in the end of Q. Curtius goes under Alexanders name to tell the Athenians that they should overcome their Enemies the Dorenses and the Lacedemonians that they should prevaile against the Persians if their King should be slain in the field and Brutus that hee should have the government of Rome who should first kiss his old Mother the Earth they be things purely contingent and such as the Devill by his owne knowledge could never reach unto What shall we say of the Sybills and their Prophesies peradventure some of them are spurious and illegitimate such as that of Sybilla Erithraea in Eusebius and Augustine where the first letter of every verse being put together make up these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that of the same Sibyll which Munster hath borrowed I know not out of what Author In ultima aetate humiliabitur deus humanabitur proles divina unietur humanitati divinitas jacebit in faeno agnus puellari educabitur officio and that of I know not which Sibylla cited by Lactantius and Austin In manus iniquas infidelium veniet dabunt deo alapas manibus incestis impurato ore expuent venenatos sputus c. He shall come into the hands of the wicked and they shall buffet him with their fists and with impure mouths shall spit upon him c. All which and many such like were I am perswaded forged by Christians to make the Gospel more passable amongst the Gentiles especially seeing amongst none of Gods Prophets no not in Isaiah himselfe whom Hierom calls not only a Prophet but an Apostle and Evangelist are extant such clear testimonies touching Christ Yet surely that in Virgils Eglogs was never as yet questioned by any which the Poet finding in the books of Sibylla Cumaea and gathering by the first letter of every verse as Ludovicus Vives thinkes that the time was at hand when that Prophesie should take place applyed that to Saloninus the sonne of Asinius Pollio which can be fitted to none save Christ the redeemer of the world Vltima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas What Verses be these Let us heare them at least let us have the sense of them A strange exchange in course of things This present time unto us brings The Maide is come'd the Iron age is spent A new borne Babe Gods dearest Son From highest Heaven is sent Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo Jam redit virgo redeunt Saturnia regna Jam nova progenies caelo dimittitur alâ—â— Chara dei soboles And what benefit shall he bring to mankinde He shall save his people from their sins Hoc duce si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri Jrrita perpetuà solvent formidine terras And as it followes a little after The Serpent shall be kil'd and th' of poyson dead Our Ladies Rose from Syâ—ian land through all the World shall spread Occidet Serpens fallax herba veneni Occidet Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum What is this Serpent but that wily Serpent that deceived our first Parents What 's this Fallax herba veneni but sinne And what is this Assyrium amomum but the Balme of Gilead or to give it its English name our Ladies Rose or the Herbe of Jerusalem the Gospel of Christ begun to be Preached at Jerusalem a City in Assyria for Palaestina was then vulgarly accounted part of Assyria according to Christs direction and thence dispersed into every corner of the World See Constantines Oration Ad Caelum sanctorum fidelium cap. 20. in Eusebio These things are so plaine that a learned Rabbin amongst our Adversaries unto whom we appeale in this point Let our enemies be Judges Deut. 32. is not ashamed to confesse that Prophetae demonum non semper loquuntur ex demonum revelatione sed interdum ex inspiratione divinâ And another that God sometimes permitted amongst the Gentiles some Prophets to foretell future things And a third in his Commentary upon this Text that false Prophets have truly Prophesied The truth of this Proposition being confirmed unto us by such a cloud of witnesses I wonder what came in Bellarmines head to make Lumen Propheticum a mark of the true Church especially where he proposeth to speak of such notes by which it may most easily be distinguished from all false Religion of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans and such as are proper and againe such as though they make it not evidently true which is the true Church yet they make it evidently credible not probable onely for that 's the weaknesse of our Notes as he saith nay amongst those which admit the Scriptures and Histories and Writings of the ancient Fathers and all these we admit Faciunt etiam evidentiam veritatis Shall we count him a Master in Israel that speaks thus Doth that make it evidently appeare which is the true Church doth that difference true Religion from all false Religion of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans or is that proper Quarto modo to the Church which all Sectaries Apostates Hereticks Jewes Gentiles Devils may challenge But let us follow Bellarmine a little further and leave these slippery Snakes no think to creep out at I demand had the Gentiles no true Prophesies amongst them Imo multa falsa saith he but because they had many false had they therefore none true Speak plainly were there no true predictions of future things amongst the Pagans No forsooth Nisi forsaâ— fierent in testimoniuÌ„ nostrae fidei ut fuerunt vaticinia Sibyllarum Baalami Very well And if these were true how is lumen prophetitum proper to the true Church But we will not stand upon this advantage let us grant that there were no true Predictions amongst the Ethnicks save onely such as were for the confirmation of the Catholick faith and that all others were of such things as had naturall causes though unknowne to men known to Spirits by reason of their subtill nature and quick apprehension Verily seeing neither the reasons thereof were knowne nor the Spirit from which this knowledge proceeded could be discerned they might and may as truely be tearmed Prophesies as any of those which the Papists brag of and if they were not Prophesies indeed yet were they so in the opinion of men Saltem ipsorum opinione is a strong argument with Bellarmine to infringe the Notes which our Divines have set downe Let some of his side answer it Thales for seeing by Astronomicall Observation the abundance of Olives which would be the next yeare might by the Chians and Milesians which knew not the reason of it be counted a Prophet Columbus was for a lesse prediction little lesse respected by the barbarous Indians then Paul and Barnabas was by them of Lystra when they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Merourie This man being in great distresse in an Island the Inhabitants denying him all kinde of releife he understanding that shortly after there would
lose the goale of everlasting felicity but a true Christian must be constant in his course he must resemble the sunne which comes forth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to runne his course and yet in one thing he must be unlike the sun he ascendeth above the horizon in the morning and travaileth to the meridian where he sheweth himself in his best strength at noon-day but from that hour he declineth and casteth his beams more and more obliquelie waxing faint by degrees till at length he hide himselfe under the western horizon a Christian must not be like the afternoon sunne he must still strive towards the top of Heaven he must never decline let all the powers of Hell stand in his way they shall never make him runne away perhaps they will beate him downe on his knees but then he fals to prayer if they bring him to the ground then he is humbled and so Antaeus like stronger then he was before perhaps they may violenly drive him backwards but yet he will strive against them and passe through the midst of them as our Saviour passed amongst the Jewes when they would have stoned him dangers before him honors and worldly preferments behind him riches on the right hand pleasures on the left hand all these shall not make him discontinue his course but with greater speed to flie towards Heaven as a Dove into the window he must keep a streight course like the two kine that carried the Arke from Ekron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left Thus have we seen what a danger it is for a man to fall into such sinnes as he hath once left to drinke the deadly poyson of iniquitie after he hath once been recovered to runne into the danger of his spirituall enemies after he hath been once cured of his wounds that were inflicted upon him it may here be demanded whether a man relapsing into sinne may repent and so be again received into Gods favour Montanus the Heretick denied all hope of salvation after a relapse This Heresie was by the Novatians who for their uprightness did proudly tearm themselves Cathari Puritans The Donatists who were the right Cathari because they deemed their Church love without spot or wrinkle refused to communicate with such as they suspected to be polluted with any sinne Tertullian who was much addicted to the heresies of the Montanists insomuch that in his old age he became a Montanist granteth that a man may once repent after a relapse but no more then once And of this opinion saith B. Rhenanus were many old writers and amongst others St. Austin but Austin meaneth only that publick repentance which he calleth humilima poenitentia and Lombard and the school-men tearm poenitentia solennis which was imposed onely for such grievous offences as whereby a Citie or Common-Wealth was greatlie scandalized And the reason why it was but once granted by the Church was lest the medicine being made too common should lesse profit the sick as Austin speaks in an Epistle written to Macedonius in which Epistle he plainly averreth that a sinner relapsing after this solemne repentance and afterward repenting of his fall may obtaine a pardon at the hands of God But wee have a better witnesse of this point then Austin even God that cannot lye who by the mouth of his Prophet hath promised that Whensoever the wicked turneth from his wickednesse that he hath done and shall doe that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soule and live And therefore be not dismaied thou faint and drooping soul which hast fallen into such sinnes as were somtimes hateful in thine eyes It may be that Sathan will object the place of the Apostle before cited if wee sinne willingly c. for answer whereof thou must know that the Apostle speaketh not of every kind of backsliding But First Of that which is committed with a full consent of the Will if wee sinne willingly and this the child of God after his conversion can never commit because he is partly flesh and partly Spirit so that though the carnall part be still ready to draw him unto most hainous and grosse sinnes yet the Spirit is at his elbow ready to pull him back againe it is unto him as the Angel was to John when he was ready to worship him see thou doe it not said the Angel see thou doe it not said the Spirit or as Abigail was to David who met him in the way as he was going to kill Naball and disswaded him from that bloodie fact and though it doe not still prevaile by reason that the flesh is like an headstrong horse that can hardly be curbed yet it prevaileth thus farre that the Will giveth not his absolute consent to the committing of such sinnes and again the Apostle meaneth not every sinne wherein the Will yeildeth his full assent for without doubt the elect before their conversion fall into such sinnes but of a generall malicious and purposed revolting from the knowne truth and a proud and scornsul rejecting of the blood of Christ once offered for sinne such as was in Julian who first professed Christianitie but afterward became a most bloodie Persecutor of Christians even till his last gaspe so that when he was deadlie wounded with an Arrow and ready to yield up the Ghost he thrust his hand into the wound and threw his blood into the aire crying blasphemously against the Sonne of God Vicisti Galilee O Galilean thou hast overcome So that this place is understood of sin against the holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come of which also the Apostle speaketh Heb. 6. 4 5. 6. it is impossible that they which were once lightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost if they fall away shall be renewed by repentance In which places if every relapse were understood then who should be saved for the dearest of Gods Children have sliden backwards after their conversion Lot into incest Noah into drunkennesse David to murther and adulterie Solomon to Idolatrie Peter to forswearing his Lord and Master 2. The consideration whereof made Constantine bid Acesius a Novatian Bishop who refused to communicate with such as had fallen after baptisme set a ladder for himselfe to climbe into Heaven noting his intollerable pride as if he and his followers had guided their feet so well that they had never slid after baptisme It is very dangerous to commit such sinnes as have been once left and forsaken as hath been already proved but yet Gods Children have no particular priviledge For First their inbreâ—d corruption though it be quelled yet it is not killed And therefoâ—e it is still ready to give them the foile and carrie them captives to the Law of sin again the causes remain which may move God to give over his Children a little unto themselves and
time will I waite till my changeing shall come Whence this note doth naturally arise That in this life in the regenerate man there is a combat and conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit A naturall man of himselfe is like a heavie bodie which in a well disposed medium moveth downwards of it self without resistance he goes downwards without violence nay praecipitat non descendit he throwes himselfe downe as Sathan would have perswaded Christ to cast himself downe from the Pinacle of the Temple and doth not descend downe by staires but a regenerate and spirituall man as he cannot easily fall downe being holden up with the two wings of saith and hope so can he not easily ascend being pressed down by a weighty burthen too heavie for him to beare he is like to the Gyant under Sicily Nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe Dextrae sed Ausonio manus est subjectae Peloro Laeva Pachine tibi Lylibaeo crura premuntur Aetna caput Upon his right hand lye presumptuous sins upon his left honour and feare upon his feet and thighs the lusts and affections of the flesh upon his head blindness and ignorance doubting and unbeliefe so that oftentimes the good which he would that he cannot doe but the evill which he would not that he doth or he may be compared to a man that swims against the stream with much ado he gets upward but if he misse the stroke the streame carryeth him back again or to one which ascendeth up to the top of a Hill with a but then on his back much panting and sweating hath he before he can get up and if his foot chance to slip so heavie is the load on his back that he will hardly recover himself without a fall the spirit strives against the streame to swim up to the fountaine of goodnesse and the flesh strives to beat him back and as it were with an easie tyde to carrie him down into the Ocean of sin and iniquitie the spirit strives to creep up the hil upon hand and foot as Jonathan and his armour bearer did between the two rocks Bozez and Seneh when they went against the Philistims but the flesh striveth to beate him backward and to tumble him down like Nebuchadnezzars stone from the top of the mountain so that it fareth with a regenerate man as it did with Rebecca when she was with Child the flesh and the spirit fight and strugle one with another as the Children did in her womb so saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to another so that wee cannot doe the thing which we would which is not so to be understood as though the body fought against the soule or that these two the flesh and the spirit were locally separated for as the flesh is partly spirituall so the spirit is partly carnall these two are mingled and joyned in both body and soule and in every part and facultie thereof In the understanding there is knowledge mixed with ignorance and blindness there is spirit mixed with flesh in the Will there is a willing and a nilling in the affections there is a desiring and forsaking of that which is good as Medea in the Poet had between naturall reason and carnall appetite Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor The reason is manifest For as a Child becomes not a perfect man in an instant but groweth by little and little So after our regeneration when we are new born of water and the spirit wee become not presently strong men in Christ Jesus but wee grow dayly in perfection wee ascend as it were up Iacobs ladder wee climb from one degree or staire of perfection to another till all imperfections be removed from us For howsoever justification be actus individum simul totus as judicious writer truly aver-Justification is an individuall act and admits of no degrees yet sanctification comes by parts and degrees for it fareth with him as it doth with cold water when it is made hot by fire as the cold is by degrees expelled so is the heate brought in by degrees omnis remissio est per admissionem contrarii In like manner as the old man which like the earth is cold perisheth so the new man heated by the fire of the spirit quickneth and reviveth and again as there is a strugling and mutuall conflict and encountring betwixt the the contrary qualities Frigida cum calidis pugnant humentia siccis One indeavouring to captivate and destroy the other so it is betwixt these two the spirit indeavoureth to conquer the flesh but like a naturall agent agendo repatitur it suffereth blows of the flesh which rebelleth against it and leadeth it captive to the law of sinne only here is the difference that two contrary qualities may be so tempered as that a mean consisting of both and not specifically distinguished from both may be produced of them but the flesh and the spirit will never make one and therefore the spirit saith to the flesh as Alexander did to Darius who offered him half of his kingdome so that he might quietly enjoy the other half but as one world cannot have two suns so one kingdom must not have two kings and therefore 't wil endeavour utterly to dispossesse the flesh and depose it from its estate which it holdeth in man as Alexander did to depose Darius from his kingdom it can no more live in agreement with the flesh then Sarah could with Hagar and her sonne and therefore it saith as she did to Abraham Cast out this bond-woman and her sonne for the sonne of the bond-woman may not be heire with my sonne Isaac Of heate and cold may be made one individuall quality which wee call luke-warme but the flesh and the spirit cannot be mixed no Christian may be luke-warm for such will Christ spue out of his mouth Thus you see that so long as a Christian remaineth in this world so long there is a contention betwixt the regenerate and carnall part the flesh which like a Zopyrus keeps within the wals of the City is ever ready to betray him unto his enemies hands it is to him as the Canaanites were to the Israelites thorns in their eys and pricks in their sides so that a Christian may say of it as David did of Absalom Even my sonne which comes out of my bowels seeks my life or take up that complaint which the Prophet doth elswhere it is not my open enemie that doth me this dishonour for then peradventure I could have borne it neither was it mine adversarie that did magnifie himselfe against me for then peradventure I could have hid my selfe from him but it is thou my guide and mine own familiar friend my flesh which eatest my bread that liftest up thy heele against me on the other side the spirit seeks to root out the earthy affections
and lusts of the flesh as the Hebrews by little and little rooted out the Cananites it seeketh to represse this rebellion as David did the plots of his son Absalom Experience we have in the main pillars of the spirituall Temple David a man after Gods owne heart so moved at the prosperity of the wicked that he begins to say that certainly he hath cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in innocencie there is a carnall David which make his feet almost to goe and his steps well-nigh to slip but when he goeth in the Sanctuarie of God then he understandeth the end of these men there is spirituall David which makes him condemn his former thoughts and speeches so foolish was I and ignorant even as it were of a Beast before thee Peter who sometime was so confident as to continue true unto his Master that he made protestation that if all should deny him yet he would never doe it presently after he begins to follow afarre off and anon after the rock of Peters faith is so shaken with the voice of a damosel that he begins to curse and sweare that he never knew him but presently again at the crowing of a Cock the spirit is awakened and goes about to take some avengement of the flesh he went out and wept bitterly who more strong in the spirit then Paul was in zeale fervent in labours abundant in nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles and yet he hath given him a prick in the flesh the Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which makes him say when he would doe good evill is present with him and that he finds a Law in his Members rebelling against the law of the mind and carrying him captive to the law of sinne and good reason it should be so for if the spirit should so domineer over the flesh then there were no resistance and reluctation then would we not have an earnest and longing desire to be out of this world we would not with the faithfully say Come Lord Jesus come quickly we would not desire to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven but would say as Peter did Master it is good for us to be here To end then that wee should long after our future perfection when corruption shall put on incorruption and mortallity shall be swallowed up of immortallity we find this conflict in our own bowels that we may be wearie of this present state and say as Rebecca did when Esau and Iacob strugled in her womb if it be so why am I thus Only here is our comfort that though the flesh be still lusting against the spirit and we have more flesh then spirit for flesh is like to Goliath the spirit is like to little David yet the spirit shall be in the end sure to prevaile as David prevailed against Goliath for though it be little in quantity yet it is fuller of activity as a little fire hath more action though lesse resistance then much earth for it fareth with these two as with the house of Saul and David the spirit like the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger but the flesh like the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker it is with them as it was with John Baptist and Christ I must decrease saith John but he must increase the flesh which like John is before it must decrease but the spirit which like Christ comes after whose shoe latchet the flesh is not worthy to loose it must grow and increase and this is plain and of this place for whereas the flesh objecteth that man is sick and perisheth and where is he and again If a man dye shall he live again the Spirit replyeth and puts the flesh to silence All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come Is it true beloved Christians That the Children of God yea even in such as have obtained the greatest perfection that a meer man hath obtained in this life there is reluctation between the flesh and the spirit Oh then let as many of us as long after life and desire to see good daies even life everlasting and daies which never shall have an end Let us I say labour to subdue this Rebel and bring it into subjection to the Spirit for it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh will profit nothing The flesh is like Caligula who as Tacitus saith of him was a good servant but an ill master It will be a good servant if we keep it in subjection to the spirit but it will be an exceeding bad master if it once get the upper hand and it will use the spirit as the Scythians servants dealt with their masters who when their masters had for many years warred in the Southern parts of Europe and Asia in the mean time married their wives and got possession of whatsoever they had and therefore we must use it as these Scythians used their servants who when they could not prevail against them with open war at length handled them like servants and slaves took rods and beat them and so recovered their ancient possessions We must not proceed against the flesh as against an equal enemy but we must use rods and scourges we must chasten and correct it and so bring it again in subjection to its lawful commander It is like the dumb divel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting we must implore the assistance of Gods spirit being of our selves unable that we may be strengthened and enabled to overcome it we must by fasting withdraw its food wherewith it is nourished I do not mean only our meat and drink but all worldly delight and enticing allurements to sin wanton and idle spectacles they be food of our carnal eyes these we must withdraw away and with Job Make a covenant with our eyes that we will not look upon wantonness foolish and undecent speeches be the delight of the tongue those we must remove away and pray with David Set a watch O Lord before our mouthes and keep the dore of our lips In a word whatsoever will be an incitement to sin and is like to strike fire in the tinder of our corrupt affections that must be debarred and kept from them Let us then use the flesh as the enemy useth a besieged City observe and watch the by-wayes that there be no intercourse or secret compact between it and Sathan that there be no provision carried by Sathan and his vassals into it that so it may be inforced to yeild it self or as the Hunters use Mole and Foxes in the earth stop the passages that through hunger it may be at last inforced to come out and leave its habitation otherwise if by excessive eating and drinking we nourish it if by gorgeous and costly attire wee deck it if by epicureous and voluptuous delights wee pamper it what doe we but arme our enemies against us and
Gods foole and the second the Kings To speak a little of either of these by themselves the first is our Statute-Proteâ—tant our indifferent Apelles our hollow-hearted Interimist our luke-warm Laodicean which howsoever he make an outward shew and profession of Religion yet he counts no more of it then the Gaderens did of Christ who made more reckoning of their swine then they did of him And this man rather then for Christs cause he should lose a swine hee can be contented that Christ should part out of his Coasts He will make an outward shew to the world as if he did love and reverence the truth he will perform the outward works thereof as farre as the law of man binds him but all without a simple and sincere heart only upon some sinister respects and indifferent considerations As 1. because he will not be singular but desires to live at unity with the people with whom he converseth 2. For feare of humane Laws 3. Religion is to him as a faire Cloak to a beggerly Swaggerer it hides his rotten rags and keeps him from wind and weather 4. Peradventure it serves him as a ladder to advance him unto some preserment and as soon as he hath attained the top of his hopes he cares not though he push it down with his heels Now because he makes no account of Religion but only as an instrument to effect his owne private purposes hereupon it falls out that he is ready to embrace any Religion or no religion as the circumstance of persons time and place shall require For as they fable of the Sea-god called Proteus that he doth always resemble the colour of the Rock upon which he lies or as Glass reflects the visage of him that shall look upon it or as water forms it selfe according to the fashion of the vessel into which it is powred so he is always ready to joyne in profession with them with whom he liveth and converseth the reason in all is the same the Proteus and the Glasse have no perfect colour nor visage of their owne and therefore they reflect the colour and visage of others that are next unto them The water hath no figure of his owne for humidum suis terminis non est terminabile and therefore it applies it selfe to the vessel that contains it And this man hath no Religion of his owne it is enough for him if he have some species and reflection thereof from others By this unstablenesse and mutability of profession may this hypocrite be discerned and distinguished from a true Professour For as wild Apes are catched while they imitate the motions and dancing of men so may this same Ape be catched and disclosed by framing his Religion to the disposition and affection of others For though hee hath no man save himselfe in his Pater Noster yet hee hath every man in his Creed because every mans Creed for the time is his This Countrey is full of this kinde of Vermin I have found it too often amongst the meaner sort and I pray God that all of you that are Gentlemen and of place and authority in the countrey could wash your hands from this sinne I charge no particular I cannot For no man knows the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him Only let me crave leave to propose a few queries and let every man upon the examination of his own heart at his best leasure return an answer Is there any among you any Pharisee that under a colour of long prayers devours widows houses Any Absolom that under pretence of performing a vow practiseth rebellion against his father Any Jezabel that under a colour of executing Judgement sucketh the blood from guiltlesse Naboth If there be as I hope there will a non est inventus returned upon all these Let me go a little further Is there any Ambidexter that can play with both hands Any Satyr that can blow both cold and hot out of the same mouth Any Jew that can swear by God by Malchom Any Assyrian that can serve God and his Idols Is there any that can be contented to hear a Sermon in the Church and to see a Masse at home That yoaketh an Oxe and an Asse in the same Plow and weareth Linnen and Woollen in the same Garment and soweth his field with mingled seeds To speake plain English that hath not Joshuah's resolution I and my house will serve the Lord but comes himselfe to Church leaves his wife to say over her Beads at home and permits to his children and familie greater liberty in their Religion then in their Garments to shape what fashion they like best I pray God there be no such if there be I pray God turn their hearts that there may be no such but those that will maugre what can be said or done unto them continue such and hang like a Thiefe upon a Gibbet between Heaven and Hell God and the Devil the Pope and the King It were to be wished they were handled by the Magistrate as Tullus Fostilius dealt with Motius Suffetius when hee stood indifferently affected between the Romans and the Fidenates or used as Birds use the flying fish because it is a master in the Sea the Dolphin persecutes it there and because it is a master in the Aire the Fowls set upon it there So because they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither Protestants nor Papists it matters not if they were expelled out of both their Elements If not yet let them fear and heare Laodiceas censure Rev. 3. 16. I speak not these things out of any spleen to any particular persons what soever he that knows the thoughts of my heart knows that I lie not my worst wish to any of you is the salvation of his own soule in the day of Jesus Christ I am perswaded far better things of many of you and for others as far as charity binds me I judge the best and therefore if any be offended at my speech it is scandalum acceptum non datum not I but his owne guilty conscience that deserves the blame If I should in this place seek to please man I were no fit Ambassador of Christ As long as the Chyrurgeon works according to the rules of his Profession let his Patient weep and cry and complain of cruelty yea and scratch him on the face he needs not care for it And he that rides in the street armed on every side from top to toe what counts he if all the dogs of the Town bark at him As long as a man is faithfull in his Vocation and without feare or favour of man doth those things that are proper to his place Hic murus aheneus esto He is armed on every side with Gods protection and therefore may say with David The Lord is on my Side I will not feare what man can do unto me But let us come to the other Hypocrite which I called the Kings Fool this is
dealing holily and hating covetousness and such I hope all are that be here present Now that which I have spoken concerning them that are deceitfull and unconscionable is no more a disgrace unto these and their Calling then it was to Christs Apostles that one of them was a Judas or to the Leviticall Priests that one of them was a Caiphas or to the Sons of God the good Angels Jobâ— that the Prince of darkness the Devil was one of their company Only this one thing let me beseech them to take notice of the better that any thing is the more dangerous it is when it is abused Can there be any thing more necessary then Fire and Water when they keep their proper places displace them remove the fire from the hearth into the house-top and astus incendia volvunt it indangereth the whole Town remove the River out of its Channell into the mowne Meadowes and new grown Corn and Sternit agros sternit sata laeta boumque labores It sweepes away the Câ—râ— and makes havock of all Was there ever Creature that God made more excellent then the Angels and yet those Angels that fell and kept not their first Estate no Creature under Heaven so hurtfull and dangerous as they Come to man is there any calling if ye respect publick peace so necessary as the Magistrate whom God hath set in his own room and stiled with his own name If yee respect the Soule of man so worthy as the Minister if yee respect the health of Body so necessary as the Physitian if yee respect the outward and temporall Estate so requisite as the Lawyer But if these abuse their places if the Magistrate under a colour of executing of Justice practise Tyranny if the Minister for sound Doctrine preach Heresie if the Physitian instead of wholesome Physick minister poyson to his Patients who so pernicious So likewise the Lawyer if in stead of opening and explaining the Lawes and defending the right and standing in the gap that falshood and wrong may not enter he labour to smother the Law and outface the truth and patronize falshood who more hurtfull then he The more you are to be exhorted for you are all but men and no man walke he never so uprightly but he is subject to fall to walke worthy of that excellent vocation whereunto you are called love your Freinds honour the Mighty regard your Clients respect your Fees The labourer is worthy of his hyre But preferr truth and a good conscience before them all and let neither might nor feare nor Client nor Freind nor Fee nor any thing in the World cause you to make shipwrack of a good conscience or to give leave to your tongues which as the Heathen man said should be Oracles of the truth to be Bauds and Brokers for an ill cause remembring that that description which old Cato and Quintilian gave of an Orator as it agreeth to us that are Ministers so to you also that are Lawyers Viz. that he is Vir bonus dicendi peritus and therefore as he must be Dicendi peritus a good Speaker to must he also be Vir bonus a good liver Enough of this To conclude this first generall Point and so to descend unto the second for I will not now trouble you with the other two properties of a Sheep seeing the Dove-like or sheep-like simplicity is a virtue wherwith every Member of Christs Flock must be qualified we are all to be exhorted and let me say unto you with Saint Austine Hortor vos omnes charissimi meque hortor vobiscum I beseech you yea and my selfe with you to avoid hypocrosie and that the rather because it is a sin unto which all Adams Posterity are yea though they be regenerate by the spirit of God in a greater or lesser degree subject To this purpose we are to labour for single hearts because these are the soul of our actions without which well they may have a being yet have they neither life nor moving For as the Body when the Soul is separated from it how comely soever it be in outward form will presently stink and become noysome so all our words and actioâ—s whether they concern Piety or honesty God or our Neighbour if the heart be not joyned with them are but stinking Carrion and filthy Abominations in the Nostrils of Almighty God The second generall Point is the unity of Christs Church she is but as one Flock as the Sheep under one Shepheard though never so many do all concur to the making of one and the same numericall Flock So all Christians though never so dispersed over the Globe of the Earth being fed in the green Pastures of the Lord which are beside the waters of comfort do make but one and the same individuall Church And this the very word it selfe doth imply if we look into his Parentage in the Greek tongue viz. a Congregation or collection of many particulars into one society and city of God for which cause she is called one undefiled Love Cant. 6. 8. one Body Ephe. 4. 4. within which nothing is dead without which nothing is alive as Hugo speaks one Sheepfold John 16 Figured by one fleece of Gideon which was wet with the Dew of Heaven when all the ground beside was dry shadowed by the Arke of Noah wherein eight Persons were saved when all the rest or the World was drowned the Boards of which Arke were conglutinated and pitched together within and without within that she should not loose her own and without Ne admitteret alienam that she should not leake in forrain waters as a Donatist did not unfitly expound it or rather as Austine moralizeth it Vt in compagine unitatis significetur tolerantia charitatis ne scandalis ecclesiam tentantibus sive abâ—ijs quritus abijs sive quae foris sunt cedat fraterna junctura solvatur vinculum pacis August contra Faustum lib. 12. Chap. 14 reason 1. In respect of Christ the Shepheard is one therefore the Flock but one the Bridegroome one therefore the Spouse but one the Head one therefore the Body but one In this respect Cyprian holds the whole Church one Bishoprick not that his meaning is that any one man should be ministeriall head of the whole church in Christs corporal absence that the Bishop of Rome for that were to marry the chast Spouse to two Husbands instead of a faithful Spouse to make her a filthy Harlot Cyprians words wil admit no such Interpretation unus est episcopatus c. And what account he made of the Bishop of Rome which then was a man of better worth then al those Magogs who have possessed that Chaire for a thousand yeares last past it may appeare by this that he contemned his Authority vilipended his Letters opposed his Councell to his his Chaire to his called him a proude man an ignorant man a blinde man and little better then a Schismatick It is then one
Bishoprick in respect of Christ the Bishop of our Soules 1 Pet. 2. 25. The sole oecumenicall and universall President of the whole Church So then as there are many Beames proceeding from the same Sun yet one Sun in which they are United many branches growing from one Tree yet one roote wherein they are conjoyned many Rivers yet one Sea wherein they all meet many lines in a circle but one Center wherein they all concur So the Members of Christs Church though in respect of themselves they be divers yet they have all but one beginning one Spring one roote one Head one Center and in this respect all but one as one in respect of the Head so in respect of the Spirit which animateth every Member thereof This is the soule that informs the whole Church it is that Intellectus agens of which Philosophers have so much dreamed which is Vnas numero in every Member of Christs mysticall Body So that as the integrall Members of mans Body though of themselves they be specifically distinct flesh bones nerves muscles veines arteries c. Every one of them having a peculiar essentiall and specificall form yet being informed with one humane Soule they are but integrall parts of the same man So all Christians in the World though in sex and state and degree and calling and Nation and language they be different yet being regenerated and animated with the same spirit they are but integrall Members of one and the selfe same Church 3. One in respect of Faith and Religion and profession contained in the sacred volume of the Bible the two Brests of the Church out of which Christs Lambs do suck the sincere Milke of the word that they may grow thereby The two Cherubims that with mutuall counterview do face the mercy Seate that is Christ the two great lights that inlighten the World the old like the Moon to rule the night the new like the Sun to rule the day that for the Patriarks this for us the two Pillars to leade us from Egypt to Canaan the old of a Cloud dark and obscure in figures and shadowes the other of fire bright and cleare both of them making one and absolute rule of our faith and profession she is then one because one spirit quickeneth her one because one rule directeth her that is the essentiall form this is the proper passion flowing from this form by which the Church a Posteriori may be demonstrated For they are my Sheep saith Christ which heare my voice John 10. 27. thus then briefly one Spouse one love one Dove one Body one Fleece one Arke on Spirit one Faith one Religion one Head one Shepheard one Flock Here to come to so me application give me leave to use the Apostles protestation I say the truth in Christ Jesus Ilye not my conscience bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart and with the Prophet Jeremy could wish that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the Schismes and divisions that are at this day in the Christian world There was a time there was Woe worth that unhappy Tense there was but Est bene non possum dicere dico fuit I cannot say there is I must needs speak as it is There was a time when the whole Church of God in all places of the world was of one heart and one minde of one accord and of one judgment And howsoever there was and ever will be some difference about some circumstances of no great weight yet was there not the least discrepance amongst them in any one essentiall point of our faith Vna agebat in omnibus membris divini spiritus virtus erat omnibus anima una fidei propositum idem divinitatis celebratio omnibus una Euseb lib. 10. hist Eccl. Chap. 3. in somuch that as when any member of the body is ill affected all the rest do conspire to cure it or when a house is set on fire the whole town will run to quench it So if any heresie happened to spring in any part of the World their common desire was to crush the serpents head to make it like Ionas his gourd of short continuance and to smother it in the birth and make it like the untimely fruit of a Woman which perisheth afore it see the Sun they did conspire to heale the affected member and did concu to stay the flame from further combustion Thus did they from the most parts of the world concur at Nice against Arius at Constantinople against Macedonius at Ephesus against Nestorius at Chalcedon against Entiches Thus was the head of Britaines snake as Prosper Aquitanus tells Pelagius crushed by provinciall Synods in most places of Christendome And long before these times when as yet there was not a Christian Emperour thus they dealt with Montanus in many of their Synods And at Antioch against Paulus Samosatenus they met from all Churches under Heaven as it were against a common theife that stole the Sheep out of Christs flock But now O times the one and undivided spouse of Christ is like a Traytor drawn and quattered the North and the South the Orient and the Occident each differ from other in sundry materiall and essentiall points of Faith And here in the West that Church whose faith was once famous through the whole world which was as a Beacon upon an hill a guide for all the Churches round about her a Sanctuary for orthodoxall exiles one of the four Patriarchicall Seas and that in respect of place and order the first the Empresse of the World the Glory of Kingdomes the pride and beauty of Nations the faithfull City is so estranged from the Bridegroomes Voice and hath so depraved the purity of Christian religion both by loosing of her own and the taking in of Forraine water that as one sayd of Athens we may say of Rome thou mayst seeke Rome in Rome and canst not finde it being become like unto one of the old Aegyptian Temples beautifull without and Cats and Ratts and Crocodiles adored within And whereas shee hath no more reason to be called Catholike then the old Mahometans to call themselves Saracens then the Jewes had to call Herod that was ready to be eaten with wormes a God then the Persians that were shortly afterslaine by the Romans to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then Manes had to stile himselfe an Apostle of Jesus Christ then Celsus the Heathen Philosopher to entitle his Books written against Christian Religion the word of truth or Drunkards to be tearmed good fellowes or light housewives honest women having made the rule of her faith like Glaucus the Sea which loosing some part of his Body by beating upon Rocks and shelves hath the same repaired by rocks and sand that cleave to him yet must shee be called the only Catholike Church of
with old nor new with new nor new with old nor Schoole Doctor with Schoole Doctor nor Fryar with Fryar nor Priest with Priest nor Jesuite with Jesuite nor Pope with Councill nor Pope with Pope nor one with another nor any with God And therefore as he in Plutarch who when he cast a stone at a Dogg happened to light upon his Step-mother sayd That though it was besides his purpose yet it was not greatly amisse Or as the Printer of a learned Treatise when in stead of Cardinales he Printed Carnales although it was besides the intent of the Author yet was it neither incongruous Latine nor false English So if Bellarmine in setting downe the works and rules of the Catholique Romish Church when he made Vnitas for One if in writing of Vnitas he had over-reached a little with his Pen and added one Vowell more and made it Vanitas though it had been beside his owne intendment yet had it neither been beside nor against the truth this being a proper passion immediately flowing from the principles of that Church and consequently an inseparable mark whereby to discerne her But to leave the Papists and with an exhortation to all to make an end of all Is the whole Church of Christ but one flock then let us all which professe our selves to be members of this Church of what calling and condition soever we be bend all our endeavours nor for our owne particulars but for the peace and good and preservation of the whole even as the members of a mans body which is a fit embleme of Gods Church do not so much tender their owne good as the safety and preservation of the whole and because the bond of this Unity is Peace let it be the care of you that are Magistrates to maintaine peace and of us that are Ministers to Preach peace and of you that are Lawyers to procure peace and of you that are Jurors to conclude peace and let us all with joynt consents pray for the peace of this Jerusalem that plenteousnesse may be within her Pallaces and peace within her Walls peace in matters of opinion and peace in matters of action peace in matters of piety and peace in matters of equity peace with God and peace with our selves and peace with all men remembring that God himselfe is called the God of peace and his Gospell the Gospell of peace and his naturall Son the author of peace and his adopted Sons the children of peace But especially let me intreat yea and as an Embassadour of Jesus Christ charge you that are Magistrates of our Countrey Justices of the peace to make your practice agree with your names I use this exhortation the rather because I may use the same words to you which the Apostle did to the Corinthians It hath been certainely declared unto me that there are contentions among you and one saith I am Pauls another I am Apollos Who is Paul or who is Apollos but the servants of Christ and members with you of the same body let no man so respect one particular member as that he neglect the whole the whole Church militant and so every particular Church is like unto that Ship wherein Paul sayled under the Roman Centurion from Sidon towards Rome Caelum undique undique pontus Shee is amidst a glassie Sea every where beset with dangers Vna Eurusque Notusque ruunt The ayre thunders the winds blow the raine falls the Sea rageth the waves rise and beat upon the Ship Exoritur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum the ropes crack the men cry they are carryed up to the Heaven and downe againe into the deepe so that their soules even melt within them What must be done in this case Every man must shift for himselfe and his freind and leave the Shipp to the mercilesse Seas or as Parnus his Marriners did fall together by the eares about a rotten Shipp-board and hurt and wound and disgrace and displace one another No no but the Centurion must command the Pilot must guide the Compasse Paul must preach the Marriners must row every man in his place all private respects set aside must labour to bring the Ship to Land Let me then with the blessed Apostle beseech you that all injuries forgotten all wrongs forgiven all factions abandoned all contentions and discords buryed yee walke as the Elect of God holy and beloved put on tender mercy kindnesse humblenesse of minde meeknesse long suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrell to another even as God for Christs sake forgave you and above all things put on Love which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in you and the God of peace shall be with you Once againe for conclusion of all let me with the same Apostle exhort you if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any compassion and mercy fulfill my joy my joy nay your owne joy and the joy of all Gods Elect children that yee be like minded having the same love that nothing be done through contention and vaine glory but that in meeknesse of minde every man esteem better of another then of himselfe supporting one another through love endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace being of one heart and one soule of one accord and one judgement even as the Church whereof we professe our selves to be members is but one Flock and the Governour of this Flock but one Shepheard and the milke of this Flock one Word and the soule of this Flock one Spirit and the inheritance of this Flock one Kingdome and that I may neither add to nor detract from the Apostles words As there is one hope of our Vocation one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all which is above all and through all and in us all consider what I say and the God of Gods give you wisedome to know and a conscionable endeavour to put in practise that which hath been sayd The second Sermon LVKE 12. 32. Feare not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure c. CYRVS when he went against Babylon falling in his way upon Gyndes a Navigable River for his more speedy dispatch he caused it to be cut into many streames and the event was answerable to his expectation for by that meanes he found a safe and ready passage for his Army and Carriages When I first looked upon this River of God in hope of the like event I did the like but the successe hath proved different for whereas I might in an houres space have swimmed it over going in one Channell having cutt it into two streames and divided either into sundry smaller Rivers it hath proved like Elishaes Cloud ever bigger and bigger or like the waters that flowed out of the Temple in Ezekiels vision ever broader and deeper Caelum
the Fundamentals but differ in the Ceremonies and circumstances of Religion that hold with us the substance but as David did to Saul would pull a lap of our Garment and hew down the carved work of our Temple as it were with Axes and Hammers I never thought it a sound Argument that Ceremonies must be abolished because they have been abused for if the abuse should make the thing unlawfull there is nothing in the world which a tender conscience might not make scruple of the Sun the Moon and all the Hoast of Heaven the Earth which we tread upon the Aire which we breath our Meat and Drink which nourish us our Apparell which cover us the Bells the Pulpit the Font the Church and what cannot have been wickedly abused We abridge the liberty of the Church too much if we think that it may not use any thing which the Pope or others misused saith Peter Martyr in an Epistle written to Hooper Bishop of Gloce â—er there being some cavelling at that time between him and Ridly then Bishop of London about some Ceremonies of the English Church the one seeking to abolish them the other to maintain the lawfull use of them yet were they both so far from Popery that he that stood so stiff for those Ceremonies was as ready as the other in Queen Maries daies to spend his best blood in defence of the Gospell Our Elders if not before the Egge was laid yet before the cockatrice of Popery was hatched were of another opinion when they converted the Temples that were erected to heathenish Gods and the reverence which were due to the Vestall Virgins and Idolatrous Priests to the service of the true God And this is the meetest sense that can be taken in the Judgment of any that is not wedded to his owne conceit to take away the abuse and keep the thing we have no commandement to deale with false Religion as Saul was commanded to do unto Amelek to root out good and all that belonged unto it but rather as Joshuah was instructed to deale with Jericho to destroy the execrable things to reserve the Silver and Gold and Vessels of Brasse and Iron for the Treasury of the Lord. It is a pritty saying of Austine non debet ovis pellem deponere quod lupi aliquando eam jâ—duunt the Sheep must not therefore put off his Skin because Wolves are sometimes cloathed in Sheeep-skins Let no man then take me to be a Pleader for such although I must confesse that I have partly learned Judes Rule to have compassion of some in putting difference such as not out of a spirit of contradiction but out of a tendernesse of conscience choose rather to forgoe all worldly preferment then to have the Eye of their Soules their Consciences troubled with the least mote I cannot chuse but lament their cases as he did the seduced Prophet Alas my Brother 1 King 13. 30. and beâ—one the Churches loss as the Israelites did theirs of the Benjamites because a Tribe was perished out of Israel Judg. 21. 6. But now to return to that from whence for mine own excuse I have somewhat digrest that such as neither make any Donatisticall Separation from our Church neither any Rent in our Church but allow and approve as well the Ceremonies as the fundamentall points of our Religion if they strive to sail against Wind and Weather and to swim against the Stream and as much as humane practise will permit to keep themselves unspotted in the World Should in Streets in Markets in Tavernes on Stages yea in Pulpits and Bookes too be branded for Puritans because by their Lives and Conversations they give Evident Demonstration that they are of this Flock for other Reason I cannot give Quis talia fando temperet a lacrimis This shewes that all they are not Israel which are of Israel but woe unto them that call Good evill If thou abhor that beastly and swinish sinne of Drunkenness and either envy against or refuse to be an ordinary Companion to such Thou art a Puritan if thou canst not indure that blasphemous horrible hellish swearing which is so common almost in all Professions that we may iustly renew St. Austins Complaint Et cum creduntur jurant cum non creduntur jurant horrentibus hominibus jurant plura sunt plerumque juramenta quam verba Thou art but a Puritan if thou exclaim against the Chemarims and Baalites of Rome thou art with Elias a Troubler of Israel inclining to Puritanisme if thou make a Conscience of keeping the Sabboth and call it a Delight to consecrate it as glorious to the Lord as thou art commanded Isa 58. 13. Hic nigrae succus loliginis haec est aerugo mera it is a strong strain of a Puritan Hereupon it falls out that as of old Arius for avoiding of Sabellianisme fell into a more dangerous Heresie and Eutiches for fear of Nestorianisme defended a contrary but worse Errour And Pelagius out of dislike of Manichisme founded a proper heresie of his own So many amongst us verifying Horace his Verse In vitium ducit culpae fuga si caret arte like unskilfull husbandmen who going about to make straite a crooked peice of wood bend it so far the other way that instead of striaightning of it they break it for avoiding of Puritanisme fall into more pernicious Erours then either the old or new Catharists ever maintained to wit Papisme Neutralisme and Libertinisme and Epicurisme and Arminianisme and Atheisme They care not what they be so they be not counted Puritans Hos populus ridet multumque torosa juventus The name is so generally derided they cannot indure it Thus then it hath been thus it is at this day and thus no doubt it will be in times to come they that are in the sight of God the dearest shall commonly in the eyes of men be of little and base account The Reason of this Proposition are cheifly two The first ariseth from the difference of Judgment between the World and the Sons of God The second from the enmity and Antipathie of the Serpents Seed against the Womans For the first Gods Wayes are not as Mans Wayes nor his Thoughts as mans Thoughts The Wisdome of the World is foolishnesse with God and the Wisedome of God to a naturall man seems foolishness The reason is because a naturall man cannot perceive the things of the Spirit of God such knowledge is too wonderfull and excellent for him he cannot attain unto it he wants a Spirituall Eye to discern Spirituall things The Milesians objected to Thales that the Study of Astronomie and other liberall arts was idle and fruitlesse because it commonly fell out that those that study them the most were the poorest and when the same of Aristotle his learning was spread abroad through all the Regions of Greece many desirous to be acquainted with that which they heard by Report from others flocked to Athens to hear him read a
Philosophie Lecture when they were come into his Schoole and heard him make a large discourse about the Subject of the Metaphysicks Ens and Vnum and speak never a word how a man might augment his Goods and inlarge his Possessions they altered their Judgments and for all his wisdome counted him but a fool to leave that by which a man may become great in the World and discourse about such abstruse and abstract notions as they could not understand This is the Worlds judgement still to count light of all that savours not of some present profit or pleasure he declines his felicity no further then the present Tens a Lease for life in this World is of more worth with him then the Reversion of a Kingdome in another and therefore the Childe of God that looks not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen and first seeks and then sets his affections on the things that are above and makes more reckoning of a peaceable conscience then a worldly Kingdome is by him contemned and reputed a foole by troubling himselfe with such metaphysicall notions as he the worldling cannot understand A Jueller makes reckoning of a Pearl but Aesops Cock that knowes not the use of it counts it but a Bable When Protogenes the Painter did earnestly eye a Picture made by Apelles admiring the curiousnesse of the workmanship an ignorant man comes to him and tells him that he wonders why a Painter should admire that Picture for I have seen said he a hundred better Oh said Protogenes if thou hadst mine eyes thou wouldst never aske me that question but wouldst judge as I judge The childe of God looking upon heavenly things with a spirituall eye prizeth them at a dearer rate then ten thousand Worlds all of Gold and Pearle But an unwise man that doth not consider these things and a foole that doth not understand them because he wants a spirituall eye doth farr undervalue them as he that measuring the Sun by his eye conjectures it to be but a foot and a halfe broad as Tully notes which Mathematicians know to be farr bigger then the whole Globe of the Earth and Water When the Romanes for the good service performed by the Cappadocian Slaves offered them liberty which all creatures naturally desire they not knowing the benefit thereof because they had ever lived in bondage refused it The worldling scornes and contemnes that liberty which the Sons of God have in Christ because having ever been bound with the evill Angels in chaines of darknesse he knowes not what that means If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed This is the first cause of contempt of Gods Children with the worldling he understands not the things of the Spirit of God he counts them foolishnesse and him that studieth them no better then a fool in respect of himself The second is the antipathy between the Womans Seed and the Serpents I will put enmity betweene thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed said God to the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. Hic incipit liber bellorum Domini saith Rupertus true for the whole Scripture is a Book describing the Warrs between the Serpents Seed and the Womans which shall be continued untill the consummation of the World Basil writes of the Panther that he hath such a mortall hatred against man that he cannot indure his picture insomuch that if he see it but drawne in Paper he will presently pull it in peices The Serpent that Hellish Panther beares such an inveterate hatred against God that he cannot indure his Picture and therefore when he saw Gods Image drawne in a peice of earth I mean in Adam at the creation he was never at rest till he had pulled it in peices and in whomsoever he shall finde it drawne anew as it is in all beleevers though not so perfectly as was the first draught against them he and his Imps bear an implacable hatred and labours with tooth and naile to tear in peices this Image if they cannot this then at least to keep them under that weare it or as the Garderens dealt with Christ to keep such out of their coasts By a Law of Ostracisme they will banish such out of their company as the Athenians did themselves and the Spartans Demaritus and as the Ephesians used Hermodorus who cast him out of the City because he was a trusty and an honest man adding this sentence Let none of us be over good for ought if hee be let him seeke another place and get him other companions Here then beloved Christian learn not to be discouraged for this that thou art not respected nor had in account with many worldlings as thou deservest the more the men of this World shall hate the more strive thou to be unlike them that they may hate thee the more Invidiâ rumpantur ut ilia Codri They contemne thee because they do not know thee thou art not of the World what marvell if the World hate thee thou art a stranger care not if the Doggs bark at thee The Philosopher in Laertius said of a Dancer Quo melius feceris eo deterius facias and Quo deterius eo melius The better thou dancest the worse thou art and the worse the better So the better thou art in the Worlds judgment the worse thou art and the lesse thou art in the Worlds account the greater art thou in Gods As Tacitus speaks of the Images of Brutus and Cassius which were not shewed amongst the rest in Tiberius his time Eo honoratiores quòd non ostendebantur So the more thou art despised the more honourable art thou if thou canst injoy riches and honours and favour with the men of this World as Joseph under Pharaoh and Obediah under Ahab thou mayst so that it be without the losse of Gods favour if thou canst not count not of the losse The woman cloathed with the Sun treads the Moon under her feet Revel 12. If thou be cloathed with the wedding Garment of the Sun of righteousnesse and the bright beames of the Gospell inlighten thy dark and cloudy heart all worldly honours riches pleasures which are as mutable as the Moon tread them under foot and set them at naught requite the worldlings with a like kindnesse have the most precious things on earth in as base esteeme as they have thee This is a lesson I confess hard to be learned and practised by very few No marvell Christs Flock as it is little in estimation and account of the World so is it also little in comparison with the World which is the second proposition observed from the quantity It is true which the essentiall truth hath told us That many are called yet not so many as the upholders of universall Grace would have us to beleeve for he that shewed his Lawes unto Jacob his Statutes and Ordinances unto Israel and dealt not so with any Nation nor gave the
she least feares up goes the broom down goes the Spider and web and all and are troden in the dust and there is an end of her pride So it is with the greatest of them that are without Christ when they have seated themselves in the highest roomes the world can afford anon when they least think upon it God sends his broom of death and sweeps them downe into the pit of hell and destruction What was that Lucifer the sonne of the morning Nebuchadnezzar which did advance himselfe above the starres of God and other Potentates of the world Aegyptians Assyrians Chaldeans but as it is said of them of the old world that occasioned the flood great Gyants or as Nimrod is called mighty hunters before the Lord or as the Scripture phraseth them Swords Syths Flayls Axes Hammers Rods wherewith God whipped his children for their disobedience and then cast them into the fire Attila that great scourge of Europe in his time who was wont to boast that the stars did fall from Heaven at his presence and that he made the Earth to tremble wheresoever he came Or Tamberlane the terrour of Asia who led a million of Souldiers against his Enemies what were they but as they stiled themselves the one Flagellum Dei Gods whip the other Ira Dei Gods wrath Neither of the two was Filius Dei a sonne of God Or to speak of present times what is the great Mogor of the Indians or the Cham of the Tartars or Sophi of the Persians or grand Signior of the Turks but Gods hang-men and bondslaves not worthy to lick the dust of the feet of the poorest Christian that endures bondage and miserable captivity under them It s a world to see how many will stand upon their Gentry and busie their braines in deriving themselves from some ancient stock How doth Bonfinius bestir himselfe in deriving Matthias King of Hungarie a man of meane discent if you except his father John Hunniades from the Corvini amongst the old Romans leaning altogether upon improbable conjectures And how do many of no great ranck busie their wits in deriving their discents from the Normans as did Ajax from Jupiter the olde Italians from the Aborigines the Aegyptians from the Earth the Arcadians from the Moone How farre they can climbe this ladder I cannot precisely define Certain it is that the ancientest sirname we have is but of yesterdayes breâ—d in respect of true antiquity and he that is proudest of his Parentage and stands most of the antiquity of his house if he will take pains to climb the line of his discent he may within a few hundreds of yeares run his name out of breath But say that every ordinary Gentleman could derive his Pedigree from the first of his Nation the English from the Saxons or Normans the Spaniard from the Goths or Vandals the French from the Franci or Burgundians c. What were these at their first coming and others which like a generall deluge after the removing of the Emperours seate into the East overflowed these Western parts of the World but godlesse graceless cruel Pagans that usurped other mens rights and reaped where they had not sown Imagine and it s but an imagination thou couldst without interruption derive the line of thy pedigree from Adam what canst thou find there but shame unlesse thou shouldst climbe a degree further as Luke doth in the genealogie of Christ The sonne of Adam the sonne of God What is the ancientest in any Pedigree to him that is called The ancient of dayes Dan. 17. 13 And what is a dead stock unto the living God This this is the specifical Form which gives nomen and esse to a right Gentleman to have God for his Father to have the Almighty the Summum genus and top of his Kinne And without this all Gentry how ancient soever is but losse and drosse and dung and guilded vanity and golden damnation or to give it a milder name it 's but a grace of flesh or as wee commonly call it it s but blood And what is the best blood of it selfe if flesh and bones and nerves and spirits and a soul be not added to make it a perfect man No more is parentage if vertue and grace and religion and other habiliments of body and mind be wanting But now as a sanguine complexion is the fairest and best of all when all the parts and members are correspondent so Gentry when it is adorned and beautified with Religion and other graces from above gives the greatest lustre I may speak of it as Solomon speaks of old age when it is found in the way of godlinesse It 's a Crowne It 's like apples of gold in pictures of silver Quale manus addunt ebori decus aut ubi flavo Argentum pariusve lapis circumdatur auro Like a picture of Ivory curiously set forth by the hand of a skilfull Artificer or like a ring of pure gold beset with a precious Diamond Or like the Kings daughter which was not only outwardly adorned with a vesture of gold but which is better All glorious within Vertue in a meane person is like a Candle under a bushell it gives light to him that hath it but brings little help to others but in a Gentleman it 's like a Taper set up in the midst of a room or like a Beacon upon a hill it gives direction to all that come neer Happy are those Kingdomes Et multos habet Sparta tales Gods name for ever be blessed for it this Kingdome hath many such in whom goodnesse equalizeth greatnesse and like stars of the first and second magnitude as they exceed others in bulk and substance so do they also in light and influence Cato said that the people of Rome were like a flock of sheep let the Shepheard single out one and he will hardly drive it but put them together the greatest will lead the way and the rest will follow Christs Church is a flock of sheep had this poor Country many such Bel-weathers to lead the way it would prove no small case to the Lords Shepheards for driving of the rest into the greene pastures of the Lord that are beside the waters of comfort But if Religion and grace be wanting a man be his parentage never so ancient his Lands and Lord-ships his Honours and Preferments never so great is but like matter without forme like Apuleius his golden Animall or like Polyphemus without an eye And here I cannot choose but censure those for degenerous spirits unworthy the name they bear who think themselves in all points compleat Gentlemen Si venaticam noverint si in alea fuerint damnabilius instituti si corporis vires ingentibus poculis commonstrent c. If they can discourse about Horses Hawks Hounds If they can hunt skilfully and dice damnably and drink profoundly and sweate prophanely and spend riotously and make their recreation their vocation without doing any service to God
my Lords although the one of you is known to me but Ex auditu but being such as John gives of Demetrius I may speak to you both as I concluded my speech to you the last yeare that you may say with that worthy Judge of Israel Whose oxe have we taken and to whom have we wittingly done any wrong or at whose hands have we received any bribe to blind our eyes therewith Now as Plutarch writes of Garlick and Rue that being planted besides Rose-trees they make the Roses smell the sweeter So the corruptions of evill men set by the vertues of the good make them more pleasant in the nostrills of all good men The condemnation of evill is a secret commendation of them The threatning of judgment to the evill implies a promise of reward to them that are good Goe on in the name of God and the Spirit of the Lord even the Spirit of wisdome and understanding the Spirit of Counsell and fortitude the Spirit of Knowledge and the feare of the Lord rest upon you and guide you in all your Consultations Proceedings and Judgements that Justice and Equity may be advanced Vice suppressed Religion and Piety established Gods name glorified Peace maintained your Duties discharged and your Soules saved through Christ Jesus c. The fourth Sermon LVKE 12. 32. For it is your Fathers good pleasure c. WEe have in it observed four things 1. The Granter your Father 2. The thing granted a Kingdome 3. The grantees not all Adams sons but the Sheep of this little flock 4. The consideration or cause impulsive and that is nothing in man but the love and will and good pleasure of Almighty God your father is wel pleased The last time I supplied this place I spoke of the first I will now follow the words as they lie in order and leaving that which I noted in the second place to the last as it lies in my Text I will conclude the other two in this one Proposition Our heavenly father bestows upon the members of his little flock eternall life in his Kingdome of glory not for any merit either of Faith or of Works but meerly of his good will and pleasure We do not now dispute whether any being come to yeares of discretion can be saved without faith and new obedience I grant none can these and others be media ad salutem and fruits and effects of predestination to life but the question is which is the Sola causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which internally moves God to do this Here we exclude both faith and works yea predestination in Christ yea and Christ himselfe in whom as in the head this little flock was elected to a Kingdome and ascribe all those to the good pleasure of his will This is the little inward wheel which sets all the rest on work it 's the Primus motor which carries all the inferior orbes Election to Salvation the death and merits of Christ Vocation and the rest with and under it Election to glory is the first link in this golden chain it 's the Primum mobile that carries all the rest with it and for this and so consequently for all the rest we find no praevision either of faith or works or of any other thing for what could he foresee to see in man that is good but what from eternity he decreed to bestow upon him for his prescience in order of nature follows his decree that is he did not decree because he did foresee but he fore-saw because hee decreed things to be thus or thus but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good pleasure and will of God And surely this we may see as in a pure glasse as Austin well notes in the very head of the Church Mortal man is conceived of the seed of David by what works by what vertue did this mortall flesh merit that it should be united unto the Divinity that in the very Virgins womb he should be made the head of Angels the glory of the Father the only begotten sonne of God the righteousnesse light and salvation of the world Surely he was not made the Son of God by living righteously but it was the Fathers good pleasure that he should be dignified with this honour that he might make his little flocke partakers of his gifts But because we are now about divine mysteries in which we can know no more then the Lord hath revealed in his word let us follow this word as the Israelites followed the cloud which indeed shews the way to the promised Land and as the Wise men followed the Star which led them to Christ and it will bring us into the Kings chamber as a Father speaks Where are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid that we should be holy c. And all this according to the good pleasure of his will Eph. 1. 4 5. here almost every word is an argument 1. He hath chosen us From whence did he choose us Out of that masse of corruption in which all mankind was drowned and was become sonnes of wrath and bond-slaves to Satan Well then as there could be no merits in them which he past by for if they had merited they had been elected so neither did wee merit why we should be elected but from his good will and pleasure have we obtained this grace 2. Before the foundation of the world Ergo from eternity Ergo not for works 3. That we should be holy Ergo not because we were holy and so the Apostle speaks of faith God had mercie on me Vt fidelis essem not because I was faithfull 4. According to the good pleasure of his will There is the ground and cause of all Our fathers good pleasure Even so O father because thy good will and pleasure was such Adde unto this that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 1. He hath called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and grace Where to our works hee opposeth Gods purpose and grace And not to trouble you with other places that in Rom. 9. where speaking of Gods free election of some and rejection or if you like the word better praeterition of others he sends us to the prine cause of all the pleasure and will of God 1. He instanceth in Ishmael and Isaac both begotten by faithfull Abraham yet one is elected the other left out but because the Jews might object that there was not the same reason of Ishmael and Isaac the one being begotten of a bond-woman the other of a lawfull wife Sarah to whom he was promised before he was conceived Therefore hee brings another instance in Esau and Jacob who though they were both children of Isaac and discended from faithfull Abraham to whom the promise was made In thy seed c. and were Twins of one Birth and in all things like save that Esau was the Elder