Man hath power to forgive sinnes upon earth Mar. 2.10 This Power being thus soly invested in GOD He might without wrong to any have reteined and kept to himselfe and without meanes of Word or Sacrament and without Ministers eyther Apostles or others have exercised immediately by himselfe from heaven But we should then have said of the remission of sinnes saith Saint Paul Who shall goe up to heaven for it and fetch it thence Rom. 10.6 For which cause saith he the righteousnesse of faith speaketh thus say not so in thy heart The word shall be neer thee in thy mouth and in thy heart and this is the word of faith which we preach Partly this that there should be no such difficulty to shake our faith as once to imagine to fetch CHRIST from Heaven for the remission of our sinnes Partly also because CHRIST to whom alone this Commission was originally granted having ordeined himselfe a body would worke by bodily things and having taken the nature of man upon him would honor the nature he had so taken For these causes that which was his and his alone he vouchsafed to impart and out of his commission to grant a commission and thereby to associate them to himselfe it is his owne word by the Prophet and to make them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Co-operatores workers togither with him as the Apostle speaketh to the work of salvation both of themselves and of others 2. Remiferitis GOD'S power derived to men and not to Angels From GOD then it is derived From GOD and to men To men and not to Angels And this I take to be a second prerogative of our nature That an Angell must give order to Cornelius to send to Ioppe for one Simeon to speak words to him by which he and his houshold should be saved but the Angel must not be the doer of it That not to Angels but to men is committed this Office or Embassage of reconciliation And that which is yet more To sinfuâ—l men To sinfull men for so is the truth and so themselves confesse it S. Peter· Goe from me LORD for I am a sinfull man S. Iames In many things we offend all putting himselfe in the number And lest we should think it to be but their modesty S. Iohn speaketh plainly If we say we have no sinne what then not we are proud and there is no humilitie in us but we are lyers and there is no truth in us And this is that which is wonderfull in this point that S. Paul who confesseth himselfe a sinner and a chiefe sinner 1. Tim. 1.15 Quorum primus ego The same concerning another sinner the incestuous Corinthian I forgive it him saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the person of CHRIST 2. Cor 2.10 To the Apostles Now if we aske to what men the Text is plaine They to whom CHRIST said this Remiseritis were the Apostles In the Apostles that we may come nearer yet we find three capacities as we may terme them 1. As Christians in generall 2. As Preachers Priests or Ministers more speciall 3. As those Twelve persons whom in strict propriety of speech we terme the Apostles Some things that CHRIST spake to them he spake to them as representing the whole Company of CHRISTIANS Mar. 13. vlt. as his vigilate Some things to them not as Christians but as Preachers or Priests as his Ite praedicate Evangelium Mat 28.18 Luc. 22.19 and his Hoc faâ—â—â—e which no man thinketh all Christians may doe And some things to themselves personallly as that he had appointed them Witnesses of his miracles and Resurrection Act. 1.8 which cannot be applied but to them and them in person It remaineth we enquire in which of these three Capacities CHRIST imparteth to them this Commission Noâ— as to Apostles properly That is this was no personall priviledge to be in them and to die with them that they should onely execute it for a time and none ever after them GOD forbid we should so thinke it For this power being more then needfull for the world as in the beginning it was said it was not to be either personall or for a time Then those persons dying and those times determining they in the ages following as we now in this that should light into this prison or captivitie of sinne how could they or we receive any benefit by it Of Nature it is sayd by the heathen Philosopher that it doth neither Abundare in superfluis nor deficere in necessarijs GOD forbid but we should ascribe as much to GOD at the least that neither He would ordeine a power superfluous or more then needed or els it being needfull would appropriate it unto one age and leave all other destitute of it and not rather as all Writers both new and old take it continue it successively to the world's end And as not proper to the Apostle's persons so neither common to all Christians in generall nor in the persons of all Christians conveighed to them Which thing the very circumstances of the text doe evict For he sent them first and after inspired them and after both these Ver. 21. Ver. 22. gave them this commission Now all Christians are not so sent nor are all Christians inspired with the grace or gift of the Spirit that they were heere Consequently it was not intended to the whole societie of Christians Yea I add that forasmuch as these two both these two must goe before it 1 Missio and 2 Inspiratio that though GOD inspire some Lay-men if I may have leave so to terme them with very speciall graces of knowledge to this end yet inasmuch as they have not the former of sending it agreeth not to them neither may they exercise it untill they be sent that is untill they have their calling thereunto It being then neither personall nor peculiar to them as Apostles To them 〈◊〉 Ministerâ— nor againe commmon to all as Christians it must needs be committed to them as Ministers Priests or Preachers and consequently to those that in that Office and Function doe succeed them to whom and by whom this Commission is still continued Neither are they that are ordeined or instituted to that calling ordeined or instituted by any other words or verse then this Yet not so that absolutely without them GOD cannot bestow it on whom or when him pleaseth or that he is bound to this meanes onely and cannot worke without it For Gratia Dei non alligatur medijs The grace of GOD is not bound but free and can worke without meanes either of Word or Sacrament and as without meanes so without Ministers how and when to him seemeth good But speaking of that which is proper and ordinarie in the course by him established this is an ecclesiasticall Act committed as the residue of the ministrie of reconciliation to ecclesiasticall persons And if at any time he vouchsafe it by others
them That â—uffered us not to be consumed but delivered us and that from that fire and 〈◊〉 universall utter sodeine unnaturall consuming by it the decree wherof 〈◊〉 certainely gone forth against us come so neere us and we not aware of it That suffered us not to be consumed but gave them to be câ—â—sumed in our steads and hath this day presented us all alive to give Him praise for it To Him for the multitude of His mercies for the paterna viscera miserationum suarum that never faile nor consume themselves nor suffer us to faile and be consumed To Him I say c. A SERMON Preached before the KING'S MAIESTIE AT WHITE-HALL on the V. of November A. D. MDCXIII PROVERB CHAP. VIII VER XV. Per me REGES regnant By me KINGS reigne THese words may well serve for a Sermon for they be a piece of a Sermon For all the Chapter is a Sermon preached by one standing in the top of the high places ver 2. The high places that was then their Church The top of them that was the Pulpit It is the common question Who Preaches Ever we must know that And though the whole booke be Salomon's and though he be a * Eccl. 1.1 Mat. 12.42 Preacher upon Record yet Major Salomone hîc a greater Preacher then Salomon is heer He was but wise it is Wisedome it selfe made this Sermon And we may be bold to preach what Wisedome preacheth A sermon ouâ— of such a Sermon cannot be amisse Specially this Wisedome the Essentiall Wisedome of GOD which upon the point will proove to be none other but CHRIST And so our Text fall out to be de verbis Domini that is de verbis Domini secundùm Salomonem for so there be no lesse than secundum Matthaeum or Ioannem Which though they were uttered by Him before He was in the flesh what of that they be no whit the lesse but full out as good Gospell as if they had beene recorded by any of the foure Evangelists yea and this we may adde further even Gospell before any Gospell of them all Thus much for the Author of the speech The Summe The speech it selfe seemes as if some question there were Per quem Reges Or some were about to bring the Writt of Quo Warranto to know how they clayme to be Kings how to hold their soveraigne Authority by whose graunt And let not this seeme strange It is no new thing to bring this Writt in like cases Exod. 2.14 Mat. 21.23 One was brought against Moses VVho made thee a Ruler Nay higher one against our Saviour himselfe By what authority doest thou these things and who gave thee that authority Against Moses Against Christ and why not then against Salomon and his fellow Kings And this same Per Me heer is an answer to all Who made you Moses a Ruler He whose Name is I am Exod. 3.14 Iohn 10.36 sent me Who gave CHRIST his authority He that sanctified Him and sent Him to be the Messias of the world And here now Kings by whom Per Me by Him too These words of his Charta Regia This their Charter Royall And He that gave it them will warrant it for good and beare them out against all the Perme's in the world This for the Nature of the speech A point necessary if ever at this time to be weighed well and looked into wherein this question is put up and so vexed that it cannot rest Wherein they have set up an Anti-Per and given him this sentence in his mouth Bellar contra Barcl Ego facio ut Rex tuus Rex ne sit I will make your King no King this Text Per Me notwithstanding One to sever Reges and Regnant that they shall reigne no longer than he sees cause to suffer them And is it not time then to make good their Tenures And that doe this Text and this Day The Text in word the day in deed cum effectu really The Text the words indeed as the words of wisedome are but few and the sentence short scarce eny in Scripture so short In our tongue but foure words and they but foure syllables But it fareth with sentences as with Coynes In Coynes they that in smallest compasse containe greatest value are best esteemed And in sentences those that in fewest words comprise most matter are most praysed And such is this Exceeding compendious that we must needs be without all excuse it being but foure monosyllables if we doe not remember it And withall of rich Contents for upon these foure syllables depend all Kings and Kingdomes of the Earth Of such force are they Of which foure the two latter Reges and Regnant be two as great matters as any he in the World One the Persons themselves as they be Kings The other the Act of their reigning or bearing rule over Nations These two latter depend on the two former Per Me which are but one in effect but He a great One. For it is heere positively set downe asserendo that these two latter are by this former By and through Him that sayes Per Me. By and through Him Kings first setled in their Reignes By and through Him ever since upholden in their Reignes By and through Him vouchsafed many miraculous preservations in their Reignes Thus far the Text. Luc. 1 7â— Then by the tender mercy of our God comes the Day from on high and giveth great light unto the Text This Day on which a very memorable memoriall of a famous Per Me. One in great Capitall letters Even of Per Me Reges and not of Per Me Reges alone but of Per Me Leges and that too followes here in the verse and of Per me Greges too All had gone up but for this Per Me. This Day this Per Me soundeth in your eares and this day this Per Me was sealed in your eyes and this question actually dâ—â—ided 〈◊〉 the Order in treating whereof our Parts must bee as our words The Division Looke how 〈◊〉 wordâ— so many parts foure of either 1 Of Me first the Cause 2 Then of Per 〈◊〉 3 After of Per me Reges the Persons 4 And last of Per Me regnant 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Me. It is a Generall Rule Per dicit causam I. The Cause Me. the Nature of this Praeposition Per is to note a Cause certaine And a certaine cause excludeth Chance First men Kings and Kingdomes have their Per they be not fortè fortunâ 1. Kings and Kingdomes have a Cause Psal. 75.6 Rom. 13.4 at hap-haâ—rd ex concursu atomorum They be no casualties The wind blowes no man to them â—aith the Psalme 57. And Non temerè saith the Apostle where Non temerè as it is not in vaine so is it also not at adventure Causal they are Casual they are not A Per there is a Cause of King's reigning What is that cause Per Me and Me is a Person And a person is Naturae rationalis individua
erre in their imaginations no lesse and that even against the same places First against Orabo spiritu 1. Cor. 14.15 in the same verse by finding fault with a sett Liturgie which they call stinted prayers and giving themselves to imagine prayers at the same instant whereby it is plaine they so occupie their minds with devising still what to say next their spirit is unfruictfull Mat. 23.14 no lesse then the other's understanding And both these 1 the understanding of the minde 2 and the affection of the spirit are there necessarily required And again that instead of Rosaries and a number of prayers they bring in the Pharise's imagination of long prayers that is a prayer as long as a whole Rosarie And this they take to be a great part of holynesse but indeed it is nothing but the former superstition drawen in backward In which who so markes them shall find they committ both faults that of the Pharisee in taedious length procuring many times nauseam spiritus a dangerous passion and the other of the Heathen in fond repetitions tautologies inconsequences and all the absurdities that may fall into such manner of speech Saint Cyprian faith It was ever in Christ's Church counted an absurd thing which some count their glorie ventilari preces inconditis vocibus The absurditie whereof would better appeare if seeing under prayers heere Psalmes and spirituall songs are conteined both being parts of invocation they would have no stinted Psalmes but conceive their songs too upon the present out of the spirit and so sing them For to say truth ther is no more reason for the one then for the other But GOD's Church hath ever had as a forme of doctrine both of faith in the Creed and of life in the Decalogue so of prayer too Which from Acts 13.2 the Fathers in all ages have called a Liturgie or service of GOD. These are of many imaginations some set up and magnified by some and by others adored and worshipped under the names of the 1 Apostle's Doctrine 2 Governement 3 Sacraments and 4 Prayers Saint Stephen telleth us out of the fift of Amos that if we doe thus make to our selves Tabernacles and figures to worship them our punishment shal be to be carryed away beyond Babylon Acts 7.43 And good reason for these idle phansies are not from Christ's Church from Sion but from Babylon they came and if we delight in them thither shall we be caâ—ryed And sâ—re we are in a good way thitherward for of Babel Saint Augustine faith Civitas illa confusionis indifferent habuit Philosophos interje diversa adversa sentientes In GOD's citie it was never so there was ever correction for Coyners 18. de Civit. Dei But in Babel the Citie of confusion every Philosopher might set up as now every Sect-master may broach any imagination that taketh him in the head without punishment For in Babel it is reckoned but an indifferent matter Sure the Prophets tell us that if Babylon's confusion goe thus before the captivitie of Babylon is not farr behinde From which Almightie GOD deliver us and make us carefull as to continue the Apostle's doctrine c So neither to engrave nor to bow downe and worship any of these imaginations Amen One of the Sermons upon the III. COMMANDEMENT PREACHED IN THE PARISH Church of S t. GILES Cripplegate Iun. XI AN. DOM. MDXCII IEREM CHAP. IV. VER II. Et jurabis vivit DOMINVS in veritate in judicio in justitia And thou shalt sweare the LORD liveth in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse OF this Commandement there are two maine Propositions 1 Thou shalt take the Name of GOD Els it should have beene thou shalt not take it at all 2. Thou shalt take it orderly and not in vaine Of the first thou shalt take it to those ends and uses to which GOD lendeth it Of which one is Thou shalt sweare by it which is limited by two waies First by what The Lord liveth Secondly how In truth iudgement iustice As in the former Commaundements so in this there be two Extremes 1. The one of the Anabaptists which hold all swearing unlawful contrarie to the first Thou shalt sweare 2. The other of the licentious Christian which holds at least in practise A man may sweare how and in what sort he lift By Creatures c Contrarie to The Lord liveth c Falsly rashly lewdly Contrarie to In truth iudgement iustice I. Thou shalt sweare That it is lawfull to sweare it appeareth by the Law Deut. 6.13 By the Prophets Ieremie heere Esai Chap. 45. Ver. 23. more earnestly I have sworne by My Selfe the word is gone out of My mouth and shall not returne That every knee shall bow to Me every tongue shall sweare by Me. David Psal. 63. ult Laudabuntur omnes qui iurant per Eum. By the practise of the Saints not only under Moses but under the Law of Nature Abraham sweareth Gen. 21.24 Isaac sweareth Gen 26.31 Iacob sweareth Gen. 31.33 Now our Saviour Christ came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets in those things wherin they agree with the Law of Nature Therefore not to take away an oath Whereas they object first That it standeth not with Christian profession but was tolerated as an unperfect thing under the Law We answere It cannot be reckoned an imperfection to sweare For that not onely Abraham the patterne of humane perfection both sware himselfe Gen. 21.24 and put his servant to an oath Gen. 24.3 But even the Angels neerer then we to perfection sware both under the Law Dan. 12.7 and under the Gospell Apoc. 10.6 And not onely they but even God himselfe in whom are all perfections Gen. 22.16 and Psal. 110.4 So that it cannot be imagined an imperfection Besides the holy Apostles the most perfect Christians have in urgent causes done the like 2. Corinth 1.23 I call God for a record against mine owne soule and 1. Cor. 15.31 By our reioicing which I have in Christ Iesus our Lord which place cannot be avoided having in the Greeke the word Nη never used but in an oath onely Whereas secondly they object our Saviour's saying I say unto you sweare not at all The Auncient Writers answere that our Saviour Christ in the very same place not reproving the other part Reddes autem Domino iuramenta tua meant not to take all oathes away But must be understood according to the Pharisee's erroneous glosse of this Commandement which he entended to overthrow by opposing to dictum est antiquis Ego autem dico Which was of two sorts 1. For first it seemeth they understood it of periurie alone So that if a man forsware not himselfe he might sweare any oath And so Christ reproveth not onely false but all rash and unadvised swearing 2. Secondly it seemeth they had this conceipt So a man sware not by the great Name of God all was well He might sweare by any creaâ—ure at his pleasure and
Plague heere as appeareth by the XXVIII Verse 1 Fornication the Verse next before came for the sinne of Peor that is for fornication as you may read And not every Fornication but fornication past shame as was that Zamri there with a daughter of Moab Num. 25.1 And indeed if we marke it well it fitts well For that kinde of sinne fornication doth end in Vlcers and sores and those as infectious as the Plague it selfe A proper punishment such sore for such evill Secondly 2 Pride David's plague of seventy thousand which we mention in our Prayer that came for Pride plainly 1. Chro. 21.14 His heart was lifted up to number the People And that seemes somewhat kindly too and to agree with this disease That pride which swells it selfe should end in a tumor or swelling as for the most part this disease doth Thirdly 3 Baptisme Esai 37.36 Zenacherib's plague it is plaine came from Rabshakeh's blasphemie Blasphemie hable to infect the aire it was so foule In which regard Aaron's act might be justified in putting odours into his Censer Numb 16· 46. to purifie the Aire from such corruption And last the Apostle setts downe the Cause of the plague at Corinth 4 Neglect of the Sacrament 1. Cor. 11.30 For this Cause saith he that is for neglect of the Sacrament Either in not caring to come to it or in comming to it we care not how For this cause is there a mortalitie among you and many are sicke and many are weake and many are fallen asleepe And this is no new thing Exo. 4.24 Moses himselfe his neglect of the Sacrament made him be striken of GOD that it was like to have cost him his life And he saith plainly to Pharao If they neglected their sacrifice GOD would fall upon them with the Pestilence Exo. 5 3. which appeaâ—eth by this that the Sacrament of the passeover and the bloud of it was the meanes to save them from the plague of the destroying Angel in Egypt A little now of the Phrase The phrase for sinne Theiâ— inventions that their sinnes are heere called by the name of their inventions And so sure the yare as no waies taught us by GOD but of our owne imagining or finding out For indeed our inventions are the cause of all sins And if we look wel into it we shal find our inventions are so By GOD'S injunction we should all live his injunction is In matters of Râ—ligion Deut. 12.8 You shall not do every man what seems good in his own eyes or finds out in his own braines but whatsoever I commaund you that only shall you do But we setting light by that charge of his out of the old disease of our Father Adam Eritis sicut Dij scientes bonum malum thinke it a goodly matter to be wittie and to find out things our selves to make to our selves to be Authors and inventoâ—s of somewhat that so we may seem to be as wise as GOD if not wisâ—r and to know what is for our turnes as well as he if not better It was Saul's fault GOD bad destroy Amalâ—k all and he would invent a better way to save some forsooth for sacrifice which GOD could not thinke oâ— And it was Saint Peter's fault when he perswaded CHRIST from His passion 〈…〉 and found out a better way as he thought then Christ could devise This is the proud invention which will not be kept in but makes men even not to forbeare in things perteining to God's worship but there to be still devising new tricks opinions and fashions fresh and newly taken up which their Fathers never knew of And this is that which makes men 〈…〉 17. that have itching eares to heape to themselves Teachers according to their owne lusts 〈…〉 3. which may fill their heads full with new inventions 〈…〉 And this is that that even out of Religion in the common life spoiles all The wanton invention in finding out new meats in diet in inventing new fashions in apparel which men so dote on as the Psalme saith at the 39 th Verse as they even goe a whoring with them with their owne inventions and care not what they spend on them And know no end of them but as fast as they are weary of one a new invention is found out which whatsoever it cost how much soever it take from our Almes or good deeds must be had till all come to nought That the Psalmist hath chosen a very fit word that for our inventions the plague breakes in among us for them as for the primarie or first moving cause of all Indeed for them as much and more then for any thing els We see them 1 First that a Cause there is 2 That that cause is not only naturall but that God Himselfe hath a hand in it 3 God as being provoked to anger 4 To anger for our sinnes in generall and for what sinns in speciall For our sinns proceeding from nothing but our inventions Which cause if it continue and yet we turne not to the Lord as Amos the 4. then will not his anger be turned away but his hand wil be stretched out still as Esai the 9. And no way to avoyd the one but by appeasing the other 〈…〉 Cure For the cure now One contrarie is ever cured by another If then it be anger which is the cause in God anger would be appeased If it be Inventions which is the cause in us of the anger of God they would be punished and removed That so the Cause being taken away the effect may cease Take away our inventions Gods anger will cease Take away God's anger the plague will cease Two Readings we said ther were 1 Phinees prayed or 2 Phinees executed judgement Palal the Hebrew word will beare both And both are good And so we will take them both in 〈…〉 Prayer is good against the plague as appeareth Not onely in this plague in the Text 〈…〉 25.6 〈◊〉 24.17 wherein all the Congregation â— were weeping and praying before the dore of the Tabernacle But in King b David's plague also where we see what his prayer was and the very words of it And in c Esai 38.3 Ezekia's plague who turned his face to the wall and prayâ—d unto GOD and his prayer is set downe GOD heard his prayer and healed him And for a generall rule d 1. King 8.37.38.39 If there be in the Land any pestilent disease Whatsoever plague whatsoever sicknesse it be the prayer and supplication in the Temple made by the people every man knowing the plague of his own heart God in heaven will heare it and remove his hand from afflicting them any further And it standeth with good reason For as the Aire is infected with noisome sents or smellâ— so the infection is removed by sweet odours or incense which Aaron did in the Plague put sweet odours in his Censer
given Desire of knowledge our attainder He in whom all the treasures of knowledge our restoring Flesh would have been the word as wise as the word Ioh. â— 4 the cause of our ruine meet then the word become flesh that so our ruine repaired There is a touch given in the name COVNSELLOR to note out unto us which Person as well as the Sonne One more if these ioyned why is not the Sonne first and then the Childe but the Childe is first and then the Sonne The Sonne is farr the worthier and therefore to have the place Chap. 7.14 And thus too it was in his other name Immanuel CHAP. VII It is not Elimanu not Deus nobiscum but Nobiscum Deuâ— We in His name stand before God It is so Luk. 3.31 â—8 in the Gospell the Sonne of Dauid first the Sonne of God after It is but this still zelus Domini ExercituuÌ„ fecit hoc Versâ— 7. but to shew His zeale how deare He holdeth us that He preferreth and setteth us before himselfe and in His verie name giue us the precedence The Person briefely The Child and the Sonne these two make but one Person cleerely for both these have but one name His name shall be called and both these have but one payre of shoulders Vpon His shoulders Therefore though two natures yet but one Person in both A meet person to make a Mediator of God and Man as symbolizing with either God and Man A meet person if there be division betweene them as there was and great thoughts of heart for it to make an Vnion Ex vtroque vnum seeing He was vnum ex vtroque Ephes. 2.14 Not man onely there lacked the sholder of power Not God onely there lacked the sholder of Iustice But both together And so have ye the two Supporters of all 1 Iustice and 2 Power A meet person to cease Hostilitie as having taken pledges of both heaven earth the chiefe nature in heaven and the chiefe on earth To set forward commerce betweene heaven and earth Gen. 23.12 by Iacobs Laddâ—r one end touching earth the other reaching to heaven To incorporate either to other Himselfe by His birth being become Sonne of man by our New-birth giuing us a capacitie to become the sonnes of God Ioh. 1.12 3. His Office His Office The Kingdome on His shoulders For He saw when the Child was borne it should so poorely be borne as lest we should conceive of Him too meanely He tells us He commeth cam Principatu with a Principalitie is borne a Prince and beautifieth Him whith such names as make amends for the manger That He is not only Puer a Child and Filius a Sonne but Princeps a Prince Truth is other Offices we finde besides But this you shall observe that the Prophets speaâ—ing of Christ in good congruitie ever apply themselves to the state of them they speake to and use that Office and Name which best agreeth to the matter in hand Heer that which was sought by Ahaz was protection that we know is for a King As a King therefore he speaketh of Him Elswhere he is brought forth by David as a Priest and againe elswhere by Moses as a Prophet If it be matter of sinne for which sacrifice to be offered he is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek If the Will of God Psal. 110.4 if His great counseile to be reveiled A Prophet will the Lord raise c. Heare Him Deut 18 1â— But heere is matter of delivery only in hand heer therfore he represented Him Cum Principatu with a Principalitie A Principalitie not of this world Herod need not feare it nor envy it If it had His officers as they would have seen Him better defended at His Death so would they have seen him better lodged at His Birth then in a stable with beasts for if the Inne were full Luk. 2.7 the stable we may be sure was not empty Of what world then of that He is Father Futuri saeculi Of that He is Father He is a Prince of the government that guideth us thither Yet a Prince He is and so He is styled borne and given to establish a gouernment That none imagine they shall live like libertines under Him every man beleeve and live as he list It is Christ not Belial that is borne to day He bringeth a government with Him they that be His must live in subiection under a government els neither in Child nor Sonne in Birth nor Gift have they any interest And this government is by name a Principalitie Wherin neither the popular confusion of many nor the factious ambition of a few beare all the sway but where one is Soveraigne Such is the government of heaven Such is Christs government With a Principalitie or Government and that vpon His shoulders Somewhat a strange situation It is wisedome that governes That is in the head there is the Crown worn What have the shoulders to do with it Certainly somewhat by thiâ— Description The Shoulder as we know is the bearing member and unlesse it be for heavy â—hings we use it not Ordinary things we carry in our hands or lift at the armes end It must be very heavie if we must put shoulders and all to it Belike Governments have their weight be heavie And so they be they need not only a good head but good shoulders that susteine them But that not so much while they be in good tune and temper then they need no great carriage but when they grow un-weldy be it weaknesse or waywardnesse of the governed in that case they need And in that case there is no Governor but at one time or other he beares his government vpon his shoulders It is a morall they give of Aarons appareile He carved the 12. Tribes in his brestplate next his heart to shew Exod. 28.29 Exod. 28.12 c. that in care he was to beare them But he had them also engraven in two Onyx stones and those set upon his very shoulders to shew he must otherwhile beare them in patience too And it is not Aarons case alone it was so with Moses too He bare his government as a Nurse doth her child as he saith Num. XI that is full tenderly But Num. 11.12 when they fell a murmuring as they did often he bare them upon his shoulders in a great patience and long suffering Yea he complayned Non possum portare I am not hable to beare all this people c. It were sure to be wished that they that are in place might never be put to it Num. 11 1â— Beare their people only in their armes by love and in their breasts by care Yet if need be they must follow Christs example and patience heer and even that way beare them not only beare with them but even beare them also Yet is not this Christs bearing though this He did too There is yet a further
That He sent when He sent His Sonne a fuller then whom He could not send nor Time could not receive Therefore with the sending Him when that was Time was at the top that was the Quando venit then it was plenitudo temporis indeed And well might that time be called the fullnesse of time For when He was sent into the world in whom the fullnesse of the God-head dwelt bodily Col. 2.9 Ioh 3.34 Ioh. 1.14 Ioh. 1.16 In whom the Spirit was not by measure In whom was the fullnesse of grace and truth Of whose fullnesse we all receive When He was sent that was thus full then was time at the full And well also might it be called the fullnesse of time in another regard For till then all was but in promise in shadowes and figures and prophecies only which fill not God knowes But when the Performance of those promises the body of those shadowes the substance of those figures the fulfilling or filling full of all those prophecies came then came the fulnesse of time truly so called Till then it came not then it came And well might it be called the fullnesse of time in a third respect For then the Heire that is the World was come to his full age and so that the fittest time for Him to be sent For to that compareth the Apostle their estate then that the former times under Moses and the Prophets were as the Nonage of the world sub Paedagogo in the III. Chapter Ver. XXIIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at their A. B. C. or rudiments as in the very last words before these Their estate then as of Children in their minority little differing from servants For all this while nondum venit the fullnesse of time was not yet come But a time ther was as for man so for mankind to come to his full yeeres That time came with Christs comming and Christs comming with it and never till then was the fulnesse of time but then it was And let this be enough for this point more there is not in the text But if any shall further aske why then at that age of the world the world was at his full age iust then and neither sooner nor later I know many heads have been full of devises to satisfie mens curiosity in that point But I hold it safest to rest with the Apostle in the second verse on GODS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let that content us Then was the time for that was Tempus praefinitum à Patre the time appointed of the Father For even among men though the Father being dead the Law setteth a time for the Sonne to come to his heritage yet the Father living no time can be prefixed but only when it liketh Him to appoynt and the Father heer liveth Acts 1.7 and therefore let his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stay us The times and seasons He hath put in His owne power it is not for us to know them This is for us to know that with His appoyntment we must come to a full point So doth the Apostle and so let us and not busie our selves much with it time is but the measure or caske that where-with it is filled doth more concerne us To that therefore let us come 2. GOD sent The degrees are seven as I sayd To take them as they rise Misit Deus God sent That standeth first and at it let our first stay be That will fall out to make the first degree For even this that GOD sent at all Ipsum mittere Dei this very sending it selfe is a degree It is so and so we would reckon of it if we knew the Sender and who He is the Maiestie of His presence how great it is and how glorious how farr surpassing all we can see on earth For Him for such an one as He to condescend but to send is sure a degree For enough it had beene and more then enough for Him to be sent to and not to send Himselfe To have sit still and been content that we might send to Him and have our message and petition admitted and not He send to us That had beene as much as we could looke for and well if we might have beene vouchsafed but that But it was He that sent not we to Him first nay not we to Him at all but He to us He to us And what were we that He to us Vs as else-where He termeth us meere Aliens from Him Ephes. 2.12 and His Houshold Not that only but Vs in case of men whom the Law had passed upon So is our estate described in the end of the Text. For Him to send to Vs so great as He to such as we to thinke vs tanti so much worth as to make any mission or motion or to disease any about vs This may well be the first Be it then so that to us or for us or concerning us GOD would trouble Himselfe to make any sending A fullnesse there is in this Full He was a fullnesse there was in Him even the fullnesse of compassion in His bowels over our estate els such a Sender would never once have sent 2. His Sonne GOD sent Sent and sent His SONNE That I make no question will beare a second Others He might have sent and whosoever it had beene He had sent it might well have served our turnes If sent by the hand of any His Servants any Patriarch Prophet any ordinary messenger it had beene enough So hitherto had beene His Sending So and no otherwise ever till now Then if to send by any may seeme sufficient to send His SONNE must needs seeme full For ever the more excellent the Person sent the more honourable the sending the greater He the fuller it Now greater there is not then His SONNE His first His only begotten SONNE Col. 2.9 in whom the fullnesse of the God-head dwelt In sending Him He sent the greatest the best the fullest thing He had To heape the measure up yet more with the cause of His sending in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was voluntarie He sent Him not for need but for meere love to us and nothing els There was no absolute necessitie that He should have sent Him He might have done what He intended by the meanes and ministery of some besides GOD could have enabled a Creature a Creature enabled by GOD and the power of His might could soone have trod downe Sathan under our feet But if it had beene any other He had sent His love and regard to us had not shewed so full It had beene Ostendit DEVS charitatem but not Ecce quantam charitatem ostendit DEVS 1. Ioh. 3.1 Whomsoever He had sent besides His love had not been full at least not so full as it should have been if He had sent His SONNE That therefore it might be full and so appeare to us for full Misit Deus Filium suum Enough it was in compassion
indeed all our Religion is rather Vidimus a Contemplation then Venimus a Motion or stirring to doe ought But when we do it we must be allowed leisure Ever Veniemus never Venimus Ever comming never come We love to make no very great haste To other things perhapps Not to Adorare the Place of the worship of GOD. Why should we CHRIST is no wild catt What talke you of twelve dayes And it be fortie dayes hence ye shall be sure to finde His Mother and Him She cannot be churched till then What needes such haste The truth is we conceipt Him and His Birth but slenderly and our haste is even thereafter But if we be at that point we must be out of this Venimus they like enough to leave us behind Bâ—st get us a new Christ-masse in September we are not like to comâ— to CHRIST at this Feast Enough for venimus 4. Their Enquiry Vbi est But what is Venimus without Invenimus And when they came they hit not on Him at first No more must we thinke as soone as ever we be come to finde Him strâ—ight They are faigne to come to their Vbi est We must now looke backe to that For though it stand before in the Verse here is the right place of it They saw before they came and came before they asked Asked before they found and found before they worshipped Betweene Venimus their comming and Adorare their worshipping there is the true place of Dicentes Vbi est Where first we note a double use of their Dicentes these Wise men had 1 As to manifest what they knew Natus est that He is borne so to confesse and aske what they knew not the Place Where We to have the like 2 Secondly set downe this That to finde where He is we must learne of these to aske Where He is Which we full little set our selves to do If we stumble on Him so it is But for any asking we trouble not our selves but sit still as we say and let Nature Worke And so let Grace too and so for us it shall I wote well it is said in a place of Esai He was found à non quaerentibus of some that sought Him not Esa 65.1 never asked Vbi est But it is no good holding by that place It was their good hap that so did But trust not to it it is not every bodies case that It is better advise you shall read in the Psalme Haec est generatio quaerentium Psal. 20.6 There is a Generation of them that seeke Him Of which these were And of that Generation let us be Regularly there is no Promise of Invenietis but to quaerite of Finding but to such as seek It is not safe to presume to find Him otherwise I thought there had been small use now of vbi est Yet there is Except we hold the ubiquitie That CHRIST is ubi non any where But He is not so CHRIST hath His ubi His proper Place where He is to be found And if you misse of that you misse of Him And well may we misse saith CHRIST Himselfe there are so many will take upon them to tell us Where And tells us of so many vbis Ecce hîc Mat. 24.23 Look you Heer He is Ecce illîc Nay then there In deserto in the desert Nay In penetralibus in such a privie Conventicle you shall- be sure of Him And yet He saith He Himselfe in none of them all There is then yet place for ubi est I speake not of His Naturall body but of His Mysticall That is CHRIST too How shall we then do Where shall we get this Where resolved Where these did They said it to many and oft but gat no answere till they had got togither a Convocation of Scribes and they resolved them of CHRIST's ubi For they in the East were nothing so wise or well seen as we in in the West are now growen We need call no Scribes togither and get them tell us Where Every Artisan hath a whole Synode of Scribes in his braine and can tell Where CHRIST is better then any learned man of them all Yet these were Wise men Best learne where they did And how did the Scribes resolve it them Out of Mica As before to the starr they joyne Balaam's Prophecie So now againe to His Orietur that such a one shall be borne they had putt Mica's et tu Bethlehem the Place of His Birth Still helping and giing light as it were to the Light of Heaven by a more cleer light the Light of the Sanctuarie Thus then to doe And to doe it our selves and not seeke CHRIST per alium Set others about it as Herod did these and sit still our selves For so we may hap never find Him no more then He did And now we have found Where what then It is neither in seeking nor finding 5. Their End Adorare Eum. Venimus nor Invenimus the End of all the Cause of all is in the last words Adorare Eum to Worshipp Him That is all in all And without it all our seeing comming seeking and finding is to no purpose The Scribes they could tell and did tell Where He was but were never the neerer for it For they worshipped Him not For this End to seeke Him This is acknowledged Herod in effect said as much He would know where He were faigne and if they will bring him word where he will come too and worshipp Him Ver. 1â— that he will None of that worshipp If he find Him his Worshipping will prove Worrying As did appeare by a sort of seely poore Lambes that he worryed when he could not have his will on CHRIST Thus he at His Birth And at His death the other Herod He sought Him too but it was that he and his Soldiers might make them-selves sport with Him Such seeking there is otherwhile Luc. 23.11 And such worshipping As they in the Iudgment Hall worshipped Him with Ave Rex and then gave Him a bobb blind-fold The Worlds worship of Him for the most part Ioh. 19.3 But we may be bold to say Herod was a foxe These meane as they say Luc. 13.32 To worshipp Him they come and worship Him they will Will they so Be they well advised what they promise before they know whither they shall find Him in a worshippfull taking or no For full little know they Where and and in what case they shall find Him What if in a stable layd there in a manger and the rest suitable to it in as poor and pitifull a plight as ever was any More like to be abhorred then adored of such Persons Will they be as good as their word trow Will they not step back at the sight repent themselves of their iourney and wish themselves at home againe But so find Him and so finding Him worshipp Him for all that If they will verily then Great is their Faith This the
there a law is preached CHRIST began we must follow and say every one of us as He saith Praedicabo Legem Nay there is another point yet more strange These very words heere Filius meus tu c. are as good Gospell as any is in the New Testament yet are heere as we see delivered by him vnder the terme of a Law And we may not change His word we may not learne CHRIST how to vse His termes The words are plaine there is no avoiding them a law He calls it and a law it is First then to take notice of both these 1. That CHRIST will preach a law and that they that are not for the law are not for CHRIST It was their quarrell above at the third verse they would none of CHRIST for this very cause that Christ comes preaching the law and they would live lawlesse they would endure no yoke they were the Sonnes of Belial Belial that is no yoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what agreement hath Christ with Belial 2. Co. 6.15 And then that these words Filius meus tu are a law and so as a law by Christ preached So as in the very Gospell it selfe all is not Gospell some law among it The very Gospell hath her law A law Evangelicall there is which Christ preached and as he did we to doe the like Whereof more is to be said by and by In the meane time it is not without danger to let any such conceit take head as though Christian Religion had no law-points in it consisted onely of pure narratives beleeve them and all is well Had but certaine Theses to be held dogmaticall points matters of opinion â—nd true it is such points there be but they be not all There is a law besides and it hath praecepts and they to be preached learned and as a law to be obeyed of all Looke but into the Grand Commission by which we all preach which Christ gave at his going out of the word Go Mat. 28.19 saith He preach the Gospell to all nations teaching â—hem What to observe the things that I have commanded you Lo heere is commanding and heere is observing So the Gospell consists not onely of certaine Articles to be beleeved But of certaine Commandements also and they to be observed And what is that but Praedicabo legem Now I know not how but we are fallen cleane from the terme Law nay we are even fallen out with it Nothing but Gospell now The name of Law we looke strangely at we shun it in our common talke To this it is come while men seeke to live as they list Preach them Gospell as much as you will but heare ye no Praedicabo legem no law to be preached to hold or keepe them in And we have gospelled it so long that the Christian Law is cleane gone with us we have lost it if Praedicabo Legem heer get it us not againe But got it must be for as CHRIST preacheth so must we and Law it is that CHRIST preacheth I shall tell you what is come by the drowning of the terme Law Religion is even come to be counted res precaria No law no no but a matter of faire entreaty gentle perswasion neither jura nor leges but onely Consulta Patrum good fatherly counsell and nothing els Consilia Evangelica were a while laid aside now there be none els All are Evangelicall counsells now The reverend regard the legall vigor and power the paenalties of it are not set by The rules no reckoning made of them as of Law-writs none but onely as of Phisique bills if you like them you may vse them if not lay them by And this comes of drowning the terme Law And all for lack of Praedicabo Legem I speake it to this end to have the one terme retained as well as the other to have neither terme abolished but with equall regard both kept on foot They are not so well advised that seeke to suppresse either name If the name once be lost the thing it selfe will not long stay but goe after it and be lost too They that take them to the one terme onely are confuted once a moneth For every moneth every first day of every moneth this verse failes not but is read in our eares And heer a law it is And so was the Christian Religion called in the very best times of it Christiana lex the Christian law and the Bishops Christianae legis Episcopi the Bishops of the Christian law And all the ancient Fathers liked the terme well and tooke it upon them To conclude Gospell it how we will if the Gospell hath not the legalia of it acknowledged allowed and preserved to it if once it lose the force and vigor of a law it is a Signe it declines Heb. 8.13.7.18 it growes weake and vnprofitable and that is a signe it will not long last We must goe look our salvation by some other way then by Filius meus tu if Filius meus tu I say not be not preached but be not so preached as CHRIST preached it and CHRIST preach't it as a Law And so much for Legem 1. Praedicabo Legem Now of this law three things are heer said First Legem turnes back upon Praedicabo And this priviledge it hath that it is materia praedicabilis a law which may nay a law which is to be preached And that Lawes vse not to be Not to be preached To be read upon at times privately but to be preached not any law but this But this is and it serves for a specificall difference to sever it from other lawes and make it a kind by it selfe Even this that it is to be preached To be preached and that even to Kings themselves that make lawes to Iudges themselves that are presumed to be best seene in the law yet they to learne they to be learned in this law Erudimini is the word qui judicatis terram in the X. verse after 2. De quâ dixit Dominus And the reason is for this is a law de quâ Dixit Deus And so is none els And that is a second difference There is a law de quâ dixit homo quam sanxerunt homines which men among themselves make for themselves as by-lawâ—â— are made This is of a higher nature This GOD himselfe made is a Law of His owne making De quâ dixit or rather edixit for so is Amar which GOD enacted first and then gave commandement it should be preached And to whom Dixit ad me Who is that CHRIST First and before all others to be preached by his Sonne His preaching He thought it worth and gave it Him in charge and accordingly wo see He performed it and professed Praedicabo that He will preach it But the third is a reason why it could not be otherwise why it could not 3. Dixit or edixit but be preached Because as I told you out of the
in this this needfull time and to keepe Him sure if it may be For if He keepe with the Host and take their parts Rebelles tui erunt quasi nihil saith Esay Esay 1.11 Esay 7.4 and these smoking tayles of firebrands shall quickly be quenched But if GOD either goe not with them or retire from them If there were among them but naked or wounded men what speake I of men If but froggs or flies they shall be sufficient to trouble them Now then we are at the point For if we will have hold of GOD make Him sure be certeine of Him we must breake with sinne needs Sinne and Satan are His enimies and no fellowship nor communion no concord no agreement no part no portion between them If we will draw Him into league 2. Cor. 6.15 we must professe our selves enimies unto His enimies that He may do the like to ours At one and the same time enter as an outward warr with wicked rebells so an inward hostilitie with our wicked rebellious lusts For that if we keepe our selves from the one He will keepe us from the other and these being suppressed those shall not be hable to stand Thus doing Iud. 7.20 the sword of the LORD shal be with the sword of 〈◊〉 GOâ— shal be with us â—â—iel and we shall prevaile Proâ— â—0 1 〈…〉 For where Iâ—iel is 〈◊〉 will not be away But if we will needs hold on our leâ—â—â—e with hell and continue our wonted entercourse with wickednes still and go forth â—â—to it when it beckens or calls and be so farr from keeping from it that we keepe it as the apple of our eye and cherish it between our breasts if we reteine the marke of it in our very fore-heads and the price of it in the skirts of our garment for not keeping from it He will keepe from us and with-draw His helpe from us and put us cleane out of His protection Therfore without keeping from sinne there is no keeping GOD out of whose keeping there is no safety 3. The Contents of the Instruction to keepe from sinne This advise being so full of behoofe so agreeable to reason and religion both so everie way for their and for our good it remaineth we sett our selves to thinke of it and keepe it * 1. King 8.38 Every one returning to his owne heart to know there as Salomon saith his owne plague even the sinnes wherewith he hath grieved GOD and to make a covenaunt with Him selfe from henceforth more carefully to stand upon his guard and to goe forth to sinne or entertayne it as a friend but to repute it as an enimie and to keepe him from it First for the terme of keeping When thou goest forth against thy enimie goe forth against sinne We should indeed goe forth against sinne and practise those militar impressions that are done in camp against the enimie Give it the assault annoy it pursue it never leave it till we have driven it away These we should do against it But the Scripture offereth more grace and bidds us if we list not goe forth against it only not to goe forth it but keepe our selves that is stand upon our defense to keep good watch Rom. 6.12 that it surprise us not that it get not dominion over us doe but this against sinne and it shall suffice But this must extend to all wickednesse Wherein yet we do humanum dicere propter infirmitatem nostram Rom. 6.19 speake after the manner of men because of our infirmitie retching this All no further then humane infirmite then the failty of our nature will beare then this corruptible flesh wherewith we are compassed and this corrupt world in the middst whereof we live will suffer and give us leave In the bodie we put a difference betweene the soyle which by insensible evacuations goeth from our bodies keepe we our selves never so carefully and that which is drawne forth by chafing or sweat or otherwise gotten by touching such things wherewith we may be defiled That cannot be refraind This falleth within restraint And even so there is a soyle of sinne that of it selfe vaporeth from our nature let the best doe his best I say not we should keepe our selves from this But from provoking it by suffering our minds to wander in it by not keeping our eares from such company and our eyes from such occasions Ezek. 14.3 as will procure it as the Prophet speaketh by putting the stumbling block of iniquitie before our faces From that by the helpe of GOD we may keepe our selves well enough From sinne 's lighting upon our thoughts it is impossible it cannot be but from making there a nest or hatching ought that we are willed to looke to and that by God's grace we may And the word that Moses useth heer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not without a Dixit at least incorde not without a saying within iâ— This or that I will do It must be dictum or condictum sayd to and sayd yea to or els it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The heart not resolving or saying content but keeping it selfe from going forth to any act though wickednesse be not kept from us because of the temptation yet we are kept from it because of the repulse and with that will Moses be content at our hands as our estate now is But with these proviso'es We say generally They that goe forth keepe from all from all such both deeds and words as iustly may be censured to be wickedly eyther spoken or done Words I say as well as deeds For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beares both And indeed if in good words as in prayers there be force to help I make no question but in wicked words as blasphemies irreligious sayings lâ—cis fâ—lmine dignis there is force also to doe mischiefe Therefore keepe from all All those especially as very reason will lead us which have been the ruine of armies in former times a view whereof we may take when we will out of Liber 〈…〉 of GOD 's battâ—iles Wicked Words first Presumptuous termes of trust in our owne strength I will goe I will pursue and overtake I will divide the spoyle Pharaâ—'s words the cause of his perishing and all his host Exo. 15. To keepe them from that Exo. 15.9 Rabsakeh's black mouthed blasphemie Let not Hezekiah cause you to trust in GOD over much the eminent cause of the overthrow of the host of Asshur Esai 36. To keepe them from that Esa. 36.15 And if from words from wicked works much rather Achan's sinne that is Sacrilege Anathemâ— in medio tui non poteris stare coram hostibus tuis GOD 's owne words to Iosua The cause of the armies miscarrying before Ai. To keepe them Iosu. 7.11 12. from that wickednesse Such shamefull abuses as was that at Gibea the expressed cause of the destruction of a whole Tribe To keepe them from that Iud. 1â— Prophaning
regard so even of judgement and all as neither vernall nor by berâ—all repentance we bring forth Nay not the everlasting iudgement of the LORD do we regard to which sooner or later we must all come and there receive the sentence under execution whereof we shall lye eternally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Chrysostome I embrace both senses Both be good and profitable to men Take whither you will or both if you will you shall not take amisse and if both you shal be sure to take right Regard iudgement when either it awaketh from within or when it threateneth from without And when any of these summons us before the great Iudge know for a certeinty that the time of returning is come the Angell is descended the water is mooved let us have grace to goe in Even then Ioh. 5.3 adaquae motum We know not how long it will be or whither ever it will be stirred againe And thus we be come to an anchor at this last word iudgement A word which if with iudgement we would but pause on and rowle it a while up and downe our thoughts duely weighing it and the force of it it would bring us about and cause this whole scripture to be fulfilled make us fly as fast backe as any foule of them all For indeed the not judiciall apprehending of this one word the shâ—llow conceiving sleight regard of it is the cause we foreslow the time The foreslowing the time the cause we come not to quid feci the not comming to that the cause why we runne on still tanquam equus why we rise not returne not yeeld not but stand out in perpetuall rebellion Did we heare this word heare it and regard it aright and scire terrorem hunc know the terror of it that GOD hath fearefull iudgments in store even heer to meet with us Or howsoever heer we scape He hath there a perpetuall iudgement behind and that so streight as the righteous shall scarce escape it so heavie as the mightiest shall not endure it Did we regard this one Point 1. Pet. 4 1â— we would find a with-drawing time for this so serious a worke we would say and say that GOD should heare it what have I done We would rise returne repent and so His whole complaint should ceasse O Iudgement of the very mention of this word Iudgement if a perfect view were taken of it that only were enough But without iudgement or regard we heare it and therefore the complaint continueth still To conclude we sayd at the beginning GOD therefore sheweth Himselfe in passion that He might moove us and in that passion whereto He would moove us Thus complayneth GOD that we might thus inferr and say And doth GOD thus complaine Iob. 22.3 Why it toucheth not GOD it toucheth me He needeth not our repentance and our vnrighteousnesse hurteth Him not It is I that shall winne or lose by it even the best thing I have to lose my soule He is in no danger it is I the hazard of whose eternall weale or woe lyeth vpon it And yet doth GOD shew Himselfe sorrie for me and shall not I be sorrie for my selfe Doth GOD thus complaine of my sinne and shall not I be moued to do as much for mine owne sinne From this meditation to proceed to propound the same questions which GOD here doth and to aske them of our selves What then shall I continually fall and neuer rise turne away and not once turne againe Shall my rebellions be perpetuall Do I this any where els can I shew any reason why not to do it here Shall these Swallowes flie over me and put me in mind of my returne and shall not I heed them Shall GOD still in vaine hearken for quid feci and shall I never speake that He so faine would heare Shall I never once seriously set before me the Iudgements of the Lord Aske these aske them and answer them and upon them come to a resolution saying I will rise and returne and submit my selfe and from my heart say quid feci I will consider volatilia coeli I will not see them flye but I will thinke of the season of my returning but above all I will not be without regard of GOD's iudgement then which nothing in this world is more to be regarded Because the time the time is the maine matter and ever more adoe about it then the thing it selfe to have speciall care of that knowing that it was not but upon great cause Luk. 19.41 42. that our SAVIOVR complaining of this point cried ô if thou hadst but knowen that this day had beene the day of thy visitation and so was faine to breake of the teares comming so fast that He was notable to speake out but forced to weepe out the rest of his sentence O those teares shew what time is shew that oppoâ—tunitie it selfe is a grace even to have it that it is a second grace to know it and a third better then them both to lay hold of it and vse it That the greatest errours in this matter of repentance come from our ignorance in not discerning of the time when we way have it or our negligence in not vsing it when we discerne it Therefore rather then faile or rather that we may not faile to take the time of the text And that time is at this time now Now do these foules returne Who knoweth whether he shall live to see them returne any more It may be the last spring the last Swallow time the last wednesday of this name or nature we shall ever live to heare this point preached Why do we not covenant then with our selves not to let this time slip Surely lest no time should be taken the Prophet pointeth us at this and ensuing the Prophet's mind the Church hath fixed her season at it And nature it selfe seemeth to favour it that at the rising of the yeare we should rise and returne when the Zodiake returneth to the first signe Let the Prophet let the Church let nature let something prevaile with vs. Et Dominus qui sic instat praecepto praecurrat auxilio and ALMIGHTY GOD the vpholder of them that stand the lifter up of those that be downe that GOD who is thus instant upon this point by His complaint prevent us with His gratious helpe that we may redresse it Following with his Spirit where his word hath gone before and making it effectuall to our speedie conversion A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE KING JAMES AT WHITE-HALL On the X. of February A.D. MDCXIX being ASHWEDNESDAY IOEL CAP. II. VER XII XIII Nunc ergo dicit DOMINVS Convertimini ad Me in toto corde vestro in jejunio in fletu in planctu Et scindite corda vestra non vestimenta vestra convertimini ad DEVM vestrum Therefore also now saith the LORD Turne you unto Me with all your heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning And rend
themselves at all times kept every where observed then and ever since Some to shift it frame to themselves a feare of I wot not what superstition where no feare is Before aâ—y superstition waâ— stirring any Popery â—â—â—tched iâ— waâ— this fast was Lex abstineam in Q 〈…〉 sempâ—r 〈◊〉 Ecâ—lesiâ with 〈◊〉 Oraâ—â—â— of Antiquitie Theophilus Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 in the Church Nos 〈…〉 dragestmam secundùm traditionem Apostolorum we have but one Lent the Montanists had three but that one was delivered us by the Apostles saith S. Hierome Why should I weary you with reckoning them up What one more ancient Writer then other is there but you shall finde it in him expressly even up to Ignatius who lived with the Apostles themselves Apostolique then it is and for such Saint Hierome avowes it and when that is sayd enough is sayd for it I thinke Yet it is good you know it the fast so delivered and by the Church ever and every where so kept the Councell of Gangra hath layd an Anathema on them that keepe it not avoyd it how they can that keepe it not And sure in generall that this power should remaine in the Church to prescribe us sett times was most behoofull Every man so we would have it to be left to himselfe for prayer fasting sacrament Nay for Religion too now and all For GOD 's sake let it not be so let us not be left altogether to our selves No not in prayer Private prayer doth well but let us be ordered to come to Churcâ— and to doe it there Pharisee's Publican's Peter and Iohn and all Let us have our dayes appoynted and our houres sett for it If all were left to us GOD knowes I durst not promise what should become of Prayer it selfe The like say I for the Sacrament Let us have a cum when to come to that too And so for Fasting Fast privately in GOD 's name But heare you let not the Church trust to that Nor She hath not held it wisedome so to doe but as in both them Prayer and the Sacrament So in this holds us to our order of dayes and times established Them if we keepe So it is Otherwise were it not for the Churches times I doubt there would be taken scarce any time at all Now yet somewhat is done but leave us once at libertie libertie hath lost us some already and will lose us the rest if it be not looked to in time The rest are matters of Discipline rather then Doctrine 1 The number of fourty 2 The season of the yeare 3 The manner of abstinence Somewhat may be sayd to content us But remember it came from the Apostles that is it that binds us that is it that setts it fast The cause of it That which hath been said is for some sett time at large for a Cum but why this Cum at this time now Why fortie dayes Why before Easter Why this fast It is of all hands confest that ordeined it was as a part of the Discipline of Repentance And much was done in it about publike Penitents Yet not for them onely But even with them out of the bowells of a Mother the Church her selfe would become a Penitent and have all her Children do the like Her selfe become one For the whole bodie of the Church hath her faults beside the private offenses of everie particular member for which there was a severall set sacrifice in the Lawe For us to become penitents likewise For who knows whether we be not as faulty in private as they the open Penitents in publike As great sinners as they though not knowne for such So the cause is generall that she with them and we with her and with them with them and for them For them and for our selves in whole and in part all in one uniformely might perform a solemne annuall Repentance to GOD. 1. The number of 40. daies As to the number of dayes GOD saith in the Revelation a Apoc. 1.2 Dedi ei tempus ad poenitendum He gave a time for to repent in What time was that He gave The time that GOD gave was b Ion. 3.4 fortie dayes in the famous Repentance of Ninive Happie for the issue recommended by CHRIST 's owne mouth and propounded to us as a patterne Other sett time save this she found not She tooke the same then She could not tell how or when to take a better then that of GOD 's owne giving The rather that MOSES ELIAS and CHRIST himselfe had hit upon the same number in their fast It is not nothing that it conteineth though it be but an imperfect expreâ—â—ing of the patterne of so worthy authors of CHRIST 's specially Ignatius hath sayd it befoâ—e me I dare say it after him For the season The Prophet hath said it if we know not when to lay our fast 2. The Season In the spring our returning to GOD lay it with the * Ier. 8.7 Storke and the Swallow take their time doe it cum hirundinibus rather then faile But besides that Against Easter the Church hath layd it most conveniently to end with the feast of CHRIST 's rising and so to goe immediatly before it that against that time as the Fathers in the first great Councell of Nice wish it all being restored and all prepared by it we may of all hands celebrate that high Day and bring to GOD a pure offering the very words of the Councell Then to end with that high feast Zach. 8.19 that the saying of ZACHARIE may be fulfilled that our fast shall be to us turned into high feasts as that is the highest and greatest of our Religion for which cause this fast is called jejunium Paschale with reference to it For EASTER and LENT stand upon one base both stand and fall together As to the manner of our abstinence It is sure the fast in kind was in these three 3. The Manner 1 Panem non comedit 2 potum non bibit 3 advesperam neither eat nor drink at all till night But non omnes capiunt sermonem hunc all are not capable of this saying Yet he that can let him But for them that cannot the Church as a tender indulgent Mother vnto all that she may winne somewhat is content to remitt of the rigor of this turnes her on all sides to lay no more on us then we can endure if she can find ought in Scriptures to relieve us And that doth she three waies 1. Non panem No manner meat None at all Nay 1 Daniel's fast not no manner meat at all too hard that What say you to non talem not altogether none but not such or such meat Non panem desiderabilem no dainty alluring meates and namely Dan 10.3 no flesh Dan. 10. Now we doe alter the quality yet Daniel's fast we termed it on which the Church did ground her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ours may ground her
contempt against Moses or Aaron 1. And the Rulers have their lesson too First That if they be God's hands then His Spirit is to open and shut them stretch them out and draw them in wholy to guide and governe them as the hand of man is guided and governed by the spirit that is in man Heavenly and divine had those hands need be which are to be the hands and to worke the worke of God 2. Againe they be not only hands but Manus per quam that is hands in actu Not to be wrapped up in soft furr but by which an actuall dutie of leading is to be performed Mose's owne hand in the fourth of Exodus when he had lodged it in his warme bosome Exod. 4.6 became leprous but being stretched out recovered againe Hands in actu then they must be not loosely hanging downe or folded together in idlenesse but stretched out not onely to point others but themselves to be formost in th' execution of every good worke 3. Thirdly Manus per quam ducuntur That is as not the leprous hand of Moses 1. Reg. 13.4 so neither the withered hand of Ieroboam stretching it selfe out against God by mis-leading His people and making them to sinne Leading backe againe into Aegypt a thing expresly forbidden either to the oppression and bondage of Aegypt Deut. 17.16 or to the ignorance and false worship of Aegypt from whence Moses had ledd them For as they be not entire bodies of themselves but hands and that not their owne but God's so the People they ledd are not their owne but His and by Him and to Him to be ledd and directed So much for God's hands Moses Aaron This Honorable title of the hand of God is heere given to two parties Moses and Aaron in regard of two distinct duties performed by them Ye heard how we said before The people of God were like sheepe in respect of a double want 1 want of strength by meanes of their feeblenâ—sse 2 and want of skill by meanes of their simplenesse For this double want heere commeth a double supplie from the hand 1 of strength and 2 of cunning For both these are in the hand 1. It is of all members the chiefe in might as appeareth by the diversitie of vses and services Psal. 20.6 it is put to In Potentatibus dexterae saith the Prophet 2. And secondly it is also the part of greatest cunning as appeareth by the varietâ— of the works which it yeeldeth by the pen the pencill the needle and instruments of musique Psal. 78.72 Psal. 137.5 In intellectu manuum saith the Psalmist in the end of the next Psalme and let my right hand forget her cunning This hand of God then by his strength affordeth protâ—ction to the feeblenesse of the fâ—ock and againe by his skill affordeth direction to the simplenesse of the flocke And these are the two substantiall parts of all leading These twaine as two armes did God appoint in the wildernesse to lead His people by Afterward over these twaine did He yet set another even the power and authority Regall 1. Sam. 15.17 in place of the Head as himselfe termeth it and to it as supreme vnited the regiment of both The consideration of which Power I medâ—le not with as being not within the compasse of this versâ— but oâ—ely witâ— the hands or regiments Ecclesiasticall and Civill Which as the tâ—o Châ—â—ubimâ— did the Arke over-spread and preserve every estate 2. Chron 19.6 One saith Iehosaâ—hat dispensing Res Iehovae the Lord's businesse the other dealing in Negotio regis the â—â—faiâ—es of Estate One saith David intenâ—ing the worship of the Tribes 2. Chron. 19.11 Psâ—l 1 22.4.5 the otâ—er 〈◊〉 tâ—rones for iustice One saith Paul being for us in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things perteiniâ—g to God the other in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 15.17 1. Cor. 6.3 matters of this present life The one Pro aris the other Pâ—o focis as the very Heathen acknowledge 1. These two are the hands necessarie to the bodie and necessarie each to other First they be both hands and the hands we know are payres Not Moses the hand and Aaron the foot but either and each the hand And as they be a paire of hands so be they also a payre of brethren Not Moses de primis and Aaron de novissimis populi Esay 22. Not Mosâ—â— the Head and Aaron the tayle Not Moses a Quis as Saint Hierome speaketh out of the twenty two of Esay and Aaron a quasi quis but both of one parentage both one mans children 2. Secondly being both hands neither of them is superfluous no more to be spared then may the hands but both are absolutely necessarie and a maymed and lame estate it is where either is wanting The Estate of Israel in the seventeenth of the Iudges without a Civill Governor prooved a very masse of confusion The very same Estate in the second of Chron. Chap. XV. Iudg. 17.6 2. Chron. 15.3 Sine sacerdote docente no lesse out of frame Miserable first if they lacke Iosua and be as sheepe wanting that Shepheard And miserable againe if they lacke IESVS Num. 27.17 Matt. 9.36 and be as sheepe wanting that Shepheard Moses is needfull in the want of water to strike the rocke for us and to procure us supplie of bodily releeâ—e Exod. 17.6 Aaron is no lesse For he in like manner reacheth to every one food of another kinde which we may worse be without even the bread of life and water out of the spirituall Rocke Ioh. 6.48.51 1 Cor. 10.4 Exod 17 8. Ephes. 6 1â— which is CHRISâ— IESVS Moses we need to see our forces ledd against Amaleck for safegard of that little we hold heere in this life and Aaron no lesse to preserve our free-hold in the everlasting life For the great and mightie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the legions of our sinnes the very forces of the Prince of darknesse are ouerthrowne by the spirituall weapons of Aaron's warfare Moses may not be spared from sitting and deciding the causes which are brought before him No more may Aaron whose Vrim giveth answer in doubts no lesse important and who not onely with his Vrim and Thummim giâ—eth counseile but by his incense and sacrifice obteineth good successe for all our counseiles In a word If Moses rodd be requisite to sting and devoure the wicked Aaron's is also to revive the good and to make tâ—em to fructifie If Mose's hand want with the sword to make us a way Aaron's hand wants too with the key to give us an entrance And thus much will I say for Aaron for the Divell hath now left to dispute about Mose's bodie and bendeth all against him that the very first note of difference in all the Bible to know God 's people by is that as Cain and his race begoon at the City-waâ—ls first and let Religion as it might come after
once That is that we not only dye to sinne and live to GOD but dye and live as He did that is once for all which is an utter abandoning once of sinn's dominion and a continuall constant persisting in a good course once begoon Sinn 's dominion it languisheth sometimes in us and falleth haply into a 〈◊〉 but it dyeth not quite once for all Grace lifteth up the eye and looketh up a little and giveth some signe of life but never perfectly reviveth O that â—nce we might come to this No more deaths no more resurrections but one that we might â—nce make an end of our daily continuall recidivations to which we are so subiect and once get past these pangs and qualmes of godlinesse this righteousnesse like the morning cloud which is all we performe that we might grow habituate in grace radicati fundati rooted and founded in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steddie Ephes. 3.17 1. Cor. 15. vlt. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never to be remooved that so we might enter into and passe a good accompt of this our Similiter vos â— The Discharge and meanes of it Iâ— Iesus Christ our Lord. And thus are we come to the foot of our accompt which is our Onus or Charge Now we must thinke of our discharge to goe about it which maketh the last words no lesse necessarie for us to consider then all the rest For what is it in us or can we by our owne power and vertue make up this accompt We cannot saith the Apostle 2. Cor. 3.5 nay we cannot saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make accompt of any thing no not so much as of a good thought toward it as of our selves If any thinke otherwise let him but prove his owne strength a little what he can do he shall be so confounded in it as he shall change his minde saith Saint Augustine and see plainely the Apostle had reason to shut up all with In Christo Iesu Domino nostro otherwise our accompt will sticke in our hands Verily to raise a soule from the death of sinne is harder farr harder then to raise a dead bodie out of the dust of death Saint Augustine hath long since defined it that Marie Magdalen's resurrection in soule from her long lying dead in sinne was a greater miracle then her brother Lazaru's resurrection that had lyen foure daies in his grave If Lazarus lay dead before us we would never assay to raise him our selves we know we cannot doe it If we cannot raise Lazarus that is the easier of the twaine we shall never Marie Magdalen which is the harder by farre out of Him or without Him that raised them both But as out of Christ or without Christ we can doe nothing toward this accompt Not accomplish or bring to perfection but not do not any great or notable summe of it Ioh. 15.5 but nothing at all as saith Saint Augustine upon Sine me nihil potestit facere So in Him and with Him enhabling us to it we can thinke good thoughts speake good words and doe good workes and dye to sinne and live to GOD and all Omnia possum saith the Apostle Phil. 4.13 And enable us He will and can as not onely having passed the resurrection but being the resurrection it selfe not onely had the effect of it in himselfe but being the cause of it to us So He saith himselfe I am the resurrection Ioh. 11.25 and the life the resurrection to them that are dead in sinne to raise them from it and the life to them that live vnto GOD to preserve them in it Where beside the two former 1 the Article of the resurrection which we are to know 2 and the Example of the resurrection which we are to be like we come to the notice of a third thing even a vertue or power flowing from Christ's resurrection whereby we are made able to expresse our Similiter vos and to passe this our accompt of dying to sinne and living to GOD. It is in plaine words called by the Apostle himselfe virtus resurrectionis Phil. 3.10 the vertue of CHRIST 's resurrection issuing from it to us and he praieth that as he had a faith of the former so he may have a feeling of this and as of them he had a contemplative so he may of this have an experimentall knowledge This enhabling vertue proceedeth from Christ's resurrection For never let us thinke that if in the daies of His flesh there went vertue out from even the verie edge of his garment Luk. 8.46 to doe great cures as in the case of the woman with the bloudie issue we reade but that from His owne selfe and from those two most principall and powerfull actions of His owne selfe his 1 death and 2 resurrection there issueth a divine power from His death a power working on the old man or flesh to mortifie it from His resurrection a power working on the new man the Spirit to quicken it A power hable to râ—ll backe any stone of an evill custome lye it never so heavy on us a power hable to drie up any issue though it have runne upon us twelve yeare long And this power is nothing els but that divine qualitie of grace which we receive from Him 2. Cor. 6.1 Receive it from Him we doe certainely onely let us pray and 〈◊〉 ouâ— selâ—es that we receive it not in vaine the Holy Ghost by waies to flesh 〈…〉 vnknowne inspiring it as a breath distilling it as a dew deriving it as a secret inflâ—ence into the soule For if Philosophie grant an invisible operation in us to the câ—lestiall bodies much better may we yeeld it to His aeternall Spirit whereby 〈◊〉 a vertue or breath may proceed from it and be received of us Which breath or Spirit is drawen in by Prayer and such other exercises of devotion on our parts and on GOD 's part breathed in by and with the Word well therefore termed by the Apostle the Word of grace And I may safely say it Act. 20.32 with good warrant from those words especially and chiefly which as He himselfe saith of them are Spirit and Life even those words which ioyned to the element Ioh. 6.63 make the blessed Sacrament There was good proofe made of it this day All the way did He preach to them even till they came to Emmaus and their hearts were whot within them which was a good signe but their eyes were not opened but at the breaking of bread Luk. 24.31 and then they were That is the best and surest sense we know and therefore most to be accompted of There we tast and there we see Tast and see how gratious the Lord is Psal. 34.8 1. Cor. 12.18 Heb 13.9 Heb 9.14 There we are made to drinke of the Spirit There our hearts are strengthened and stablished with grace There is the bloud which shall purge our consciences from dead
And gracious in offering to us the meanes by His Mysteries and grace with them as will rayse us also and sett our minds where true rest and glorie are to be seene That so at this last and great Easter of all the Resurrection-day what we now seek we may then finde where we now sett our minds our bodyes may then be sett what we now but tast we may then have the full fruition of Even of His glorious God-head in rest and glorie ioy and blisse never to have an end A SERMON Preached before the KING'S MAIESTIE AT WHITE-HALL on the XXIV of April A.D. MDCXIV being EASTER DAY PHIL. CHAP. II. VER 8. He humbled Himselfe made obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse. 9. For this cause hath GOD also highly exalted Him and given Him a Name above every name 10. That at the Name of IESVS every knee should bow of those in Heaven and in earth and vnder the Earth 11. And that every Tongue should confesse that IESVS CHRIST is the Lord to the glory of GOD the Father FOR this cause The Summe GOD hath exalted Him saith the Text Him that is CHRIST And for this cause are we now heere to celebrate this exalting Of which His exalting this is the first day and the Act of this day the first step of it even His rising againe from the dead Haec est clarificatio Domini nostri IESV CHRISTI quae ab Eius resurrectione sumpsit exordium saith Saint Augustine upon this place This now is the glorifying of our LORD IESVS CHRIST which tooke his beginning at His glorious resurrection Thus is the summe and substance of this Text set downe by that learned Father By him also is it likewise divided to our hands Into Humilitas Claritatis meritum The Division 1. and Claritas humilitatis praemium Humilitie the merit of glory in the first verse of the foure And glory the reward of humilitie in the other three Which two heere and ever are so fast linked together as there is no parting them I cannot but touch and I will but touch the Merit in the first verse It properly pertaines to another day And so come to Opus dici The matter of this dayes exultation is called here His Exaltation And is of two sorts By GOD in the ninth verse And by us in the two last By GOD And that is double Of his Person Of his Name Two Super's either one Super exaltavit Ipsum His Person there is one in the forepart of the ninth verse And Nomen super omne nomen His name there is the other in the latter part of it And this is GOD'S Then commeth ours For GOD exalting it Himselfe He will have us to doe the like And not to doe it inwardly alone but even outwardly to acknowledge it for such And sets downe precisely this acknowledgement how He will have it made by us Namely two waies By the Knee by the Tongue The Knee to bow to it verse 10. The Tongue to confesse it verse 11. And both these to be generall Every Knee every Tongue And not in grosse but deduced into three severall rankes All in Heaven All in earth All vnder the earth which comprehends all indeed and leaves none out This acknowledgement thus but onely insinuated by the Knee is by the Tongue more plainely expressed And this it is That IESVS CHRIST is the LORD LORD of all those three This to be done and so done as it redound all to the glory of GOD the Father But then last take the Vse with us that since in Him His humiliavit se-ipsum ends in Super-exaltavit Deus His humbling Himselfe in GOD 's Exalting That the same minde be in us Verse 5. And the same end shall come to us As His end was so ours shall be in the glory of GOD the Father Propter quod For this cause I. Veâ—se 8. WE touch first upon this word It is the Axis and Cardo the very point whereupon the whole Text turneth 1. Propâ—er First Propter A cause there is So GOD exalts ever for a cause Heere on earth otherwhile there is an Exaltavit without a Propter quod Some as Sobna Plaman Esay 22.15 Est. 3.1 Nehem 4.1 Sanballat sometimes exalted no man knowes wherefore With GOD there goeth ever with men there should goe a Propter quod before Exaltavit 2. Propter quod For a cause for what for this cause And this now casts us backe to the former verse where it is set downe Humiliavit There it is for His Humilitie Humiliavit Now of all causes not for that if we goe by this world which as the Proverbe is was made for the presumptuous Not for the vertue of all others A vertue before CHRIST thus graced it so out of request as the Philosophers looke into their Ethiques you shall not so much as finde the name of humilitie in the list of all their vertues Well this cast vertue of no reckoning is here made the Propter quod of CHRIST 's exalting Luk. 1.48 As Respexit humilitatem the ground of His Mothers Magnificat And He that by Him brought light out of darknesse at the first wil by Him bring glory out of humilitie at last Or this booke deceiveth us With GOD it shall have the place of a Propter quod 2. Cor. 4.6 how poore account soever we make of it here â— Ipse But this Quod is a Collective there be in it more points then one I will but point at them Hâ—miliâ—vit ipse He humbled He which many times is idle but here a circumstance of great waight He so great a Person being in the forme of GOD and without any disparagement at all equall to GOD as he tels us a verse before He humbled Verse 6. Vbi Majestatem praemisit vt humilitatem illustraret That discourse of His High Majestie was but to set out to give a lustre to His humilitie For for one of meane estate to be humble is no great praise It were a fault if he were not But In alto nihil altum sapere For a King as David to say I will yet be more humble 2. Sam. 6.22 for the King of Kings for Him to shew this great humilitie that is a Propter quod indeed Humiliavit Ipse Then secondly that Humiliavit Ipse se. Ipse se and not alius ipsum 2 Se. that He was not brought to it by any other but of his owne accord He humbled himselfe There is a difference betweene humilis and humiliatus One may be humbled Exod 10.16 Matt. 27.32 and yet not humble Pharao was humbled brought downe by his ten plagues Simeon of Cyrene aâ—gariatus to humble his necke vnder the Crosse. This was alius ipsos But Ipse se is the true humilitie For then it is laudabili voluntate not miserabili necessitate of a willing minde and that is commendable not of force and constraint for
foure parts as did the former For there appeared 1 Tongues 2 cloven 3 as it it were of fier 4 sitting upon each of them The tongue is the substantive and subiect of all the rest It is so And GOD can send from heaven no better thing nor the Divell from hell no worse thing then it 1 Tongues The best member we have saith the Prophet The worst member Psal. 108.1 Iam. 3.6 we have saith the Apostle Both as it is imployed The best if it be of GOD 's cleaving if it be of his lighting with the fire of heaven if it be one that will sitt still if cause be The worst if it come from thâ— Divell's hands For he as in many other so in the sending of tongues striveth to be like GOD as knowing well they are every way as fitt instruments to worke mischiefe by as to doe good with There be tongues of Angels in 1. Cor. 13.1 and if of good Angels I make no doubt but of evill and so the Divell hath his tongues And he hath the art of cleaving He shewed it in the beginning when he made the Serpent linguam bisulcam a forked tongue to speake that which was contrarie to his knowledge and meaning Gen. 3.4 They should not die and as he did the Serpent's so he can doe others There is fier in hell as well as in heaven that we all know Onely in this they agree not but are unlike his tongues cannot sitt still but flie up and downe all over the world and spare neither Minister nor Magistrate no nor GOD himselfe Psal. 108.2 But if we shall say to our tongue as David did to his Awake up my glory that is make it the glory of all the rest of our members it can have no greater glorie then this to be the Organ of the Holy Ghost to set forth and sound abroad the knowledge of CHRIST to the glorie of GOD the Father And so vsed it is heavenly no time so heavenly as then in no service so heavenly as in that Not to inlarge this point further there is no new matter in it This heere of the Tongues is as that before of the sound both are to no other end but to admonish them of their Office whereto they heere received Ordination even to be Tongues to be trumpets of the Counsaile of GOD and of his Love to mankinde in sending His Sonne to save them Heere is winde to serve for breath and heere are Tongues now and what should let them to doe it Mar. 16.15 That which before they received in charge audibly Ite Praedicate the very same they heere receive visibly in this apparition which is after expounded thus Coeperunt loqui by vertue of these tongues they begann to speake â— Cloven tongues Tongues and cloven tongues And that very cleaving of right necessarie use to the businesse intended For that of theirs was but one whole intire tongue that could speake but one poore language the Syrian they were bred in There was not a cleft in it So could they speake their mind to none but Syrians and by that meanes should the Gospell have beene shut up in one corner of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the goodnesse of all that is good even the imparting it to the good of the common To the end then this great good of the knowledge of the Gospell might be dispersed to many Nations even to every nation under heaven To that end clove He their tongues to make many tongues in one tongue to make one man to be able to speake to many men of many Countries to every one in his owne language If there must be a calling of the Gentiles they must have the tongues of the Gentiles wherewith to call them Chap. 20.21 If they were debters not onely to the Iewes but to the Graecians nay not onely to the Graecians but to the Barbarians too then must they have the tongues not onely of the Iewes but of the Graecians and of the Barbarians too to pay this debt Rom. 1.14 Mar. 16.15 to discharge the duty of Ite Praedicate to all And this was a speciall favour from GOD for the propagation of His Gospell farre and wide this division of tongues and it is by the ancient Writers all reckoned a plaine reversing of the curse of Babel by this blessing of Sion since they account it all one and so it is either as at the first for all men to speake one language or as heere one man speake all That is heere recovered that there was lost and they inabled for the building up of Sion in every nation to speake so as all might understand them of every nation But this withall we are to take with us that with their many tongues they spake one thing Rom. 15.6 Chap. 4.24 and that Vnivocè With one mouth Rom. 15.6 With one voice Chap. 4.24 With diverse tongues to vtter one and the same sense that is GOD 's cloven tongue that is the division of Sion serving to edification With one tongue aequivocè to utter diverse senses diverse meanings that is none of GOD 's it is the Serpent's forked tongue the very division of Babel and tendeth to nothing but confusion â— Tongues aâ— of fier Tongues cloven and as they bad beene of fire As they had beene to keep a difference in these as before in the Winde and to shew that they were not of our elâ—mentarie fier For it is added they satt upon them which they could not have done without some hurt without skorching them at least if it had beene such fier as is in our chimneys But it was 〈◊〉 as it were ours that is in shew earthly indeed coelestiall And as the Winde so the fier from heaven Exod. 3.2 of the nature of that in the III. of Exod. which made the bush burne and yet consumed it not Where first we are to observe againe the conjunction of the tongue and fire The seate of the tongue is in the head and the Head of the Church is Christ. Ephes. 1.22 The native place of heate the qualitie in us answering to this fire is the heart and the Heart of the Church is the Holy Ghost These two ioyne to this worke Christ to give the tongue the Holy Ghost to put fier into it For as in the body naturall the next the immediate instrument of the soule is heate whereby it worketh all the members over even so in the mysticall body a vigor there is like that of heate which we are willed to cherish to be a Rom. 12.11 fervent in the Spirit to b 1. Thess. 5.19 stirre and to c 2. Tim. 1.6 blow it up which is it that giveth efficacie to all the spirituall operations To expresse this qualitie it appeareth in the likenesse of this element even to shew there should be an efficacie or vigor in their doctrine resembling it Quòd igneus est illis
And commonly other spirits are more violent and make a greater noise then the true Spirit The other two 1 of comming from heaven 2 comming for the Church from the holy heaven to the holy Church are both in sancto and sapere quae sursum being wise from thence and regard to religion and the Church are the two best Characters to discerne the Holy spirit by The Holy Spirit that is His Graces Now ye will understand of your selves I shall not need to tell you when we speake of the Holy Spirit as it filleth us we meane not the Essence or person of the Holy Ghost that fillâ—th heaven and earth saith the Prbohet and there is no going from it saith the Psalmist But onely certaine impressions of the Spirit Ier 23.24 Psal. 19 7. The Psalmist calleth them gifts Psal. LXVIII XVIII The Apostle Graces I. Cor. XII VII which carrie the name of their Cause so that in the Dialect or Idiom of the Scriptures to be filled with them is to be filled with the Spirit To shew this otherwhile they be joyned the spirit and power of ELIAS that is the power of the spirit Luke 1.17 the Wisdome and spirit of STEPHEN that is the wisdome of the Spirit Acts 6.10 And because these Gifts and Graces be of many points more Points of this Wind then there be of the Compasse and as it were many spirits in one sixe saith a Esay 11.6 Esai sevâ—â— saith b Apoc 1 4.3.1 S. IOHN they are all recapitulate under these two 1 Vnder the Wind is represented the saving grace which all are to have so to serve GOD that they may please Him as necessarie to all and without which we can be no more in our spirituall life then we can without our breath in our naturall This is generall to all It is said repleti sunt omnes the hearer must have it as well as the speaker It must ayre and drie up the superfluity of our nature els the fire will not kindle in us but turne all to smoke Of this Spirit are those nine points Gal. V. XXII 2 The other Gal. 2.22 represented in the Tongues sett forth unto us another kind of Grace principally meant and sent for the benefit of others given therefore in Tongues which serve to teach and in fire which serveth to warme others to shew are given and received for the good of others rather then of themselves And of this Spirit are the Points reckoned up I. Cor. XII VII And now we know what it was they were filled with let us come to the measure 2. The measures Repleti sunt Repleti sunt It was not spiritus transiens but implens a wind not that blew through them as it doth through many of us I know not how oft but that filled them they were the fuller for it Which word of filling wanteth not his speciall force referre we it to their estate now compared with what it was before repleti sunt or to their estate in this point compared with other since and namely with our selves Repleti sunt illi With theiâ— owne estate first For there is no question 1. Repleti sunt compared with their former estate Ioh. 20.22 they were not emptie or void of the Spirit before this comming They had not beene baptized by CHRIST Hâ— had not breathed on them and bidd them receive the HOLY GHOST in vaine If before this they had died none would have doubted of the estate of their soules This filling then first sheweth us there be diverse measures of the Spirit some single some double portions as appeareth by ELISAE'S petition not all of one size or scantling That as there are degrees in he wind Aura ventus procella a breath 1. Reg 2.9 a blast a stiffe gale so are there in the Spirit One thing to receive the Spirit as on Easter-day another as on Whit-sunday Then but a breath now a mighty wind Ioh 20.22 Ezek. 20.46 Ioel 2.28 then but received it now filled with it Sprinkled before as with a few dropps Ezekiel's stillabo Spiritum but now comes Ioel's Effundam spiritum which very text is alleaged at the XXVIII verse after by S. Peter powred out plenteously and they baptized that is plunged in it Imbuti Spiritu covered with some part of it so were they before heer now they be induti Spiritu clothed all over with power from above as CHRIST promised Luke XXIV XLIX To conclude the HOLY GHOST came heer saith Leo â—umulans non inchoans nec novus opere sed dives laâ—gitate rather by way of augmenting the old then beginning a new Though to say the truth both wayes He came heer The rule of the Fathers is Hierome and Cyrill have it where the HOLY GHOST was before and is said to come againe it is to be understood one of these two wayes 1 Either of an increase of the former which before was had 2 or of some new not had before but sent now for some new effect Breath they had before breath and wind are both of one kind differ onely secundùm magis minùs to be filled is but to receive onely in a greater measure therefore greater because their worke was now greater Before but to the lost sheep of Israël Mat. 10.6 Ioh. 16.16 now to all the stray sheepe in all the mountaines of the whole earth But beside that increase heer is a new forme too Which is a signe of a new gift utterly wanting in them before and wherewith now and never till now they were furnished to speake to all nations of all tongues under heaven Thus farre compared with themselves â— Repleti sunt illi with reference to others Now repleti sunt illi Illi with reference to others since and if you will to our selves They in the succeeding ages and we to this day receive the Spirit too or els it is wrong with us But both they before us short of the Apostles and we short of them by much It fareth heerin as it doth in the powring forth of an ointment the Psalme so likeneth it Psal. 133.2 No ointment at the skirts or edges of a garment doth runne so fresh and full as on the head and beard where it was first shed ever the further it goeth the thinner and thinner the streames be Therefore it is sayd Repleti sunt illi and even illi wants not his force they were filled they We but a Hin to their Epha but an handfull to their heape but a rantisme to their Baptisme They filled had as much as they could hold We have our measure such as it is but full we are not None of us so full but we could hold more 1 Reason And two reasons there are rendred 1 One such a Pentecost as this never was but this never the like before nor since It was CHRIST 's Coronation day the day of placing Him in His throne Psal. 68.18 Ephes. 4.8
which is His most intrinsecally That was this very day and no better opportunitie no fiter time to receive the Spirit then the Day of the Spirit the Day of CHRIST 's sending and of His comming When shall He be sent or come if then He doe not But keeping the time and observing the manner we trust in His promise and call upon Him that so He will send Him and upon the Holy Ghost that so He will come And as we be his Paracleti his guests so He wil be ours dwelling with us with his assistance and being in us by his graces to life eternall Which Almighty GOD graunt c. A SERMON Preached before the KING'S MAIESTIE AT VVHITE-HALL on the XXXI of May A. D. MDCXII being WHIT-SVNDAY ACTS CHAP. XIX VER I. II.III And it came to passe c that PAVL came to EPHESVS and found there certaine Disciples And sayd unto them Have ye received the HOLY GHOST since ye beleeved And they sayd unto him we have not so much as heard whither there be a HOLY GHOST And He sayd unto them Vnto what were ye then baptized and they sayd Vnto IOHN's baptisme HEer is a question Have ye received the Holy Ghost And heer is an answer to it Nay not so much as heard whither any Holy Ghost or no. There is no fitter time to aske and resolve this question of His receiving then this day the day He was received visibly nor to amend this answer Not whither any or no then this day on which He declared himselfe to the world when it was both heard and seene Acts 2 33. The part Narraâ—ive that there was a Holy Ghost The Narrative is thus briefly S. PAVL came to Ephesus and there he found certaine Disciples At the first meeting the very first question he askes The first Question is Sâ—recâ—â—â—sits Whither they had received the Holy Ghost Marke it well It is the first point he thinks meet to be enquired of or to enforme himselfe concerning The Apostle no doubt hoped for an answer affirmative from them The answer That they had received Him Their's is a strange negative That not onely they had not received Him Sed neque But were so farre from that as they had not so much as heard whither there were any to receive whither there were any at all Whom they should have received Him they had not heard of This was a great rudenesse And yet Disciples they were and Disciples that had beleeved and beleeved a good while since And they were twelve it is said at the seventh verse that is a full Iurie and yet put the Holy Ghost upon their Verdict that they returne is an Ignoramus The Apostle little looked for such rudenesse at Ephesus The second question the most eivill place of all Asia This answer almost posed him yet he gives not them over Nay He must not leave them thus Whither one or no This answer of force begetts another question to finde where the error was Disciples they were and therefore baptized baptized and yet had not heard of the Holy Ghost He muses how or into what they had beene baptized and askes them that They tell him into Iohn's baptisme The answer and further they had not gone Of Iohn's Baptisme I will not now stand to enlarge This is certaine a Baptisme it was wherein it seemes there was no mention nor no hearing of the Holy Ghost Now by this time their rudenesse that seemed strange at the first is not now strange The error when the reason of it is knowne And it might seeme in some sort of excuse them in that they were but at Iohn's Baptisme and so it did But yet to accuse them withall that they were but at Iohn's Baptisme for it was now more then twentie yeares since Iohn was dead that all this while they were no further that as He saith to the Hebrewes considering the time whereas they might have beene Teachers Heb. 5 1â— they had need to be catechised in the very rudiments of Religion Yet * Matt. 12.20 quencheth he not this flax though it did but smoke beares with them The rectifying rates them not but teacheth them first that as Iohn was to Christ so was Iohn's baptisme to Christ's baptisme in manner of a Parate viam or introduction in venturam to one that was to come and they no otherwise to conceive of it It was Apollo's case in the Chapter before verse 25. Hâ— knew not but Iohn's baptisme neither at the first And these it may well be were his Disciples But as Aquila there taught him So doth the Apostle these heere â—he way of truth more exactly And so being taught they were baptized with a baptisme where they both heard of Verse 5.6 and received the Holy Ghost Thus doth end the Narrative part And therein The Apostle's patience 2. Tim. 4.2 He gives us an example in Himselfe of his owne rule to Timothee If we meet with such as these at Ephesus raw and evill catechised Christians that we grow not abrupt but exercise our office in all long suffering and doctrine not in doctrine alone but in long suffering and doctrine For without suffering and suffering long otherwhiles all our doctrine will doe but little good Out of all this we gather these points First the necessitie of receiving the Holy Ghost in that it is his first care his first question he ask's The part dispositive Of the other Persons in the God-head it is enough we heare of them and beleeve in them Of the Holy Ghost it is not so To heare of Him or beleeve in Him will not serve but we are to receive Him too To know not only Quòd sit that He is but to certifie our selves Quòd insit that He is in us For He shall remaine with you and shall be in you it is CHRIST Ioh. 14.17 But then receive we cannot unlesse first we heare heare that there is one to receive or ever we receive Him First notice of His being and then sense of His receiving And indeed the hearing of Him is a way to His receiving For though not everie one that heares receives yet none receives but he heares first So That ground must first be layd And to lay that ground no better way then the Apostle heere directs us to by his second question gett us to our Baptisme Aske Into what we were baptized There we shall not faile but resolve our selves that one there is receive him after as we may The right order Now but that the Apostle had a better conâ—eit of these heere then there was cause and so erred of charitie supposing these Disciples better Scholar's then they were he would have begunne with the latter and first asked them If ever they had heard of Him And then after if they had received Him For that is first in nature An sit then An insit There then let us beginne I am sorrie and
Ioh. 5 33· 1. Cor. 10.16 1. Chro. 16.3 and one cup the bread of life and the cup of 〈◊〉 the communion of the Body and Blood of CHRIST And in figure of this even King David dealt these two bread and wine in a kinde of resemblance to ours when the Arke was to be brought home and seated among them the Arke in type And we to doe the same this day when the Arke in truth did come and will come to take up His rest in us Will ye now heare the end of all By this meanes GOD shall dwell with us the perfection of this life and He dwelling with us we shall dwell with Him the last and highest perfection of the life to come For with whom GOD dwelleth heer they shall dwell with Him there certainly Grace He doth give that He may dwell with us and glorie he will give that we may dwell with Him So may He dwell He with â—s so may we dwell we with Him aeternally So the Text comes about round It begâ—n with an ascension and it ends with one began with CHRIS 's ends with 〈◊〉 He ascended that GOD might dwell with us that GOD dwelling with us we might in the end ascend and dwell with GOD. He went up on high that the SPIâ—IT might come downe to us below and that comming downe make us goe the same way and come to the same place that He is Sent Him downe to us to bring us up to Him Where we shall no lesse truly then joyfully say This is our rest for ever To which rest Ascensor caeli Ductor captivitatis Largitor donorum He that is gone up to heaven the Leader of Captivitie the Great Receiver and Giver of these Gifts vouchsafe to bring us That as this Feast is the periode of all the Feasts of the yeare So this Text and the end of it to dwell with GOD may be the end of us all of our desires heere of our fruition there Which c. A SERMON Preached before the KING'S MAIESTIE AT GREENVVICH on the XXIX of May A.D. MDCXV being WHIT-SVNDAY LVKE CHAP. III. VER XXI XXII Now it came to passe when all the people were baptized and that IESVS also was baptized and did pray the heaven was opened And the HOLY GHOST came downe upon Him in a bodily shape like a Dove and there was a voice from heaven saying Thou art my beloved SONNE in whom J am well pleased THis is the Feast of the Holy Ghost And heer have we in the Text The Feast of the H. Ghost a visible decending of the Holy Ghost The comming downe of the H. Ghost upon Christ. Dignius Another there was besides this Asts II. But this hath the vantage of it three wayes 1 The worthinesse of the Person Heere it descends upon CHRIST who alone is more worth then all those there 2 The prioritie of time Antiquius This heer was first and that other the Holy Ghost but at the second hand Communius 3 The generalitie of the good That other was proper but to one calling of the Apostles onely All are not Apostles all the Christians This of CHRIST 's concernes all Christians and to the more generall by farre The 〈◊〉 of baptâ—â—me That it is of baptisme is no whit impertinent neither for this is the Feast of Baptisme There were three thousand The baptisme-day of the first Christians Acts 2.41 this day baptized by the Apostles the first Christianâ— that ever were In memorie of that Baptisme the Church ever after held a solâ—mne custome of baptizing at this Feast And many all the yeare reserved themselves till then those except whom necessitie did cause to make more hast The baptisme-day of the Apostles Acts 2.3.41 Christ's baptisme a high mysterie But upon the point both baptismes fell upon this day That wherewith the Apostles themselves were baptized of fire And that wherewith they baptized the People of water So that even this way it is pertinent also To looke into the Text there is no man but at the first blush will conceive there is some great matter in hand 1 First by the opening of heaven for that opens not for a small purpose 2 Then by the solemne presence of so great Estates at it for heer is the whole Trinitie in person The Sonne in the water the Holy Ghost in the Dove The presence of the whole Trinitie the Father in the voice This was never so before but once Never but twise in all in all the Bible Once in the Old Testament and once in the New In the Old 1 At the Creation Gen. 1.1.2.3 at the creation the beginning of Genesis There find we GOD and the Word with GOD creating and the Spirit of GOD moving upon the face of the waters And now heer againe at CHRIST 's christening in the New 2 At Christ's Christening Exod. â—5 20 The faces of the Cherubins are one toward the other that is there is a mutuall correspondence between these two That was at the creation this a creation too That a nâ—w creation 2. Cor. 5.17 That a new generation T it 3.5 If any be in CHRIST he is a new creature of this new creation That was the Genesis that is the generation of the World this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle's word that is the regeneration or spirituall new birth whereby we be borne againe the Sonnes of GOD. And better not borne at all then not so borne againe This then being every way as great indeed the greater of the twaine meet it was they all should present themselves at this no lesse then at that and every one have His part in it as we see they have All I say The Commission for it Mat. 28.19 The execution of it seeing the Commission for Baptisme was to runne in all their Names and it selfe ever to be ministred accordingly To lay forth the members of the division A double Baptisme we have heer Double for the Parties and double for the Parts The Division 1 Christ's 2 The People 's Christ's and the People's In water In the H. Ghost For the Parties we have heer two Parties First the People Then CHRIST For the Parts we have heer two parts For this first both of CHRIST and the People was but Iohn's Baptisme was but Baptismus fluminis as they call it water-baptisme But there is another part besides to be had even Baptismus Flaminis the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost The second part is sett downe in a sequele of foure 1 For first after Iohn's baatisme CHRIST prryes 2 Then after His prayer heaven opens 3 After heaven open the Holy Ghost descends 4 Lastly after His descent comes the voice And these foure make up the other part and both together a full Baptisme Of these then in order 1. Of the People's baptisme 2. Of CHRIST'S baptisme CHRIST 's 1 by water and then 2 by the Holy Ghost In which the foure
it and when we perceive it with Saint Peter heer we open our mouthes to confesse it And that we doe it with an open mouth and not betweene the teeth but acknowledge it plainly it was otherwise then we thought I verily thought saith Saint Paul I ought to doe Act. 26.9 that which now all the world should not make me to doe This is Saint Paule's I now comprehend Phil. 3.12 or rather am comprehended for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will beare both of which before I could not This is Saint Peter's retractation Conclude then if we happen to be in some points otherwise minded GOD will bring us to the knowledge even of them Onely in those wherto we are come whereof we are agreed on all sides that we proceed by one rule make a conscience of the practise of such truths as we agree of and those we doe not shall soone be revealed unto us and we shall say even of them In veritate comperi What was this that Saint Peter formerly had not but now did perceive II. What that Point is Privative 1 God is no accepter of persons what is meant by Persons That GOD is no accepter of Persons Let us take with us what is meant by Persons For he that feareth GOD is a person Cornelius was a person so were all the persons in his houshold The word in all the three tongues is taken as we take it when we set Personall against Reall oppose the cause to the person under it comprehending whatsoever is beside the matter or cause The Greeke and Hebrew properly signifie the face that we know shewes it selfe first and if it shew it self well is muta commendatio carries us though it say never a word as in Eliab the goodlinesse of his person moved even Samuel Vnder the face then we understand as I may say 1. Sam. 16.6 and as we use to 〈◊〉 it in apparell the facing under the person all by respects that doe personate attire or maske any to make him personable such as are the Countrie Condition Birth Riches Honour and the like And this person thus taken of a truth we daily perceive that iâ— omni gente men accept of this and in a manner of nothing els but this all goes by it Well with GOD it is otherwise and with men it should be GOD accepts them not nor of any men for them This is the comperi And is this it Why this was no newes Was Peter ignorant of this It is not possible I will never beleeve but he had read the five bookes of Moses Deut. 10.17 Iob. 34.19 1. Sam 16.7 â— Chro 19.7 why there it is expressly set downe Deut. 10. totidem verbis Why by the very light of nature Elihu saw it and set it downe too Iob. 34. No not the person of Princes In Samuel's choise of David there it is 1. Sam. 16. And King Iehosaphat gave it in his charge 2. Chron. 19. and in other places beside and how could he but know this You will say Saint Peter knew it before but not with a comperi as now he doth And indeed many things we know by booke by speculation as we say and in grosse which when we come to the particular experience of we use to say yea now I know it indeed as if we had not knowen it at least not so knowen it before The experimentall knowledge is the true comperi in veritate when all is done Was this it No for had he not experience of this and lay away his booke Have not all experience daily That GOD in dealing his gifts of nature Outward Beauty Stature Strength Activenesse inward Witt to apprehend Memorie to reteine Iudgement to 〈◊〉 Speech to deliver that he putts no difference but without all respect of persons bestowes them on the child of the meane as soone as of the mighty So is 〈◊〉 wealth and worldly preferment He lifts the poore out of the dust Psal. 113.7 Nay you will beare with it it is the Holy Ghost's owne terme the dunghill to set him with Princes So is it in his judgements which light as heavy yea more heavy otherwhile on the great then on the small and shew that that way and every way there is with Him no respect of persons And no man had better experience of this then he that spake it then Peter himselfe that without any respect of a poore fisherman was accepted to be an Apostle Gal. 2.2 the chiefe of the Apostles Saint Paul saith well What they were in times past Gal. 2.6 it makes no matter GOD accepts no man's person This they are now What shall we say then That though he could not but know the generall truth of this yet was he once of the minde that this generall truth might admit of some exceptions one at the least Not of persons true but Nations are not Persons It held not in them Of one Nation GOD accepted before others and that Nation was the Iewes Amos. 3.2 Psal. 148.20 You onely have I knowne of all the Nations of the earth saith GOD in Amos. And Non taliter fecit omni Nationi which non taliter they tooke to be of the nature of an entaile to Abraham's seed that GOD was tyed to them and so to accept of In unâ gente before and more then of all the rest This had runne in Saint Peter's head and more then his But now heere comes a new Comperi He perceives he was wrong And if you aske how he perceived it By relation of Cornelius's vision of the Angell and by conferring it with his owne He saw his vision was now come to passe Mose's uncleane birds and beasts are become cleane all all to be eaten now and the Gentiles whom he held for no lesse uncleane to be eaten with and to be gone in unto All in one great sheet omni gente and all That the Nation also comes to be understood under the word Person no lesse then the rest and none to be respected or accepted of GOD for being in one corner of the sheet that is of one countrie more then of another that in CHRIST neither Iew nor Gentile all is one and the blacke a Act. 8.27 Aethiopian or the b Ver. 1. white Italian c Act. 17.34 the Areopagite in his long robe â—or the Centurion in his short mantell or militar habit all conditions all Nations are in all persons GOD hath shut up all in unbeliefe that he might have mercie upon all Rom. 12.32 And good reason for it if it be but that of the Apostle's own framing Gal. 5.17 If the Law which came foure hundred yeares after could not disannull the covenant made with Abraham so long before by the same nay by a better consequence neither could the Covenant with Abraham make the promise of GOD of none effect the promise that was made in Paradise more then foure times foure hundred yeares before that of
Salomon's curse that the Ravens pick those eyes out The same against a father to reach much more to Abiam Pater populi So did Salomon name his nephew Abiam a father of Iuda even as Debora was a mother in Israël Gâ—n 9.25 2. King 5.27 In a word what Noah might wish to a badd sonne Cham and Elisa wish to a badd servant Geezi no cause in the world but Cushi might wish the same to a bad subject All is one case This then breeds no unlikelynesse and in all the rest exceeding like As that yong man to keepe the words of the text For those were yong men too Their yeares not many Not many nay so few so greene as it may well seeme strange that there could such inveterate malice and mischiefe be hatched in so yong yeares As he in that first As in yeares so in malice bloudy-minded both Sayd not Absalon to his Assasines 2. Sam. 13 28· When I give you a signe see you smite kill him feare not have not I commaunded you Sayd not they the same to him whom to that end they had armed and placed to doe that wicked act In that like second As in this malicious bloudy minde so in raking it up and keeping it close diverse yeares togither Not onely as Absalon in this to say neither good nor bad but in this too to entreat the King and all his companie to their house to entertaine and feast him and besides promise and pretend I know not what and all to cover and conceale their divelish entent In this like thirdly this yong man and these And not in this kind onely of outward dissembling but in a worse kinde of religious hypocrisie 2. Sam. 15.8 He made a religious vow it lay on his conscience he could not be quiet till he had got leave to goe pay it and then even then went he about all his villanie And was it not so heer He so holy as to a sermon he must needs to GOD'S word no remedy he might not be from it in any wise and that when he trusted the deadly blow should have beene given In this like And yet fifthly the same man like Absalon when he was in Gessur Absalon in Gessur and this in Italie as devout at his masses then as he was heer zealous for his excercise of the word Alike at both as they served his turne Like in this too And last of all in this too that for all this goodly maske of religion when he saw his treacherie was discovered Chap. 15.10 as Absalon blew his trumpet so he was content to uncase himselfe and to rush forth and appeare for such as he was In which act he perished as Absalon got in his heart that Absalon got in his onely that was a dart and this was a dagger For sure being thus like in their conditions and in so many circumstances besides pittie but they should be like in their ends too And they were And that so they were is the matter of the publique gratulation of this day of the day of the weeke all the yeare long of this the day it selfe specially above all that the prayer and prophesie of Cushi tooke place his prayer heard his prophesie fulfilled no lesse in these yong men then in that no lesse in the enimies of our King Iames then in his Lord King David In the treasons little difference or none in the Deliverie some difference but all for the better For first in farr greater perill was His Majestie farr greater then ever was David 1. David was but pursued but He was even caught and within I know not how many locks and doores 2. David was all the while without the reach of any blow how neer the blow was to His breast it is hable to make any man chill but to thinke 3. David had his Worthies still about him The King was in torculari solus in the very presse alone vir de gentibus and not one of his people to stand by or assist Him Esai 63.3 4. That David was delivered it must be ascribed to the providence of GOD but in that it was a fought field his armie must take part of the praise It was another manner of providence that was shewed heere of a more nere regard of a more strange operation I dare confidently affirme it I may well I'â—m sure GOD'S hand was much more eminent in this then in that prayâ—â—â— His name for it 5. And last of all David heere heard of his delivery by 〈◊〉 Ours saw it himselfe and yet I cannot tell well what to say the danger was so gâ—eat and the feare must needs be accordingly whither it had not beene to be wished that some Cushi had rather brought tydings of it then He seene it Himselfe But 〈◊〉 it pleased GOD so from heaven to shew Himselfe in it if ever He did in any and though with some feare yet without any harme dulcis laborum praeteritorum memoria David heard his Segnius irritant Ours saw his oculis subjecta fidelibus the impression of joy was the greater and did worke both the stronger and the longer The stronger in a votive thanksgiving then undertaken The longer in the continuall renâ—wing it not onely from yeare to yeare but from weeke to weeke all the yeare long And what shall we say then What but as Ahimaaz before at the 28. Ver. Blessed be the LORD his GOD that hath this day given sentence for him upon those that rose up against him And then secondly with Cushi So be it to all the rest as it was with these Though it be to goe into mount Ebal let us not feare GOD goeth before us and sayth it before us let us not make danger to goe after and to say after Him 1 They be His enimies so proved say we boldly So pâ—rish all thine enimies ô Lord. 2 They be enimies of mankind in being enimies to them by whom order and peace is kept in mankinde and without whom there would in mankinde be nought but confusion The Serpent's curse be upon them and let their heads be trodd to peeces 3 They be Sion's malignant enemies Let them be as grasse upon the house-top as those that perished at Endor and became dung for the earth Let them be as stubble scattered as waxe melted as smoke driven no man can tell whither Let them perish perish as Siscra and Oreb as Absalon Iael's hammer on their heads Gideon's axe on their necks Ioab's dart in their hearts One nay three one for the enimies of GOD another for the enimies of mankinde a third for the enimies of Sion Let Cushi be both Priest and Prophet this his prayer never returne empty this his Prophesie never want successe Psal. 21.1 And Let the King ever rejoyce in thy strength ô Lord Let Him be exceediâ—g glad of thy Salvation Ever thrust Thou back his enimies and tread them downe that rise up against Him Let their swords goe through
eyes the Lord made thee Head of the Tribes of Israël of which the Tribe of Levi was one for that Samuel must answer But Saul went further a great deale yea further then Oza For he tooke upon him to sacrifice in person himselfe Chap. 13.19 to offer burnt offerings upon the very Altar the highest part of all the Priest's Office that is usurped further then ever did any And all this David knew yet it kept him not from saying Ne perdas 3 Shedding the Priest's blood Chap. 22.18 They never have done with persecuting and shedding Priest's bloud was Sauâ—'s fâ—nger in that too In that he passed He putt the High Priest himselfe and LXXXIV more all in one day to the sword and all but upon the single accusation but of â—oëg all protesting their innocencie in the fact and all loyalty to him and all but for a douzen of bread given to David This could not but grieve David exceedingly it was for his sake yet he saith Ne perdas though for all that 4 Being possessed with an evill spirit Chap. 16.14 And one case more I give in for advantage It is well knowne he was a Daemoniak one actually possessed with an evill spirit which is a case beyond all other cases Yet destroy him not Abisai though So that if Abisai in stead of inimicum tuum had said GOD hath shut up 1 this Tyrant 2 this Vsurper 3 this Persecutor 4 this 〈◊〉 partie this what you will David would have said no other then he did Nâ—perdas still I would faine know which of all their destructive cases is heere wanting They be all heere all in Saul all in him at the time of this motion yet all alter not the case David saith still as he said If then all be in Saul all incident all eminent in him nay if his case be beyond all said it must be that David heer saith Though he be any of these though he be all these destroy him not or destroy him and bâ— destroyed destroy him and be the child of perdition 5 There was an High Priest Abiathar I would be loth to deceive you There may seem yet to want one thing Heer was no High Priest to excommunicate him or give warrant to do it yes that there was too For Abiathar scaped that great massacre of Priests by Saul and now he was lawfull High Priest Now he fled to David thence and brought the Ephed with him Chap. 22. last So as by good hap the High Priest was with David now in the Camp and the Ephod too There wanted no just cause you see to proceed against Saul There wanted no lawfull authoritie the High Priest we have There wanted no good will in Abiathar Chap. 23.6 ye may be sure his father and brethren having been murthered by Saul So heer was all or might have been for a word speaking All would not serve David is still where he was saith still Ne perdas knew no such power in the High Priest's censure was not willing to abuse it cannot see Quis any person to doe it nor any cause for which it is to be done Enough to make a ruled case of it for ever That Abisai may not do it nor Abiathar give warrant to it His charge is honest Ne perdas His reason good Christus Domini His sentence just Non erit insons His challenge un-answerable Quis mittet manum And this being cleered come we now to the principall cause of our comming The Text and Day compared Which is in this publique manner to render our yearly solemne thankes to Christus Dominus for the deliverance of our Christus Domini this day a deliverance like this in the text even for his Ne perdas at Perth For it and for both points in it 1 That His Annointed was not destroyed 2 That they that put forth their hand to doe it carried it not away but found the reward due to guilty persons The two cases 1 this in the Text 2 and that of this day are both like in the maine if in circumstances dislike this of ours hath the advantage The fact more foule the deliverance more famous To speake then of malitia diei hujus the malitious practise of this day Had the King beene an enimie yea such an enemie as Saul it had beene no warrant But he was no enemie No but many wayes a gratious Prince to them both I know pretence there was of a wrong Say it had beene one what was done was done by others in the King's minoritie And though done by others yet justly done and no wrong was it at all but wrongfully so called Secondly the King was shut up it is true but not as in the text by GOD but by wicked men who found him not casually as Saul was but trained him guilefuly to the place and there shut him up treacherously It was not suddaine it was a long plott the malice the more the fact the fowler And there he was conclusus derelictus both shutt up by Abisai forsaken of David Thirdly And it was not night nor the King asleepe that he might have passed away without any fright or terror No it was daemon meridianus this a noone-day devill He was broad awake Psal. 91.6 and the feare of death worse then death it selfe I know not how oft and many times before his eyes Fourthly And as beyond it in these so in the Principall beyond it too Both of them lift up Abisai his speare this his dagger to have giuen the fatall blow Abisai but once This twise And certainly neerer it came the King then David would suffer it come to Saul So the danger neerer the deliverie greater And yet there was a Ne perdas in this too and that a strange one Not by David no Iudge if it may not seeme a miracle that GOD then shewed When there was none to say destroy not els GOD opened his mouth that was there set himselfe to be the destroyer to say once and againe ô destroy him not destroy not the King The voyce was David's the hands Abishai's It calls to my minde what long since I read in Herodotus that at the taking of Sardi when one ranne at Croesus the King to have slaine him that a little boy borne dumbe that had never spoken word in all his life with the fright and horror of the sight his tongue loosed and he broke forth and cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O man destroy not the King and so saved his life So writeth he as of a wonder and see if this were not like it But so we see if there were no body els to say it they that are borne dumbe shall say it yea the destroyer himselfe shall say it rather then Ne perdas shall not be said This would not serve though it did to Abisai but they were worse then Abisai that were heere That GOD therefore might have the honour of the day
AVGVST Ann. Dom. MDCXV PSAL. XXI VER I. II.III.IV The KING shall rejoice in thy strength ô LORD Exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation Thou hast graunted him his heart's desire And hast not denied him the request of his lipps Selah Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodnesse and hast set a Crowne of pure gold upon his head He asked life of Thee and thou gavest him a long life Even for ever and ever VPON a day of joy Heer is a Text of joy Vpon a day of joy for the King a Text of a King in joy For so we see there is in the Text a King and he joyfull and glad Glad first for strength shewed by GOD in saving him Glad againe for goodnesse shewed by GOD in satisfying yea more then satisfying preventing his desires and that in the matter of his crowne and of his life both This King was King David no doubt The very Title of the Psalme sheweth as much And the Sonne of Syrach of whom I reckon as well or better then of any Commentarie these very words heer he applies to King David Chap. 47. ver 7. Originally then He But neither solely nor wholly He. His meaning was not to â—â—ke this saving his owne case alone Nor to engrosse this joy all to himselfe ye 〈◊〉 see it by the very setting it downe It is not as of himselfe I will rejoyce 〈◊〉 as of a third person The King shall The King indefinitely So entailing it 〈◊〉 to his Office then to his person And leaving it at large appliable to eny other 〈…〉 as well as himselfe To â—ny other King I say Specially eny other such King that should be as strangely saved by GOD 's strength As fairely blessed by His goodnesse as ever was he That shoâ—â—d find the like favour that he did and be vouchsafed the like gracious deliveraâ—â—e that he was Eny such King in such wise saved to be equally interessed in this 〈◊〉 with him And to have this Psalme serve for a Sermon or for an Anthem no lesse 〈◊〉 He. 〈◊〉 by this we hope in GOD this rejoycing heer shall not be shut up against us â— Cor. 11.10 〈◊〉 that which is heere left indefinite we suppose we can definitely applie to a Kiâ—g in whose presence we stand To whom the same strength and the same goodâ—esse and of the same Lord have shewed forth themselves in saving him saving both his Crowne and life no lesse then David's This comes well to the Text. But what doth this concerne us now more then eny other time Yes for heer comes the day and claimes a propertie in it How that Remember ye how the Apostle when he had cited the place out of Esay 2. Cor. 6.2 Esay 49.8 I have heard thee in an accepted time in the day of salvation have I helped thee Behold saith he now is the accepted time Behold this is the day of salvation The same for all the world saith this day The King shall be glad of thy salvation Ecce hodie dies salutis hâ—jus Behold this is the Day of that salvation For so it is indeed The very salvatiâ—â—â—ay it selfe this Foâ— this day was his life sought and he set on to have been shamefully made away And this very day saved he was and in virtute mightily saved and in virtute Dei by the mightie hand and helpe even of God himselfe Since then this blessing fell upon this day If we will take a time And a time we will take to rejoyce and to give God thankes for it that which the day pleads for is most reasonable that you will take this day rather then another For if hodie dies sâ—lâ—tis If to day the day of salvation No reason in the world but to day the day of reioycing for it But I will forbeare to take eny notice or to mention eny but David at the first going over The Text that requireth a survey of course first and shall have it But tâ—en if the Day shall pray a review after I see not how in right we can denie it Be these then the two parts The Survey and the Review And in either of these The Division 〈◊〉 principall points present themselves â— The joy 2. and the ground or causes of it The ioy in the front of the Text And tâ—e causes in the sequele of it The causes are as the number of the verses foure 1 The saving of the King by thâ— â—trength of God 2 The satisfying yea the preventing his desire by the goodnesse 〈◊〉 God 3 The setting on his crowne by the hand of God Tu posuisti 4 The prolonging his life by the gift of God These foure Now every of these the ioy and the causes and indeed the whole Text seemes to 〈◊〉 upon Triplicities In the last verse of the Psalme God is said to exalt His strength Hiâ— strength in exaltation makes the ioy in triplicitie â—he triplicitie of ioy first The King 1 shall reioyce 2 shall be glad 3 exceeding 〈◊〉 shall he be 1 Laetabitur 2 exultabit 3 vehementer The like in all the causes Why glad first for the King 1 was saved 2 saved 〈◊〉 3 by thy strength ô Lord. 1 Salute 2 virtute and 3 Tuâ Domine â—â—on this of strength followeth a new triplicitie of goodnesse Therein 1 the desire â—f 〈◊〉 heart 2 the request of his lipps And besides them 3 the blessings of goodnesse Of these three the first granted the second not denied and prevented with the third Of which blessings there are two sett downe in particular 1 His crowne and 2 His life His crowne and the triplicitie of it 1 Corona 2 Coronatio and 3 Coronans the 1 Crowne 2 the Coronation or setting it on by another 3 And that other God None but He Tu posuisti His life and there another the last triplicitie 1 Life 2 long life and 3 life in seculum et in seculum seculi Long life in this world life for ever in the world to come And for this strength in thus saving and this goodnesse in thus satisfying his desire in the safety both of His crowne and His life is all this laetabitur and exultabit All this ioy and iubilee of the Text. This Survey done the day will further pray a Review trusting it will fall out all this to proove the case of the day just That all these causes will coincidere into it 1 Salutem misit 2 Desiderium concessit 3 Coronam posuit and 4 Vitam dedit And if these then the joy too without faile And that two wayes Vpon two powers that be in the word shall 1 Shall the Bond de praesenti binding us to accommodate our selves to the present occasion to this joyfull season of GOD 's sending 2 And then shall the Tense which is not the present but the future And so shall not onely for this present day but shall still still shall for many dayes of many Augusts in many yeares
Psal. 119.175 2. Sam. 26.21 O let my soule live O let the soule of thy servant be pretious in thy sight And now upon this Petijt as upon a ground followes streight vitam dedit And heerein first appeared the goodnesse of GOD in granting his desire in not denying his request Vitam petijt and Vitam dedit life he asked and life he had No sooner asked but obtained This was satisfying But then he stayed not there but prevented him further gave it him with advantage A long life with that he asked not Life He gave him So farr his petition so farre no 〈◊〉 but he gave him long too long was not in the petition and so a meere 〈…〉 the second kind of preventing that before we spake of Life was in the request 〈…〉 not He gave it him with long too Dies super dies Regis adijciendo addâ—ng dâ—ies to the King's dayes till it was length of daies that is a long life and a long 〈◊〉 both Psal. 61.6 Which very point of long makes that this Text will not fall in fitt with every King unlesse he have lived and reigned as long David's time that is fourtie yeares for so hâ— must yet 〈…〉 longam can be said or soong of him â— â— life 〈…〉 But yet heer he stâ—yes not nâ—ither but heapes upon him more still and goes on â—o vitâ—m in seculum seculi For to say truth what iâ— long life yea never so long if it be not Saint Hierom's lâ—ng Nihil longâ—m quod finem habet If ye speake of long that iâ—â—nely long that shall last for ever that never shall have end Our long is but a 〈…〉 which goes but by comparison of a shorter Els what is it to live 〈…〉 compasse of mans iâ—â—ermost age if he live not so in this life 〈…〉 he may live for ever The meanâ—ng is what is long life without it 〈…〉 life without it be with the true feare and worship of GOD 〈…〉 hath the promise of in saeculum saeculi without which a short life is 〈…〉 life and no life at all but an untimely death better then both 〈…〉 Heathen have hitt upon coronam posuit and vitam dedit yea and longam 〈…〉 be but laetitiae gentium these But the life for ever Mat. 19.11 that is a Non omnibus 〈…〉 among the Heathen never had it that is laetificans Davidis that the blessing 〈…〉 the transcendent blessing of all to have the end of this life the beginning 〈…〉 life that never shall have end and that by the true service of GOD in His 〈…〉 〈◊〉 this then instar omnium even worth all and the very consummatum est the 〈…〉 perfection GOD can bestow on David That God gave him 1. Chron. 13.15.28.24.25.26 Psal. 84.10 to bring back the 〈…〉 pitch a Tabernacle for it to lay up and leave a great masse of treasure for the 〈…〉 Temple himselfe devoutly to worship and to make lawes and sett orders for a 〈…〉 and seemly worship of God then he found He said himself this was the 〈…〉 day he saw in all his life that one day worth a thousand And for this his care 〈…〉 â—anctuarie came this help to him out of the Sanctuarie see the second Verse of 〈…〉 before that saved him saved him both his crown and life and that after 〈…〉 him to everlasting Tabernacles to a crown and life that shall endure for ever Luke 16.9 〈◊〉 â—uther then this we cannot go 〈◊〉 have we the particular of that was sued for and granted and of that was granted 〈…〉 sued for by the speciall priviledge of God's preventing goodnesse Himselfe 〈…〉 desire satisfied his crowne fast his life assured heer and for ever 〈◊〉 judge now whither David had good cause to reioyce or not And whither we 〈…〉 heer againe for a farewell once more over with our first triplicitie of ioy 〈…〉 to go to vitam if you will and if need be exultabit to longam 〈…〉 to be reserved for in saeculum saeculi There it is in kind So it was never 〈◊〉 There it is ô quam indeed For there is a crowne life and ioy that exceed all 〈…〉 desire and there he shall receive them and say O quà m indeed 〈◊〉 what shall we say now of all this Truly no more then must needs be said II. The Review or Application to His Maiestie 〈…〉 then the Text it selfe drawes from us Heer is a faire Major layed forth 〈…〉 A King that hath in this manner found the strength of God shew forth 〈…〉 his saving and felt the goodnesse of God in thus preveneing his desires 〈…〉 his crowne and his life Any such King may for he hath good cause Nay 〈…〉 for he is bound to be exceeding both ioyfull and glad The Holy Ghost 〈…〉 word sayes he shall so be 〈…〉 be King David He If any other He too King David's we have surveyed 〈…〉 time would give us leave Shall we now pray a Review to see if any other 〈…〉 found besides as deepe in the causes as he For if as deepe in tâ—e causes 〈…〉 in the effect If the same in virtute and the same in salute the same laetabitur 〈…〉 grant 〈◊〉 heer now choose Psal 40 9.10 whither we will refraine our lipps and keep back God's mercie 〈…〉 from the great Congregation If we would so and hold our peace the day 〈…〉 fift of August would not but would as the Psalme saith eructare verbum Psal. 19.2 〈…〉 sorth and tell us that such a King there is and who it is That if there be or 〈…〉 were a Prince upon Earth that found and felt this virtutem and salutem Dei 〈…〉 hand and help of God in saving him saving him miraculously Verily this 〈…〉 not as Nathan Tu es homo but Tu es Rex You are that King certenly 2. Sam. 12.7 〈…〉 these foure in the Text from point to point 〈…〉 saving first This day you were like to miscarrie 1. In His saving Ver. 7. Ver. 8. Ver. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in danger to perish to lose 〈…〉 â—nd that which to you is dearer then youâ— life your crowne by some that 〈…〉 and had contrived a Mezimma a dangerous practise and plot against them 〈…〉 on being then and there oversett with strength came this virtus Dei You 〈◊〉 bâ—ing upon the point to perish 〈◊〉 this saluâ— Dei and saved You strangely There iâ— the first verse 2. 〈…〉 16. Mat. 1â— 30 〈◊〉 your desire satiâ—fying In 〈◊〉 distresse I doubt not but You might and did lift 〈◊〉 Your soule to GOD in 〈…〉 Hosanne that of Ezekia Domine vim patior 〈◊〉 I am oppressed 〈…〉 Or that of the Apostle sinking Help Lord I perish If you 〈…〉 granted your desire He denied not your request set a Sela then But if being surprise 〈…〉 the extreme sodennesse of the assault you did not you could not doe it Thâ—n did â—e more even prevent you
ever counted of speciall faith and trust Of the Kings Chamber But plaine it is they were of his Chamber Not of his lieges alone or of his housâ—old but which is more of his Chamber It is a wonderfull â—hing the State that the Pâ—rsian Monarchs kept No man upon paine of death to come so neere as into their inner base Court uncalled if he did he died for it unlesse the King Chap. 4.11 by holding forth hiâ— Scepter pardoned him his life You will easily then imagine in what place they were that had free recourse into his innermost chamber to go and come thither at their pleasure Not onely to do so themselves but to be those by whom all others were to go or come No man to come thither but by them For that is meant by Lords of the threshold or qui in primo limine praefidebant as the Fathers read it the very chiefe over his Chamber The Septuagint who should best know the nature of the word they turne it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first keepers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the bodie And many they had for many such Kings need have But these two they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefe the Arch-keepers had if any more then other the chiefe charge the very principall of all GOD do so and so to me saith King Achis to David if I make not thee the keeper of my head 1 Sam. 28.2 and in so saying thought he promised him as good a place as he had He could make him no more To this place had the King advanced these two and these two were they that sought this That it should be sought at all evill that these should seek it too bad They that if others had sought it should have staid their hands these to lay on their own to seek it themselves All men know it was no meane preferment early and late to be so neer Assuerus's person They had meanes thereby to do themselves much good So had they to do others much hurt if they were not the better men But for others hurt it skills not if they had not thereby had the meanes to do Assuerus himselfe if the Devill so farr prevailed with him as he did Of his chamber Dapifer his dish Pincerna his cup Keepers of his body principall keepers if they seek to lay their hands they will soon find what they seek the more dangerous they the more his danger by them a great deale And is not this heavinesse to death when they that were so honoured proove so unkind when they that so trusted so untrue and may we not take up the Wise man's Oh O wicked presumption whence art thou sprung up to cover the face of the earth Stay a little and looke upon them as ye would upon a couple of monsters Ecclus. â—7 3 1 To seek this in Regem alone were too much to breake their Duety to their Liege Lord if there were no more but that to lay their hands on him for whom they should lay downe their lives 2 Add then not to a King onely but to such a King nor to their Liege Lord alone but to so good and gracious a Lord that had done them so great favours placing them so neer him trusting them so farre honouring them so greatly For no honouâ— to trust no trust to the chiefe trust of all More then heathenâ—sh wickednesse this to render evill for good and whose wealth they of all other bound to seek to seek his ruine 3 And they came not to that place but they were sworne to vilifie their oath then and to teare in pieces the strongest band of religion The hands that had taken that oath those hands to lay on him 4 To betray their trust to him that had layd his innocent life in their hands and to make their trust the opportunitie of their treacherie 5 In a word of the chiefe Keepers of his body to become the chiefe seekers of his bloud the chiefe enemies to his body and life and all What can be said evill enough of these Say it were lawfull in any case it is not lawfull in any but say it were to lay hands on a King yet they in all reason of all others should not have been the doers Etsi ille dignus perpeti at non tu qui faceres tamen Were not these monsters then Was not their condemnation just It grieves me I have stayed so long on them yet if I have made them and their fact odious it grieves me not What was the matter What could move them thus to play the wretches 3. The cause wherefore They were angry Why they should not many and good reasons we see Why they did none in the Text but that they were angrie and that is no reason but a passion that makes men â—o cleane against reason many times Bigthan was angrie and Thares as angrie as he Yet if it be but a little anger it will over Indeed such it may be it will What manner anger was it The word is a shrewd word signifies an anger will not go down with the Sunne Ephes. 4.25 will not be appeased What speake we of the word their deeds shew as much We see nothing would satisfie them but his life Nothing serve but lay hands on him That they sought so angrie they were What angred them then No cause is set downe And none I thinke there was If there had we should have beene sure to have heard of it For men to be angrie without a cause and even with Superiors it is no new thing Well if no cause some colour yet if not that some shadow at least Somewhat we are to seek why they did seeke this If there be in the Text eny thing to lead us to it it is in the first words or not at all In those daies In those angrie they were as much to say as before those daies they were not but in those then they were Els there is no cause to mention that of the daies but to make this difference Out of the Text nothing can be picked els Angry for Assueru's choise of Esther Why what daies were those That goes immediately before The dayes wherein Assuerus had made choise of Esther to match with her and make her his Queene and had made a great feast upon it At the feast it seemes they surfeited they could not brook that match at eny hand Some ambitious desire of theirs disappointed by it likely that was the cause This was faine to serve for the occasion for lack of a better A bad one we say is better then none What the Great King of Persia finde no match in all his owne brave Nation Never a Persian Lady serve him but he must to this vile base people the Iewes his captives his slaves to picke him a match thence What a disparagement is this to all the Persian blood It would make eny true Persian heart rise against it
them We have formerly moved and resolved the question out of the Gospell we have once or twise called to joy out of the Psalmeâ— The barbarousnesse of the act and the parties to it hath been iustly inveighed against A time given to each of these And shall we not allow one day to the magnifying of Him and His mercies that was the cause of all It should have had the first day by right Psal 145.9 and we were pointed to it by Misericordia Domini super omnia opera Ejus Well at last now in this seventh yeare this annus Sabbaticus let us make it our Sabboth rest upon it and put it of no longer Be this day dedicated to the celebrating of them To this end though all the Scripture over GOD 's mercie be much spoâ—en of for where shall ye light but ye shall finde it upon one occasion or other yet to fitt this day and our case as it fell out this day in my poore conceipt none in any other booke falleth out so just commeth so home as this verse to this day It was the mercies c. as upon the opening will fall out Which though it be in the booke yet is nothing of the nature of the booke The Summe and Division The verse is a Recognition or acknowledgement I may add a just and joyfull recognition And that double 1 That we were not consumed and 2 Why we were not So it standeth on two parts 1 That we were not a happie effect 2 Why we were not it was GOD 's mercie the cause of that and all other our happinesse The effect is in these words Non sumus consumpti Of which 1 Consumpti is the danger and 2 Non sumus the deliverance The cause in these words Misericordiae Domini quòd non And there first 1 Non we were not 2 And then there was a cause quòd non that we were not 3 Then that cause was GOD 's mercie 1 Which we take in sunder It was GOD first that did it 2 Then it was His mercie that moved Him to it In the mercie three things we finde 1 Misericordiae more then one many mercies 2 Compassions or as the native signification of the word is bowells the bowells of mercie that speciall kind 3 And those have this propertie they faile not or which is all one consume not not they and so not we Their not consuming is the cause we were not consumed Then last our Recognition That seeing His mercies faile not us that we faile not them seeing they consume not nor we by their meanes that our thankfullnesse doe not neither that it fall not into a consumption But that in imitation of the three we render him 1 plurall thankes 2 and these from the bowells and 3 that uncessantly without failing And this not in words onely but in some realitie some worke of mercie tending to preserve those that are neere consumpti pyning away Plaine it is a danger there was Els vaine were the Recognition I. The Effâ—ct That danger is sett downe in the word Consumpti some consuming there should have beene 1. The danger some such matter was in hand A word even as it were of purpose chosen for us for iâ— forteth just with our danger as may be Consuming may be more waies then one but no way so proper Consumpti igâ—â— as by the element of â—ire Confector consumptor omnium saith the Heathen man that makes away and consumes all things It is the proper peculiar Epithete of that Element Consuming fire and the common phrase of the Holy Ghost is consumed by fire This fitts us right Heb 12.29 Luk 9.54 2 Con-sumpti i. Simul sumâ—tâ— â— Personally Fire it was consuming fire should have consumed us it was a fierie consumption Then Con-sumpti in proprietie is nothing but simul sumpti Con is simul in composition All taken all put together and an end made of all And was it not so with us King and Prince Lords Spirituall and Temporall Iudges Knights Citizens Burgesses and a great number besides of spectators and auditors that day out of all the flower of the Kingdome all couped up together under one roofe and then blowen up all This is simul sumpti and consumpti both Will ye any more for companie This was but personall take the reall too lead stone â— Really timber windowes walls roofes foundations and all must have up too an universall desolation of all both personall and reall That the stone out of the wall Habac. 2.11 and the beame out of â—â—e frame if they could speake might say and we are in simul sumpti and consumpti too all layd wast not one stone standing upon another This was right consumpti Matt. 24.2 spent indeed where nothing left person or things with life or without utter havock made of all Thus farre might Ieremie goe and match us in these three I will touch two or three more beyond him that we may see our case should have beene more lamentable then the booke of lamentations it selfe 1. There was no fire in Ieremie's time none but of wood and cole and no consuming but that way and that fire consumes by degrees peece and peece one peece fire while one is wood still so that one may save a brand's end for a need But this was a 〈◊〉 Ieremie never knew of nor many ages after was ever heard of takes all at once No brand heere no pulling out of the fire no saving any heere is quicke worke Zach. 3.2 all done â—â—d past as soone as the paper burnt â— Another In this of the Prophet's they had faire warning There was a campe â—â—â—ched three severall times in Iehoiakim Iechonias Zedechia's daies they had time to â—â—ke themselves readie But in ours facti essemus sicut Sodoma our destruction had bâ—ene like that of Sodome no camp pitched there but sodainly in a moment Ron. 9.29 to the hazard of many a soule that were I doubt me but evill prepared if they had beene 〈◊〉 sodainly surpâ—ised And that had been a lamentable consumpti indeed of both â—â—die and soule the body heer the soule eternally A terrible blow indeed and we â—â—â—uld not have knowen who would have hurt us 3. Now we doe as hap is and therein we leave Ieremie behind againe It was 〈◊〉 open enemie offered this Vsually destruction commeth from them So did this 〈◊〉 Text from the Chaldees not onely strangers but in open hostilitie with the 〈◊〉 But in ours they were not so much as strangers but borne subjects of one and 〈◊〉 same countrie tongue and allegiance The more lamentable to be consumed by 〈◊〉 sâ—lves to be shott through with an arrow the feathers whereof grew on our owne 〈◊〉 So they were naturally but when they fell once to this unnaturall designe 〈◊〉 â—hen they fell on consuming they were no longer men all humanitie was quite 〈◊〉 in them And this was the danger To
judicium Iam. 2.13 Mercie had not been above all his workes even justice and all it had been evill with us Mercie it was Iustice it was not For then our owne good deserts might procure it as due to them and so we come about againe to find the first cause in our selves because we were this or that All commeth to one if it were our owne fore-sight it was not God and if it were our owne merit it was not He neither But for this I appeale to our selves For I verily think if we would but call to mind and heer now I would that every man would call to mind in what case he was for his soule to God-ward at that very time whither in state of sinne or of grace Sure if we did but returne to our hearts and there as Salomon speaketh cognoscere quisque plagam cordis sui every man feele how his heart beats 1. Reg 8.28 that heart of ours would soon tell us Best claime not by justice Best even confesse with Ieremie It was God and God's mercie without more adoe We were in consumpti if it were but our consuming sins 1. If but of what then was and may I not say still is consumed and wasted What huge summs in superfluitie not of belly and back and worse matters 2. Our time if but the consuming of it in ease and idlenesse and too well knowne fruits of them both 3. Of the Service of God that is quite consumed by most of us now fallen to but a sermon if that and how little like a Sermon we heare it and lesse I feare after regard it 4. Of God's Name that runns wast and our blessed SAVIOVR that is even peecemeale consumed in our mouthes by all manner oathes and execrations and that without any need at all These with other sinnes that fret like a moth and creep like a canker to the consuming of our soules we should find that as it was our enemie's purpose we should have beene consumed so it was our desert to have beene consumed and that it was His mercie onely we were not consumed This is the true cause God's mercie In which note these two how fitly it answereth and meets both with 1 our consuming and 2 with us 1. As the crueltie of man was the cause we should have been so full against it the mercie of God the cause we were not The true cause of our safetie God's mercie as of our destruction man's crueltie 2. Again to provide that being out of our consumption we fall not into presumption and so pluck a worse judgement upon us The mercie of God against our desert Our desert it was to have been His mercie it was we were not His justice for our deserts would have come upon us It was His mercie turned His justice from us upon them His justice would have subscribed the sumus His mercie it was that gave the Non and stayed it Glorie be to God and to his mercie for it Which mercie yeeldeth us three things to be observed 1 The number 2 the nature and 3 the propertie 1. The number that it is not misericordia but misericordiae not one but many His mercies 1 Their number even a pluralitie of them A multitude of them because a multitude of us They many because we many We many and our sinns many more and where sinnes are multiplied there a multiplicitie of mercies is needfull Ne fortè non sufficiant nobis vobis lest there be not enough for both Houses and for all three Estates in them Mat 25 9. For so is it to be wished there may be a representation of all His meâ—cies as that Assemblie is the representation of all the Realme that so there may be enough for all 2. But then of mercie the cause heer is set down another cause because His compassions faile not How hangs this together Thus the word 2 Their nature which heer is turned compassions in very deed properly signifieth the bowells It is to shew that not mercies nor a number of them at large from any place or any kind would serve for this worke but a certaine speciall kind of choise mercies was required and those are they that issue from the bowells misericordiae viscerum or viscera misericordiae which you will You shall find them together in some speciall works of God such as this was These are the choise for of all parts the bowells melt relent yeeld yerne soonest Consequently the mercies from them of all other the most tender and as I may say the mercie most mercifull The bâ—st 1 both because they are not drie but full of affection and come cheerfully An easie matter to discerne between a drie mercie and a mercie from the bowells 2 And because to mercie one may be enclined by somwhat from without when thâ—â— failes where are we then But the bowells are within Him and when we have brought the cause within Him we are safe Quando causam sumit de Se visceribus Suiâ— that mercie is best and yeeldeth the best comfort But in this word of the Prophet's there is yet more then bowells 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were enough for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are more are the bowells or vessells neerâ— the wombe neere the loynes In a word not viscera onely but parentum viscera the bowells of a father or mother those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which adds more force a great deale See them in the parable Luk. 15 20. of the father towards his riotous lewd Sonne when he had consumed all vitiouslie his fatherly bowells of compassion failed him not though See them 2. Sam. 18 8. in the Storie In David toward his ungratious ympe Absalon that sought his crowne sought his life abused his Concubines in the sight of all Israël yet heare the bowells of a father Be good to the youth Absalon hurt him not use him welâ— for my sake 1. Reg. 3.26 See them in the better harlot of the twaine Out of her motherly bowells rather give away her childe quite renounced it rather then see it hurt This is mercie heere is compassion indeed ô paterna viscera miserationum when we have named them a multitude of such mercies as come from a father's bowells we have said as much as we can say or can be said And mention of this word is not unfiâ—t whither we regard them our enemies per quos itum est in viscera terrae in which place GOD 's bowells turned against them and toward us or wither we thinke that His bowells had pitie on our so many bowells as should have flowen about all the ayre over and light some in the streets some in the river some beyond it some I know not where Now that which maketh up all is the propertie last putt quia non dâ—ficiunt or which is all one non consumuntur 1 Their property faile not or as ye may read it consume not And
substantia 2. That cause is a Person a single or determinate substance of a Nature indued with reasâ—n It is not Res bruta velmuta no dumbe thing or without understanding is cause of them He speakes we heare saith Per Me. And His very last words before these Ver. 14. be I am understanding Against those that doe Iovi mensam ponere ascribe it to the Position of the starres Esa. 65.11 to this or that Planet in the Ascendent No it is not de luminibus they be no Persons Iac. 1.17 but de Patre luminum He is So a cause there is and no impersonall cause but Per Me a Person 3. Another person beside themselves 1 Reg. 1.5 Psal. 44 6. What Person Per Me regnant and that is not Per se regnant so another person it is besides themselves one different from them That they reigne is not by or from themselves but by or from some other besides Regnabo saith Adonijab but he fayled it would not be To teach him it is not Per se by their owne bow or sword nor Marte nor Arte they raigne And so to sacrifice to them It is not their owne place they sit in nor their owne power they execute Abac. 1.16 It is derived from another person Ipse est qui fecit nos non ipsi nos may they also say He it is that made us Ps. 100.3 and not we our selves A Person And another Person And who is that other Person Let me tell you this first It is but one Person 4. But one Person not many not many Per Me is the singular number It is not Per nos so it is not a plurality no â—ultitude they hold by That clayme is gone by Per Me one single person it is Per 〈◊〉 The other a Philosophicall conceit it came from from those that never had â—eard this Wisedome preach In this booke we finde not any Soveraigne power ever 〈◊〉 in any Body collective or derived from them This we find that God He is King Ps. 93.97.99 Dan. 4.14 Ier. 27.5 that the Kingdomes be His and to whom He will He giveth them That ever they came ouâ— of God's hand by any Per Me eny graunt into the People's hands to bestow that we fiâ—d not One Person it is I aske then this one Person who he is 5. That person neither man nor Angell this I finde at the XXIV ver That whosâ—â—ver he is He was when there were yet no Abyssi no depths nor no mountaines vpon the Earth nor the Earth it selfe He was before all these I find againe at the XXVII 〈◊〉 When the Heavens were spread a decree given to the Sea the foundations of the Earth 〈◊〉 laid He was there a Worker together with God Was at the making of all was â—â—â—selfe Maker of all So neither Man nor Angell they were not so ancient they 〈◊〉 nothing they were created themselves 〈◊〉 sileat omnis caro let all flesh keep silence And Omnis Spiritus too Zach. 2.13 in this point 〈◊〉 Me. Neither the spirit that said of the Kingdoms of the Earth All these are mine 〈◊〉 he that though he have hornes like the lambe yet speaketh words like the Dragon Mat. 4.9 Apoc. 13.11 These foure syllables are a supersedeas to all bookes or booke-makers for any man's Per Me any man's claime Acts 10.16 Heb. 5.2 It is no man And if no man then no Pope for he also is a man as Saint Peter saith He was And Cireâ—ndatus compassed with infirmities Saint Paul saith he is Sure he made not the Earth himselfe is made of earth The Abyssus the deep was made yer he ascended out of it the seven hills long before he sate on them Apoc. 13.1.17.9 He is not this Per Me they hold not of him they hold of Per Me that created heaven and earth And this Per Me will beare no Per alium besides He that must say Per Me Reges must also say Per Me Coelum Terra None but he that can say the one can say the other Therefore none with Him in this Per. None to step forth and rejoyne Etiam Per me and by me too Vnlesse he can say Etiam Per me coelum Terra Per alium then hath no place heer But might not the High-Priest claime deputation under Per Me For that there is a ruled case of it heer in him that was the setter downe of this Salomon Had the High-Priest had Abiathar ever a Per me for him It is well knowne his Per me went with Adonijah against Salomon His Per me if it could would have deposed Salomon But so farre was it from him to say Per me Salomon 1. Reg 1.7 that contrary Salomon might say and did Per me Abiathar Depose Salomon he could not deposed he was himself Non nobis Domine non nobis 1. Reg. 1.27 Psal. 115.1 would he have said It was Per Me the wrong way with him 6. But God Well then being neither man nor Angell since they made not the world God it must be of force There is in the reasonable nature no other person left but He And He it is He the partie that speaks By Me Kings I am the Cause that Kings reigne Then Reges quod sunt per Deum sunt Kings what they are by God they are In XIII ad RoÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome and a speciall dignifying of their states it is that so they are It was we find wont to be the usuall style yea even of Popes themselves writing to Kings to wish them health in Eo per quem Reges regnant in Him by whom Kings do reigne And that was neither Pope nor People but God alone whose proper style that is 7. God the Sonne By God then I aske yet further by what Person of the God-Head so farr we have warrant to go by this Text. It is Wisdome whose speech all this is No created wisdome but the Wisdome of God creating all things it selfe uncreate that is the Sonne of God For whom Salomon heer calleth Wisdome the same in the thirtieth Chapter after he tearmeth the Sonne What is His name speaking of God or What is His Sonn's name Chap 30.4 By Him by that Person do they reigne And now at the last are we come to the right Per Me. 1 As the middle cause Per the praeposition would teach us so much if there were nothing els Per dicit causam mediam it designeth a middle cause And He is the middle Person of the great Cause Causa causarum A Deo saith Saint Paul Per Me saith Salomon from God the Father Rom. 1â— 1 by God the Sonne We may know it It is CHRIST 's praepâ—sition this ever Per CHRISTVM Dominum nostrum â— As man And by Him most properly for in that He was to be man all the benefitts which were to come from
God to man were to come by Him He the Per of all among which this one of Regall Regiment is a principall one â— As Wisdome By Him againe Because He is Wisdome which I reckon worth a note that the Per of Kingdomes whereby they consist is not Power so properly the Attribute of the first as Wisdome the Attribute of the second Person they stand rather by Wisdome then force Besides Sapientis est ordinare saith the great Philosopher the proper worke of wisdome is to order And what is Anarchie but a disordered Chaos of Confusion Or what is Rule but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a setting and holding of all in good order This being Wisdome's proper worke this Per is most properly His. By Him yet again because on Him hath the Father conferred all the kingdomes of the Earth we read it Psal. II. We see Him Apoc. XIX with many crownes on his head â— As a â—ing Psal. 2.8 Apoc 19 12. Psal. 47.7 Psal 1â—â— 13 Meet then it was that the Kings of the severall quarters of the Earth should be by Him that is Rex universae terrae That the Kings of the several Ages of the world should be by Him who is Rex saculorum whose Dominion endureth throughout all 〈◊〉 a word Vt utrobique regnetur per Christum And that all Crownes both 〈◊〉 of glory in Heaven and the Crownes of highest dignitie heer on 〈◊〉 should be holden of Him all as all are Thus by this time we see 〈◊〉 Me who He is Now returne I to Per There is much in the right taking of this word The Manner Per. What Per 〈◊〉 There is a Per of permission as we say in the Latine Per me licet You may 〈◊〉 me Good leave have you I hinder you not Or as in English By Him 1 Not by Permission that 〈◊〉 him they came and He stopped them not Is this the Per Indeed some 〈◊〉 thing is blundered at as if God only permitted them And scarce that Tâ—us comes one of them forth with the matter and makes it the very first words of 〈◊〉 The Priest he is à Solo Deo but the King he is ex importunitate populi 〈◊〉 people importun'd God and He yeelded with much adoe aegrè his owne word 〈◊〉 His Will And so we must interpret Per Me that is Contrae me By me that is 〈◊〉 against my mind it is that Kings reigne but I beare them or beare with them Vpon 〈◊〉 matter this it is They would have Kings to be by Toleration onely And so by that â—er are all the evils and mischiefes in the world And are not Kings much beholden to these men thinke you But this Per we reject utterly It cannot be For though the Latin Per will â—eare this sense the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will by no meanes the phrase the â—me of the tongue will in no wise endure it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will admitt no permission nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neyther Away then with that How take we Per then What need we stand long about it having another Per 2 But by Commission Iohn 1.3 aâ—d of the same person to patterne it by Omnia per Ipsum facta sunt saith Saint Iohn â—nd the same saith Salomon by and by after in this Chapter Then as By Him all â—â—â—ngs made there so By Him Kings reigne heer The World and the Government of tâ—e world by the same Per both one and the same cause institutive of both That was 〈◊〉 by bare permission I trust no more these Per Ipsum they and if Per Ipsum per Verbum quia Ipse est Verbum For 3. By the Word how were tâ—ey the creatures made a Psal 146.5 Dixit facta sunt By the Word by Him And how these Kings By the same b Psal. 82.6 Ego dixi Even by the same that He himselfe c Psal. 110.1 Dixit hominus Domino meo As He then they d Iohn 10.35 And so doth CHRIST himselfe interpret 〈◊〉 dixi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Word came to them And what manner word was 〈◊〉 e Rom. 13.2 Saint Paul telleth us it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ordinance a word of high authority the Imperiall Decrees have no other name but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This now then is more than a 〈◊〉 of permission A Per of Commission it is A speciall warrant an ordinance Imperiâ—â—â— by which Kings reigne â—y Him then By what of Him by His VVill 4 By his Will Haec est voluntas Dei faith f 1 Pet 2.15 Saint 〈◊〉 and tibi in bonum saith g Rom. 13.4 1 Exprâ—ssed by his Word Saint Paul for thy good His will then His good 〈◊〉 toward men Expressed by his word Word of power we have heard And word of wisedome for He is VVisdome And word of Love for even h 1 Chr. 9.8 2 By His deed 1 Cor. 15.10 Because God loved 〈◊〉 did He set Salomon King over them Expressed by His word His word onely Nay His deed too His best deed His 〈◊〉 Dedi vobis Regem Gift of grace as even they acknowledge in their styles that 〈◊〉 Dei sunt quod sunt Given by Him sent by Him i Iob 86.7 Placed in their Thrones by 〈◊〉 k Psal. 18.39 Vested with their robes by Him l Psal. 8â— 20 Girt with their swords by Him m Psal. 21.3 Annoynted 〈◊〉 Crowned by Him All these By Him 's we have toward the understanding of 〈◊〉 Me so By Him as none are or can be By Him more â—â—pressed by His word and dâ—ed onely 3 By His Name Nay there is nothing but his Name 〈◊〉 name too so by His name as his very chiefest name CHRIST He 〈…〉 to them And that is not without mysterie to shew their neer alliance 〈◊〉 I have said Ye are Gods which of the persons that are each of them God it 〈◊〉 Filij Altissimi Sonnes of the most High Sonne Psal. 82.6 that is CHRIST 's name He the Person then to whom they are beholden He by whom they are To shew they are Sonnes and haue their descent properly from Him Apoc. 19.16 Rex Regum is 〈◊〉 His thigh and Meâ—â—hisedek His first King and his Type is Heb. 7.3 brought in without Father and without Mother to shew that Kings are the Generation of God 5. By Him and In Him By Him Nay more than By Him if you looke better upon the word There is no By in the Hebrew and yet the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that in true and exact proprietie rendered iâ— In Me not By Me The meaning is that they are first in Him and so come foorth from Him And yâ—t so from Him as still they be in Him both p Esay 62.3 Corona Regis saâ—e Eâ—â—y and q Ch. 21 1. Cor Regis saith Salomon their
serveth for a stirrup to mount us aloft in our own conceipts For where each of the former hath as it were his owne circuite as Wisdome ruleth in Counsaile Manhood in the Field Law in the Iudgement seat Divinitie in the Pulpitt Learning in the Schooles and Eloquence in Perswasion onely Riches ruleth without limitation Riches ruleth with them all ruleth them all and over-ruleth them all his Circuit is the whole world For which cause some think when he saith Charge the rich he presently addeth of this world because this world standeth altogether at the devotion of Riches and he may do what he wil in this world that is rich in this world So said the Wiseman long agoe Pecuniae obediunt omnia all things answer Money Money mastereth all things they all answer at his call Eccles 10.19 and they all obey at his commandement Let us go lightly over them al you shall see that they all els have their severall predicaments to bound them and that Riches is onely the transcendent of this world Wisdome ruleth in Counsaile so do Riches for we see Ezra 4.5 in the Court of the great King Artaxerxes there were Counsailors whose wisdome was to be commanded by riches even to hinder a publique benefit the building of the Temple Manhood ruleth in the warre so do riches Experience teacheth us it is so It is said it was they that wan Deventer and that it was they and none but they that drave the Switzers out of France and that without stroke strooken Law governeth in the Seat of Iustice so do Riches and oftentimes they turne justice it selfe into wormewood by a corrupt Sentence but more often doth it turne Iustice into vineger by long standing and infinite delayes yer Sentence will come forth Divinitie ruleth in the Church and Pulpit so do Riches For with a sett of silver peeces saith Augustine they brought Concionatorem mundi the Preacher of the world IESVS CHRIST to the Barre and the Disciple is not above his Master Learning ruleth in the Schooles so do Riches And indeed there Money setteth us all to schoole For to say the truth Riches have so ordered the matter there as Learning is now but the Vsher Money he is the Master the Chaire it self and the disposing of the Chaire is his too Eloquence ruleth in perswasion and so do Riches when Tertullus had laboured a goodly flowing oration against Paul Foelix looked that another Acts 24.27 a greater Orator should have spoken for him namely that Something should have been given him and if that Orator had spoken his short pithy sentence Tantum dabo Tertullus his oration had been cleane dasht Tantum dabo is a strange peece of Rhetorique Devise as cunningly pen as curiously as you can it overthrowes all Tantùm valent quatuor syllabae sâ—ch force is there in foure syllables Though indeed some think it being so unreasonable short as it is but two words that it cannot be the Rhetorique of it that worketh these strange effects but that there is some sorcerie or witchcraft in them in Tantum 〈◊〉 And surely a great Sorcerer Simon Magus used them to Peter and it may well be so for all estates are shrewdly bewitched by them I must end Acts 8 1â— for it is a world to thinke and tell what the â—iâ—h of the world may do in the world So then â—iâ—hes seeing they may do so much it is no marvell though they be much sort by Et divites cum habeant quae magni fiunt ab omnibus quid mirum si ab omnibus ipsi magnifiant cum magnifiant ab omnibus quid mirum si à se Rich men having that which is much sett by no marvell though of all men they be much sett by and if all other men sett much by them no marvell if they sett much by themselves and to sett much by a mans selfe that is to be high-minded It is our owne Proverb in our owne tongue Arriseth our good so riseth our blood And Saint Augustine saith that Each fruit by kind hath his worme breeding in it as the Peare his the Nutt his and the Beane hiâ— So Riches have their worme Et vermis divitiarum Superbia and the worme of riches is Pride Wherof we see a plaine proofe in Saul Who while he was in a poore estate that his boy he could not make five pence between them was as the Scripture saith 1. Sam 9.21 low in his owne eyes after when the wealth and pleasant things of Israël were his he grew so sterne as he forgatt himselfe his friends and GOD too and at every word that liked him not was ready to runne David Ionathan and every one through with his javeline It is very certaine where riches are there is great danger of pride I desire you to thinke there is so and not to putt me to justifie GOD'S wisedome heerein in perswading and proving that this charge is needfull for you that be rich Psal. 62.10 that it was needfull for the Prophet to preach under the Law If riches encrease sett not your heart on the top of them Let not that rise as they rise Nor for the other Prophet Pro. 30.9 Give me not riches lest I wax proud Nor for the Apostle Paul under the Gospell to say Charge them that be rich in this world that they be not high-minded I beseech you Honour GOD and ease me so much as to thinke there was high cause it should be in charge and that if a more principall sinne had been reigning in the rich this sinne should not have had the principall place as it hath How then what are you hable to charge any heere will some say It is not the manner of our Court nor of any Court that I know To us it belongeth onely to deliver the Charge and to exhort that if none be proud none would be and if any be they would be lesse and if any be not humble they would be and if any be humble they would be more You that are the Court your part is to enquire and to present and to endite and that every one in his owne conscience as in the presence of GOD unto Him to approve your innocencie or of Him to sue for your pardon You find none you will say I would to GOD you might not When a Iudge at an Assize giveth his charge concerning treason and such like offenses I dare say he would with all his heart that his charge might be in vaine rather then any Traitor or Offendor should be found A Physitian when he hath tempered and prepared his potion if there be in him the heart of a true Physitian desireth I know that the potion might be cast downe the kennell so that the patient might recover without it So truly it is the desire of my heart CHRIST he knoweth that this charge may not find one man guilty amongst all these hearers amongst so many men not one
that many times d Tim. 1.7 affirming things they know not and e Iude 10. confuâ—ing things they have little skill of Now seeing we take not upon us to deale in cases of your Law or in matters of your Trade we take this is a stretching beyond your line That in so doing you are f Hos. 4.4 a people that controll the Priest that you are too high when you g 1. Thes. 5 12. set your selves over them that are over you in the Lord and that this is no part of that h Rom. 12.4 sober wisdome which S. Paul commendeth to you but of that cup-shotten wisdome which he there condemneth Which breaking compasse and outreacâ—ing is no doubt the cause of these lamentable rents and ruptures in the Lord's Nett in our dayes For Only by pride commeth contention saith the Wise man Which point I wish might be looked upon and amended Sure it will marre all in the end Thirdly if any man lift up himselfe too high any of both these wayes GOD hath taken order to abate him and take him downe for He hath appointed his Prophetts to i Hos 6.6 prune those that are too high and he hath ordeined his word to k 2. Cor. 10.4 bring downe every imagination that shal be exalted against it Now then if there be any man that shall seek to set himselfe without the shot of it and is so high minded as that he cannot suffer the words of exhortation and where GOD hath said Charge them that be rich he cannot abide to heare any Charge and such there be sure that man without all question is very high-minded and if he durst he would teare out this leafe and all other where like charge is given through the Bible Of Naball it is recorded l 1. Sam. 25.17 He was so surly a man might not speake to him Of m 2 Sam 3.7 Abner a great man and a speciall stay of the house of Saul that upon a word spoken of his adulterous life with one of Saul's minions he grew to such choler that he forgat all and laid the plot that cost his Master Ishbosheth his kingdome Micheah prophesied good things that is to say profitable to Ahab the event shewed it yet because he did not prophesie good things that is such as Ahab would heare he spared not openly to professe he hated him and whereas the false Prophets were fedd at his owne table and fared no worse then he and the Queen he tooke order for Micheach-his diet that it should be the bread of affliction and the water of trouble 1. King 22. and all for a charge-giving These were I dare boldly affirme high-minded men in their generations If any be like these they know what they are If then there be any that refuse to be pruned and trimmed by the word of GOD 1 Who either when he heareth the words of the charge m Deut 29.19 blesseth himselfe in his heart and saith Tush he doth but prate these things shall not come upon me though I walk still according to the stubbornesse of mine owne heart 2 Either in hearing the word of GOD takes upon him his flesh and bloud and he to sitt on it and censure it and say to himselfe one while this is well spoken while his humor is served another while this is foolishly spoken now he babbleth because the Charge sitts somwhat neer him 3 Either is in the Pharisee's case which after they have heard the Charge do as they did at CHRIST 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n Gal. 1.16 jest and scoffe and make themselves merry with it and wash it downe with a cup of sack and that o Luke 16.14 because they were covetous If in very deed p Ier. 6.10 the word of God be to them a reproch and they take like delight in both and well were they if they might never heare it and to testifie their good conceipt of the word shew it in the account of the Ephod which is a base contemptible garment in their eyes and the word in it and with it this is Micholl's case Whosoever is in any of these men's cases is in the case of a high-minded man and that of the highest degree for they lift themselves up not against earth and man but against heaven and GOD himself O beloved you that be in wealth and authoritie love and reverence the word of GOD. It is the root that doth heare you It is the Majestie thereof that keepeth you in your thrones and maâ—etâ— you be that you are Psal. 82.5 But for Ego dixi Dij estis a parcell-commission out of this â—â—mmission of ours the madnesse of the people would beare no government but runne â—â—adlong and overthrow all chaires of estate and breake in peeces all the swords and sâ—epters in the world which you of this Citie had a strange experience of in Iack Straw and his meiny and keepe a memoriall of it in your Citie scotcheon how all had gone downe if this Word had not held all up And therefore honour it I beseech you I say honour it For when the highest of you your selves which are but grasse and your Lordship's glory and Worship which is the flower of this grasse shall perish and passe away Esay 40.8 this Word shall continue for ever And if you receive it now with due regard and reverence it will make you also to continue for ever This is your Charge touching the first branch I beseech you enquire of it whither there be any guilty in these points And if there be suffer us to doe our Office that is to humble you or els sure the Lord will do His that is pull downe riches and mind and man and all Patimini falcem occantem ne patiamini securim extirpantem GOD will not suffer it certenly He would not suffer it in a q Deut. 17.20 King He would not suffer it in an r Iude 6. Angel He cannot beare it to rise in an s 1. Cor. 12.7 Apostle for the greatnesse of revelations therefore He will not beare it in any man for any cause whatsoever Let this be the conclusion of this point We shall never have pride well pluckt up so long as the root of it sticks still that is 2. The second Point Not to trust in uncertaine riches a Vaine confidence in riches For if we doubted them we would not trust in them we would not boast of them But we trust in them and that inordinately as counter-meanes against GOD not subordinately as under-meanes unto GOD and in so doing we translate GOD 's Office unto us and our homage unto Him to a plate of silver or a wedge of Gold And that is Saint Paul saith the worldly man's idolatrie And indeed there is little difference It is but turning the sentence of the Prophet David Col. 3.5 Psal. 135 15. of Idolaters to say thus their Idols are silver and
his and Ieroboam his But Abimelech with his needy indigent Sichemites Roboam with his youthe that never stood before Salomon c 2. Chro. 13.7 Ieroboam with his crue of malcontents Sonns of Belial shall I call any of these Synagoga Deorum I cannot I see no lineaments no resemblance at all nothing for which this name should once be vouchsafed them of Godds Nay nor scarse of Synagoga neither as deserving not onely to be left out of the list of Godds but even to be put extra Synagogam Scarse a Synagogue much lesse of Godds After in this Psalme at the V. Verse they are told as much when by their ignorantibus or non intelligentibus things were growen out of course And told it by GOD Himselfe and that with a kinde of indignation that he had said they were Godds and they carried themselves scarse like men gone from their names quite But I leave them and come to this of ours But ours we wish to be such There is not in the world a more reasonable request then this what you would be that to be what you would be in name that to be indeed to make good â—our name Every one to be Homo homini Deus by doing good Specially that good which is the good of all that is the good of this Assembly This the time and place for it And so my wish is you may and my trust is you will And so I leave Deorum the Godds of the Congregation and come to Synagoga the Congregation it selfe For when we consider these Godds each apart they are as in Ezechiel II. The Congregation of the Godds Eze. 1.20 Every spirit on his wheele and every wheele in his owne course when they are at home in their severall countries But when as in a Congregation then are they to come to be togither And this if cause be GOD alloweth well of God alloweth such congregations when there is â—ause 1. For he hath to that end left with his Lieutenant a power d Num. 10.34 to blow the trumpetts one or both to call togither a part or the whole Congregation By the Trumpetts while they were all within the Trumpett's sound But after when they were settled all Canaan over to call them by the penn of the writer that is by VVrit Of which we have a faire example Iud. 5.14 2. For secondly He hath willed the Angels of his Church by the Angel's example Iud 5.23 to lay Meroz's curse to them that come not to it 3. For thirdly He heere calleth their meeting by the name of a Synagogue which is a Holy place a Sanctuarie a High place or Court of refuge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies all these 4. For fourthly He hath to that end spared them a peece of his owne Temple to have their meetings in e 1. Chro. 16.15 On the south side of it called twise by the name of Asuppim which was to them as the Parlament-house is to us that so their feete might stand on holy ground And they knew 〈◊〉 〈…〉 common or 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacred Assembly to him 〈…〉 he hath set them 〈◊〉 a Monitorie Psalme of this to put them 〈◊〉 how to beare themselves in iâ— like Godds that is Divinely 〈◊〉 For last when they are togiâ—her He comes himself in person and stands â—mong them All which sheâ— he favours and likes well such Assemblies as this The causâ— of the meeting of such Congretions But then there must be a Cause And indeed els it is Concursus atomorum rather then Congregatio Deorum Thus many so goodly a Company to 〈◊〉 to no end GOD forbidd If the Apostle had not Nature doth 〈…〉 1. Cor. 11.17 When we come togither to come togither for the better not for the 〈…〉 And nothing is worse then to come togither for nothing 〈◊〉 as Dehora saith well g Iud. 5.16 stay at home and heare the bleating of their 〈◊〉 This be farr from any Assembly specially the Assembly of the Godds who are heerin to imitate GOD who doth nothing in vaine or without a cause This cause double 1 One from Synagoga â— The other froÌ„ Deorum If you aske me the cause the two words themselves Synagoga and Deorum conteine either of them a cause of it As a Congregation for the good of the Congregation As Godds Caetus Deorum Caetus Dei saith Saint Hierom the Congregation of Godds is GOD'S Congregation As his for him for his honour who gave them theirs to the high pleasure of that GOD whose Ego dixi Godded them all And so as I remember it is written In capite libri the first page or front of your acts To the high pleasure of almighty GOD there lo is GOD and for the weale publique there is the Congregation Not this onely heere the Congregation of Godds but the Congregation of men I know not how many all the Land over even the gâ—â—at Congregation 1. From Synagoga when it is in danger Learne a parable of the Naturall Body If there be no other cause each Member is left to looke to it selfe but if there be any danger toward the whole body presently all the parts are summoned as it were to come togither and every Veine sends his bloud and every sinnew his strength and every arterie his spirits and all draw togither about the heart for a while till the safety of the whole be provided for and then returne back every one to his place againe So is it with the Body Civill in case of danger The danger of two sorts 1 Ordinarie â— Or upon speciall occasion â— Ordinary By Synagoge vitiorâ—â— and never but in it But is there any danger then towards There is and that to both To the Synagogue first and that from a twofold Synagogue and of two sorts 1 One continuall or ordinarie 2 The other not so but speciall and upon occasion The danger this Psalme expresseth thus Ver. V. That things are brought out of course 〈…〉 yea foundations and all Thus there be I may cal them a synagogue for they be many of these same mali mores that like 〈…〉 shoot out dayly no man knowes whence or how never heard of before These if they be suffered to grow will bring all out of course And grow they doe 〈…〉 for even of them some that have paenalties â—â—â—ready set â— know not how such a head they get as they outgrow their punishments that if this Congregation grind not on a new a sharper edge they will bring things yet further out of Course Besides those that should keep all in course b Ex legibus depravatis the Lawes themselves are in danger too There be a sort of men I may well say of the Synagogue of Satan that give their waies and bend their witts to nothing but even to devise how to fret through the Lawes as soon as they be made
where plaine meaning and dealing without as Esai calls them these same deepe digged devises 3 where the eye is upon idipsum and no ipsum els Esai 29.15 4 where GOD is not constreined to dwell in Mesech but the People and their Governours offer willingly there stands GOD and there will he ever stand Of that place he saith haec est requies mea This is my rest heere will I stay Psal. 132.14 for I have a delight therein Thus doing then thus procuring our Assembly thus qualified we performe our duty to GOD and to his standing And this done we shall never need to feare judicabit come when it will And now to conclude Mine unfeined hearty prayer to GOD is and dayly shal be that if ever in any he would stand in this Congregation And if ever any used the meanes so to procure him we may use them The rather that Ecclesia malignantium the malignant Synagogue may not aske with derision Where was then their GOD Where stood he To have regard what wil be said abroad Psal. 26.5 Behind the wall sure not in the Assembly Such proceedings and His standing will never stand togither But rather that all may say Verily GOD was among them Of a truth GOD stood in that Congregation where with so good accord 1. Cor. 2.14 so good things so readily were passed CHRIST was in the midst of them His holy Spirit rested on them Yet I know what men say of or on is not it what GOD saith that is all in all To men we doe not To GOD we stand or fall whose judicabit we cannot scape either the one way or the other but have a judicabit 〈◊〉 us that we may if we yield his standing all due respect Even Euge 〈…〉 〈…〉 â— 23 intra in gaudium Domini which in the end will be worth all But iâ— any shall say O the time is long to that peradventure not so long though as we reckon well yet in the mean time now for the present it stands us in hand to use him well and our selves well to him For it he stand not to us we shall not subsist we shall not stand but fall before our enemies This time is now this danger is aâ— hand 〈…〉 our 〈◊〉 use of 〈◊〉 â—gainst our 〈◊〉 Vse him well then Stand before Him thus standing with all due reverence and regard that as by His presence he doth stand among us so he may not onely doe that but by His Mercie also stand by us and by His Power stand for us So shall we stand and withstand all the adverse forces and at last for thither at last we must all come stand in His judgement Stand there upright To our comfort for the present of His standing by us And to our endlesse comfort for the time to come of his judging for us A SERMON PREACHED AT CHESVVICK IN THE time of Pestilence AVGVST XXI An. Dom. MDCIII PSAL. CVI. VER XXIX XXX Thus they provoked him to anger with their owne inventions and the Plague was great or brake in among them Then stood up Phinees and prayed or executed iudgement and so the Plague was ceased or stayed HER is mention of a Plague of a great Plague For there died of it Num. 3 5.9 four twenty thousand And we complaine of a Plague at this time The same axe is layd â—o the root of our trees Or rather because an axe is long in cutting downe of one tree the Rasor is hired for us Esai 7.20 that sweeps away a great number of haires at once as Esai calleth it or a Scithe that mowes downe grasse a great deale at once But heere is not onely mention of the Breaking in of the Plague in the XXIX Verse but of the staying or ceasing of the Plague in the XXX Now whatsoever things were written aforetime Rom. 5.4 were written for our learning and so was this Text. Vnder one to teach us how the Plague comes and how it may be stayed 〈…〉 The Plague is a disease In every disease we consider the Cause and the Câ—re Both which are heere set forth unto us in these two Verses In the former the Cause how it comes In the latter the Cure how it may be staid To know the Cause is expedient for if we know it not our Cure will be but palliative as not going to the right And if knowing the Cause we add not the Cure when we are taught it who will pity us For none is then to blame but our selves Of the Cause first and then of the Cure The Cause is set downe to be â—wofold 1 GOD'S anger And 2 their inventions GOD'S anger by the which and their inventions for the which the Pâ—ague brake in among them The Cure is likewise set downe and it is twofold out of two significations of one word the word Palal in the Verse Phinees prayed some read it Phinees executed iudgement some other and the word beares both Two then 1 Phinees's Prayer one 2 Phinees's executing judgement the other by both which the Plague ceased His prayer referring to GOD'S anger His executing judgement to their inventions GOD 's wrath was appeased by his prayer Prayer referrs to that Their inventions were removed by his executing of judgement The execution of judgement referrs to that If his anger provoked doe send the Plague His anger appeased will stay it If our inventions provoke his anger the punishing of our inventions will appease it The one worketh upon GOD pacifieth Him 〈…〉 The other worketh upon our soule and cures it For there is a cure of the soule no lesse then of the body as appeareth by the Psalme 〈…〉 Heale my soule for I have sinned against thee We are to beginn with the Cause of the plague in the first Verse And so to come to the Cure in the second I. 〈…〉 Cause OF the Cause 1 First that there is a Cause 2 And secondly What that Cause may be 〈…〉 ther is 1. That there is a cause that is that the plague is a thing causall not casuall comes not meerly by chance but hath somewhat some cause that procureth it Sure if a Sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of GOD of which two are sold for a farthing 〈…〉 10 2â— much lesse doth any man or woman which are more worth then many Sparrowes And if any one man comes not to his End as we call it by casualtie but it is GOD 〈◊〉 21.13 that delivers him so to die How much more then when noâ— onâ— â—uâ— many thousands are swept away aâ— once The Philistins in their plague put the matter upon triall of both these waies Whither it were God's hand 2 Or wither it were but a chance And the event shewed it was no casualtie but the very handy-worke of GOD upon them And indeed the very name of the Plague doth tel us as much or Deber in
hebrew sheweth there is a reason there is a cause why it commeth 1. Sam. 6.9 And the english word Plague comming from the Latine word Plaga which is properly a stroke necessarily inferreth a Cause For where there is a stroke there must be One that striketh And in â—hat both it and other evill things that come upon us are usually in scripture called Gods judgements If they be iudgements it followeth there is a Iudge they come from They come not by adventure by chance they come not Chance and Iudgement are utterly opposite Not Casually then but Iudicially Iudged we are For when we are chastened we are judged of the Lord. 1 Cor. 11.32 There is a Cause Now what that Cause is Concerning which 1. That Cause is 1. Naturall if you aske the Physitian he will say the cause is in the aire The Aire is infected the Humors corrupted the Contagion of the sicke comming to and conversing with the sound And they be all true causes The Aire For so we see by casting * The aire infected ashes of the furnace towards heaven in the aire the aire became infected and the plague of botches and blaines was so brought forth in Egypt * Exod. 9.8 The Humors For to that doth King David ascribe the Cause of his disease that is that his moisture in him was corrupt dried up 2 The Humors corrupted Psal. 32.4 turned into the drought of Summer Contagion Which is cleare by the Law where the leprous person 3 Contagion Levit. 13.45.46 52. for feare of contagion from him was ordered to crie that no body should come neere him To dwell apart from other men The clothing he had worn to be washed and in some case to be burnt The house-walls he had dwelt in to be scraped and in some case the house it self to be pulled downe In all which three respects Salomon saith Pro. 14.16 A wise man feareth the Plague and departeth from it and fooles runne on and be carelesse A wise man doth it and a good man too For King David himselfe durst not go to the Altar of GOD at Gibeon to enquire of GOD there because the Angel that smot the people with the plague stood betweene him and it 1. Chro. 21.30 that is because he was to passe through infected places thither But as we acknowledge these to be true that in all diseases 2 Supernaturall By which GOD. and even in this also there is a Naturall cause so we say there is somewhat more something Divine and above â—ature As somewhat which the Physitian is to looke unto in the plague so likewise something for Phinees to do and Phinees was a Priest And so some worke for the Priest as well as for the Physitian and more then it may be It was King Asa's fault He in his sicknesse looked all to Physitians and looked not after GOD at all That is noted as his fault It seems 〈…〉 It seemes his concâ—it was there was nothing in a disease but 〈◊〉 nothing but bodily which is not so For infirmitie is not only 〈◊〉 bodily there is a Spirit of infirmitie we finde Luc. 13.11 And some 〈◊〉 spirituall there is 〈◊〉 infirmities something in the soule to 〈◊〉 â—ealed In all â—ut specially in this Wherein that we might knoâ— it to be spirituâ—ll we finde it oft times to be executed by spirits We see an 〈◊〉 destroying Angel 〈…〉 12.13 in the Plague of Egypt another in the Plague in Swaâ—â—â—rib'â— Campe 〈…〉 â—7 36 〈…〉 21.16 〈…〉 16.2 a third in the Plague at Ierusalem under David 〈…〉 pouring his phiall upon earth and ther fell a noysome plague upo◠〈◊〉 and beast So that no man looketh deeply enough into the Cause of this sickenesse unlesse he acknowledge the Finger of God in it over 〈◊〉 â—bove any causes naturall 〈…〉 GOD then hath his part GOD But how affected GOD provoked to aâ—ger so it is in the Text his anger his wrath it is that bringeth the plague among us 〈…〉 The Verse is plaine They provoked him to anger and â—he plague brake in among them 〈…〉 Generally there is no evill saith Iob but it is a sparke of GOD 's wrath And of all evills the Plague by Name There is wrath gone out from the LORD 〈◊〉 21.7 and the plague is begunn saith Moses Num. 16.46 So it is said GOD was displeased with David he smot Israël with the plague So that if if there be a plague GOD is angry and if there be a great plague GOD is very angry Thus much for By what for the anger of GOD by which the plague is sent Now for what 〈…〉 â—hich 〈…〉 general There is a cause in GOD that he is angry And there is a Cause for which he is angry For he is not angry without a cause And what is that cause For what is GOD angry What is GOD angry with the waters when he sends a tempest it is Habacuk's question 〈…〉 Or is GOD angry with the earth when He sends barrennesse Or with the aire when he makes it coÌ„tagious 〈…〉 5. 6. No indeed His anger is not against the Elements they provoke him not Against them it is that provoke him to anger Against men it is and against their sinnes and for them commeth the wrath of GOD upon the children of disobedience And this is the very Cause indeed As there is Putredo humorum so there is also putredo morum And putredo morum is more a Cause then putriedo humorum 1 The Corruption of the soule the 〈◊〉 7. â— 2 corrupting of our waies more then the 〈◊〉 6.12 corrupting of the aire The 〈◊〉 8.38 Plague of the Heart more then the sore that is seene in the body 〈◊〉 5.32 The cause of Death that is sinne the same is the cause of this 〈◊〉 38.5 kinde of death of the plague of mortalitie And as the â—panâ— Balme of ilead and the 〈◊〉 48.46 Physitian there may yield us helpe when GOD'S wrath is removed so if it be not no balme no medicine will serve 〈◊〉 us with the Woman in the Gospell 〈◊〉 5.26 spend all upon Physitians we shall bee never the better till we come to CHRIST and he cure us of our sinnes whâ— is the onely Physitian of the diseases of the soule 〈◊〉 â— 2 And wiâ—â— CHRIST the cure beginns ever withiâ— First Sonne thy 〈◊〉 be for giventhee and then a fier â—ake up thy bed and walke His sinnes first and his limbes after As likewise when we are once well CHRIST'S councell is sinne no more lest a worse thing come unto thee As if sinne would certainely bring a relapse into a sicknesse But shall we say the wraâ—h of GOD for sinnes indefinitely Particular sinn That were somewhat too generall May we not specifie them or set them downe in particular Yes I will point you at three or foure First this
like proffer Matt. 8.34 He 〈…〉 â—â—tergesites too that can spare Him and His Seale both Men are I know not 〈…〉 loth and as it were afraid thinke it a disgrace to them many and that would 〈…〉 of Spirit that any Seale or marke of holinesse should be set or seen 〈…〉 Content with a Labell without any Seale to it all their life long And of 〈…〉 Labell Christians we have meetly good store As the Spirit of GOD they like 〈…〉 enough to have their breath and life and moving from Him yea arts and 〈…〉 if He will But as the Holy Spirit not once to be acquainted with Him 〈…〉 is this plaine but their speech Cause the Holy One to cease from us Es. 30.11 But yet I 〈…〉 say not at all For if He will come and Seale them some quarter of an 〈◊〉 before they dy for that they will not stand with Him But they desire to weare 〈◊〉 Signature of the flesh or of the world of pride or of lust as long as they are able to 〈◊〉 on their leggs Animales all their life and Spiritum habentes Iud. 19. at the hower of 〈◊〉 death Clinici Christiani beddered Christians as the Primitive Church called 〈◊〉 when the flesh leaves them let the Spirit take them and Seale them Then the 〈◊〉 and ye will but not before But this is an indignitie and cannot be well 〈◊〉 He will not endure thus to be trifled with and shifted of when He would and 〈◊〉 He Seale us not when we would we have our mends in our owne hands â—â—condly Say we be willing He come Is it not our part against He comes to 〈◊〉 our selves and be readie wrought to receive the figure of His Seale Then if 〈◊〉 He finde us so indurate in malice and desire of revenge or sinnes of that sort 〈◊〉 good offer Him a flint to Seale which will take no print Or on the other 〈◊〉 us so dissolved as it were and even molten in the sinnes of the flesh that as 〈◊〉 offer him a dish of water to Seale that will hold no figure Both come to one 〈◊〉 to suffer Him to doe it and â— not to be in case to receive it 1 Not disposed 〈◊〉 2 indisposed for it And can He choose but reckon this as a second gravamen 〈◊〉 His way and leave us as He found us 〈◊〉 two before we be Two more when we be Sealed For â— After it when we have well 〈◊〉 received it then doth it behoove us carefully to keepe the Signature 〈◊〉 facing or bruising If we doe not but carrie it so loosely as if we cared 〈◊〉 became of it and where we are Signati to be close and fast suffer every 〈◊〉 â—ccasion to break us up have our soules ly so open as all manner of thoughts 〈◊〉 and repasse through them Is not this a third When one shall see a 〈…〉 â—ountrie-man how sollicitous he is if it be but a bond of no great value to 〈…〉 Seale faire and whole But if it be of higher nature as a Patent then to have 〈◊〉 and leaves and wooll and all care used it take not the least hurt And on the 〈…〉 on our parts how light reckoning we make of the Holy Ghost's Seale 〈…〉 that care do not so much for it as He for his Bond of five nobles the matter 〈…〉 such consequence This contempt must it not amount to a greevance Yes 〈…〉 a grave gravamen a greevous one For this is even Margaritas porcis right 〈…〉 fâ—rther If having received this Seale upon us we so farre forget our selves 〈…〉 â—â—â—ught to let His amulus the fiend the evill Spirit whom He can by no 〈…〉 even to Super-sigâ—lare set his marke over it Seale upon Seale put his 〈…〉 his image and Superscription above and upon the HOLY GHOST 's 〈…〉 disgrade as He can never brooke it And shall we once conceive 〈…〉 use go as this He will do what mâ—re greeved use to do say presently 〈…〉 awâ—y heâ—re is 〈◊〉 place to 〈◊〉 so leave us with our new image 〈…〉 〈…〉 so a 〈◊〉 matter 〈◊〉 all yâ—r For He no sooner gone but in His place 〈…〉 so Sence on us and not alone neither 〈◊〉 compâ—nie wiâ—h Him 〈…〉 then himselfe and the end of that man worse then his bâ—ginâ—ing 〈…〉 Luk â—â— â—6 These they be then these foure Not to offer thesâ— is 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 so evill as we do yet that we remember Nolite doe it not 〈…〉 not to doe it If we fall into any of the former foure 2 neglect 〈…〉 He commeth â— dispose not ourselves as we should against He brutz or marr our Seale Yea 4 admit a Sealing upon it of the 〈…〉 GOD the flesh upon the Spirit Prophane upon Holy yet let not 〈…〉 At least not our whole will not our full consents Let it but happen per 〈◊〉 as we say either surprised with the violence or weried with the 〈…〉 the tentation or circumvented with the sleights of the Serpent but ever câ—me â—â—luntatem if it may be or els as in the Schooles they call it vellëitatem de 〈◊〉 coâ—â—istando A great matter depends on this For wilfully to do it that is indeed to greeve Heb. 10.29 if it be not more even to worke despite to the Spirit of Grace Application to the 〈◊〉 Now to draw to an end This request never comes so fit as on this Day For there is in the Text a day of redeeming And there is by like analogie a Day of Sealing As that CHRIST 's So this the HOLY GHOST 's Day Now if the Sealing-Day be the Holy Ghost's then reciprocè the Holy Ghost's Day that is the Day of Sealing And this is the Holy Ghost's Day And not onely for that originally so it was But for thâ—t it is to be entended ever He will doe His owne chiefe worke upon His owne â—hiefe Feast and opus Dici the daye 's worke upon the Day it selfe So that now we â—re come about to our first greevance Not to refuse Him not at any time but not â—t His owne Time not then when He sits in His Office and offers to set His Seale on us Application to the Sacrament And that He now doth For when we turne our selves every way we finde not in the Office of the Church what this Seale should be but the Sacrament or what the priâ—et of it but the grace there received a meanes to make us and a pledge or earnest to assure us 2. Cor 5.5 that we are His. The outward Seale should be a thing visible to be shewed And the Sacrament is the onely visible part of Religion and nothing subject to that sense but it This I finde that the Schoole-men when they numbred Seven those seven were the Seven Seales So for Seales they have beene ever reputed But what doubt we One of them is by the Apostle 〈◊〉 4.12 named a Seale in expresse termes The seale of righteousnesse
And if one then the other Both are of like nature Onely this difference betweene them for which we have great cause highly to magnifie the goodnesse of GOD That where the 〈◊〉 Seale the Seale of Baptisme can be set to but once and never repeated more thi◠〈◊〉 should supplie the defect thereof as whereby if we have not preserved the 〈…〉 and whole we might be as it were new signed over againe And that 〈…〉 no more but that it should be iterable whereby it commeth to passe 〈…〉 Sâ—â—ling there be many dayes many dayes to Seale us well and make us 〈…〉 thâ—t one Day the Day of Redemption GOD therein providing for our 〈…〉 As indâ—ed without it a great many of us I know not how we should have done 〈…〉 Thiâ— thâ—n is the Seâ—le I add frâ—â—her that iâ— maybe rightly called the Seale of our Redâ—â—ption as whereby thâ—â— meâ—nesâ— of our Redemption is applied unto us the Bodie 〈…〉 〈…〉 one 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 shed of Him whom GOD Sealed to that end even 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 with these 〈…〉 impâ—rteâ— to us which grace is the very breath 〈…〉 of His Seale to the renewing in us 〈…〉 of GOD whereunto we are created And with grace which serveth 〈…〉 substania to and for the whole substance of the soule the two streames 〈…〉 the understanding part the other into the Seate of the affections 〈…〉 â—â—derstanding part the assurance of faith and hope Into the part affective the 〈…〉 charitie the ostensive part of this Seale In quo cognoscent omnes Ioh. 13.35 by which 〈…〉 know and sine quo cognoscet nemo without it no man that we are sealed 〈…〉 are truely His. This grace we are thus to receive there Only that we a 2. Cor. 6.1 〈…〉 not in vaine b Heb. 12.15 Be not wanting to it after c 1. Tim. 4.15 neglect it not d 1. Thess. 5.19 Quench it e Galat. 5.4 〈…〉 not from it but f Rom. 5.2 Act. 13.43 stand fast and continue in it Be carefull to g 2. Tim. 1.6 stirre it 〈…〉 h 2. Pet. 3.18 to grow and encrease in it more and more even to be consummation of 〈…〉 is glorie Glorie being nothing els but grace consummate the figure of this 〈…〉 His full perfection 〈…〉 then not to send Him away on his owne Day and nothing done but to 〈…〉 Hâ—s Seale and to dispose our selves as pliable and fitt to receive it And that 〈…〉 but evill doe nay not at all unlesse it please Him to take us in hand and 〈…〉 worke us readie for it To pray Him then so to doe to give us hearts 〈…〉 of wax that will receive this impression And having received it to give us carefull mindes withall well to looke to it that it take as little harme as our infirmitie will permit That so we may keepe our selves from this unkinde Sinne of Greeving Him that hath beene and is so good to us Which the GOD of mercie grant us for his SONNE and by HIS SPIRIT To whom c. A SERMON Preached before the KING'S MAIESTIE AT GREENVVICH on the XII of Iune A.D. MDCXIIII being WHIT-SVNDAY PSAL. LXVIII VER XVIII Ascendisti in altum c. Thou art gone up on high Thou hast led captivitie captive and received gifts for men yea even * Or for thine enimies the rebellious hast Thou ledde that the LORD GOD might dwell * or among men there THIS is CHRIST the Prophet heer speaketh to That He it is the Apostle is our warrant Ephes. 4.8 There he applies it to CHRIST Thou art gone up saith the Prophet heer in the second person He is gone up saith the Apostle there of Him in the third To Christ then And to Christ gone up or ascended and therefore ascended they be the last words of this Verse that GOD might dwell among us Which cannot be applied to Christ Himselfe in person for then He was not to goe up on high from us but to stay heer still below with us Therfore GOD heer is GOD the HOLY GHOST who this day came downe after Christ was gone up to be not onely among us but even in us saith our Saviour To be in us and abide with us for ever Ioh. 14 17.16 So the Text beginns with the ascending of Christ and ends with the descending of the HOLY GHOST And that was upon this day And so we are come to CHRIST 's hodiè impleta est This 〈◊〉 is this Scripture fulfilled the best application of every Text. Luc. 4.21 Our bookes tell us the Scripture will beare foure senses All foure be in this The Summe and a kinde of ascent there is in them First after the letter and in due consequence to the word immediately next before this the last word of the verse which is Sinai It is a report of Moses's ascending thither For he from the bottome of the red Sea went up to the top of Sinai leading with him the people of Israël that long had beene captive to Pharao and there received gifts the Law the Priest-hood but above all the Arke of the Covenant to be the pledge of GOD 's presence among them This is the Literall This of Moses by analogie doth King David applie to himselfe To his going up to Mount Sion and carrying the Arke up thither For all agree this Psalme was sett upon that occasion 2. Sam. 6. The very beginning of it Let GOD arise c sheweth as much The acclamation ever to be used at the Arke's removing as is plaine by Num. X. Ver. XXXV Now this was done immediately upon his conquest of the Iebusites whom a little before he had taken captives and made tributaries there 2. Sam. 5. What time also for honour of the solemnitie dona dedit he dealt bread and wine 2. Sam. 6.19 1. Chro. 16.3 to all the people gift-wise as we finde I. Chron. XV. This is the Analogicall As Moses to Sinai to David to Sion From these two we arise to the Morall sense thus That as whensoever GOD 's people are carried captive and made thrall to their enemies as then GOD seemeth to be put downe and lye foyled for a time that one may well say Exurgat DEVS to Him So when He takes their cause in hand and workes their deliverance it may well be said Ascendit in altum He is gone up as it were to His high throne or judgement-seate there to give sentence for them Ever the Churche's depressing is as it were GOD 's owne humiliation and their deliverance after a fort His exaltation For then He hath the upper hand And this is the Morall Now from this we ascend to the Propheticall sense to the testimonie of Iesus which is the Spirit of all Prophecie For if in any Captivitie as of Egypt of Babylon GOD Revel 19.10 besayd to be downe And in any strange deliverance such as those were to be gâ—tt up on high in