of this subiect and furnisht my selfe accordingly in that Region of wonders but that I feared to surcharge the nice stomacke of our time with too much Neither would my length haue ought auailed you whose thoughts are so taken vp with so high seruiceable cares that they can giue no leisure to an ouer-long discourse May it please you therefore to receiue in short what I haue deliberately resolued in my selfe and thinke I can make good to others I haue noted foure ranks of commonly-named miracles from which if you make a iust subduction how few of our wonders shall remaine either to beleefe or admiration The first meerely reported not seene to be done the next seeming to bee done but counterfaited the third truly done but not true miracles the last truly miraculous but by Satan The first of these are bred of lies and nourished by credulity The mouth of Fame is full of such blasts For these if I listed a while to rake in the Legends and booke of Conformities an ingenuous Papist could not but blush an indifferent Reader could not but lay his hand on his spleene and wonder as much that any man could bee so impudent to broach such reports or any so simple to beleeue them as the credulous multitude wonders that any should be so powerfull to effect them But I seeke neither their shame nor others laughter I dare say not the Talmud not the Alcoran hath more impossible tales more ridiculous lies Yea to this head Canus himselfe a famous Papist dares referre many of those ancient miracles reported and by all likelihood beleeued of Bede and Gregory The next are bred of fraud and cozenage nourished by superstition The Rood of grace at Boxley-Abbey Who knowes not how the famous Kentish Idoll moued her eyes and hands by those secret gimmers which now euery Puppet-play can imitate How Saint Wilfreds needle opened to the penitent and closed it selfe to the guilty How our Lady sheds the teares of a bleeding Vine and doth many of her daily feats as Bel did of old eat vp his banquet or as Picens the Eremite fasted forty dayes But these two euery honest Papist will confesse with voluntary shame and griefe and grant that it may grow a disputable question whether Mountebanks or Priests are the greater cozeners Vines beyond his wont vehemently termes them execrable and Satanicall impostors The third are true works of God vnder a false title God giues them their being men their name vniust because aboue their nature wherein the Philosopher and the superstitiously-ignorant are contrarily extreame while the one seekes out naturall causes of Gods immediate and metaphysicall workes the other ascribes ordinary effects to supernaturall causes If the violence of a disease cease after a vow made to our Lady if a souldier armed with this vow scape gun-shot a captiue prison a woman trauelling death the vulgar and I would they alone cry out A miracle One Load-stone hath more wonder in it than a thousand such euents Euery thing drawes a base minde to admiration Francesco del Campo one of the Arch-Dukes Quiryes told vs not without importunate deuotion that in that fatall field of Newport his vow to their Virgin helpt him to swim ouer a large water when the oates of his arms had neuer before tried any waues A dogge hath done more without acknowledgement of any Saint Feare giues sudden instincts of skill euen without precept Their owne Costerus durst say that the cure of a disease is no miracle His reason because it may be done by the power of Nature albe in a longer time * * * * * Fol. an â—il six cents trois y â—uerent competâ— cent tâ—ente cinque potences iambes de bois de personnes boytrules y apportè es ad scul espace dâ— quatre ou cinque moiâ— Histoire miracles c. 12. p 34. Yeeld this and what haue Lipsius his two Ladies done wherefore serues all this clamor from the two hils I assented not neither will be herein thus much their enemy For as well the manner of doing as the matter makes a miracle If Peters handkerchiefe or shadow heale a disease it is miraculous though it might haue beene done by a potion Many of their reconciles doubtlesse haue bin wrought through the strength of Nature in the PatieÌ„t not of vertue in the Saint How many sick men haue mended with their physicke in their pocket Though many other also I doubt not of those cures haue fallen into the fourth head which indeed is more knotty and require a deeper discourse Wherein if I shall euince these two things I shall I hope satisfie my Reader and cleare the Truth One that miracles are wrought by Satan the other that those which the Romish Church boasteth are of this nature of this author I contend not of words wee take miracles in Augustines large sense wherein is little difference betwixt a thing maruellous and miraculous such as the Spirit of God in either instrument cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perhaps it would bee more proper to say that God workes these miracles by Satan for as in the naturall and voluntary motions of wicked men so in the supernaturall acts of euill spirits as they are acts there is more then a meere permission Satan by his tempest bereaues Iob of his children yet Iob looking higher saith The Lord hath taken No sophistry can elude this proofe of Moses that a Prophet or dreamer may giue a true signe or wonder and yet say Let vs go after strange Gods nor that of our Sauior who foretels of false christs Deut. 13â— false Prophets that shall giue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signes and wonders and those great There are some too great I grant for the hand of all infernall powers by which our Sauiour inuincibly proues the truth of his deity These neuer graced falshood neither admit any precedent from our times As to the rest so frequent and common for me I could not beleeue the Church of Rome were Antichristian if it had not boasted of these wonders All the knot lies then in the application of this to Rome and our imaginary Lady How shall it appeare that their miracles are of this kind Ludouicus Vines giues six notes to distinguish Gods miracles from Satans Lipsius three Both of them too many as might easily be discouered by discussing of particulars It is not so much the greatnesse of the work not the beleefe of witnesses nor the quality nor manner of the action nor truth of essence that can descry the immediate hand which worketh in our miracles That alone is the true and golden rule which Iustin Martyr if at least that booke be his prescribes in his Questions and Answers How shall it bee knowne that our miracles are beter than the Heathens although the euent countenance both alike Resp Ex fide cultu veri Dei By
liue out of the world with thee if thou wilt but let me not liue in the world without thee 90 Sinne is both euill in it selfe and the effect of a former euill and the cause of sinne following a cause of punishment and lastly a punishment it selfe It is a damnable iniquitie in man to multiplie one sinne vpon another but to punish one sinne by another in God is a iudgement both most iust and most fearefull so as all the store-house of God hath not a greater vengeance with other punishments the body smarteth the soule with this I care not how God offends me with punishments so hee punish mee not with offending him 91 I haue seene some afflict their bodies with wilfull famine and scourges of their owne making God spares me that labour for hee whips mee daily with the scourge of a weake body and sometimes with ill tongues He holds me short many times of the feeling of his comfortable presence which is in truth so much more miserable an hunger than that of the body by how much the soule is more tender and the food denied more excellent Hee is my Father infinitely wise to proportion out my correction according to my estate and infinitely louing in fitting mee with a due measure Hee is a presumptuous childe that will make choice of his owne rod. Let mee learne to make a right vse of his corrections and I shall not need to correct my selfe And if it should please God to remit his hand a little I will gouerne my body as a Master not as a Tyrant 92 If God had not said Blessed are those that hunger I know not what could keepe weake Christians from sinking in despaire Many times all I can doe is to finde and complaine that I want him and wish to recouer him Now this is my stay that he in mercie esteemes vs not onely by hauing but by desiring also and after a sort accounts vs to haue that which we want and desire to haue and my soule affirming tells me I doe vnfainedly wish him and long after that grace I misse Let me desire still more and I know I shall not desire alwaies There was neuer soule miscarried with longing after grace O blessed hunger that ends alwaies in fulnesse I am sorry that I can but hunger and yet I would not bee full for the blessing is promised to the hungry Giue mee more Lord but so as I may hunger more Let me hunger more and I know I shall be satisfied 93 There is more in the Christian than thou seest For he is both an entire body of himselfe and he is a limme of another more excellent euen that glorious mysticall body of his Sauiour to whom he is so vnited that the actions of either are reciprocally referred to each other For on the one side the Christian liues in Christ dies in Christ in Christ fulfils the Law possesseth heauen on the other Christ is persecuted by Paul in his members and is persecuted in Paul afterwards by others he suffers in vs he liues in vs he workes in and by vs so thou canst not doe either good or harme to a Christian but thou doest it to his Redeemer to whom he is inuisibly vnited Thou seest him as a man and therefore worthy of fauour for humanities sake Thou seest him not as a Christian worthy of honour for his secret and yet true vnion with our Sauiour I will loue euery Christian for that I see honour him for that I shall see 94 Hell it selfe is scarce a more obscure dungeon in comparison of the earth than earth is in respect of heauen Here the most see nothing and the best see little Here halfe our life is night and our very day is darknesse in respect of God The true light of the world and the Father of lights dwelleth aboue There is the light of knowledge to informe vs and the light of ioy to comfort vs without all change of darknesse There was neuer any captiue loued his dungeon and complained when he must bee brought out to light and libertie whence then is this naturall madnesse in vs men that wee delight so much in this vncleane noysome darke and comfortlesse prison of earth and thinke not of our release to that lightsome and glorious Paradise aboue vs without griefe and repining We are sure that we are not perfectly well here if we could bee as sure that we should be better aboue we would not feare changing Certainly our sense tells vs we haue some pleasure here and we haue not faith to assure vs of more pleasure aboue and hence we settle our selues to the present with neglect of the future though infinitely more excellent The heart followes the eies and vnknowne good is vncared for O Lord doe thou breake thorow this darknesse of ignorance and faithlesnesse wherewith I am compassed Let mee but see my heauen and I know I shall desire it 95 To be carried away with an affectation of fame is so vaine and absurd that I wonder it can be incident to any wise man For what a mole-hill of earth is it to which his name can extend when it is furthest carried by the wings of report and how short a while doth it continue where it is once spread Time the deuourer of his owne brood consumes both vs and our memories not brasse nor marble can beare age How many flattering Poets haue promised immortalitie of name to their Princes who now together are buried long since in forgetfulnesse Those names and actions that are once on the file of heauen are past the danger of defacing I will not care whether I bee knowne or remembred or forgotten amongst men if my name and good actions may liue with God in the records of eternitie 96 There is no man nor no place free from spirits although they testifie their presence by visible effects but in few Euery man is an Oast to entertaine Angels though not in visible shapes as Abraham and Lot The euill ones doe nothing but prouoke vs to sinne and plot mischiefes against vs by casting into our way dangerous obiects by suggesting sinfull motions to our mindes stirring vp enemies against vs amongst men by frighting vs with terrors in our selves by accusing vs to God On the contrary The good Angels are euer remouing our hinderances from good and our occasions of euill miâ—gating our tentations helping vs against our enemies deliuering vs from dangers comforting vs in sorrowes furthering our good purposes and at last carrying vp our soules to heauen It would affright a weake Christian that knowes the power and malice of wicked spirits to consider their presence and number but when with the eies of Elishaes seruant he sees those on his side as present as diligent more power full he cannot but take heart againe especially if he consider that neither of them is without God limiting the one the bounds of their tentation directing the other in the safegard of his children Whereupon
whole processe second my rule with his example that so what might seeme obscure in the one may by the other be explained and the same steps he seeth me take in this he may accordingly tread in any other Theme CHAP. XVIII FIrst therefore it shall be expedient to consider seriously The practice of Meditation wherein First we begin with some description of that we meditate of what the thing is whereof we meditate What then O my soule is the life of the Saints whereof thou studiest Who are the Saints but those which hauing beene weakly holy vpon earth are perfectly holy aboue which euen on earth were perfectly holy in their Sauiour now are so in themselues which ouercomming on earth are truly canonized in Heauen What is their life but that blessed estate aboue wherein their glorified soule hath a full fruition of God CHAP. XIX THe nature whereof Secondly followes an easie and voluntary diuision of the matter meditated after we haue thus shadowed out to our selues by a description not curious alwaies and exactly framed according to the rules of Art but sufficient for our owne conceit the next is if it shall seeme needfull or if the matter will beare or offer it some easie and voluntary diuision whereby our thoughts shall haue more roome made for them and our proceeding shall be more distinct There is a life of nature wh n thou my soule dwellest in this body and informest thine earthly burthen There is a life of grace when the Spirit of God dwells in thee There is a life of glory when the body being vnited to thee both shall be vnited to God or when in the meane time being separated from thy companion thou inioyest God alone This life of thine therefore as the other hath his ages hath his statures for it entreth vpon his birth when thou passest out of thy body and changest this earthly house for an Heauenly It enters into his full vigour when at the day of the common resurrection thou resumest this thy companion vnlike to it selfe like to thee like to thy Sauiour immortall now and glorious In this life here may be degrees there can be no imperfection If some be like the skie others like the Starres yet all shine If some sit at their Sauiours right hand others at his left all are blessed If some vessels hold more all are full none complaineth of want none enuieth at him that hath more CHAP. XX. 3 A consideration of the causes thereof in all kinds of them WHich done it shall be requisit for our perfecter vnderstanding and for the laying grounds of matter for our affection to carry it thorow those other principall places and heads of reason which Nature hath taught euery man both for knowledge and amplification the first whereof are the Causes of all sorts Whence is this eternall life but from him which onely is eternall which onely is the fountaine of life yea life it selfe Who but the same God that giues our temporall life giueth also that eternall The Father bestoweth it the Sonne meriteth it the Holy Ghost seales and applieth it Expect it onely from him O my soule whose free election gaue thee the first title to it to be purchased by the bloud of thy Sauiour For thou shalt not therefore be happy because he saw that thou wouldst be good but therefore art thou good because he hath ordained thou shalt be happy Hee hath ordained thee to life he hath giuen thee a Sauiour to giue this life vnto thee faith whereby thou mightest attaine to this Sauiour his Word by which thou mightst attaine to this faith what is there in this not his And yet not his so simply as that it is without thee without thy merit indeed not without thine act Thou liuest here through his blessing but by bread thou shalt liue aboue through his mercy but by thy faith below apprehending the Author of thy life And yet as he will not saue thee without thy faith so thou canst neuer haue faith without his gift Looke vp to him therefore O my soule as the beginner and finisher of thy saluation and while thou magnifiest the Author be rauished with the glory of the worke which farre passeth both the tongue of Angels and the heart of man It can be no good thing that is not there How can they want water that haue the spring Where God is enioyed in whom only all things are good what good can bee wanting And what perfection of blisse is there where all goodnesse is met and vnited In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore O blessed reflection of glory We see there as we are seene in that we are seene it is our glory in that we see it is Gods glory therefore doth be glorifie vs that our glory should be to his How worthy art thou O Lord that through vs thou shouldest looke at thy selfe CHAP. XXI 4 The Consideration of the Fruits and Effects THe next place shal be the fruits and effects following vpon their seuerall causes which also affoords very feeling and copious matter to our meditation wherein it shall be euer best not so much to seeke for all as to chuse out the chiefest No maruell then if from this glory proceed vnspeakable ioy and from this ioy the sweet songs of praise and thanksgiuing The Spirit bids vs when we are merry sing How much more then when we are merry without all mixture of sorrow beyond all measure of our earthly affections shall we sing ioyfull Hallelu-iahs and Hosannahs to him that dwelleth in the highest Heauens our hearts shall be so full that we cannot chuse but sing and wee cannot but sing melodiously There is no iar in this Musicke no end of this song O blessed change of the Saints They doe nothing but weepe below and now nothing but sing aboue We sowed in teares reape in ioy there was some comfort in those teares when they were at worst but there is no danger of complaint in this heauenly mirth If we cannot sing here with Angels On earth peace yet there wee shall sing with them Glory to God on high and ioyning our voices to theirs shall make vp that celestiall consort which none can either heare or beare part in and not be happy CHAP. XXII 5 Consideration of the Subiect wherein or whereabout it is AFter which comes to be considered the Subiect either wherein that is or whereabout that is imploied which we meditate of As And indeed what lesse happinesse doth the very place promise wherein this glory is exhibited which is no other than the Paradise of God Here below we dwell or rather we wander in a continued wildernes there we shall rest vs in the true Eden I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse Kings vse not to dwell in Cottages of Clay but in Royall Courts fit for their estate How much more shall the King of Heauen who hath
not dare to vent them out either by your hand or tongue to trouble the common peace It is a miserable praise to bee a witty disturber Neither will it serue you to be thus good alone but if God shall giue you the honour of this estate the world will looke you should be the graue guide of a well-ordered family for this is proper to vs that the vices of our charge reflect vpon vs the sinnes of others are our reproach If another mans children mis-cary the Parent is pitied if a Ministers censured yea not our seruant is faulty vvithout our blemish In all these occasions a misery incident to vs alone our griefe is our shame To descend nearer vnto the sacred affaires of this heauenly trade in a Minister Gods Church is accounted both his house to dwell in and his field to worke in vvherein vpon the penalty of a curse he faithfully wisely diligently deuoutly deales with God for his people with his people for and from God Whether he instruct hee must doe it with euidence of the spirit or whether he reproue with courage and zeale or whether he exhort with meeknesse and yet with power or whether he confute with demonstration of truth not with rage and personall maliciousnesse not with a wilfull heat of contradiction or whether he admonish with long-suffering and loue without preiudice and partialitie in a word all these he so doth as he that desires nothing but to honour God and saue men His wisdome must discerne betwixt his sheepe and wolues in his sheepe betwixt the wholesome and vnsound in the vnfound betwixt the weake and tainted in the tainted betwixt the natures qualities degrees of the disease and infection and to all these he must know to administer a word in season He hath Antidotes for all tentations counsels for all doubts euictions for all errors for all languishings incouragements No occasion from any altered estate of the soule may finde him vnfurnished He must ascend to Gods Altar with much awe with sincere and cheerefull deuotion so taking celebrating distributing is Sauiour as thinking himselfe at table in heauen with the blessed Angels In the meane time as he wants not a thankefull regard to the Master of the feast so not care of the guests The greatnesse of an offender may not make him sacrilegiously partiall nor the obscurity negligent I haue said little of any of our duties and of some nothing yet enough I think to make you if not timorous carefull Neither vvould I haue you hereupon to hide your selfe from this calling but to prepare your selfe for it These times call for them that are faithfull and if they may spare some learning conscience they can not Goe on happily it argues a minde Christianly noble to bee incouraged with the need of his labours with the difficulties To Mrs A. P. EP. VI. A discourse of the signes and proofes of a true faith THere is no comfort in a secret felicitie To be happy and not know it is little aboue miserable Such is your state onely herein better then the common case of the most that the well of life lyes open before you but your eyes like Agars are not open to see it vvhiles they haue neither water nor eyes We doe not much more want that which vve haue not then that which we doe not know we haue Let mee tell you some of that spirituall eye-salue which the Spirit commends to his Laodiceans that you may clearely see how well you are There is nothing but those scales betwixt you and happinesse Thinke not much that I espy in you what your selfe sees not Too much neerenesse oft-times hindreth sight and if for the spots of our own faces we trust others eyes why not for our perfections You are in heauen and know it not He that beleeues is already passed from death to life You beleeue whiles you complaine of vnbeleefe If you complained not I should mis-doubt you more then you doe your selfe because you complaine Secure and insolent presumption hath killed many that breathes nothing but confidence and safety and abandons all doubts and condemnes them That man neuer beleeued that neuer doubted This liquor of faith is neuer pure in these vessels of clay without these lees of distrust What then Thinke not that I incourage you to doubt more but perswade you not to bee discouraged with doubting All vncertaintie is comfortlesse those that teach men to coniecture and forbid to resolue reade lectures of misery Those doubts are but to make way for assurance as the oft shaking of the tree fastens it more at the root You are sure of God but you are afraid of your selfe The doubt is not in his promise but your application Looke into your owne heart How know you that you know any thing that you beleeue that you will that you approue that you affect any thing If a man like your selfe promise you ought you know whether you trust him whether you relye your selfe on his fidelitie Why can you not know it in him that is God and man The difference is not in the act but the obiect But if these habits because of their inward and ambiguous nature seeme hard to be descried turne your eyes to those open markes that cannot beguile you How many haue bragged of their Faith when they haue embraced nothing but a vaine cloud of presumption Euery man repeats his Creed few feele it few practise it Take two boughs in the dead of winter how like is one wood to another how hardly discerned Afterwards By their fruit you shall know them That faith whose nature was obscure is euident in his effects What is faith but the hand of the soule What is the dutie of the hand but either to hold or worke This hand then holds Christ workes obedience and holinesse and if this act of apprehension be as secret as the cause since the closed hand hideth still what it holdeth see the hand of faith open see what it worketh and compare it vvith your owne proofe Deny if you can yet I had rather appeale to any Iudge then your preiudiced selfe that in all your needs you can step boldly to the Throne of Heauen and freely powre out your enlarged heart to your God and craue of him vvhether to receiue what you vvant or that you may vvant vvhat you haue and would not Be assured from God this can be done by no power but that you feare to misse of faith God as he is not so he is not called a father without this In vain doth he pray that cannot cal God father No father without the spirit of adoption no spirit without faith vvithout this you may babble you cannot pray Assume you that you can pray I dare conclude vpon my soule You beleeue As little as you loue your selfe denie if you can that you loue God Say that your Sauiour from heauen should aske you Peters question could your soule returne any other answer then Lord thou
fire vnquenchable Whether Infidels beleeue these things or no we know them so shall they but too late What remaines but that we applaud our selues in this happinesse and walke on cheerily in this heauenly profession acknowledging that God could not do more for vs and that we cannot doe enough for him Let others boast as your Ladiship might with others of ancient and Noble Houses large patrimonies or dowries honorable commands others of famous names high and enuied honours or the fauours of the greatest others of valour or beauty or some perhaps of eminent learning and wit it shall be our pride that we are Christians To my Lady HONORIA HAY. EP. IV. Discoursing of the necessitie of Baptisme and the estate of those which necessarily want it MADAM MEthinks children are like teeth troublesome both in the breeding and losing and oftentimes painfull while they stand yet such as wee neither would nor can well be without I goe not about to comfort you thus late for your losse I rather congratulate your wise moderation and Christian care of these first spirituall priuiledges desiring onely to satisfie you in what you heard as a witnesse not in what you needed as a mother Children are the blessings of Parents and Baptisme is the blessing of children and parents wherein there is not onely vse but necessitie necessitie not in respect so much of the end as of the precept God hath enioyned it to the comfort of parents and behoofe of children which therefore as it may not be superstitiously hastened so not negligently deferred That the contempt of baptisme damneth is past all doubt but that the constrained absence thereof should send infants to hell is a cruell rashnesse It is not their sinne to die early death is a punishment not an offence an effect of sinne not a cause of torment they want nothing but time which they could not command Because they could not liue a while longer that therefore they should die euerlastingly is the hard sentence of a bloody religion I am onely sorie that so harsh an opinion should bee graced with the name of a Father so reuerend so diuine whose sentence yet let no man plead by halues He who held it vnpossible for a childe to be saued vnlesse the baptismall water were powred on his face held it also as vnpossible for the same Infant vnlesse the sacramentall bread were receiued into his mouth There is the same ground for both the same error in both a weaknesse fit for forgetfulnesse see yet how ignorant or ill-meaning posterity could single out one halfe of the opinion for truth and condemne the other of falshood In spight of whom one part shall easily conuince the other yea without all force since both cannot stand both will fall together for company The same mouth which said Vnlesse yee be borne againe of water and the Holy Ghost said also Except yee eat the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drinke his blood an equall necessitie of both And lest any should plead different interpretations the same S. Austin auerres this later opinion also concerning the necessary communicating of children to haue been once the common iudgement of the Church of Rome A sentence so displeasing that you shall finde the memory of it noted vvith a blacke coale and wip't out in that infamous bill of Expurgations Had the ancient Church held this desperate sequele what strange and yet wilfull crueltie had it beene in them to deferre baptisme a whole yeare long till Easter or that Sunday which hath his name I thinke from the white robes of the baptised Yea what an aduenture vvas it in some to adiourne it till their age with Constantine if being vnsure of their life they had been sure the preuention of death would haue inferred damnation Looke vnto that legall Sacrament of circumcision which contrary to the fancies of our Anabaptists directly answers this Euangelicall Before the eight day they could not be circumcised before the eight day they might die If dying the seuenth day they were necessarily condemned either the want of a day is a sinne or God sometimes condemneth not for sinne Neither of them possible neither according with the iustice of the Law-giuer Or if from this parallel you please to looke either to reason or example the case is cleere Reason no man that hath faith can be condemned for Christ dwels in our hearts by faith and hee in whom Christ dwels cannot be a reprobate Now it is possible a man may haue a sauing faith before baptisme Abraham first beleeued to iustification then after receiued the signe of circumcision as a seale of the righteousnes of that faith which he had when he was vncircumcised Therefore some dying before their baptisme may yea must be saued Neither was Abrahams case singular he was the Father of all them also which beleeue not being circumcised these as they are his Sonnes in faith so in righteousnesse so in saluation vncircumcision cannot hinder where faith admitteth These following his steps of beliefe before the Sacrament shall doubtlesse rest in his bosome without the Sacrament without it as fatally absent not as willingly neglected It is not the water but the faith not the putting away the filth of the flesh saith S. Peter but the stipulation of a good conscience for who takes Baptisme without a full faith saith Hierom takes the water takes not the spirit Whence is this so great vertue of the water that it should touch the body and cleanse the heart saith Austin vnlesse by the power of the word not spoken but beleeued Thou seest water saith Ambrose euery water heales not that water onely heales which hath the grace of God annexed And if there bee any grace in the water saith Basil it is not of the nature of the water but of the presence of the Spirit Baptisme is indeed as Saint Ambrose stiles it the pawne and image of our resurrection yea as Basil the power of God to resurrection but as Ignatius expounds this phrase aright beleeuing in his death we are by baptisme made partakers of his resurrection Baptisme therefore without faith cannot saue a man and by faith doth saue him and faith without baptisme where it cannot bee had not where it may be had and is contemned may saue him That spirit which workes by meanes will not be tyed to meanes Examples Cast your eyes vpon that good thiefe good in his death though in his life abominable he was neuer washed in Iordan yet is receiued into Paradise his soule was foule with rapines and iniustice yea bloody with murders and yet being scoured onely with the blood of his Sauior not with water of baptisme it is presented glorious to God I say nothing of the soules of Traian and Falconella meere heathens liuing and dying without Christ without baptisme which yet their honest Legend reports to be deliuered from hell transported to heauen not so much as scorched in Purgatory The one by the prayers of Gregory
leading vs from earth to heauen And I heard a voyce from heauen c. This day is a day of note for three famous periods First it is the day of the dissipation of this Royall Family Then the last day of our publike and ioynt mourning Lastly the day of the alteration and renewing of our state and course of life with the New-yeere All these meet in this Text with their cordials and diuine remedies Our dissipation and dissolution in these words Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men Our mourning God shall wipe away all teares c. Our change of estate Behold I will make all things new I must craue leaue to glide thorow all of these with much speed and for the better conueniency of our discourse through the first last My speech therefore shall as it were climbe vp these six staires of doctrine 1. That here our eyes are full of teares how else should they be wip't away how all vnlesse many 2. That these teares are from sorrow and this sorrow from death and toyle out of the connexion of all these 3. That God will once free vs both from teares which are the effect of sorrow and from toile and death which are the causes of it 4. That this our freedome must bee vpon a change for that the first things are passed 5. That this change shall be in our Renouation Behold I make all things new 6. That this renouation and happy change shall be in our perpetuall fruition of the inseparable presence of God whose Tabernacle shall be with men Psal 84. Iudg. 2.5 As those grounds that lie low are commonly moorish this base part of the world wherein we liue is the vale of teares That true Bochim as the Israelites called their mourning-place We begin our life with teares and therefore our Lawyers define life by weeping if a childe were heard cry It is a lawfull proofe of his liuing else if hee be dead we say he is still-borne and at our parting God findes teares in our eies which he shall wipe off So we finde it alwayes not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a time of weeping but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of solemne mourning as Salomon puts them together Eccl. 3.4 Except we be in that case that Dauid and his people were in 1 Sam. 30. Lam. 2.11 and Ieremie sayes the same in his Lamentations of the Iewes that they wept till they could weepe no more Here are teares at our deuotion The Altar couered with teares Mal. 2. Teares in the bed Dauid watered his couch with teares Psal 6. Teares to wash with as Maries Teares to eat Psal 42.3 Teares to drinke Psal 80. yea drunkennesse with teares Esay 16.9 This is our destiny as we are men but more as we are Christians To sow in Teares and God loues these wet seed-times they are seasonable for vs here below Those men therefore are mistaken that thinke to goe to heauen with dry eyes and hope to leape immediately out of the pleasures of earth into the Paradise of God insulting ouer the drouping estate of Gods distressed ones As Ierome and Bede say of Peter that he could not weepe while he was in the High Priests wals so these men cannot weepe where they haue offended But let them know that they must haue a time of teares and if they doe not begin with teares they shall end with them Woe be to them that laugh for they shall weepe and if they will not weepe and shake their heads here they shall weepe and waile and gnash their teeth hereafter Here must be teares and that good store All teares as riuers are called the teares of the sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iob 38. so must our teares be the riuers of our eyes Psal 119.136 and our eyes fountaines Ier. 9.1 Here must be teares of penitence teares of compassion and will bee teares of sorrow Well are those two met therefore teares and sorrow for tho some shed teares for spight others for ioy as Cyprians Martyrs Gaudium pectoris lachrymis exprimentes yet commonly teares are the iuyce of a minde pressed with griefe Greg. Nis Orat. And as well doe teares and crying and sorrow accompany death either in the supposition or the deniall For as worldly sorrow euen in this sense causeth death by drying the bones and consuming the body so death euer lightly is a iust cause of sorrow sorrow to nature in our selues sorrow to ours And as death is the terriblest thing so it is the saddest thing that befals a man Nature could say in the Poet Quis matrem in funere nati Flere vetat yea God himselfe allowed his holy Priests to pollute themselues in mourning for their neerest dead friends Exod. 21. excepting the High Priest which was forbidden it in figure And the Apostle while he forbids the Thessalonians to mourne as without hope doth in a sort command their teares but barre their immoderation It was not without a speciall reference to a iudgement Ezech. 24. that God sayes to Ezechiel Sonne of man behold I will take from thee the pleasure of thy life with a plague yet shalt thou neither mourne nor weepe neither shall my teares runne downe So fit did the Iewes hold teares for Funerals that they hired mourners which with incomposed gestures ranne vp and downe the streets Eccl. 12. who did also cut and lance themselues that they might mourne in earnest Ier. 16. That good natur'd Patriarch Isaac mourned three yeeres for his mother as the Chineses doe at this day for their friends Iacob mourned two and twenty yeeres for Ioseph and there want not some which haue thought Adam and Eue mourned an 100. yeeres for Abel but who knowes not the wailings of Abel-â—itzraim for Ioseph of the valley of Megiddon for Iosiah And if euer any corps deserued to swim it teares if euer any losse could command lamentation then this of ours yea of this whole ILAND yea of the whole Church of God yea of the whole world iustly cals for it and truly hath it O HENRY our sweet Prince our sweet Prince HENRY the second glory of our Nation ornament of mankinde hope of posterity and life of our life how doe all hearts bleed and all eies worthily gush out for thy losse A losse that we had neither grace to feare nor haue capacity to conceiue Shall I praise him to you who are therefore now miserable because you did know him so well I forbeare it though to my paine If I did not spare you I could not so swiftly passe ouer the name and the vertues of that glorious Saint our deare Master or the aggrauation of that losse whereof you are too sensible my true commiseration shall command me silence yet I could not but touch our sore with this light hand tho yet raw and bleeding Death especially such a death must haue sorrow and teares All Nations all succession of times shall beare a part with vs in this lamentation
of God as man who fell on his face to his Father And this is due to God as a Father as a master as a benefactor as a God infinite in all that he is Let me be bold to speake to you with the Psalmist Come yee children Psal 34.11 harken to mee and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. What is it therefore to feare God but to acknowledge the glorious tho inuisible presence of God in all our wayes with Moses his eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. Sic semper Deum praesentem intelligit ac si ipsum qui praesens est in sua essentia viderit Bern. form hon vitae 2 Sam. 15.26 Senec. Epist Psal 36.1 to bee awfully affected at his presence with Iacob quà m tremendus to make an humble resignation of our selues to the holy will of God with Eli It is the Lord and to attend reuerently vpon his disposing with DAVID Here I am let him die to me as seemeth good in his eyes This is the leare of the Lord. There is nothing more talkt of nothing lesse felt I appeale from the tongues of men to their hands the wise Heathen taught mee to doe so Verba rebus proba The voice of wickednesse is actuall saith the Psalmist wickednesse saith there is no feare of God before his eyes Behold wheresoeuer is wickednesse there can be no feare of God these two cannot lodge vnde◠one roofe for the feare of God driues out euill saith Ecclesiasticus Ecclus 1.26 As therefore Abraham argues well from the cause to the effect Because the feare of God is not in this place therefore they will kill me So Dauid argues backe from the effect to the cause They imagine wickednesse on their bed c. therefore the feare of God is not before them I would to God his argument were not too demonstratiue Brethren our liues shame vs. If we feared the Lord durst we dally with his name durst we teare it in peeces Surely we contemn his person whose name we contemn The Iewes haue a conceit that the sinne of that Israelite which was stoned for blasphemy was onely this that hee named that ineffable name of foure letters Iehouah Shall their feare keepe them from once mentioning the dreadfull name of God and shall not our feare keepe vs from abusing it Durst we so boldly sinne God in the face if we feared him Durst wee mocke God with a formall flourish of that which our heart tells vs we are not if wee feared him Durst we be Christians at Church Mammonists at home if we feared him Pardon me if in a day of gratulation I hardly temper my tongue from reproofe for as the Iewes had euer some malefactor brought forth to them in their great feast so it shall bee the happiest peece of our triumph and solemnitie if we can bring forth that wicked profanenesse wherewith we haue dishonoured God and blemisht his Gospell to be scourged and dismissed with all holy indignity From this feare let vs passe as briefly through that which wee must dwell in all our liues the seruice of God This is the subiect of all Sermons mine shall but touch at it You shall see how I hasten to that discourse which this day and your expectation calls me to Diuine Philosophy teaches vs to referre not onely our speculations but our affections to action As therefore our seruice must be grounded vpon feare so our feare must be reduced to seruice What strength can these masculine dispositions of the soule yeeld vs if with the Israelites brood they be smothered in the birth Indeed the worst kinde of feare is that we call seruile but the best feare is the feare of seruants For there is no seruant of God but feares filially And againe God hath no sonne but hee serues Euen the naturall sonne of God was so in the forme of a seruant that he serued indeed and so did he serue that he indured all sorrow and fulfilled all righteousnesse So euery Christian is a son and heire to the King of heauen and his word must be I serue We all know what seruice meanes For we all are or were I imagine either seruants of masters or seruants of the publique or masters of seruants or all these We cannot therefore be ignorant either what we require of ours or what our superiours require of vs. If seruice consisted only in wearing of liueries in taking of wages in making of curtesies and kissing of hands there were nothing more easie or more common All of vs weare the cognizance of our Christianitie in our Baptisme all liue vpon Gods trencher in our maintenance all giue him the complements of a fashionable profession But be not deceiued the life of seruice is worke the worke of a Christian is obedience to the Law of God The Centurion when he would describe his good seruant in the Gospell needed say no more but this I bid him doe this and he doth it Seruice then briefly is nothing but a readinesse to doe as we are bidden and therefore both Salomon and he that was greater than Salomon describes it by keeping the commandements and the chosen vessell giues an euerlasting rule Rom. 6.1 His seruants yee are to whom yee obey Now I might distinguish this seruice into habituall and actuall Habituall for as the seruant while he eats or sleepes is in seruice still so are wee to God Actuall whether vniuersall in the whole carriage of our liues which Zacharie tells vs is in holinesse Luke 1.75 and righteousnesse holinesse to God righteousnesse to men or particular either in the duties which are proper to God Inuocation and Attendance on his ordinance which by an excellence is tearmed his seruice or in those which are proper to vs as wee are peeces of a Familie Church Common-wealth the stations whereof God hath so disposed that we may serue him in seruing one another And thus you see I might make way for an endlesse discourse but it shall content me passing ouer this world of matter to glance onely at the generality of this infinite theme As euery obedience serues God so euery sinne makes God serue vs. One said wittily that the angry man made himselfe the iudge and God the executioner There is no sinne that doth not the like The glutton makes God his cator and himselfe the guest and his belly his God especially in the new-found feasts of this Age wherein profusenesse and profanenesse striue for the tables end The lasciuious man makes himselfe the louer Lud. Viues de verit Relig. l. 4. and as Viues saies of Mahumet God the Pandar The couetous man makes himselfe the Vsurer and God the broker The ambitious makes God his stale Esay 43.24 and Honor his God Of euery sinner doth God say iustly Seruire me fecisti Thou hast made me to serue with thy sins There cannot be a greater honor for vs than to serue such a master as commands heauen earth
cogitation working as it commonly doth remissely causeth not any sudden alteration in our Traueller but as we say of Comets and Eclipses hath his effect when the cause is forgotten Neither is there any one more apparant ground of that lukewarme indifferency which is fallen vpon our times than the ill vse of our wandrings for our Trauellers being the middle ranke of men and therefore either followers of the great or commanders of the meaner sort cannot want conuenience of diffusing this temper of ease vnto both SECT XV. ALl this mischiefe is yet hid with a formall profession so as euery eye cannot finde it in others it dares boldly breake forth to an open reuolt How many in our memory whiles with Dinah they haue gone forth to gaze haue lost their spirituall chastity and therewith both the Church and themselues How many like vnto the brooke Cedron run from Hierusalem thorow the vale of Iehosaphat and end their course in the dead sea Robert Pointz in his preface to the testimonies for the reall presence 2 Chron. 24. A popish writer of our Nation as himselfe thought not vnlearned complaining of the obstinacy of vs hereticks despaires of preuailing because he findes it to be long agoe fore-prophecied of vs in the Booke of the Chronicles At illi Protestantes audire noluerunt It is well that Protestants were yet heard of in the old Testament as well as Iesuites whose name one of their owne by good hap hath found Num. 26.24 Like as Erasmus found Friers in S. Pauls time inter falsos Fratres Socrat. in Iosuam l. 1. c. 2. q. 19. Gretser contra Lerneum c. 1. 2. Vere aiquidam haereticus Iesuitas in sacris literis repertri But it were better if this mans word were as true as it is idle Some of ours haue heard to their cost whose losse ioyned with the griefe of the Church and dishonour of the Gospel we haue sufficiently lamented How many haue wee knowne stroken with these Aspes which haue died sleeping And in truth whosoeuer shall consider this open freedome of the meanes of seducement must needs wonder that we haue lost no more especially if he be acquainted with those two maine helps of our Aduersaries importunity and plausibility Neuer any Pharisee was so eager to make a Proselyte as our late factors of Rome and if they be so hot set vpon this seruice as to compasse sea and land to winne one of vs shall we be so mad as to passe both their sea and land to cast our selues into the mouth of danger No man setteth foot vpon their coast which may not presently sing with the Psalmist They come about mee like Bees It fares with them as with those which are infected with the pestilence who they say are carried with an itching desire of tainting others When they haue all done this they haue gained that if Satan were not more busie and vehement than they they could gaine nothing But in the meane time there is nothing wherein I wish we would emulate them but in this heat of diligence and violent ambition of winning Pyrrhus did not more enuy the valour of those old Romane souldiers which he read in their wounds and dead faces than we doe the busie audacitie of these new The world could not stand before vs if our Truth might be but as hotly followed as their falshood Oh that our God whose cause we maintaine would enkindle our hearts with the fire of holy zeale but so much as Satan hath inflamed theirs with the fire of fury and faction Oh that he would shake vs out of this dull ease and quicken ourslacke spirits vnto his owne worke Arise O North and come O South and blow vpon our garden that the spices thereof may flow forth These suters will take no deniall but are ready as the fashion was to doe with rich matches to carry away mens soules whether they will or no. Wee see the proofe of their importunity at home No bulwarke of lawes no barres of iustice though made of three trees can keepe our rebanished fugitiues from returning from intermedling How haue their actions said in the hearing of the world that since heauen will not heare them they will try what hell can doe And if they dare bee so busie in our owne homes where they would seeme somewhat awed with the danger of iustice what thinke we will they not dare to doe in their owne territories where they haue not free scope onely but assistance but incouragement Neuer generation was so forward as the Iesuiticall for captation of wils amongst their owne or of soules amongst strangers What state is not haunted with these ill spirits yea what house yea what soule Not a Princes Councell-Table not a Ladies chamber can be free from their shamelesse insinuations It was not for nothing that their great Patron Philip the second King of Spaine called them Clerices negotiadores and that Marcus Antonius Columna Generall of the Nauy to Pius Quintuâ— in the battell of Lepanto and Viceroy of Sicile could say to Father Don Alonso a famous Iesuite affecting to be of the counsell of his conscience Voi altri padri di Ihesu hauete la mente al ciclo le mani al mondo l'anima al diauolo SECT XVI YEt were there the lesse perill of their vehemence if it were only rude and boysterous as in some other sects that so as it is in Canon shot it might be more easily shund than resisted but here the skill of doing mischiefe contends with the power their mis-zealous passions hide themselues in a pleasing sweetnesse and they are more beholden to policy than strength What Gentleman of any note can crosse our Seas whose name is not landed in their books before hand in preuention of his person whom now arriued if they finde vntractable through too much preiudice they labour first to temper with the plausible conuersation of some smooth Catholike of his owne Nation the name of his Countrey is warrant enough for his insinuation Not a word yet may be spoken of Religion as if that were no part of the errand So haue we seene an Hawke cast off at an Hernshaw to looke and flie a quite other way after many carelesse and ouerly fetches to towre vp vnto the prey intended There is nothing wherein this faire companion shall not apply himselfe to his welcome Countryman At last when he hath possest himselfe of the heart of his new acquaintance got himselfe the reputation of a sweet ingenuity and delightfull sociablenesse he findes opportunities to bestow some witty scoffes vpon those parts of our religion which lie most open to aduantage And now it is time to inuite him after other rarities to see the Monastery of our English Benedictines or if elsewhere those English Colleges which the deuout beneficence of our well-meaning neighbours with no other intention than some couetous Farmers lay saltcats in their doue-coats haue bountifully erected There it is a wondes
Elkanah haue wished Peninna barren and Anna fruitfull but if she should haue had both issue and loue she had bin proud and her riuall despised God knowes how to disperse his fauours so that euery one may haue cause both of thankfulnesse and humiliation whiles there is no one that hath all no one but hath some If enuy and contempt were not thus equally tempered some would be ouer hauty and others too miserable But now euery man sees that in himself which is worthy of contempt matter of emulation in others and contrarily sees what to pitty and dislike in the most eminent and what to applaud in himselfe and out of this contrariety arises a sweete meane of contentation The loue of Elkanah is so vnable to free Anna from the wrongs of her riuall that it procures them rather The vnfruitfulnesse of Anna had neuer with so much despight been laid in her dish if her husbands heart had been as barren of loue to her Enuy though it take aduantage of our weaknesses yet is euer raised vpon some grounds of happinesse in them whom it emulates it is euer an ill effect of a good cause If Abels sacrifice had not been accepted and if the acceptation of his sacrifice had not beene a blessing no enuy had followed vpon it There is no euill of another wherein it is fit to reioyce but his enuy and this is worthy of our ioy and thankfulnesse because it shewes vs the price of that good which we had and valued not The malignity of enuy is thus well answered when it is made the euill cause of a good effect to vs when God and our soules may gaine by anothers sin I doe not finde that Anna insulted vpon Peninna for the greater measure of her husbands loue as Peninna did vpon her for her fruitlesnesse Those that are truely gracious know how to receiue the blessings of God without contempt of them that want and haue learned to be thankfull without ouerlinesse Enuy when it is once conceiued in a malicious heart is like fire in billets of Iuniper which they say continues more yeeres then one Euery yeere was Anna thus vexed with her emulous partner and troubled both in her prayers and meale Amidst all their feastings she fed on nothing but her teares Some dispositions are lesse sensible and more carelesse of the despight and iniuries of others and can turne ouer vnkinde vsages with contempt By how much more tender the heart is so much more deeply is it euer affected with discourtesies As waxe receiues and retaines that impression which in the heard clay cannot be seene or as the eye feeles that more which the skin of the eye-lid could not complaine of Yet the husband of Anna as one that knew his duty labours by his loue to comfort her against these discontentments Why weepest thou Am not I better to thee then ten sonnes It is the weakenesse of good natures to giue so much aduantage to an enemy what would malice rather haue then the vexation of them whom it persecutes We cannot better please an aduersary then by hurting our selues This is no other then to humour enuy to serue the turne of those that maligne vs and to draw on that malice whereof we are weary whereas carlesnesse puts ill will out of countenance and makes it with-draw it selfe in a rage as that which doth but shame the author without the hurt of the patient In causlesse wrongs the best remedy is contempt She that could not finde comfort in the louing perswasions of her husband seekes at in her prayers she rises vp hungry from the feast and hies her to the Temple there she power out hers teares and supplications Whatsoeuer the complaint be here is the remedy There is one vniuersall receit for all euils prayer when all helpes fayle vs this remaines and whiles we haue an heart comforts it Here was not more bitternesse in the soule of Anna then feruency she did not onely weepe and pray but vow vnto God If God will giue her a sonne she will giue her sonne to God backe againe Euen nature it selfe had consecrated her sonne to God for he could not but be borne a Leuite But if his birth make him a Leuite her vow shall make him a Nazarite and dedicate his minority to the Tabernacle The way to obtaine any benefit is to deuote it in our hearts to the glory of that God of whom we aske it By this meanes shall God both pleasure his seruant and honour himselfe whereas if the scope of our desires be carnall we may be sure either to fayle of our suit or of a blessing ELY and ANNA OLd Ely sits on a stoole by one of the posts of the Tabernacle Where should the Priests of God be but in the Temple whether for action or for ouer-sight Their very presence keepes Gods House in order and the presence of God keepes their hearts in order It is oft found that those which are themselues conscionable are too forward to the censuring of others Good Ely because he markes the lips of Anna to moue without noyse chides her as drunken and vncharitably misconstrues her denotion It was a weake ground whereon to build so heauy a sentence If he had spoken too loud and incomposedly he might haue had some iust colour for this conceit but now to accuse her silence notwithstanding all the teares which he saw of drunkennesse it was a zealous breach of charity Some spirit would haue been enraged with so rash a censure When anger meets with griefe both turne into fury But this good woman had been iniured to reproches and besides did well see the reproofe arose from misprision and the misprision from zeale and therefore answers meekely as one that had rather satisfie then expostulate Nay my Lord but I am a woman troubled in spirit Ely may now learne charity of Anna If she had bin in that distemper whereof he accused her his iust reproofe had not bin so easily digested Guiltines is commonly clamorous and impatient whereas innocence is silent and carelesse of mis-resports It is naturall vnto to all men to wipe off from their name all aspersions of euill but none doe it with such violence as they which are faulty It is a signe the horse is galled that stirs too much when he is touched She that was censured for drunken censures drunkennesse more deeply then her reprouet Count not thiâ—e handmaid for a daughter of Belial The drunkards stâ—â—e begins in lawlesnesse proceeds in vnprofitablenesse ends in misery and all shut vp it the denomination of this pedegree A sonne of Belial If Anna had bin tainted with this sin she would haue denied it with more fauour and haue disclaimed it with an externiation What if I should haue bin merry with wine yet I might be deuout If I should haue ouerioyed in my sacrifice to God one cup of excesse had not bin so hainous now her freedome is seene in her seuerity Those which
sinnes to informe our brethren How rife is this Dumbe Deuill euerywhere whiles hee stops the mouthes of Christians from these vsefull and necessarie duties For what end hath man those two priuiledges aboue his fellow creatures Reason and Speech but that as by the one he may conceiue of the great workes of his Maker which the rest cannot so by the other hee may expresse what hee conceiues to the honor of the Creator both of them and himselfe And why are all other creatures said to praise God and bidden to praise him but because they doe it by the apprehension by the expression of man If the heauens declare the glory of God how doe they it but to the eies and by the tongue of that man for whom they were made It is no small honor whereof the enuious spirit shall rob his Maker if he 〈◊〉 close vp the mouth of his onely rationall and vocall creature and turne the best of his workemanship into a dumbe Idoll that hath a mouth and speakes not Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Praise is not more necessary then complaint praise of God then complaint of ourselues whether to God or men The onely amends we can make to God what we haue not had the grace to auoid sinne is to confesse the sinne wee haue not auoided This is the sponge that wipes out all the blots and blurs of our liues If wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sins and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse That cunning man-slayer knowes there is no way to purge the sicke soule but vpward by casting out the vicious humor wherewith it is clogged and therefore holds the lips close that the heart may not dis-burden it selfe by so wholesome euacuation When I kept silence my bones consumed For day and night thy band O Lord was heauy vpon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer O let me confesse against my selfe my wickednesse vnto thee that thou maist forgiue the punishment of my sinne We haue a tongue for God when wee praise him for our selues when wee pray and confesse for our brethren when we speake the truth for their information which if we hold backe in vnrighteousnesse we yeeld vnto that dumbe Deuill where doe we not see that accursed spirit Hee is on the Bench when the mute or partiall Iudge speakes not for truth and innocence He is in the pulpit when the Prophets of God smother or halue or adulterate the message of their master Hee is at the barre when irreligious Iurors dare lend an oath to feare to hope to gaine Hee is in the market when godlesse chapmen for their peny sell the truth and their soule He is in the common conuersation of men when the tongue belies the heart flatters the guilty balketh reproofes euen in the foulest crimes O thou who only art stronger then that strong one cast him out of the hearts and mouthes of men It is time for thee Lord to worke for they haue destroyed thy Law That it might well appeare this impediment was not naturall so soone as the man is freed from the spirit his tongue is free to his speech The effects of spirits as they are wrought so they cease at once If the Sonne of God doe but remoue our spirituall possession we shall presently breake forth into the praise of God into the confession of our vilenesse into the profession of truth But what strange variety do I see in the spectators of this miracle some wondring others censuring a third sort tempting a fourth applauding There was neuer man or action but was subiect to variety of constructions What man could bee so holy as he that was God What act could bee more worthy then the dispossession of an euill spirit yet this man this act passeth these differences of interpretation What can we doe to vndergoe but one opinion If we giue almes and fast some will magnifie our charity and deuotion others will taxe our hypocrisie If wee giue not some will condemne our hard-heartednesse others will allow our care of iustice if wee preach plainly to some it will sauour of a carelesse slubbering to others of a mortified sincerity Elaborately some will tax our affectation others will applaud our diligence in dressing the delicate viands of God What maruell is it if it bee thus with our imperfection when it fared not otherwise with him that was purity and righteousnesse it selfe The austere fore-runner of Christ came neither eating nor drinking they say He hath a Deuill The sonne of man came eating and drinking they say This man is a glutton a friend of Publicans and sinners and here one of his holy acts caries away at once wonder censure doubt celebration There is no way safe for a man but to square his actions by the right rule of iustice of charitie and then let the world haue leaue to spend their glosses at pleasure It was an heroicall resolution of the chosen vessell I passe very little to be iudged of you or of mans day I maruell not if the people maruelled for here were foure wonders in one The blinde saw the deafe heard the dumbe spake the demoniacke is deliuered Wonder was due to so rare and powerfull a worke and if not this nothing We can cast away admiration vpon the poore deuices or actiuities of men how much more vpon the extraordinary workes of omnipotency Who so knowes the frame of Heauen and earth shall not much be affected with the imperfect effects of fraile humanity but shall with no lesse rauishment of soule acknowledge the miraculous workes of the same Almighty hand Neither is the spirituall eiection worthy of any meaner intertainment Raritie and difficultie are wont to cause wonder There are many things which haue wonder in their worth and leese it in their frequence there are some which haue it in their strangenesse and leese it in their facilitie Both meet in this To see men haunted yea possessed with a dumbe Deuill is so frequent that it is a iust wonder to finde a man free but to finde the dumbe spirit cast out of a man and to heare him praising God confessing his sinnes teaching others the sweet experiments of mercy deserues iust admiration If the Cynick sought in the market for a man amongst men well may we seeke amongst men for a conuert Neither is the difficulty lesse then the rarenesse The strong man hath the possession all passages are blockt vp all helpes barred by the trechery of our nature If any soule be rescued from these spirituall wickednesses it is the praise of him that doth wonders alone But whom doe I see wondring The multiude The vnlearned beholders follow that act with wonder which the learned Scribes entertaine with obloquy God hath reuealed those things to babes which he hath hid from the wise and prudent With what scorne did those great Rabbins speake of these sonnes of the earth This
we are blest by their protection Who wonders not to heare a Prophet call for a Minstrell in the middest of that mournfull distresse of Israel and Iudah Who would not haue expected his charge of teares and prayers rather then of Musicke How vnreasonable are songs to an heauy heart It was not for their eares it was for his owne bosome that Elisha called for Musicke that his spirits after their zealous agitation might bee sweetly composed and put into a meet temper for receiuing that calme visions of God Perhaps it was some holy Leuite that followed the Campe of Iehoshaphat whose minstrelsie was required for so sacred a purpose None but a quiet brest is capable of diuine Reuelations Nothing is more powerfull to settle a troubled heart then a melodious harmony The Spirit of Prophesie was not the more inuited the Prophets Spirit was the better disposed by pleasing sounds The same God that will reueale his will to the Prophet suggests this demand Bring me a Minstrell How many say thus when they would put God from them Profane mirth wanton musicke debauches the soule and makes no lesse roome for the vncleane spirit then spirituall melody doth for the Diuine No Prophet had euer the Spirit at command The hand of the Minstrell can doe nothing without the hand of the Lord Whiles the Musicke sounds in the eare God speakes to the heart of Elisha Thus saith the Lord Make this valley full of ditches Yee shall not see wind neither shall ye see raine yet that valley shall be full of water c. To see wind and raine in the height of that drought would haue seemed as wonderfull as pleasing but to see abundance of water without wind or raine was yet more miraculous I know not how the fight of the meanes abates our admiration of the effect Where no causes can be found out wee are forced to confesse omnipotency Elijah releeued Israel with water but it was out of the cloudes and those cloudes rose from the sea but vvhence Elisha shall fetch it is not more maruellous then secret All that euening all that night must the faith of Israel and Iudah bee exercised with expectation At the houre of the morning sacrifice no sooner did the blood of that Oblation gush forth then the streames of vvaters gushed forth into their new channells and filled the Countrey with a refreshing moisture Elijah fetcht downe his fire at the houre of the euening sacrifice Elisha fetcht vp his water at the houre of the morning sacrifice God giues respect to his owne houres for the encouragement of our obseruation If his wisdome hath set vs any peculiar times wee cannot keepe them without a blessing The deuotions of all true Iewes all the world ouer were in that houre combined How seasonably doth the wisdome of God picke out that instant wherein hee might at once answer both Elishaes prophesie and his peoples prayers The Prophet hath assured the Kings not of water onely but of victory Moab heares of enemies and is addressed to warre Their owne error shall cut their throats they rise soone enough to beguile themselues the beames of the rising Sunne glistering vpon those vaporous and vnexpected waters caried in the eyes of some Moabites a semblance of blood a few eyes were enough to fill all eares with a false noise the deceiued sense miscaries the imagination This is blood the Kings are surely slaine and they haue smitten one another now therefore Moab to the spoile Ciuill broyles giue iust aduantage to a common enemy Therefore must the Camps be spoiled because the Kings haue smitten each other Those that shall bee deceiued are giuen ouer to credulity The Moabites doe not examine either the conceit or the report but flie in confusedly vpon the Campe of Israel whom they finde too late to haue no enemies but themselues As if death would not haue hastened enough to them they come to fetch it they come to challenge it It seizeth vpon them vnauoidably they are smitten their Cities razed their Lands marred their Wells stopped their trees felled as if God meant to waste them but once No onsets are so furious as the last assaults of the desperate The King of Moab now hopelesse of recouery would bee glad to shut vp with a pleasing reuenge with seuen hundred resolute followers he rushes into the battaile towards the King of Edom as if he would bid death welcome might he but carie with him that despighted neighbour and now mad with the repulse he returnes and whether as angry with his destiny or as barbarously affecting to win his cruell gods with so deare a sacrifice he offers them with his owne hand the blood of his eldest sonne in the sight of Israel and sends him vp in smoake to those hellish Deities O prodigious act whether of rage or of deuotion What an hand hath Satan ouer his miserable vassals What maruell is it to see men sacrifice their soules in an vnfelt oblation to these plausible tempters when their owne flesh and blood hath not beene spared There is no Tyrant to the Prince of darknesse ELISHA with the Shunamite THE holy Prophets vnder the old Testament did not abhorre the mariage bed they did not thinke themselues too pure for an institution of their Maker The distressed widow of one of the sonnes of the Prophets comes to Elisha to bemoane her condition Her husband is dead and dead in debt Death hath no sooner seized on him then her two sonnes the remaining comfort of her life are to be seized on by his creditors for bond-men How thicke did the miseries of this poore afflicted woman light vpon her Her husband is lost her estate clogged with debts her children ready to be taken for slaues Her husband was a religious and worthy man hee paid his debts to Nature he could not to his Creditors they are cruell and rake in the scarce-closed wound of her sorrow passing an arrest worse then death vpon her sonnes Widow-hood pouertie seruitude haue conspired to make her perfitly miserable Vertue and goodnesse can pay no debts The holiest man may be deepe in arerages and breake the banke Not through lauishnesse and riot of expence Religion teaches vs to moderate our hands to spend within the proportion of our estate but through either iniquitie of times or euill casualties Ahab and Iezebel were lately in the Throne who can maruell that a Prophet was in debt It was well that any good man might haue his breath free though his estate were not wilfully to ouer-lash our ability cannot stand with wisedome and good gouernment but no prouidence can guard vs from crosses Holinesse is no more defence against debt then against death Grace can keepe vs from vnthriftinesse not from want Whither doth the Prophets widow come to bewaile her case but to Elisha Euery one would not be sensible of her affliction or if they would pity yet could not releeue her Elisha could doe both Into his eare doth hee vnload her