hearts can desire euen the fulnes of that true happines which is all that you or any man can desire is only to be sought in Christ in whom it may be found by all For confirming your particular Interest in him and in the blessednes which heere he promiseth the right receiuing of this blessed Sacrament is of all other meanes most effectuall For your better preparation to the due receiuing of it it will bee auaileable to consider the doctrine which my Text affoords that although Christ be a fountaine of happines infinite and inexhaustible although his death whose memory we celebrate whose vertue in this Sacrament we seeke be as it were the opening of this fountaine yet are the streames of blisse and happines which issue from him by his death deriuable onely vnto such as are not offended in him Though the Gospell as our Apostle speaketh Rom. 1. ver 16. be the power of God vnto saluation yet as my Text saith the poore in spirit only take the impression of it Euen power it selfe and goodnesse infinite sufficient in it selfe to saue all though in number infinite is effectuall only in such as are of an humble and contrite heart Of their humiliation or contrition or their poorenes in spirit which is heere mentioned in my Text that might be truely said which our Sauiour doth of Thomas the Apostle his faith Thomas thou beleeuest because thou hast seene happy are they which haue not seene and yet beleeue The most of these men were therefore poore and humble in spirit because the Lord had humbled broken or chastised them some with bodily blindnes others with lamenes some with deafenes others with leprosie or like grieuous sicknes some with death Howeuer becōming once truely humble and poore in spirit though by these and like meanes all of them were truely happy in Christ but much happier and more blessed shall they be whom the Lord hauing not so grieuously chastised in body yet doe become as humble and poore in spirit as they were The best consideration I can commend vnto you for working this humiliation and contrition of spirit is this that as the Ceremonies of the Law were but shaddowes of these things which are now fulfilled in Christ so all the bodily calamities which Christ heere cured in so many seuerall bodies were but as so many sensible types or shaddowes of more grieuous maladies in euery mans soule although by nature wee doe not feele them Some of them were dead in body and all of vs as our Apostle saith are by nature dead in trespasses Now if we doe as truely and heartily bewayle this deadnes of our soules as the poore Widdow of Naim did the bodily death of her onely sonne then as our Apostle saith in the same place Wee are quickned in Christ and he will deliuer our soules vnto vs safe and sound as he did him vnto his mother Some of those were blind in body all of vs were darke in mind euen from the wombe and if we supplicate vnto him with like earnestnes to enlighten our minds as these poore men did to receiue their bodily sight wee shall bee as happy in this cure as they were in the other Some of them were halt and lame and not able to go and we after we haue seene and knowne the wayes of God are more vnable to walke in them than they were to runne a race Some of them were Leapers in body so are we all by nature Leapers in soules But whatsoeuer lamenes infirmitie or disease hath befalne our soules by Adams transgression or by our owne corruption he is both able and willing to worke more miraculous cures vpon our soules than hee did vpon these pooremens bodies so we intreat him as earnestly and heartily as they did 23. None of you I hope conceiueth Christs bodily presence to be either necessary or expedient for curing or healing your soules No mans faith in Scripture is more commended than the Centurions which did not desire our Sauiours bodily presence when he offered it for the healing of his seruant His answere was Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come vnder my roofe but speake the word onely and my seruant shall be healed Matth. 8. 8. If this acknowledgement were a document of liuely faith and Christian modesty in this Centurion what can it be but arrogancy and vnbeliefe in the Romanist to thinke himselfe worthy not only of Christs bodily presence vnder the roofe of his house but vnder the roofe of his mouth yea in his stomach But farre bee all such vncleane and carnall thoughts from any heere present Let vs stedfastly belieue that Christs Word is now as powerfull in heauen as it was on earth yet haue wee not onely his Word but the visible pledges of his body and blood for the healing of our soules Whateuer other defect there may be in our preparation for receiuing these pledges of his passion let vs be sure that our intention to humble our selues and amend our liues be sincere and without hypocrisie The second Member of the generall diuision proposed in the former Discourse Parag. 8. What satisfaction this Answere of our Sauiour did giue to Iohn § 24. VErbum sapienti sat est A man of vnderstanding and experience in part acquainted with any businesse on foot perceiueth more by a word or Hint than another of lesse vnderstanding or experience altogether vnacquainted with the same busines would doe by instructions giuen in Folio Now Iohn we know was a man of extraordinary vnderstanding and experience in matters spirituall specially such as concerned Christ to whom hee was the immediate fore-runner vnto which office he was qualified or set apart from the wombe yea sanctified vnto it euen in the wombe as you may reade Luke 1. verse 41. As this qualification made him more docile or capable of good instructions than other children were so his father Zacharias was better able to instruct him in the knowledge of Christ of whose Kingdome and Office he had prophesied than any other Priest or sonne of Aaron could For Zacharias was for ought that wee can gather the onely Prophet then in Israel at least the spirit of Prophesie which for a long time had bin as a fountaine dryed vp did first breake forth in him After that Iohn himselfe came to maturitie of age and vnderstanding he was directed by speciall commission from his God to vsher Christ into the world to induct him into his Propheticall function to declare him to be the Redeemer of Israel to proclaime him to be the high Priest of our soules that was to make the full atonement for the sinnes of the whole world Now vnto Iohn thus well qualified and instructed in matters concerning Christ and in particular acquainted with the carriage of all businesses concerning Christs baptisme or other actions vntill his imprisonment this Answere of our Sauiour Christ especially being framed out of that Prophets words which had penned Iohns Cōmission for being
receiue their sight the lame walke c. doe induce or inferre this vniuersall conclusion Blessed is hee whosoeuer is not offended in mee 14. The former will draw the later after it and in discussion of the former I must craue pardon to acquaint you with the opinions of such of the Heathen as sought to bee wiser than the rest that is of their Philosophers concerning happinesse or felicity Not that I rely vpon their saying or authorities but seeing the probleme proposed is generall to wit what satisfaction this answere could giue to any vnpartiall Auditor whether Iew or Gentile I must giue such satisfaction as is fittest to such perhaps as are too-much addicted vnto the Philosophy of the Heathen Besides it will be a good meanes for vs to finde out the right and safe way if wee shall obserue where others haue gone wrong or plunged themselues To the former The very name or common notion of blessednesse happinesse or felicity doth import as much as Summum bonum the chiefe or supreme good or Crowne of goodnesse That as we said before which all men naturally doe desire and which is all that any man can desire That which is onely able to satiate al the desires or appetites of the humane soule It is agreed vpon as well by the wisest of the Heathens as of Christians that bonum appetibile are termes conuertible that is They mutually fit the one the other as the measure and the thing measured whatsoeuer is good is desirable and whatsoeuer is desireable is good to the party which desires it at least as for the present he stands affected and that onely is truely good which ought to be desired For the rectifying of our desires the Heathens went thus farre aright That the desires of sense or the inferiour part of the soule were to be guided and directed by reason We Christians know that euen reason it selfe must be regulated by the Word of God or rule of faith otherwise it will outray farther in its desires then sence without the check or controule of reason could doe The things which we may desire are of three sorts 1 Profitable 2 Pleasant or 3 Honest. All these three branches of Goodnesse or rather these seuerall sorts of good things are required vnto true happines yet so as true happines or the chiefe good consists properly in the fruit of the third branch or stemme to wit of Bonum Honestum in its full growth or maturitie This chiefe or prime good is not onely desired for it selfe and for no other end but it is the end for which all things else whether they be inferiour branches of Bonum Honestum Vertue or honesty or whether they are pleasant or profitable are desired Euery branch of Bonum Honestum of Vertue or honesty though it be to be desired for the chiefe and prime good yet is it to be desired in it selfe and for it selfe so to be desired for it selfe that we must bee content to loppe off all the other branches of pleasure and profit rather than hinder the growth of this Godlines saith the Apostle is great gaine and it hath bin an old Prouerbe amongst you It is a good sport to bee honest The issue of that sport delight or gaine whereby our growth in godlinesse or honesty may be preiudiced is losse and griefe Things pleasant are to bee desired in themselues and for themselues yet so farre onely and at such seasons as their desire may not hinder the pursuite of things good and honest Our desire of these latter must giue bounds or limits to the desire of the former Things pleasant may be desired in greater measure than for themselues they can bee desired in case they bring aduantage to the course of honesty of piety or vertue Things meerely profitable are not desireable at all for themselues or in themselues but onely so farre as they are conducent to the purchase of delights lawfull and honest or of honesty it selfe For which reason profit as the more iudicious Schoole-men determine is no true and proper branch of goodnes nor are things meerely profitable truely and inherently good but good onely by extrinsecall denominatioÌ„ or by accident Of this ranke is Physick which no man desires for it selfe or in such manner or measure as he desires wholsome foode it is in its nature distastfull to sense yet to be desired as a means for procuring health which all men desire for it selfe because it is truely good and pleasant and yet withall to be desired as a meanes profitable for the exercise of piety and performance of vertuous actions of this ranke likewise is that which most men vpon a common errour most of all desire to wit gold or coyne or other externals before we haue occasion to vse them These are not good in themselues saue onely with reference to the procuring of things pleasant or honest In Countries wherein gold is not by custome referred to this vse men esteeme it no more than Aesops Cocke did the Pearle Thus wee haue read of a dumbe dialogue betweene a poore Indian and a wandring Spaniard that in his hunger offered gold for a Pullet which the Indian attempting to chaw with his teeth restored it againe with this intimation That hee could eate his Pullet but hee could not eate the gold Othervse of this metall he knew none and being not vsefull it was not good to him though of more worth to one of vs than all the quicke goods which the poore Indian had 15. But more perâ—inent to our present purpose is that diuision of goodnes or good things which the Philosophers haue made vnto our hands in this very argument whereof we treat For vnto felicity or true happines they require a threefold ranke or order of good things The first was as they call them Bona fortunae the goods of fortune which we call means and maintenance as monies lands goods possessions reuenews or whatsoeuer other externals The second bona corporis as health strength agility beauty or comelines of body The third was bona animi the endowments of the soule or mind which they comprehended vnder the names of vertue morall and intellectuall of whose seuerall parts some did answere in proportion vnto health or welfare of the body as Iustice Sobriety Temperance in which the health of the soule did euen in their iudgement more specially consist as the strength or agility of the soule did consist in valour wit or resolution As for Arts and sciences these they accounted as the attire or externall comelinesse of the soule Their chiefest errours in these disquisitions were that they thought at least some of the wisest of them that this felicity or happines might bee compleat in this life Howbeit some of them did thinke that no man was to be accounted or adiudged happy before his death Not that these men for ought we can gather did hope for any extraordinary happinesse after death but that such happines or
prosperity as man is capable of in this life and such as they obserued some men to enjoy was so brickle and vncertaine as no man could safely passe his sentence of them whether they were happy or no vntill they had finished their course of life But the greatest errour in this argument wherewith the greatest Philosopher himselfe was ouertaken was that this happinesse might be attained vnto by good education or by the wit and industry of man for he denyeth it to be the free gift of God But we Christians beleeue know that if all good things be the gift of God then the chiefe or supreme good must bee the extraordinary and speciall gift of God And yet withall wee must consider that God who giueth all good things freely neuer casteth such precious pearles as this vnto swine Although it cannot be purchased by mans industrie yet God giueth it only to the industrious only to such as seeke after it with the best faculties and indeuours of their soules content to forgoe all things else for the purchase of it But of this hereafter 16. Yet heerein Aristotle and other Heathen Philosophers were more orthodoxall than some rigid Stoicall Christians in that they thoght no man could be truely happy without health of body or whilest he continued in want penury much lesse whilest he continued in such paines and torments as Regulus or other like vertues or good patriots did endure rather then they would wrong their conscience or vndoe their Countrie He that shall accuse these Heathens as carnally minded in this considereth not that in thus accusing them he condemneth the generation of the iust Our Apostle Saint Paul had greater peace of conscience than Regulus or any other Roman could haue That part of happines which consisteth in the health and welfare or other endowments of the soule was as compleat and perfect in him during this life as any man whilest cloathed with mortality can expect yet saith he of himselfe and others euen of all that were alike minded as he was If in this life onely wee haue hope in Christ wee are of all men most miserable 1. Cor. 15. vers 19. What occasions soeuer other good Christians of these times had to ioyne with him in this complaint his owne occasions to speake to thinke and write as heere he doth are else-where by him specified at large and are most iust Are they Ministers of Christ I speake as a foole I am more in labours more abundant in stripes aboue measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the Iewes fiue times receiued 1 forty stripes saue one Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwracke a night and a day haue I bin in the deepe In iournying often In perils of waters In perils of robbers in perils by my owne Country-men in perils by heathen in perils in the City in perils in the Wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils among false brethren In wearines and painefulnes in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednes Besides those things which are without that which commeth vpon mee dayly the care of all the Churches who is weake and I am not weake who is offended and I burne not 2. Cor. Cap. 11. vers 23. to the 30. 17. These grieuances of bodie and perplexities of minde were of themselues rather branches or degrees of misery than of felicity things in their own nature not to be desired but auoyded as being in that ranke of euils which we call malū poenae such as all punishments or chastisements whether iustly or iniustly inflicted are For whatsoeuer is contrary to that which is truely good must needs be so farre truely euill as it is contrary vnto that which is in its nature good Now all malū poenae that is all punishments chastisements or bodily grieuances are directly contrary to the second branch of goodnesse fore-mentioned which the Schooles call Bonum Iucundum the goodnesse of lawfull pleasure of harmelesse delight of blamelesse ease or contentment all which are degrees or branches of felicity But though these grieuances before mentioned by our Apostle were in themselues truely euill yet was it good for him as it is for all men else to suffer them for the Gospels sake or for the confirmation of others faith Both parts of this true doctrine or assertion are auouched by the same Apostle Heb. 12. vers 11. No chastening for the present seemeth to be ioyous but grieuous neuerthelesse afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruites of righteousnes vnto them which are exercised thereby So that no chastening or bodily grieuance which befalleth vs for Christ's or the Gospel's sake is so true or great an euill in one sense as it is good in another to wit in the first ranke of goodnes before mentioned that is profitable or vsefull All persecutions whether in body goods or name haue the same reference or proportion vnto the soule or to its welfare health and happines that bitter and vnpleasant Phisicke hath vnto the body Now there is no man but will be willing to lay downe his bodily life as a wearisome burthen rather than to liue continually vnder the Physician 's or Chirurgian's hands without any ease or intermission And yet euen the bitterest and most vnpleasant Physicke such as in it selfe is to be loathed is good and by all wise men to be desired so long as there is certaine hope that it may be a meanes to ease their bodies-of lingring paine or torture or procure the restauration or long continuance of former and wonted health In like manner our Apostle Saint Paul would haue wished neuer to haue professed the Christian Religion rather than to haue liued eternally in such persecutions as he sometimes suffered because they were in themselues euill and distastefull vnto the humane nature notwithstanding he reioyceth and glorieth in them as they haue reference to that exceeding waight of glory and crowne of righteousnes for the attaining whereof they were though not causes yet as meanes ordained by God vsefull and for those times necessary And therefore our Sauiour saith Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnes sake for theirs is the Kingdome of heauen And againe Blessed are ye when men shall reuile you and persecute you for my sake Matth. 5. 10. 11. Reioyce and be glad for great is your reward in heauen for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you vers 12. So then such as suffer persecution for righteousnes sake are blessed spe non re whilest they suffered persecution That is they are not in the actuall possession of that blessednes which they hope for nor can they expect as our Apostle in the fore-cited 15. Chapter to the Corinthians 19. vers teacheth vs that their hopes of blessednes in Christ shall bee accomplished in this life because neither the endowments of the minde nor of the body whose perfection and accomplishment are necessary
his soule Againe if one man giue another poyson the other may be said to haue poyson giuen him or to be Grāmatically passiue But it is one thing to haue poyson giuen him another to be poysoned This latter includes a real passion or bodily mutation though from better to worse from life to death He that hath a medicine giuen him is in common speech termed a Patient and is Grammatically passiue But euery one that is thus farre passiue as to haue a medicine giuen him is not instantly medicined cured or healed for this includes a reall operation or amendment of that which was amisse in the body In like manner in as much as our Sauiour preached the Gospell equally and indifferently to all all that heard him might bee alike truely and literally said to haue had the Gospell preached vnto them if wee respect onely the Grammatical sense and signification of the word But it is one thing to say that all had the Gospell preached vnto them and another thing to say all were Euangelizati For this latter was peculiar only to the poore in spirit They only tooke this stampe or impression of the Gospell which was preached to all Briefely the originall phrase doth literally and naturally import as true or reall an alteration or transmutation in the soules of such as were poore in spirit as the former miracles heere mentioned did in the bodies of the blinde the lame the deafe the Leprous or dead Now it is not said that the blind had their sight proffered or promised vnto them or that the lame were onely made to walke or the Leapers cleansed onely in hope or by way of promise But all of them were truely and actually cured of their infirmities of body and so no question were the poore in spirit as truely cured as truely healed of their infirmities of their soules They had beene as truely dead vnto the life of the spirit as those whom Christ is heere said to haue raised vp were vnto the life of the body But now they are raised vp to newnesse of life enlightened to see the truth and enabled to walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And whereas before they had beene the bond slaues of sinne wherewith their soules were more foulely stained or tainted than these Leapers bodies were with leprosie they are now freed and cleansed from the guilt and raigne of sinne and made the seruants of righteousnes Thus much is included in these last words Pauperes euangelizantur and this transmutation of their soules was or might haue bin as conspicuous or obseruable to Iohns Disciples as the changing of Sauls mind or spirit was vnto the Israelites after Samuel had anoynted him King 1. Sam. cap. 10. ver 9. This Interpretation of this place is made vnto our hands by our Sauiour himselfe the best Interpreter of his owne words for so hee saith Luke 6. ver 20. Blessed be yee poore setting his eyes on his Disciples for yours is the Kingdome of God This blessing of Interest in the Kingdom of God here bequeathed by our Sauiour vnto the poore is in effect the same with these words in my Text Pauperes euangelizantur of which their Interest in the Kingdome of God is the true reall and formall effect For the Gospell is called the Kingdome of God because it instateth such as receiue the impression of it that is the Euangelizati in the Kingdome of God or of heauen The Kingdome of God in Scriptures is twofold and hath two importances Sometimes it importeth the Kingdome of Grace which the poore in spirit attaine vnto it in this world Somtimes it importeth the Kingdome of Glory which no man shall attaine vnto but in the world to come The Kingdome of Grace there bequeathed had two parts the one ordinary to continue throughout all ages which did consist in the raigne or soueraignty of the spirit ouer the flesh the other extraordinary yet vsuall in that time and did consist in the raigne or soueraignty of such poore men as Christs Disciples were ouer Satan and his angels And this part of the Kingdome of grace or this effect of it was more conspicuous and visible vnto others and was one of those workes or miracles which Iohns Disciples might heare and see and make faith or true relation vnto their Master Now the blessednes heere promised by our Sauiour or so much of it as men are capable of in this life consisteth in the former part of the Kingdome of Grace that is in the soueraignty of the spirit ouer the flesh Both parts of this obseruation are set forth vnto vs by our Sauiour Luk. 10. vers 17 18 19. The Seuentie returned againe with ioy saying Lord euen the Diuels are subiect vnto vs through thy name And hee said vnto them I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heauen Behold I giue vnto you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and ouer all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any meanes hurt you Notwithstanding in this reioyce not that the Spirits are subiect vnto you but rather reioyce because your names are written in heauen All the poore which are heere said to be Euangelizati were thereby instated in the Kingdome of Grace and made the sonnes of God as it is written Ioh. 1. ver 12. As many as receiued him to them gaue hee power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a priuiledge or faculty to be the sonnes of God and heyres apparent vnto the Kingdome of Glory This is all one as to haue their names written in the Booke of life 21. But heere the Iesuite at least the Moncke or begging Fryer who takes the pouerty which he voweth to be an Euangelicall perfection containing in it a title of merit to the blessednesse heere mentioned would reply that by the poore mentioned Lu. 6. v. 20. the poore in spirit only are to be vnderstood though not expressed because the poore in spirit are expressed by Saint Matthew who relates the selfe-same story Chap. 5. which Saint Luke doth in that 6. Chap but in as much as the story or relation heere in my Text is not the same with either of the former two it will not so cleerely follow that the poore in spirit are here onely to be vnderstod Yet it is a rule in Logicke and it is a rule of reason Quaecunque conueniunt in al◠quo tertio conueniunt etiam inter se. From which rule it will cleerely follow that if as well these words of my Text as those of Saint Luke chap. 6. vers 20. be but Euangelicall expressions of one and the same Propheticall prediction in which the poore in spirit are to be vnderstood this my Text must be meant of the poore in spirit as well as those other words of Saint Luke or Saint Matthew But of the consonancy of the Euangelist and the Prophet by Gods assistance hereafter 22. You haue heard and I make no question but you doe beleeue That whatsoeuer your
the sonne of Nun was to be finally accomplished The opening of the heauens and the emission of that voice from Gods presence This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased was a full and satisfactory answere vnto all the prayers which the high-Prists did annually make when they went into the most holy place But in what sort Iesus the sonne of Nun or that other Iesus the sonne of Iosedech did fore-shaddow the Son of God will come into more particular consideration in a fitter place Thus far of the Prophesies on which Iohn Baptists beliefe or warrant for baptizing was grounded and of the signes of the time expounding the meaning of these Prophesies vnto him or his attentiue Auditors before his imprisonment The third Branch of the second Member The consonancy betweene those Scriptures whereunto our Sauiour in this answer referreth Iohn and the former Prophesies on which Iohns faith was grounded with the congruity of time and other circumstances or occurrences which vnfold their meaning IIsdem alimur ex quibus constituimur As euery thing 's first breeding or beginning hath beene such commonly is the manner of its nourishment or feeding Bodies or creatures meerely vegetable as Trees Plants Herbes Corne Grasse and the like seeke after no other nutriment than the iuyce or moysture of the fatned earth with which kinde of nutriment Creatures indued with sense cannot thriue or prosper The meanest food that can giue satisfaction to the meanest of them is vegetable as Grasse Corne Herbes or other fruits of the Fields or Trees Some kinde of creatures indued with sense there be which must bee nourished with others of the same but of inferiour kinde As the Lyon will not feed on straw with the Oxe or Asse but feedeth on these and other like Creatures consisting of flesh and bloud as these doe on vegetables So that there bee almost as many seuerall sorts of nutriment or feeding as there bee seuerall or distinct kindes of creatures nourished and fed And not so onely but euen creatures of the same kinde haue their variety of nutriment Though all receiue their nutriment from the fatnesse of the earth yet is not euery vegetable alike content with euery soyle Hîc segetes illic veniunt foelicius vuae Some soyles yeeld plentifull nutriment to Vines or Plants but are not so kinde Nurses vnto Corne or Herbes Some kinde of mould is good for Corne not altogether so good for Grasse And in the same mould wherein Rie or Oates grow vp and prosper Wheate or Barly thriue not so well Now albeit God allowed greater variety of food or nourishment to mankinde than to all other kindes of Creatures besides for most creatures vegetable or such as feed on vegetables are giuen by expresse Charter vnto man for food yet wee see by experience that some men either by peculiar constitution of body or by long accustoming themselues vnto some special kind of food are more delighted like better with that than with any other And albeit a man by ill dyet whereunto hee hath beene long accustomed shall contract any disease or distemperature yet a skilfull Physician will be as careful to giue some contentment vnto custome as to correct the present distemper The vse or end of all nutriment in what body soeuer is to continue life and health and to augment strength And our seuerall refections should bee as so many seuerall inuitations or entertainements of the soule or spirit of life that it would be pleased to reside where now it doth vntill God prouide it of a better residence Now as euery vegetable or sensitiue body liueth by its soule so the reasonable soule of man liueth by faith The first originall or seed of faith is the Word of God The onely nutriment of faith or of the soule which seekes to liue by faith is experiment or obseruation of euents whether in our selues or without vs answerable to the Word of God from which faith had its first seeds or beginning Againe as euery man is most bound to obserue those rules of Scripture which most concerne himselfe or his profession so those experiences or tastes of Gods blessings which sute best with his peculiar kinde of life yeeld best nutriment vnto faith once begotten Euery mans growth in faith is then most firme and solid when it proceedeth from a perfect growth in those Scriptures from which it took first roote and from whose experienced truth it was formerly nourished and increased 67. Seeing then Iohns faith in Iesus of Nazareth as in the Messias then reuealed did spring from Gods Word vttered by Isaias the Prophet as from its first root and had been nourished by sensible experiments and manifest signes of the time answerable to the Prophet Isaias predictions concerning Iohns office for this reason it is that our Sauiour who best knew what answere would be most fitting and most satisfactory to Iohns demand returneth him no other answere than you often haue heard read vnto you The blinde receiue their sight the halt goe c. The summe of the answer is a brief rehearsall of the various miracles which our Sauiour had lately wrought and continued to worke when Iohns Disciples came vnto him Now all the miracles here recited are but so many sensible experiments of those predictions wherin Iohns faith concerning the discharge of his office was first grounded experiments of the very selfe-same kinde by which his former faith had been nourished and confirmed Such experiments they are as could not but strengthen his faith although it had beene weakned by doubt or distrust experiments in themselues able to reuiue his faith although it had bin more than halfe stifeled by despaire 68. The speciall places of the Prophet Isay by which Iohn was directed in the execution of his office of preaching Repentance or baptizing and whereon his faith or beliefe of the Messias which was to come was grounded haue beene alledged and expounded to you before They were for the most part such as did fore-tell strange wonders to bee wrought in the desart as the bursting out of waters in dry places turning of Valleyes into Mountaines planting of the Wildernesse with pleasant Trees All which predictions were onely or especially to be fulfilled in their allegoricall or parabolicall sense that is in the strange alterations of mens affections and dispositions which did follow vpon Iohns Baptisme yet not wrought by Iohn but by him that came after him which was to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire Iohn before his imprisonment had seene good fruits of his Baptisme and preaching of Repentance hee had seene the holy Ghost likewise descend in miraculous manner vpon our Sauiour whereby he knew him to be the Anoynted of the Lord and that righteous Branch of Dauid which was to accomplish whatsoeuer the Prophet Isay or Iohn out of him had foretold But as for miracles Iohn himselfe wrought none before his imprisonment nor had he seen or heard our Sauiour
mentioned Againe happier they were than such men as neuer had beene blinde or lame or leprous or deafe or neuer had tasted of bodily death For albeit the blessings of life of health of strength of soundnesse of limmes were in themselues if wee measure them by themselues the selfe-same in both yet these mentioned in my Text knew much better how to value or prize these bodily blessings aright or how to vse them to their right end by their former long want or absence than others could doe by their continuall presence or fruition of them Againe happy they were in respect of themselues or their former estate much happier in that they were now able to walke whereas before they had beene lame much happier in that whereas now they see they had sometimes bin blinde that whereas now they are cleansed they had sometimes bin Lepers in that such of them as now liue had beene sometimes dead For although the habit be in it selfe much better than the priuation as sight is much better than blindnesse health much better than sicknesse soundnesse of limbes much better than lamenesse life much better than death vet sometimes the sufferance of want or priuation of things in their nature good and pleasant may be more profitable or vsefull for attayning some greater good than the present possession or fruition of good things Now it was not the habit or present fruition of life and health not the right vse of limbes and bodily sences but the former want or priuation of them which was as the root or stock wherein the third part of that happinesse which consists in the health or welfare of the soule was ingrafted If some of these men had alwayes inioyed their perfit sight it is more than twenty to one but that their owne right eyes had offended them and better it were they should haue beene plucked out than haue offended them but best of all that they had none to offend them or draw them from Christ the Fountaine of happinesse vnto other vanities If others of them had beene alwayes sound of body and limbes their owne right hands or feet would haue bin as a stumbling-blocke to them in the way of life and haue hindered them from comming to Christ. If others of them had not bin smitten with leprosie or other like grieuous diseases they had not sought to Christ as to their Physician and not finding him so happy a Physician as they found him for the body they would not so earnestly haue sought vnto him as the only Physician of their soules although he be vsually found of none but such as seek him Finally vnlesse the Lord had humbled all of them with some one or other bodily grieuance or with want and pouerty they had not become so humble in minde or poore in spirit as now they are and not being such they had not beene capable of the greatest miracle or best blessing heere bestowed that is they had not beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so it is remarkeably said in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dead are raysed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the poore as our later English translatiō readeth it haue the Gospel preached vnto them much better I must confesse than some of the ancient Fathers which expound the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being as the Latines say a Verbe cōmon or as the Grecians say verbum medium that is sometimes actiue sometimes passiue according to its actiue signification in this place and render it thus the poore preach the Gospel But as Maldonate well obserueth for the poore to preach the Gospel was neuer any matter of wonder and therefore no part of our Sauiours message vnto Iohn as being no poynt worthy so great a Master as our Sauiour was solemnely to teach or so great a Scholler as Iohn was solemnely to learne And howsoeuer the word in the Originall be rendred by Interpreters the thing signified by it is the greatest miracle in this Catalogue That the Gospell should be preached vnto the poore as Maldonate would haue it was valdè mirum a great and reall wonder And why so great or reall a wonder Because saith he to haue the Gospell preached vnto them was as much as to haue a promise to be made Kings as he rightly proues from diuers places of this Gospell by Saint Matthew Quid autem admirabilius quà m pauperem Regem fieri What more admirable or wonderfull than for poore men and beggers to be made Kings He further addeth that although the Gospell were equally and indifferently preached to all yet it pleased our Sauiour onely to mention the poore both because that was most strange and vnusuall according to the custome of the world that the poore should haue the promise to bee made Kings and withall that hee might shew himselfe to be the Messias or the Anoynted of the Lord who as the Prophet Esay had fore-told should preach the Gospell to the poore Thus farre Maldonate But vnder correction the originall phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports a great deale more than eyther Maldonate expresseth in Latine when he saith Euangelium praedicatur pauperibus or than is expressed in our latter English the poore haue the Gospell preached vnto them Our former English cometh somewhat neerer the Originall when it saith the poore receiue the Gospell But the vulgar Latine though it misse it many yet in this particular best expresseth the meaning of the Euangelist if the Romish Priests and Iesuites which hold it to be Authentique did vnderstand the meaning of it or improue it to the best sence for so it renders the Originall verbatim Pauperes Euangelizantur For right vnfolding the contents of this speech or taking the full value of the Originall we are to obserue that Verbes passiue whether in the Hebrew Greeke Latine or English may include or import a two-fold passion the one meerely Grammaticall or intentionall the other reall eyther naturall or supernaturall One and the same Verbe may sometimes include the former onely sometimes the latter according to the diuersity of the matter or subiect whereunto it is applyed To giue instance in that speech of Melchizedeck Genes 14. 19. Blessed be Abraham of the most high GOD possessor of heauen and earth And blessed be the most High God which hath deliuered thine enemies into thine hand Now though the word in the Originall be the same though it be for signification as truely passiue when it is said Blessed be the most High God and when it is said Blessed be Abraham of the most High God yet wee must alwayes note this difference in the thing it selfe that whensoeuer God is blessed by man as here he was by Melchizedeck mans blessing can produce no reall passion or alteration in God it can adde no degree of blisse or happinesse to him But whensoeuer man is blessed by GOD his blessing alwayes addeth some increase of blessednesse eyther in his goods in his body or in
for the plaine literall sense accords with the Prophet Isaias words He turneth the wildernesse into a standing water and dry ground into water springs And there hee maketh the hungry to dwell that he may prepare a City for habitation Psalm 107. vers 35 36. Yet because this is but probable or coniecturall wee will make it no ground of our intended inference Supposing then that these predictions were as meerely figuratiue or metaphoricall as the former they might not withstanding truely and prophetically prefigure or by way of Embleme fore-shaddow aswell the internall comfort of the Spirit wherewith Christ baptizeth vs as the externall baptisme of water which Iohn administred The water you know hath two naturall properties from which many metaphors vsuall in sacred Writers are borrowed by which the true intent and meaning of the Prophet Isaias figuratiue or emblematicall expressions of the waters in the wildernesse is to be valued The first naturall property of water specially in hotter countries where thirst is more vehement and waters more pleasant is to refresh or comfort the wearie soule The second to bee the Nurse or Mother of fruitfulnesse aswell in the trees or grasse of the Field as in plants hearbes or flowres of the garden According to this latter property the Prophets prediction of springs bursting out in the wildernesse was a true Poeticall Embleme or shaddow of Iohns baptizing with water who was to be by his office as the Gardiner to water and cherish those fruitfull trees and plants of righteousnesse with which God had promised to adorne the wildernesse For euen the Publicans and sinners Aliens by nature from the Common-wealth of Israel beeing made partakers of the baptisme of Iohn were ingrafted into Abrahams stocke made fruitfull branches of that Vine which GOD had planted in Iewrie and heyres of that heauenly Kingdome which Iohn did preach whilest Abrahams seede according to the flesh were dis-inherited All the people that heard him and the Publicans iustified God being baptized with the baptisme of Iohn But the Pharises and Lawyers reiected the counsell of God against themselues beeing not baptized of him Luk. 7. ver 29 30. vide Matth. 8. ver 11 12. According to the first naturall property of water which is to refresh the weary or such as are ready to faint for thirst the same predictions of springs or waters bursting forth in the wildernesse did prefigure the internall comfort of the spirit wherewith Christ alone baptizeth vs. For though Iohn did plant and water those plants of righteousnesse yet was it Christ alone that gaue the increase And this internall baptisme was really fore-shaddowed not onely by figuratiue or Propheticall manner of speech but by historicall and reall matter of fact And so likewise was the externall baptisme by water literally foretold by the Prophet Isaias that it should be a type or signe of Christs baptisme with the Spirit This internal baptisme to omit other instances was really fore-shaddowed by the waters which issued out of the rocke in the Wildernesse when the people murmured against Moses Aaron as if they had brought thē forth out of Aegypt to haue killed them with thirst in the desart Now this wee take as granted that euery miracle which God wrought in the Old Testament was a true shaddow or picture of some great mystery to bee fulfilled in the New Testament or after the manifestation of Christ. In this the Iewes agree with vs onely they expect that the miracles which their Messias should worke should be more glorious to the eye of sense than those which Moses wrought But wee say they are not onely greater but of another kinde otherwise they shold not be true miraculous mysteries but meer miracles Now that the waters issuing out of the rock were a type or shaddow of this mystical baptisme of the Spirit wee haue the testimonies of the Prophet Esay Chap. 48. verse 28. before cited and of the Apostle 1. Cor. 10. vers 1 2 3 4. Brethren I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our Fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed thorow the Sea and were all baptized vnto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke For they dranke of that spirituall rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ. How was it Christ not literally not identically Christ according to the God-head was not so present in or so vnited to the rocke as he is now to our flesh yet was it Christ the second person in Trinity the Sonne of God which made the water wherewith the Israelites his people were comforted and refreshed in the extremity of their bodily thirst to issue out of the rocke when Moses smote it The mystery portended or fore-shaddowed by this miracle herein consists That the same Sonne of God who was truely God which gaue them plenty of water out of the rock should afterwards become the Rocke of our saluation the Fountaine of life vnto the thirsty and weary soule This internall baptisme which was thus really fore-shaddowed by the waters in the rocke was literally fore-told Psalm 36. vers 8 9. They shall bee abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of the Riuers of thy pleasures For with thee is the Fountaine of life in thy light shall wee see light 46. Amongst other senses in which the Scriptures of the Old Testament are said to bee fulfilled in the New one and that an especiall one as is elsewhere obserued is when such speeches as are by the Prophets most of all by the Psalmist indefinitely vttered of God but cannot be attributed to the Diuine nature otherwise then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by manner of speech borrowed from the customes or fashions of men doe imprint their strict and proper character vpon God made man and fit his actions as the Seale doth the print in Waxe The Diuine nature is life it selfe an Ocean of liuing waters which we cannot approch but the Diuine nature in Christ is as a Fountaine or Well of life from which euery thirstie soule may draw the water of life without stint without any danger of drowning himselfe or drawing it dry For it is more calme and placid than any Fountaine or Spring though more inexhaustible than the Sea According to this sense is that other place of the Psalmist fulfilled in Christ that is in God made man The Lord shall reigne for euer euen thy God O Sion vnto all Generations Psal. 146. v. 10. That the God of Sion as God should reigne for euer was no new thing no matter of wonder or worth notice-taking to any Inhabitant of Ierusalem or man of Iudah All of them from the least vnto the greatest knew well that Hee which had made the World had no beginning no end of dayes or soueraignety But that this God of Sion who was Lord likewise of
Iesus the King in their hearts his first comming had beene as dreadfull to the whole Land as the vnworthy receiuing of his body and blood was to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 11. God in his wisedome as some of the Fathers very well obserue had so ordained that the same Element by which the old world besides Noahs Family were destroyed should bee consecrated as an especiall meanes for preseruation of the new world The baptisme of water which Iohn administred was as a renouation or ratification of the promise which God had made to Noah a visible signe that GOD had freed the earth or Land of Iewry from that curse which Malachy speaks of and was withall a visible pledge or sacrament of a new blessing Whatsoeuer the curse or anger was which hanged at this time ouer the peoples head the Doue which descended vpon our Sauiour at his baptisme did bring to this generation a more expresse release from it and a more soueraigne pardon for all their sinnes than Noahs Doue did bring of Noahs and his families deliuerance from the curse of waters or from the danger of the Floud when she came with an Oliue branch in her mouth Now inasmuch as Iohns baptisme by water was as the medius terminus or as the way and passage betweene Noahs Arke and that holy Catholike Church which our Sauiour Christ was now to erect whereof Noahs Arke as you heard before was the expre type it is no maruell if that which was literally fulfilled or verefied in the dayes of Noah were fulfilled according to its emblematicall importance or mysticall sense in the dayes of Iohn or at his baptisme The congruity betweene Noahs Arke and the holy Catholike Church or new Ierusalem which was now to descend from heauen doth herein partly consist First not onely Noah and his Family but the Beasts as well cleane as vncleane which entred into the Arke were all preserued from bodily destruction So not onely the Off-spring of Abraham which was pre-figured by Noahs Family nor such Proselyâ—es onely of the Gentiles as were made visible members of the Iewish Church which answered in proportion to the cleane Beasts in Noahs Arke but euen the worst sort of the Gentiles such as had most oppugned the Children of Abraham in their Religion so they will be admitted into the Holy Catholique Church or mysticall body of Christ shall be as vndoubtedly preferued both in body and soule from the curse of Hell-fire as the vncleane Beasts which entred into Noahs Arke were from the curse of waters 58. That the admission of the Heathens which had been no Proselytes of the Iewish Church before into the Catholique Church now erected by Christ was prefigured by the vncleane beasts is more than probable vnto vs from the Vision which Saint Peter saw Acts 10. vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. Peter after his prayer became very hungry and would haue eaten but while they made readie he fell into a trance and saw Heauen opened and a certaine vessell descending vnto him as it had beene a great sheete knit at the foure corners and let downe to the earth wherein were all manner of foure-footed beasts of the earth and wilde beasts and creeping things and Fowles of the Ayre And there came a voyce to him Rise Peter kill and eate But Peter said Not so Lord for I haue neuer eaten any thing that is common or vncleane And the voyce spake vnto him againe the second time What GOD hath cleansed that call not thou common This was done thrice and the vessell was receyued vp againe into Heauen The opening of Heauen and the letting downe of the vessell wherein were all manner of beasts as well vncleane as cleane did signifie that the Kingdome of Heauen or gates of the new Ierusalem were now set open to all beleeuers and the way to true beliefe manifested to all of what Nation soeuer they were the one as open and the other as manifest to the Italians or Romanes which neuer had beene Proselytes as to the seed of Abraham or the Proselytes which they had made That matters of fact or emblematicall representations by vision or apparences are as truely doctrinall as words vttered and vnderstood according to the literall sense wee neede no further proofe than Saint Peters application of this vision vers 28. And hee said vnto them vnto Cornelius and his Italian friends and attendants Ye know how that it is an vnlawfull thing for a man that is a Iew to keepe company or come vnto one of another Nation but God hath shewed mee not in expresse words but by vision or representation emblematicall that I should not call any man common or vncleane Nor did Peter in expresse termes or conceit deem any man vnclean Onely hee had said whether in expresse words or in thought onely I haue neuer eaten any thing that is vncleane Yet when answere was made What God had cleansed that call not thou common hee knew by the circumstances of the time and by the tenor of Cornelius his message vnto him that God in this answer did not meane beasts or things edible but men represented by vncleane beasts whose vse the Lord at this time had sanctified vnto his people in token that men or Nations before vncleane were now capable of sanctification The mystery included in this vision was fulfilled in the baptisme with the Holy Ghost and was prefigured by the admission as well of Publicans Roman Souldiers as of Pharises Iewes or Proselytes vnto the Baptisme of Iohn Now S. Peters owne interpretation of this vision will warrant our former Interpretation of the Prophet Isay cap. 11. vers 6. as also of most other places in this Prophet which as you heard before were to bee vnderstood not according to the literall plaine and Grammaticall signification of the words but according to their poeticall or emblematicall importance Howbeit when we affirme that the aforesaid Prophesie Isay 11. vers 6. was specially fulfilled according to its poeticall parabolicall or emblematicall sense we no way deny that it might in part be verified or exemplified according to the plaine literall or historicall signification of the words Certainely it was so verified in our Sauiour whilest hee remained after his Baptisme in the Wildernesse And immediately after his Baptisme the Spirit driueth him into the Wildernesse And hee was there in the Wildernesse fortie dayes tempted of Satan and was with the wilde beasts and the Angels ministred vnto him Mark 1. ver 12 13. Wee doe not reade that any wilde beast or noysome creature of which the Wildernesse had plenty did eyther annoy our Sauiour or attempt any violence against him whilest hee was with them Wee doe not reade that Satan did euer tempt Him to encounter with a Lyon or a Beare as his Father Dauid had done or to tread on Serpents or Scorpions to see whether they would sting him or no because he saw by experience that this Iesus of
of the blessednesse here promised may partly bee gathered by this Induction as you heard before The blinde are happy the lame are happy the Lepers are happy the deafe and dead are happy therefore all are or at least there is none but might be happy so they would not be offended in mee But the same conclusion Blessed is hee whosoeuer shall not be offended in mee is more immediately contained in the last clause of the fift verse Pauperes euangelizantur and may bee inferred by way of Syllogisme thus Euery one that is euangelized is blessed but euery one that is not offended in mee is euangelized Ergo Euery one that is not offended in mee is blessed To be euangelized that is to haue the power and vertue of the Gospel imprinted vpon their soules is the highest degree of happinesse that in this life can be expected Beatum esse inest Euangelizato per se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All are so farre happy in this life as they are Euangelizati and no further so that of the maior proposition there is no question The minor Euery one that is not offended in Christ is Euangelizatus is thus inferred To be poore in spirit and not to bee offended in Christ are termes as Logicians speake reciprocall whosoeuer is poore in spirit is not apt to be offended in Christ and whosoeuer is not apt to bee offended in Christ is poore in spirit And againe none that are truely poore in spirit are apt to take offence at Christ and none that are apt to take offence at Christ are poore in spirit So that if the poore in spirit bee euangelized then all that are not offended in Christ are euangelized and all are so farre euangelized as they are not offended in him For Euangelium Christi est potentia Dei ad salutē The Gospel of Christ is the power of God vnto Saluation vnto all such as beeing inuited doe come to Christ without putting stumbling-blocks or matter of offence before their owne feete Whether to bee poore in spirit or not to be offended in Christ is first in order of time or nature were not so profitable to dispute It sufficeth vs to know that Christ was sent to anoint the poore in spirit with the oyle of gladnesse ex officio and that none are poore in spirit but such as are not offended in him Whence the poynts to be inquired after are but two The first What it is to be offended in Christ. The second Which be the speciall offences that are to be auoyded 82. Whosoeuer is not offended The word in the originall signifieth a stumbling-blocke or some hard body against which another may so strike or dash as it may hurt it selfe or be hindred in its motion or progresse The Latine offendo whence our English is deriued according to its prime and naturall signification imports as much as the Greeke doth For it is a compound of the old Verbe fendo now almost out of vse amongst the Latines which signifieth as much as to touch or smite whence the Latine defendere is as much as to warde or beare off This vse of the word defend is common in our English So we call him a Master of Defence that can teach others to warde off blowes or strokes or other annoyances that by darting or hurling may be intended against them And amongst Mariners to send off is as much as to preuent or hinder one ship from grating and falling foule vpon another And if we would follow the Latines as strictly in the proper vse of the word offendere as wee doe in the vse of the single Verbe fendo or of its compound defendo wee should say one ship offends another when one ship falleth foule vpon another For so a Latinist would expresse the English Nauis in nauim offendit for offendere is as much as impingere to hit or dash against In this propriety the Latine offendere is vsed Psalm 91. 12. They shall beare thee vp in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Ne offendas in lapidem c. Now because to offend or dash against hard bodies is displeasant and grieuous vnto sense Euery thing is hence said to offend vs that is displeasant and grieuous vnto vs or that hindereth vs in the prosecution of our will delights or pleasures Hence they are said in this secondary sense to bee offended in Christ that were displeased with his actions person or doctrine The issue or consequence of this mutuall offence taken by men at CHRIST or by GOD at men which contemne and spurne at his admonitions is excellently expressed by the Prophet Esay chap. 8. vers 13 14 15. Sanctifie the LORD of Hoasts himselfe and let him bee your feare and let him be your dread And he shall be for a Sanctuary to those that sanctifie his name and dread his power but for a stone of stumbling for a rocke of offences to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Ierusalem And many among them shall stamble and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken namely as many of both the houses of Israel as did not sanctifie his name or dread his power When he saith hee shall bee for a stone of stumbling this imports the issue and consequence not the end why this stone was layed in Sion For if the reuolting Iewes themselues did not therefore stumble that they might fall Rom. 11. 11. The end or reason why this stone was laid in Sion was not that they might either stumble or fall but many of them haue stumbled and falne many of them haue bin broken and insnared but they are broken and insnared because they stumbled and tooke offence where none was giuen and all this the Prophet did foretell to preuent a scandal or offence which the weake in faith or the Heathen which had not heard of Christ would haue taken vnlesse the lamentable euent of the Iewes which spurned and kicked at this stone had bin distinctly foretold and as it were painted out by the Prophet The meaning is as if he had said I see you will kicke or spurne at this precious stone or foundation which God hath promised to lay in Sion and seeing you will not be fore-warned take your pastime yet know withall that this your sporting with or spurning of this stone which your master-builders will reiect as beeing too base and vnsightly in their eyes will prooue but as the spurning of some wanton creature at the spring or ginne which they easily may remoue but beeing remoued it will bring the snare or trappe vpon them which they shall not be able to remoue or escape Our Sauiour Christ in his humiliation was as the spring or ginne at which the Iewes spurned but is since growne into the corner stone and shall become as the trappe and fall to crush and bruise all such as spurned at or contemned him in the
of the Iewes shall wee not heerein truely follow the true example of Christ if we doe the like On the contrary shall we not shew our selues to be none of his Disciples if wee vse or affect that liberty or singularity which hee neither did nor would vse although there were no authority in the earth to command him to conformity Lastly it may be obiected that many in the Primitiue Church who knew the Apostles practice better than the visible Church now doth did not receiue the Sacrament of Christs body and blood after the same manner as now we doe I am not ignorant of a scruple which many of the busie-brained Masters labour to instill into their Auditors heads though in other cases they can slight Antiquity at their pleasure yet in this case they haue been curiously Criticall to obserue out of the Fathers of the Greeke Church that they receiued the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is bowing indeed but not bowing their knees All this we grant for the Greeke Church at this day receiue the Sacrament standing on their feet yet bowing their bodies not their knees What is the reason To make a legge as we say or to bow the knee is a ceremony euen in expressions of ciuill courtesie ridiculous amongst them Howbeit they expresse their seuerall respect to their friends to their betters of what ranke soeuer as distinctly and curiously by seuerall manners of bowing their heads and bodies as wee can doe by making legges bowing the knee or kneeling vpon our knees And herein they are highly to be commended for reseruing a distinct kind of bending their bodies in expressing their submission towards God or Christ in their Liturgie or receiuing the Sacrament So then distingue loca concordant consuetudines Though the Greekes receiue the Communion standing and bowing their bodies whereas we receiue it with bended knees without bowing of our bodies yet heerein we fully agree that both we and they receiue it in the most decent and submisse manner for gesture or deportment of our bodies that we otherwise know or vse They receiue it standing and bowing the vpper part of their bodies because that is the best and most significant signe of subiection or submissiue obedience that is in vse amongst them wee receiue it kneeling because this is the best and most significant signe of submissiue obedience that is in vse or practice in these Westerne parts of Europe Did not some amongst vs poyson their naturall and ciuill affections with presumptuous conceits of extraordinary sanctity nature it selfe to whom our Apostle in like case aâ—pealeth would thorowly informe vs all that wee stand bound to receiue so great a blessing as in this Sacrament wee expect at the hands of our gracious God after the best and most submissiue maner of outward gesture and deportment that we know or can frame our bodies vnto 94. But if a man should aske Whether the rite or custome obserued in the Greeke Church or in our Church be in it selfe the more decent or significant or better befitting the vse or end of this Sacrament I dare confidently affirme that the ceremony or gesture obserued and commanded by our Church doth much better befit the vse and end of the Sacrament than the rite or ceremony obserued by the Greeke Church doth better than any other rite or manner can doe though otherwise as decent and sitting or more decent and fitting in all other parts of Gods seruice And my reason which I commend vnto your vnpartiall consideration is this that this Sacrament was not instituted in remembrance of the first institution of it or to represent the Apostles maner of receiuing of it but in remembrance of our Sauiours death and passion Whence I would request such as vrge our Sauiours example for a patterne of their behauiour or deportment at the Sacrament to looke vpon our Sauiours bodily gesture or deportment in the heat and extremity of his passion wherein hee presented himselfe before his Father in his agony and bloudy sweat in the Garden Being in this agony as St. Luke saith he presented these supplications vnto his Father Father if thou be willing remooue this cup from mee neuerthelesse not my will but thy will be done But after what manner or gesture of body did his perplexed soule vtter these earnest supplications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kneeling or fixing his knees vpon the ground 95. If I should haue spent the whole time alotted onely in exhorting or preparing you to the fit worthy receiuing of this Sacrament I could not haue said more or more to the purpose than the contemplation of our Sauiour in this agony doth at first view present vnto all of vs that will lay it to heart And it is in a word this that you would make his prayer commutatis commutandis a patterne for your prayers his gesture in presenting his prayers to his Father a patterne of your gesture or deportment whilest you celebrate the memory of his passion specially whilest you make application of the benefit of his passion to your selues by receiuing the visible pledges of his body bloud which I hope you doe not meane to receiue without feruent prayer that God will passe ouer your sinnes and not enter into iudgement with you You need not you may not interpose that condition in your prayer which our Sauiour did in his Father if it be possible let this cuppasse from mee So great was his good-nesse towards vs his louing kindnesse so tender that he purchased vnto vs better certainty and better assurance that our prayers may be heard than he had that his owne prayers should bee heard in this particular Therfore it was not possible that this cup should passe from him that it might be possible for it to passe from all and euery one of vs. Pray we then but let vs pray with bended knees euery man for himselfe and euery man for his fellow-Communicant Heauenly FATHER seeing thou art willing so to haue it let thy cup of thy wrath and displeasure passe from vs and let thy cup of thy blessing be euer amongst vs O cause not any of vs to drink of that bitter cup which thy onely Sonne our onely Sauiour hath swallowed for vs. Expose vs not good FATHER to those bloudy and grieuous conflicts with the powers of Hell and darkenesse which thy Sonne sustayned for vs. Oh lay no more vpon vs than thou shalt giue vs strength and patience through him and for him â—â— vndergoe and vanquish Make vs to triumph as Conquerours in this victory ouer Hell and Satan ouer all the power of the enemy Thus praying whilest wee celebrate the memory of his agony and bloudy sweat with knees bended as his in that agony were on the ground and with hearts lifted vp to heauen where he now sits at the right hand of God My life for yours my soule for your soules if herein