which the former was a dark shadow is the third Heaven which for the fulness of pleasure and joy is so called Hierom comforting a young Hermite bade him look up to Heaven Paradisum mente deambulare to take a few turns in Paradise by his meditations assuring him that so long as he had Paradise in his mind and Heaven in his thought Tamdiu in eremo non eris He should not be sensible of his solitariness To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life Rev. 2.7 which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Of the Sea Sea THE Sea is the seat and source of waters Mare quast amarum because the Sea-water is bitter and salt There are three things in it specially considerable viz. 1. The turbulency of it so stormy and turbulent that it threatneth to overwhelm all To overwhelm the ships sailing upon it to overwhelm the dry land encompassing of it and it would do both if God did not bound it saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further here shall thy proud waves be stayed Did not God put an everlasting Law upon it it would be lawless 2. There is a wonderful capaciousness in the Sea the water they say is ten times bigger than the earth the Air ten times greater than the water and the fire than the Air. It is so big and broad so extensive and vast that it takes in all the waters that come off the land into its bosome and yet feels no access 3. The Sea is of mighty strength Though we say Weak as water water is a weak element in one sense yet in another water is a strong element so strong that it bears down all before it and bears all the storms that rage upon it Canutus confuted his flacterers who told him that all things in his Dominions were at his beck and check by laying his command on the sea to come up no higher into his Land but it obeyed him not Illi rebor as triplex Circa pectus erat Horat. Od. 1.1 3 Virgil. qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus nec timuit praecipitem Africum c. Tollimur in Caelum curvato gurgite Gen. 1.10 iidem Subduct â ad manes imos descendimus undâ Hence some have doubted whether Mariners were to be reckoned amongst the living or the dead But wisely said he Qui nescit orare discat navigare He that cannot pray let him go to Sea and there he will learn And the gathering together of the Waters Gen. 1.21 called he Seas Fish The power of God is great in forming the fishes of the Sea Especially if we consider three things about them 1. Their number Inter omaes bestias nibil est faecundius piscibus igitur tranâ—fertur ad multiplicationâ— immensum as tous they are infinite Therefore how emphatically is their encrease exprest When God created them it is said The Waters brought forth abundantly No sort of creatures that multiply so fast as fishes Who is able to report the number of these Sea-inhabitants 2. If we consider their various kinds Naturalists observe that there is no creature upon the earth but hath as I may say its representative in the Sea besides those that have nothing like them on the earth 3. Many of these inhabitants of the waters are wonderful for the vastness and greatness of their bodies The greatest of all living creatures are in the Sea We will only instance in the Leviathan unto whom the Elephant is little Pliny tells of one taken that was 600. foot in length and 360. in breadth Plin. lib. 32. cap. 1. when they swim and shew themselves above water Annare insulas putes saith the same Author you would think them to be so many Islands so many Mountains saith another who also addeth that when they grow old they grow to that bigness and fatness that they keep long in a place Insomuch as ex collectis condensatis pulveribus frutices erumpere cernantur the dust and filth gathered upon their backs seems to be an Island which while shipmen mistake and think to land at they incurre a great deal of danger The great and Wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable Ps 104.25 26. both small and great beasts There is that Leviathan made to play therein Ships The use of ships was first shewed by God in Noah's Ark whence afterwards No art which helps more to enrich a Nation Audax Japeti genus Japhets off-spring sailed and replenished the Islands Of the Low-Countrey-men it is said Peterent Coelum navibus Belgae si navibus peti posset A ship is a fabrick for the Sea a house upon the Sea a moveable house and as it moveth variably so it moveth swiftly the inconstancy of the winds makes the motion of the ship unconstant and the strength of the winds makes the motion of the ship swift Whatsoever they do who are within the ship the ship moves on if they prepare it for motion Labitur uncta vadis abies Virgil. The ship seems willing to be at the Haven as soon as may be Let our souls be like a ship that is made little and narrow downward but more wide and broad upward Let them be ships of desire hasting heaven-ward and then let our days pass away as they can we shall be but the sooner at home Mortality shall appear to be no small mercy There go the ships They that go down to the Sea in ships Psa 14.26.107.23 24. that do business in great waters These see the Works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep c. Homo NVllum animal morosius est nullum majore arte tractandum Senec. quà m homo Nay which is worse Homo homini lupus homo homini Daemon Therefore saith David Let me not fall into the hands of men as though they were like Cadmus souldiers ad internecionem nati Yet man is magnum miraculum mundi Epitome imaginis image Imago mundi in corpore Dei in animâ In mans composition there is a shadow of the Trinity for to make up one man Ea fere bominum natura 〈◊〉 omnes sua mirentur aliena despiciant Julian there is an elementary body a divine soul and a firmamental spirit Here is the difference in God there are three Persons in one essence in us three essences in one person So in the soul there is a Trinity of powers vegetable sensitive and rational The former would only be the second be and be well the third be well and be for ever O excellent Nature in which Cabinet ten thousand forms may sit at once Vocabulum Homo est duorum substantiarum fibula Man is a heavenly thing for his soul though earthly in regard of his body Man being Lord of these graces should sit no longer in the vale of tears but ascend the Mountain of glory he should fly to the Trumpet calling to
of the earth it causeth an inward warmth to it and so maketh it very fruitful In which respects the Rabbines say That one day of snow doth more good than five of rain Gregory allegorizing those words Gregor Job 38.22 sheweth that earthly treasures are treasures of snow We see little children what pains they take to rake and scrape together snow to make a snow-ball Right so they that scrape together the treasure of this world have but a snow-ball of it so soon as the Sun shineth and God breatheth upon it and so entreth into it by and by it cometh to nothing He saith to the snow Be thou on the earth Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow Job 37.6 Cap. 38.22 Psa 147.16 He giveth snow like Wooll Frost It is the excess of cold by the blowing of the coldest winds which are sometime called the breath of God These congeal the waters and turn them into ice contracting them into a narrower room Hence it is that as any Countrey is more Northerly so it is colder the Sea also is frozen and unpassable The hoar-frost heateth and drieth the cold and moist earth nipping the buds of trees Vnde pruina dicitur à perurenda Hence also perhaps is that Psal 147.16 He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes Cinis monet ignem subesse quem foveat By the breath of God frost is given Job 37.10 and the breadth of the Waters is straitued Dew Est vapor subtilior tenuior qui levi miti frigore in terrae aut herbarum superficie adeo compactus est tum adeaâ— fovendum recreandumque à flacciditate aestu contract â tum ad juvandum terrae foecunditatem tum etiam ad aërem ipsum in quo versamur refrigerandum These round orient pearls that come from heaven in a clear night do sweetly refresh whatsoever groweth in fields and meadows The dew 1. It comes when the air is clear 2. It refresheth and cherisheth the dry and fady fields plants and herbs thereby recover life and beauty 3. It allayeth great heats and moisteneth and mollifieth the earth that it may fructifie Who hath begotten the drops of dew Job 38.28 Isa 26.19 Thy dew is as the dew of herbs I will be as the dew unto Israel As the dew of Hermon Hos 14.5 Psal 133.3 Prov. 3.20 and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew Of all these Meteors watery windy fiery whether pure or mixed c. I say with Brentius Fides non in ordinem operis sed in Authorem oculos suos dirigit All these are of the Lord and faith seeth God in all Fowls of Heaven It is very observable that birds though they have more of the earth than of the other three elements for out of the earth was every fowl of the air formed as well as every beast of the field Gen. 2.19 yet are light which is a wonder delighting in high-flying which is innate to them Of Birds mentioned in Scripture these are some The Eagle Called the Queen of fowls She is famous 1. For her loftiness Aquila non captat muscâ—â— she minds great things flies and petty things she looks not after 2. Swiftness of flight and motion 3. Strength herein they are the chief of all have wings 4. Sagacity looking intently upon the Sun without being dazled and by that property makes proof of her young ones A 〈◊〉 â—nectus Prov. 5. Vivacity renewing her youth and health till she come to be very old Aug. observeth that when her bill is over-grown that she cannot take in her meat she beateth it against a Rock Excâ—tit onus rostri striking off the cumbersome part and thereby recovereth her eating Thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Psal 103 5. Peacock Priding himself in his feathers and is all in changeable colours like friends now adays as often changed as moved Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the Peacocks Job 39.13 Pelican Reported to open her breast with her bill and feed her young ones with the blood distilling from her Therefore an Hiereglyphick of piety and pity among the Egyptians However a melancholy bird living in lonely places and crying out dolefully I am like a Pelican of the Wilderness Psal 102.6 Ostrich Called by reason of his bigness Elianâ— Cumâ—interim tot â coâ—poris mole promiâ—eat Plin. Peremptores potius quam Parentes Struthio-Camelus He is very swift of foot but so foolish that being pursued if he can hide his head only so as to see no body he thinks himself safe and that no body seeth him though his great bulk be all in sight Her leaving her eggs makes her the Hieroglyphick of unnatural and careless therefore cruel Parents The Ostrich Job 39.13 which leaveth her eggs in the earth c. Raven Their young ones are fed of God when forsaken of their dams and lest bare and destitute For out of their dung and carrion saith Aristotle brought before to the nest ariseth a worm which creepeth to their mouth and feedeth them Who feedeth the young Ravens which cry Psal 147.9 I forbear to mention any more Only much of Gods wisdom power and goodness may be seen in these inhabitants of the air in the admirable variety of their colours tunes tastes c. Also to these creatures God sends us to learn setting before us as in a picture the lively resemblance of many excellent vertues which we ought to pursue and practice The fowls of the air they shall tell thee Job 12.7 Jer. 8.7 Mat. 6.26 The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they Of the Earth BY earth I understand not that great material mass made up of the two heaviest elements earth and water whereof all terrestrial and celestial bodies were made Gen. 1.2 But the earth as distinctly severed from the other parts of the world which was not made untill the third day vers 10. Elementum siccae frigidaeque naturae densum in medio mundi collocatum râ—undum in proprio loco immobile The earth is round as an apple is notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it and therefore naturally apt for motion as the heavens are that yet therefore it should stand firm and unmoveable is admirable It is upheld by the infinite and Almighty power of God The air will scarce bear a feather because it will descend unless kept up by a breath of wind Ponderibus librata sais and yet this vast globe of earth and water hangs as a Ball in the air Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Ovid. Aere sublato
safe in any place without Gods protection In 1. Field Witnesse Abosolom and Saul In 2. House Witnesse Pharaoh In 3. Bed Witnesse Ishbosheth In 4. Chamber Witnesse Jezabel In 5. Church Witnesse Senacherib Joab God snatcht Lot out of Sodom David out of many waters Tutus sub umbrâ leonis Paul out of the mouth of the lyon Jonah out of the belly of hell c. Cur timeat hominem homo in sinu dei positus He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee Job 5.19 Affliction Water properly is that element cold and moist contrary to fire Psal 42.7 Fluctus fluctum trudit But frequently signifies amongst many other things afflictions and troubles which threaten dangers as waters threaten drowning Often in the Psalms and elsewhere it is so used And I conceive that ever after Noah's flood that dismall destruction great and grievous afflictions were set forth by the rushing in of waters and overwhelming therewith Afflictions are that Sea that all the true Israelites in their journey to the everlasting Canaan must go through But yet these rivers of Marah are sweetned they are to the godly pleasant and they going through the vale of misery use it for a Well whereout they draw living water Psal 84.6 There are light crosses which will take an easy repulse Others yet stronger that shake the house sides but break not in upon us Others veliement which by force make way to the heart Others violent that lift the mind off the hinges or rend the barres of it in peices Others furious that tear up the very foundations from the bottome leaving no monument behind them but ruine Anton. Pius The wisest and most resolute moralist that ever was looked pale when he should taste of his hemlocke Christ went to Jerusalem the vision of peace by Bethany the house of grief so must we to heaven God useth to lay the foundation low when he will build high afflict much when he will destinate to some excellent end As in the creation first there was darknesse then light Or as Jacob first God makes him halt and then the place becomes a Peniel Therefore take knowledge of the low deeps into which Gods Children are brought That soul that feels it self hand-fasted to Christ though it meet with a prosperous estate in this world it easily swells not and if it meet with the adverse things of the world it easily quails not for it hath the word of Christ and Spirit of Christ residing in it Whereby you shall behold their faith victorious their hope lively their peace passing all understanding their joy unspeakable and glorious their speech alwayes gracious their prayer full of fervour their lives full of beauty and their end full of honour Apollonius writes of certain people that could see nothing in the day but all in the night In mirabil Histor Many Christians are so blinded with the sun-shine of prosperity that they see nothing belonging to their good but in the winter night of adversity they can discern all things Christians are never more exposed to sins and snares than in prosperity Though winter have fewer flowers yet also fewer weeds And fishes are sooner taken in a glistering pool than in a troubled Fen. Besides while the wind is down we cannot discern the wheat from the chaffe but when it blows then the chaffe flies away only the wheat remains Witnesse that masculine resolution of him Ful gentius who in the midst of his sufferings used to say Plura pro Christo tolleranda Here we live in the valley of Achor from Achan that was troubled that day wherein he was stoned Lorin Cap. 2. Prolcgom in Eccles Josh 7. Petrus Tenorius Archbishop of Toledo having a long time considered the weighty reasons on each side whether King Solomon were damned or saved and not knowing how to resolve the houbt in the end caused him to be painted on the walls of his Chappel as one that was half in heaven and half in hell The darker the foil the lighter the Diamonds Fealty A child of God in respect of his manifold afflictions he meets with here seems many times to himself and others to be in hell But having also tasted the first-fruits of the Spirit and the consolations that accrue unto him thereby he seems to be half in heaven Our light affliction 2 Cor. 4.17 which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Hurt It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt saith Laban to Jacob Gen. 31. though indeed it never was farther than given him from above Rideo dicebat Caligula consulibus quòd uno nutu meo jugulare vos possim Vxori tam bona cervix simul ac jussero demctur And Caesar told Metellus that he could as easily take away his life as bid it be done But these were but bravado's for that 's a royalty which belongs to God only to whom belong the issues of death Wicked men do not only pull manifold miseries upon themselves but are many wayes mischievous to others and have much to answer for their other mens sins How many are undone by their murders adulteries robberies false testimonies blasphemies and other rotten speeches to the corrupting of good manners What hurt is done daily by the Divels factors to mens souls bodies lives estates Besides that they betray the land wherein they live into the hand of divine justice whiles they do wickedly with both hands greedily When Christ gave his Disciples a commission to preach the Gospel he promised that they should take up Serpents and if they drank any deadly thing it should not hurt them No more shall the deadly poyson of sin hurt those that have drunk it if they belong to God Provided that they cast it up again quickly by confession and meddle no more with such a mischief Foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita demorgunt ut in aqua summitate rursus non ebulliant Loss What tell you me of goods in heaven say many let me have my goods on earth A bird in the hand is better than two in a bush The Grecians comprehend both life and goods in one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew perhaps men had as lief lose their lives as their goods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fronte nubila Mat. 19.22 He came hastily but went away heavily This is an hard thing it made the young man go sorrowful away that Christ should require that which he was unwilling to perform If heaven be to be had upon no other terms Christ may keep it to himself Many now adayes must have Religion to be another Diana to the Crafts-masters however are resolved to suffer nothing Jeroboamo gravior jactura regionis quà m religionis The King of Navarre told Beza that in the cause of Religion
the twelve Tribes of Israel He went into the Sanctum Sanctorum once a year and offered up the prayers of the people Besides him there were a great number of Priests and Levites throughout all the towns and Cities of Israel they offered the sacrifices of the people and made attonement for them before the Lord they taught the people and instructed them in the ways of the Lord. Yet all these are nothing to our Saviour Christ he excells them as much as the Sun doth the Starres or the body the shadow They were all but shadows of him he is the true high-Priest They were but men he is God and man they sinful he without sin they mortal he immortal their sacrifices were but figures of his sacrifice the blood of Lambs Goats offered by them took away no sin his blood purgeth us from all sin they received tithes of their brethren but they themselves paid tithes to Christ they prayed for the people in the Temple Christ prayes for us in heaven Wherein we may behold the supereminent dignity of Christ his Priest-hood It cannot be denied but that Aarons Priest-hood was most glorious As the Psalmist speaketh of the Church many glorious things are recorded of it There was a costly Tabernacle a sumptuous Temple the wonder of the world there was an admirable Altar many oblations and sacrifices there were sundry Sabbaths and new Moons divers festival days the feast of unleavened bread of the blowing of Trumpets of Tabernacles of Dedication c. Which were kept with wonderful solemnity there were many washings and purgings for the clensing of the people Therefore let us magnifie God for this our high-priest by whom we have an entrance into the Kingdom of heaven The high Priest went into the Holy of Holies himself but he carried none of the people with him they stood without Our high-Priest is not only gone into heaven himself but he hath also brought us thither That high-priest offered Bulls Calves Lambs for the sins of the people this high-priest offered himself for us all Therefore let us honour and reverence this our high-priest yea let us subject our selves to him in all things which hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father that we may reign with him for ever and ever The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever Psal 110.4 after the order of Melchisedeck For such an high-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens Hebr. 7.26 27. Who needeth not daily as those high-Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself Seeing then that we have a great high-Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Heb. 4.14 16. And let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Of Christs Prophetical Office Christ is said to be a Prophet like unto Moses that is both in the Participation of nature and of office A true man and a true Mediatour Similes they are but not Pares Christ being worthy of more glory than Moses Christ is a Prophet and more than a Prophet the Arch-Prophet to whom Moses and all must vail bonnet Let our mind then be wholly fixed on Christ consider that in him all the treasures of wisdom lie hid he is a rich and plentiful store-house in whom we may find all the pearls and jewels of wholesome doctrine In him there is salvation and in no other therefore all other teachers set aside listen to him When the Judge of an Assizes gives the charge all that be present especially they of the grand Inquest consider seriously what is spoken Christ Jesus the Judge of the whole world gives a charge by his Ministery When the King makes a Speech in Parliament the whole House considers earnestly what he sayes Christ Jesus the King of kings speaks to us in the Ministery of the Word The Queen of Sheba observed Solomon well Behold here is a greater than Solomon therefore let us diligently consider him Besides the matters which this great Prophet declareth are of great moment touching the eternal salvation of our souls If one should talk to us of gold or silver we would be attentive Christ speaks to us of that which surpasseth all the riches in the world what mad-men are we that regard him no more But alas since the Fall every man hath Principium lasum his brain-pan crackt as to heavenly things neither can he recover till Christ open his eyes and give him light Moses truly said unto the Fathers Act 3.22 Quinque dicuntur de Deo Paternitas in nascibilitas filiatio proc ssio communis spiratio Aug. Paternitas innascibilitas conveniunt solum modò Patri Filiatio tantum modò Filio Spiâ—itâ—i verò Sancto processio Communis Spiraâ—io Patri filio respectu Spiritus Sancti A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever I shall say unto you De Spiritu Sancto THE Holy Ghost is the third Person in Trinity proceeding from the Father and the Son being himself most holy and the worker of holiness in all Angels and good men He is distinct from the Father and the Son equal unto the Father and the Son and the same God in Nature and Essence with the Father and the Son though not the same person He is called The Spirit The Holy Spirit A Spirit because he is that essential vertue proceeding and as it were spired or breathed from the Father and the Son Or from his effect who blowing where he listeth inspireth holy motions and graces into the hearts of the Elect. Or because he is a spiritual invisible and incorporeal essence And Holy Spirit 1. For distinction sake for Gods Spirit is holy that is it hath all holiness and it hath it in it self not by illumination from any higher cause and so are not the spirits of Men or Angels holy mens spirits have sin in them on earth And the Angels and blessed souls in heaven have no holiness but what they received 2. Gods Spirit is holy by effect for it is his proper work to sanctifie the Elect and so to work holiness upon the spirits of men by spiritual regeneration The Holy Ghost is oft-times in Scripture signified by Fire Water We shall find it according to the nature of fire 1. To illighten us 1. Mat. 3.11 Isa 4.4 as the least spark of fire lightens it self at least and may be seen in the greatest darkness 2. To enliven and revive us fire is the most active of all other elements as having much form little matter so whatsoever is born of the Spirit is Spirit that is nimble and active full of life and motion
Day As Night is the time of the Suns absence from our Hemisphere so Day is the time of the Suns presence therein They both contain one whole revolution of the Suns motion to the same point of the Meridian in the twenty four hours Day is Natural Artificial The former consisteth of twenty four houres which is measured most usually Exod. 12.29 with Numb 3.13 from the Sun-rising to the Sun-rising or from the Sun-setting to the Sun-setting The latter is from Morning till Night which is the time of light measured out to twelve houres which were not more nor fewer but longer or shorter according to the different proportion of the Days in Summer and Winter which is measured from the Sun-rising to the Sun-setting Joh. 11.9 Mat. 20. Which division was in use both with the Jews and Romans The Romans divided their Day into six parts viz. Godw. Antiq. 1. Diluculum The break of day 2. Mane The full morning 3. Ad meridiem The forenoon 4. Meridies quasi medidies Mid-day or quasi merus dies perfect day Noon 5. Demeridie Afternoon 6. Solis occasus Sun-set Day hath its name in Hebrew from the noise and hurry that is therein In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentle or tâ—me because it is appointed for tame creatures Or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I desire because it is to be desired In Latine Dies à Deo Zanch. as a divine thing vel à Dio id est Coelo Sole vel à dividendo quod disjungat lucem à tenebris Evening separates by darkness Morning by light So the one disjoyns day from night the other night from day In this vicissitude of Light and Darkness much of Gods wisdom and goodness is to be seen And we ought not to turn the day into night nor night into day without some very special and urgent occasion And God called the light Day Day unto day uttereth speech Gen. 1.5 Psal 19.2 Ps 119.164 and night unto night sheweth knowledge Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments Of the Visible Heavens HEaven is a building of three stories Triplex est coelum cërium sidercum ac aliud his superius invisibile divinum Dam. 1.2 de Orthodox fide The first is the Air and the Clouds up to the Moon The second reacheth all the Planets and Stars The third is called the Heaven of Heavens the place of Gods most glorious residence who filleth Heaven and Earth The Apostle reduceth them to Visible Invisible Col. 1.16 The Visible Heavens are two Starry Airy The Starry Heaven is that vast expanse region where the Stars have their motion Here are the Sun and the Moon those great lights the infinite number of Stars of unconceivable magnitude and motion which we see and we see not This according to the doctrine of Astronomers is distinguished into several Orbs and Spheres in seven of which seven special Stars are said to move and all the rest to be fixed in the eighth The Apostle Jude seems to give a hint of those Planetical Orbs Jud. v. 13. where he justly reproacheth unsetled spirits by the name of wandring stars or planets to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever Of this speaks Moses calling it The firmament of the heaven Gen. 1.17 Josh 10.13 Psal 8.3 And in Joshua's time the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven And David When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars whiâ—â— thou hast ordained And again Psal 19.1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work The Airy heaven is the Air with all her regions reaching up to the Moon herein are Winds Clouds Meteors c. This is called by Job Job 26.7 Super mane quod juxta communâ—tà opinionem intelligi debet Vulgo enim totum spatium à terra â—sque ad coelum vacaun pâ—tatur quum plenum aëre sit Gen. 8.2 Gen. 19.24 Psal 8.8 Mat. 6.26 the empty place He stretcheth out the north over the empty place Not that the Air is indeed empty there is no vacuity no empty place in nature Nature will put it self into strange courses to avoid a vacuity Water will ascend to avoid vacuity and it will not descend to avoid vacuity But though the Air be not empty or void taking emptiness strictly and Philosophically for every place hath its filling yet as emptiness is taken largely and vulgarly so the Air may be called an empty place For as when we come into a room where there is no artificial furniture we say it is an empty room so the space between us and the Heavens in a vulgar sense is an empty plâ—ce Of this speaks Scripture when it sâ—th The windows of heaven the rain from heaven The Lord rained brimstone and fire out of heaven It is very probable from the upper region of the air where Meteors be So the birds of the air are called the fowls of heaven Of the Invisible Heavens The Invisible Heaven Eph. 4.10 is that place whither Christ ascended far above all aspectable Heavens Called the Third Heaven the seat of the blessed Saints of the elect Angels and happy souls which are dead in the Lord also Abrahams bosom Yet this is not the place of Gods Essence or infinite Substance 1 King 8.27 for so the Heaven of heavens is not able to contain him But the place of his presence and glory not to consine or limit his glory in but wherein he will make it appear most glorious as a Prince will have some room to shew his state and magnificence in This Heaven is not every where as the Lutherans and some others falsly assert 1. Because then it is no longer Gods seat but God himself For whatsoever is Omnipresent Jer. 23.24 must needs be God as himself proveth Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord 2. The Scripture speaketh of it as a limited and confined place where Gods glory shineth more than in any other place where Christ promiseth the Thief to be with him in Paradise he denieth him to be in hell or earth Here 's a ground of comfort That such a place is made for our rest and habitation wherein to enjoy fully the blessed and glorious presence of God Let us contemn these houses of clay in comparison and desirously exchange this temporal for an eternal and blessed condition 1. Why should we prefer such base Cottages before so Princely a Court Why should we strive for Earth and lose the third Heaven Why should we grieve to leave a Prison for the Palace of God himself 2. Christ is there to be with whom is best of all Yea let us learn contentation with our present estate whatever it is and hear afflictions patiently We are now unknown in a strange countrey but we shall come home to our own inheritance
of Orien Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in his season Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons Seek him that maketh the Seven stars Amos 5.8 Job 9.9 Psal 136.9 and Orien Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiadâ—s and the chambers of the South The Moon and Stars to rule by night Of a Year After God had created the Lights in the Firmament of the Heaven to divide the Day from the Night Gen. 1.14 He commanded also Let them be for signes and for seasons and for dayes and years The Year is a remarkable standard of time consisting of twelve Moneths about the quartering out of which there have passed especially two distinctions 1. The first in frequent use with Astronomers according to the cardinal intersections of the Zodiack that is the two Aequinoctials and both the Solstitial points desining that time to be the Spring of the Year wherein the Sun doth pass from the Aequinox of Aries to the Solstice of Cancer The time between the Solstice and the Aequinox of Libra Summer From thence unto the Solstice of Capricornus Autumn and from thence unto the Aequinox of Aries again Winter 2. A second division is observed by Hippocrates and most of the ancient Greeks establishing the account of Seasons from usual alterations and sensible mutations in the Aire discovered upon the rising and setting of divers Stars Accounting The Spring FRom the Aequinoctial point of Aries This is properly the pleasant Quarter of the Year being the Emblem of Man in his Youth Of this season the Song of Songs gives a most dainty description far past any of the Poets who yet have shewed themselves very witty that way The Winter is past Cant. 2.11 12 13. the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell The Summer From the rising of the Pleiades or the several stars on the back of Taurus This is properly the hottest season in the Year and the Emblem of Man in his full strength Metaphorically it signifies opportunity or fit time to do things in Prov. 6.8 according to that The Ant provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest Autumn From the rising of Arcturus a Star between the thighs of Bootes This is the proper season of gathering in the fruits of the Earth and the Emblem of Man in a declining condition Of this the Psalmist The time that corn and wine are increased Psal 4.7 Winter From the setting of the Pleiades It is a dead season in which the weather is cold ways foul days short and the air muddy the clouds commonly returning after the rain It resembles Old age It is figuratively taken for the doleful and dismal condition of such as are not effectually called by Christ Omnis illis dies hybernus est It is ever Winter with them no Spring of grace no Sun-shine of sound comfort The Day is thine the Night also is thine Psal 74.16 17. thou hast prepared the Light and the Sun Thou hast set all the borders of the earth thou hast made Summer and Winter Of the Lowest Heavens THe Lowest Heaven is distinguished from the Sky by waters as the Sky is from the Coelum Empyreum by the Primum Mobile This is the Air whereon we breathe and wherein birds flie clouds swim c. Fire Est elementum callidissimum siccissimum levissimum permeans per omnia omnia pervadens It is an Element dreadful painful sudden in eruption active mereiless and devouring It hath a strong stomack what will not Fire digest It will digest stones iron c. nay the sublunary world at last for 1 Pet. 3.10 the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Lightning and Thunder Fulgetrum seu corruscatio est splendor flammae emicantis per totum aerem uno momento transcurrens per intervalla vel cum nullo vel parvo sonitu ortus ex modicà tenuique exhalatione in nube accensa splendor est eminus apparens longéque sparsus Tonitru est sonitus in aëre aut exagitatione vaporis calidi sicci in nube frigida humida propter antiperista sui excitatus aut ex ejusdem vaporis è nube violenter fracta eruptione generatus aut etiam noâ—unquam ex nubium cavarum collisione coortus Tonitru à terrendo Thunder is so terrible that it hath forced from the greatest Atheist an acknowledgment of a Deity Caligula who dared his Jove to a duel yet if it thundred or lightned but a little would be ready to hoodwink himself Alladius King of the Latines striving to imitate the Thunder by an Engine made him justly perished by a Thunderbolt from heaven His house also where he attempted so to do was consumed with fire In Thunder and Lightning there is much of God to be seen and heard these being the harbingers as it were and officers to make room for him and to manifest his power which the Saints may take comfort in and the greatest must acknowledge He hath made a way for the lightning of the thunder Job 28.26 Psal 77.18 Psal 29. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven the lightnings lightned the world the earth trembled and shook The voice of the Lord is upon the waters the God of glory thundereth c. Clouds Nubes est corpus velex copioso vapore è locis humentibus in sublime adscendens vel ex maximè humidis partibus aeris in media aeris regione concretum Breviter est vapor humidus adensatus qui in mèdia aëris regione à frigore circumstante constrictus quasi congelatus pendet Vapores enim in sublime elevati vel maximae humidae aëris partes condensatae quae gemina materia est ex qua nubes generantur constant caliginosum aërem efficiunt vapores autem copiosi ex mari adscendune unde aquae maris sunt velut radices nubium Job 36.30 A Cloud is a thick vapour Illiâ— enim fiunt miracu'a magna Vatab. Haec sunt sanè admiranda tremenda Mer. raised up by the heat of the Sun to the middle region of the Air and there by the cold condensed becomes so thick that it stops and intercepteth the Light so that Clouds and Darkness go together How the Clouds are hanged up even in the Air like Archimedes his Pigeon equally poised with their own weight how they are upheld and why they fall here and there and now and then we may well wonder but know not In these God bottleth up the Rain and there keepeth in by main strength though those vessels are as thin and thinner than the liquor that is contained in them Now that God binds up these heavy Vapours and keeps them in the Clouds as a strong man in a cobweb till brought by the Winds
whithersoever he pleaseth to appoint them and that they drop upon the Earth by little and little to make it fruitful this is a wonderful work of God This duly weighed were enough to convince an Atheist and should bring us to the knowledge of his power wisdom and goodness He bindeth up the Waters in his thick clouds Job 26.8 cap. 36.29 and the cloud is not rent under them Can any understand the spreadings of the clouds Rain Est fluxus humidae nubis Great rain is called Nimbus small rain Imber quâ— Ã calore solis paulatim soluta aquam guttatins è media aeris regione demittit It is the flux of a moist Cloud which being dissolved by little and little by the heat of the Sun lets down Rain by drops out of the middle region of the Air. This is reckoned and rightly among the marvellous works of God 1. Marvellous power in causing and giving rain 2. Wonderful goodness in thereby cooling refreshing and nourishing all earthly living creatures So that we may say In every drop of rain there is an Ocean of wisdom power goodness and bounty The Rabbins have a saying That Rain is the husband of the earth because those showers foecundate the earth and make the great Mother of Plenty fruitful in bringing forth all things useful and comfortable for the use of Man Who giveth rain upon the earth and sendeth waters upon the fields Job 5.10 Cap 28 26. Cap. 36.27 28 He made a Decree for the rain For he maketh small the drops of water they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof which the clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly Rain-bowe It is the effect of the Sun shining against a cloud Thauman is filiam dixere Iridem Poetae Colores ejus tam exacti ut vix artificis possit exprimerâ— manus and is Nuntius foederis serenitatis the Angel of Gods Covenant and of fair weather It is Signum gratiae foederis a sign of grace and of the Covenant of mercy and therefore alwayes fresh and green about Christs throne of grace Revel 4.3 c. 10.1 Ezek. 1.28 It is very likely that from the beginning it was in its causes which are clouds and the shining of the Sun and those causes did sometimes produce the effects before this time and so it is like it was often seen before the flood But now God made choice of it for a sign of his Covenant with the world that there should be no more an universal flood as before there was This Bowe was most proper to be a sign of Gods Covenant and in it there are many wonders For the former 1. Because of the place which is in the clouds of heaven whence came the rain that drowned the world before Ambros 2. It is there planted as if man were shooting at God and not God at man Besides of Gods bow we read but not of his arrows 3. It appeareth commonly with rain that so where men might begin to fear the judgement they may take comfort against it For the latter 1. The beautiful shape and various colours Plin. N. H. lib. 12. c. 24. The waterish colours signifying the former overthrow of the world by water The fiery the future judgement of the world by fire The green that present grace of freedom from both 2. Where it toucheth upon any shrubs it leaveth a sweet and fragrant smell behind 3. It hath in it two contrary significations Scaliger viz. of rain and fair-weather of this in the evening of that in the morning Adde whereas naturally it is a sign of rain yet it is turned by God into a sure sign of dry weather Let us learn to look upon it not only in the natural causes Tam Dei meminiss opus est quà m respirare Bern. but as a Sacramental sign of the Covenant of grace and a Monument of Gods both justice in drowning the world and mercy in conserving it from the like calamity I do set my how in the cloud Gen. 9.13 14. Job 37.15 and it shall â—e for a token of a Covenant between me and the earth And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud He caused the light of his cloud to shine Winde Est exhalatio sicca copiosa à terrâ sursum tendens quâ— ordinatione Dei repressa ab occurrente nube frigidâ in mediâ regionâ— aâ—rit succedente novâ exhalatione per aërem oblique propulsâ lateraliter in locum opposiâ—um loco unde flare incipit fertur The wind in the nature of it is an exhalation arising from the earth drawn upwards by the power of the Sun and other heavenly bodies Ventus à violentiâ vehementiá nomen habet quòd veniat abundè magnâ vi iâ—â—uat in unum aliquem locum Magir. Phys but meeting and conflicting a while with the cold of the middle region of the air is beaten back again And being so light that naturally it cannot descend and so resisted that it cannot peaceably ascend it takes a course between both slanting with mighty violence through the air Much of God may be seen in the winds for it is he alone who holdeth them in his fist hideth them in his treasures rideth upon them as his Chariot and checks them at his pleasure Yea God weigheth them in a balance and when they seem to blow where they list piercing through the air with their violent blasts God sets them their bounds and appoints them their proportion Hence is that phrase of making the weight for the Winds Job 28.25 He bringeth the Wind out of his treasuries Psa 135 7. Psal 104.3 Joh. 3.8 Who walketh upon the wings of the Wind. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh not whither it goeth Nos motum sensimus modum nescìmus Hail Est pluvia in aëre inter descendendum conglatiata propter antiperistasin aëris calidi frigiditate naturaliâ—sese contrahente The broad flowing water of the clouds by the force of the cold is narrowed up into hail Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail Job 38.22 23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war Snow Many wonders there are in snow as that it should be made in the lowest part of the air and not above where it is coldest that it should snow upon the earth but never upon the Sea if Pliny may be believed that snow should lie continually not only upon the Alps but upon Mount Aetna where fire flames out that it serves for a cover to preserve earth's heat though it self be cold that being white it should sometimes bring forth red worms c. It is compared to wooll Psal 147.16 for whiteness lightness plenty softness warmth for though it be very cold yet by keeping in the vapours and exhalations
consolat Abite malâ— cupiditates ego vos mergam ne ipse mergar à vobis But it was indeed for a name as Hierom rightly judgeth calling him therefore Gloria animal popular is aurae vile mancipium a vain-glorious fool However let us make God our chief treasure A friend of Cyrus being asked Where his treasure was Answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Cyrus is my friend Let us answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where God is my friend Whoever hath the Lord for his portion the lines are fallen unto him in pleasant places he hath a goodly heritage He will be all that heart can wish or need require Surely there is a vein for the silver and a place for the gold Job 28.1 2. Psa 17.14 Job 22.25 where they find it Iron is taken out of the earth and brass is molten out of the stone Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure The Almighty shall be thy gold Fountains and Rivers Aristotle assigns this as the cause of the perennity of them â— of their Beginning and Original viz. That the Air thickned in the earth by reason of cold doth resolve and turn into water c. But a greater than Aristotle notwithstanding Averroes his excessive commendation of him Solom viz. That there was no errour in his Writings c. gives us his opinion as it was likewise the opinion of the Ancient Philosophers viz. That they come from the Sea through the Pores and passages of the earth where they leave their saliness behind them Thus God doth by certain issues or vents send forth the waters of the Sea which here and there break out in springs that men and other earthly creatures might have that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pindarus stileth it for the satisfying of their thirst Rona à tergo formosissima and for other necessary uses A great mercy the want would more shew the worth All the Rivers run into the Sea Eccl. 1.7 yet the Sea is not full unto the place from whence the Rivers come thither they return again Ad locum unde excunt flumina Psa 104.10 11 revertuntur ut iterum fluant Vulg. He sendeth the springs into the Valleys Which run among the hills They give drink to every Beast of the Field the Wild Asses quench their thirst Fruits Alma Parens tell us Quaelibet herba Dâ—â—m affords all things necessary for man and beast Ad esum ad usum both for food and Physick and both these before either man or beast was created Sing we Hoc mihi pro certo quod vitam qui dedit idem Et velit possit suppeditare cibum Green herbs was a great dish with the Ancients Aristippus told his Fellowphilosopher who fed upon them If you can please Dionysius you need not eat green herbs He presently replied If you can eat green herbs you need not please Dionysius These are called precious fruits Deut. 33.14 and Jam. 5.7 both because they cost hard labour to the husbandman for that is required as well as rain and dew promised And because they are choyce blessings of God for the sustentation of life Diogenes justly taxed the folly of his Countreymen quòd res pretiosas minimo emerent venderentque vilissimas plurimo because they bought precious things as Corn very cheap but sold the basest things as pictures statues c. extream dear for the life of man had no need of the one but could not subsist without the other Let us take heed of undervaluing the food of life and spending money for that which is not bread Isa 55.2 And God said Gen. 1.11 12. Let the earth bring forth grass the herb yielding seed and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind Whose seed is in it self upon the earth Cap. 1.29 30. and it was so And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in it self after his kind and God saw that it was good And God said Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be given for meat And to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat and it was so He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel Psa 104.14 and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth Worms In the earth are worms housed A worm is one of the meanest creatures and therefore to shew what a poor thing man is he is twice in one place compared to a worm Job 25.6 Thus Christ also bespeaks himself when he took our nature Psal 22.6 Man may be said to be a worm in several respects Look upon him 1. In his original and constitution he is from the earth as the worm is 2. In his natural state and condition he liveth upon the earth and earthly things as worms do 3. Because subject to danger every foot may crush him 4. Because unable to resist or make defence unless the Lord be his shield and a defence to him round about 5. Because he must shortly return into the earth and when he comes to the grave it will be worm to worm Mihi experto credite saith Aug. Believe me who have made trial of it Open a grave and upon the dead mans head you shall find toads leaping begotten of his brains upon his loins serpents crawling begotten of his raynes in his belly worms abounding arising out of his entrails Behold what we now are and what we shortly shall be Behold the Original and filthiness of sin The best are but worms-meat the worms shall cover them who haply were once covered with costliest cloathing Mark 9.44 But take heed of that Worm which never dieth for as out of the corruption of our bodies worms breed which consume the flesh so out of the corruption of our souls this never-dying worm This worm say Divines is a continual remorse and furious reflection of the soul upon its own wilful folly and now woful misery Oh consider this before thy friends be scrambling for thy goods worms for thy body and Devils for thy soul Go not Dancing to Hell in thy Bolts rejoyce not in thy Bondage as many do to whom the preaching of Hell is but as the painting of a toad which men can look on and handle without affrightment I have said to corruption Thou art my father to the worm Thou art my mother Job 17.14 and my sister Mandrakes Before I had passed plants I should have mentioned one strange one in Scripture called Mandrake of which here a word It is a kind of herb whose root hath the likeness of a man The fruit of the root called Mandrake Apples have
Mount Tabor where he shall be transfigured for ever Give thy possession on earth for expectation in Heaven Not as that French Cardinal who said He would not give his part in Paris for his part in Paradise Man is to be considered in a four-fold estate In statu 1. Confectionis as he was created 2. Corruptionis as he was corrupted 3. Refectionis as he was renewed 4. Perfectionis as he shall be glorified In the first estate we give to man a liberty of nature Adamus habuit pâ—sse si vellet sed non habuit velle quod posset In the third we grant a liberty of grace for if the Son make you free ye shall be free indeed And in the fourth estate we confess a liberty in glory All the doubt betwixt us and the Papists is of the second estate how man corrupted is renewed how he cometh into regeneration after degeneration And yet herein we consent that the will of man is turning unto God and in doing good is not a stock or stone in all and every respect passive for every man is willingly converted and by Gods grace at the very time of his conversion he willeth his own conversion And so the will of man is in some sort co-worker with grace for this cause Paul exhorteth us not to receive the grace of God in vain And to this purpose that saying of Austin is very remarkable Qui fecit te sine te nen justificabit te sine te Fecit nescientem justificat volentem The difference then is this they write that our will is a co-worker with grace by the force of nature we say that it works with grace by grace we will indeed but God worketh in us both to will and to work Man is called earth thrice by the Prophet Jeremiah Cap. 22.29 O earth earth earth hear the Word of the Lord that is as Bernard expounds Earth by 1. Procreation 2. Sustentation 3. Corruption Alas what is man Nothing I had almost said Somewhat less than nothing embarqued nine months in a living vessel at last he arives in the world Lord of the Land yet weeps at his possession in infancy and age fourfooted in youth scarce drest makes not his Will till he lie a dying and then dyes to think he must make his Will O quà m contempta res est homo nisi supra humana se erexerit Tantus quisque est quantus est apud Deum And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground Gen. 2.7 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul After the man is the woman made Gatak as a yoke-fellow standing on even ground with him though drawing on the left side Mulier quasi mollior the weaker vessel therefore to bo born withal Origen speaks somewhat contemptibly of women When Christ came into the Coasts of Tyrus and Sidon In Mat. 15.22 Behold a Woman Mira res Evangelista A strange thing O Evangelist that is the Author of transgression the mother o sin the weapon of the Devil the cause of our expulsion out of Paradise But Christ honoured women in lying in the womb of a woman He appeared first to women after his Resurrection and made them Apostolas apostolorum Apostles to preach his Resurrection to the Apostles There have been women of special note Sarah the Mother of the Faithful Hester the Nurse and preserver of the Faithful Women that ministred to Christ of their own substance c. There have been learned women Theano Crotoniatis was a Philosopher and a Poor too Pythagoras learned his natural Philosophy of his sister Themistocleas Clem. Alex. Olympia Fulvia Morata an Italian of the City of Ferrara taught the Greek and Latine tongues at Heidelberg Anno 1554. Aratha read openly in the Schools at Athens Leoptia wrote against Theophrastus c. Neverthelesse neither is the man without the woman 1 Cor. 11.11 neither the woman without the the man in the Lord. Mans Body PVulchrum corpus infirmis anima Isocrat est tanquam bonum navis malus gubernator The Philosophers say in respect of the substance of the body it consists most of earth and water but in respect of the vertue and efficacie it consists more of fire and ayre and so the body is kept in an equal temperature in the operation of the elementary qualities Omnia operatus est Dominus in pondere numero mensurâ that the humours may keep a proportionable harmony amongst themselves if this harmony be broken it bringeth destruction to the body As if the heat prevail then it bringeth Feavers if the cold prevail then it bringeth Lethargies if the moist prevail then it bringeth Hydropsies So that the extreme qualities heat and cold must be temperate by the middle qualities moist and dry For the body of man is like a Clock if one wheele be a misse all the rest are disordered the whole fabrick suffers Bodine observeth that there are three regions within mans body besides all that is seen without answerable to those three regions of the world Elementary Etherial and Caelestial His entrails and whatsoever is under his heart resemble the elementary region wherein only there is generation and corruption The heart and vitals that are divided from those entrails by the Diaphragma resemble the etherial religion As the brain doth the heavenly which consisteth of intelligible creatures Austin complaineth that men much wonder at the high mountains of the earth Hugo waves the sea deep falls of rivers the vastnesse of the Ocean the motion of the Starres Et relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur but wonder not at all at their wonderful selves And truly the greatest miracle in the world is that little world or rather Isle of man in whose very body how much more in his soul are miracles enow betwixt head and feet to fill a volume The body is not one member but many 1 Cor. 24.44 Head The head is the most excellent part of the body therefore the chief part of any thing is called the head Christ is called the Head of the Church and the Husband the head of the Wife And Israel is promised upon obedience to be made the head and not the taile Hence we uncover our head when we do homage to any man to signifie that our most excellent part reverenceth and acknowledgeth him In the head our reason and understanding dwells and all the senses are placed in the head except the touch which is spread thorow the whole body Besides the head is supereminent above the rest of the body and giveth influence to it There is also a conformity betwixt the head and the rest of the body And thus it is betwixt Christ and his Church he hath graces above the rest of his members he giveth influence and grace to them and he is like them The hair of the head as also the nails is an excrement 1 Cor. 11.14 and not to be
It was a custom amongst the Persians Plùs quali animo astimatur quà m quid datur Aelianus None might come to their King or Prince without gifts Syneta a poor husbandman meeting in the field Artaxerxes King of Persia presented unto him an handful of water out of the next river and was rewarded by the King with a Persian garment a Cup of gold and a thousand Darices of silver But what had man wherewith to move God to be favourable to him When Alexander gave a whole City to one of his servants and he out of modesty denied it his speech was He did not dispute what was fit for him to receive but what did beseem him to give The like may be said of Christ the great gift of God and effect of his love and favour to mankind Bernard once preaching upon the Incarnation and Nativity of our Saviour Christ said The shortness of the time constrained him to shorten his Sermon And let none quoth he wonder if my words be short seeing on this day God the Father hath abbreviated his own Word for whereas it filled heaven and earth as the Prophet speaks it was on this day so short that it was laid in a manger Christ easeth us of a threefold burthen 1. Affliction 2. The Law 3. Sin Which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear x Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift 2 Cor. 9.15 But there are also other gifts of God which are mainly of two sorts Dona 1. Aedificantia 2. Sanctificantia The former wicked men may enjoy the Saints have only the latter Paracelsus called the vertue of the Weapon-salve Donum Dei so are the Graces rather of his Spirit There is in Grace 1. Vita originalis habitualis which is from death of sin 2. Vita actualis renovata which is quickning from deadness Again Grace is 1. Inchoata incompleta 2. Perfecta completa consummata Philosophers and Divines say Justa aâ—eudo sumus justi There is an Esse naturale by union of soul and body And an Esse spirituale by union of the soul and Christ The habits of the former Vertues are got by frequent acts but Grace by Divine infusion Grace coming into the soul of man Pembl vind Grat. pag. 7. like Light into the air which before dark is in all parts at once illuminated or as Heat into cold water that spreads it self through the whole substance or as the Soul into the body of Lazarus or the Shunamites child not by degrees but all at once infused and giving life to every part So is our New man born at once though he grow by degrees that is the soul in conversion is at once re-invested with the Image of God in all its faculties so that though the actions of Grace do not presently appear in each one yet the habit the seed the root of all Divine virtues is firmly reimplanted in them and by the strength of this grace given they are constantly disposed to all sanctified operations Well said the Roman Theodosius That living men die is usual and natural But that dead men live again by repentance and grace is the mighty work of God alone Gregory the Great seeing the Merchants of Rome setting forth many beautiful British Boyes to sale sighed and said Alas for grief that such fair faces should be under the power of the Prince of darkness and such beautiful bodies should have their souls void of grace The body is better than food the soul than the body grace than the soul and only Christ than grace Whoso carries this Moli or Herb-of-grace Vlysses-like frustrates all charms Without grace Trees excell us in length of life Beasts in strength and Devils in knowledge Martial reports of a Fly that by a drop of Amber falling upon it grew in such request that a great sum of money was bidden for it so grace makes us esteemed of God Act. Mon. William Tims convented before Bishop Bonner Tims said the Bishop thou hast a good fresh spirit it were well if thou hadst learning to thy spirit Yea my Lord said Tims and it were well also that as you be learned men so ye had a good spirit to your learning A sinner wants grace Non quia Deus non dat sed quia homo non accipit Whereupon it follows in a Schoolmans inference That Gods not giving is not the cause of a sinners not receiving but rather his not receiving is the cause of Gods not giving Which made Ambrose count a sinner worse than a serpent Serpens aliis infundit venenum injustus sibi If thou begin 1 To hate and fly sin 2 If thou feelest thou art displeased with thine infirmities and corruptions 3 If having offended God thou feelest a grief and sorrow for it 4 If thou desirest to abstain from all appearance of evil 5. If thou avoidest the occasion 6 If thou travailest to use thy endeavour 7. If thou prayest to God to give the grace These are so many testimonies and pledges of Grace and the Spirits ruling within thee Furthermore if there be any life in the body at the heart it will beat at the mouth it will breath at the pulse it will be felt So where there is the life of Grace in any Bish Andrews it will appear to himselfe by his good thoughts and holy desires which he hath in his heart and it will appear to others by the gracious words that proceed from his lips and from the good works that proceed from his hands And if it cannot be perceived by any or all these waies then certainly there is no life of Grace in a man It is a good thing that the heart be established with Grace Heb. 13.9 Corruption Corruptio in Physicis opponitur generationi Ames Sicut igitur in generatione forma perfectio rei in generatur Sic in corruptione eadem forma et perfectio de perditur Forma autem et perfectio hominis quae moralis est et spiritualis consistit in conformitate debità ad imaginem voluntatem Dei ad quam in creatione primâ fuimus generati invocatione sumus regenerati Mutatio igitur ab isthâc perfectione ad peccati deformitatem et confusionem rectè ac propriè dicitur corruptio We must distinguish saith Bernard inter morbum mentis et morsum Serpentis inter malum innatum malum seminatum Sathans suggestions and our own corruptions We must with the man in the Gospel cast off our cloak and run after Christ and if we approach to heaven with Moses take off our shoes viz our filthy lusts because the lighter the swifter But this must be in the strength of God Austin striving against corruptions in his own strength heard a voyce In te stas et non stas This Corruption of nature hath a regency and dominion in wicked men and a residency and dwelling in the best and will have Being like a
New-years gift which was a New Testament and an Hand-kercher with this posie about it Fornicatores adulteros judicabit Dominus God judgeth them sundry kind of wayes 1. His judgment is on their souls which are translated from God to the Devil Hos 4.11 2. On their bodies Fornicatio quaesi formae necatio 3. On their goods Prov. 29.3 4. On their good names One principal thing that the Orator cast in Catelin's dish was Cane pejus angus his beastly and incestuous life 5. On their children Corpus opes animum famam vim lumina scortum Debilitat perdit necat aufert eripit orbat Long lasteth not the summer-fruit of wanton love or rather lust blasted most time in the blossom and rotten before it be well gathered Demosthenes went to Lais the Strumpet for a nights lodging Laeta venire Venus eristiâ— abire solet she asked 10000 Drachmes Nay soft saith he Nolo tanti emere poenitere Concupiscence is like an hot fire and our bodies like a seething pot Now this pot is cooled four ways especially By taking away some of the fuel under it Even so the less we eat and drink Incrementum gastromargiae initium luxuriae the less is the heat of lust It is Fasting-spittle that Kills this Serpent If we stuffe our Corps like Cloak-bags making our Mouths as Funnels our Throats Wine-pipes and our Bellies barrels there must follow some vent The pot is cooled by stirring of it So the furious heat of lust is abated by stiring of our bodies and exercise of our minds Unchaste folly for the most part is begot of an idle brain and hatched in a lazy body So sang the Poet Quaeritur Aegistus quâ re sit factus adulter Ovid. In promptu causa est desidiosus erat The Crab-fish when as the Oyster doth open slips in a little stone that she cannot shut herself again and so devours her If the Devil find us idle and gaping he takes his opportunity to confound us Let every generous spirit then resolve with Maximinus Quò major sum eò magis laboro quò magis laboro eò major sum We may cool the pot by casting some cold water into it In like manner abundance of tears are a good means to quench the outragious flames of this unruly fire The Amalekites we find in Sacred history burnt Ziglag and took the women captive which when David and the people found they lift up their voice and wept until they could weep no more 1 Sam. 30. and after that they smote them as the Text saith from the twilight until the evening of the next morn Lust is an Amalekite it burns our Ziglag sets on fire this little City captivating our senses and making us prisoners unto it But if we with David weep so that we can weep no more if we cast cold water into the pot if our eyes be fountains of tears and we weep day and night assuredly we shall pursue this cursed Amalekite and overcome our untamed affections we shall smite them from the twilight of our youth to the evening of our old age Also as a showre of rain extinguisheth the force of fire Chrysost so doth meditation of the Word the fire of lust in the soul The pot is cooled by taking it altogether by the fire so we may the sooner cool this hot lust which so boileth in us if we shun opportunities and occasions of sin Ne sedeas sed eas Ne pereas per eas Whereas other vices are conquered by strugling and striving with them the best way to subdue this vice is to fight with it after the manner of the Parthians who did fight flying Tu fugiendo fuga nam fuga sola fuga est 1 Cor. 6.18 Flee Fornication Simpilicity It is taken in an ill sense Pro. 1.22 How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity By which understand such as are easily drawn into a fools Paradise These may be called the best sort of bad men These simplicians are much better than scorners and far beyond those fools that hate knowledge All sinful men are not alike sinful It is taken in a good sense and so it signifies one that hath a plain heart void of wiles and wrinkles Simplicitas sine plicâ having not the wit and skill to contrive any mischief or harm to others It comprehends 1. Faithfulnesse without deceit 2. Humility without pride 3. Gentlenesse without fierceness 4. And uprightnesse without respect of persons Being opposed to fraud vain-glory morosity and partiality Christ was a simple man all the treasures of wisdom were hid in him he was wiser than Solomon than any Politick Achitophel than any Matchiavel whatsoever yet a simple man He would not imploy his wits and wisdom about such things as might be hurtful to any So must all Christians be though God have given them never so sharp a wit Simplic husp aesâ—ns Deus est offâ—nditur astu Mant. Eclog. 7. so searching a head never so great wisdom experience and learning yet they must not use it to the hurt of any but to the good of all so neer as they can Jacob was a plain man Gen. 25.27 I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil Rom. 16.19 In simplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1.12 Subtilty It is sometimes taken in good part 1. For a singular wit or natural policy for one that is more provident and wise than others with this were the serpents indued at their creation Gen. 3.1 This was a good quality for God made every thing good but Satan abused it to a bad end 2. For sacred sagacity a sharp wit a deep reach a spirit that searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 of this Pro. 1.4 And sometimes it is taken in ill part for guile and deceit craft and wicked willnesse whereby men are made fit to deceive others A number there be that have the Serpentine wisdom and want the Dove-like simplicity They think they cannot be wise men unless they be crafty and hurtful men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are more like the Devil than Christ The Devil hath a plaguy wit á subtil pate of his own but he never doth any good with it but all the mischief he can So do those that are the Devils brood they have wit enough but what good do they with it Nay what hurt How dangerous be they in a town or a Countrey And certainly as a murderer desiring to wound deeply that he may strike deadly will look that his weapon be sharp Diabolus à te ornari quaerit so the Devil as at first chooseth the sharpest and subtilest wits for his instruments of mischief that having seduced them he may by them prevail the more for seducement of others O full of all subtilty and all mischief Acts 13.10 thou child of the Divel thou enemy of all righteousnesse wilt
a sweet savour behind it Wheresoever it comes it will procure favour of God and men When the name that the wicked have gotten shall rot the faithful shall be had in everlasting remembrance Therefore let us be all Zealous this way so shall we be renowned in this world Quà m magnus mirantium tam magnus invidentium populus est Senec. and eternally famous in the world to come Plato was once in such esteem that it was an ancient Proverb Jovem grecè loqui si vellet non aliter loquuturum quà m Platonem But the common people are apt to praise and dispraise with one breath Fame followes desert as the sweet sent doth the rose A man shall be sure to have both the comfort and credit of his worthy parts and practises In the Olympick games those that overcame Dignum laude virum Musa vetat moriâ— Hòâ—at did not put the garlands on their own heads but stayed till others did it for them That which had been much to a mans commendation if out of another mans mouth sounds very slenderly out of his own It is an hard thing to recover a mans good name if once lost It happened Lauâ— proâ—rlo sordescit in â—re that upon a time Fire Water and Fame went to travel together but before they set forth they consulted that if they lost one another how they might meet again Fire said where you see smoke there you shall finde me Water said where you see marsh or moorish low grounds there you shall find me But Fame said take heed how you lose me for if you do you will ran a great hazard never to meet me again Still the Euge of a good Conscience and Gods approbation is principally to be sought after Whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. â— 29 Merâ—t Caelum gratis non accipiam said the Jesuite before grace I had free will to it and when I had grace I deserved glory Satan had perswaded the Scottish Knox he had merited by his Ministery but that God brought to his mind those scriptures What hast thou that thou didst not receive And yet not I but the grace of God which was in me The Jewes of old did seek to be justifyed by their own works and these latter Jewes being asked whether they beleeve to be saved by Christs righteousness or not Answer that every Foxe must pay his own skin to the flear The Church of Rome seekes to be justified by her own righteousness and the righteousness of Christ They hold that Christs righteousness merits that our works should merit And Bellarmine saith De Iustif Opera sanctorum tincta sanguine Christi merentur that is the works of the Saints dipped in the blood of Christ do merit And truely that 's a slie and nice distinction of the Jesuites which they invented of late to make us beleeve that by the doctrine of merits they derogate nothing from the glory of Christ Indeed they say that we make satisfaction for sin and merit heaven yet it is not we that do it but Christ by us not our works simply in themselves but as dyed in the blood of Christ Our Merits are Christs merits and therefore they may deserve heaven I but Christ hath purged our sins by himself not by our selves he hath done it by his own blood immediately not mediately by our works dyed in his blood Therefore that is a meer delusion to mock the world withall Upon those word Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love The Jesuites say It is a world to see what wrything and wringing the Protestants make to shift off this place whereby it is cleer that good works are meritorious and causes of salvation If it be an unrighteous thing with God not to give heaven to our works then we have it not on meer mercy but of justice But we say It is just with God so to do not in regard of our merit Justum est ut reddat qui debet debet autem qui promisit but of his own promise They that came into the vineyard at the last hour had as much as the first yet not of merit but of Covenant It is an unrighteous thing for one to break his promise God hath promised to reward our works with eternal life therefore he should be unrighteous if he did it not yet we must not depend on our merits but on Gods promise ratified by an oath as he sheweth in the following words And for Opus operatum it is not sufficient so much as to acceptance with God because it is not enough to do a good work which God requireth at our hands but we must perform it in such a manner as the Lord requireth We must not only do bonum but bene Besides Merit is a meer fiction sith there can be no proportion betwixt the work and the wages It is well observed Coâ—â—on on Cant. Certum est nos facere quod faimus sed ille â—acit ut faciasmut Aug. Like as Roma is become Amor inversus that the Church in the Canticles is no where described by the beauty of her hands or fingers Christ concealeth the mention of her hands that is of her works 1. Because he had rather his Church should a bound in good works in silence than boast of them especially when they are wanting as Rome doth 2. Because it s he alone that worketh all our works in us and for us We do what we do but it is he that causeth us so to do St Paul is so directly against Popish justification by works that one saith both wittily and well The Epistle of Paul to the Romans is become the Epistle of Paul against the Romans Certainly those misled and muzled soules did worse than lose their labour Act. Mon. fol. 1077. that built religious houses Pro remissione redemptione peccatorum pro remedio liberatione animae pro salute requie animarum patrum matrum fratrum sororum c. These were the ends that they aimed at as appears in stories The Papists think that as he that standeth on two firm branches of a tree is surer than he that standeth upon one onely so he that trusteth to Christ and works too is in the safest condition But 1. They are fallen from Christ that trust to works 2. He that hath one foot on a firm branch and another on a rotten one stands not so sure as if he stood wholly on that which is sound But let them be Moses disciples let us be Christs set not up a candle to this sun of righteousness mix not thy puddle with his purple blood thy rags with his raiment but detest all mock-stayes And account accursed for ever that blasphemous direction of Papists to dying people Conjunge Domine obsequium meum cum omnibus quae Christ us passus est pro me Join Lord mine obedience with all that Christ hath
the conscience of his faithfulnesse herein being more sweeter as it is more secret In favours done his memory is frail in benefits received never failing He is the joy of life the treasure of earth and no other than a good Angel cloathed in flesh It is said of Augustus that he was ad accipiendas amicitias rarissimus ad retinendas verò constantissâ—mus Euripides saith that a faithful friend in adversity is better than a calme sea to a storm-beaten Marriner The world is full of Jobs comforters and friends miserable ones who instead of comforting reproach vizarding themselves under the cloke of amity when their hearts are no better than lumps of hypocrisie But true friendship is Hercules knot indissoluble And like Mercuries staâ—â—e whereon are placed two snakes both the male and the female alwayes clipping and clasping together One asking a poor man how he would prefer his children his answer was Zenophon Cyrus is my friend But O happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help Psal â—46 5 and whose hope is in the Lord his God Kisse To kisse noteth 1. Worship and service 1 Kings 19.18 2. Duty and obedience Psal 2.12 3. Love and affection As a sign of unity and onenesse Salute one another saith Paul with an holy kisse Rom. 16.16 As it is the fashion among us for men meeting with their friends to shake hands So was it among the Jewes as appears by many places in both Testaments for men to kisse men at meeting and parting The Apostle intends a true conjunction of minds and affections forgetting all former offence This Peter calleth the kisse of charity and Austin Osculum columbinum the Dove-like kisse But there are unholy kisses The unchast kisse of the Harlot The idolatrous kisse of the Israelites to Baal The flattering kisse of Absolom and the trayterous kisse of Joab and Judas Above all its good to kisse him in whose lips grace is seated Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 for thy love is better than wine Enemie Wisdom tells us it is good to keep a bit in the mouth of an enemie but much more of our spiritual enemies Fury fights against the soul like a mad Turk Fornication like a treacherous Joab it doth kisse and kill Drunkennesse is the master-gunner that sets all on fire Gluttony will stand for a Corporal Avarice for a Pioner Idlenesse for a Genleman of the company And Pride must be a Captain Let us therefore put on our spiritual armour To love our enemies is a hard task but Christ commands it and it must be done be it never so contrary to our foul nature The spirit that is in us lusteth after envy but the Scripture teacheth better things and God giveth more grace This is our Saviours Precept and this was his practice He melted over Jerusalem the slaughter-house of his Saints and himself Called Judas friend Prayed Father forgive them And did them all good for bodies and souls And all his children in all ages of the Church have resembled him Abraham rescueth Lot that had dealt so discourteously with him Isaac forgives the wrong done him by Abimelech and his servants and feasteth them Jacob was faithful to Laban who changed his wages ten times and alwayes for the worse Joseph entertained his malicious brethren into his house Elisha provides a table for them that had provided a grave for him And Stephen prayes heartily for his persecutors Lord lay not this sinne to their charge and prevailed as Austin thinketh for Pauls conversion In doing some good to our enemies we do most to our selves for God cannot but love in us that imitation of his mercy who bids his Sun to shine on the wicked and unthankful also Love your enemies Mat. 5.44 blesse them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you c. Read Rom. 12.20 21. Money It was and still is a common medler It is the worlds great Monarch and bears most Majesty What great designs did Philip bring to passe in Greece by his gold The very Oracles were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to say as Philip would have them Antipater non tenuis fuit pecuniae ideo praevalidae fuit potentiae saith Egesippus he was a well-monyed man and therefore a mighty man But what security is in money Doth the Devil balk a lordly house as if he were afraid to come in Dares he not tempt a rich man to lewdnesse Let experience witnesse whether he dare not bring the highest gallant both to sin and shame Let his food be never so delicate he will be a guest at his table and perhaps thrust in one dish at his feast Drunkenness Satan will attend him though he have good servants Wealth is no charm to conjure away the Devil such an Amulet and the Pope's holy-Holy-water are both of a force An evil conscience dares perplex Saul in the throne and a Judas with his purse full of money Can a silken sleeve keep a broken arm from aking then may a full barn keep an evil conscience from vexing hell-Hell-fire doth not favour the rich mans limbs more than the poor's Dives goes to hell out of his purple-robes to flames of the same colour The frogs dare leap to King Pharaoh's chamber into his sumptuous pallaces The rich Worldlings live most miserably slav'd to that wealth whereof they keep the key under their girdle Esuriunt in Popina They starve in a Cooks shop The Poet tells us that when Codrus his * A little cottage in the forrest house burns he stands by and warms himself knowing that a little few sticks straw and clay with a little labour can rebuild him as good a tabernacle But if this accident light upon the Usurers house distraction seiseth him withall he cries out of this Chamber and that Chest of this Closet and Cabinet Bonds and Mortgages Money and Plate Strabo saith That Phaletius feared lest in digging for Gold and Silver Effodiuntur opes c. men would dig themselves a new way to Hell Plutonem brevi ad superos adducturos And bring up the Devil among them Gold is that which the basest yield the most savage Indians get servile Apprentices work miserable Muckworms admire and unthrifty Ruffians spend Yet the danger is not in having gold and silver so as these metals have not us Minut. Octav. so as they do not get within us But that is too often verified of which an Antient complaineth and not without cause Divites facultatibus suis alligatos magis aurum consuevisse suspicere quâ—m coelum That rich men mind Gold more than God and Money more than Mercy If wealth be wanting they sit down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair And if they have it they rise up in a corky frothy confidence that all shall go well with them Money answereth all things Eccl. 10.19 Clothing
the same that ever as foul loathsome pernicious c. Then such and such events will follow upon such and such courses Ye can discern the face of the skie but can ye not discern the signs of the times Mat. 16 3. Judgements We must reverence the judgements of God When Daniel pondered in himself the fearful fall of Nebuchadnezzar that such a faire and beautiful tree that reached to heaven should be cut down he held his peace by the space of one hour and his thoughts troubled him When the Angels were to blow their trumpets there was silence in heaven they were stricken with a kinde of astonishment and could not speak The wicked that have no portion in Christ may tremble but the holiest men of all must fear and reverence the judgements of God Doth the lion roar and shall not the beasts of the forrest quake And the consideration of these temporal judgements inflicted on sinners should scare us from sin The water wherwith the old world was drown'd the fire and brimstone that consumed the Sodomites the casting of Jesabel that filthy strumpet out of a window and the eating of her by dogs the hanging of Absolom by the hair of his head the fall of the Tower of Siloam upon eighteen persons and the falling of the carkasses of the Israelites in the wildernesse Though we fear not Hell because we see it not yet let us fear the arrows of Gods wrath which he may shoot a◠us in this world and pierce us thorough If we will not fear him because he can kill the soul which is the greatest yet let us fear him because he hath infinite wayes to destroy our bodies He can make the Pox to eat up the body of a whoremonger He can make the body of an ominous and malicious person to consume away to the very bones He can wash away the flesh of a drunkard c. Arrius the Heretick as he was casing nature all his entrails came forth whereupon he immediately died The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth Psal 9.16 Tumult The word in the Hebrew which is sometimes used for tumult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strepitus belli vel strepitus aquarum inundantium signifieth an inundation or multitude of waters which over-run their banks with violence and roaring Hos 10.14 The people are a most dangerous and heady water when once it is out Siditious tumults do soon bring all into a miserable confusion Intestine commotions may undo a people as a man may die of an inward bleeding When the multitude is in a rage they are like unto a tiled house that is on fire there 's no coming near the house the tiles do so flie about your face so it is in tumults there 's no coming neer to talk to them to convince them but they are ready to flie presently upon you What havock made the seditious in Jerusalem Josephus Speed a little before the last destruction of it The Guelfs and Gibellines in Italy Wat Tiler and his complices here Ac veluti in magno populo cum saepè coorta est Virgil. Aen. l. 2. Vbique pavor plurima mortis imago Seditio saevitque animis ignobile vulgus Jamque faces saxa volant furor armae ministrat For the avoiding of this remember that rule Prov. 24.21 subjects may doubtlesse signifie what is good for the State and what is amisse but to make any alteration in the State either Civil or Ecclesiastical belongs to the supreme Magistrate But none so insolent and cruel as the vilest of the people when they are got together in a head It is God alone that can asswage these tumults others may stir striefe but God onely can stint it Qui terram inertem Horat. qui mare temperat Ventosum urbes regnaque tristia Divosque mortalesque turbas Imperio regit unus aequo As God alone hath the sea it self that brutish creature at his beck and check so also hath he Devils and masterlesse men who seek to subvert Government and to lay all level He it is that stilleth the noise of the seas Psal 65.7 the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people Warre Mars the reputed God of War was feined to be the sonne of Juno onely without company of her husband Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur Lucan l. 10. for when Juno was greatly displeased with her self that Jupiter by streining his head without company of a woman did bring forth the Goddesse Minerva she by the counsel of the Goddesse Flora touched a certain flower in the field of Olexius by vertue whereof she immediately conceived the god Mars The Romans painted him fiery sometimes in his chariot Rosin Antiq. sometimes on horse-back with a Javelin in one hand and a scourge in the other He was called Gradivus à gradiendo from his furious marching The Jews within the City of Jerusalem fought one against another they had civil wars Ioseph de Bel. Iud. but when the enemy approached they both joyned forces against them and came out very peaceably Nevertheless when they had repell'd their enemy the Romans they came to the City and fell presently to war again among themselves so that there were more slain by civil wars than by their foraign enemy Signes and tokens are Pranuncia bellorum Gods messengers to forewarn a sinful Nation of ensuing wars As in Rome before Sempronius went out to war against the Picents aedes salutis the Temple of health and safety was dissolved by a thunderbolt Three wolves brought a dead carkasse half eaten with hideous cries into the Market-place Before Hannibal vanquished Flaminius the sun seemed to be lessened At Arpi bucklers were seen in the heavens At Sardinia the Sun fought with the Moon To Jerusalem before the destruction thereof by Titus the Moon was eclipsed twelve nights together The Angels Templi Praesides with a loud cry left the Temple A star like a sword appeared over the City Chariots running in the skie armed men fighting in the air To Italie when Lodowicks force procured Charles the Great to enter into Puglia three Suns appeared invironed with clouds and horrible thunder And in Arosso were seen images sweating drums and trumpets men and horses in the air The Lord preparing us by these either for present repentance or speedy destruction One of Xerxes men boasting the Persians would let flie such a flight of arrows as should darken the Sun It was answered by one of the Grecian Captaines it was well for then they should have the benefit of fighting in the shadow Non quaeritur Pax ut belium geratur Aug. sed bellum geritur ut pax acquiratur Yet Peace betwixt ambitious Princes and States is but a kinde of breathing Sir W. R. For the rusty sword and empty purse do onely plead performance of Covenant And surely its good to hold that weapon in the scabbard that hath
the Ghost in Jeronimo cry for revenge they shall haunt you and set no colour before you but red and crimson yea and throw bowles of blood upon your faces never leaving you till they have brought you from a dying life to a violent and cursed death like the poor fish that feeling the heat of the water thinks to mend her self and leaps into the fire Would not our hearts bleed within us to see an army of men marching against the mouth of a Canon to be wounded discomfited some groaning and crying out some slain out-right and cut off by the middle some crawling on the ground with their lungs peeping out through their sides some stooping with their bowels in their hands some sliced down their legs some cloven down the chin some their brains dasht out and besprinkled on the drumme All these and thousands such are but as fleebitings to that horrid slaughter and horrible blood-shed of the damned in hell fire And when all is done we must dye A grave onely remaines to receive us Three cubits are allotted to us None telluris tres tantum cabiti te expectant A little quantity of ground hath nature proportioned though sometime thou didst possesse as much as ever the tempter shewed Christ The remainder of mighty Hercules will scarce fill a little pitcher When certain Philosophers intentively beheld the tom be of Alexander Heri fecit ex aurò thesaurum hodie aurum ex eo facit thesaurum yesterday the world did not content him to day three cubits contain him Alcibiades bragging of his lands Socrates carried him to the Map of the world and bid him demonstrate them but he could not find them for alas Athens it self was not discernable This earth would serve the wicked still had they not better lye in rottennesse than combustion were not a cold grave more welcome than a hot furnace Now they beg not a city though a little one a Zoar nor a house though poor and bleak as Codrus nor an open aire though sharp and irksome scortched with the Indian sun or frozen with a Russian cold for of such favours there is now no hope Give them but a mountain to fall on them or rock to hide them and they are pleased Here is a strange alteration for the wicked when they shall go from a glorious mansion to a loathsom dungeon from a table of surfeit to a table of vengeance from fawning observants to afflicting spirits from a bed of down to a bed of fire they that commanded all the earth cannot now command a piece of earth to do them service God will wound the hairy scalp of him that goeth still in his wickednesse there remaineth for impenitent sinners a worme that knaweth the conscience and there is prepared for the wicked a fire which never goeth out where is horrour terrour weeping wailing wringing of hands gnashing of teeth continual death yet those that are there never dye Tantalus his Apples Sisyphus his stone and those ravening Harpies whereof the Poets do speak are nothing in respect of those torments whereof the wicked shall tast unlesse in this world they do repent and cast their accounts a fresh The pains of Hell as a reverend father of the Church observes make a four-fold impression in the soules of men 1. A carefull fear that declineth them 2. A doubtfull fear that conflicteth them 3. A desperate fear that shrinketh them 4. A damned fear that suffereth them Then the will shall be a hell in it self the memory shall be continually troubled with a fixed recordation of things passed which it once possessed the understanding shall be darkned with innumerable waves of imaginations the light shall be affirighted with ugly Devils and darknesse the hearing with odious and hideous out-cries the smelling with noisome stinkes the tast with raging thirst and ravishing hunger the feeling afflicted in every part with intollerable paines in comparison whereof our earthly fires are no more but painted flames Depart from me is a cursed condemnation viz. from my Quire of glorious Angels from the communion of blessed Saints Apostles Martyrs and Confessors from me from my holy hill Well may the wretched soul Esau like weep and howle To be secluded from the presence of God is of all miseries the greatest in so much that a father on Matthew saith Many do abhorre hell but I esteem the fall from that glory to be a greater punishment than hell it self Better to endure ten thousand thunderclaps than be deptived of the beatifical vision O the madnesse of most that will rather lose God and Christ and heaven and all than lose a lust Lysimachus King of Lacedemonia being forced to surrender himself his Army and his Kingdome into his enemies hands for a draught of water they being all ready to die for thirst when he had drunk his water he breaks out O how short a pleasure is this that for one draught of water I have lost a glorious Kingdome Truly infinite greater cause will the damned have to complain of their losse Something 's do perfect a good feast viz. Good company good chear good place and good time But all those good things are awanting Varro apud Gelljum at the black banquet in the nethermost hell At other feasts the more the merrier but that 's a sorry supper where the more the more miserable Oh! do not do not run the hazard of these eternal torments for enjoying the pleasure of sin for a season He that playes the thief is a very fool it may be he may not be an hour in stealing the commodity and yet he may lye a whole year in the Goal for it and have hanging when all is done But oh how many greater fools are there than these that will haply for an hours pleasure or at the most for a lifes-time lye in the Goal and prison of hell not for a year but to all eternity Suppose that by your unjust gain you increase your estate and get large revenews if you lose God what get you if you lose a soul what gain you if you lose Christ what advantageth it you We read of a certain salt in Sicilia Aug. de civit the which if it be put into the fire swims as water and being put into water crackles as fire Among the Garamantes a people dwellidg in the middle of Lybia we read of a fountain the which in a cold night is hot and in the hot day so cold that none can endure to drink it And we read of a stone in Archadia the which being once made hot can never be cooled Certainly the fire into which the damned souls are cast Cupient mori et mors fugit ab illis and tormented is without all intermission of time or punishment They shall desire to dy and death shall she from them Rev. 9.6 Propound to thy self a bottomlesse gulfe hideous to behold in darknesse dungeon-like in torments horrible to the smell most odious breathing out
in us not for a time but for ever for the Word dwelling noteth a perpetuity and is opposed to sojourning And also that he hath the full disposition and absolute command of the heart as a man of that house whereof he is Lord. Which disposition consists in these six notable benefits which are sure evidences of the Spirits being and dwelling in our hearts every one whereof is worthy our serious speculation The first is the illumination of our understandings with a certain knowledge of our reconciliation to God in Christ Jesus This is obtained by the special information of the Spirit he shall teach you all things he shall guide you into all truth John 14.26 16.13 saith the Saviour of the world This knowledge is not of Generals but of particulars that God is our Father Christ our Redeemer the holy Ghost our Sanctifier the Spirit of God faith the Apostle Rom. 8.16 Beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the sons of God Worketh in us a sure knowledge of the remission of our sinnes of our reconciliation and peace with God of our adoption into the liberty of the sons of God and faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.12 now have we received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are given to us of God that is the righteousnesse of Christ assuredly It is not in man to know assuredly what great things God hath done for his soul without the special instruction of the Spirit called the Spirit of truth And the Spirit of wisdom and understanding Isa 11.2 the Spirit of knowledge The second benefit of the Spirit which discovers his being in our hearts is regeneration wherby our hearts are renewed by receiving newnesse of life and grace The coruptions of our nature are expell'd by the Spirits infusion of supernatural qualities into us whereby we are made new creatures and of the servants of sin and limbs of Satan are made the members of Christ and sons of God Hence he is called the Spirit of life Except a man be born again by water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven saith our Saviour Ezek. 36.25 and Ezekiel doth Prophecy that God would sprinkle clean water upon them and they should be clean and from all their filthinesse would he cleanse them It is the Spirit that doth regenerate us who is here compared to clean water for these two causes 1. As water mollifies dry wood and puts sap into dry trees so doth the Spirit supple and mollifie our hard hearts and put sap of grace into them whereby we are made trees of righteousnesse and bring forth fruits of eternal life Christ saith John 7.38 39. that he that believeth in him as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water this saith the text spake he of the Spirit which they that believed on him should receive 2. As water doth purifie the body from all filth so doth the holy Ghost wash away our sins and our natural corruptions John 4.14 hence called a Well of living water springing up to everlasting life Again John the Baptist saith that Christ baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire where the Spirit is by consent of Interpreters compared to fire and that 1. As fire doth warm the body being benum'd with cold so doth the spirits our hearts frozen in sin and though dead in sins and trespasses yet by his reviving heat he quickens our hearts and brings us to life again 2. As fire doth purge and take out the dross from the good mettal so doth the holy Ghost separate and eat out the putrifying corruptions of sin out the canker'd and drossie heart of man And thus regeneration is wrought by the Spirit and therefore said to be born of God The third benefit of the Spirit in them to whom he is sent is an union or conjunction with Christ whereby we are made his members Hine baptismus dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 members of his body of his flesh and of his bones and partake of his benefits hereby his graces are in a plentiful manner and an abundant measure distill'd upon us which were in him above all measure hence it is compared to effusion Joel 2.1 John 3.24 I will pour out my Spirit hereby we know saith Saint John that we dwell in him and he in us because he hathi given us of his Spirit The Spirit is the bond of our conjunction descending from Christ the Head to all his members and begetting Faith that extraordinary vertue whereby Christ is apprehended and made our own by special application The fourth benefit whereby the Spirit is known to be sent of God into our hearts is the Spirits governing of our hearts For in whom he is be is Master ordering and disposing the understanding the will the memory the affections and all parts of the body according to his good pleasure for as many as are the sons of God Sam 8.14 Certum est nos facere quod sacimus sed illi 〈◊〉 ut faciamus are led by the Spirit The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord Psal 37.23 in token whereof they that are of the Spirit do savor the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 that is they affect and prosecute those things that are good And this called spiritual regiment it consists in two things 1. In repressing all evil motions arising either from within as from evil concupiscence corruption of our nature or from without us by the inâ—icement of the world or suggestion of Satan 2. In stirring up good affections and holy motions upon every occasion hereto belong those excellent titles given to the holy Ghost the Spirit of the Lord Isa 11.2 the Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and of strength the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord he hath these several attributes because he stirs up in the godly these good motions of wisdom of knowledge of strength of understanding of counsel and of fear of the Lord. In Galat. 5.22 the fruits of the Spirit are recorded there to to be love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance where oever these be the Author which is the holy Gost of necessity must be As for love whose object is God and man God for himself man for God it is a testimony of the Spirits presence in us and rule of us he is sent into our hearts saith Lombard when he is so in us as that he makes us to love God and our neighbour whereby we remain in God and God in us As for joy it is a main work of the Spirit making us to rejoyce for the good of others as for our selves whereas carnal men pine away and grieve expressively for others prosperity As for peace it is that concord which must be kept in an holy manner Immane verbum est ultio Senec. with all men