THE PARABLE OF THE TARES EXPOVNDED APPLYED In TEN SERMONS Preached before his late Majesty KING CHARLES The Second MONARCH of Great BRITAIN By Peter Heylin D. D. To which are added three other Sermons of the same Author LONDON Printed by J. G. for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince's Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1659. To his ever Honoured Cousin LAVRENCE BATHVRST Esquire Eldest Son of Sr. Edward Bathurst of Lerhlad in the County of Gloucester KNIGHT and BARRONET IT was the Saying of St. Gregory surnamed the Great that the holy Scripture was nothing else but an Epistle sent from Almighty God to his Creature man by which he might be rightly informed in all those points which were fit or necessary to be known and trained up in the practise of all those duties which were fit and necessary to be done Quid enim est Scriptura sacra nisi epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad creaturam suam as that Father hath it According to which great example though possibly not in reference and relation to it it hath been the custom of men in all times and nations not extremely barbarous when they could not personally expresse their minds to one another to mannage intelligence in the way of Letters of Epistles in which they comprehend all such particulars as were expedient to be known to either party Inventae erant epistolae as Tully tels us ut certiores faceremus absentes si quid esset quod eos scire aut nostrum aut ipsorum interesset And to say truth they are our ordinary Messengers of love and friendship our extraordinary Posts for dispatch of busines◠By them we commonly receive advice counsel in our affairs of greatest moment and to them we commit the close conveyance of such secrets as cannot with like confidence be trusted to friends or servants His arcana notis terra pelagoque feruntur as Ovid's passionate Lady writeth to her dear Hippolitus In which respect considering that God hath placed us at a distance so that I cannot personally acquaint you with some particulars touching the publishing of these Sermons which I think fit for you to know that you may make them known to others I am compelled in a manner to expresse them in this present Epistle In which I shall first present you with those impulsives which have induced me contrary to my former custom and resolutions to commit these Sermons to the Press and then to let you know the reason why I have made choice of your name in this Dedication And first I must needs say and I may say it very truly that I never did any thing in this kind of which I found my self more obliged to render a just account then of the publishing the ensuing Sermons which seems like the adding of fresh leavs to a well grown tree in the midst of Sommer of stars to a cleer firmament in a Winter night or finally of water to a full and unfathomed Ocean and you may justly say to me in the Poets words Quid folia Arboribus quid pleno sidera Coelo In Freta collectas alta quid addis aquas That is to say Why dost thou adde fresh leaves unto the Trees Stars to the Heavens or Water to the Seas In answer to which objection I can neither plead the importunity of friends the command of superiors nor the preventing of false Copies from being brought unto the Press which I observe to be the common pretences for printing Sermon upon Sermon most of the which without any sensible losse to Learning or disadvantage to the Church might have been buried in the Studies of them that made them And yet I would not have it thought but that I have some reason for what I do more then the vulgar desire of being in print there having been so much of mine on the Press already as might have satisfied the folly of that desire were I guilty of it and therefore I shall let you know and in you all others who shall read them thas these Sermons are now published on the same occasion on which they were first penned and preached which was briefly this It was about the Year 1636. in which the Press began to swarm with libellous and seditious Pamphlets destructive of the publick peace and tending to a manifest desertion of the received Government and Formes of Worship by Law established in this Kingdom In most of which the Bishops generally were accused for having a design to bring in Popery the regular Clergie of this Church my self more frequently then any of my ranck and quality traduced and defamed for subservient instruments I had before and sometimes after been cast upon the managing of some of the puritan Controversies as they then called them particularly in writing the History of the Sabbath the Answer to the seditious Sermon and Apologie of Mr. H. B. of Friday-street the book entituled A Coal from the Altar the defence thereof called Antidotum Lincolniense touching the ancient most convenient scituation of the holy Table which so exasperated the spirits of those bitter men who then disturbed both Ch. and State with their venemous libels that hardly any of that numerous litter had crept into the world in which I was not openly accused of Popery or at the least of being an Under-factor unto those who had the chief managing of that design For the decrying of which scandal so unjustly raised for actū est de homine ubi actum est de nomine as the old rule was I fell upon a resolution of preaching these ensuing Sermons before the King whose Chaplain for Ordinary I then was and had been many years before upon the Parable of the Tares and giving in them such an assurance of my Orthodoxie in Religion and averseness from Popery as might declare me for a true son of the Church of England And this I did at such a time when the inclinations unto Popery were thought but falsly thought to be most predominant both in Court and Clergy a course which gave such satisfaction unto a great part of the auditors who before did seem to be otherwise perswaded of me that some of the more moderate sort did not stick to say not to touch here on some comparative expressions which were used by others that in the third and fourth of these Sermons I had pulled up Popery by the very roots and subverted the foundations of it Not much unlike to which was the expression of a great Peer of the Realm who being present at the sixth Sermon was pleased to say that it was generally affirmed in the Country that no Sermons were preached before the King but such as might be preached in the Popes Chapel but that if the Doctor had preached the said Sermon before the Pope what breakfast soever he had made for himself he would have found but a sorry dinner This as it was the occasion which moved me at that time to make choice of this parable for the
Christi impropriè per accidens posse honorari cultu latriae that by the help of a distinction our Saviours Images may be adored with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this I may account for another fruit of this Image-worship that it drawes down on them that use it that curse recited in the Psalms viz. That such as worship them are like unto them Add unto these the scandall which is hereby given unto Jewes and Turks and the great hindrance which it doth occasion unto their conversion who do abominate nothing more in all Christianity then this profane and impious adoration of Images In which respect we may affirm that of the present Romans which St. Paul tells us of the ancient nomen Dei per vos blasphematnr inter gentes that by their meanes God is blasphemed among the Gentiles Inâ—initum est ire per singula To run through all particulars in this manner were an infinite business Suffice it that there is no point in difference between them and us the falshood and absurdity whereof is not discovered in the fruits in fecisset fructum however it lay hid in crevisset herba The Doctrine of indulgences and merchantable pardons to be bought for money what fruit doth it produce but licentious living when for so small a trifle one might purchase pardon non solum pro praeteritis verùmetiam pro futuris not only for sins past but for those to come The holding back of Scripture from the common people and celebrating Gods divine service in an unknown Tongue what fruits do they afford but ignorance of Gods holy pleasure and blind obedience to the precepts of sinful men and coldness in the exercise of devotion and finally contempt of Gods word and whole Commandements The equalizing of their own Traditions with Gods holy word according to the Canon of the late Trent-Councel what fruits doth it afford but contempt of Scripture The Doctrine of that Church in the point of merit what fruits doth it produce but high presumption or that of transubstantiation but most grosse Idolatry or that of half Communion but most horrible Sacriledge Such fruits if all meanes else should fail us would serve sufficiently to manifest and declare their noxious nature and thereby make us able to determine of them though none at all observed them when they were in semine and few were able to distinguish them when they were in herba Nam quod latebat in herba manifestatur in spica quod celatur in germine aperitur in fructu as saith Paschasius on the Text. You see by this that hath been spoken that there are other meanes still left us by Gods infinite mercy to know Gods Seed from Satans the good Wheat from tares besides the observation of time place and persons Ex sructibus corum cognoscetis eos by their fruits ye shall know them saith our Saviour And yet the triall of these tares is not made only by the fruits the fruits first brought them to apparuerunt made them plain and visible and brought them to appear in the open Court But having entred their appearance they were to be examined tried and judged by the word of God The Lord hath given it for a Rule ad legem testimonium that in all doubtful controversies we should have recourse to the law and testimonies And Christ our Saviour being asked his judgement touching the business of Divorce refers himself to the first Institution saying Ab initio non fuit sic it was not so in the beginning So that whoever can demonstrate from the Book of God that either the Doctrine or the practice of the Church of Rome differeth from that which was first preached and published by our blessed Saviour and the holy Apostles doth manifestly prove a change therein nay prove as forcibly that they have departed from the rule of Faith which was once given to the Saints as if he could or did demonstrate all the circumstances when and by whom and in what Country every particular deviation and corruption did at first creep in Quid verba audiam cùm facta videam what need we search for circumstances when we have the substance or look into the root when we see the fruit But here may those of Rome reply and say Are there no â—ares at all in your reformation are all your Geese Swans and your Grain good Wheat Did Satan never take you sleeping Whence is it then we see amongst you such opposition to all publick Orders such a neglect of fasting such contempt of holy dayes though both of Apostolical institution such practises and attempts against Episcopacy though ordained by Christ such quarrelling against those sacred Ceremonies in Gods publick service which you pretend to be derived from most pure antiquity Whence is it that we have observed such Covenants and Combinations against lawful Government such obstinate and strong if not perverse resistance against just Authority of your supreme Lord as well in temporal matters as Ecclesiastical such common stocks and contributions to support your factions and relieve those that are condemned for their disobedience Whence is it that there are maintained amongst you such blasphemies in laying upon God the blame of sin such Stoicisme in necessitating all mens actions by the fatality of Gods Decrees such Donatisme in appropriating to some few amongst you the names of Saints and true Professors Qui alterum incusat probri c. you that have found so many tares in the Church of Rome had best be sure that your own floore be very throughly purged and your wheat well winnowed and that you search not our wounds with too sharp an hand till you have cleansed and cured your own This they object and what shall we return for answer We will be more ingenious then they are to us and confess the action and so not put them to the needless trouble of looking after the particulars of time place and persons Too true it is that some amongst us though not of us have set on foot those Doctrines and pursued those practises which are become a scandal to our Reformation and further will dishonour it and in time subvert it if care and order be not taken to prevent the mischief We see them in their fruits already and that hath brought them at the last to apparuerunt But what they are and whose and what fruits they bear and what is aimed at in those innovations which they have thrust upon this Church and yet cry out of innovations as if these were none I cannot shew you for the present The time is too far spent and the season past to venture on a new Discovery but what is wanting now shall be made good hereafter at next setting out when I shall come to the unde haec zizania in the following verse Have patience but till then I will pay you all which that I may the better look for I shall not tire your patience further at this present time
of God that they may seem to have consulted with the Scriptures and yet God did not leave them so as if he had done bountifully for them in giving them this knowledge that there is a God and that this God is to be worshipped but he revealed so much of his will unto them as might enable them to live in a vertuous manner or leave them utterly inexcusable before God and man The Gentiles saith St. Paul which know not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law which shewe the Law written in their hearts their Conscience also bearing witnesse Hence it is that the ancient Heroes attained to such a height in all moral vertues that for bounty valour magnanimity chastity justice and the rest they stand ennobled on record unto all posterity so that God did his part among them and sowed good seed his seeds of knowledge and Religion over all his field It was no want in him that they went no further that they proceeded not from morall to spirituall graces the fault was only in themselves who when they had received as much as might make way for their ambition or vain-glory or esteem with men cast off all further progresse in the works of piety as an unnecessary burden of no use at all by meanes whereof as St. Paul chargeth it upon them they held the truth of God in unrighteousness and so became without excuse Others there were who made no benefit at all of the seed sown in them whose hearts were waxed grosse their eares dull of hearing such as had closed their eyes as it were of purpose that so they might not see the great works of God whence I beseech you came this backwardness this most stupid dulnesse not from the Lord who is natura naturans nor from the faulty error and defect of nature which is natura naturata but it came meerly from themselves from their own evil wills and corrupt affections their wilfulness or negligence or both together The Lord hath so made man that he hath naturally in himself a power of seeing How comes it then to passe that some do not see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so saith Theophylact there 's none so blinde as they that will not see so saith the Proverb God gives men eares that they may hear and hearing may conceive his most holy will How comes it then to passe that they do not heare or hearing do not understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith mine Author it was their own fault only that they are so wilful And being so wilful as they were and so regardless of the mercies and grace of God no marvel if the Lord withdrew from them his most heavenly seed or sowed it with a sparing and lesse liberal hand The carelesse servant in the Gospel that hid his talent in a napkin and neither did employ it to his own or his Masters benefit not only was rebuked for so great a negligence but had his talent taken from him and it was given to one that knew how to use it Gods field is large and like a large field it consists of severall parts some places full of stones and some full of thorns and many times a foot-path or high-way that crosseth over it God soweth his good seed every where over all his Field but more in some parts then in others more in the good soyle then in the stony or the thorny-ground or the high-way side more in the Church then in the Synagogue more in the Synagogue of the Jewes then amongst the Gentiles according as it gives increase Of this we have a pregnant instance in the Jewes themselves the Word of God had been long preached unto them and hearing they did hear but would not perceive the Sonne of God had been long conversant among them and they had seen those wonders that he had performed which seeing they did see but would not believe They had ascribed the one to Belzebub he casts out Devils by the help of Belzebub the Prince of Devils the other t as Diabolical and impure a spirit Said we not that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil both of them slighted and contemned in that scornful question whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty things Such men as these that had so vilified and abused the grace of God could not but make themselves unworthy of a clearer light then that which might shine forth unto them from a Cloud of darkness therefore he spake unto them in a Parable and without Parables spake he not unto them not that the Lord envied them a more perfect ray of his Divinity he being that light which lighteth every man that comes into the World or that he was not willing to impart unto them sufficient meanes for their salvation who would that all men should be saved not so but that he found by their former actions how his Gospel would be entertained if it came among them how strong a resolution they had made not to be converted he that had lessoned his Disciples not to cast Pearles before the Swine had very ill observed his own direction had he layed open all the treasures of salvation to such obstinate Chapmen as were resolved to buy neither milk nor honey though they might buy them without money yet that he might not leave them destitute of all outward meanes by which they might attain to the eternal life he speaks unto them though farre off openeth his mouth to them though obscurely in dark speech and Parables This served to intimate that he was not yet departed from them that he had still a care of their preservation that he would yet be found if they pleased to seek that even they also should finde favour to understand the Word of God if they as his Disciples were would be sollicitious to enquire the meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father hath it and he himself hath said They that seek shall finde and unto them that aske to them it shall be given to know the Mysterie of the Kingdom of Heaven Thus also is it with the Gentiles with Gods Field in general God sowes it only with good seed but so disposeth that good seed as may be most unto his Glory God sowes his good seed in his Field over all the World although not over all in an equall measure but the Church only brings forth fruit agreeable unto the seed sowne in her and God rewards this fruitfulness with a further favour in speaking to her after a more evident and significant manner then unto those that are without In which regard the holy Prophet having said that God had shewn his word to Jacob his Statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel exults with a non taliter that so he had not done unto other Nations nor had the Heathen so exact a knowledge of his holy Laws God sowes his good seed in his Church his best seed in that as being not his Field only but his Garden too
for so the Spirit calls it in the Book of Canticles and men we know are farre more curious in their Gardens then about their Fields But in this Church this Garden dress'd with Gods own hand there are some Plants that thrive and prosper more then others and those the Lord hath chosen to inoculate in the Tree of Life for every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth as himself hath told us that it may bring forth more fruit John 15. Let us all therefore have a care in our severall places that we amend our lives and yield fruits worthy of Repentance that being fruitful of good works in this present Nursery we may be all of us transplanted into the glorious Eden of eternal life I should now speak of Gods propriety in this Field and shew that it is ager suus Gods own Field alone but I have spoken of it sparsim through and in each part of this discourse and cannot but perswade my selfe that you all know the Earth is his because he made it and the World his because he governeth and directs it And therefore here I will conclude beseeching God c. SERMON II. At WHITE-HALL Jan. 21. 1637. MATTH 13. v. 25. But while men slept his enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way SPiritus isti insinceri non desinunt perditi jam perdere c. It is the observation of Minutius that the Devil being alienated from the love of God endeavours nothing more then mans destruction It is too great a misery as he conceives it to be miserable by ones selfe alone and Hell too hot to be â—â—dured if none else should endure it but the Devils upon this ground no sooner had the Lord made man but Satan laboured to undo him He had before procured himself a party in the Heaven of glories and amongst the Angels how much more easie was it for him to infect Paradise and seduce a woman In which attempt the issue proved so answerable to his hopes that man became devested of his chief indowments his Justice and Integrity Nor was there any way to repair those ruines but by the preaching of the word which he hath laboured ever since either to hinder that it be not preached at all or so to practise on the hearers that it be preached with little profit Three parts of that good seed which God had sown upon his Field are by those arts made barren and unprofitable and for the fourth that which did fall upon good ground and took root downward and began to bear fruit upwards even that if possible shall be corrupted in it self or mingled with a grain of different dangerous nature for sin as Chrysost hath noted he neither could destroy it in the seed nor scorch it in the blade nor choak it in the stalks as we are told he did in the former Parable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is resolved upon another neat device not like to fail this was to watch his opportunity and when the servants of the Husbandman were grown no lesse careful of their charge to scatter tares among the wheat and go his way Cum autem dormirent homines c. These words contain in them the two inseparable qualities of the old murderer his malice and his subtility his malice first express'd in this that he is inimicus ejus Gods enemie and secondly in his devilish plot to destroy Gods harvest sevit zizania in medio tritici his sowing tares among the Wheat His subtlety described in this first that he took his opportunity when as the servants of the Husbandman were fast asleep cum dormirent homines while men slept and lastly by his quick and crafty leaving of the place venit abiit he came secretly and departed suddenly Of this his speedy going thence and of the manner of his comming we shall say nothing at this time It is not for our benefit to be too zealous of his company in a business of this nature and therefore abeat let him go as for the residue of the Text we shall discourse thereof in these several Couplets First we shall speak unto you of the Devill and his diligence sevit inimicus ejus his enemy sowed next of the Seminary and the seed zizania in medio tritici tares in the middle of the Wheat and thirdly of the servants and their sluggishness cum dormirent homines while men slept of these in their order Victoria sine certamine constare non potest nec virtus ipsa sine hoste vertue is never made more amiable then by opposition nor should the valiant man be more remembred then the Coward if he had no Adversary how little had we known of David had he consumed his time in sloth and payed perhaps unto the Nations round about him for a secure and quiet bondage for this cause God hath pleased to let his enemy the Devil continue still and his creatures and to continue still a Devil had he but said the word he could have quickly made him nothing or had he pleased he could have made him meerly passive and only capable of torments but God did leave him as he was save that he cast him down to Hell ut eo superando vim suam vel exerceat vel ostendat that so there might be still some enemy on which to exercise his power and expresse his greatnesse I will put enmity saith God between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed not betwixt the Devil and us men though we do all descend from her who was the Mother of all living but between him and our Redeemer the promised seed the expectation of the Gentiles he only is of power to bruise the head of the old Serpent the Devil therefore is at enmity with him alone to him an enemy ex professo inimicus ejus his enemy to us an enemy no further then we have reference to him and are the children of his Kingdom the servants of his holy Houshold with this St. Chrysost accords Satan saith he doth bend his forces most against us men but the occasion of his malice is not so much in hate to man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as an inveterate hate to God whose badge and cognizance we bear just so the King of Ammon dealt with Davids servants not that he was displeased with them for how could they poor men deserve the anger of so great a Prince but that he bare no good affection to the King their Master In ancient times the Images of such as capitally had offended or otherwise were grown odious with the common people were broken down and publickly defaced in the chief assemblies on them the people used to expresse their fury when such as they distasted were above their reach too high for them to strike at Thus they of Rome effiggâ—es Pisonis in Gemonias traxerant had drawn the Images of Piso unto the place of execution had not
their Master liked it and to apply themselves to his resolution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in Chrysostom They durst not trust saith he to their own opinion in a matter of so great concernment but referred all unto their Master Courage and zeal do never shew more amiably then when they are subordinate to good directions especially when they take direction from the right hand from their Master only not from the interest and passion of their fellow-servants Though it be imus colligimus in the plural number yet t is vis only in the singular One to command and many to obey makes the sweetest government 'T was prayse and commendation enough for them that they came fitted and prepared to pursue the action It was the Masters office to direct and theirs to execute Vobis arma animus mihi consilium virtutis vestrae regimen relinquite as he in Tacitus Nor were the two Brethren those Sonnes of Thunder which I spake of to be taught this lesson however they may seem transported with zeal or passion Though the Samaritans had incensed them in an high degree and that they long'd for nothing more then to inflict some grievous punishment upon them yet they submitted their affections to their Masters judgement They fell not presently on the affront to their imprecations nor called for fire from Heaven to consume them utterly as on the blasting of the breath of their displeasure As vehement as their zeal and displeasure was yet they proposed the business to their Master first It is not dicimus ut descendat ignis it is our pleasure to command that fire come down from Heaven to destroy these wretches but it is vis dicimus is it your pleasure that we shall Vis imus colligimus here vis dicimus there In both the Masters leave and liking is the thing most sought for And 't was no newes this in the Church of God that they who were in any publick place or Ministry should fit their zeal and courage to the will of God and to the guidance of such persons who under him and by his appointment had the chief ordering of the Church Isaâ—ah though both bold and zealous in the cause of God and that his lips were touched with a Coal from the Altar yet durst not meddle in Gods matters before he had both Mission and Commission too God had first said Vade dices huic populo Go and tell this people before he undertook the business or put himself upon the work of reformation And which is there of all the Prophets that went upon Gods errands without his consent and stood not more on dixit Dominus then on dicam populo I trow the times were then corrupt and the people sinful The whole contexture of their several Prophecies make that plain enough yet finde we none of them so hasty in rebuking either as not to take a speciall Warrant and Commission from the hand of God No imus colligimus in the dayes of old in point of extraordinary mission and employment but still there was a vis expressed some warrant looked for from the Lord to make way unto it So for the way of ordinary Reformation when the fabrick of the Church was out of order the whole worship of the Lord either defiled with superstitions or intermingled with Idolatries as it was too often did not Gods servants tarry and await his leisure till those who were supreme both in place and power were by him prompted and inflamed to a Reformation How many years had that whole people made an Idol of the Brazen Serpent and burnt incense to it before it was defaced by King Hezekiah How many more might it have longer stood undefaced untouched by any of the common people had not the King given order to demolish it How many Ages had the seduced Israelites adored before the Altar of Bethel before it was hewen down and cut in pieces by the good King Josiah Where can we finde that any of Gods faithful Servants any of those 7000 souls which had not bowed the knee to Baal did ever go about to destroy the same or that Elijah or Elisha two men as extraordinary for their Calling as their zeal and courage did excite them to it or told them it was lawful for them so to do without the Fiat of Authority to make good the work Where shall we read in the whole course and current of the Book of God that the common people in and by their own authority removed the high places or destroyed the Images or cut down the Groves those excellent Instruments of superstition and Idolatry that they appointed Fasts and ordained Festivals or that they did so much as attempt such matters without this vis the power and approbation of the supreme Magistrate This was the Doctrine and practise both of the former times so far forth as Gods Book directs us in the search thereof nor ever was it preached or printed till now of late that it should be otherwise or that the work of Reformation belonged unto the common people in what capacity soever they were clothed and vested Of late indeed I finde it to be so determined it being affirmed by Glesselius one of the Contra-Remonstrants of Roterdam that if the Prince and Clergy did neglect their duties in the reforming of the Church necesse esse tum id facere plebeios Israelitas that then it did belong to the common people And t is with a necesse if you mark it well they might not only do it but they must be doing Do it but how what in the way of treaty by mediation and petition and such humble meanes by which the dignity of the supreme Magistrate may be kept indemnified not so but even by force and violence licèt ad sanguinem usque pro eo pugnent even to the shedding of their own and their Brethrens blood In which it is most strange to see how soon this desperate Doctrine found as lewd an use how soon the people put in practise what the Preacher taught them but farre more strange to see and who can chuse but see it if he be not blinde how infinitely their Scholars in this Island both for the theory and the practise have out-gone their Masters And wonder t is in all this time they made it not an Article of their Christian Faith and put it not into the place of some one or other of the twelve which they think lesse necessary Here is a vis indeed they say true in that but no such vis as is intended in the Text. The servants of my Parable knew no other vis then that of Proposition only it being not their intent nor custom either to run before or against Authority And having made the Proposition they did with patience and humility attend the Answer of their Master which they were faithfully resolved to conform unto however it might crosse their own dear
are so intermingled that there is no perfection to be looked for here and 2. That there want not great and weighty reasons why it should so be of which some relate unto the Tares some unto the Wheat some to God himself whose glory is most chiefly aimed at These are the points to be considered and of these I shall discourse in order beginning with Gods sufferance and the season of it and therein with the first enquiry What is here meant by messis the approching Harvest and what use we may make thereof for our own advantage Priùs dividendum quà m definiendum It was the Orators Rule of old First to distinguish of the termes before we take upon us to state the question A Rule exceeding necessary in the present business and much conducing to the Explication of the points in hand For the word messis is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of various significations according to the scope of the severall places where it doth occur And first not taking notice of it in the literall sense in the 9th Chapter of St. Matthew it signifieth the times and seasons fit for the preaching of the Gospel There read we messem esse multam that the Harvest was great i. e. that there were many people whose mindes were cheerfully prepared to receive the word And there 's another Harvest which the Baptist speaks of the bringing forth of fruits meet for repentance fruits worthy of the Preachers pains and the hearers diligence the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Harvest of good works which we finde in Chrysostom But we have other Corn to thresh and therefore must look out for another Harvest an Harvest not of hearing nor of fructifying but of receiving the reward of our severall labours an Harvest in the which each workman shall receive his wages according to the works which he hath wrought in the flesh whether good or evill And this again is either taken for the day of Gods temporall judgements upon particular Men or Sects or Collective bodies or for the day of generall judgement when all flesh shall appear before the Lord to receive its sentence In this last sense the word is taken in the 14 of the Revelation where the Angel said to him that sate upon the Throne mitte falcem mete Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time is come and the Harvest of the Earth is ripe i. e. all Nations were now ready to receive that judgement which God in his just anger should pronounce against them And in the other sense it is said by the Prophet Jeremy The Daughter of Babylon is a threshing-floore the time of her threshing is come yet a little while and the time of her Harvest will come Tempus messionis ejus veniet and what time was that even that wherein she had made up the measure of her iniquities and abominations and was to be given up for a prey to the Medes and Persians I know that most Interpreters as well old as new do take the Harvest in my Text for the generall judgement that which our Saviour doth describe in the 25. of this Gospel And they expound it thus for this reason chiefly because our Saviour gives this descant on his own plain song v. 39. Messis est consummatio seculi the Harvest is the end of the World A man would think the sense must be very obvious even to the vulgar wits when he that writ the Text made the comment also But then a question may be made what our Redeemer meanes by consummatio seculi or the end of the World or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Text hath it Assuredly not alwayes the last day precisely but the last times generally or the particular time appointed by Almighty God for the effecting of some speciall and particular purpose For in the 9 Chapter to the Hebrews the same words occur where the Apostle treating of the passion of our Lord and Saviour saith it was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in consummatione seculi in the end of the World Ask Beza what is meant there by the end of the World by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he will tell you that it is the same which the Apostle calls in another place plenitudinem temporis or the fulness of time i. e. saith he and so both Caietan and Ribera do expound the Text Seculorum perfectionem complementum the full perfection and accomplishment of some time appointed So then upon this disquisition we have gained thus much that though the Harvest in my Text be for the most part understood of the general judgement of which hereafter in the next yet may it also mean the time of Gods temporal punishments upon particular men or Sects or Collective bodies Whom though God suffereth for a while till their sins be ripe and lets them flourish and grow mighty both in power and wickedness yet have they all their severall Harvests in which they shall be mowed and threshed and winnowed to his greater glory The sickle of the Lord is alwayes ready and his van alwayes in his hand And when his Harvest-time is come and the fruits of wicked men be ripe he shall not only mowe them down as when the Harvest-man gathereth the corn and reapeth down the eares with his arme in the Prophets language but he will throughly purge his floore and make them like the chaffe in the Psalmists words which the wind drives away before it But for the just and righteous person he either shall be saved from the day of trouble or preserved in it Or if he fall as fall he may sometimes into the hand of the Reapers like a good eare of corn well grown or Grapes fully ripe he shall be congregatus in horreum gathered into the barn of the heavenly Husbandman In execution of which acts of his will and justice he many times makes use of Angels literally and properly so called which are the Reapers of this verse and the 39 and many times of other Ministers who do supply the place of Angels and may be called so in a borrowed metaphoricall sense as Attila the Hun the scourge of the impenitent Western Christians was in the Stories of those times called Flagellum Dei That there have been such Harvests in former times and that such Harvests are in the compass of our Saviours meaning the Stories of Gods Book and all the Monuments of the Church do most clearly evidence And to say truth did not the Text admit such Harvests all the seditious aggregations of unquiet men all the Idolatries of Rome Heathen and superstitions of Rome Christian the Pride of Babylon and the filths of Sodom with all the rabblement of pernicious Hereticks and factious Sectaries which have disturbed the Church in foregoing Ages must be still extant and unpunished to this very day But they have had their severall Harvests and the Lord hath reaped them
that dreadfull Court the ordinary Officers or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Almighty Judge and bound to execute the mandates which are issued thence whether mens sins be ripe for vengeance or that affliction and repentance make them fit for mercy First in the wayes of temporal punishment it is most clear and evident in holy Scripture that God sent down his Angels with a full Commission to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah two rich populous Cities after they had so long abused his patience and their own prosperities and that he sent his evil Angels amongst the Egyptians when neither signes nor wonders could prevail upon them by whom he gave their life over to the Pestilence slew the first-born in all their dwellings and finally overwhelmed them in the red Sea Where note that they are there called mali angeli or evill Angels not that they were so in themselves but ab effectu by reason of the several evils which they did inflict on that perishing and wretched people by the Lords appointment Thus do we also read of a destroying Angel by whom according to the Word and Command of God no fewer then 7000. of the Jewes were consumed in an instant when once they boasted in their numbers and did presume too farre in the arm of flesh and of another which went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians no lesse then 185000. men after they had blasphemed the Lord and put a scorn upon the holy one of Israel not to say any thing of Herod who when he had beheaded James imprisoned Peter and troubled certain of the Church was miserably smitten by an Angel and consumed by worms It pleased God to imploy them in these acts of vengeance though well affected in themselves to the good of mankind and a necessity was layd upon them to obey his pleasure Nec quicquam est in Angelis nisi parendi necessitas said Lactantius truly So farre the point is clear from the Book of God and if we will believe the Learned as I think we may there is no signall punishment of ungodly people ascribed to God in holy Scripture but what was executed by the Ministry of these blessed Spirits except some other meanes and Ministers be expresly named That great and universall deluge in the time of Noah was questionless the work of God Behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the Earth But this was done Ministerio Angelorum by the Ministry and service of the holy Angels whom God employed in breaking up the Fountain of the great deep and opening the Cataracts of Heaven for the destruction of that wicked unrepenting people Thus when it is affirmed in the 14. of Exod. That the Lord looked into the Host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and overthrew them in the midst of the Sea non intelligendum est de Deo sed de Angelo qui erat in nube we must not understand it of the Lord himself but only of the Angel or that ministring spirit of whose being in the Cloud we had heard before And when we read that in the Battel of the five Kings against the Israelites the Lord cast down great stones from Heaven upon them in the 10. of Josuah it is not to be thought as Tostatus notes it quòd Deus mitteret sed Angeli jubente Deo that this was done by Gods own hand but by the holy Angels at the Lords appointment The like may be observed of those other acts of power and punishment whereof we find such frequent mention in the holy Scripture that though they be ascribed to God as the principal agent yet were they generally effected by his heavenly Angels as the meanes and instrument But the most proper office of the holy Angels is not for punishment but preservation not for correction of the wicked but for the protection of the just and righteous not for the rooting up of the Tares but for the safety of the Wheat for they are ministring Spirits saith St. Paul sent out to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation That 's the chief part of their imployment the businesse which they most delight in and God accordingly both hath and doth employ them from time to time For by the Ministry of his Angels did he deliver Ishmael from the extremities of thirst and Daniel from the fury of hunger Lot from the fire and trembling Isaac from the Sword our Infant-Saviour from one Herod his chief Apostle from another all of them from the common prison into the which they had been cast by the Priests and Sadduces But these were only personal and particular Graces Look we on those which were more publick and such as did concern his whole people generally and we shall find an Angel of the Lord encamping between the Host of Israel and the Host of Egypt to make good the passage at their backs till they were gotten safe to the other side of the Sea Another Angel marching in the front of their Armies as soon as they had entred the Land of Canaan and he the Captain of the Lords Host Princeps Exercitus Domini the vulgar reads it some great and eminent Angel doubtless but whether Michael Gabriel or who else it was the Rabbins may dispute at leisure and to them I leave it More then so yet That wall of waters which they had both on the right hand and upon the left when they passed thorow the Sea as upon dry ground facta est à Deo per Angelos exequentes as learned Abulensis hath it was the work of Angels directed and employed by Almighty God Which also is affirmed by the Jewish Doctors of the dividing of the waters of Jordan to make the like safe passage for them into the promised Land which the Lord had given them The like saith Peter Martyr of the raising of the Syrians from before Samaria when the Lord made them hear the noyse of Charets and the noyse of Horsmen that this was Ministerio Angelorum effected by the Ministry of the holy Angels whom he employed in saving that distressed City from the hands of their enemies And by an Angel or at least an Angelical vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Dream or Oracle delivered unto them in their sleep as Eusebius tells us did he forewarn the Christians dwelling in the Land of Palestine to remove thence to Pella a small Town of Syria and so preserved them from the spoyl and fury of the Roman Armies This was Gods way of preservation in the times before us and for his way of preservation in all Ages since God is the same God now as then his holy Angels no lesse diligent in their attendance on our persons then they have been formerly Let us but make our selves by our faith and piety worthy to be accounted the Sonnes of God and the Heires of salvation and doubt we not
the open Traytors another the Adulterers and Adulteresses shall make one Fagot and the Fornicators another the Hereticks shall make up one Fagot the Schismaticks and Sectaries shall be bound up in another the Idolaters shall make one Fagot they that commit sacriledge to pull down Idolatry shall make up another the Glutton whose belly is his God shall make one Fagot the Drunkard whose glory is his shame another The Thief that knowes no other Trade to maintain himself but by undoing of his Neighbour the cunning Hypocrite who makes a gain of godliness and puts his Religion unto usury and they who basely and perfidiously invert the publick money to their private profit shall each make up their several Fagots Pares cum paribus saith St. Austin every man shall be punished in the world to come according to the sin which he hath committed and in the company of those with whom he hath most offended And though it be an old said Saw Solamen miseris that it is a comfort to those in misery to have others bear a share in their griefs and sorrows a miserable comfort at the best there 's no doubt of that yet it is nothing so in the present case for of that nature are the punishments which attend this binding that the pains thereof are nothing lessened by being communicated but are then multiplied when divided Well being bound and bound in bundles what comes after next Ad comburendum saith the Text binde them in bundles for to burn them And here the case is somewhat altered as it relates unto the Ministers though still the same as it hath reference to the Malefactors It was before colligite alligate here not comburite but ad comburendum The holy Angels were the Ministers to attach the sinner to bring him before Gods Tribunal and after sentence was pronounced to lay hands upon him and make him ready for the punishment which he is condemn'd to but that being done they give him over to the fiends of Hell to the tormenters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as our Redeemer calls them in the 18 Chap. The Officers of the Court or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he speaks of in the 7 of Matth. differ from these tormenters from these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which he tells us in the 18. as the Usher or Cryer of a Court from the Executioner or the Under-Sheriff from the Hangman The Angels then I mean the holy and good Angels they only do colligere alligare and having so gathered and bound them up deliver them ad comburendum assign them over by Indenture to the Executioners to see them punished and tormented according to the will and sentence of the dreadful Judge The holy Angels are the Ministers the Devil and his Angels are the Executioners who bearing an old grudge to man as being adopted by the Lord unto those felicities from which he miserably fell will doubtless execute his office on him with the most extremity Non desinunt perditi jam perdere said Minutius truly It hath been his chief work to tempt man to sin out of an hope to have him at his mercy one day and be we sure he will not spare him when he hath him there The Devills chief delight is in mans calamity And could we fancy such a thing as an Heaven in Hell the Devill would enjoy it in this opportunity of tyrannizing over those whom he hath seduced and brought into that pit of torments Ad comburendum to be burnt for that 's the punishment appointed to the wicked in the Book of God Here in the Exposition of this Parable it is said by Christ that the Angels shall gather out of his Kingdom all things which offend and them that do iniquity and shall cast them in caminum ignis into a furnace of fire And in the Parable of the Net we have it in the very self-same words in caminum ignis Thus the rich Glutton in St. Luke is said to be tormented in the flames And in the 20th of the Revelation it is called expresly Stagnum ignis sulphuris a Lake of fire and brimston a most dreadful Lake A truth communicated to and by the Prophets of the former times who give us this description of Tophet or the Vallie of Gehinnon that the Pile thereof is fire and much wood that the breath of the Lord is like a stream of Brimstone to kindle it and that the stream thereof shall be turned to Pitch and the dust into Brimstone And Malachi speaking of the day of Judgement telleth us that it shall burn like an Oven and that all which do wickedly shall be as the stubble Et inflammabit eos dies veniens whom the day that commeth shall burn up A truth so known amongst the Gentiles whether by tradition from their Ancestors or conversation with the Jewes need not now be argued that by the verses of the Poets and the works of the most learned Philosophers illius ignei fluminis admonentur homines men were admonished to beware of that burning Lake And unto those it were impertinent to add the testimony of the ancient Fathers by some of which it is called Divinus ignis poenale incendium by another ardor poenarum by a third aeternus ignis by a fourth Et sic de caeteris And though a question hath been made as all things have been questioned in these captious times whether this fire be true and reall or only metaphorically called so in the Book of God yet by all sound Interpreters it is thus agreed on as a learned Jesuite hath observed metaphoram esse non posse quae sit tam perpetua that such a constancy of expression doth exclude a Metaphor Now as it is a fire a devouring fire so is it ignis inextinguibilis a fire unquenchable in the third ignis aeternus an everlasting fire in the 25. of St. Matthew the smoak whereof goeth up for ever in the Prophet Esay a fire which feeds both on the body and the soul yet shall never consume them and such a fire as breeds a kind of worm within it which shall never die but alwayes gnaw upon the conscience of the man condemned and create farre more anguish to him then all bodily torments And to this truth all the old Catholick Doctors do attest unanimously whether Greeks or Latines Tatianus one of the most ancient of the Greeks calls the estate of the damned in Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a death which never dieth an immortal misery Tertullian the most ancient Latine cruciatum non diuturnum sed sempiternum not only a long and tedious torment but an everlasting one St. Austin answerably unto that of Tatianus doth call it mortem sine morte adding moreover of those fires punire non finire corpora that they torment the body but destroy it not he goeth further and saith that it burns the body but
Ego is here the second person and yet as worthy as the first That God by his meanes would repaire the ruines of our mortall nature himself had frequently foretold in holy Scripture It was the first promise made to Adam to comfort and revive him after his defection that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head that he should crush the sting of death and swallow up the grave in victory It was the first promise which God made to Abraham when he commanded him to leave his own Country and his Fathers House that in his seed should all the Nations of the World be blessed Promises not to be fulfilled but in him that made them never to be accomplished till God descended so much beneath himself as to come down from Heaven and be incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary This the great mystery of godliness which St. Paul inculcates God manifested in the flesh the Verbum caro factum which St. John remembreth For who but he that is the Word could by his words procure this testimony from his enemies nec vox hominem sonat never man spake as this man speaketh Who but God manifested in the flesh could by his works extort this true Confession from his executioners Surely this was no other then the Sonne of God Adeo veritas ab invitis etiam pectoribus erumpit said Lactantius truly And yet besides Gods gracious pleasure and the necessity of mans estate that so it must be it stood with most convenience that so it should be Qui alterum erigit seipsum incurvat He that lifts up another must first stoop himself and bow down his own body first before he can raise up a man that 's fallen And this was it for which the second person in the glorious Trinity became the first in the construction of my Text He made himself the Sonne of man that so we might be made the Sonnes of God He for a time did bow down the Heavens and remained with us on the Earth for a certain season that man created of the Earth might be taken with him up to Heaven and there live for ever His incorruptible did put on our corruption that so our mortall might be clothed with his immortality And this in the good Fathers Language non similitudo sed res ipsa est is neither Allegory Trope nor Figure but a most sacred necessary truth and of all men to be believed who have not forfeited their faith to advance their wits or rather have not forfeited those great wits they boast of in bringing all the Principles of the Christian faith to be indicted and arraigned at the Barre of Reason Id fides credat intelligentia non requirat was the Fathers Rule but thrown aside in this unlucky Age wherein men are so apt to dispute themselves out of all Religion and set up a new Creed of their own devising So then this Ego of my Text relates to Jesus v. 1. and that unto the first of Matthew where he had his name and where he was proclaimed by the heavenly Herald to be conceived of the holy Ghost by the Virgin Mary Ego here Jesus there in both Texts a Saviour a person of a mixt condition between God and man such as a Saviour ought to be For being sensible of our infirmities as a man and able to relieve us in them as our God as God and man he mediates for us that being freed of those infirmities which are inherent in our flesh we may hereafter reign with him in his endless glories We read in Livie that when the Romans had violently surprized the Sabine Women and taken them to their Wives the angry Sabines took up Arms to revenge the injury The Armies being ready for the fight the Women seriously taking into consideration that as they were begotten by the one so they are now as flesh with the other people rush in between them Hinc viros inde Patres orabant Sometimes they pray unto their Fathers to remit the wrong and sometimes call unto their Husbands to admit a Parley never desisting from that pious office till both the Armies were made friends and an eternall League was sworn between them The Application is so easie and familiar that I need not press it Only I note that this great work of our Reconciliation could not be wrought by any but a Saviour and such as had relation to both parties both to God and man that being jealous of the honour of the one and zealous for the preservation of the other he might make up that peace betwixt us which all the powers of Hell should not interrupt Which work of reconciliation being a special part of that Pastorall charge which he hath taken to himself leads me on fairly to my second generall which is the Office of our Saviour Ego sum ille Pastor I am that Shepherd And here perhaps it may be said that we have took great pains to a little purpose Have we endeavoured all this while to prove our Saviour to be the Sonne of the eternall ever-living God and do we now so much debase him as to make him a Shepherd Have we advanced him up on high and set him at the right hand of God in the heavenly places ut lapsu graviore ruat only to make his fall the greater Or with the Tempter in the Gospel have we advanced him to the top of the highest Pinacle and told him that he was the Sonne of God and then come out with mitte te deorsum cast thy self down as farre as poverty and contempt can make thee This were a cunning peece of malice if it were so meant in case the office of a Shepherd were so contemptible and inconsiderable as some men have made it But if we look upon it well we shall finde the contrary there being no inferior place of charge or Government more like unto the Kingly Office then the Shepherds is Upon which ground Homer calls Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepherd of his People And Philo gives it for a Rule that not Homer only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the whole Tribe of Poets also have honoured good Princes with the same Attribute Nay in his Book of the life of Joseph he gives this note that the best Shepherd makes the best King and in his Tract de vita Mosis doth affirm expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the best preparation to the Kingly Office is to be a Shepherd In which regard St. Basil tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Pastoral and Imperial Offices were near of kin the one being but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or preparation to the other But behold a greater then Philo or St. Basil here For God himself hath said of Cyrus that he was his Shepherd and purposely exalted David from the Sheep-fold to the regall Throne that he might know the better how to
Word that belongs equally to all his Ministers to whom he granted a Commission to this end and purpose when he commanded his Apostles and in them all other Ministers of his holy Gospel to teach all Nations or as St. Mark doth change the Phrase to preach the Gospel This the most excellent kinde of feeding and most peculiar to our Saviour in his Pastoral Office the feeding of our bodies appertaining rather unto God the Father who on the opening of his hand filleth all things living with plenteousness In which respect our Saviour tells us in his Gospel that man liveth not by bread alone but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God This is that part of heavenly nourishment from which we are at no time barred from which no age no sex no quality is to be repelled Universos homines sine discrimine sexus vel aetatis Minutius adds vel dignitatis ad coeleste pabulum convocamus This bread is offered unto all of what condition or estate soever and being offered unto all requireth the more hands to make tender of it And therefore all the Ministers of the Church in their Ordination have this authority intrusted to them that they should preach the Gospel where and whensoever they are appointed thereunto For the administration of the Sacraments especially the holy Eucharist that belongs only to the Priests who hath power to consecrate and blesse the creatures which are appointed by the Lord our Saviour for the commemoration of his death and passion Hoc facite is there the Priests Commission to take the bread and blesse and break it hoc edite hoc bibite take eat and drink are a Commission to the people to partake thereof And certainly never was Table better furnished then that of our Redeemer in the blessed Sacrament a Banquet of all others the most rich and nourishing where Jesus Christ is set before us and he himself is both the Entertainer and the Feast If any hunger here is the bread of life spiritual Mannah farre better then the food of Angels whoever eateth of this Bread he shall live for ever Is any thirsty here is the well of life eternal farre better then the well of Jacob or the waters of Jordan Whoever drinketh of these waters he shall never thirst Will you have more and in that more the proof and reason of the whole he telleth us that his flesh is meat indeed and that his blood is drink indeed in St. Johns Gospel A bountiful and liberal feast and such whereof our blessed Saviour is no niggard we may participate of it monethly weekly daily as our spiritual necessities and estates require Panem hunc dat quotidie dat omnibus dat semper as Ambrose hath it The second duty of the Shepherd is that he order and direct the Flock committed to him so to direct them that they do not wander or if they do that he reduce them back to the Fold again to order them both when they are in state of health and when they chance to fall into those Diseases to which they naturally are inclined The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek doth imply a Government the Poet else had not called Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince or shepherd of his people And so we finde it also in the Book of God in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is interpreted to rule or govern as in the 2d of St. Matthew for out of thee shall come a Governour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which shall rule my people Israel Now for the exercise of this part of his Office the shepherd hath not only his Oyls and waters and other implements of Chirurgery Scyllamque helleborosque graves nigrumque bitumen as the Poet hath it but he is armed also with his Shepherds Crook which is the Scepter of his Empire called therefore Pedum in the Latine eò quòd retineat pecudum pedes as Servius notes it upon Virgil. In this regard the shepherds in the Book of Jeremy are called Optimates gregis the Princes or the principalls of the Flock as the English reads it as having principal authority in ordering and disposing of them And David when he kept his Fathers sheep in Bethlehem is represented to us with his Shepherds staffe Et tulit baâ—ulum suum in manibus suis He took his staffe in his hand as the Text informs us i. e. the staffe or Shepherds Crook wherewith he used to order and direct his flock and pull them in as often as they went astray Thus also deals our Lord and Saviour with the sheep of his Pasture Did any of them prove unsound he then applyed himself unto the cure Et medicas adhibere manus ad vulnera and to the salving of their sores Witness that heavenly speech of his when being taxed for keeping company with Publicans and sinners he returned this answer that the whole had no need of the Physician but the sick Did any of them go astray he tells us of himself by his holy Prophet that he would seek that which was lost and bring back that again which was driven away and tells us by himself in his holy Gospel that the Sonne of man was come to seek and save that which was lost which in the Parable of the lost sheep is at large exemplified Were they grown wanton and unruly we finde him armed with power to destroy the fat and the strong pascere illos in judicio and to feed them with judgement Ezek. 34. to feed the flock of his inheritance with a rod Micah 7. and finally the Prophet David doth represent the Lord his Shepherd with a rod and a staffe Psal 23. i. e. as Austin doth expound it with a corrective power with the Rod of Discipline according to the quality of the offence and the condition of the offender Disciplina tua tanquam virga ad gregem ovium tanquam Baculus ad grandiores filios as he states the business This power of Government the Lord when he withdrew himself from the sight of man transmitted over to the Church and the Ministers of it Whether indifferently to all alike that 's the point in question Bellarmine looking through the Spectacles of the Popes Ambition ascribes this solely to St. Peter and to his Successors in the See of Rome His reason is because the charge of Pasce oves meas Pasce agnos meos was given peculiarly to Peter and to him alone But herein he and those of his opinion are destitute of that antiquity and consent of Fathers which usually they do pretend to In this the Fathers leave them to themselves to make good the cause and run a very different opinion from them A Jury of them at the least might be here impanneled which opine the contrary And if St. Austine were the fore-man he would find it thus that Pâ—ter oftentimes in the holy