or degrees of perfection in them in some of them not all Oculus corporis est anima animae mens the soule is the eye of the body and the minde is the eye of the soule and as the eye is the beautie of the face the bright Starre of that Orbe it moves in so is this the beautie and bright Starre of the soule and therefore that is called Mens quod emineat in Anima Minde because it shines in the soule as a light in the spheare it rolls in Hence some would derive the Etimology of Mens from the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. Aug. ut supra cap. 11. which signifies the Moone not so much for varietie of change as brightnesse or else Mens a mensurando from a dexteritie it hath in measuring or contriving Now Dijudicare mensurare estactus intellectus Parte 1. q. 79. Art 9. ad 4. sayes Thomas to judge and to measure is an art of the understanding and the understanding is the very forme and selfe-being of the soule or rather the soule of the soule as the apple of our eye is the very Eye of our eye so that the minde is the beame and splendor of the soule as the soule is of the body so neere Divinity and so much resembling it that the Romanes of old ador'd the Minde as a Goddesse and by Marcus Aemilius Scaurns there was a Temple dedicated Deae menti ut bonam haberent mentem as S. Augustine observes in his 4. Booke De civitate Dei 21. chapter Well then that we may now looke backe unto the Text we take not here the word Mens physically for reason and understanding as they are in Meris naturalibus but Theologically for the spirituall and regenerate part of man And so taken it stands at some distance with the word Anima though not with the word Spiritus For though every Soule be a kinde of Spirit yet every Spirit is not a Soule nor every Soule a Minde at least a Minde regenerate but Minde and Spirit for the most part kisse in Scripture Saint Paul in the latter end of this chapter calling that Mens which in the very beginning of the next he names Spiritus so that Minde and Spirit in a sacred sympathy goe hand in hand but soule and spirit doe sometimes justle My Soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoced in God my Saviour Luk. 1.46 Here the blessed Virgin makes a difference betweene her * Non in hoc gemmo vocabule gemina substantia intelligitur sed cum ad distinctionem ponitur gemina vis ejusdem substantiae una superior per spiritum altera inserior per animam designatur in hac utique divisione anima quod animale est in imo remanet spiritus autem quod spiritale est ad summum evolat ab infimis dividitur ut ad summa sublimetur ab anima seinditur ut domino uniatur De Spiritu Anima cap. 34. soule and her spirit and why why It is called soule in respect of vivification spirit of contemplation Soule as it is a leiger and sojourner with the body quickning and informing that Spirit as it is mounted and imbarqu'd for Heaven and rapt with the beatitude of that caelestiall Host the soule doth onely magnifie God as a God the spirit rejoyceth in that God as a Saviour In a word the soule in man as it is a soule is like Fire raked up in embers the spirit like that fire extenuated and blowne into a flame the one glowing in our ashy part the other sparkling in our intellectuall And this distinction the great Doctour himselfe useth to his Thessalonians where after some benediction at length he prayeth that their whole spirit and soule and body may be preserved blamelesse to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Thes 5.23 Marke hee begins with the spirit O culatissima hominis parte the Eagle part of man which eyes things divine that like another Mary alwayes sits at the feet of Iesus then comes the soule Stella in cap. 1. Lucae Quae naturales exercet ratiocinales this like another Martha is cumbred with much serving busied about Reason and the naturall faculties but the unum necessarium it hath not chosen yet And lastly the Body that villa Marthae the Village where our Martha dwells those earthly affections of ours which so taste of the body and earth that if they be not restrain'd make man as it were all body that is all carnall for which cause we finde some men call'd spirituall some animall and some carnall 1 Cor. 2.3 Thus the spirit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Pilot or Governour squaring and fashioning new motions in the regenerate and subjecting their will to the will of God The soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under whose Lee come the sensitive faculties Reason Iudgement not yet wash'd and purified by the spirit the body Organum illorum the engine and Instrument of both which they imploy in their diversities of actions and operations These three are the integrall parts of a man regenerate when of the earthly man there are only two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aret. in Ep. 1. Thess cap. 5. v. 23. soule and body no spirit he it is foolishnesse unto him Hence proceedes that double man so frequently mentioned in the Scriptures the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animall or carnall and lives yet in the state of Nature the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentall or spirituall and in the state of Grace shewing his profession by his Faith and his Faith by his Workes Now as with man there is a double man spirituall and secular so with the spirituall man there is a double man too inward and outward the one in the Text here call'd Minde the other Flesh that serving the Law of God and this the Law of sinne And here by the Law of God wee understand not that onely on Mount Sinai first promulgated by Moses and after him taught by the Prophets but that also on Mount Sion by Christ and his Apostles to wit The eternall will of God declared in the Doctrine of the Gospell which is no lesse a Law than the other and this Law every regenerate man doth serve serve though not fulfill serve with the minde a willing minde crying out with the Prophet My heart is ready Psal 42.1 my heart is ready so ready that it panteth and gaspeth for the water-brooke the Commandements of God which are as deepe waters But on the other side the Flesh playes the Craven and as if it had received some deadly wound makes him complaine with the same Prophet Thine Arrowes sticke fast in me there is no health in my flesh nor any rest in my bones by reason of my sinne Psal 38.3 You heare then how sinne still lyes at the doores of the Flesh though the Flesh be not properly the
maintenance and support of these fleshly tabernacles thou shalt eate and drinke ad necessitatem and the church to take downe the frankenesse of nature and tame the wildnesse of the flesh for in point of fasting there is as well a religious as a civill or politicke respect saies thou shalt not eate and drinke ad intemperantiam let us so eate and drinke that we may live and not lust and so live that thus eating drinking we care not if we die to morrow The cause why Moses so long fasted in the Mount was meere divine speculation the cause why David did humiliation so that the way to mortify the flesh and to advance the spirit is by the doore of abstinence whereby wee may undermine the pallaces of lust and wantonnes plant parcimony as nature where riotousnes hath beene study Hooker Eccles pol. lib. 5. that whereas men of the Flesh eate their bread with joy and drinke their wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 The man of the Spirit may be contrite and wounded and so humble his soule with fasting Psal 35.13 Beware then of this Ingenuosa Gula this kick-shawed luxury when the braine turnes Cooke for pleasing both of the eye and palate let 's not court appetite when we should but feed it not feed excesse when we should strangle it Moderation and sobrietie are the best Governours of our meetings and where these are as they are not too often in the meetings of a multitude the example of our Saviour will allow us to turne Water into Wine and the advice of his Apostle to drinke it also for our stomacks suke and doubtlesse sometimes for our mirths sake too if we exceed not the bounds of temperance nor flye out into superfluity or Epicurisme which are the blot and staine of Societie and a hinderance of that true joy and comfort which otherwise might smile in our publike meetings when invitations are turned into riots feeding into suffocation clogging the body and damping the spirits and thereby those blessings which else happily might have shower'd upon us A Soule drown'd in meat as the Father phraseth it can no more behold the light of God than a body sunk in puddle can behold the light of the Sun For as fogs and mists arising from the Earth and hiding the light of the Sunne from us debarre us for the present of the vertue of those heavenly influences which otherwise we might partake of So the fumes and vapours of an over-charg'd stomacke ascending to the brain cause a cloudinesse in the soule hindring and darkning those heavenly speculations which the Spirit would else mount to in God and his Son Christ Iesus To conclude then it should be our principall care to keepe the whole man brush'd all sluttishnes swept-of as well within as without not only those outward spots and blemishes which bestain the flesh but even those smaller dusts and atomes which over-spred the soule Remember it is the white robe which is the dressing of the Saint and that the hand which is wash'd in innocency is accepted at Gods Altar The haire that is unshaven is not for his congregation nor the fowle and uncleane thing for his kingdome We read that Solomons Temple had two altars the one without Vbi animaliū caedebatur Sacrificium 1. Kings 6.20 22. where the bullocke was flaine for sacrifice The other within Vbi Thymiamitis offerebatur incensum where incense and perfumes were offered the best mirrhe and the onyx the sweet storax Ecclus. 24.15 And we know that this temple of the holy Ghost hath two altars also the one without in the flesh where the bullocke should bee slaine the Hecatomb of our hundred beasts offered our beastly lusts and corruptions which fight against the soule The other within in the minde where the fumes of mirrhe and frank incense ascend the incense of prayer and gratulation that spirituall holocaust that viall of the Saints full of odours which reacheth the very nostrils of the Almighty On these two altars D. Aug. 256. serm de temp God requires a two fold sacrifice munditiem in corde cleanesse in the heart which David so vehemently desired create in mee a cleane heart O God Psal 5 1. and castitatem in corpore chastity in the body S. Bern. inter sententias which S. Bernar calls martyrium sine sanguine a martyrdome without bloud where there is a death of the flesh without the death of the body a death of her lusts and a death of her corruptions by mortifying and subduing all carnall rebellions And this martyrdome of the flesh S. Paul glories in I keepe under my body or as the Greeke hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus contundo Paulin. Ep. 58. et Lividum reddo soe Paulinus reades it to S. Augustine I Bray as it were and macerate my body and marke what followes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In servitutem redigo I bring it into subiection 1. Cor. 9.27 And in subjection indeed it must be brought in subjection to the soule which as it gives the other forme so it should steere and master it Vnumquodque sicundum hoc vivat unde vivit saith S. Augustine let every thing live according to the rule and platforme of that by which it lives Vnde vivit caro tua De anima tua unde vivit anima tua De Deo tuo unaquaque harum secundum vitam suam vivat Whence lives thy body from thy soule whence lives thy soule from thy God Let both then live according to that Life which gave them life The world was made for man and man for his soule his soul for God Tū rectè vivit carosecundū animā D. Aug. Serm. 13. deverb Dom. cùm anima vivit secundum Deum The sweet Saint Augustine still then the body lives rightly according to the soule when the soule lives rightly according unto GOD. Let the body then so live after the soule and the soule after GOD that both body and soule may live with God in his eternall kingdome and that for his deare Sons sake Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory ascrib'd both now and for ever Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo FINIS Jehovah-Jireh GOD In his PROVIDENCE And OMNIPOTENCE Discovered A SERMON PREACHED Ad Magistratum at CHARD in Sommerset 1633. By Humphrey Sydenham Laudate Dominum de omnimoda potentia ejus Laudate eum secundum multitudinem Magnitudinis ejus Psal 150.2 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TOMY HIGHLY HONOUR'D FRIEND Sr. JOHN STAVVELL Knight of the BATH THIS SIR IUST promises are just debts and debts though delayed ever come acceptably if they come with advantage I long since promised you a transcript of this Sermon which was the Principall and now I send it you with a Dedication which is the Interest and such an Interest I
strongly the Applause of the multitude If I would juggle a little with Divinitie turne Impostor in my calling make Errors in judgement scruples in conscience call Fury zeale and Faction purity leave all wayes of learning to follow mine owne Spirit Ravish Scriptures to force out doctrines for mine owne ends empty my Rancor by turning them to uses give off my Charity to devoure widowes houses leave the Field of my spirituall adversary to leade women captive and their lusts call wilfull Sectaries holy professors Open Conventicles Sabbath-Repetitions Braine-sicke Mechannickes the Generations of the just Presbyteriall Ornaments the Dresses of the whore the Rochet and the Ephod Raggs of Antichrist In a word would I leave the commendable Rites of an established Church for the new-fangled fancies of mine owne braine turne Rebell to that Discipline which I haue suck'd from the Breasts of uncorrupt Antiquitie and grow Separatist abroad Damne all practices of Orthodoxe predecessors by a new forme of Sacramentall vowes pull downe Ceremonies and build up Anarchy Leave an old Church in this Land to plant a new one in another and all this under the pretence of an immediate calling when it is nothing but the heart-burning and proud discontent of mine owne Foolish Spirit Sublimi feriari sidera vertice Earth is too vile to containe mee then my zeale knockes at the starres and though my personall imperfections weigh mee downe and the knowledge of my thousand thousand weaknesses clogg and depresse mee even to the gates of hell yet the Magnificats of the People shall keepe mee on my wings and as their voice shal elevate or mount me so I must Soare be my rebellions to God or his Church never so intolerable And this proceeds at first from a popular facility in some who receiving entertaining whatsoever is propos'd but in a colour of Truth for Orthodoxe and Authentique not sifting the kernell and depth of things but pre-occupated by a hasty beliefe of particular men and their opinions subscribing wholly to their bare asseveration or negation without more adoe by a loose and idle lightnesse and precipitation of their judgement feed themselves with Lies versat nos et praecipitat traditus per manus error et malumus credere quà m judicare Error if it bee once Traditionary doth strangely waft transport the hearts of the Simple which are more prone rashly to consent then judge which is a maine Symptome of Spirits emasculate and sicke indiscreetly and womanishly zealous that are carried along with Beliefes meerely not out of choice and Judgement but a partiall Opinion of him they fancy The times are growne so perverse and peevish and is there no cure O God for this stubborn Phrenzie That as I will forsooth so I am opinion'd as I am opinion'd so I please to understand and as I please to understand so I must bee edified and as I am edified so is my zeale inflam'd when he that understands any thing knowes that this way is both preposterous and false For my will should follow my understanding my understanding assist my Judgement my judgement guide my opinion and my opinion thus guided direct my zeale and then I cannot but looke on men compleatly harnessed full of Sappe and vigot and not carried about with Shells and Rattles things turbulent and empty made only for the torture of the eare and the perplexity of ingenuous congregations But oh the Phanaticke wilfullnesse of some who though they meete with a Prophet of the Lord indeed one richly clad with the prime endowments both of grace and nature the perfections and Rarities of both men insomuch that their owne consciences if not perversly erroninious must needs tell them that this man hath his vocatus sicut Aaron yet their Fancy shall sit above their Iudgement and as they please to humour another or hee them so he onely shall edifie the other not though all this while hee be no better then the Prophet in the text heere A foole that followes his owne Spirit Charron lib. 1. cap. 43. and hath seene nothing That learned Scepticke in his voluminous discourse of Wisedome and the nature of in speaking of the vanity of men and of their Spirits doth Analize the whole world into three sorts of People and so proportions them three conditions or degrees of spirits In the first and lowest are the weake and plaine Spirits of the world of slender and course capacity borne only to obey serve and be lead who in effect are but simply men These as the bottome lees and sinke of mankind he resembles to the earth which doth nothing but suffer and receive that which is powr'd down from above In the second loft or story are such as are of an indifferent and middle judgement making profession of sufficiency knowledge dexterity but doe not fully understand and judge as they should resting themselves upon that which is commonly held without farther enquiry of the truth and source of things And these he resembles to the middle Region of the Ayre where are form'd all the Meteors thunderings and alterations which after fall upon the Earth In the third and highest Stage are men endued with a quicke and a cleere Spirit of a firme and solid judgement which doe not settle themselves in Opinions popular but examining all things that are propos'd naturally sound the causes motives of them even to the roote These hee resembles to the Firmament it selfe where all is cleere pure and peaceable The Morall or application I make up thus The spirits of the multitude are in themselves earthy and dreggish and all their infusions and distillations of knowledge they receive from your middle region'd men where all the thundring and the noise is all those hot meteors and exhalations in the braine which so embroile the church these are the maine Botifewes and Incendiaries in religion the common blow coales in ecclesiasticke tumults carrying the people after them in a distemper'd zeale as that wilde Syrian in Florus did fourtythousand with a nutshell of Sulpher betweene his teeth Flammam inter verba sundebat Flor. lib. 3. cap. 19. when on the other side the man of judgement and solidity hath his spirit calme and temperate sits downe to the rites and injunctions of his church knowing that many eyes see more then one and a learned Synode to bee lesse erronious then the Fancies of a private spirit To this purpose Saint Augustine paraphrasing on that of the Psalmist Depluet super improbos laqueos God shall raine snares upon the wicked Psal 11.6 plaies on the word depluet and to make the Allegorie and his Fancy kisse call's generally all Prophets nubes clouds but more particularly the Pseudo-prophet the brother of the foolish here in the Text who are ordained by God saith the Father ut de his laqueos super improbes depluet so that it is the property of false prophets you heare to bee as clouds by which there are snares rain'd snares on the