swadling band Iob 26.11 breakes up for it his decreed place and sets barrs and gates and saies Hither to shalt thou come no farther and here shall thy proud waves bee stayed Iob 38.9 10. Shall we yet step a staire lower and opening the Jawes of the bottom lesse pit see how powerfully hee displayes his Eanners in the dreadfull dungeon below Behold Hell is naked before him Iob 26.6 and destruction hath no covering This made our Prophet sing more generally The Lord is above all Gods whatsoever pleased him that did He in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deepe places Psal 135.6 Psal 135.6 Thus you heare God is in the world as the Soule is in the body life and government And as the soule is in every part of the body so is God in every part of the world No Quarter-master nor Vice-gerent He but universall Monarch and Commander Totus in toto Totus in qualibet parte A God every where wholly a God and yet one God every where onely One whom the vaine conjectures of the Heathen dreaming to be moe gave in the Skie the name of Iupiter in the Ayre Iuno in the Water Neptune in the earth Vesta and sometimes Ceres the name of Apollo in the Sunne in the Moone Diana of Aeolus in the windes Ex D. August Hot kerus Eccles pol. l. b. 1. Sect. 3. of Pluto and Proserpine in Hell And in fine so many guides of Nature they imagin'd as they saw there were kinds of things naturall in the world whom they honour'd as having power to worke or cease according to the desires of those that homaged and obey them But unto us there is one onely Guide of all Agents naturall and he both the Creator and Worker of all in all alone to be bless'd honour'd and ador'd by all for evermore And is God the Lord indeed Is he chiefe Soveraigne of the whole world Hath his Power so large a Jurisdiction Doth it circuit and list in Water Earth Aire Fire nay the vaster Territories of Heaven and Hell too How then doth this fraile arme of Flesh dare list it selfe against Omnipotence Why doth it oppose or at least incite the dreadfull Armies of him who is the great Lord of Hosts Why doe we muster up our troupes of Sinnes as if we would set them in battel-aray against the Almighty Scarce a place where he displaies the Ensignes of his Power but man seemes to hang out his flag of Defiance or at least of Provocation and though he hath no strength to conquer yet he hath a will to affront If he cannot batter his Fort he will be playing on his Trenches anger his God though not wound him In the earth he meetes him by his groveling Sinnes of Avarice oppression violence rapine Sacriledge and others of that stye and dunghill In the Water by his flowing sinnes of Drunkennesse Riots Surfets Vomitings and what else of that frothy Tide and Inundation In the Aire by his windy sinnes of Ambition Arrogance Pride Vain-glory and what vapour and exhalation else his fancie relisheth In the Fire by his flaming sins of Lust Choller Revenge Bloud and what else sparkles from that raging furnace In Heaven by his lofty Sinnes of Prophanation Oathes Blasphemies Disputes against the Godhead and the like And lastly as if Hell were with man on earth or man which is but Earth were in Hell already by his damned sins of Imprecations Curses Bannings Execrations and others of that infernall stampe which seeme to breath no lesse than Fire and Sulphure and the very horrors of the burning Lake Thus like those Monsters of old wee lift our Pelion upon Ossa Tumble one mountaine of transgressions upon another no lesse high than fearefull as if they not onely cryed for thunder from above but also dar'd it But wretched man that thou art who shall deliver thee from the horrour of this death 2 Thes 1.8 When the Lord shall reveale himselfe from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that feare him not what Cave shall hide 2 Sam. 22.9.16 or what Rocke cover them At his rebuke the foundations of the world are discovered even at the blast of the breath of his displeasure Out of his mouth commeth a devouring flame and if he do but touch these mountaines they shall smoake Psal 104.32 if he but once lift up his iron Rod he rends and shivers and breaketh in pieces like a Potters vessell he heweth asunder the snares of the ungodly and his enemies he shall consume like the fat of Lambes Psal 37.20 O then let all the earth feare the Lord let all the Inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him let Kings throw downe their Scepters at his feet and the people their knees and hearts at those Scepters from the Cedar of Libanus and the Oke of Basan to the shrub of the Valley and the humble Hysope on the wall let all bow and tremble Princes and all Iudges of the Earth both young men and Maidens old men and children let them all seare and in searing praise and in praising sing of the Name and Power of the Lord God for his Name onely is excellent Psal 148.13 and his power and Glory above Heaven and Earth On the other side is the Lord Omnipotent indeed Hath his Power so wide a Province and extent Is the glory of his mighty Acts thus made knowne to the sounes of men Is his Kingdome not onely a great but an everlasting Kingdome His Dominion through and beyond all Generations Psal 145.13 Doth hee plant and root up prune and graft at his owne pleasure Psal 147.6 Doth hee raise the humble and meeke and bring the ungodly down to the ground Is he with his Ioseph in the prison with Eliah in the Cave with Shadrach in the Furnace with Daniel in the Den Doth hee deliver his anoynted from the persecution of Saul His Prophet from the fury of Iezcbel his Apostle from the bonds of Herod His Saint from the Sword and Fagot of the Insidell Psal 104.21 Doth hee cloath the Lillies of the field Have Lyons roaring after their prey their food from him Doth he give fodder unto the Cattell quench the wild Asses thirst feed the young Ravens that call upon him Doth he stop the mouthes of wilde beasts Quench the violence of fire Abate the edge of the Sword Shake the very powers of the Grave and all for the rescue and preservation of his servants his faithfull his beloved servants Why art thou then so sad O my soule why so sad and why so disquieted within thee Trust in God Psal 147.3 he healeth those that are broken in heart and giveth medicine to heale their sick enesse Though thy afflictions be many thy adversaries mighty thy temptations unresistable thy grievances unwieldie thy sinnes numberlesse their weight intollerable yet there is a God above in his provident watch-Tower a God
glory converting this Eratis olim tenebrae to a Lux estis in Domino making that which was sometimes darknesse to be now light in the Lord. Quaedam sunt quae Dens ordnat facit quaedam quae ord nat tantù D. Aug. ut sup There are some things which God both makes and ordaines and some which he ordaines only The just which are as light as the shining light saith Solomon which shineth more and more unto the perfect day God not only makes but ordaines The wicked which are as darknesse and a continuall stumbling he ordaines only not makes not makes them wicked but men So that although both are not made by him both are disposed of though in a different manner disposed of The one Ad dextram Dei On the right of God with a venite Benedicti Come yee blessed The other Ad sinistram On the lest with an Ite maledicti Goe yee cursed And indeed whither should light goe but to him that is Pater luminum The Father of lights Iames 1.17 Or whither should darkenesse tend but to him that is Princeps tenebrarum the Prince of the power of darkenes Mat. 9.34 You heare then that where light is there is life too and where there is darkenesse death And these two are as distant as the two poles as opposite as two contrary winds or tydes differing sicut nuditas vestimentum as nakednesse and a garment doth D. Aug. lib. de Genes ad lit imperfect Now as in scripture there is some Analogie betweene light and a garment so there is betweene nakednesse and darkenesse The Psaimist describing the majesty of God saies that he was Amictus lumine sicut vestimento cloath'd with light as with a garment Psal 104.2 Here garment and light shine both together and with them life Iob typifying unto us the fleeting and unstable condition of the Rich under the sudden losse of his goods and children with his mantle rent and his head shaven at length prostrates himselfe with a nudus exibo Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked I shall returne And what of this nakednesse what nay whither Ecce in tenebris instruo Cubile meum Behold Iob. 1.21 I have made my bed ready in the darkenesse Job 17.13 Here nakednesse and darkenesse sleepe together and with them death And hence I suppose it is that the Evangelist calleth darkenesse Vmbra mortis The shadow of death Luke 1.79 And the Prophet whence he had it Regionem umbrae mortis the Land of the shadow of death Isay 9.2 Death and shadow of death and the land of the shadow of death and of all these Darkenesse is an Hieroglyphicke or Embleme or both as if there were no other misery to expresse them by but darkenesse And indeed Darkenesse is a great misery and seldome mentiond in sacred story without intimation of some curse or punishment So for the unprofitable servant Math. 25.30 wee finde that the doome is Vtter darkenesse And for the Angells that fell Chaines of darkenesse Iude 6.13 And for the wandring starres Blackenesse of darkenesse for ever Nay when God himselfe speakes in terror to the world the Earth trembling and the foundation of the Hills shaking because he is wroth A smoake out of his nostrills and a devouring fire out of his mouth are not astonishment enough but as if there were nothing else to ripen horrour Hee makes darkenes his secret place his Pavilion round about darke waters and thicke cloudes of the skie Psal 18.11 And therefore in mount Sinay at the promulgation of the law lightning and thunder and the noise of the trumpe and the smoaking of the mountaine like a furnace were too light it seemes to cause a generall palsie and trembling in the campe of the Israelites But to make terror solemne and compleate and set her up in the chaire of state there must be a thicke cloude also and to make that thicknesse more dreadfull Thicke Darkenesse too Exod. 20.21 And lastly on mount Calvary at the satisfaction of the law when part of the world seemd to dye and part to resurge in the death of her Saviour the Temple cleaving the Earth quaking the Rockes rending the Graves opening and many Bodyes of the Saints which slept arising Yet in this there was not a full pompe either of forrow or wonder not mourning or miracle enough for the tragedy of a God But the heavens must be cloath'd with blacknesse and sackcloth shall be a covering And as if one light languish'd for the extinguishing of another The Sunne it selfe shall blend and looke heavy to see her maker eclipsed and Darkenesse like a sad manile shall over-spread the whole land from the sixth houre unto the ninth houre Matth. 27.45 By this time you may conceive what Darkenesse is and the miserable estate and condition of those that lye captiv'd under her bands and fetters Now 't is time to reflect more particularly upon the text and enquire what the darkenesse was that is there complain'd of what that which of olde so manacled the Ephesian Yee were sometimes Darkenesse Darkenesse here Beza Cornel alap in locum hath a metonimicall sence and is if you wil take the word of a Iesuite or if not his Beza's more then ordinarily emphaticall Tenebrae being vs'd for renebricosi Darkeues for those which are in the darke as wickednesse is oftentimes taken for those that are wicked but darke or wicked in a superlative way Now as before Darkenesse was an absence or privation of the light naturall so it is here of the light spirituall and is a type or figure of man in naturalibus a representation of the state of nature before grace and such a state is a very darkenesse in which there is not so much as a glimmering of this Lux estis in Domino yee are now light in the Lord But rather a blind relique of this olim tenebrae in the text here that darkenes which of old so be sotted our Ephesian And what is that darkenesse but ignorantia veritatis an ignorance of divine truth Aret. in locum and imports only caecitatem innatam caliginem mentit de Deo Divinis an inbred blindnesse cast as a mist upon the soule a mentall dimnesse and obscurity in respect of God and things divine So that where such ignorance dwelleth there is no light at all but darkenesse hangs like a thicke fog about it First Darkenesse in the eyes Psal 69.23 Then Darkenesse in the heart Rom. 1.21 And at last Darkenesse in the understanding too Ephes 4. And why this threefold darkenesse Darkenes in eye in heart and understanding why Because alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them at the 18. verse of the same chapter And here if we had neither light of Father nor In terpreter Scripture would comment upon scripture Palpvviūs sicut coeci parietem We groape for the wall like the blinde weè stumble at noone day
surprisall here but in a church triumphant where the Palme and the Crowne and the white Robes are layd up and insteed of Drums and Ensignes Hallelujahs to the Lambe for ever I have done now with the text Applicatio ad Magistratum and the two lawes there lex Dei and lex peccati But the occasion of this meeting listen's after a third law and that 's lex Regni which though it be grounded or at least should bee on the lex Dei yet it sometimes fall's unhappily upon the lex peccati Now a warre there is in this law as betweene the former two Inveterate sometimes Irreconciliable and not to be decided but by Deaath war much of the nature of the other between Spirit Flesh a proud spirit for the most part and a stubborne peece of flesh for if there were either humility on the one side or patience on the other the noise of discord would not bee so loud in our streets but the voyce of the turtle would bee heard better in our land There would bee more peace within our walls I am sure more plentiousnes within our habitations What in the first institution was intended as a shield or buckler is us'd at length as a semiter or sword That which should defend mee from the blowes of another is the engine by which I wound him at last and my selfe too The law which in case of in jury or trespasse was ordain'd of old for a Sanctuary is made sometimes little better then a house of correction If I malice another 't is not I must seourge him but the law though it be in mine own power to chastise him with whips yet the law doe it with more state and more fury too for that shall chastise him with Scorpions when all this while the lash falls not so much on the back of the transgressor as his purse and the bleeding of that as the world goe's is as fatal as the other Sed hominum sunt ista non legum the fault is not in the law but in some of her touchy and waspish votaries or if it bee in the law I am sure it is not in the lex Dei nor I hope in this lex Regni but in the lex peccati 'T is the law of sin is to blame here the mighty Holofernes as Castrusian tolde S. Ierom that rebellious lust of ours which thus plaie's the tyrant with our selves and others Ille criminum leno Ille par asitus vitiorum that bawd and parasite of vices which in one act flatters and betraies us This is the Fox with a Fire-brand in the taile that burnes up the corne field of the Philistines the prime wheele and stirrer of all our turbulent motions our unpeaceable proceedings which first sets our pride a-gog and then our malice and at length our revenge and in such a high way of distaste that no sorrow of the partie offending no mediation of friends no tender of sitisfaction no interposing of the Magistrate himselfe can attone or pacifie But as if there were no Gospell upon earth or else no mercy by that Gospell they are still Jewishly bent with their crucifige crucifige the Law the Law And let such implacable Spirits have their fill of it let it enter like water into their bowels and like oyle into their bones let the Law at last be their comfort and not the Gospell let justice have her full swindge and not mercy and so if they will needs have it so Currat Lex let the Law goe on á lege ad legem from one Law to another from the Lex Regni to the Lex Dei from the Court of Common Pleas here below to the great Starre-chamber above where every man shall receive either doom or recompence according to his works The Law all this while is unreproveable you heare no staine nor blemish there but either in the malicious Clyent or Sollicitor or both It being true in this case what Saint Paul spake in another Lex quidem spiritualis illi vero carnales venundati sub peccatò Rom. 7. v. And here some may expect that I should have a fling at the Gowne or at least as the custome of this place is instruct or counsell it But this were to bring drops to a River offer a few mites or pence to a Treasury that is full for no charity can be so barren as to conceive that those should be ill husbands in counselling themselves that so abundantly dispense and communicate to others And indeed how or to what purpose should they receive instructions in a Church here that are taking so many in a Chamber How make use of the Doctrine of the Preacher that are so busie with the breviat of a Clyent But by their leave for I must have leave to tell them so God is herein dishonour'd and the solemnity both of this time and place disparag'd if not prophan'd They are not I presume so straightned with time nor so throng'd with the multitude of affaires but they might sequester one solemne houre for the service of the Lord The hearing of a Sermon can be no great prejudice to the debating of a cause if it bee just and honest and a few Orisons first offer'd in the Temple are a good preparative and prolog to a conscionable and faire pleading at the Barre As for any error else either in their practise or profession I have not to obtrude here or if I had I would not Every man or at least every good man is a Temple to himselfe and hath a Pulpit in his owne bosome where there is a continuall Preacher or Monitor a conscience either accusing or excusing him and one lash of that toucheth more at the quicke than a thousand from the tongue or pen of another Cor hominis saith Saint Augustine aut Dei Thuribulum aut Diaboli every mans heart is an Altar for God or for the Divell and according to the nature or quality of the Sacrifice so it smoakes either to his doome or glory and this is enough for an understanding eare without farther boring it And indeed it is not my practise to pull Gravitie by the beard bring backe the grey haire to the Rod and the Ferule Schoole as some doe a Magistrate and catechise a Judge nay traduce him too with their borrowed and affected Epithites Rampant Couchant Dormant and the like unreverent and saucie follies which are nothing else but the leakings of bottles which are not sound the noyse of Caskes which are both foule and emptie fragments of that broken vessell Salomon speakes of which can containe nothing no not the droppings of their owne vanities For mine own part I have been taught what the word Iudge meaneth both by representation and by office a King one way and a God another and what is that but a God and a God and therefore a God shall admonish him not I and one God I presume may speake roundly to another Hearke then what the God Iekosaphat
owne Secretaries speake The registers and pen-men of Divine story How they sing of his Power How they blazon his Omnipotence Loe Isa 40.12 He metes out Heaven with a span measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand comprehends the dust of the Earth in a measure weigheth the Mountaines in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance Isa 40.12 Here is the whole world circled in one verse and yet not his whole Power in that Circle his Power is his Godhead and God himselfe hath been call'd a Circle It is he that sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grassehoppers before him Marke He sits there he is not contained there There no that were above miracle the greater Circle contain'd in the lesse The Heathens themselves could tell us God was an intelligible Spheare Empedocles without Dimensions a Circle whose center was every where no where his Circumference no where not in the whole World not in the Earth not in the Waters not in the Heavens that circle both The Waters you heare he measures in the hollow of his hand the Earth in the same measure the Heavens that containe these in a Span Here is but a Span and Handfull of his Power and yet this Handfull graspes the Vniverse This made our Prophet often sing and in his song close as he began How wonderfull is thy Name in all the World Psal 8.1 9. How wonderfull in all the World A double wonder indeed in respect of Man though of God not so God could not be so wonderfully Great if man had ability to expresse him and therefore having none hee expresses himselfe by himselfe or at least himselfe by his Prophets to whom himselfe hee dictates who like men infus'd and intranc'd Speake aloft in sacred Allegories such as beseeme the Majesty and Greatnesse aswell of the Pen-man as Inspirer And here Psa 104.2 what sublimity both of power and language He clothes himselfe with light as with a garment Isa 40.22 stretcheth out the heavens like a curtaine and spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in by his spirit hath he garnished the skie Job 26.10 and fashioned it like a molten looking glasse In them hath he set a tabernacle for the Sun Psal 19.5 which as a Bridegroome commeth out of his chamber Psal 103. and rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his course He he hath appointed also the Moone for seasons and at his pleasure sealeth up the starres Job 9.7 He bindes the sweet influences of the Pleiades Iob. 9.7 and loses the bonds of Orion brings forth Mazaroth in his season and guides Arcturus with his Sons Iob. 38.31.32 Heere all bumane Eloquence is befool'd Non vox hominum sonut Oh Dei certe Such an expression of God none could frame but God himselfe and this made our Prophet finge againe Psal 104.24 O Lord of hosts how wonderfull are thy workes In wisedome hast thou made them all who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy power and faithfulnesse round about thee Psal 89.8 Let us now leave the firmament and the Lord bowing the heavens and comming downe see what empire and dominion he hath in the regions of the aire There Psal 104.3 he layeth the beames of his chamber in the waters maketh the cloudes his chariot and rideth upon the wings of the winde Through the brightnes of his presence are coales of fire kindled lightnings and hot thunderbolts Psal 18. There he hath made a decree for the raine Iob. 38.28 en 37.16 the ballancings of the cloudes as Iob styles them and there hath he begotten the drops of dewe Thence he giveth snowe like wooll Psal 147.17 18 and scattereth the hoare frosts like ashes casteth out his ice like morsells There Iob. 28.25 he maketh waight for the windes he bindeth up the waters in a cloude as in a bottell Iob. 26.8 and the cloude is not rent under them This made our Prophet sing aloft Praise the Lord in the heights praise him fire and haile snowe and vapours stor my winde sulfilling his worde Psal 108.1 and 8. verses Let us descend once more and amongst those proud heapes of earth which seeme to lift their heads even to the very starres observe what sway his power carries there or rather what terror He shall thresh the mountaines and beate them smal Isai 41.15.16 and make the hills as chaffe he shall fanne them and with his whirle winde shall he scatter them Iob 28.10 and shall overturne them by the rootes Isai 40.16 If he be angry Lebanon is not enough for incense nor the beasts thereof for a burnt sacrifice The foundations of the round world are discover'd at his chiding Psal 18.15 at the blasting of the breath of his displeasure This made our Prophet sing againe The Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods in his hands are all the corners of the earth and the strength of the hills is his also Psal 95.3.4 Shall wee yet stoope lower and descending this mount see how he is a Lord of the valleys and the inhabitants thereof Iob 38.6 Loe the foundation of the earth he hath wonderfully set Iob 9.6 and laid the corner stone thereof at his pleasure againe hee shaketh it out of her hindges Psal 114.8 and the pillars thereof tremble He turnes the hard rocke into a standing water and the flint-stone into a springing well The Nations before him are lesse then nothing they are accounted as the drops of a bucket Psal 149.8 and as the small dust of the ballance He bindeth Kings in chaines and Nobles in fetters of iron Isai 41.2 he gives his enemies as dust to the sworde and as driven stubble to his bow He shal rise up as in mount Perazim Iosh 10.12 He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that he may doe his worke his great worke Isai 28.21 and bring to passe his act his great act This made our Prophet sing againe The earth is the Lords and all that therein is the compasse of the whole world and all that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the Seas and prepar'd it upon the floudes Psal 24.1 2. Shall wee now leave the earth and those that sojourne there and see the wonders of the Lord in the great deepe Psal 33.7 There he gathereth the waters of the Sea together and layes them up in store-houses At his commaund the flouds lift up their voyce the waves beginne to swell Iob 41.31 and he makes them boile like a pot of oyntment Againe he ruleth the raging of the Sea and the waters thereof he stilleth at his pleasure Psal 93.4 He bindeth the flouds from over flowing shuts up the Sea with doores when it breakes forth as if it issued out of the wombe makes the cloude a garment thereof and thicke darkenes a
spirit the very joints and the marrow Heb. 4.12 Is Piety then blossoming shall I not cherish it Is Wickednesse branching forth shall I not prune it shall I make a Pulpit the Throne of Falshoode shall I teach God to lye shall I bitter vertue and sweeten vice Call Light Darkenesse and Darkenesse Light Am I not Gods Embassadour his Herauld shall I proclaime Peace where there is open Warre deale with the Dulcimer and the Cymball when I should be at the Trumpet and the Fife shall I sing of mens providence when I should cry downe their Opression magnify their Religion when I should scourge their Hypocrisy shall I apply Lenitives and Oyles where Corrasives are more proper stroake a sore when I should bruize it Lastly shall I instead of the Rasor come with the Brush and the Combe when I should launce or cut off a growing Insolence shall I curle and frounse it No but as on the one side I condemne the rough hands of Esau so on the other the soft voyce of Iacob as well him that gripes the tender and relenting Conscience as him that will not scarifie the impostumated and corrupt There is a time as well for Lightning and Thunder as for Raine and all these from the cloudes above from the Ministers of God who are his spirituall cloudes upon which the Fathers have many a dainty flourish and continuing the Metaphor drive on to an Allegory and say that when God threatens by preachers Tonat per nubes when he doth wonders by them D. Aug. in Psal 35. v. 5. Coruscat per nubes when he promiseth blessings by them Pluit per nubes Thy mercy O Lord is in the Heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds Psal 108.4 By Truth here Saint Augustine understands the Word and by the Clouds the Teachers and Dispencers of it Now how can we that are but Earth saith the Father know that Gods mercies are in the Heavens mittendo veritatemsuam usquè ad nubes by fending his truth unto the clouds by revealing his word to his faithfull Ministers which like those bright clouds Zac. 10.1 shal give their showers of rain to every grasse of the Field Every man that is but as the grasse of the Field shall know that these mercies of God are heavenly and provided for him if hee beleeve in the truth of that word which God reacheth unto his clouds or rather in that truth which is The Word that commeth with the clouds and every shall see Revel 1.7 Now though Pastors are so compar'd unto the clouds that they can lighten and thunder as well as raine yet the raine is most fruitfull to the pasturing of their Flockes It was a fearefull judgement God was preparing for Iudah his Plant and Israel his Vineyard when he threatned it with a Mandabo nubibus nè pluant super eam I will command the clouds that they raine not on it Isai 5.6 And certainely that Plant cannot but wither that Vineyard but grow into barrennesse and instead of the Grape brings forth the Thorne and the Brier which is not refreshed with the Dew of Heaven not watered with the droppings of these Clouds And therefore the Church had need to pray Jude 1 2. that her Pastors bee not such as Saint Iude calls Clouds without water dry and ignorant Pastors or Saint Peter 2 Pet. 2.17 Clouds carried withâ—â— tempest turbulent and factious Pastors but Iobs wel-ballanced clouds Job 37.16 those bottles of Heaven as hee stiles them which drop downe the fruitfull dew and send the joyfull raine on the inheritance Pastors that can feed as well by instruction as reprehension by knowledge as understanding As there was before a feeding by the Word 2. Exemplo so here a seeding by Example too our Life must preach as well as our Doctrine Action as Instruction Titus must not onely speake the things which become sound Doctrine but in all things besides Hee must shew himselfe a patterne of good workes Part. 1. past Tit. 2.17 Non deoet hominem ducatum suscipere qui nescit homines vivendo praeire saith Saint Gregory hee that hath the charge and governement of others should as farre out-strip them in Example as in Office Those whom the Scriptures so richly cloath with Titles of Lights and Candles and Burning Lamps should so shine before men that they may not onely heare their words but also see their good workes and then Glorificabunt patrem they shall glorifie their Father which is in Heaven Vocem virtutis dabis si quod suades prius tibi cognosceris persuasisse validior operis quam oris vox as Saint Bernard sweetly in his 59. Sermon upon the Canticles Hee that will worke a reformation in the miscarriages of others must first circumcise his owne Si me visflere dolendum est prius If I will be a curbe to others I must first be a bridle to my selfe The Pastor hath not so great a conflict with the eare of the multitude as with the eye which is more active and intent upon what hee practiceth than what he doth prescribe and this is rather their madnesse than their judgement since examples are not totally to carry them but precepts Nazianzene you know was wont to stile great men Speaking Lawes and unprinted Statutes they were first Lawes and Statutes to themselves and then they not only spake obedience to others but also impress'd and commanded what they spake Boni mores praedicantium Saleorum Doctrinae the integrity and manners of the Preacher is the salt of his Doctrine 2 Kings 2.20 And as that Salt which Elisha cast into the Spring made the waters sweet which were before bitter and unsavoury so shall his conversation sweeten his precepts though they seeme never so bitter and untooth some to the people He that will be great in the Kingdome of God must both teach and doe nay if he teach well he must first doe Mat. 5.19 and then teach Eusebius tells Damasus and Theodosius Facite posteapradicate Christ never said Qui praedicaverit voluntatem patris mei sed qui fecerit Not he that preacheth but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Subtilium verborum Dollor non operum est quaedam levis aurium inslatio 〈◊〉 Damâ—sum Thenâ—osium de vila â—â—ansiâ—u S. Hieronim sumus sine fructu pertransiens saith the same Father This feeding of a Flocke by words onely is but a slight fanning of the ayre a thin cloud of smoake that in the rising vanisheth and what is this to the substance of Religion Surely no more than the shadow of it Give then Camelians ayre and Men bread There are many intruders upon the Sanctuary of the Lord whose Bells tingle shrewdly but their Pomgranate buds not forth a noise wee heare of but no fruit Cant. 7.12 as if all Religion were planted in the tongue none in