they cannot hearken the word of the Lord is to them a reproch they haue no delight in it Ier 2. 13. They haue forsaken the fountaine of liuing waters and hewed them out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water 8. But though we Gal. 1. or an Angell from Heauen preach any other Gospell to you then that which we haue preached vnto you let him be accursed 11. The Gospell which was preached of mee was not after man 12. For I neither receiued it of man neither was I taught it but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ 17. 2. Cor. 2. We are not as many which corrupt the word of God but as of sinceritie but as of God in the sight of God speake we in Christ 2. 4. Not walking in craftinesse nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending our selues vnto euery mans conscience in the sight of God 3. But if our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of men which beleeue not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine vnto them Ezek 20. 18. Walke not in the statutes of your Fathers neither obserue their iudgments nor defile your selues with their Idols 19. Ezech 20. I am the Lord your God walke in my statutes and keepe my iudgements and do them 2. Deut. 4. Ye shall not adde vnto the word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that yee may keepe the cammandements of the Lord your God which I command you 32. 12. What thing soeuer I command you obserue to do it Thou shalt not adde thereto nor diminish from it Deut. 5. 32. Ye shall obserue to doe as the Lord your God hath cōmanded you you shall not turne aside to the right hand or to the left 28. 14. Thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left to goe after other Gods to serue them 16. Aske for the olde pathes Ier. 6. where is the good way and walke therein and you shall finde rest for your soules Num. 15. 39. Remember all the commandements of the Lord and doe them and seeke not after your owne heart and your owne eyes after which ye vse to goe a whoring 17. Ier. 6. Hearken to the sound of the trumpet 4. Mal. 4. Remember yee the Law of Moses my seruant which I commanded to you in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and iudgments 6. Pro. 30. Adde not thou vnto his words least he reproue thee and thou be found a lier 15 Though it be but a mans couenant yet Gal. 3. if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth therto Reuel 22. 18. I testifie vnto euery man that heareth the words of the Prophecie of this book If any man shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the booke of this Prophecie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy citie and from the things which are written in this booke Images 21. LIttle children keep your selues from Idols 1. Ioh. 5. 1. Leuit. 26. Yee shall make you no Idols nor grauen Image neither reare you vp a standing Image neither shall you set vp any Image of stone in your land to bow downe vnto it for I am the Lord your God 8. Deut. 5. Thou shalt not make thee any grauen Image or any likenesse of any thing that is in heauen aboue or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the waters beneath the earth 9. Thou shalt not bow downe thy selfe vnto them nor serue them Isa 40. 18. To whom will yee liken God or what likenesse will yee compare vnto him Deu. 4. 15. Ye saw no similitude on the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb out of the middest of the fire 12. Ye heard the voice of the words but saw no similitude onely ye heard a voice 13. And hee declared vnto you his couenant which hee commanded you to performe euen ten commandements and he wrote them vpon two tables of stone 8. I am the Lord Isa 42. that is my name and my glory will I not giue to another neither my praise to grauen Images 14. Ier. 10. Euery founder is confounded by the grauen Image for his moulten Image is falshood and there is no breath in them 15. They are vanitie and the worke of errours in the time of their visitation they shall perish 8. The stocke is a doctrine of vanities 29. Isa 41. Their moulten Images are winde and confusion Psal 97. 7. Confounded be all they that serue grauen Images that boast themselues of Idols Isa 44. 9. They that make a grauē Image are al of them vanitie and their delectable things shall not profit and they are their owne witnesses they see not nor know that they may be ashamed 45. 16. They shall be ashamed and also confounded all of them they shall goe to confusion together that are makers of Idols Deut. 4. 23. Take heede vnto your selues least yee forget the couenant of the Lord your GOD which he made with you and make you a grauen Image or the likenesse of any thing which the Lord thy GOD hath forbidden thee 29. Acts 17. Wee ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like vnto gold or siluer or stone grauen by art and mans deuice 19. Habak 2◠Woe vnto him that saith to the wood awake to the dumbe stone arise it shall teach Behold it is laid ouer with gold and siluer and there is no breath at all in the middest of it Deut. 4. 3. Your eyes haue seene what the Lord did because of Baal Peor for all the men that followed Baal Peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from you Numb 33. 52. Yee shall driue out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their pictures and destroy all their moulten Images and quite pluck downe all their high places Deut. 7. 5. Ye shall destroy their Altars and breake downe their Images and cut downe their groues and burne their grauen Images with fire 3. 2 Cro. 34. Iosiah while he was yet young began to seeke after the God of Dauid his father and began to purge Iudah and Ierusalem from the high places and the groues and the carued Images and the moulten Images 4. And they brake downe the Altars of Baalim in his presence and the Images that were on high aboue them be cut downe and the groues and the carued Images and the moulten Images he brake in peeces and made dust of them and strowed it
THE TRVE CATHOLIKE Collected out of the Oracles and Psalteries of the holy Ghost for Instruction and Deuotion 1 TIM 2.4 God will haue all men to be saued and to come to the knowledge of the truth IOH. 14.17 The world cannot receiue the spirit of truth because it seeth him not neither knoweth him 1 COR. 2.10 The spirit searcheth all things yea the deepe things of God EPHES. 5.9 For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodnesse and righteousnesse and truth LONDON Printed for E. BLACKMORE 1628. THE PREFACE OF DOCTOR FRA. RIBERA 〈◊〉 In Coment in Amos Prophet touching the Excellency Dignity profit of finding the holy Scriptures THAT there is no studie either more Excellent more profitable or more worthy of Man then the studie of the holy Scriptures hee shall best know and iudge that applyeth himselfe wholy thereunto and shal perceiue that man to bee worthily called blessed Which meditateth in the law of God day and night Psal 1 2. I doe verily confesse that all the sacred bookes especially those of the Prophets are wrapped and incumbred with many difficulties by which as it were by certaine strict keepers of a most stately Temple The holy Ghost hath straitly prohibited the accesse and misteries vnto prophane and proud men and that it is rightly spoken of them which Socrates is reported to haue said when he hapned vpon Heraclitus bookes of nature That those things which hee vnderstood seemed excellent vnto him and that hee thought so also of them which hee vnderstood not but that it was needfull to haue an Interpreter to them No where can you see more euidently no where can it more appeare which is spoken in the old Greeke prouerbe Those things which are excellent are difficult Or that saying which passeth far neare from Hesiodus concerning vertue That it is scituate in a steepe and high place and that it hath a passage in the beginning hard and full of paine and labour But doubtlesse although the labour be great and continuall it doth sufficiently recompence with profit the paine with ease the earnest endeauour of the minde with rest For although they seeme to haue much hardnesse yet without doubt they haue farre more of true and perfect delight For how great a matter is it to bee led by a King into a wine-Cellar Cant. 2.4 For Charity to be rightly ordered How great a matter is it to sucke those brests better then wine sauoring sweetly with the best oyntments Cant. 1.2 To hold wisedome as the Apostle speaketh among those that bee perfect 1. Cor. 2.6 Yet not the wisedome of this world nor of the Princes of this world which come to nought but the wisedome of God in a misterie which none of the Princes of this world knew 7. 8. To be present at the distribution of heauenly treasures To behold the glory of God with open face Certainely the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which when wee well vnderstand the sacred bookes shall be reuealed in vs. But the men of our time are quicke and ready to other studies vnto these for the most part they are slow and do imagine that these are to bee left to idle men and such as tarrie at home or else vnto Preachers Whereby it happens that such as are vnfit for sermons though they haue leasure enough doe rather bestow their labour and endeauour in any other matter How much the holy Scriptures doe profit preachers I haue often said and how greatly they stand in neede of them which are excercised in Schoole disputations I could say and perchance will hereafter shew Now this I auouch that albeit these Scriptures bee most profitable to helpe others they iudge very ill who thinke they are to bee studied onely for other mens sakes For if we reade with great profit the bookes of the holy fathers and of other learned men which are called and are spirituall and by reading them doe finde our selues much bettered shall there bee any book so spirituall which may bee compared with those which the spirit of God it selfe by the choycest and wisest men hath deliuered vnto vs If the small brookes doe helpe and as it were satisfie what shall that great Riuer doe which Ezechiell saw Ezec. 47.1 issuing forth vnder the threshold of the Lords house which he could not goe through because the waters of that deepe riuer were risen so that they could not bee passed ouer And when I had returned 5. said he behold at the bank of the riuer were very many trees on either side 7. what are those many trees on either side the banke of the riuer but the ancient writers ioyned to the Law and the Prophets and the new writers who sitting together by the streames of the Euangelists and Apostles doe alwayes waxe greene as most beautifull trees and abound with pleasant fruite the riuer is the same because it is the same author of the Scriptures and the scope the same but the ages and times diuers which are resembled by both the bankes Of these trees and of these waters it is said and he shall be like a tree planted by the riuers of waters that bringeth forth his fruite in his season Psal 1.3 his leafe also shall not fall away and whatsoeuer be doth it shall prosper I was wont to maruaile with my selfe as often as I did reade in Saint Ierome that the study of the Scriptures had wonderfull power to change the minde of man to quench the desires of the flesh to procure the contempt of the world and briefly to gaine all kinde of vertue vntill I perceiued hee spake those things whereof hee had made triall in himselfe and that it is a wrong not to belieue him that hath experience Hee that beleeueth not let him first reade the Scripture not as though hee would interpret it to others but to be turned wholy to his owne profit let him meditate therein day and night he shall feele a stony heart to bee mollified a cold heart to be inflamed with heauenly fire for the words of the Lord are like fire â—er 23.29 and as a hammer that breaketh the rocke in peeces He shall perceiue the loue of the world to vanish away the desire of eternall good things to bee stirred vp in himselfe his minde filled with a certaine incredible delight which he that felt it cried out how sweete are thy words vnto my taste Psal 119.103 yea sweeter then hony to my mouth O wisdome guide of the heauenly life teacher of vertues bane of vices fountaine of light expeller of darkenesse what should wee nay what should the whole life of man be without thee Thou art the companion in labour thou art the comforter in aduersitie the ouerseere and guide in prosperitie the instructer of youth the foundation of manhood the most sweet rest of old age Come therefore let vs ascend vp
goe away into euerlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternall Dan. 12. 2. Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and euerlasting contempt Mat. 25. 31. When the sonne of man shall come in his glory and shall the holy Angels with him then shall hee sit vpon the throne of his glory 32. Mat. 25. And before him shall bee gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a sheapheard diuideth his sheepe from the goates 33. And he shall set the sheepe on his right hand but the goates on the left 34. Then shall the king say vnto them on his right hand come yee blessed of my father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world 41. Then shall hee say vnto them on the left hand depart from me yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the deuill and his Angels Iude. 24. Now vnto him that is able to keepe you from falling and to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with exceeding ioy 25. To the only wise God our Sauiour be glorie and maiestie dominion and power now and euer Amen Reuel 22. 14. Blessed are they that doe his commandements that they may haue right to the tree of life may enter in through the gates into the citie 15. For without are dogges and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and Idolaters and whosoeuer loueth and maketh a lie PSALTERIES OF THE HOLY GHOST ROM 14 17. The Kingdome of GOD is not meate and drinke but righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost LONDON Printed for E. BLACKMORE 1628. A PREFACE concerning the PSALMES DAVID is said to be the instrumentall cause of the Psalmes to whom all things were reuealed and by him set downe Hee is also esteemed the greater 2. Samuel 23.2 and more excellent Prophet in that hee did not Prophesie by certaine visions of things or darke couerings of words but by the inward motion onely of the holy Ghost which is most euident because the manifold and most beautifull riches in that tresurie conteined are impossible to be matched by any other Among which the inuocation of Almightie God being the greatest defence for our saluation against the continuall assaults of Satan is most excellently composed for a presedent and direction vnto vs vpon all occasions Eph. 6.18 We are commanded to pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit which is impossible for vs to do vnlesse we be learned in the exercise of Pietie and guided therein by the holy Spirit of God The true rule whereof is to be taken out of the Booke of the Psalmes For by reading them we are as well stirred vp to the vnderstanding of our infirmities as admonished and taught how to seeke a sure remedie for them They are doubtlesse the Anatomie of all the parts of the soule for wee cannot finde any disposition or affection of the minde in our selues the forme and proportion whereof is not in this glasse represented When in this language we prepare our selues to speake vnto God we are drawne to so strict an examination of our transgressions that all our secret offences being disclosed and our hearts cleansed from hypocrisie wee cannot but deliuer a reall account and full confession of them By this language which is Verba spiritus sancti The words of the holy Ghost wee haue not onely a familiar accesse vnto God but do also find it more safe and auaileable for vs to acknowledge and confesse our sinnes before him then before men 1. Iohn 1.9 for he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse Psal 118.8 And it is better to trust in him then to put confidence in man In them wee haue examples and directions of thanksgiuing for blessings receiued and dangers escaped They are most comfortable in all times of temptation trouble and affliction The Psalmes therefore ought to be our meditations in all holy exercises both priuate and publike they are the key of knowledge Almost all holy write and misteries are briefely contained in them Their scope is the right way to eternall felicitie Some of the Fathers do counsaile the young souldiers of Christ Iesus Cassidor first to learne them before they learne the other holy Scriptures Others affirme that they are Arma Iuuenum Climac ex sententia Patrum The armour and weapons of young men And I doubt not but they may also truely be accounted Armentaria senum The armories and storehouses of old men Another saith Basil Liber Psalmoâ—uÌ„ quidvi in se complectitur quod vsui sit omni bonae doctrinae promptuaâ—ium est The booke of the Psalmes containeth in it whatsoeuer is vsefull and is the storehouse of all good doctrine In them certainely is expressed as in a liuely resemblance the true rule of religious seruice and worship for the example of a godly man assaulted by all manner of temptations is of more power to moue and incourage vs to flie vnto God in time of necessitie then a Commandement alone In proem in 7. Psal poenitent INNOCENT the third saith Inter omnes orationis species post orationem dominicam perfecta in Psalmis forma orandi reperitur Among all kinds of prayer next vnto the Lords prayer the absolute forme of praying is sound in the Psalmes yet not onely the words are to bee read and rehearsed in our meditations but our hearts also must be attendant and eleuated vnto heauen for wee are taught to lift vp our hands with our hearts vnto God in the heauens The holy Ghost being the dictator and guide of Dauids penne Lam. 3.41 and tongue when they were by him registred It is most meete and requisite that in all times of our deuotion they bee recited with the assistance of the same blessed Spirit which wee must before-hand inuocate lifting vp holy hands 1. Tim. 2 8. without wrath or doubting S. AVGVSTINE in his last sicknesse appointed DAVIDS Penitentiall Psalmes to be written Possidius in vita August and set vpon the foure sides of the wall which on his sicke daies lying on his bed he did behold and reade alwaies shedding forth teares abundantly S. BASIL also being in his death bed desired that the Psalmes might bee read vnto him by GREGORIE NAZIANZEN A man certainely in his greatest sorrow and anguish of conscience occasioned by Gods wrath and iudgement may by them learn to raise vp and comfort himself Come then let vs bring our offering of the finest gold to lay vpon Gods Altar the least graine whereof is more precious in his sight then all the Alcumie of the world Let vs drinke of the purest fountaine and forsake the troubled and muddie riuers Isa 55.1 Euery one that thirsteth come ye to these waters and he that hath no money yea come