Bishoprick in respect of Christ the Bishop of our Soules 1 Pet. 2. 25. The sole oecumenicall and universall President of the whole Church So then as there are many Beames proceeding from the same Sun yet one Sun in which they are United many branches growing from one Tree yet one roote wherein they are conjoyned many Rivers yet one Sea wherein they all meet many lines in a circle but one Center wherein they all concur So the Members of Christs Church though in respect of themselves they be divers yet they have all but one beginning one Spring one roote one Head one Center and in this respect all but one as one in respect of the Head so in respect of the Spirit which animateth every Member thereof This is the soule that informs the whole Church it is that Intellectus agens of which Philosophers have so much dreamed which is Vnas numero in every Member of Christs mysticall Body So that as the integrall Members of mans Body though of themselves they be specifically distinct flesh bones nerves muscles veines arteries c. Every one of them having a peculiar essentiall and specificall form yet being informed with one humane Soule they are but integrall parts of the same man So all Christians in the World though in sex and state and degree and calling and Nation and language they be different yet being regenerated and animated with the same spirit they are but integrall Members of one and the selfe same Church 3. One in respect of Faith and Religion and profession contained in the sacred volume of the Bible the two Brests of the Church out of which Christs Lambs do suck the sincere Milke of the word that they may grow thereby The two Cherubims that with mutuall counterview do face the mercy Seate that is Christ the two great lights that inlighten the World the old like the Moon to rule the night the new like the Sun to rule the day that for the Patriarks this for us the two Pillars to leade us from Egypt to Canaan the old of a Cloud dark and obscure in figures and shadowes the other of fire bright and cleare both of them making one and absolute rule of our faith and profession she is then one because one spirit quickeneth her one because one rule directeth her that is the essentiall form this is the proper passion flowing from this form by which the Church a Posteriori may be demonstrated For they are my Sheep saith Christ which heare my voice John 10. 27. thus then briefly one Spouse one love one Dove one Body one Fleece one Arke on Spirit one Faith one Religion one Head one Shepheard one Flock Here to come to so me application give me leave to use the Apostles protestation I say the truth in Christ Jesus Ilye not my conscience bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart and with the Prophet Jeremy could wish that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the Schismes and divisions that are at this day in the Christian world There was a time there was Woe worth that unhappy Tense there was but Est bene non possum dicere dico fuit I cannot say there is I must needs speak as it is There was a time when the whole Church of God in all places of the world was of one heart and one minde of one accord and of one judgment And howsoever there was and ever will be some difference about some circumstances of no great weight yet was there not the least discrepance amongst them in any one essentiall point of our faith Vna agebat in omnibus membris divini spiritus virtus erat omnibus anima una fidei propositum idem divinitatis celebratio omnibus una Euseb lib. 10. hist Eccl. Chap. 3. in somuch that as when any member of the body is ill affected all the rest do conspire to cure it or when a house is set on fire the whole town will run to quench it So if any heresie happened to spring in any part of the World their common desire was to crush the serpents head to make it like Ionas his gourd of short continuance and to smother it in the birth and make it like the untimely fruit of a Woman which perisheth afore it see the Sun they did conspire to heale the affected member and did concu to stay the flame from further combustion Thus did they from the most parts of the world concur at Nice against Arius at Constantinople against Macedonius at Ephesus against Nestorius at Chalcedon against Entiches Thus was the head of Britaines snake as Prosper Aquitanus tells Pelagius crushed by provinciall Synods in most places of Christendome And long before these times when as yet there was not a Christian Emperour thus they dealt with Montanus in many of their Synods And at Antioch against Paulus Samosatenus they met from all Churches under Heaven as it were against a common theife that stole the Sheep out of Christs flock But now O times the one and undivided spouse of Christ is like a Traytor drawn and quattered the North and the South the Orient and the Occident each differ from other in sundry materiall and essentiall points of Faith And here in the West that Church whose faith was once famous through the whole world which was as a Beacon upon an hill a guide for all the Churches round about her a Sanctuary for orthodoxall exiles one of the four Patriarchicall Seas and that in respect of place and order the first the Empresse of the World the Glory of Kingdomes the pride and beauty of Nations the faithfull City is so estranged from the Bridegroomes Voice and hath so depraved the purity of Christian religion both by loosing of her own and the taking in of Forraine water that as one sayd of Athens we may say of Rome thou mayst seeke Rome in Rome and canst not finde it being become like unto one of the old Aegyptian Temples beautifull without and Cats and Ratts and Crocodiles adored within And whereas shee hath no more reason to be called Catholike then the old Mahometans to call themselves Saracens then the Jewes had to call Herod that was ready to be eaten with wormes a God then the Persians that were shortly afterslaine by the Romans to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then Manes had to stile himselfe an Apostle of Jesus Christ then Celsus the Heathen Philosopher to entitle his Books written against Christian Religion the word of truth or Drunkards to be tearmed good fellowes or light housewives honest women having made the rule of her faith like Glaucus the Sea which loosing some part of his Body by beating upon Rocks and shelves hath the same repaired by rocks and sand that cleave to him yet must shee be called the only Catholike Church of
the Gospel of peace his ministers the Ambassadours of peace his natural Son the Author of peace his adopted sons the children of peace if then ye will be the sons of the most highest your endeavor must be this to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Consider what I say and the Lord give you wisdome and understanding in all things Finally to speake unto all and so to make an end of all seeing that we are all Tenants at will and must be thrust out of the doors of these earthly Tabernacles whensoever it shall please our great landlord to call us hence let us have our loines girt and our lampes continually burning that whensoever the Lord shal call us hence in the evening or in the morning at noon-day or at mid-night he may find us ready Happy is the man whom his Master when he comes shall find watching Let us every day sum up our accounts with God Ita aedificemus quasi semper victuri ita vivamus quasi cras morituri let us build as if we would ever live but let us live as if wee were ever ready to dye Then may every one of us in the integrity of heart and syncerity of conscience when the time of his departing is at hand say with the blessed Apostle If have fought a good fight and have finished my course I have kept the faith from hence forth is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Unto this God one eternall omnipotent and unchangeable Iehovah in essence three persons in manner of subsistence the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour and glory power might and majestie both now and forever more Amen Galathians 3. 10. As many as are of the workes of the Law are under the Cuurse for it is written cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to do them IN which words observe two things 1. A Doctrine 2. A Reason of the doctrine in the former part the reason in the latter I have spoken of the doctrine I purpose now to speake only of the reason for it is written c. wherein observe three things 1. It is to no purpose to begin a good course of life unlesse thou hold it out and continue till the end 2. It s not enough for a Christian to performe obedience to some of Gods precepts and to bear with himself wilfully in the breach of others Cursed is he that continueth not in all 3. That the rule of our obedience is no unwritten tradition but the written Word of God that are written in the booke of the Law But before I speak of these I gather from the connexion this conclusion That no man can in this life perfectly fulfill the Will of God it followeth thus because as it is written Cursed c. So it is written This doe and thou shalt live and the man that doth these things shall live in them So that the Apostle takes this for granted or else his argument is of no force this is evidently confirmed by many places of Scripture 1 Kings 8. 49. Eccles 7. 22. Psal 143. 2. Isa 64. 6. Acts. 15. 10. Acts. 13. 39. 1 Ioh. 1. 8. 2. It is confirmed by reason the first is drawn from the corruption of nature which is in the best Christians from which wee may thus argue he that consisteth of flesh as well as of Spirit cannoâ— fulfill the Law no not in his best actions but the best Christian that ever lived consisteth of flesh as wel as of Spirit therfore he cannot fulfill the law The minor hath been formerly proved The Major is plaine for as he is carnall he is sold under sinne The wisdome thereof is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Thus it is proved from the the death of Christ for if righteousnesse be by the workes of the Law then Christ dyed without a cause Gal. 3. 21. and if they which are of the law be heires then saith is made void and the promise is made of no effect Rom. 4. 14. for he came to fulfill the law Matth. 5. 17. which was impossible to be fulfilled of us in as much as it was weake because of the flesh Therefore God sent his sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh Rom. 8. 3. But the Romish Sophisters answer that this maketh against the Pelagians which were of opinion that a man might by the strength of nature fulfill the law not against them which hold that this abilitie comes from grace and that the good workes of a Christian proceed from Christ as the juice in the branches proceedeth from the Vine To this I answer 1. That neither the Pelagians nor these against whom the Apostle disputeth did altogether exclude grace and therefore if it be strong against them it will be of force against the Papists too 2. Their answer is grounded upon a false supposition as that the works of a Christian doe proceed wholly from Christ for they they doe in part proceed from the flesh and therefore though as they are the workes of the holy Ghost who applieth unto the faithfull the force and efficacie of Christs resurrection they be perfect yet in respect of the flesh they be stained and polluted 3. Christ died for us not by any inherent but by his imputed righteousnesse which righteousness is applyed and appropriated unto us principally by the holy Ghost instrumentally by faith whereby wee are incorporate into Christ and so partakers of his righteousnesse wee might be justified I thinke Abraham was as holy a man as Ignatius the father of Jesuits or Dominicus and Franciscus the founders of Friers in whom saith Bellarmine their very adversaries can find nothing that deserveth reprehension praeter nimiam sanctitatem save their too much holiness and yet it was not his good workes but his faith for which he was counted righteous I know that this imputative righteousnesse is counted with them a putative and imaginarie righteousness but herein the injurie is not done unto us but unto him who saith to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Even as David declareth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sinne wee say that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousnesse now it is not written for him only that it was imputed unto him for righteousness but also for us to whom it shal be imputed for righteousnesse c. A third reason to prove that no man can fulfill the Law is because all have need to say forgive us our debts who more excellent amongst the old people saith Austin then the holy Priests and yet the Lord commanded them that
and their knees to smite one against another But to leave these and to make an end of this point Seeing that sinne is such a burden unto our consciences let us take head that we do not load them too much if we were fully perswaded that such and such meats would cause an ague we would willingly abstain from them Now sinne causeth a greater sicknesse unto our soules then is an ague unto our bodies viz a troubled conscience and a wounded spirit who can bear how then dare wee commit it when Rebecca felt the strugling of Esau and Jacob in her wombe she wished she had been barren and said if it be so why am I thus Sinne may be pleasant in getting but it is bitter in bearing better we were barren then feel the pains and throwes before we be delivered of it And if it be so why are we thus Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur alter Better to give this guest no entertainment at all then discredit our selves with God for harbouring it Therefore before thou do any thing consider with thy selfe whether it be a sinne or no examine it by the law of God if it be a sinne see thou do it not lest afterward thou feel the pain when it shall come into thy bowels like water and like oyle into thy bones When the remembrance of it shall burn within thee like fire and gnaw like a worm upon thy heart perchance thy conscience is so heardned that thou canst not feel nor call to remembrance thy sinnes which if it be so miserable and wretched art thou for without a feeling of sinne and repentance for the same there is no remission to be expectedyet there will a day come when God knowes but certainly it will come when thou shalt find them to be heavier then lead upon thine heart When thy master shall call thee to a reckoning and the day of thy departing cometh then will the book of thy conscience be laid open and thou shalt read such a Catalogue of thy sinnes therein that even then thou sha't plainiy perceive the never dying worm to gnaw upon thy soule and the unquenchable fire to beginne to burn within thee unlesse the Lord in merey shall give thee grace to repent that so thou mayest be saved therefore strive alwayes to hav a good conscience and if thou wilt be carefull that thine eye because it is the most tender and precious part of thy body be not troubled with the least mote Be much more careful of thy conscience the eye of thy soul that it be not troubled with beams of great and horrible sinnes Wilt thou never be sad live well this is the best means to gain the joy and peace of conscience Happy is that man who when his fatal hour approacheth can say with Paul I have in all good conscience served God until this day Verily this will more availe him then if he should conquer the whole world and have all the Monarchs of the earth to cast down their scepters before his footstoole Thus much of the first point his condemnation I proceed to the second his mortification or imperfect repentance He repented himself c. THis repentance was an extreme grief of heart arising from the curses of the law and apprehension of Gods wrath which as it was in Judas so was it in Pharaoh and Ahab and the Ninevites and many of the heathen Orestes and Nero when they had killed their Mothers were exceedingly troubled and wished to be clensed and Hercules in the Tragedy when he had kill'd his wife and children runnes up and down like a madman and cries out that if the whole sea should runne through his hands it would not wash him from that bloudy fact So that this is no part of true mortification yet it is a preparative thereunto The wheat must be threshed with the flayle before it be fanned from the chaffe with the wind and a natural man must be as it were threshed with the terrours of the law before he be fanned from his corruptions with the wind of the Spirit In natural mutations before a substantial forme be corrupted andan other educed è potentiâ materiae certain alterations or previal dispositions are required as necessary for hastning of this change So in a Supernatural mutation when a sonne of wrath is to be made a sonne of God the terrours of the law are required as necessary precedents for hastning this change The law like the shoomakers elson pricks the heart legal sorrowes and fears like the bristle come after and true mortification like the thread comes in the last place Take the elson and the bristle from the shoomaker and he cannot use his thread take legal sorrow and compunction of heart from a natural man and he cannot be brought to true repentance So that Judas goes well thus farre he goes yet further he makes confession of his fault first in general I have sinned then in particular I have been a traytour I have betrayed and which is worst of all I have betrayed the innocent blood If Judas this repentance notwithstanding be damned to hell merciful God what shall become of thousands amongst us which go under the name of Christians and come short of Judas in repentance They are seldome touched with any sorrow for their sinnes but say they be surely not half of that sorrow that Judas was in admit they be come they to the next step do they make confession admit this too come they to a third do they make satisfaction doth the sacrilegious Church-robber bring back again that which he hath wrongfully taken from the sonnes of Levi and say I have sinned doth the bloud-sucking Usurer restore that which he hath wrongfully taken from the poor by sundry practises of covetousnesse and say I have sinned is there any who after that he hath done wrong is sorry for it and confesses his fault and is ready to make amends and say thus and thus have I done thus and thus have I sinned all these are necessary to salvation but these are not all that are necessary to salvation We must go thus farre with Judas but we must not here stay with Iudas Iudas by stepping a foot short got a break-neck fall and is tumbled into the pit of hell We must go a step further and fasten our feet upon the corner stone by a true and saving faith and then our sinnes be they never so many never so grievous shal not bring us to condemnation but though they be as Crimson they shall be made white as snow though they be red like scarlet they shall be as wool We read in the Gospel of 3 whom our Saviour rased from death to life the first was Iairus his daughter she was dead in the house and Christ raised her in the house The second was the widowes sonne of Naein he was dead in the way they were carrying him to the place of burial and Christ raised him in
if thou strangle thy sefe with the smal cords of vanitie Thou must therefore be contented to forgo those little ones a great beam will put out a mans eye so may a mote too a great flame may burn a house so may a small sparkle a cart-rope may strangle a man so may a small cord a sword will take away the life of the strongest man and so may a little pen-knife nay the point of a needle a Canon shot may murther a man so may the shot of a pocket dagg the deep Ocean may drown a man and so may a smal River It is even so with sin the Aegyptians were as surely drowned that laid dead on the shore as those that were overwhelmed in the deep so the least sinne without repentance drowns a man in the gulfe of perdition as well as the greatest and let me add this which is a most certain truth though at the first it may seeme a paradox that more are damned to Hell for little sinnnes then for great Why Because as it is not the falling into the fire that burnes a man to death but continuing in it nor the falling into the water that drownes a man but lying in it so it is not the falling into sin that damns a man for then all should be damned seeing all fall into sin but cotinuance in sinne and impenitencie A great sinne may prove veniall and a little sinne the same kindâ—n mortall exempli gratia oppression may be veniall and the least desire of another mans goods mortall actuall adulterie veniall and adulterie of the heart unlawfull desire mortall shedding of innocent blood veniall and unadvised anger mortal one of these wee find pardoned in David another in Zacheus the third in Manasses and pardoned they shall be to all such as truly repent and believe the Gospel but these being breaches of Gods law are in their own nature mortall and unlesse repentance follow them they are sure to bring death with them not that these are more grievous in their own nature then those or did more provoke Gods wrath the contrary is true in both but because they often find mercie when the other doe not because they are often accompanied with repentance when the other are not and it is not the greatnesse or littlenesse of the sinne that makes it mortall or venial but the continuance in it or forsaking of it he that continueth in his sin though never so small shall not prosper but he that forsaketh them though never so great shall finde mercie Now many that have been overtaken with grievous and crying sinnes having had the looking glasse of the Law laid before them have been humbled and upon their humiliation pardoned and so their mortall sinnes made venial whereas these lesse sinnes wherein men walke securely and never are truly humbled for them but blesse themselves with the fancie that they are free of many hainous crimes wherewith many others in the world are stained these these I say bring many milions to hell experience sheweth that many dangerous wounds being timely looked unto are cured whereas the least as a stab with an Aule or prickle of a black or prickle of a black thorn neglected may indanger a member if not life So the greatest sinne soundly and timely repented obtains pardon whereas the least neglected as if there were no danger because of it self not so dangerous brings death on the back of it Let then the men of this world who make a sport of sinne mince and qualifie and extenuate their greatest offences let them thinke themselves happie because they are not the greatest transgressors let them never have any Scriptures but such as sound Gods mercies in their mouthes but for thee Beloved Christian if thou look to find favour at the hands of the Almighty though after thy fals and slips thou art to meditate upon Gods mercies lest thou be swallowed up with over much heaviness yet before to keep thee from falling mediate upon his judgements and fierce wrath against the least transgressions lay them open before God that he may cover them condemn them that he may forgive them confesse them to be by nature mortall that by grace he may make them veniall Thus much concerning the second proposition the last proposition is against the Romish doctrine of traditions wee receive traditions say the Fathers of the Councell of Trent pertaining to faith and manners with like devotion and reverence that wee doe the books of the Old and New Testament they meane divine and Apostolicall traditions these wee reverence and receive as well as they viz. if they be expresly delivered in the Scripture or may by necessary consequence be thence proved this is not their meaning but such as are not written but only said to be delivered by Christ and his Apostles very well but seeing the ancient received some for divine and Apostolical which are not rejected even by the Church of Rome as abstaining from blood and that which is strangled praying toward the East c. How shall I know what traditions are divine and Apostolicall Bellarmine gives me a good rule that is without doubt an Apostolical tradition saith he that is taken for Apostolicall in those Churches where is a continued succession of Bishops from the Apostles where is that marrie onely in the Church of Rome Et ideo ex testimonio hujus solius Ecclesiae sumi potest certum indubitatum argumentum ad probandas Ecclesiasticas traditiones and therefore from the testimonie of that Church onely may be taken a certain and infallible argument for proving of Apostolicall traditions This is the strongest stake that stands in the Popes hedge allow him this principle and he will be sure to win the field The Protestants have challenged the Romanists at three severall kinde of weapons Reason Antiquitie and Scripture The first they put off with their nice and aeriall distinctions the second when all other shifts have failed them they wipe oft with the wards of their expurgatorie indices wherein they deale with the ancient Fathers and some of their own side also as Terence in the Poet did with Prognâ— that is cut out their tongues that in future times they shall never be able to crie down Poperie when they are assaulted with the third which is the fittest that can be used to maintain Gods quarrell against his enemies being taken out of Davids Tower where hang a thousand shields and all the weapons of the strong men they put off this blow by their tradition yea but traditions are against the Word of God Ye shall add nothing unto that which I command you Deut. 4. Yea but traditions are the word of God though not written how prove you this because our Church holdeth them to be such Et quod nos volumus sanctum est as Tichonius the Donatist was wont to say Woe unto you yee Hypocrites for ye bind heavie burdens and lay them upon mens shoulders yee make the Law of
Christ and all others that dissent from her although they do consent with Christ shall be counted and called Hereticks and Scismaticks and Calvinists and Lutherans and Zwinglians and I wote not what even as in former ages the Arians called themselves Orthodoxalls and branded the Catholikes with the name of Hereticks and Homousians and Johanites and Ambrosians and Athanasians and as he that is troubled with the vertigo or swimming in the head thinks that the earth turnes when he stands still whereas the earth stands still and his giddy brains turn as those that sayl from the shore into the maine Sea think that the Land goes back from them when they goe back from the Land So they charge us to have turned from the truth when it is not we but their giddy brains that have turned and to have gone back from the ancient Catholicke and Apostolick Church when it is not wee but they that have run backwards and made an apostasie Heare yet more cause of grief in this little Flock in these North-west parts of the world which at the commandement of Christ is come out of Babylon Alas what a rent have two or three points of difference made and those not of such moment but that a reconciliation might have been made if a charitable construction had been admitted on both sides It 's worthy the observation which the holy Ghost sets downe Gen. 13. 7. when there was debare between the Herdsmen of Abrahams and the Herdsmen of Lots Cattel The Canaanites and the Peresites dwelled at that time in the land whereupon Abraham was more desirous to make a pacification Let there be no strife between thee and me nor between thy herdsmen and my herdsmen for we are brethren So say I let there be no strife between Abraham and Lot between Luther and Calvin nor between the Herdsmen of either side especially seeing it is with us as it was with them the Canaanite and the Peresite dwells amongst us for we are brethren The matters of difference are not such but that they may and I hope will in time be determined in a lawfull Assembly Till then oh let no heat of passion melt the pitch of Noahs Arke no violence of perturbation burst in sunder the threed and knots of Gods net but both endeavour to preserve the communion of Saints and so continue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Worthy is that admonition which Saint Austin gives to certaine brethren that did not fully agree in the doctrine of predestination I wish these men would hearken unto it Itaque dilectiss ne vos perturbet hujus quaestionis obscuritas Moneo vos primum ut de his quae intelligitis agatis deo gratias Quicquid est autem quo pervenire nondum potest vestrae mentis intentio pacem inter vo charitatem servantes a domino ut intelligatis orate donec res ipsa perducat ad ea quae nondum intelligitis ibi ambulate quo pervenire potustis St. Paul shall english it Let us as many as are perfect be thus minded and if any be otherwise minded God shall reveale even the same unto you Neverthelesse in that whereunto we are come let us proceed by one rule that wee may mind one thing Phil. 3. 15. 16. To come yet neerer home although peradventure it may befall me as it doth him who stepping in hastily to part a fray gets a broken head for his paines and receives blows from both parties Tamen subibo discrimen I will hazard my selfe pro virili aquam infundam in sacrum hunc ignem I will doe the best I can to powre out my Bucket to quench if I may this holy Fire I meane the fire that is burning in our English Church those hot and fiery flames of contention about Circumstances and Ceremonies Figures and Colours shall I say more toys and trifles if not in themselves at least in regard of many things that are neglected even by those who most oppugn them which might be badges and tokens of unity and consent in our Church yet prove they I know not how like the waters of Massah and Meribah causes of strife and contention and serve to make a rent in the vaile of our Temple even from the top to the bottome and to teare in sunder the seamlesse Coate of Christ Jesus Marke those unchristian speeches cast to and fro and those Books which are by sundry divulged on both sides I except neither and yet I must needs say there is a difference the one maintaining the decency and order of our Church the other striving to beate downe all the carved work thereof as it were with axes and hammers and compare them with the most tart polemicall books that have been written against or for the Papists and you shall find some of them in bitternesse and sharpnesse of style far exceeding them as if their pens were dipped in vinegar and wormwood or their inke were made of the blood of Dragons and the cruell gall of Aspes Yet Michael the Archangle when he strove against the devil disputed about the bodie of Moses durst not blame him with cursed speaking but said The Lord rebuke thee Jude 9 May we not justly exclaim as the Poet did concerning the civill Wars between Caesar and Pompey Quis furor Ocives what madnesse is this quae tanta licentia linguae what mean these unbridled tearms Cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda trophaeis Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos When we should march with joynt Forces against the whore of Babylon shall we every man slay his brother and sheath his sword in his companions bowels Oh that they would remember that generall name which as many have taken as have taken the Military oath to fight under Christs Standard I meane the name of Christian It was thought a good motive to Julius Caesar in the first of Tacitus his Annals to unite the minds of his dissenting Souldiers to call them Quirites Divus Julius seditionem exercitus compescuit uno verbo Quirites vocando And should not the name of Christians be as great a motive to compose those jarrs as Quirites was to the barbarous Souldiers Oh that they would remember that they are brethren not like Simeon and Levi brethren in evill nor like those bred of the Serpents teeth which slew one another as the Poet saith Marte cadunt subito per mutua vulnera fratres But brethren bred in one womb the Church fed with one milk the Word animated with the same spirit governed by the same Lord justified by the same faith watch-men over the same Flock fighting under the same Banner Nefas nocere vel malo fratri puta said he in the Tragedy and Moses thought it a good argument to compose the two Israelites which were at odds between themselves Sirs ye are brethren why do ye wrong one to another If this be not of force oh that they would
Philosophie Lecture when they were come into his Schoole and heard him make a large discourse about the Subject of the Metaphysicks Ens and Vnum and speak never a word how a man might augment his Goods and inlarge his Possessions they altered their Judgments and for all his wisdome counted him but a fool to leave that by which a man may become great in the World and discourse about such abstruse and abstract notions as they could not understand This is the Worlds judgement still to count light of all that savours not of some present profit or pleasure he declines his felicity no further then the present Tens a Lease for life in this World is of more worth with him then the Reversion of a Kingdome in another and therefore the Childe of God that looks not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen and first seeks and then sets his affections on the things that are above and makes more reckoning of a peaceable conscience then a worldly Kingdome is by him contemned and reputed a foole by troubling himselfe with such metaphysicall notions as he the worldling cannot understand A Jueller makes reckoning of a Pearl but Aesops Cock that knowes not the use of it counts it but a Bable When Protogenes the Painter did earnestly eye a Picture made by Apelles admiring the curiousnesse of the workmanship an ignorant man comes to him and tells him that he wonders why a Painter should admire that Picture for I have seen said he a hundred better Oh said Protogenes if thou hadst mine eyes thou wouldst never aske me that question but wouldst judge as I judge The childe of God looking upon heavenly things with a spirituall eye prizeth them at a dearer rate then ten thousand Worlds all of Gold and Pearle But an unwise man that doth not consider these things and a foole that doth not understand them because he wants a spirituall eye doth farr undervalue them as he that measuring the Sun by his eye conjectures it to be but a foot and a halfe broad as Tully notes which Mathematicians know to be farr bigger then the whole Globe of the Earth and Water When the Romanes for the good service performed by the Cappadocian Slaves offered them liberty which all creatures naturally desire they not knowing the benefit thereof because they had ever lived in bondage refused it The worldling scornes and contemnes that liberty which the Sons of God have in Christ because having ever been bound with the evill Angels in chaines of darknesse he knowes not what that means If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed This is the first cause of contempt of Gods Children with the worldling he understands not the things of the Spirit of God he counts them foolishnesse and him that studieth them no better then a fool in respect of himself The second is the antipathy between the Womans Seed and the Serpents I will put enmity betweene thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed said God to the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. Hic incipit liber bellorum Domini saith Rupertus true for the whole Scripture is a Book describing the Warrs between the Serpents Seed and the Womans which shall be continued untill the consummation of the World Basil writes of the Panther that he hath such a mortall hatred against man that he cannot indure his picture insomuch that if he see it but drawne in Paper he will presently pull it in peices The Serpent that Hellish Panther beares such an inveterate hatred against God that he cannot indure his Picture and therefore when he saw Gods Image drawne in a peice of earth I mean in Adam at the creation he was never at rest till he had pulled it in peices and in whomsoever he shall finde it drawne anew as it is in all beleevers though not so perfectly as was the first draught against them he and his Imps bear an implacable hatred and labours with tooth and naile to tear in peices this Image if they cannot this then at least to keep them under that weare it or as the Garderens dealt with Christ to keep such out of their coasts By a Law of Ostracisme they will banish such out of their company as the Athenians did themselves and the Spartans Demaritus and as the Ephesians used Hermodorus who cast him out of the City because he was a trusty and an honest man adding this sentence Let none of us be over good for ought if hee be let him seeke another place and get him other companions Here then beloved Christian learn not to be discouraged for this that thou art not respected nor had in account with many worldlings as thou deservest the more the men of this World shall hate the more strive thou to be unlike them that they may hate thee the more Invidiâ rumpantur ut ilia Codri They contemne thee because they do not know thee thou art not of the World what marvell if the World hate thee thou art a stranger care not if the Doggs bark at thee The Philosopher in Laertius said of a Dancer Quo melius feceris eo deterius facias and Quo deterius eo melius The better thou dancest the worse thou art and the worse the better So the better thou art in the Worlds judgment the worse thou art and the lesse thou art in the Worlds account the greater art thou in Gods As Tacitus speaks of the Images of Brutus and Cassius which were not shewed amongst the rest in Tiberius his time Eo honoratiores quòd non ostendebantur So the more thou art despised the more honourable art thou if thou canst injoy riches and honours and favour with the men of this World as Joseph under Pharaoh and Obediah under Ahab thou mayst so that it be without the losse of Gods favour if thou canst not count not of the losse The woman cloathed with the Sun treads the Moon under her feet Revel 12. If thou be cloathed with the wedding Garment of the Sun of righteousnesse and the bright beames of the Gospell inlighten thy dark and cloudy heart all worldly honours riches pleasures which are as mutable as the Moon tread them under foot and set them at naught requite the worldlings with a like kindnesse have the most precious things on earth in as base esteeme as they have thee This is a lesson I confess hard to be learned and practised by very few No marvell Christs Flock as it is little in estimation and account of the World so is it also little in comparison with the World which is the second proposition observed from the quantity It is true which the essentiall truth hath told us That many are called yet not so many as the upholders of universall Grace would have us to beleeve for he that shewed his Lawes unto Jacob his Statutes and Ordinances unto Israel and dealt not so with any Nation nor gave the
or their King or their Countrey as if they were borne to live on the Land as Leviathan in the Sea whom God hath made to take his pastime therein and that I may come to a second use superciliously scorne and contemn such as in meanes or lineage come short of them as if they were not in the same Predicament nor originally hewen out of the same Rock nor regenerate by the same Father Who art thou that contemnest a state of Paradise one of the blood-royal of heaven whom God hath adopted for his Son over whom he hath appointed the Angels to be his Protectors and Governours Psal 91. 10. Whose enemies he hath threatned to curse Gen. 12. Whose prayers hee hath promised to heare Psal 50. For whose sake he reproves Kings Psal 104. Whom he tendereth as the apple of his eye Zach. 2. The hairs of whose head he numbers the teares of whose eyes he bottles If a Kings son should come to us in Beggars attire like Codrus or lame and impotent of his feet like Mephibosheth or with any other imperfections of body or mind we would not scorn him because of his imperfections but yeild him all honour due to a Kings son Have thou the like respect to Christs little ones let their outward condition be never so mean subject to coÌ„tempt let them be poor ignorant of base parentage friendlesse servants bondslaves let them be all these or whatever else may cause contempt in the eyes of man if they believe in Christ for of these I speake they are sons to the King of Kings and consequently more noble then the Turke or Persian or the greatest Monarch of the world that is without Christ It 's not noblenesse of Parents nor Lands and Possessions nor riches nor humane wisdome nor worldly dignities that makes a man truly honourable and worthy of respect nor is it the want of these that makes a man contemptible but the want of Gods favour and adoption in Christ Stemmate si Thusco ramum Millessime ducis If thou couldst number thy Progenitors for a thousand generations if God be not in thy pedigree as I sayd thou art a bastard and no sonne Hadst thou all humane knowledg in the world and dost not know Christ crucified thou art but a foole Hadst thou all the riches in the world and wantest the great riches which the Apostle calls godlinesse thou art but a beggar Hadst thou all dignities and honours in the world and be not one of Gods houshold servants thou art base and of no respect in comparison of Christs little ones I doe not derogate from such as are well discended nor from such as are rich nor from such as excell in humane Acts and Sciences nor from such as are set over others in honours and worldly preferments God forbid I should I allow them that which of right pertains to them a civill honour because of some divine representations that are in them as of his eternity in such as can shew the antiquity of their stock of his dominion in such as are rich of his Soveraignty in such as are in authority c. But such must remember that it is no more then a civil honour that is due unto them for these And howsoever for these considerations they ought to have their due respects according to their places in the civill Regiment and to be honoured above others Yet in the spirituall Regiment the poorest Christian that believes with his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Christ died for his sinnes is their equall There is no difference saith the Apostle in the Kingdome of Heaven Saturnsâ—easts â—easts are continually kept Master and Servant are both alike There is neither Jew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female c. Gal. 3. He that is called being a servant is the Lords free-man and he that is called being free is Christs servant All then of what state soever they be in the politicall Regiment must think of the poorest Christians as of their brethren and remember that rule given by God even unto Kings to read the book of the Law that their hearts be not lifted up above their brethren and imitate the example of holy Job who did not contemn the judgment of his servant nor of his hand-maid when they contended with him My third inference shall containe a double duty one we owe unto God as our Father the other to our Neighbours as sonnes of the same Father and consequently brethren one to another It 's the summe of Johns first Epistle and Synopsis of the whole Law and comprehended in one verse 1 John 3. 10. In this are the children of God known and the children of the Devill be that doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother these are children of the Devill Gods are known by the practise of two affirmatives 1. Doing of righteousnesse 2. Loving of the Brethren Touching the first They that call God their Father must carry themselves as children of such a Father and without limitation obey him in whatsoever he commands A son honoureth his father If I be your Father where is mine honour saith the Lord of Hosts to the rebellious Jewes who called God their Father and neglected his precepts Many such Jewes are amongst us common Drunkards abhominable Idolaters blood-sucking Usurers prophane Atheists blasphemous Swearers filthie Whore-mongers and that hellish and damned crew of impenitent sinners that live within the bosome of the Church though they be no integrall parts of it no more then hairs and other excrements are parts of a mans bodie or dogs swine essential parts of a familie will call God their Father If God be your Father where is his honour where is that filial obedience you should perform to his commandements when the Jews told Christ that Abraham was their Father he tells them no Because it Abraham were your father yee would do the works of Abraham And when they said that God was their Father he proves it false If God were your father ye would love mee Ye are of your father the Devill and the lusts of your father yee will doe So say I to these miscreants If God were your father yee would doe the works of God If God were your father ye would love him and keepe his commandements Because ye walke in darknesse ye are of your father the Devill and the lusts of your father ye wil doe And if ye would speak aright yee should not say as Christ bids his brethren say when they pray Our Father which art in heaven But rather as Latimer speaks of such truly though somewhat plainly Our father which art in hell Beloved in Christ Behold what love the father hath shewed us that we should be called the sonnes of God Let us be followers of God as deare children and in all things study to resemble him Who hath called
God affords us in this land of the living in a conscionable walking with God after the example of Enoch and Noah To omit the generall as every man hath a particular calling so let him make conscience to use as to Gods glory so to the good and benefit of his Country the Minister in a faithfull dispensation of the Word of God to them that are committed to his charge the Magistrate in using the sword of Justice put into his hands for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of him that doth well He is Vir gregis the Belweather in Christs little Flock and as he goes the rest will follow if by honest and upright and conscionable dealings he shall lead them the right way the lesser and weaker Sheep will be ready to follow him into the green Pastures of the Lord that are beside the waters of comfort To this purpose let him remember that God hath set him in his own room and stiled him with his owne name The studie of a Poet that every speech and action and gesture be sutable to the person hee brings upon the Stage Sit Medea Ferox c. The fifth Sermon MATTH 7. 22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied And then I wil professe to them I never knew you THAT which our Saviour delivered in the former part of the Precedent verse That not all that professe Christ to be their Lord shall be saved is in these two verses confirmed for a man may have most excellent gifts and in respect of his Calling come neer unto Christ be his Vice-gerent and supply his roome and for all that misse heaven Many will say unto me c. In which words note 1. The plea of certaine persons 2. Christs answer Then will I professe c. In the Plea note 1. The persons described by their Offices they are Prophets and they have taken pains in their calling Have not wee prophesied 2. Their number Many 3. The time when this plea shall be made At that day 4. The Judge before whom Vnto me The first will be as much as I shall be able to runne through at this time which I purpose not to handle ut thema simplex but as it hath relation to Christs answer Have not we in thy name That is by thy authority and appointment as being called by thee to that office Prophesied that is either foretold things to come that 's the proper signification of the word or else explained and expounded the word The Prophets in the time of the Law did both and in the New Testament it is used both wayes In those days there came certain Prophets from Jerusalem to Antiochia Act. 11. 27. That is such as by revelation of the Spirit did foretell things to come such was Agabus and the daughters of Philip Acts 21. There you have it in the former signification Despise not prophesie 1 Thes 5. 20. Covet spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesie 1 Cor. 14. 1. And in the next verse Prophesie is defined A speaking unto men to edification and to exhortation and to comfort there you have it in the letter here it 's taken generally as infolding both these particulars So that from hence may be gathered these two propositions which shall be the subject of my speech at this time 1. A man may be a Prophet that is a foreteller of things to come and be a reprobate 2. A man may be a learned Preacher and a meanes of saving others and for all that be damned himselfe To foretell future contingents as they are considered in themselves and not in their causes for so they are in some sort present its proper to him from whose all-seeing eyes nothing is hidde Who calleth things that are not as though they were and understandeth the thoughts of our hearts things of all other most purely contingent long before and therefore the Lord brings this as an argument against the Idols of the Heathen to prove that they were no gods because they could not foretell things to come Isa 41. 23. It 's hee and none but hee that could name Josias long before he came into the world and call Cyrus his Shepheard above 100. yeares befor he was borne and number the years of the Jewes captivity before they were carried to Babylon and foresee the foure great Monarchies of the world before they were notwithstanding as the true Prophets have foretold these and other future events not by help of Melancholy which made them more addicted to contemplation as Bodin fondly dreameth but meerly by divine illumination so hath the Lord revealed some of the like nature unto such as were not of the houshold of faith which as it is plain by my Text so also by the example of Caiphas an enemie to Christ and Balaam A stranger from the common-wealth of Israel and Saul a reprobate and the Devill himselfe who could never certainly have foretold Sauls death unlesse the Lord had revealed it unto him which places are so plain that Bellarmine De gratia libero arbitrio lib. 1. cap. 10. confesseth as much in substance as now I labour to prove If it please you to leave the Scriptures a little and to passe to heathen men you shall find that they were not without their Prophesies Hierom upon his Epistle to Titus saith that Epimenides whom Paul calls a Prophet of Crete wrote a booke of Predictions out of which the Apostle borrowed that heroicall verse which is cited in the first Chapter of that Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning their Oracles although they were oftentimes given in amphibologicall termes when the event could not be known such as was that to Pyrrhus if such was given which Tully doubts Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse And that given to Croesus Croesus Halyn penetrans pervertet plurima regna Croesus passing Halys shall great Kingdomes overthrow viz. either of his owne or others and such as was given to Alexander King of Epirus that he should beware of the Citie Pandosia and the river Acheron those two being in Epirus and others of that name in Italie where he was slain and sometimes were of things already begun to be done the news whereof was carried by Spirits in a moment of time unto places far distant such as that was in the first book of Herodotus where the Oracle tells Croesus his messengers what he was doing at that time in his own house and sometimes were of such things as had naturall causes unknown to men yet known to Devils by reason of their greater subtilty and quick apprehension yet were they not all of these kinds some being of such nature as could never be knowne without divine revelation To tell Alexander the time place and manner of his death as the Indian Oracle did if that Epistle be not counterfeit which
in the end of Q. Curtius goes under Alexanders name to tell the Athenians that they should overcome their Enemies the Dorenses and the Lacedemonians that they should prevaile against the Persians if their King should be slain in the field and Brutus that hee should have the government of Rome who should first kiss his old Mother the Earth they be things purely contingent and such as the Devill by his owne knowledge could never reach unto What shall we say of the Sybills and their Prophesies peradventure some of them are spurious and illegitimate such as that of Sybilla Erithraea in Eusebius and Augustine where the first letter of every verse being put together make up these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that of the same Sibyll which Munster hath borrowed I know not out of what Author In ultima aetate humiliabitur deus humanabitur proles divina unietur humanitati divinitas jacebit in faeno agnus puellari educabitur officio and that of I know not which Sibylla cited by Lactantius and Austin In manus iniquas infidelium veniet dabunt deo alapas manibus incestis impurato ore expuent venenatos sputus c. He shall come into the hands of the wicked and they shall buffet him with their fists and with impure mouths shall spit upon him c. All which and many such like were I am perswaded forged by Christians to make the Gospel more passable amongst the Gentiles especially seeing amongst none of Gods Prophets no not in Isaiah himselfe whom Hierom calls not only a Prophet but an Apostle and Evangelist are extant such clear testimonies touching Christ Yet surely that in Virgils Eglogs was never as yet questioned by any which the Poet finding in the books of Sibylla Cumaea and gathering by the first letter of every verse as Ludovicus Vives thinkes that the time was at hand when that Prophesie should take place applyed that to Saloninus the sonne of Asinius Pollio which can be fitted to none save Christ the redeemer of the world Vltima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas What Verses be these Let us heare them at least let us have the sense of them A strange exchange in course of things This present time unto us brings The Maide is come'd the Iron age is spent A new borne Babe Gods dearest Son From highest Heaven is sent Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo Jam redit virgo redeunt Saturnia regna Jam nova progenies caelo dimittitur alâ—â— Chara dei soboles And what benefit shall he bring to mankinde He shall save his people from their sins Hoc duce si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri Jrrita perpetuà solvent formidine terras And as it followes a little after The Serpent shall be kil'd and th' of poyson dead Our Ladies Rose from Syâ—ian land through all the World shall spread Occidet Serpens fallax herba veneni Occidet Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum What is this Serpent but that wily Serpent that deceived our first Parents What 's this Fallax herba veneni but sinne And what is this Assyrium amomum but the Balme of Gilead or to give it its English name our Ladies Rose or the Herbe of Jerusalem the Gospel of Christ begun to be Preached at Jerusalem a City in Assyria for Palaestina was then vulgarly accounted part of Assyria according to Christs direction and thence dispersed into every corner of the World See Constantines Oration Ad Caelum sanctorum fidelium cap. 20. in Eusebio These things are so plaine that a learned Rabbin amongst our Adversaries unto whom we appeale in this point Let our enemies be Judges Deut. 32. is not ashamed to confesse that Prophetae demonum non semper loquuntur ex demonum revelatione sed interdum ex inspiratione divinâ And another that God sometimes permitted amongst the Gentiles some Prophets to foretell future things And a third in his Commentary upon this Text that false Prophets have truly Prophesied The truth of this Proposition being confirmed unto us by such a cloud of witnesses I wonder what came in Bellarmines head to make Lumen Propheticum a mark of the true Church especially where he proposeth to speak of such notes by which it may most easily be distinguished from all false Religion of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans and such as are proper and againe such as though they make it not evidently true which is the true Church yet they make it evidently credible not probable onely for that 's the weaknesse of our Notes as he saith nay amongst those which admit the Scriptures and Histories and Writings of the ancient Fathers and all these we admit Faciunt etiam evidentiam veritatis Shall we count him a Master in Israel that speaks thus Doth that make it evidently appeare which is the true Church doth that difference true Religion from all false Religion of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans or is that proper Quarto modo to the Church which all Sectaries Apostates Hereticks Jewes Gentiles Devils may challenge But let us follow Bellarmine a little further and leave these slippery Snakes no think to creep out at I demand had the Gentiles no true Prophesies amongst them Imo multa falsa saith he but because they had many false had they therefore none true Speak plainly were there no true predictions of future things amongst the Pagans No forsooth Nisi forsaâ— fierent in testimoniuÌ„ nostrae fidei ut fuerunt vaticinia Sibyllarum Baalami Very well And if these were true how is lumen prophetitum proper to the true Church But we will not stand upon this advantage let us grant that there were no true Predictions amongst the Ethnicks save onely such as were for the confirmation of the Catholick faith and that all others were of such things as had naturall causes though unknowne to men known to Spirits by reason of their subtill nature and quick apprehension Verily seeing neither the reasons thereof were knowne nor the Spirit from which this knowledge proceeded could be discerned they might and may as truely be tearmed Prophesies as any of those which the Papists brag of and if they were not Prophesies indeed yet were they so in the opinion of men Saltem ipsorum opinione is a strong argument with Bellarmine to infringe the Notes which our Divines have set downe Let some of his side answer it Thales for seeing by Astronomicall Observation the abundance of Olives which would be the next yeare might by the Chians and Milesians which knew not the reason of it be counted a Prophet Columbus was for a lesse prediction little lesse respected by the barbarous Indians then Paul and Barnabas was by them of Lystra when they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Merourie This man being in great distresse in an Island the Inhabitants denying him all kinde of releife he understanding that shortly after there would