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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19065	Christian offices crystall glasse In three bookes. First written in Latine, by that famous and renowned Father, Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millane. Whereunto is added his conuiction of Symmachus the Gentile. A worke tending to the advancement of vertue, and of holinesse: and to shew how much the morality of the Gentiles, is exceeded by the doctrine of Christianity. Translated into English by Richard Humfrey ...; De officiis. English	Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, d. 397.; Humfrey, Richard.	1637 (1637)	STC 548; ESTC S100171	335,831	469

condemned Of this i Job 29.13 Job speaketh worthily the blessing of him that was about to perish came upon me The Lord truly is no accepter of persons because hee knowes all things But wee verily owe mercy to all but because the most seeke it by deceipt and counterfeit griefe therefore where the cause is manifest the person knowne the time urgeth mercy ought more largely to open her bowels For the Lord is not covetous that hee should desire to receive much of thee blessed truly is he that k Math. 19.27.29 leaveth all and followeth him But he is blessed also that doth it in what he hath in his affection and resolution and this is to be habitually beneficent The Lord preferred the l Luke 21.1 widowes two mites before the gifts of the rich because shee gave all that shee had but they bestowed a small part of their abundance Wee see therefore while wee compare things together that the m 2 Cor. 8.10 affection maketh the gift either rich or poore and setteth a higher or lower prize upon the deeds of men But God will not riches to be spent all at once and that we should be emptied of our whole substance as it were at one lift and hazard but to be dispensed and disposed of upon each occasion in their severall portions unlesse peradventure wee will doe as n 1 Kings 19.21 Elisha did who slew his oxen and fed the poore of that which hee had that he might be deteyned by no houshold affaires but leaving all addict himselfe wholly to the study of prophecy That liberality also is to be approved of that thou despise not the next of thy seed if thou know them to want For it is better for thee that thou thy selfe helpe thine in whom shame covereth their faces when they aske ayde at the hands of others or seeke to relieve their necessity by strangers albeit not with a desire that they should be inriched with that which otherwise might have beene for the sustenance of the needy For the cause not favour or affection must over-rule Neither hast thou therefore dedicated thy selfe to God that thou mightest inrich thine owne stocke but that as a fruit of thy good workes thou mightest attaine to eternall life and by the o Prov. 22.9 blessing of commiseration thou mightest have more assurance of the p Dan. 4.24 juxta veterem transl redime but better abrumpe or as much as Exod. 21.8 adjuvet redimere Veheperah The bookes of the Talmud are divided by perakim fractions it were absurd to say redemptions redemption of thy sinnes They suppose they require a small matter of thee being a kinsman but they seeke the prize of thy reward and strive to deprive thee of the fruit of eternall life Doth the next kinsman accuse thee for that thou hast not made him rich when hee would have defrauded thee of the reward of everlasting life Thou hast our counsell before thou requirest our authority first therefore no man ought to be ashamed if of a rich man he be made poore in giving to the poore because Christ being rich was made q 2 Cor. 8.9 poore that by his poverty he might inrich us Hee hath given us a rule to follow that if any man hath removed the famine of the poore and hath relirved their want this may be a good ground for the wasting of his patrimony Whence the Apostle in this saith he I speake not by r 2 Cor. 8.10 commandement but it is my counsell and advise to you For this is profitable that yee follow Christ Counsell is given to the good correction doth curbe offenders Moreover hee speaketh as it were to the good which not only to doe but to ſ Ibid. v. 10. will that is to say to doe with a willing mind have begun a yeare agoe Both these not one part belongeth to the perfect Therefore hee teacheth both liberality without benevolence and benevolence without liberality not to bee perfect Hereupon hoe exhorteth to perfection saying t Ibid. v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now therefore consummate the worke also that as there is a readinesse to will so yee may perfect it of that which yee have For if there bee a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that a man hath not Neither is it that other men should bee eased and yee grieved but that as at this time your abundance supplieth their want likewise their abundance may bee for your want that there may bee an equality As it is written u Exod. 16.18 and hee that gathereth much had nothing over and hee that gathered little had nothing lesse Wee observe how that herein he comprehendeth both benevolence and liberality likewise the manner of doing the fruits and the persons Therefore the manner because hee gave good counsell to the unperfect For none are streightned but the unperfect But and if any one being not willing to be grievous to the Church set in some pastorship or ministery doth not bestow all that hee hath in benevolence but doth performe that which in honesty may bee thought sufficient for his place such a one doth not seeme to mee to be unperfect And I suppose the Apostle speakes not of the streightnesse of affection but of the streightnesse of allowance But of their persons I thinke it to have beene spoken that your abundance may bee for their want and their abundance for your want that is to say that the abundance of the people may bee of good operation to relieve their poverty by nourishing them and their abundance spirituall may bee of like operation to supply among the people the defect of spirituall merite and may bring unto them grace Whence very singular is the president which he hath set downe out of x Exod. 16.12 2 Cor. 8.15 Moses hee which had much had nothing over and hee which had little had nothing lesse This worthy example doth well exhort all men to the duty of mercy because hee which doth possesse much gold hath nothing over for that whatsoever it in this world is nothing and he which hath little hath nothing lesse because it is nothing which hee loseth The matter is without losse which wholly is a losse in itselfe so also is the sense good otherwise hee which hath overplus although hee give not hath nothing over because although hee bee a getter and gainer still yet desiring more doth need alwayes And hee which hath little decaieth not because it is not much which feedeth and sufficeth a poore man Likewise therefore that poore man that bestoweth spirituall almes in stead of moneys though hee hath a great portion of grace yet hath nothing over For the mind is not burdened with grace or gifts divine but succoured and supported The sacred sentence may also bee thus understood Thou hast nothing over O man For how much is it that thou hast received albeit it may

〈◊〉 strangers Which also wee may truly say was taken from our profession for the Hebrewes did call their adversaries h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act 2.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2.12 1. In the Hebrew beside ajab the ordinary roote for an enemy there is tsar which is not much dissonant to gar peregrinari from whence ger a stranger 2. The Lords speciall care for strangers Deut. 10.18 14.29 Exod. 23.9 now within the gates of Israel though enemies before may be the reason hereof 3. The love that God injoyned to enemies Math. 5.44 allophyli that is in a Latine word alienigenae of another Tribe or nation In the first booke of the Kings wee reade And it came to passe in those dayes that the people of other i 1 Sam. 28.1 the translation used in our Fathers time so read but our vulgar Philistims of Phalas Hebr. raising dust and wrapping themselves in it because of their multitude in battell and spreading over the land as the only nation nations came to battell against Jsrael Fidelity therefore is the foundation of justice For the hearts of the just meditate k Psal 37.31 31.23 fidelity And when the just doth accuse himselfe hee placeth justice above fidelity For then his justice appeareth if hee confesseth the truth Besides also the Lord witnesseth by l Es 28.16 Esay Behold I will lay in Sion a stone a tried stone a pretious corner stone a sure foundation that is Christ for a foundation to the Church For Christ is the foundation of the faith of all men But the Church is a certaine forme of Justice the common right of all men Shee prayeth in common shee worketh in common shee is tried in common To conclude hee which denieth himselfe hee is just hee is worthy of Christ And therefore Paul laid downe Christ as the m 1 Cor. 3.12 foundation that we might place our workes of Justice upon him because Faith is the foundation But in workes being of two sorts if they bee evill there is iniquity in them they are out of Christ and spring from another roote if they be good there is justice seated in them and they are rooted in Christ Tullius lib. 1. quemadmodum ex beneficentia quae justitiae conjuncta est officia manant CHAP. XXIX Of Beneficence BVT let us now speake of Beneficence which it selfe also is divided into benevolence and liberality Of these two therefore doth beneficence consist that it may be perfect For it is not sufficient bee willing to'doe well but also it is required that it bee put in execution Neither againe is it enough to doe well in outward performance unlesse that doe proceed out of a good fountaine that is out of a good will For God loveth a a 2 Cor. 9.7 cheerefull giver For if thou dost it unwillingly what rewards is there Whence the Apostle speaking generally If I doe b 1 Cor. 9.17 it willingly I shall have my reward if against my will the dispensation is committed to mee In the Gospell likewise wee have many instructions for just liberality It is a most commendable thing therefore to bee willing to doe well and to give with that mind to profit not to hurt For if thou thinke thou oughtest to extend thy contribution to a luxurious person for the maintenance of his riotousnesse or to an adulterer to nourish him in his sinne there can bee no beneficence there where there is no benevolence For that is not to profit but to hurt another if thou give to him that conspireth against his countrie that desireth upon thy cost to gather together the wicked which may impugne the Church This is not liberality to bee allowed of if thou helpe him which decrees with heavy rebukes against the widow and the fatherlesse or doth attempt to deprive them forcibly of their possessions That bounty is not to bee approved if what is given to one is wrested from another if thou get it unjustly and thinke it ought justly to bee dispensed unlesse perhaps as z Luke 19. Zacheus did thou restore to him fourefold whom thou hast defrauded and thou recompence the faults of the dayes of thy Paganisme with the study of true religion and worke of a beleever Let thy liberality therefore have a good foundation This is first required that thou contribute to the cause of the Gospell in faith that thou use no imposture in thy oblations that thou say not thou bestowest more d With Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5. when thou bestowest lesse For what should need such reproofe there is fraud in thy promise it is in thy power to give what thou wilt Deceipt loseth the foundation and the world falleth and commeth to nought Did Peter so burne with indignation that hee was desirous to destroy e Acts 5. Ananias or his wife But he would others to beware by their example lest they running into like offence might perish with them Neither is it perfect liberality if thou contribute rather for f Prov. 25.14 vaine-glory then for mercy sake Thy affection imposeth a name upon thy worke looke with what mind it proceedeth from thee so is it estimated Thou seest what a morall judge thou hast Hee consulteth with thee in what sense hee shall take thy worke and hee first inquireth how it standeth with thy mind Let not thy g Math. 6.3 left hand know saith he what thy right hand doth Hee speaketh not of the body but let not thine unanimous friend nor thy brother know what thou dost lest while here thou seekest to get a reward by boasting thou there losest the fruit of remuneration But there is perfect liberality where one doth cover his workes with silence and doth secretly come as an ayde to every severall person and whom the mouth of the poore praiseth and not his owne lips Moreover perfect liberality is commended by the faith of them in whom it is the cause place and time where and when it is executed insomuch that the first and principall good worke is that which is done toward them that are of the h Gal. 6.10 houshold of faith It is an exceeding great fault if in thy knowledge thou suffer the faithfull man to want and such a one whom thou knowest to bee without money in his purse to be pinched with famine and to indure much sorrow especially when he is ashamed to make knowne his poverty if he shall speedily fall into captivity or that in thy knowledge into reproch and thou helpe him not if he being just suffer imprisonment or bee under vexation for some debt for although mercy is due to all yet much to the just if in the time of his affliction he obtaineth nothing of thee if lastly in the time of his extreame perill even then when he is haled to death thy money prevailes more with thee then the life of him about to die it is an exceeding great fault I say and justly

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aure sonus 1 COR. 10.20 What the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Divels and not to God LONDON Printed for Iohn Dawson 1637. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER in God and my very good Lord GODFERIE L. Bishop of Glocester My very good Lord IT is not without cause that the Apostle speaking of good Workes breaketh forth into this Epiphoneme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this I will that thou affirme that they which beleeve in God bee carefull to maintaine good workes and afterward let ours learne so to doe and that St. Iohn the Divine ioynes with him ratifying the same from the infallible testimonie of the Spirit when mentioning the blessed estate of them that die in the Lord addes withall that their workes follow them For where the effect is found there and no where else the cause undoubtedly is in place which is a lively saving and iustifying faith Neither can they be denied to be Via regni si siant non timore sed amore non formidine poenae sed dilectione iustitiae Which is that St. Augustine requires for the inside but because that is knowne only to the Searcher of all hearts we must in caritie goe no further then to what is outward and esteeme good workes as they are good and profitable for men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the truth is it redounds greatly to the discredit of the professors of the Gospel especially to those of eminent place to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without fruit our neighbours of New Windsor and their posteritie are exceedingly bound to your Lordship for your most gracious and liberall contribution for the better ornament of their Church and market place as also for the maintenance among them the perpetuitie of that morning watch of divine service to the great honor of God and stirring them up to holy devotion The remembrance whereof together with your Lordships right Christian disposition to the daily and continuall practise of charitie was a speciall motive of this my Dedication VVe all admire his vertue who was able to say Iob 21.15 I was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame I was a father to the poore and his loynes have blessed me In these barren and frozen dayes of Hospitalitie who doth not admire your Lordship from whose gates the poore never depart with an emptie bosome Blessed is hee Psal 41. as the Psalmist speakes that iudgeth wisely of the poore St. Laurentius that holy Martyr Archdeacon to Sixtus Bishop of Rome when the tyrant Decius sought the spoile of the treasures of the Church cried out Horum manus meaning the hands of the poore thesauros ecclesiae in coelum deportaverunt For these are truly the treasures in which Christ remaines 2 Cor. 4.7 we have this treasure in earthly vessels according to the blessed Apostle and it is written I was hungrie and yee gave me meat I was thirstie and yee gave me drinke I was a stranger and yee tooke me in Afterward punctually what yee have done to the least of these yee have done to mee For this cause our holy Father himselfe witnessing it Offic. l. 2. c. 28 sold the very goods of the Church the sacred vessels themselves namely to redeeme the captives being in extreame and miserable servitude wonderfull compassionate was hee to the poore and in that your Lordship rightly resembles him therein being an acceptable piece of service to God worthily is it presented indeed to your Lordship and published in your name Take therfore for your L ps everlasting comfort what that divine Father hath August in Lucam Serm. 3 5. Qui sunt qui habebunt tabernacula aeterna nisi Sancti Dei qui sunt qui ab ipsis accipiendi sunt in tabernacula aeterna nisi qui eorum indigentiae serviunt quod eis opus est hilariter serviunt In the meane time receive this my travell of translation I most humbly desire your good Lordship as a a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pledge of my ancient love toward you and true affection to honour that speciall grace of Commiseration so eminent in your Lordship And thus with my heartiest petition to the God of all goodnesse for your Lordships long life and much happinesse to the further benefit of Church and b Munisicentissimus Episcopus tam pater est Patriae quàm Ecclesiae Common-weale I rest Your Lordships poore Orator in all humble dutie Ri. Humfrey Cause rendred for the translation of the Fathers THeir authoritie is next to the sacred scriptures and they are expositors of them giving great light to them neither are their interpretations and commentaries of small strength and worth to perswade that what sense they giue of them should not bee neglected 2. Their writings afford us a true chronologie of the times how they haue passed what hath beene done in each severall age what doctrines haue beene maintained for orthodox what rejected as erroneous and hereticall 3. Their sweete and pithy sentences are of invaluable weight proceeding from the profoundest iudgement and rarest invention conceived not with humane wit but by divine grace which appeares by this that none in our dayes can attaine to the like excellency therein 4. No examples of holy life bee found since the Apostles comparable to theirs for devout prayer fasting charitie care of the flocke commited to them courage for the convincing of error arising in the Church beating downe sinne with the due punishment thereof by their good discipline joyned with decent order and reverend governement 5. The synods or Councels were called but they were assigned to be speakers presidents cheife pillers and compilers of what soever therein was acted and effected 6. The translating of them is a meanes to bring them out of the dust and darke corners wherein they lye rotting and consumed with moths and to set a new coate and flourish vpon them to reviue their blessed memory to honour them and to give them their deserved comendation more narrowly to sift out their true tenets and to discover their frailties the one being a good marke for imitation the other for devitation Andreas Schottus published 600. Greek Epistles of Isidorus Pelasiotes out of the Vatican Library An. Dom. 1628. whereof there was another edition the yeare following in Greek and Latine which argues that the hands of the learned are ever in action this way labours most acceptable to the Church of God 7. This will be as a spurre to stirre vp to the reading of them and to examine how that which is translated accordeth with the originall will make them more familiar better knowne bring them more easily to hand to more frequent and certtaine vse 8. It hath beene accustomed in all ages to translate them and if the Greeke fathers might be turned into the Latine tongue why might not the Latine into other Languages Pisanus Burgandio presented as a worthy peice of worke to the councell of Pope Alexander the

unreconciliable opposition betweene S. Ambrose and Symmachus Who that of the popish and orthodox Church in the like In the matter of Adoration point when therein Rome is made the habitation of Revel 18.2 Divels Where was then the supreme power of the Bishop of Rome that S. Ambrose being but Bishop of Millan must step forth to suppresse Symmachus a temporall Magistrate intruding himselfe into the The Popes supremacy shaken cause of divine worship What was not there authority given him being the successor of S. Peter to whom our Saviour committed the kingdome of heaven to pull downe such an evill member Liberius and Damasus how sate they in their cathedra how proceeded they in their sentence doth not this their defect weaken their supremacy Did the letters written to Liberius beare any bigger style then Socrates Schol. l. 4. C. 11. and his againe to them our welbeloved brethren and fellow B. To our brother and fellow-minister Not only S. Ambrose but S. Hierom S. Augustine and Athanasius were about that time men of much more esteeme more learned such whose judgements in causes of controversie were better accepted and more generally received of the Church of God But it being enough for me tanquam canis ad Nilum thus to touch I will rake no deeper into this kennell whereby I might move a worse sent but will turne me away to Philosophies originall That part therefore which is morall was not the invention of Aristotle Plato Socrates or of any other of the learned among the Gentiles but is of as great antiquity as the world it selfe and began with man in Paradise at his creation It was indeed defaced in the fall but not utterly Rom. 2.15 This discourse is pertinent shewing what vertue is and to what end it is to bee acquired abolished For certaine sparkes of that goodly light lay still raked up in the cinders by which man might bee able to discerne betweene right and wrong things honest and dishonest and performe the common offices of his maine life Faith it selfe the Mistres of manners and Mother of good workes cannot possibly so subsist as 2 Pet 1.5.10.11 barren of all vertues It is a faire and fruitfull speech of his who affirmeth Aug. in Epist ad Macedon no other vertue to bee found in this life then to love what is to bee loved which to love is wisdome from which by no troubles to bee averted is fortitude by no allurements temperance by no insolency justice Vertue pertaineth to the second table neither is that principall supernaturall divinely infused theologicall habite such as are faith hope and love but that lesse principall comming under the most complete division of the T it 2.12 Observandum quàm miro compendio vitam mores Christianos complexus sit Paulus Heming Apostle That according to his heavenly instruction we study and strive to live righteously toward men soberly in respect of our selves and of the all-seeing God godly or in godly 1 Pet. 1.15 conversation which is ever accompanied with truth and reverence assiduity Luk. 1.5.7 constancie in Gods service Wherein there is no question to be made but that hee comprehendeth all the foure It is warrantable from this place Tit. 2.12 and that of Saint Iames C. 1.17 that these Cardinals proceed from the H Sp cōming into the Ethnick namely through the spirit of illumination and restraint unto the true beleever through the spirit of sanctification Cardinals with whatsoever their branches together with the three Theologicall That which is inferred here of Vertue either generally or particularly of any of its parts as of a good worke is that it is necessarily to be exercised and that by the obligation of divine mandate for obedience sake to God not as meritorious Who knoweth not that the obedience of a son to his parents is a thing necessarie for it is part of the honour he oweth to them is it therefore a matter of desert and merit Vertuous workes make a way Bona opera sunt via regni non causa regnandi Bern. to our salvation that is conditionally Vt conditio sine qua non est aeterna vita non ut causa propter quam because without them there can be no true Gal. 5.6 faith nor life Rom. 8.3 eternall but not as the Rom. 6.23 cause for which wee obtaine the same for that is a gratuitall and Deus initiorum fidei incrementi largitor est Amb. de vocat Gent. l. 2. C. 1. free gift in Iesus Christ our Lord Which in the purpose of the Apostle implyeth by his sole grace and his only efficacy of merit Abrahams justification by workes was seene in the fruites and effects of his faith as in shewing his Iam. 2.21 obedience in offering up his sonne Isaac upon the altar Thus proceeds S. Iames his disputation that it admits not faith to bee solitary but S. Paul strikes at the roote admitting no other foundation of our justification but Rom. 4.3 faith only Both agree in this that where it is not a dead but a lively faith there it is evermore accompanied with no colourable and counterfeit shewes and shadowes but with most Rom. 8.1 savoury and sweet 5.1 consequences in substance and truth Faith it selfe as a Worke doth not justifie but as an instrument John 6.29 Tribuitur opus salutis fidei salutem miseris magis concilianti quàm operanti Muss and againe Fides Dei nostri opus est Dei sicut scriptura paedagogi nostrum sicut pueri cujus manus à poedagogo ducitur When salvation is ascribed to faith Mar. 5.34 Math. 9.29 as our Worke the Scripture teacheth that this is the Worke of God in us imparting to every one his portion Rom. 12.3 Eph. 2 8. Ye are saved through Faith by grace it is not of your selves it is the gift of God not of Workes lest any man should boast Hereunto accordeth the exposition of two of the chiefe of the Fathers fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo in terra hoc est sicut in eis qui jam crediderunt tanquam coelum sunt in eis qui non credunt ob hoc adhuc terra sunt Cyprian Wherein he sheweth that it proceedeth from the will of God that any beleeve Augustine accords with him Trahi à patre ad Christum nihil aliud est quàm donum accipere à patre quo credat in Christum August l. 1. de Praedest C 8o. applying to the beleeving soule the merits of Christ The Ethnick hath no acquaintance and the Papist very little with this save only by way of contradiction as Bellarmine affirming contrary to the Rom 10.10 Apostle the braine Following Aristot Eth. lib. 1. C. 13. and understanding only to be the subject and that carbonarie of Hosius the Cardinall teaching a confused assent to the Churches voyce which what it may bee in speciall need not to be sought Howbeit this may seeme to crosse their tenet ex opere operato for this and other