the world and to rule the world when God plac'd him in 〈◊〉 Paradise He commanded him to dress Paradise and to keep Paradise when God plac'd him children in the land of promise he enjoyned them to fight his battails against Idolatry and to destroy Idolators to every body some errand some task for his glory and thou commest from him into this world as though he had said nothing to thee at parting but go and do as thou shalt see cause go and do as thou seest other men do and serve me so far and save thine owne Soul so far as the times and the places and the persons with whom thou doest converse will conveniently admit Gods way is positive and thine is privative God made every thing something and thou mak'st the best of things man nothing and because thou canst not annihilate the world altogether as though thou hadst God at an advantage in having made an abridgment of the world in man there in that abridgment thou wilt undermine him and make man man as far as thou canst man in thy self nothing He that qualifies himself for nothing does so He whom we can call nothing is nothing this whole world is one intire creature one body and he that is nothing may be excremental nailes to scratch and gripe others he may be excremental hairs for ornament or pleasurableness of meeting but he is no limb of this intire body no part of Gods universal creature the world Gods own name is I am Being is Gods name and nothing is so contrary to God as to be nothing Be something or else thou canst do nothing and till thou have said this saies our text that is done something in a lawful calling thou canst not sleep Stephens sleep not die in peace Sis aliquid propose something determine thy self upon somehing be profess something that was our first and then our second consideration is hoc age do seriously do scedulously do sincerely the duties of that calling Hoc Age. He that stands in a place and does not the duty of that place is but a statue in that place and but a statue without an inscription Posterity shall not know him nor read who he was In nature the body frames and forms the place for the place of the natural body is that proxima arcis superficies that inward superficies of the air that invests and clothes and apparals that body and obeys and follows and succeeds to the dimensions thereof In naturet he body makes the place but in grace the place makes the body The person must actuate it self dilate extend and propagate it self according to the dimensions of the place by filling it in the execution of the duties of it Plinie delivers us the history of al the great Masters in the art of painting L. 35. C. 3. He tels us who began with the extremities and the out lines at first who induc'd colors after that who after super-induc'd shadows who brought in Argutias vultus as he cals them not only the countenance but the meaning of the countenance all that so exquisitely that as he saies there Divinantes diem mortis dixerunt Physiognomers would tell a mans fortune as well by the picture as by the life he tels us quis pinxit quae pingi non possunt who first adventured to express inexpressible things Tonitrua perturbationes animas they would paint thunder which was not to be seen but heard and affections and the mind the Soul which produc'd those affections But for the most part he tels us all the way in what places there remained some of their pieces to be seen and copied in his time This is still that that dignifies all their works that they wrought so as that posterity was not only delighted but improv'd and better'd in that art by their works For truly that 's one great benefit that arises out of our doing the duties of our own places in our own time that as a perfume intended only for that room where the entertainment is to be made breaths upward and downward and round about it so the doing of the duties of the place by men that move in middle Sphears breath upwards and downwards and about too that is cast a little shame upon inferiors if they doe not so and a little remembrance upon Superiors that they should doe so and a thanksgiving to Almighty God for them that doe so And so it is an improvement of the present and an Instruction and a Catechisme to future times The duty in this Text is expressed and limited in speaking Cum dixisset When hee had said this he fell a sleepe and truly so literally so in speaking and no more it stretches far Many duties in many great places consist in speaking Ours doe so And therefore when Vices abound in matter of Manners and Schismes abound in matter of Opinions Antequam dixerimus hoc till wee have said this that is that that belongeth to that duty wee cannot sleepe Stephen's sleepe wee cannot die in peace The Judges duty lies much in this too for hee is bound not only to give a hearing to a Cause but to give an End a Judgement in the Cause too And so for all them whose duty lies in speaking from him who is to counsell his friend to him who is to counsell his Master in the family for Job professes that hee never refused the counsell of his Servant Antequam dixerint till they have said this that is still that that belongs to that duty they cannot sleep Stephen's sleepe they cannot die in peace and when wee ascend to the consideration of higher Persons they and wee speake not one language for our speaking is but speaking but with great Persons Acta Apothegmata their Apothegms are their Actions and wee heare their words in their deeds God whose Image and Name they beare does so If wee consider God as a second Person in the Godhead the Sonne of God God of God so God is Logos Sermo Verbum Oratio The Word Saying Speaking But God considered primarily and in himself so is Actus purus all Action all doing In the Creation there is a Dixit in Gods mouth still God sayes something but evermore the Dixit is accompanied with a Fiat Somthing was to be done as well as said The Apostles are Apostles in that capacity as they were sent to preach that 's Speaking But when wee come to see their proceeding it is in Praxi in the Acts of the Apostles In those Persons whose duty lies in speaking there is an Antequam dixerint in those where it lies in Action there is an Antequam fecerint till that be said and done which belongs to their particular callings they cannot sleepe Stephen's sleepe they cannot die in peace and therefore Non dicas de Deo tuo gravis mihi est Ambro. Ep. 17. say not of thy God that he lies heavy upon thee if he exact the duties of thy plaat thy hands Nec
8. and bearing of our sicknesses Or to be no richer or no more provident then so To sell all and give it away Luc. 12. and make a treasure in Heaven and all this for fear of Theeves and Rust and Canker and Moths here That which is not allowable in Courts of Justice in criminal Causes To hear Evidence against the King we will admit against God we will hear Evidence against God we will hear what mans reason can say in favor of the Delinquent why he should be condemned why God should punish the soul eternally for the momentany pleasures of the body Nay we suborn witnesses against God and we make Philosophy and Reason speak against Religion and against God though indeed Omne verum omni vero consentiens whatsoever is true in Philosophy is true in Divinity too howsoever we distort it and wrest it to the contrary We hear Witnesses and we suborn Witnesses against God and we do more we proceed by Recriminations and a cross Bill with a Quia Deus because God does as he does we may do as we do Because God does not punish Sinners we need not forbear sins whilst we sin strongly by oppressing others that are weaker or craftily by circumventing others that are simple This is but Leoninum and Vulpinum that tincture of the Lyon and of the Fox that brutal nature that is in us But when we come to sin upon reason and upon discourse upon Meditation and upon plot This is Humanum to become the Man of Sin to surrender that which is the Form and Essence of man Reason and understanding to the service of sin When we come to sin wisely and learnedly to sin logically by a Quia and an Ergo that Because God does thus we may do as we do we shall come to sin through all the Arts and all our knowledge To sin Grammatically to tie sins together in construction in a Syntaxis in a chaine and dependance and coherence upon one another And to sin Historically to sin over sins of other men again to sin by precedent and to practice that which we had read And we come to sin Rhetorically perswasively powerfully and as we have found examples for our sins in History so we become examples to others by our sins to lead and encourage them in theirs when we come to employ upon sin that which is the essence of man Reason and discourse we will also employ upon it those which are the properties of man onely which are To speak and to laugh we will come to speak and talk and to boast of our sins and at last to laugh and jest at our sins and as we have made sin a Recreation so we will make a jest of our condemnation And this is the dangerous slipperiness of sin to slide by Thoughts and Actions and Habits to contemptuous obduration Part II. Now amongst the manifold perversnesses and incongruities of this artificial sinning of sinning upon Reason upon a quia and an ergo of arguing a cause for our sin this is one That we never assigne the right cause we impute our sin to our Youth to our Constitution to our Complexion and so we make our sin our Nature we impute it to our Station to our Calling to our Course of life and so we make our sin our Occupation we impute it to Necessity to Perplexity that we must necessarily do that or a worse sin and so we make our sin our Direction We see the whole world is Ecclesia malignantium Psal 26.5 a Synagogue a Church of wicked men and we think it a Schismatical thing to separate our selves from that Church and we are loth to be excommunicated in that Church and so we apply our selves to that we do as they do with the wicked we are wicked and so we make our sin our Civility And though it be some degree of injustice to impute all our particular sins to the devil himself after a habit of sin hath made us spontaneos daemones Chrysost devils to our selves yet we do come too near an imputing our sins to God himself when we place such an impossibility in his Commandments as makes us lazie that because we cannot do all therefore we will do nothing or such a manifestation and infallibility in his Decree as makes us either secure or desperate and say The Decree hath sav'd me therefore I can take no harm or The Decree hath damn'd me therefore I can do no good No man can assigne a reason in the Sun why his body casts a shadow why all the place round about him is illumin'd by the Sun the reason is in the Sun but of his shadow there is no other reason but the grosness of his own body why there is any beam of light any spark of life in my soul he that is the Lord of light and life and would not have me die in darkness is the onely cause but of the shadow of death wherein I sit there is no cause but mine own corruption And this is the cause why I do sin but why I should sin there is none at all Yet in this Text the Sinner assignes a cause and it is Quia non mutationes Because they have no Changes God hath appointed that earth which he hath given to the sons of men to rest and stand still and that heaven which he reserves for those sons of men who are also the sons of God he hath appointed to stand still too All that is between heaven and earth is in perpetual motion and vicissitude but all that is appointed for man mans possession here mans reversion hereafter earth and heaven is appointed for rest and stands still and therefore God proceeds in his own way and declares his love most where there are fewest Changes This rest of heaven he hath expressed often by the name of a Kingdom as in that Petition Thy kingdom come And that rest which is to be derived upon us here in earth he expresses in the same phrase too when having presented to the children of Israel an Inventary and Catalogue of all his former blessings he concludes all includes all in this one Et prosperata es in regnum I have advanced thee to be a kingdom which form God hath not onely still preserv'd to us but hath also united Kingdoms together and to give us a stronger body and safer from all Changes whereas he hath made up other Kingdoms of Towns and Cities he hath made us a Kingdom of Kingdoms and given us as many Kingdoms to our Kingdom as he hath done Cities to some other Gods gracious purpose then to man being Rest and a contented Reposedness in the works of their several Callings and his purpose being declared upon us in the establishing and preserving of such a Kingdom as hath the best Body best united in it self and knit together and the best Legs to stand upon Peace and Plenty and the best Soul to inanimate and direct it Truth
acceptable musick to them that hear them They shall be so first In re in their matter in the doctrine which they preach In Re. The same trumpets that sound the alarm that is that awakens us from our security and that sounds the Battail that is that puts us into a colluctation with our selves with this world with powers and principalities yea into a wrastling with God himself and his Justice the same trumpet sounds the Parle too calls us to hearken to God in his word and to speak to God in our prayers and so to come to treaties and capitulations for peace and the same trumpet sounds a retreat too that is a safe reposing of our souls in the merit and in the wounds of our Saviour Christ Jesus And in this voice they are musicum carmen a love-song as the text speaks in proposing the love of God to man wherein he loved him so as that he gave his onely begotten Son for him God made this whole world in such an uniformity such a correspondency such a concinnity of parts as that it was an Instrument perfectly in tune we may say the trebles the highest strings were disordered first the best understandings Angels and Men put this instrument out of tune God rectified all again by putting in a new string semen mulieris the seed of the woman the Messias And onely by sounding that string in your ears become we musicum carmen true musick true harmony true peace to you If we shall say that Gods first string in this instrument was Reprobation that Gods first intention was for his glory to damn man and that then he put in another string of creating Man that so he might have some body to damn and then another of enforcing him to sin that so he might have a just cause to damne him and then another of disabling him to lay hold upon any means of recovery there 's no musick in all this no harmony no peace in such preaching But if we take this instrument when Gods hand tun'd it the second time in the promise of a Messias and offer of the love mercy of God to all that will receive it in him then we are truely musicum carmen as a love-song when we present the love of God to you and raise you to the love of God in Christ Jesus for for the musick of the Sphears whatsoever it be we cannot hear it for the decrees of God in heaven we cannot say we have seen them our musick is onely that salvation which is declared in the Gospel to all them and to them onely who take God by the right hand as he delivers himself in Christ So they shall be musick in re in their matter in their doctrine and they shall be also in modo In modo in their manner of presenting that doctrine Religion is a serious thing but not a sullen Religious preaching is a grave exercise but not a sordid not a barbarous not a negligent There are not so eloquent books in the world as the Scriptures Accept those names of Tropes and Figures which the Grammarians and Rhetoricians put upon us and we may be bold to say that in all their Authors Greek and Latin we cannot finde so high and so lively examples of those Tropes and those Figures as we may in the Scriptures whatsoever hath justly delighted any man in any mans writings is exceeded in the Scriptures The style of the Scriptures is a diligent and an artificial style and a great part thereof in a musical in a metrical in a measured composition in verse The greatest mystery of our Religion indeed the whole body of our Religion the coming and the Kingdome of a Messias of a Saviour of Christ is conveyed in a Song in the third chapt of Habakkuk and therefore the Jews say that that Song cannot yet be understood because they say the Messiah is not yet come His greatest work when he was come which was his union and marriage with the Church and with our souls he hath also delivered in a piece of a curious frame Solomons Song of Songs And so likewise long before when God had given all the Law he provided as himself sayes a safer way which was to give them a heavenly Song of his owne making for that Song he sayes there he was sure they would remember Deut. 31. So the Holy Ghost hath spoken in those Instruments whom he chose for the penning of the Scriptures and so he would in those whom he sends for the preaching thereof he would put in them a care of delivering God messages with consideration with meditation with preparation and not barbarously not suddenly not occasionally not extemporarily which might derogate from the dignity of so great a service That Ambassadour should open himself to a shrewd danger and surprisall that should defer the thinking upon his Oration till the Prince to whom he was sent were reading his letters of Credit And it is a late time of meditation for a Sermon when the Psalm is singing Loquere Domine sayes the Prophet speak O Lord But it was when he was able to say Ecce paratus Behold I am prepared for thee to speak in me If God shall be believed to speak in us in our ordinary Ministry it must be when we have so as we can fitted our selves for his presence To end this then are we Musicum carmen in modo musick to the soul in the manner of our preaching when in delivering points of Divinity we content our selves with that language and that phrase of speech which the Holy Ghost hath expressed himself in in the Scriptures for to delight in the new and bold termes of Hereticks furthers the Doctrine of Hereticks too And then also are we Musicum carmen when according to the example of men inspired by the Holy Ghost in writing the Scriptures we deliver the messages of God with such diligence and such preparation as appertains to the dignity of that employment Now these two to be Musick both these wayes Vox suavis in matter and in manner concur and meet in the next which is to have a pleasant voyce Thou art a lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce First A Voyce they must have they must be heard if they silence themselves by their ignorance or by their laziness if they occasion themselves to be silenced by their contempt and contumacy both wayes they are inexcusable for a voyce is essentiall to them that denominates them John Baptist hath other great names even the name of Baptist is a great name when we consider whom he baptized him who baptized the Baptist himself and all us in his own blood So is his name of Preacher the fore-runner of Christ for in that name he came before him who was before the world so is his Propheta that he was a Prophet and then more then a Prophet and then the greatest among the sons of women these were great
translate Treasury in all those places of Job and David and Isaiah which we mentioned before and in all other places He shall open that Treasury says that Prophet and bring forth the weapons not as before of Displeasure but in a far heavier word the weapons of his Indignation And in the Bowels and Treasury of his Mercy let me beseech you not to call the denouncing of Gods Indignation a Satyr of a Poet or an Invective of an Orator As Solomon says There is a time for all things there is a time for Consternation of Presumptuous Hearts as well as for Redintegration of Broken Hearts and the time for that is this time of Mortification which we enter into now Now therefore let me have leave to say That the Indignation of God is such a thing as a man would be affraid to think he can express it affraid to think he does know it for the knowledge of the Indignation of God implies the sense and feeling thereof all knowledge of that is experimental and that 's a woful way and a miserable acquisition and purchase of knowledge To re-collect Treasure is Provision for the future No worldly thing is so there is no certain future for the things of this world pass from us we pass from them the world it self passes away to nothing Yet a way we have found to make a treasure a treasure of sin and we teach God thrift and providence for when we arm God arms too when we make a treasure God makes a treasure too a treasure furnished with Weapons of Displeasure for this World and Weapons of Indignation for the World to come But then As an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil so says our Saviour the good man out of the good treasure of his heart Luk. 6.45 bringeth forth that which is good Which is the last stroke that makes up Pythagoras his Symbolical Letter that Horn that Beam thereof which lies on the right hand a narrower way but to a better Land thorow Straights 't is true but to the Pacifique Sea The consideration of the treasure of the Godly Man in this VVorld and Gods treasure towards him both in this and the next Things dedicated to God are call'd often The treasures of God Thesaurus Bonorum 1 Chro. 28.12 Thesauri Dei and Thesauri sanctorum Dei the treasures of God and the treasures of the servants of God are in the Scriptures the same thing and so a man may rob Gods treasury in robbing an Hospital Now though to give a Talent or to give a Jewel or to give a considerable proportion of Plate be an addition to a treasury yet to give a treasury to a treasury is a more precious and a more acceptable present as to give a Library to a Library is more then to give the works of any one Author A godly man is a Library in himself a treasury in himself and therefore fittest to be dedicated and appropriated to God Invest thy self therefore with this treasure of Godliness VVhat is Godliness Take it in the whole compass thereof and Godliness is nothing but the fear of God for he that says in his first Chapter Prov. 1.7 Initium sapientiae The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom says also in the 22. Finis Modestiae The fear of God is the end of modesty 22.4 the end of humility No man is bound to direct himself to any lower humiliation then to the fear of God When God promised good Ezekias all those Blessings Isa 33.6 Wisdome and Knowledge and Stability and Strength of Salvation that that was to defray him and carry him through all was this The fear of the Lord shall be his treasure 1 Tim. 6.19 And therefore Thesaurizate vobis fundamentum Lay up in store for your selves a good foundation against the time to come Do all in the fear of God In all warlike preparations remember the Lord of Hosts and fear him In all Treaties of Peace remember the Prince of Peace and fear him In all Consultations remember the Angel of the great Council and fear him fear God as much at Noon as at Midnight as much in the Glory and Splendour of his Sun-shine as in his darkest Eclipses fear God as much in thy Prosperity as in thine Adversity as much in thy Preferment as in thy Disgrace Lay up a thousand pound to day in comforting that oppressed soul that sues and lay up ten thousand pound to morrow in paring his Nails that oppresses Lay up a million one day in taking Gods Cause to heart and lay up ten millions next day in taking Gods Cause in hand Let every soul lay up a peny now in resisting a small temptation and a shilling anon in resisting a greater and it will grow to be a treasure a treasure of Talents of so many Talents as that the poorest soul in the Congregation would not change treasure with any Plate-Fleet nor Terra-firma Fleet nor with those three thousand millions which though it be perchance a greater sum then is upon the face of Europe at this day after a hundred years embowelling of the earth for treasure David is said to have left for the treasure of the Temple Villalp Tom. 2. par 2. li. 5. Dip. 3. cap. 43. fol. 503. Phil. 3.20 Apoc. 21.2 onely to be laid up in the Treasury thereof when it was built for the charge of the building thereof was otherwise defray'd Let your Conversation be in heaven Cannot you get thither You may see as S. John did Heaven come down to you Heaven is here here in Gods Church in his Word in his Sacraments in his Ordinances set thy heart upon them The Promises of the Gospel The Seals of Reconciliation and thou hast that treasure which is thy Viaticum for thy Transmigration out of this VVorld and thy Bill of Exchange for the VVorld thou goest to For as the wicked make themselves a treasure of sin and vanity and then God opens upon them a treasure of his Displeasure here and his Indignation hereafter So the Godly make themselves a treasure of the fear of God and he opens unto them a treasure of Grace and Peace here and a treasure of Joy and Glory hereafter And when of each of these treasures Here and Hereafter I shall have said one word I have done Thesaurus Dei erga Bonos hîc 2 Cor. 4.7 We have treasure though in earthen Vessels says the Apostle We have that is We have already the treasure of Grace and Peace and Faith and Justification and Sanctification But yet in earthen Vessels in Vessels that may be broken Peace that may be interrupted Grace that may be resisted Faith that may be enfeebled Justification that may be suspected and Sanctification that may be blemished But we look for more for Joy and Glory for such a Justification and such a Sanctification as shall be seal'd and riveted in a
future for the things of this world pass from us we pass from them the world it self passes away to nothing Yet a way wee have found to make a treasure a treasure of sin and we teach God thrift and providence for when we arme God arms too a treasure furnished with weapons of displeasure for this world and weapons of indignation for the world to come But then Luc. 6.45 as an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil so saies our Saviour the good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good which is the last stroke that makes up Pithagoras his Symbolical letter that horn that beam thereof which lies on the right hand a narrow way but to a better land through straights T is true but to the Pacifique sea the consideration of the treasure of the godly man in this world and Gods treasure towards him both in this and the next Things dedicated to God are called often the treasure of God Thesauri Dei and Thesauri sanctorum Dei Thesaur bonorum The treasure of God and the treasures of the servants of God are in the Scriptures the same things and so a man may rob Gods treasury in robbing an Hospital 1 Cor. 28.12 Now though to give a Talent or to give a Jewel or to give a considerable proportion of plate be an addition to a treasury yet to give a treasury to a treasury is a more pretious and a more acceptable present as to give a library to a library is more then to give the work of any one Author A godly man is a library in himself a treasury in himself and therefore fittest to be dedicated and appropriated to God Invest thy self therefore with this treasure of godliness what is godliness take it in the whole compass thereof and godliness is nothing but the fear of God Pro. 1.7 for he that saies in his first Chapter Initium sapientiae The fear of God is the beginning of wisdome 22.4 saies also in the 22th Finis modestiae The fear of God is the end of modesty the end of humility no man is bound to deject himself to any lower humiliation then to the fear of God When God promised good Ezekiah all those blessings Esay 33.6 wisdome and knowledg and stability and strength of salvation that that was to defray him and carry him through all 1 Tim. 6.19 was this The fear of the Lord shall be his treasure And therefore Thesaurizate vobis fundamentum Lay up in store for your selves a good foundation against the time to come do all in the fear of God in all warlike preparations remember the Lord of Hosts and fear him in all treaties of peace remember the Prince of peace and fear him in all consultations remember the Angel of the great counsel and fear him fear God as much at noon as at midnight as much in the glory and splendor of his Sun-shine as in his darkest Eclipses fear God as much in thy prosperity as in thine adversity as much in thy preferment as in thy disgrace Lay up a thousand pound to day in comforting that oppressed soul that sues and lay up ten thousand pound to morrow in pairing his nails that oppresses lay up a million one day in taking Gods cause to heart and lay up ten millions next day in taking Gods cause in hand Let every soul lay up a penny now in resisting a small tentation and a shilling anon in resisting a greater and it will grow to be a treasure a treasure of talents of so many talents as that the poorest soul in the congregation will not change treasure with any Place-Fleets nor Terra firma fleet nor with those three thousand millions which though it be perchance a greater sum then is upon the face of Europe at this day after a hundred years embowelling of the earth for treasure David is said to have left for the treasure of the Temple Villalp To. 2. par li. 5. Disp 3. cap. 43. so 503. Phil. 3.20 Apoc. 21.2 only to be laid up in the treasury thereof when it was built for the charge of the building thereof was otherwise defraid Let your conversation be in heaven cannot you get thither you may see as St. John did heaven come down to you heaven is here here in Gods Church in his word in his Sacraments in his Ordinances set thy heart upon them the promises of the Gospel the seals of reconciliation and thou hast that treasure which is thy viaticum for thy transmigration out of this world and the bill of exchange for the world thou goest to for as the wicked make themselves a treasure of sin and vanity and then God opens upon them a treasure of his displeasure here and his indignation hereafter so the godly make themselves a treasure of the fear of God and he opens unto them a treasure of grace and peace here and a treasure of joy and glory hereafter And when of each of these treasures here and hereafter I shall have said one word I have done We have treasure though in earthen vessels saies the Apostle Thesaurus Dei Erga bonos hic 2 Cor 4.7 we have that is we have already the treasure of grace and peace and faith and justification and sanctification but yet in earthen vessels in vessels that may be broken peace that may be interrupted grace that may be resisted faith that may be enfeebled justification that may be suspected and sanctification that may be blemished but we look for more for joy and glory for such a justification and such a sanctification as shall be seald and riveted in a glorification Manna putrified if it were kept by any man but a day but in the Ark it never putrified That treasure which is as Manna from heaven grace and peace yet here hath a brackish taste when grace and peace shall become joy and glory in heaven there it will be sincere Sordescit quod inferiori miscetur nature August si in suo genere non sordidetur though in the nature thereof that with which a purer mettle is mixt be not base yet it abases the purer mettle he puts his example in silver and gold though silver be a pretious mettle yet it abases gold grace and peace and faith are pretious parts of our treasure here yet if we mingle them that is compare them with the joyes and glory of heaven if we come to think that our grace and peace and faith here can no more be lost then our joy and glory there we abase and we over-allay those joys and that glory The Kingdome of heaven is like to a treasure saies our Saviour Mar. 13.44 but is it all is any treasure like unto it none for to end where we begun treasure is depositum in crastinum provision for to morrow the treasure of the worldly man is not so he
after Egyptian Onions again It is not enough that the State and the Church hath destroyed Idolatry so far as we said before still there are weeds still there are seeds And therefore Cave Take heed But yet it is but Take heed It is not take thought Afflict not thy self deject not thy self with ominous presages and prophetical melancholy thy God will overthrow this Religion and destroy this work which his right hand hath been a hundred years in repairing and scatter his corn which his right hand hath been a hundred years in purifying Come not to say It was but the passion and animosity of Luther It was but the ambition and singularity of Calvin that induc'd this Religion and now that that is spent the Religion melts like snow Take no such thought be not afraid that the truth of God shall or can perish It is not Take thought but it is much less Take arms Men may have false conceptions of preparations and ways laid towards a re-entry of Idolatry and men may have just and true reasons of or religious indignation to see so bad and so insolent uses made of those favours which are offered to persons of that profession but yet our inhibition is no further here but to take heed not to take arms not to come by violence not to slackness of Allegiance and Obedience It is but Take heed and but Take heed to thy self Pretend not thou who art but a private man to be an Overseer of the Publick or a Controller of him who by way of coaction is accountable to God only and neither to any great Officer at home nor to the whole body of the people there nor to any neighbour-Prince or State abroad Idolatry is destroyed but yet there is danger not to make thee take thought to suspect Gods Power or his Will to sustain his Cause not to take arms as if the Lord of Hosts needed Rebels but to take heed to watch plots of circumvention and to heed to thy self that is to all under thy charge for thy danger is not evident It is a snare Laqueus which is our last stop and step in this first part There is danger though the Idolaters be thus destroyed There is use of diligence if there be danger and the more if this danger be a snare Take heed that the Idolater do not kindle a Rebellion take heed that the Idolater do not sollicite an Invasion take heed of publick and general dangers These be Caveats for Princes but take heed of a snake take heed of a snare this appertains to every private man Psal 11.6 God studied plagues for Egypt 69.21 and they were strange plagues but that 's as great as any at least which David speaks of Pluet laqueos Upon the wicked God shall rain snares And after Mensa laqueus Their table shall become a snare before them And if God punish our negligence of his former favours so far as to rain snares even at our tables that almost at every table that we can come to we shall meet some that would ensnare us Is not this Caveat necessary in these times Take heed that thou be not snared David thought he had carried his complaint to the highest 64.65 when he said of his Enemies They commune of laying snares privily But now they do not plot privily but avow their mischiefs and speak so as we dare scarce confess that we heard them And that 's a shrewd snare when they dare speak more then we dare hear Will a man have taken up a snare from the earth Amos 3.5 and have taken nothing saith the Prophet Since they have laid their snares they will take some and thou mayest be one And therefore take heed of their snares There is a snare laid for thy son a perswasion to send him to foreign Universities they will say Not to change his Religion For Religion let him do as he shall see cause but there he shall be better taught and better bred then at home There is a share laid for thy servants what need they come to Church they have nothing to lose who will indite them who will persecute them And yet in due time such servants may do the Cause as much good as the Masters There is a snare laid for thy wife Her Religion say they doth not hinder her husbands preferment why should she refuse to apply her self to them We have used to speak proverbially of a Curtain Sermon as of a shrewd thing but a Curtain Mass a Curtain Requiem a snare in thy bed a snake in thy bosome is somewhat worse I know not what name we may give to such a womans husband but I am sure such a wife hath committed adultery Spiritual Adultery and that with her husbands knowledge call him what you will There is a snare for thy servant for thy son for thy wife and for thy fame too and how far soever thou wert from it they will have the world believe thou diedst a Papist If thy declination be towards profit if thy byas turn that way there is a snare in the likeness of a Chain of a Jewel a Pension If it be society and conversation there may be a snare in meeting more good company at Masses then at thy Parish Church If it be levity and affectation of new things there may be a snare of things so new in that Religion as that this Kingdom never saw them yet not then when this Kingdom was of that Religion For we had received the Reformation before the Council of Trent and before the growth of the Jesuits And if we should turn to them now we should be worse then we were before we receiv'd the Reformation and the Council of Trent and the Jesuits have made that Religion worse then it was Rom. 8.38 as St. Bernard says upon St. Pauls words Neither height nor depth nor life nor death shall separate us Minime tamen dicit nec nos ipsi The Apostle doth not say that we our selves and our own concupisences shall not separate us from God So though Excommunications have not Invasions have not Powder-Plots have not yet God knows what those snares may work upon us In laqueo suo comprehendantur Psal 9.16 says David Now laqueus is a snare as their malice intends it for us and laqueus is a halter as our Laws intend it for them and in laqueo suo as it 's theirs let them be taken Our good and great God in his power and mercy hath destroyed Idolatry but in his wisdom he hath left exercise for our diligence in some danger and that danger is a snare and therefore Take heed thou be not snared And so we have done with the first part Our second part consists of two branches 2. Part. of two ways of falling into this danger First by following them and then by inquiring into their Religion For the first the Original word which we translate following is Achareihem and it is
then whosoever wishes that it might be forgotten wishes that it had proceeded And therefore let our tongue cleave unto the roof our mouths if we do not confers his loving kindness before the Lord and his wonderful works before the Sons of men Then I say did his Majesty shew this Christian courage of his more manifestly when he sent the profession of his Religion The Apology of the Oath of Allegeance and his opinion of the Romane Antichrist in all languages to all Princes of Christendom By occasion of which Book though there have risen twenty Rabshakes who have rail'd against our God in railing against our Religion and twenty Shemeis who have raised against the person of his sacred Majesty for I may pronounce that the number of them who have bark'd and snarl'd at that book in writing is scarceless then fourty yet scarce one of them all hath undertaken the arguments of that book but either repeated and perchance enlarged those things which their own Authors had shovel'd together of that subject that is The Popes Temporal power or else they have bent themselves maliciously insolently sacrilegiously against the person to his Majesty and the Pope may be Antichrist still for any thing they have said to the contrary It belong'd only to him whom no earthly King may enter into comparison with John 17.12 the King of Heaven Christ Jesus to say Those that thou gavest me have I kept and none of them is lost And even in him in Christ Jesus himself that admitted one exception Judas the childe of perdition was lost Our King cannot say that none of his Subjects are fled to Rome but his vigilancy at home hath wrought so as that fewer are gone from our Universities thither in his then in former times and his Books abroad have wrought so that much greater and considerable persons are come to us then are gone from us I add that particular from our Universities because we see that since those men whom our Universities had bred and graduated before they went thither of which the number was great for many years of the Queens time are worne out amongst them and dead those whom they make up there whom they have had from their first youth there who have received all their Learning from their beggarly and fragmentary way of Dictates there and were never grounded in our Schools nor Universities have prov'd but weak maintainers or that cause compar'd with those men of the first times As Plato says of a particular natural body he that will cure an ill Eye must cure the Head he that will cure the Head must cure the Body and he that will cure the Body must cure the Soul that is must bring the Minde to a temperature a moderation an equanimity so in Civil Bodies in States Head and Eye and Body Prince and Council and People do all receive their health and welfare from the pureness of Religion And therefore as the chiefest of all I chose to insist upon that Blessing That God hath given us a Religious King and Religious out of his Understanding His other Virtues work upon several conditions of men by this Blessing the whole Body is blest And therefore not only they which have been salted with the salt of the Court as it is said of the Kings Servants but all that are salted with the salt of the Earth Ezra 4.24 Matth. 5.13 Mark 9.50 as Christ calls his Church his Apostles all that love to have salt in themselves and peace with one another all that are sensible of the Spiritual life and growth and good taste that they have by the Gospel are bound to praise him to magnifie him for ever that hath vouchsafed us a Religious King and Religious out of Understanding Many other happinesses are rooted in the love of the Subject and of his confidence in their love his very absence from us is an argument to us His continual abode with us hath been an argument of his love to us and this long Progress of his is an argument of his assurance of our loyalty to him It is an argument also of the good habitude and constitution to which he hath brought this State and how little harm they that wish ill to it are able to do Mamertinus Maximiano upon any advantage Hanc in vobis fiduciam pertimescunt This confidence of his makes his home-enemies more afraid then his Laws or his Train'd-Bands Et contemnise sentiunt cum relinquuntur When they are left to their own malignity and to do their worst they discern in that how despicable and contemptible a party they are Cum in interiora Imperii seceditis when the King may go so far from the heart of his Kingdom and the enemy be able to make no use of his absence this makes them see the desperateness of their vain imaginations He is not gone from us for a Noble part of this Body our Nation is gone with him and a Royal part of his Body stays with us Neither is the farthest place that he goes to any other then ours now when as the Roman Orator said Nunc demum juvat orbem terrarum spectare depictum Eumenius cum in illo nihil videmus alienum Now it is a comfort to look upon a Map of the World when we can see nothing in it that is not our own so we may say Now it is a pleasant sight to look upon a Map of this Island when it is all one As we had him at first and shall have him again from that Kingdom where the natural days are longer then ours are so may he have longer days with us then ever any of our Princes had and as he hath Immortalitatem propriam sibi filium sibi similem as it was said of Constantine a peculiar immortality not to die because he shall live in his Son so in the fulness of time and in the accomplishment of Gods purposes upon him may he have the happiness of the other Immortality and peacefully surrender all his Crowns in exchange of one a Crown of immortal glory which the Lord the righteous Judge lay up for him against that day To conclude all and to go the right way from things which we see to things which we see not by consideration of the King to the contemplation of God since God hath made us his Tenants of this World we are bound not only to pay our Rents spiritual duties and services towards him but we are bound to reparations too to contribute our help to society and such external duties as belong to the maintenance of this world in which Almighty God hath chosen to be glorified If we have these two Pureness of heart and Grace of lips then we do these two we pay our Rent and we keep the world in reparation and we shall pass through all those steps and gradations Ambros which St. Ambrose harmoniously melodiously expresses to be servi per timorem to be the servants of