the Common Good For a Princely and just Vide Arist ubi suprà Law differs from a Law that is tyrannicall by this tending to Good common or private The second ex Parte Agentis That the Law be prescribed by One in whom resides original Authority For no Power can impose a Law but upon such as are lawfully subject to the Power The third ex Parte Materiae That by the Law neither Vertue be repulâ—ed nor discountenanced nor Vice induced or indulged to The fourth ex Parte Formae That the Law be constituted promulgated after a due Manner and Order to wit That the Law keep that Proportion in the distribution of Honours and imposition of Burdens which the Subjects have hold in order to the Common-wealth S. Aug. lib. 1. de libero Arbitrio cap. 5. in which the Law is given Unjust Laws are not properly and in right speech Laws as St. Austin lawfully declares Unjust Laws ratione Materiae that is which jarre with and are contrary to divine Right do not only not oblige but also should not by any means be received or observed in agreeement to St. Peter and the other Apostles Acts. 5. 29. We ought to obey God rather than Men. But the Laws which are unjust in regard of the End or Author or also of the Form or Manner may and must be kept in case that a Scandal would break in upon us if they should not This is evinced and evidenced out of the saying of Christ Matth. 5. 40. And if any Man will sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also Verse 41. And whosoever shall compell thee to go a mile go with him twain For the Doctrine hence issuing is not that we should thus alwaies depart from our Right and crumble away our Goods and Privileges but that we be ready to doe it whensoever the Circumstances becken us to it and such a Work or Works shall be call'd upon as necessary and greatly advantagious to the Manifestation of the Glory of God To this that place of St. Peter holds a Candle which Candle
we ought not to put under a Bushâ—ll but on a Candlestick 1 Pet. 2. 18. Servants be Subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward Know further That of Evils some are Evil because they are forbidden by the Law As the Profanation of our Lord's Day And some are forbidden by the Law because they are in themselves Evil and are twice evil because Evil and because forbidden As our Violation of the other Commandements The great Bishop of Hippo asserts it concerning Adultery Non Adulterium malum est quia vetatur S. Aug. â—bidem cap. 3. Lege sed ideò vetatur Lege quòd maâ—um est Adultery is not evil solely and simply because it is forbidden by the Law but is therefore forbidden by the Law because it is Evil. And as Evils or Sins are such derivatively from their Objects to the which we are inordinately converted and Sins applyed to Objects of different Kinds specifically differ Acts taking their Species or Kindes from their Objects So Sins greatly differ compared to the Laws against which they offend And therefore some Sins are Sins of Commission some of Omission We set aside Whether a Pure Omission be possible or no The Sins of Commission are they which are acted contrarily to the Negative Commandements The Sins of Omission which offend against the Commandements that are Affirmative And as the Commandement or Law Divine or Humane which affirms or denies deals in a Matter higher or lower So is the Sin lower or higher And if the Laws be more against which we offend by One Act this one Act is more hainous Ut unde dudùm digressus sum refluat ac recurrat Oratio Prudentèr aliquandò in obliquum aspicimus It is a part of Prudence at some times to look side-long particularly in giving a â—igne But I will not For I defie which others deify this peevish intermedling in the State-Business of Publick Persons to whom I am subjected at any time by God's Ordinance be it of Commission or Permission as they term it Only thus in the by and in generall to all the World There is a stout Niâ—remberg Hist. Naturae lib. 9. cap. 72. Beast in Africa by Name saith Nierembergius Ejulator Which repairing neer unto Villages or Towns in the Evenings cries like a little harmless Child But the Person that fondly moved with pity comes carefully to seek the Child is cruelly devoured by the false mouth of the Beast that cri'd so Aristotles Tyrant that waves the Common Good that gives Laws derogating from God's Law cries like a little innocent Child when he first calls us to him But we being come come and submitted and he in his Plenilune or Solstice of Honour He that was a sweet Babe in Voice is oftentimes a most sower Beast in Action And then the People cry too Quantâ de spe decidimus From how great Hopes have we shamefully fallen My second Fundamental Proof sets forth Civil Governours whose End as they are Civil Governours is the conservation of the People in temporal Peace and whose Actions as they are Civil rest in the Consecution of this End are oblig'd in a Christian Commonwealth as Principal Members in a higher Community the Church of God to direct all their Actions of Civil Government to the great Intention aim and End of the Church of God Which is the Salvation of the Souls of the People Because all Superiour Power which is temporal is inferiour and suboâ—â—inatâ— as it is temporal by the Law of Nature to Spiritual Power and subjected to it in Matters pertaining to the Soul Mind or Spirit by the same Law of Nature by which the less perfect Things are subjected to the Things more perfect inferiour to superiour the Body to the Soul Sense to Reason a Family to a Common-wealth external Affairs to internal Devotions Earth to Heavven our temporal Conservation to our eternal Salvation our temporal Peace amongst Men to our eternal Peace in God And lastly to the End ea quae sunt ad Finem the Things ordained for us in the way to our End The Church of God being the most perfect and most noble of all Societyes and the Society without which we cannot go safe home to our last End The most low-fetch'd and most penetrating Reason of all is Because all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Power is originally founded not in the Pope hence with so low so creeping so groveling so poor a Thought but in Jesus Christ the invisible Head of the Church and the gracious Fountain of all the Graces by the which we are graciously conducted to our last End And though it be not required that the Means and the End should have a Similitude of Being yet is it necessâ—â—y that there be no Dissimilitude or Disagreement betwixt the Meanes considered as the Means and the End as the End This is the Doctrine of * S. Greg. de Curâ Pastorali p. 2. caâ— 6. Idem Ep. lib. 2. Ep. 61. S. Ambr. de Dignit Sacerd. cap. 3. S. Chrysost de Sacerdotio lib. 3. S. Greg. Naz. in Orat. ad Populu 〈…〉 timore perculsum Greg. the Great St. Ambrose St. Iohn Chrysostom St. Gregory Nazianzâ—â— and indeed of all the Primitive Doctors Upon the Tower in the top it is written in fair Characters That Iesus Christ must have the highest Seat in us and over us Psal 89. 15. Blessed is the People that know the joyfull sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy Countenance For the joyfull Sound in English we read in the Vulgar Latin Iubilationem Interpres Vulgat Sept. Interpretes Graeci Interpres Sophocles Interpretes Hebraei Theologi Mystici Vide Ludovicum Elasium in Monili Alvarez Tom. 3. de Oratione the crying out for joy In the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which the Greek Interpreters who best sounded their own Language interpret the Song of Victory And in the Interpreter of Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joyfull sound is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Song of Victory The Hebrew Divines unfold the Original Word which they likewise best sounded The Sound of the Trumpet proclaming victory and exciting to Ioy. The Mysticall Divines catch the Word at the rebound and transfer it to a shout or crying out for Ioy That God is God and reigns over us and in us and is above us all and above all Things This is the noblest Effluence of our Heart in the Motions of Joy our highest Ioy As the Belief of Mysteries is our highest Faith and our best Hope is that which strongly beats in the Pulse when we wander per incerta Nemorum through the greatest Dangers and our pure love which loves God purely for himself the highest By these as the first and highest in their Kinds our other Ioyes Beliefs Hopes Loves are orderly measured This Ioy cannot withhold it self from trumpeting and singing alowd it 's own Comforts
Profit he having fairly performed his part but to his own Pleasure Which only pleasure and the dignity of it is of greater weight than all the good of all Creatures And therefore It is expedient that it should be fulfilled yea if it should require the Ruin of them all This Answer gives no countenance to absolute Reprobation or to that absolute Reprobate who teaches That God may dam a reasonable Creature to Hel-Fire absque Demeritis as St. Augustin's Language is The return is That the Christian Governour should conjoyn his Will in his Law-giving and in all his works with the revealed Will of God to the End his Law may be God's Law and immaculate absque Macula without spot Marinus Forsterus in Lexicis without as the Hebrew Word is Machalah weakness infirmity Mystical Divinity calls a Soul being in this happy state of Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vniform And Religious persons thus United are stiled by Dionysius S. Dionys Areop de Eccl. Hier. c. 8. Areopagita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons closely compacted into one and like the Pearl which is united in it self and called Unio 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit one Spirit in himself and one with God The Vulgar Latin Qui adhaeret Domino Interp. Vulgat Codex Graecus he that cleaves The Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is glued vehemently joyn'd again and firmly that he may not be now severed or pull'd from his Heavenly Compâ—â—t This Union is not altogether unlike the Hypostatical Union in Christ Of the which Franciscus Suarez saies to the Fran. Suarez in 3. part Disp 53. Sect. 2. pest Conclusionem 2. dam. very bottom of what men can say Illa Vnio licèt ex parte Humanitatis sit aliquid Creatum tamen ex parte Verbi ad quod terminatur quiddan increatum est scilicèt verbum per se Vnitum Humanitati That Vnion although on the part of Christ's Humanity it be created yet on the part of the Divine Word at the which it is terminated is a certain uncreated Thing even the Divine Word united by Himself to the Humanity Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profundum fine fundo a Depth without a Bottome A Vnion created uncreated uniting God and Man in the person of Christ and yet on Goa's part though it be in the nature of a Union as it Unites ut atting at Extrema that it must touch the Things Vnible and United the Creature is vanished and the only Union is Verbum per se Vnitum the Word Vnited by Himself Well now may the Incarnaâ—ion of Christ be set next in place unto the Trinity in Vnity as an incomprehensible Mystery Brethren I cannot commend the Lay-Elder amongst you who 〈◊〉 Men of Repute speak denyed the Communion to a Maid let her Name be Susanna because she could not answer him to the Question Young Maid What is the Hypostatical Union Was not this Lay-Elder Inutile in Sambuceto Sarmentum O the monstrous Productions of Ignorance Away with him When the Master of a Family offended with a stink kicks a Dog in the Parlour the Servants kick him too through the Hall and out of the Kitchin untill he be quite kick'd out of Doors into the free and open Air which the Winde purifies The Master of the Christian Family is God I return And our Deiform Will and Union with God in Love and Law is a most gracious Union of God with Man wherein the Union on the Soul's part is Grace given by God and on God's part Deus per se unitus Homini God by Himself united to Man that we may be conformable to our Head Christ This Uniting Spirit of Grace is that Adopting Spirit we being adopted Children through the natural Heir in whom the Right stands even the Spirit in our Hearts Galat. 4. 6. Crying Abba Father Which is a Term of more familiar Compella 〈…〉 saith Ludovicus Cappellus Lud. Cappell in illum locum Syrus in Marc. 14. 36. Johan Drus Salmant in Marc. The Syriack in St. Mark draws it forth as a Term of Appropriation and winds it up to signify my Father Which in the Targ-Language it every where doth Johannes Drusius admits it as a Term of Dignity Salmanticensis of Honour Wherefore this Union even in the radical part of it sets us up familiar with God and appropriats him to us and entitles us Most zealous in maintaining his Honour Crown and Dignity The Duty therefore of a Governour looks three fair wayes by reason that the Object of his Duty is three-fold God his Neighbour Himself Tit. 2. 12. We should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Which words St. Bernard having tried them in the fire sorts thus Sobriè nobis justè proximis S. Bern. in Serm. super Ecce nos reliqui mus omnia c. piè autem Deo Soberly to our Selves justly towards our Neighbours towards God godly This duty is general and every Man's Duty but lies more heavy upon the Governour because his Office is of greater import King David his Heart being well-steeped in this Doctrine pray'd for a three-fold Spirit Pal. 51. A right Spirit verse 10. to guide his walkings with his Neighbour in Righteousness or Justice God's holy Spirit verse 11. by the which he might be spiritually built into God's holy Temple And verse 12. God's free Spirit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint his principal or leading Sept. Spirit for the principal fitting of Himself in Himself that he having a principal Spirit in a principal Place his Example consequently might be Principal yea Princely and alios quasi manu ducere lead others as by the Hand into all Godliness and Honesty It respondently Followes verse 13. in the Vulgar Latin Doce bo iniquos Vias tuas impii ad te convertentur In the English Then will I teach Edit Vulgat Transgressours thy wayes and Sinners shall be converted unto thee And Exemplo aliis praeire to go before others by a leading and good Example is to teach others in this good Sense And Qui Dux est aliis Actionum He that leads others by good Action is rightly Dux Viâ Dux Populi the Leader in the right Way the Captain of the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this present World or in this Now-World wherein we enjoy properly and together but one short Now of Time For Time as Boetius timely told it is Nunc fluens a flowing Now as Eternity is Nunc stans Boet. lib. 5. de Con solat Prosâ ult a Now at a full stand The first is Nunc Temporis the Now of Time The second Nunc Aeternitatis the Now of Aeternity The first is a Now because it is but no 〈…〉 The second is a Now because it is indivisible and all-together in all Eternity Governours have more command in the World and of the World
doe not imitate the Prince of Martyrs who suffered Death without resistance 4. He that is kill'd must beleeve by a Supernatural Faith the Truth in the defence of which he dyeth and the Fundamental Truths for the Propagation of which Christ dyed 5. His Heart must be established with habitual Grace and though perhaps he was never baptized Baptismo Fluminis with the Baptism of Water yet Martyrdome must find him baptized Baptismo Flaminis with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost These Conditions throughly considered the well-meaning Man refers the Matter to the strange Turns and Wonders of the divine Providence in the admiration of which he is quite absorpt And coming to himself again beleeves that many temporal Blessings shall in their due Times accost the present State in answer to brave Things which they have done and in the Head of all to their suppressing these Blackamore-soul'd Apostates A religious Man that most lives and converses inwardâ—y would fain be inform'd for his own inward and sublime Exercise Whether he may serve God most with his Understanding or with his Will. Sound Learning teaches him That Whereas there are two chief Faculties of the Soul the Vnderstanding and the Will and with the Vnderstanding we know with the Will we love It is a greater height of Perfection to know the Things which are under us than to love D. Tho. 1. 2. quaest 66. art 6. ad 1. them But for the Things which are above us it is more perfect Satisfaction to love them than to know and understand them And therefore the Seraphims or loving Angels are the first of pure Creatures and the first allied to the last Person in the Trinity who is Love To this purpose the Divines teach That the Spiritual Powers of our Vnderstanding and VVill being compared in the Exercise of Contemplation and considered ex modo procedend the Acts of the Will excell the Acts of the Vnderstanding though the Vnderstanding simply consider'd taketh place of the VVill. Because such is the Nature and Way of the Vnderstanding in Vnderstanding that the Things which she Vnderstandeth she draws in a manner and fits to her self Whence by Vnderstanding inferiour Things she advances them above their Worth and Degree and by Vnderstanding superiour Things depresses them beneath their Degree and Worth For When the Soul a spiriall Substance or Power by her Act of Vnderstanding being also spiritual doth understand sensible and material Things cast beneath her Condition she doth not therefore sensibly apprehend them by her Intellection neither after a material or corporeal Manner but by the mediation of a Spiritual Form or unmaterial Species and by an Act altogether incorporeal Whilest the VVill doth not draw to her Self the Things which she desireth and willeth but rather is drawn her self by them and fits conforms her self to them The VVill therefore is more subservient to high Things and more observant of them than the Vnderstanding And we serve God more by Charity the principal Vertue of the VVill than by Faith the prime Vertue of the Vnderstanding and Faith acts not but by Charity as the Body acts not but by the Soul And the greatest of these is Charity We cannot turn our selves wisely and securely in Matters of private or publick Importance but we fall into the Hands of Sound Learninng We come to the more excellent and more satisfactory Knowledge of Scripture in the Knowledge of Languages It is most consentaneous to Right and Reason that Christ's Preachers should be furnished with all substantial and convenient Helps for the plenary Performance of their Angelical Imployment And therefore Christ sending his Apostles into all the world qualifying them for the Mission endowed them with Languages Which Gift being withdrawn and the End for which it was extraordinarily given Ending the Church of God supplyed the want of it by Industry and ordinary Means Now He that kens not beyond his Mother-Tongue nor is adherent to a Church of sound Learning and sufficient Authority is deprived of these convenient and substantial Helps 1. He cannot conform himself to the Example of Christ and his Apostles who though the Septuagint many times differ from the Original yet many times in their use of Texts from the old Instrument the old Testament was anciently so call'd took in at the Septuagint and walked besides the Original receiving dâ—fferent and explicatory Senses and in them the Intention of the Holy Ghost God intending all good Senses in the giving of Scripture as in other Gifts he intends all the Good conveniently arising from them 2. He cannot reach the Texts and Explications which fitly solve Doubts and Controversies depending upon Scripture and the Translations of it It is doubted by what Signe Cain and Abel knew thâ— one that his Offering was accepted of God the other that God rejected his Offering The Vulgar Latin tels Gen. 4. 4. Et respexit Edit Vulgat Dominus ad Abel ad munera ejus And God had respect unto Abel and to his Gifts The Septuagint spake it first Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he respected he looked favourably upon The Doubt stands still But Theodotion removes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he Theodot set on fire he consumed with a flame as afterwards in such Cases Ecce Signum behold the Signe It is controverted concerning the Text Jo. 3. 5. Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Whether the Text intends a grown Person or any Person of whatsoever Age or Sex The Original disbands the Controversy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Except Text. Graec. one be born including all Ages all Sexes 3. He cannot come neer the Mysteries that ly couched in the Sacred words of Scripture As Gen. 〈◊〉 1. Where the sacred Trinity the Author of Scripture is in despite of all Gainsayers delineated in the very first Line of Scripture Bereschil Elohim bara being exactly Text. Heb. Englished In the beginning Supreme Perfections he created For although the Sacred Persons differ one froÌ„ the other by their Personal and proper Perfections yet they are all he as he denotes One God the very same in Essence And though the Name Elohim be not proper to the Persons in it self and it 's first aim yet the Name in the Number is most proper 4. He cannot comprize the secret Energy of Words As in a million of places And besides the Texts interweav'd in this Discourse in that eminent place Zach. 9. 16. They shall be as the Stones of a Crown lifted up as an Ensign upon his Land Where the Readings do all wear Crowns and bear Ensigns The Vulgar Latin Lapides sancti elevabuntur super Interp. Vulgaâ— terram ejus Holy Stones shall be lifted up upon his land The Hebrew Text Lapides Text. Hebr. nezer that is Stones of Separation separated from common Uses in which Sense the Word Nazarite is descended from nezer or Stones
acknowledge our Error our Delinquency by throwing presently Rose-Water into our Mouthes To use those holy Doctours that antiently flourished and were Stellae primae Magnitudinis Stars of the first Magnitude now in their Absence as the miserable offenders that are drawn higher the more to be strapado'd Beloved As tender Infants are more subject to fascination than grown persons so common people are most easily deluded And it was not well done of that envious Wretch in Quintilian who poyson'd the Flowers in his Garden that his Neighbours Bees Quinti l. Declam 13. might not safely suck any more honey from them A Man goes on sometimes in Morality as it were with Oares and sometimes his Sails are up and the Wind helps him on And now he goes remis velisque with Sails and Oares For when the Mind by the help of our Vertuous Habits and actuall Grace doth operate or work according to the Rules and Dictates of right Reason honest Things we go rowing and failing But when a certain extrinsecall Force from God doth advance and elevate the Soul beyond all these Rules after a more vehement and high Manner then is the Man transported by some Gift of the holy Ghost as Appolonia was when brought to the Fire after she had stood a while attending to the holy Ghost she cast her self into it Even so it is also both in our Praying and Preaching Let me now therefore utter a few Words in the Rapture of my Soul O thou with thy flatuous Knowledge thy Tympanie of Terms os unpurum sparsumque thou with thy wide and impure mouth thou hou so meanly blyth and buxom as thou art Hast thou not learn'd yet what it is to send away to Hell Souls by whole Shoals Souls for the which Christ dyed Do'st thou not know what a Soul is Or can'st thou make a Soul a Soul wherein there is fairly Character'd the Divinity the Spiritualitie of God the Unity of the divine Essence the Trinity of the divine Persons the Generation of the Son the Procession of the holy Ghost Hither Divines commonly come But I cannot rest here A Soul wherein there is an Evident Character of the Incarnation of the second Person the Divine Word when our Will the second Faculty of our Souls is conceived in our Words and made as it were incarnate in our Deeds a Man 's invisible Will being made visible in his Actions far otherwise than his Understanding or Memory the Prophet Psal 22. 20. calls his Soul his Darling his Dearling The Vulgar Latin stiles it as Interpret Vulgar the Prophet speaks it in the Hebrew Vnicam meam my onely one The Chaldee Spiritum Corporis mei the Spirit of my Paraph. Chald. Sept. Aq. Sym. Body The Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my only-begotten Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my long-Liver Symmachus in the abstract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my lonelinesse that will soon be totally Abstracted from the World St. Hierome S. Hier. solitariam meam my Solitary Soul The Soul which thou so murderously destroyest is the poor Mans Darling his onely-one the Spirit of his Body his onely-begotten his lone-Liver his loneliness his solitahy Soul Murder Murder a a more horrible Murder was never committed Do'st thou not fear that such a departed Soul will quasi Vmbra te persequi Ghost-haunt thee Where is now thy supernatural Principle that should move within thee How wilt thou crutch it up that thou art a Christian If thou art awake the Christian in thee I could weep the rest O my God deliver my Soul from the Sword my Darling from the power of the Dog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sept. Septuagint read it so from the two-hand Sword or the Sword that is edg'd on both sides The Sword of thy Tongue O thou fals-Tongu'd Preacher will cut on either side as the side is to which thy Belly most leans and lissens cùm intestina tibi crepent when thy guts murmure for Victuals Was my Soul my Darling my onely-one the Spirit of my Body my only-begotten my lone-Liver my loneliness my solitary Soul ordain'd for an other Mans Belly Which Man when his Belly has done with my Soul will throw it away to the Dog the Devil Agnosco Discipulum Haereticorum antiquorum Thou art a Scholar of the ancient Hereticks For in respect of their Soul-marketing the old Romans saith Lampridius Lamprid. in Alexandro Severo contumeliously calld'd Christum Christ Chrestum from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profitable Here Ends the Rapture Matth. 2. 1. where the Greek hath Evang. Graec. Evan. Lat. Evan. Syr. Arab. Aegypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latin Magi the Engiish Wise Men and where the Syriack Arabick Egyptiack or Coptick with other Oriental Translations the Languages of which either by a right Line or side-wayes come of the Hebrew say the same Thing yea the Persian-Gospel-Word is Magusan wise men Evangelinm Persicum Evan. Aethiopicum only the Ethiopick is pleas'd with a Name caught from their outward Act of Service which is Adoratores Worshipers Munster in his Hebrew Gospel Eva. Heb. Munsteri which he obtrudeth to us as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Saint Matthew dresses them in the Word mecassephim praestigiatores Iuglers or Enchanters Art not thou in the Cause O thou Blazing-Star of the pulpit thou Fabula Conviviorum Fori almost all the talk of people at Feasts and in Market-places for thy Iugglings that pious wise and learned Men who have most faithfully followed the Star of the East are sensured to be as thou art Iugglers The Iewish Thalmudists story to us Thalmud Ord. 4. Tract 2. aelibi multoties that the Soul of one Man passeth into the Body of an other and that for Example the Soul of Abel flew from him into Seth I suppose it pearch't some where by the way and from out of Seth by another and an other flight into Moses The Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transmigation of Souls joyned with the Platonicall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or frequent Renascency had evened this way for the Iew. And Pride made Iulian though not a Iew yet a Philosophicall Pythagorean Niceph. Eccl. Hist. lib. 10. c. 35 who conceived that his little Body was fill'd with great Alexander's Soul And now to make a perfect Diapason and agreement of Voices as if all were but one voice thou hast conveyed with a quick and cleanly Conveyance the Spirit of a Primitive Apostle into thy own body and thou art in thy own Thoughts and Words greater than a Magnifico of the East or a Western Admirante Rectè admones It is well thou tellest me so For had'st thou not I should have confidently retorted That there must be truly The Spirit of Truth in some true Spirit to decide the great Differences betwixt thee and others cùm res caleat utrobique velis furori permissis the Matter growing hot and the persons fire-hot and
summis qnidem digitis aut labris adhuc primoribus attigi which I have not as yet touched First The Preachers and Keepers of this Perfect Law are commonly contemned and slandered What admirable Helps for the perfect knowing of Gods perfect Law had the Pagans in the blessed Dayes of the Primitive Church As we go Casaubon denyes the Sybilline Oracles because they have spoken more Casaub Exercit. cap. 1. plainly and more particularly than God's beloved Prophets and therefore he fathers them all upon our Primitive Teachers and Fathers But he should have understood that God acts in relieving us according to our wants and the Pagans needed more plain and more particular Information than the People of God And yet the Beleevers and Teachers of that perfect Law were most greatly dishonoured and brought into Obloquy and their Names inquinated by those unbeleeving Pagans the Contemners of it For when Good is rais'd and on foot the Foundation of Hell shakes The Pagans reported that the Christians were Eaters of Man's Flesh Which some think was occasionally taken from the Words of Christ delivered Form-wise in the Institution of the Eucharist Hoc est Corpus meum This is my Body That they worshipped the Sun Which was first blown up and kindled Vide S. Justin in fine Apolog 2. Epist Plinii Junioris ad Trajanum Ioseph contra Applon Grammaticum lib. 1. as some conceive by reason of their Praying towards the East as others by occasion of their Early rising to sing the Praises of Christ That they worshipped an Ass his head Which took fire Because the Christians under some Consideration descended from the Jews And the Jews had been accused of such Folly though Josephus frees them Of whom some notwithstanding it may be doubted were stained in that part because their Inclinations were ever swerving and Idol-bent and Sampson had acted wonders by the jaw-Bone of an Ass The Paganish Story of the Wild-Asses going before them and shewing them Water in the Wilderness is a wild and aery Fiction That they came together unlawfully by night eversâ Lucernâ Which indeed was the Sin of those unclean lustfull and false Professors the Gnosticks Lastly That they were the dismal Cause of all the Wars Earthquakes Innundations Pestilences Famines and Troubles of those Times This ye may read in St. S. Just. Ap. 1 2. Tert. ad Scapulam in Apologet. S. Cypr. Contra Demetrianum Justin in the African Doctor Tertullian and in Cyprian of Carthage Likewise in others apologizing for the Christians The Pagans made the Church of Christ Asinum Clitellatum their Pack-Ass And then looking upon the Christians not with all the Requisites to clear Sight and perfect Apprehension of the Object but through these Calamitous Disasters and those abominable and loud-crying Reports cried aloud with them Christiani ad Bestias Christiani ad Leones The Christians to the Beasts the Christians to the Lions For Love and Hatred are like the two Ends of a Perspective-Glass whereof the one multiplies the other makes less Or Man in this regard is like a Turning-Picture a Lamb on the one fide a Lion on the other Yea Disaffected or angry Persons are like Persons ill-affected in their Eyes who as Abenzoar sets them before our Eyes in his Description see two Abenzoar lib. 1. c. 1 Tractat. 8. Things when but one presents it self Every Man in their seeing hath two Heads four Eyes two Mouths two Bodies four Hands as many Feet and is twice Himself and a double Man and is therefore Monstrum Horrendum Informe Ingens a huge mishapen horrible Monster Beloved Cheirsh an Example or two taken from the Cabinet of mine own Knowledge To name the Persons mihi Religio est I dare not in Conscience I knew an earnest Teacher of God's Law publikely dishonoured by Persons wearing the same Sheeps-coat and vexatious to him as beloved by the People for his opening the Scriptures in his Sermons conformably to the Example of Christ after his Resurrection and audito nunciantes speaking by hear-say and this in Re gravi in the aspersion of a most filthy Matter When as I am superlatively certain That the Soul of the accus'd Man abominates the very first Thought of such an Evil with more abomination than any Stomack did ever abominate the Toad and hates the remembrance even of the noblest Act in that Kinde although he may after the common Rule of human Consideration most honourably conform to it When I first heard of this unchristian dealing for Christ Ego continuo mecum I said presently within my self The Saints if these be Saints are horribly malitious O ye false and evil Tongues I will not tell you that alios ex vestro judicatis Ingenio ye judge others by your own Acts and Propensities The Malice of the Blackhellish-Accusers must needs then have been at full Sea and the Sun of Righteousness in Apogaeo in the farthest point from them Moreover I knew a resolv'd Teacher of God's Law who resolutely and with a bold Spirit gave chast Counsil from the perfect Law of God to a rich Woman poor by a generally-suspected Life exhorting her to refrain the company of a most lewd and most execrable Fellow who boasted commonly that he commonly devoured qualified Poisons to procure Lust and to render himself more acceptable to the Vile Prostitute and who shew'd in his cortupt and beastly Mouth that he kept alwaies in his Heart as in a Seraglio Variety of lewd shapes The Sequel was That Miscreant was presently inform'd by Her O crooked Way of such adventurous Counsil given against him And Lust being alwayes impatient he as presently sought this Counsil-giver found him and so mangled him with an Irish Dagger that he bears in his Body the Marks of the Lord Jesus The base Assassine glorying also that his direct Intention was to murther him I know not what Men-and-Women Beasts do in the dark But I know the Saying of Men walking in the light Homicidium Adulterium anteit in Praecepto Subsequitur in Facto Murther in the Precept goes before Adultery follows it in the Fact The desire of Babylas Bishop of Antioch and Martyr was commendable Suid. in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catalogus Episcoporum qui id Amiciâ— dedit negotii who left it in charge with his Friends to bury him in his Chains lest his dead Body should want it's livelyest Ornaments It is the great Joy of my Friend that his Body shall bear these Beauty-Marks when his Soul shall be presented before God I reverently accept it as a fair Staff of Christ's Song his Wedding Song or Spiritual Epithalamie Cant. 6. 3. He feedeth among the Liâ—ies The Lilie is the cleanest of all Flowers and exalted from the Ground by a long stalk that it may be conveniently preserved in it's Purity Christ feedeth that is abideth and sojourneth with men whose Conversation is Lilie-white O the black-Man that hath Lilie-white in his mouth onely
day being far spent and the darkness of the night approuching Me thinks now that I preach to my self For God oftentimes speaks to us from our own Mouths Brethren I greatly desire to dye the death of the Saints pretious in the sight of God That I may to use the word of Theodor. Bals in Canones Trullanos Can. 52. Theodorus Balsamon in his sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrifice everlasting Praises to God and celebrate a continual Feast with him in his glory and being loosed from this earthly Tabernacle be rapted away Sept. in Levit. 23. 36. alihi semâ—èr cùm idem subsit in Orig. to the blessed Thing anagogically signified by that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint to bear a part with the Saints in that heavenly Song in the End I have professed for you these many years And That a Man may be joyn'd in Communion or Vnion with the Church of Rome and yet preach here as a Minister is a most false Alarum and the mad bellowing of enthusiastical and fanatical persons and answerable to Presbyterian Ignorance I will here unrip my Soul unto you He that will joyn with Rome must unroost here No Law forbids a Man to groan when his pain comes O that there had been alwaies in me Virtus altis defixa radicibus Vertue Deeply-Rooted I did once expect to have found in England one bearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a superhumeral made of Sheeps-Wooll and signifying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Isidore Pelusiot the skin of the Sheep which Christ Isid Pelus l. 1. ep 136. sought found and carried home upon his shoulders and which was alwayes put on in the pronouncing of these Words according to Simeon Thessalonicensis Sublatâ Sim. Thessal in Bibliotheca Patrum in humeros Christe Naturâ quae erraverat assumptus Deo Patri illam obtulisti O Christ thou taking upon thee the Nature of Man which had erred and having ascended did'st prefer it to God thy father But Verily verily I neither found here the Patriarch that sent it nor the Bishop that wore it I found indeed the most professing and most shewing People of all others but amongst all others the most prodigiously ignorant of Right and Equality concerning Practicable Matters as is evidenced by the dayly practices of the People their Desires and Works having no Bounds or their Words Limits but the Limits and Bounds which the Law of the Land hath forced upon them over which notwithstanding they leap like the Wild-Beasts of the Forrest I hoped to have entred upon post Magellanicos Tumultus Aequor pacificum after forraign Tumults a peaceable Sea at Home But by reason of some Kirk-Sea-Monsters who disguising their Ends and bringing Non-Causam pro Causa a Supposititious Cause for the Cause it self and bleeding inwardly with grief that their Congregations grew thin low and lean persecuted me I have lived here as in the Suburbs of Hell and as amongst Conjurers wearing Devils upon their fingers in Rings In every touch I felt their Devill stir and work And because he wrought not by himself but by them I could not command him to desist The Devill in a round Ring was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Familiar giving Counsel They wear the Devil in a Ring that by devilish suggestions bring trouble and Hel-fire to every Thing they morally touch Their moral touches as their Tongues are set on fire of Hell Iames 3. 6. Fire fire the worst of all fires the fire of Hell fire fire Hell fire I have dealt in this Nation with rich-furred Beasts their Cases were far better than their Bodies lurking under the Cinamon Tree the Bark whereof is dearer than the whole Bulk In fine I have seen the very Sâ—orm and Loss which the Triremis or Gally-Tavern Athenaeus lib. 2. Cael. Rhodigin l. 17. cap. 2. in the Sicilian Agrigentum did undergo And in the last Act was horribly struck from above me with a Perhaps you have a Pension from the Pope tanquâ—mè Machina as out of the highest Seat over the Stage from the which some feigned God appear'd and spake Oracles To Walk before God with a perhaps is to walk contrary unto God Levit. 26. 21. And if ye walk contrary Vatabl. unto me Vatablus his Reading is Si ambulaveritis mecum cum Casu If ye shall walk with me by chance or at all adventures I ye build the vast and high Towers of your Scotch-Babylon upon the nodding and shaking foundation of a Perhaps For the Hebrew word Keri Occursus signifieth according to the Hebrew Bias as well Chance as Contrary And he that comes contrary to me occurrit mihi meets me running and all Chances eunt obviam eis meet those and are upon a sudden occurrent to them in respect of whom they are such Did this Child of Chance this honest-Perhaps ever understand how a Science is rais'd out of it's Principles or that Scientia procedit ex evidentibus All knowledge proceedeth from Things evident and clear by the Light of Nature or of Reason Hic de Grege illo est This is one of the old Herd And for a Pragmaticall envious eager Man-Friggoâ— stirring up every where before Women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word fighting and larding his Discourses with greasy Language and the same a Preacher of Novelties the Apostle describes him in his walking Coloss 2. 18. Intruding into those Things which he hath not seen The Vulgar Latin devotes ambulans Edit Vulg. Text Graec. walking The Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is interpreted by St. Hierom is gestu corporis praeferre S. Hier. in Colloss 2. Mentis Superbiam in the garb of the Body to shew the pride of the Mind Vatablus consents Fastuosus incedens Vatabl. saith he is proud and pompous in his going and sayes in his puft thoughts with him in the Poet Seneca Aequalis Sen. in Thyeste Astris gradior I walk equall with the Stars And therefore the Apostle presses on Vainly puft up by his fleshly mind He walks in the stately Galleries of his own Fancy and his Body walks as his Soul walks in it An Act of rash and false Iudgement notabile Damnum inferens at first may carry a face of Iustice but is like a beautifull Apparition beckning to us to come and we following it into a dark place suddenly turning into a must horrid shape and strangling us For Difficile est in lubrico diu stare It is a hard Matter to stand long safe in the dark on a slippery place I could send this walking Personage a talking Page to Minister unto him But God hath uncased him The World knows it Rumor jam raucus factus est Let me pitie the People that were like the poor Lacedemonian Plut. in Lacon youth who having craftily stole a Fox ran his way craftily craftily thinking he had a rich Prize And who craftily kept the Fox so long
Saved Soul O then let Tho. à Kemp. l. 3. de Imitat Christi cap. 8. Idem ibid. cap. 13. me pulverize my selfe in valle nihilcitatis meae as it is in Thomas à Kempis in the vally of my Nothingness and so humble my Self as the same Author exhorts ut omnes super me ambulare possint sicut lutum plâ—tearum conculcare that all Men may walk upon me if they will and tread me under feet as the dirt of the streets For I have singularly deserv'd it I have infinitly more cause than St. Bernard to bemoan my self in his words Egâ— S. Bern. ep 249 ad Bernardum Priorem aliâ—s enim quaedam Chimaera mei Saeculi nec Clericum gero nec Laicum I a certain Chimera or Monster of the Age wherein I live have neither demeaned my Self like a Clergy-Man nor yet like an upright Lay-man But am like some amphibious Beast living betwixt the Possession of Land and Water God and the World O my Soul prepare diligently for the Time wherein thou must leave thy Body and give an account of thy Conformity to the perfect Law St. Iohn being in the Iland Parthmos was entertain'd with many visions He describes one of them Apocal. 6. 8. And I looked and behold a pale Horse and his name that sate on him was Death and Hell followed with him The Original calls that which we name pale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which-Word truly and fully signifies both pale and green It signifies in its first and more native Signification the green colour of Herbs and thence in a second Signification their Paleness in their withering The Reason why this Word is assumed by the Holy Ghost here is Because the Death of the Godly and the Death of the Vngodly are of different colours and Death presents himself to the Godly as upon a Green Horse adorn'd with all his trappings of Herbs and Flowers the Glory of the Spring Green being the Spring Colour a Colour that is recreating and a Mark of Hope of Cheerfulness and of Renewing and which implyes the beginning of Comfort and the neerness of Summer and Harvest And such is Death to the Godly But the pale Colour is the Colour not of entrance into Ioy but of Death as Death of Horrour of Destruction And such a gastly Death's Look Death casts upon the wicked and ungodly Though Malice may look Pale upon this green Horse and wil not submit to it I am confident the Note is not omitted by any of the most notable Interpreters The green Horse doth also cast a shadow upon the joyfull Resurrection of the Godly when their bones shall flourish like an Herb Is 66. 14. O this blessed Spring-Colour what shall I do to see it O that blessed Day when the Bridegroom shall call away the Spouse in these words Canâ— 4. 8. Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse and look from the top of Amana The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint signifies Sâ—pt Frankincense Come with me from the Mountain of Frankincense of sweet-smelling Prayers and Meditations ascending as Frankincense Amâ—na saith Lyranus was a high Mountain in the edge of the Wilderness over-looking Lyran. in Cant. Candan from the which the Iewes beholding the Land and the Riches and Beauty thereof there made Coronets of Flowers and wore them on their Heads in sign of Joy and Congratulation For which cause the Vulgar Interp vulgat Latin sends it forth in a sweet Air Coronaberis de capite Amana Thou shalt be crowned on or from the top of Amana the top of thy Devoâ—ions having in view and almost in possession the promised Land What Land Heaven O that blessed Mountain that blessed view that blessed Coronation If a poor Man had a fair and beautifull Child a Boy and were certain that he could not have more And that this Child should have a Kingdom if he liv'd to it And thereby should promote his Parents and be the Ioy and Glory of all his Kindred if he were safely kept till he came to Age Would not the Parents of this Child be carefull of him Would they not follow him with ready Hands and watchfull Eyes which way soever he turn'd Would not the Mother attend upon him and still say My sweet Child take heed you doe not fall O Child there is a deep Pit come back God bless my Child And though the Child should cry she would not let him stay there upon the brink of the Pit she would rather carry him an other way and kiss away the thought of the way leading to the Pit The Father would come home and his first Saying would be How does the Child The little Prince of so great Hopes that we hope will make us all great Give 's the meaning of all this or you have said nothing Every Body or every one of us as we consist of flesh and blood and sense only hath a most sweet and pretty Child a Soul beautified with God's Image And we are certain that we shall never have more more such Children And this Child is an Heir of Heaven and shall be a Prince if it dies not before it comes to Age And shall promote its Friends if they keep it well advance it's Body and Senses if they betray it not which otherwise shall never be glorified and which cannot be glorified by their own Industry Shall we not watch over our only Child by a good life and keep it from the Pit of Hell and from the Fals and Knocks of sin which bruise it and break it and kill it that it cannot inherit Be thou therefore O my Soul converted and conformed to the perfect Law of God as it opens before thee the perfection of the necessary Parts of a Christian and as it promotes thee in the perfection of Degrees Say to the Flesh Viscus merus es thou art meer Birdlime To the World Abi lutum Naturam haud amplius urgebo superftâ—is Go dirt I will not any more urge Nature with superfluities To the Devil praestigiis tuis detenta jam diu fui delinita lencciniis I have been long thy Slave I belong to Iesus the Conquerour Say to these Preachers ye are ignavum pecus a dull kind of Cattell ye have learned a tumbling trick with the lip and tongue but for Action ye know not the behaviour of Zeal Humility Charity or of any true vertue And I will rather ire ad genua praetereuntium beg my bread of all others than close with you Say to God Abba Pater miserere mei Father of Christ and Father of Christians Father of Iew and Father of Gentil Father before and Father now have mercy upon me And then look before thee God saith to his People Numb 14. 30. Doubtless ye shall not come into the Land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein save Caleb the Son of Jephunneh and Joshua Why should these two onely enter into the Land which typified the