as most incorruptible and repugnant rectifie their iudgement and subscribe to that of God They shall discerne betwixt the cleane and the vncleane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in strife or controuersie they shall stand vp to iudge according to my ordinance Ezech. 44. 24. Beloued wee know the sacred maiestie of legall decrees and monotheticall exercises may bee well preserued when by lawfull authoritie from higher powers it is committed to religious professors And though Aarons rod must euer yeeld to the rod of Moses and bee iudged by it yet may it sometimes bring forth ripe and pleasant Almonds But I touch here as at the riuer Nile and that onely to cleare the text My scope is to support the weaknesse of your patience and long animitie that as yee serue Christ and walke in him so likewise ye would abide his leasure and waite the time of his reward It was a comfortable speech which the Emperour vsed to Galba in his childhood and minoritie when he tooke him by the chinne and said Tu Galba quandoque imperium degustabis Thou Galba shalt one day sit vpon a throne and let it cheare the Saints of God how little soeuer in the sight of the world that one day they shall sit vpon a throne Et tu Galba impertum degustabis thou Galba thou little one thou Iacob thou Israel thou worme Iacob thou poore Israel that sits in the dust with Iob or lyest on thy bed of sicknesse with him that was paraliticall shalt one day sit vpon a throne and bee gathered with Princes with the King of kings and the Lord of lords that raignes ouer the house of Dauid and turneth righteousnesse into iudgement the Carpenters sonne is gone before to make roome as yet the seates are not built nor the thrones erected when he shall fashion the world anew and returne in the clouds of heauen wee shall bee enstalled with him and receiue as it were Stallum in choro vocem in capitulo A seate in the quire and a voyce in the Chapter of that blessed temple the temple of Ierusalem Now he cryes to vs as he did to Mary Noli me tangere touch me not wee may not touch the seueritie of his iudgements nor the maiesty of his greatnesse touch mee not for though I am gone vp to the Father I am not come downe to you in power Then shall yee sit with mee vpon my throne as I sit with my Father vpon his throne vpon my throne for ye shall partake of my iudgements and yet vpon twelue thrones for ye shall haue your seuerall mansions whilst the whole world doth cry with the Antiochians In Theodoret vicit Deus Christus eius The Lord and his Christ hath got the victorie the Lord and his Saints haue got the victorie Be patient therefore and haue nothing to do with the stoole of wickednesse which imagines mischiefe as a law But stand as men waiting for the Bridegroome with your loynes girt and your lampes burning gird your loynes with chastitie and abstinence kindle your lampes with charitie and holinesse Blessed are the seruants whom the Lord shall finde so doing Verily I say vnto you Hee shall gird himselfe and make them sit downe at table with him and come and serue them Luke 12. 37. Euen so Lord Iesu come quickly it is long since thou camest in the flesh and wast made lower then Angels bee not slow to returne in the clouds and approoue thy selfe higher then Angels dost not thou heare the cry of those soules which lye vnder the altar Quousque Domine how long sweet Iesu Such is the voyce of all thy louing seruants that languish and faint with the continuall expectation of thy glorious presence Quousque Domine how long sweet Iesu Wilt thou hide thy selfe for euer and shut vp thy louing kindnesse in euerlasting displeasure Veni Domine Iesu Come Lord Iesu and make no long tarrying Cibus viatorium salus beatorum saith Fulgentius as thou hast bene the strength and comfort of all that trauell by the way so be the crowne and glorie of all that are come to the end of their way The Prophets desired to see thy comming vpon the earth to the end they might be redeemed Wee looke for thy appearing in the heauens to the end wee may bee glorified Tunc implebuntur vota saith elegant Bernard then shall our longing bee satisfied and our desires accomplished wee that haue followed thee in truth shall rest with thee in peace and wee that rest with thee in peace shall iudge with thee in righteousnesse this peace this truth this righteousnesse this glorie the Lord of his great mercie grant vnto vs for the merit of his Sonne Christ Iesus To whom with the Father and the Spirit bee praise and glorie from generation to generation Amen COELVM APERTVM THE Opening of Paradise HIERON in Epist Nihil Christiano foelicius cui promittitur regnum coelorum LONDON Printed for ROBERT ALLOT THE FIFTH SERMON MATH 25. 21. Enter into thy masters ioy THe best men are but Gods stewards and as it were dispensers of his manifold graces Whatsoeuer vertues wee haue they are pledges of his loue and gifts of his spirit or rather as it is implyed in the series of this parable talents and deposites of our Lord and master Paul and Dauid agree in one that when hee went on high hee bestowed gifts vpon men and there is none but may professe with Iohn the Euangelist De plenitudine eius of his fulnesse haue we all receiued some strength some vertue some wisedome some knowledge some power some eloquence some faith some holinesse some tongues some healings some prophesies some miracles for the honour of God the beautie of the world the gathering of the Saints the building of the Church the perfecting of our liues the crowning of our soules in the day of our Lord Iesus So that we may not bury our talent in the ground or hide it in a napkin with that vnprofitable seruant lest we be like the Iewes of whom Austin spake Verba non facta legis habuerunt They kept the words of the Law they neglected the works of the Law full of leaues void of fruit worthy to bee excluded the kingdome of heauen and exiled from the presence of God with those foolish Virgines For he is as the text notes a hard man That reapeth where hee soweth not and gathereth where hee stroweth not Though he forbid vs to put our money to vse yet doth hee charge vs to giue his into the banke that when he comes he may receiue it with increase being as Saint Ambrose notes Foenerator gratiae A great vsurer and a wonderfull extortioner not of things temporall as gold and siluer but of things spirituall as faith and holinesse the like endowments lent vs for the good of others Whence is that of a learned Father Augentur dona crescit ratio The larger our gifts the greater our account Hee that gaue vs a blessing will call
the sea as on drie land couer him all the day long and paue the waters with thy safetie as the hils are about Hierusalem so let thy Angels stand about his person bind vp all the winds saue onely Zephyrus and let none bee found at his returne Praeter Iapyga I meane the sweet gate of that Spirit which moued first vpon the waters make the sterne of his ship as the arke of thy resting place and let that heauenly power which came in the similitude of a Doue stand as an Eagle on the top of his mast whilst all the world doth praise God from the ground of the heart and say Blessed is he that enlargeth God blessed is he that enlargeth Israel As for those which make it their honour to suffer with Christ and to ride on in the course of spirituall warfare that so they may aduance the word of truth and of meekenesse and of righteousnesse what can they expect but that God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ should blesse them with all their spirituall gifts of heauenly things in Christ and make them as Ephraim and Manasses the one signifies encrease the other forgetfulnesse till they grow in the fauour of God and forget the troubles of this miserable life they haue Christ and his fortune nay Christ and his saluation and must needs haue good lucke from the Author and fountaine of ioy and happinesse Ride on then I beseech you toward the price of your heauenly calling and remember that of Bernard Incipit deficere qui desinit proficere Hee begins to faile that leaues to profit let nothing stay your progresse vpon the scale of Iacob from the loue of Christ to the knowledge of Christ from the knowledge of Christ to the imitation of Christ from the imitation of Christ to that similitude and conformitie which is promised with him in glorie In Bethlem vilescit in Nazareth ditescit in Bethlem he is poore and little in Nazareth he is greene and flourishing but Hierusalem is the place of ioy and comfort Hierusalem that is aboue Hierusalem that is the mother of vs all there we must seeke him till wee be perfect and receiue that ioyfull inuitation in the Gospell Venite benedicti Come ye blessed of the Father and receiue a kingdome prouided for you from the foundation of the world receiue a kingdome that is your honour Come ye blessed that 's your good lucke such honour such good lucke haue all that heare mee this day euen for Iesus Christ his sake to whom with the Father and the Spirit be honor and glory power and maiestie through all eternitie Amen MVNDI PRECIVM The vvorlds ransome BERN. de Pass Per torcular crucis ad cellaria regis itur LONDON Printed for ROBERT ALLOT THE THIRD SERMON HEBR. 9. 12. By his owne bloud did he once enter the holy place hauing obtained an euerlasting redemption for vs. VNction is sacred and neuer vsed but to Kings or to Priests Christ was both and therefore a Christ indeed the annointed of the Lord and the Lords annointed annointed with the holy Ghost and with power annointed as a King and fought himselfe for vs annointed as a Priest and gaue himselfe for vs the combat with Saran the oblation to the Father who sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech I might resemble the Priesthood of Christ to that of Aaron were there not dissimilitudes and antitheses as well as similitudes and conueniences both had their temple that earthly this heauenly both were to make entry hee often Christ once both came with bloud he of bulls and of goats Christ of his owne most deare and pretious both sought redemption he temporall to be renewed Christ eternall and consummate not for himselfe but for others All which the Apostle doth insinuate in this briefe Synopsis By his owne bloud entred he once the holy place hauing obtained an euerlasting redemption for vs. What then do wee obserue in the words of my text but a ioyfull procession and miraculous penetration of our high Priest into the holy of holies Those inward chambers of vnapproachable light and vnspeakable glorie where you must first note the way or passage It is bloud Secondly the benefit or aduantage It is redemption The bloud his The redemption ours The bloud once shed The redemption for euer purchased By his owne bloud entred he once the holy place hauing obtained an euerlasting redemption for vs. By his owne bloud there is the expiation and satisfaction of our iniquities Did hee enter the holy place there is the eleuation and prerogatiue of Christ Iesus Hauing obtained an euerlasting redemption for vs there is the saluation and libertie both of our soules and bodies from the power of darknesse and the hand of the enemie When Hannibal passed the Alpes he made his way with vineger Et montes rupit aceto as the Poet hath obserued though our Sauiours cup were mingled with gall and vineger yet was it not enough his side must be opened his most pretious heart bloud must be spilt that he may transcēd those heauenly Alpes and make way for our redemption Whence is that of Bernard Sanguis Domini clauis Paradisi The bloud of Christ is the key of Paradise Neither may he lift vp the head vnlesse hee taste of the brooke How shall the corne be laid in the garner before it bee threshed on the floore there is no entring into the wineseller of the King but through the wine presse of the crosse Will you see the grape the sweete grape brused and trod by the foote of pride and the malice of the aduersarie He enters by his bloud Will you see the wine the pleasant wine streame and flow to the saftie of men and the ioy of Angels There is redemption for vs. By his owne bloud entred he once the holy place hauing obtained an euerlasting redemption for vs. I haue now opened the veine of my text as it were and let it bloud ô let not one drop fall to the ground but water your soules with ioy and gladnes it is the sweetest oyle and purest balme that I can poure into your vessels as honie from the rocke And so I begin with the words in order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By his owne bloud As the naturall life of man stands in the bloud of his flesh so doth the spirituall life of the Church stand in the bloud of Christ If that had not beene shed wee had all perished notwithstanding the yearely and the monthly and the daily and the hourely sacrifices of that Leuiticall Priesthood I will not trouble you with their seuerall kinds whether Hilasticall of peace and reconciliation for sins committed or Eucharisticall of thankfulnesse and gratulation for benefits receiued Sure I am they were types and resemblances hauing their vertue and acceptance from the bloud of Christ which speaketh better things then all the bulls and the goats the rammes and the calues
blacknesse of our nature the sacred Vnion and Sacramentall coalition of God and man Christ his Church in the cords of loue and the bands of mercie for there is no similitude able to reach the depth hereof shee will euer be in his sight he will euer be in her thoughts shee will be engrauened in the palmes of his hands he will be placed as the signet of her arme Shall I tell you the claime of this interest it is Loue for that was strong as death and cruell as the graue he spared not his life vnto death but gaue it as a ransome for the sinnes of many and sealed it with his bloud crying to her as Galba to his souldiers Ego vester vos mihi I am wholly deuoted vnto you you are wholly deuoted vnto me therefore will hee bee as a seale on her heart and as a signet on her arme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me as a seale on thy heart and as a signet on thy arme The words of the Text are as a sacred armorie where you haue a shield for the hand and a couer for the heart or as an heauenly wardrobe where me thinkes I see the cloake and the ring which Iudah left with Tamar the ratification and assurance of spirituall grace and euerlasting holinesse they hold some Analogie with the offices of state the seale and the signet here is a seale a broad seale for the largenesse of our hearts Put me as a seale on thy heart here is a signet a little signet for the roundnesse of our armes As a signet on thine arme Pauca at salutaria expedita at sancta as we reade in Saluianus short and holy few and wholesome breefe in words and precept but in sence durable and permanent That which I shall punctually distinguish vnto you is first the habit and ornament of the Church that is Christ and his righteousnesse implyed in the affixe of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me or set me Secondly the Part and the Subiect to be adorned that is the heart and the arme Put me on thy heart and on thine arme Thirdly the figure and semblance that is a seale or a signet Put me as a seale on thy heart and as a signet on thy arme Last of all the superinduction with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall which is vpon or the circumposition with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint which is about Put me as a seale on thy heart and a signet about thine arme All this is gathered and recapitulated in that of Paul to the Romans Put ye on Christ Iesus and take no care for the flesh to satisfie the lusts thereof But more perfectly in the same Apostle to his Corinthians Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your soules for they are his He will be on thy heart by Faith and Truth and inward sanctification he will be on thy arme by loue and holinesse and outward manifestation He will be here and he will be there as a seale or a signet that bearing the markes of Christ Iesus in our bodies wee may be like those thousands of Israel who were sealed in their fore-heads sealed and selected vnto the Lord against the day of our redemption Put him on thy heart for he is the wisedome of God Put him on thy arme for he is the power of God Put him on thy heart for he is the life of thy soule Put him on thy arme for he is the strength of thy flesh Put him on thy heart for he is the onely begotten Sonne of God who liueth in the bosome of his Father Put him on thy arme for he is the mighty Redeemer of the world that sitteth on the right hand of God in the glorie of the Father Put him on thy arme that he may direct thine actions Put him on thy heart that he may settle thy affections Put him as a seale and signet on both that he may know thee for his owne and bind thee to himselfe with an euerlasting couenant Quid enim prodest si Deum gestamus in fronte vitia in animo recondamus as Saint Augustine hath obserued What auailes it to haue God in the fore-head so we treasure vp wickednesse in the conscience If he be on thy heart by studie and meditation he will learne thee knowledge and make thee vnderstand the mysteries of his crosse and the righteousnesse of his kingdome If he be on thine arme for practice and imitation he will order thy goings and make thee delight in the way of truth and the custodie of his precepts If he be as a seale on the doore of thy heart and the posts of thy arme thou shalt not onely escape the punishment of the destroying Angell but exalt thy horne and triumph with the Lord and reioyce exceedingly in the power and glorie of his saluation Thus doth God call vpon vs but it is for our good and comfort There is much pleasure in that we loue though sometime absent but then is our ioy full and there is life in it when that we loue is at hand and present Therefore will he be in oculis in osculis as the signet of our arme for sight and presence as the seale of our hearts for delight and remembrance Put me as a seale on thy heart and as a signet on thine arme Hitherto wee haue lookt vpon the words of the Text as so many coynes of gold siluer I shall now put them in the ballance of the Sanctuarie and take their seuerall value that so I may proceed to my first obseruation Christ and his righteousnesse implyed in the affixe of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me or set me Some play the Criticks and would haue the Church to speake vnto Christ not Christ to the Church because the affixe is not masculine but of the seminine gender indeed if points and vowels had bene equall with the Originall and not inuented after by the Iewish Rabbins they might deserue hearing but since it is otherwise our safest course is to run with the Fathers I meane Theodoret and the rest who make Christ the spokesman and that for himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me and set me Great and wonderfull is the beautie of the creature such as might bewitch the heart of man with the inchanting cup of deceitfull vanitie but whether yee looke vpon the brightnesse of the starres whether ye behold the glorie of the Angels whether ye consider the treasures of the deepe whether ye admire the power of the elements from the center of the earth to the circle of the heauens there is nothing ought to be as a crowne to vs saue that gracious light which shined to Moses in the bush and sate in the Tabernacle amidst the golden Cherubins It is the word of Christ must be as the iewell of our eares it is the yoke of Christ must be as the chaine of our necks
mortui sunt they are dead and there is no life in them But let the power and the courage and the vigour and the Spirit of Christ Iesus quicken and make ye vigetatiue in all goodnesse Anatomists do obserue there is a veine runnes from the heart to the arme and bounds on the finger where the ring is worne if Christ be our ring and seale he must be so on the arme that he leaue not the heart so on the heart that he reach vnto the arme for direction of faith and manners Here might I call heauen and earth to record and witnesse before God and his Angels how iniuriously we are traduced to despise the Law and not to care for the decalogue to rely vpon a naked faith without the fruite of holinesse or the obseruation of his precepts Oh thou which bindest thy words as signes vpon our armes and as frontlets betweene our eyes pleade our cause and vindicate vs from this calumnie tell these men thou art not onely as a seale vpon our hearts by the knowledge of thy truth but as a signet vpon our armes by the conformitie of life and the exercise of holinesse And so I hasten to the seale and closure of discourse which is the forme and semblance and that is a seale or a signet Put me as a seale and a signet Well may hee be tearmed a seale that is the brightnesse of his Fathers glorie and the engrauen forme of his substance but that which is here a seale or a signet is onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall A ring or a seale that as we haue borne the image of the earthly so we may beare the image of the heauenly by similitude and conformitie to our Sauiour whether in his obedience and his righteousnesse or in his patience and his sufferings For as no siluer is currant vnlesse it beare the image superscription of the Emperour so there is nothing auaileable before God without the stamp of his Sonne and the character of our Sauiour Thoughts vowes meditations prayers intentions actions are but vaine and friuolous and will neuer be able to purchase heauen vnlesse they be sealed in Christ and the assurance of his mercie in whom all the promises of God are yea and Amen This made the Church in her Liturgie seale vp her petitions in the name and mediation of Christ Iesus in all her supplications and intercessions she doth adiure God and bind him as it were by this seale Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum Through Iesus Christ our Lord through Iesus Christ our onely mediator and redeemer I will not draw my Text to the Crosse in Baptisme because it is not said he will be a seale but as a seale and there is a good meaning of that in Saint Austin Deus amat signorum suorum factores non pictores Yet let me tell the turbulent Schismaticke and factious Noualist that it is an ancient Ceremonie deriued from the Primitiue Church grounded vpon reason and obseruation For what is the signe of Christ but the Crosse of our Sauiour are not the Sacraments of God the seales of God wherein we are sealed and confirmed by the arrabon and witnesse of his Spirit As the doores and threshold were signed with the bloud of the Paschall Lambe so it is the bloud of Christ our true Passouer that doth seale both our hearts and foreheads I do not say with Austin Repellit exterminatorem si Christū inueniat habitatorem Though in his 50. Tract vpon Iohn it be twise repeated within the space of sixe lines Yet let me borrow so much from that learned Father Nihil olim in carne intolerabilius nihil modo in fronte gloriosius Heretofore there was nothing more bloudy and intollerable to the renting of our flesh and the tearing of our bodies Now there is nothing more glorious and honourable to the acknowledgement of faith and the beautifying of our foreheads But what meanes the seale of my Text And why is he desirous to be as a signet Take it actiuely take it passiuely for the impression that is made or the seale and ring that maketh the impression it is diuersly vsed and hath many singular effects Ad custodiam ad notificationem ad gratiam ad confirmationem For beautie and exornation that his glorie may shine in vs for distinction and notification that we might be knowne from strangers for custodie and preseruation that nothing go in nor out to annoy and hurt vs. For assurance and confirmation that we be not drawne from God or relinquish the truth of our profession Thus are wee become as an enclosed garden or a fountaine sealed vp like that Eastgate in Ezechiels Sanctuary which was shut and might not be opened lest any should enter Open locks tempt theeues but that which is sealed remaines inuiolate So if Faith and Truth and hope and ioy and the graces of the Spirit and the mysteries of our saluation be not sealed in Christ they may be stolne from our hearts and become a prey to the enemy But if they lie vnder this seale they are fast and sure No heresie no vanity no crueltie nor policie shall be able to rob and spoyle vs of our glorie Well may Satan come in like a theefe by the windowes and enter through the passages of our sence if once he espie this seale vpon the heart he will recoyle and fly backe It is a strong munition able to repulse and exterminate all the diuels in hell though multiplyed and banded in troopes and legions Now we haue the force of the Originall and the emphasis of Septuagint the one vpon the other about he will be vpon our hearts to suppresse the euill that is within and to preuent the danger that is without he will be about the arme that wee may be enuironed on euery side and secured from the inrode of spirituall wickednesse Should I distinctly prosecute the seuerall vertues of this seale you might call for a seale vnto my lippes and therefore I labour to be short Yet is there one meaning of this Embleme which I may not forget and that is loue and honour with a deare respect and most precious estimation Consider that of Ieremie If he were as the seale of my right hand yet would I plucke him thence Remember that of Haggai I will make him as the signet of mine arme because I haue chosen him what doth this sound but of grace and fauour It is the seale of our ring and the image of our friend whereof we are proud and boast Ventilat aestiuum digitis sudantibus aurum Thus will he be as the seale of our hand or as the gemme of our finger that he may be held more deare and pretious then thousands of gold and siluer For what is more sweete what more pleasing what more glorious what more honourable then Christ Iesus at whose beautie the Sunne and the Moone are abashed on whose face the Angels looke with admiration and astonishment His
candle in a darke place did not Paul so and the holy men of old I could leade you to that noble armie of heauenly Martyrs that wash their garments in the bloud of the Lambe and now stand about the throne of God with crownes on their heads and palmes in their hands Though I know the encounter of my text is not outward and temporall but inward and spirituall Yet let mee call to mind one exploit for the word of truth when these generous Argonauts were transported to the Citie of the great King for the honour of God and the libertie of his seruants France Germanie Denmarke Italie with this our mother Iland sent forth their strength and were mooued with zeale towards the house of God and the place of his Sanctuarie The greatest Princes and most heroicall worthies of this European clime engaged their liues their persons their honors their fortunes to redeeme Sion to recouer Ierusalem from the miserable bondage of Turkish slauerie Beloued the remembrance hereof is as fire within my bones and I must needs recount with exceeding ioy and exultancie of spirit how they rode on for the word of truth as the Knights of Rhodes or of Malta till their right hand shewed them terrible things and neuer left before they had hewne the enemies of God in peeces and crowned themselues with honour and renowne The stars from heauen in their order fought against that man of sinne and euery Christian tooke vp that song of Deborah Thou hast marched valiantly ô my soule thou hast marched valiantly the Lord grant that we may still preuaile against Amalek by the inuiolable faith of Christian Princes that keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace and ride on daily for the word of truth and of meeknesse and of righteousnesse For its sake and by its power for it is the onely prop that beares vp the thrones of Princes and makes their crownes flourish Ferrum tuetur Principes melius fides The munition of armes doth well the armes of faith doe better Whereupon said Nestorius the Bishop to Theodosius the Emperour in the seauenth booke of Socrates Tuin profligandis c. Do thou see Gentilisme and impietie do not annoy the Church and wee will see violence and hostilitie do not hurt thee agreeable to that of Solomon mercie and truth preserue the King and his throne is establish by iustice I will not argue the translation yet let me tell you the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for the word of truth and of meekenesse and of righteousnesse but for the word of truth and the meekenes of righteousnesse for the word of truth there is the Law for the meeknesse of righteousnesse there is the Gospell The one as the Court of Iustice the other as the Court of Chancery that qualifies and mittigates the rigor of the former yet what is the word of truth but the word of Christ Hee is truth and in him are the figures verified what is the meeknesse of righteousnesse but the meeknesse of Christ He is righteousnesse and in him we are all iustified though he be true and iust it is not without the spirit of clemencie and of meeknesse that ye know is inseparable from a Lambe and must needs adhere to the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world If hee that walkt in the midst of the golden candlestickes had eyes like fire the head and the haire were as snow or as wooll It was not wine alone nor oyle alone which that good Samaritane poured into the hurt of the wounded neither was God in the fire nor in the earthquake nor in the wind that brake the rocks and tare the mountaines but in the still and soft voyce which is more powerfull then all the force of Periclean lightning and Pannicall execrations I remember in Plutarch a conspiracie betweene the Winde and the Sunne which should take away the trauellers cloake first the winde blowes cold and sharpe and makes him gather it close and hold it faster at length the Sunne pierceth with the subtle heate of his melting beames This makes him cast away both cloake and coate So that is often done by the mild insinuation of loue and gentlenesse which the blustering winds of terrible threats can neuer bring to passe How then do they recede from conformitie with our Sauiour in life and doctrine that speake stones and haue words as sharpe as arrowes that euer stand on the top of mount Horeb and breath nothing but thunder and lightning iudgement without mercie to their afflicted brethren well may they haue the word of truth they haue not the meeknes of righteousnes yet the Prophet ioynes them both Christ rides on for both and with both for we are not come to the mount that might not be toucht nor to the blacknesse and darknesse of a tempest where Moses said I feare I quake but to mount Sion the Citie of the liuing God and to that coelestiall Ierusalem and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust and perfect men and to Christ the mediator that rideth on for the word of truth and of meeknesse and of righteousnesse I haue done with Christ the substance I come to Solomon the type and yet what Solomon haue wee to mention saue onely the sonne of Dauid and the heire of peace that is gone forth and rides on full of glorie and honour that he may spread the truth of Christ as farre as the name of Christ beyond the pillars of Hercules and heale those waters of Ierico as with the salt of his most gracious spirit and incontaminate holinesse enuying the glorie of Iouinian Qui exercitum paganum fecit Christianum that made such Romans very good Christians as hee found heathenish and giuen to Idols Sure I am it is vpon the word of truth and of meeknesse and of power and of righteousnesse that sacred chariot I will not say of cardinall but heroicall and Princely vertues for they are the wings and the horses that aduance and lift him vp aboue his fellowes how can wee choose but wish him good lucke and send our prayers after him Good lucke haue thou with thine honour ride on for the word of truth and of meeknesse and of righteousnesse there is little Beniamin their Ruler the Princes of Iudah the Princes of Zabulon Good lucke haue ye with your honor c. O ye heauens resolue into showers and melt ye waters aboue the heauens into a dew of coelestiall benedictions crowne him with the blessings of Iacob and let all the gifts of the Patriarches descend on the top of him that was separated from his brethren from the vtmost bounds of these euerlasting mountaines say to him as to Zabulon reioyce in thy way as to Isachar reioyce in thy tents let him sucke the abundance of the sea and giue him the treasures that lie hid in the sands ô thou which sittest aboue the water-floud and treadest on
set vpon miracles and labour to conuert water into bloud colour seas die riuers as if they would sayle and swim to Paradise through bloud of their enemies that Christs bloud may witnesse against them and charge them with the bloud of their slaine which hee so dearely purchast that as his bloud calls for pardon so their bloud calls for vengeance and may one day come vpon the desperate malefactor without repentance to his ruine and confusion Whence is that resolution of Anastasius the Emperour cited by Euagrius in the third booke of his storie Quod nihil velit aggredi that he would aduenture no exploit though neuer so honourable and glorious if he thought it might cost him a drop of bloud But such mildnesse requires a golden age that we cōdemne is the brutish violence of sauage furie It were good some bloud were let in vs not the bloud of our flesh but the bloud of our soules I meane the lust of our desires and the heate of our affections For as Bernard speakes Sanguis animae voluntas mea The bloud of my soule is the will of my heart and if there were a vent made for the corruptions thereof wee should find a more easie passage into heauen for there is a spirituall galarie and milken path that leadeth vnto God euen truth and holinesse puritie and righteousnesse our hearts being sprinkled from an euill conscience with the bloud of Christ and assured confidence in the merit of his passion O the rubricke and witnesse of eternall glorie that makes vs Saints in the kingdome of heauen and washeth our soules from their spirituall leprosie How should we adore the Sacrament of his bloud how should wee thirst after the fountaine of his bloud Crying with our Sauiour in the Gospell sitio I am a thirst He thirsts after our good let vs thirst after his bloud He thirsts after our saluation let vs thirst after his righteousnesse till our bloud-thirstinesse take away our bloud-guiltinesse and his bloudie wounds cure our bloudie issue the naturall fluxe of originall impuritie that it may bee true in vs which is spoken of the Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Riuers of the water of life shall flow out of their bellie The wild beast finds sweetnesse in the bloud of man and hunts for it Shall not wee more in the bloud of Christ and thirst for it it is milke to the weake and makes him strong it is wine to the strong and makes him chearefull O bee not slow to frequent the Temples and to loue the seruice and to honour the stones and to worship the alters where so grieuous a veine is opened to the house of Israel When Vitellius came into a field of bloud died with the slaughter and strewed with the bodies of the dead others were annoyed he onely cryes out Optime hostis occisus melius ciuis There is a good smell in the bloud of an enemie much better in the bloud of a subiect A most inhumane speech and full of tyrannie but had he said Optime hostis melius Christi There is a good smell in the bloud of an enemie but much better in the bloud of Christ that had bene religious pietie which is now recorded for outragious crueltie For indeed it is his bloud that is the sauour of life and smell of a field which the Lord hath blest that fills the nostrils of our heauenly Father and makes him forget the stinke of our wounds and the putrifactions of our iniquities whilst he stands like Phineas to mediate for vs in that holy place where now hee makes his entry and so I passe from his humiliation to his exaltation from the key of his bloud to the closet of his glorie Hee entred the holy place The sonnes of Israel came to their earthly Canaan through the red sea the Sonne of God to that heauenly Canaan through a sea of bloud that flowed with milke and honie this with the sweetnesse of peace and glorie that a land of holinesse this a place of holinesse where peace and holinesse and truth and righteousnesse haue taken vp their rest and made their habitation For holinesse becomes the house of God for euer perfect holinesse vniuersall holinesse with a vniuersality of time it is for euer with a vniuersality of subiect it is so that no vncleane thing may enter It was a good inscription which a bad man set vpon the doore of his house Per me nihil intret mali no euill may passe through me whereupon said Diogenes Quomodo ingredietur Dominus How then shall the master get into his owne house I know not how it may agree with our mansions vpon earth sure I am the first part is most conuenable with that coelestiall Bethel the gates of heauen and blessed sanctuarie of eternall righteousnesse For whatsoeuer is there is holy the Saints holy the Patriarchs holy the Martyrs holy the Prophets holy but the Lord himselfe most holy and blessed neither is this holinesse originall in those coelestiall bodies but deriuatiue from the Lord of all things It is he that sanctifies and makes them holy times places men Angels names ceremonies vessels instruments things animate things inanimate with the gracious spirit of his sauing righteousnesse They are holy because the Lord is holy and must needs subscribe to that great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Cherubins Holy holy holy Lord God almightie which is which was and which is to come But wherein stands the differerence betwixt the holinesse of God and the holinesse of his place Deus sanctus quia sanctificans the Lord is holy because he sanctifies and is not sanctified that is holy because it is sanctified and cannot sanctifie else might Adam haue continued holy as long as hee was in Paradise and the diuell as long as hee was in heauen but the one was cast out and the other was cast downe that so the holy one might come into the holy place and say with the Prophet Deus non homo I am God and not man The holy one of Israel in the midst of thee Hos 9. 11. For though hee were humbled vnto death and lay melting on the fornace of his crosse yet was he exalted vnto life and snatched as a brand out of the fire and that as Saint Ambrose speakes In vmbraculo nubis vt foueantur vulnera passionis In the coole shade of a spreading cloud to qualifie the heate of his bleeding wounds Neither is there any Christian but may discerne as farre with the ioyes of faith as euer Stephen did with the eyes of his body when hee said Behold I see the heauens opened and the sonne of man stand at the right hand of God Luke saith hee stands Dauid he sits yet are they both true he sits as a Iudge for the Lord hath giuen all power to his Sonne he stands as an Aduocate For we haue an Aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins The