carefull to remember it and be sure hold them to it But who almost lookes as he should after the promises concerning his Eternall happinesse Who studies the case in these points Who examines the thoughts Evidences Who searches the Records where they lye Avicenna the Mahumetane could get the Alcaron without booke and wee haue the verses of one R. Saadiah a Iew wherein he striues to shew how many times every letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is found through the old Testament But we are better seene in other matters I presse this no farther There may I confesse be an abuse by vaine-glory and scrupulosity in the very text of Scripture as that by Anabaptists and others But few of vs I perswade my selfe offend in such excesse Rather we intrench vpon the abuse of Gods gratious promises as though in the New Covenant hee had tied himselfe to make good all on his part and nothing rested of vs on our part to bee performed Thus in our practise wee take Gods decrees without the meanes a speculatiue faith without the fruit thereof a working grace without any indeavours of our illuminated vnderstanding and convicted will as though if wee speed not well the fault were Gods and not ours And this I conceiue to be the colourablest cause why our doctrine of Iustification by faith alone Art 11. which our Church Articles terme a wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort together with that of Gods preventing and working grace hath beene of late so dangerously impugned by some of our owne side in regard our neglect of good workes and abuse of our freed Abilities haue given such inexcusable occasions But new cloath must not be added to old garments to make the greater rent I follow my text They must then be here no promise breakers nor promise challengers where none are made nor misconceiuers of promise to take that to themselues which belongs not to them or that for absolute which was but conditionall But sonnes of promise and performers of promise are those and onely they that may looke for this land of promise according to this promise which brings in the Expectation the Tenure or manner of Holding my third Circumstance that now succeeds to be examined 7 Wee looke for It is the Fashion of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Cor. 7.31 to be so ill Grammarians that they bee all for the present but little for the preterperfect or the future tense Though S. Paul tell vs that the fashion of this world passeth away and wisheth vs not to fashion our selues according to this world and S. Peter here not to stand too much vpon that which we now possesse but to thinke vpon and provide for that we must Looke for Our surest good therefore is not in possession but in Expectation for we are saued by hope Rom. 8.24 but hope that is seene is not hope for that a man seeth why doth he hope for but if we hope for that we see not then doe wee with patience wait for it And is not faith it selfe the ground or substance of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 and the evidence of things not seene The Schooles distinguish to this purpose betweene the three Theologicall virtues faith hope and charity that faith layes the present ground Hope seaseth on the future good and Charity leads vs along to the full possession of it for wee shall hardly possesse hereafter that which wee never hoped for and no reason haue we to hope where there is no ground All these then must goe together the one to second and third the other Our Apostle calles vs here and sets vs vpon the Claime to our future inheritance If wee here set vp our rest and think wee are well we may faile of our hopes hereafter It was a notable caveat that the Lord commanded Ieremy to deliuer to Baruch Behold that which I haue built I will breake downe and that which I haue planted J will plucke vp Ier. 45.4 and seekest thou great things for thy selfe seeke them not Our Saviour told Pilate that his Kingdome was not of this world Iohn 18.36 And in what place should our possessions lye but where our Saviour hath purchased them for vs Abraham hauing a pattent or grant of the Kingdome of Canaan for a Donatiue notwithstanding looked farther Heb. 11.10 for a City which hath foundations Foundations then as it should seeme in his conceipt were wanting to any building that should be heere erected before in this vale of misery Iacob professeth himselfe Gen. 47.9 to King Pharaoh that he was but a Pilgrim King David at his highest that hee was a stranger and soiourner as all his fathers were Psal 39.14 Luke 12. When the ground of that rich man in the gospell brought forth plenteously and his resolution was to pull downe his barnes and build greater that all his fruits and goods might be therein housed when he applauded himselfe as he thought in this thrifty course and sung a Requiem to his soule Soul thou hast much goods laid vp for many yeares take thine ease eate drinke and be merry How did God say Amen to this Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee and then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided Our Saviours close vpon it may not be omitted so is he that heapeth vp treasures for himselfe and is not rich towards God who is all for hauing here and lookes for nothing hereafter liues that he may eate and eats that he may liue is melancholique at the thought of sicknesse crosses age or afflictions the inviting fore-runners to his future Inheritance would part with all his interest in that vpon easier terines then Esau did with his birth-right or Iudas with his master So farre sensuality in vs prevaileth and faith faileth So deare is present possession and doubtfull our future Expectation 8 The tongue of men and Angells would be heere needfull to set on this doctrine to our soules and consciences Not because it is thought doubtfull but because it is little thought on by the most of vs I shall not transgresse then I hope if in our Apostles way discouered here in the first verse I venture to stirre vp your pure minds by way of remembrance Remember therefore then Beloued what a vanity and hazzard it is to fixe our hearts here vpon that which can never satisfy All the felicity it is possible for vs Pilgrims in our passage to touch vpon Arist Eth. 1. is reduced by the Philosopher to these three heads the Ornaments of the mind as wit learning discretion the abilities of the body as health strength beauty the gifts as they call them of fortune as Riches Honour successe in vndertakeings and the like But what content giue any of these when they are throughly weighed I will not speake of the ignorance of our knowledge the weaknesse of our strength the ficklenesse of our fortunes and the fondnesse of
But I must not trespasse so farre on your patience I will but lappe therefore with Gedoons souldiers at the river Iudg. 7. 1. Sam. 14. or touch the hony as Ionathan with the tippe of my rod and leaue the farther applying to your private religious meditations 16 Where first if I listed to bee contentious the Rhemists note on these words of my Text might giue sufficient occasion For Ephesus being here accused to haue left her first loue By this say they is plainely refuted that which some heretikes hold that a man once in grace and charity can never fall from it Onely to cleere the place and passe by purposely what otherwise might here bee sifted I answere briefly This note is a notable instance of the ignorant and perverse dealing of these glossers who either vnderstand not vs or the Text or their owne men or else of purpose catch at any thing to delude their simple Proselytes For doe not their owne men distinguish betweene the habit of Charitie and the act the cause and the effect the essence and the degrees the action and the manner of performing And haue not our men made it plaine enough that the grace wee affirme cannot be lost is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods working favour not mans inconstant worke depending not on mans free-will but Gods free election whose decrees are vnalterable and gifts without repentance But Satan may bee here set against Satan the Iesuites against the Rhemists Viegas words are Non amisit charitatem In textum ibid. sed de charitat is fervore nonnihil remisit the Angell fell not here from charity but was not so hot as before It was not privatio saith Pererius but a kinde of Laodicean lukewar menesse They performed not duely daily often earnestly to so many in so many things the good they were wont to doe which they further confirme to be the exposition of Are thas Abbas Ioachim Richardus a sancto Victore Lyra Pannonius Hugo Cardinalis Carthusian and that deduced manifestly from the very Text. For loue the Angell did but not as at the first grace hee had but not so working as at the beginning worke hee did but not with that alacrity and zeale hee was accustomed to doe Tzebi was flourishing Dan. 8.9 Deut. 32.15 but faultering Ieshurun was fat but lazy 17 A reproofe as necessarie for our times as our times are farre from the first reformation When the chiefe of the Fathers and ancient men that had seene the first Temple beheld how much the second was inferiour to it howsoeuer some juniors sang and shouted they wept aloud saith the Text Ezra 3.12 More our good Fathers would now lament if they liued but to see vs their degenerate posterity Mee thinkes wee should stand together in this comparison as the men of Chica in the Maps neere the straights of Magellane by our travailers of Europe they as the sonnes of Anak we as Grashoppers so farre from attaining their forwardnesse in Religion that diuers account it their glory to be snarling at them But such comparisons would proue odious to be farther prosecuted To say no more If Luther's zeale or Calvine's judicious painefulnesse could bee found in some mongrell temporizers that are so forward to censure them I should thinke among some professors our first loue were in some measure recovered Fathers and Brethren is this a time to make a doubt whether the Pope bee Antichrist or no seeing his hornes and markes are so apparantly discouered And must wee now fall backe to bee catechized by Lumbard and Aquinas as though our ownemens doctrine so evidently grounded on Scripture not refusing the touch of pure antiquity or any true schoole-learning were not conclusiue and acute inough for our abstractiue capacities Our first loue to Gods word was a great deale more fervent when so many burned in defiance of Romish mixtures O that the consideration hereof would rowze vp every one of vs in our seuerall places to remember whence wee are falne and to doe our first workes How happy would it bee for Ministers to shew their first loue to the truth for hearers to make good their first loue to their Ministers for both to joyne together in an holy emulation to professe and expresse the first loue of our zealous predecessors And if ever the Lord marched before his Church in a piller of clowd and fire Exod. 13. to guide them in the way they are to walke now hee doth before vs Beloued to minde vs of our vngratefulnesse and to set vs in a course to returne to our first loue What a blessing is it to haue a Royall King so able and resolute to withstand Popery a Clergy so eminent a People for the most part so forward that maugre Achitophels proiects Sanballets stops some Wolues among the Pastors some Foxes among the Lambs the maine notwithstanding goes constantly forward for the pursuit and recouery of this first loue Distractions I confesse may dismay and discontents affright the godly to make vs the more solicitous to hold fast that wee haue but comparing our helps with the assaults and our case with our neighbours that dwell about vs we shall finde cause to confesse with David Truly God remaineth yet louing to this our Israel Psal 73.1 Psal 147.20 and hee hath not done so to any nation For to returne home to our selues of this place doth not the late bounty of so many famous benefactors so fresh in our memories so obvious to our senses put all good men in comfort that this first loue By that Knight of immortall memory S. Thomas Bodley in divers of our daies is not altogether extinguished I cannot expresse it sufficiently Our Library built and furnished our Schooles mounting so many Colledges inlarged what arguments can be more evident that this first loue is revived in some to stirre it vp in others and to maintaine it in vs At this present the Lord hath given the Word 19. Doctors of Divinity Proceeders and behold the company of Preachers who as that Angel that came vp from Gilgal to Bochim Iudges 2. will for the most part I make no doubt be shortly amongst you Beloued to stirre and set you a weeping after your first loue And to end with that which followes my text Often to remember from whence wee are falne Vers 5. and repent and doe our first workes is the path our Saviour here preseribeth to lead vs to our first loue The meditation of his sudden comming and the indangering of our present happinesse are the motiues to hasten this first loue To hate the abominations of Popery Vers 6. as the Ephesians did here the deedes of the Nicolaitans is an evidence of a soule prepared for the entertaining and rellishing this first loue Hast thou a minde to the Tree of life Vers 7. which is in the midst of the Paradise of God O harken then to striue and striue to
Neginoth's and Mahaloth's Tehillah's and Tephillah's must be framed by the Learned Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. 10. And here if the matter it selfe rowze not your meditations little helpe can bee expected from any vncomposed straines You that haue read of so many heathenish tyrannies and Turkish cruelties you that haue had occasion to travell amongst any barbarous nations or sauage Cannibals you that haue heard of the most prodigious treasons and massacnes that euer were attempted or thought on vnder the Sunne haue you ever read or seene or heard of any monstrous immanity comparable to this of the Powder-Treason Haue ever Turkes or Tartars any Nero'es or Caligula's made vse of powder or such engines of furie to ruine whole States at one blow Nay to blow vp their owne darlings their owne Patrons their owne innocent kinred that never offended them but onely these spuria vitulamina these bastard imps of the Whore of Babylon If the ruine of your liuing Countrymen had no way affected you what had the monuments of the dead deserued that so many sepulchres of ancient Kings must be laid on heapes and vtterly defaced what fault was in the dumbe stones and stately Edifices of your forefathers that they should be left as spectacles of your merciles crueltie But now perchance they repent it and are ashamed of the Actors and their courses O no that scarlet Harlot hath not learned to blush They are pictured for Confessours and Martyres their zeale is commended the State condemned for punishing their Ring-leaders vniustly and their Proselytes here amongst vs which I grieue to speake of follow the same doctrine that led them vnto it and are animated to the like attempts when their ability shall grow sufficient For marke but these few words of Bannes a Spanish Schooleman whom a man would take to be none of the worst especially in comparison of the Iesuites Angli saith he sunt excusandi quia nonse eximunt à Superiorum potestate nec bellum contra eos gerunt quia non suppetunt ill is vires ad consequentia pericula In 2.2 Aquin. q. 12. art 2. The English Catholikes are to be excused for not taking armes against their Superiours because they want sufficient power to goe through with the businesse Tolerate them then but to grow to a head and to make their party good and their natural bond to Prince or Country should little dismay them from venturing vpon the like Powder-plots Where be then our Higgaions Selah's Beloued for the stopping of this brood of vipers that their force should not bee answerable to their malice As the Israelites had their Pascha and Purim Holydaies set apart for the acknowledgement of their grand deliuerance frō Pharaoh and Hamans treason why should not this dayes solemnity bee continued with everlasting thankfulnesse for the miraculous discouery of the Powder-plot Let the people learne from our Pulpits with what kinde of Salt-peter their Catholicisme is powdred let our children vnderstand in our streets the barbarousnesse of the plot the profession of the actours the danger that would haue falne on their innocent heads If the Lord in Iudgement to the enginers and in mercy to vs had not prevented it and snared the wicked in the worke of their own hands At the mentioning of our Church or King at the beholding or remembrance of our Parliaments and chiefe places of Iustice let the villany of the Powder-proiect bee never forgotten In the celebrating of the holy Eucharist let our thankfulnesse for this deliuerance bee an especiall part of our Sacrifice Finally let vs joyntly conclude as our Prophet here beginneth this Psalme Wee will prayse thee O Lord with our whole heart we wil shew forth all thy wonderous Workes Wee will bee glad and reioyce in thee wee will sing prayse to thy Name O thou most High For our enemies are turned backe they haue falne and perished at thy presence for thou hast maintained our right and our cause thou sittest in the Throne iudging right Now to this God the Father God the Sonne and God the Holy Ghost three Persons and one Lord who is knowne by the Iudgement which he executeth and hath snared the wicked in the worke of his owne hands be ascribed with Higgaion and Selah all praises power and glory from this time forth for evermore AMEN HEZEKIAHS SICKNESSE AND RECOVERY A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KINGS MAIESTIE at Woodstocke By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. HEZEKIAHS SICKNESSE AND RECOVERY 2. CHRON. 32. 24. In those daies Hezekiah was sicke to the death and prayed vnto the Lord and hee spake vnto him and he gaue him a signe 1. MY Text is a type of the Worlds vncertainty Mans security and Gods mercy to those that depend on him Wherein wee haue a view of our misery with the meanes and Author of our surest deliverance The instance is in Hezechiah a King a fit patterne for the best the remedy Prayer the chiefest refuge for the devoutest Which is effectuall onely by the good will of him in the bush who relieueth ever at a pinch by speaking and giuing a signe for our convenient comfort I will not trespasse on your patience by a tedious rehearsall of the connection with that which went before let it suffice therefore to take in by the way for an entrance First a touch of Hezechiah's laudable life expressed more at large in the 2. of Kings the 18. and 19. chapters all one in a manner with the 36. the 37. and 38. of Isaiah And secondly of his wonderfull deliverance whereof I am now to speake His goodnes and zeale is summarily here compriz'd First towards the Church The Levites must carry the filthinesse out of it verse 5. The Priests must rowze themselues vp to bee carefull in their places My sonnes saith he be not now negligent for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him and serue him verse 11. He restoreth the Church-goods and sacrifices by strict command vers 19. and 24. and reviueth the auncient solemnities of Trumpets and Church-musicke ordained and ordered by his predecessor David verse 27. and 30. And surely the best method in a reformation beginneth ever with God for from thence proceeds a Blessing to prosper all that followes His care for the Common-wealth in the next place comes not short of this He fortifies his citty saith the sonne of Syrach and by digging thorow a hard rocke with Iron brought water into the middest thereof Chap. 48. Hee built the wall that was broken and raysed vp the towers and another wall without prepared Millo made darts and shields in abundance set Captaines of warre over his people by the councell of his Princes and Mighty men and his owne comfortable encouragements verse the 3. and forward It were his Courtiers and the men of Iudah no doubt by his example and good directions that copyed
that for the tryall of her patience the credit of her constancy the exercise of her humility the quickning of her faith hope and charity the killing of her carnall desires and encrease of her longing for a place of better settling 6 What shall we say then of those Beloued who make temporall felicity a note of the Church Bellarm. de Eccles li. 4. ca. 18 paint her alwaies in pompe to deceiue the credulous gazers and perswade them to beleeue that the Church was never there where shee shewed not alwaies a glorious out-side The world can witnesse what a stirre the Romish factors haue kept of late to justify their whore of Babylon not by faith I warrant you but by this externall visibility and discard all other Congregations from being Churches which oppressed heretofore especially by their tyranny in the eyes of the world haue not beene so conspicuous This point so often so throughly by so many discussed on our side to the confusion of all apposites and satisfaction of the vnpartiall they reinforce now againe as a new invention never heard amongst vs before in most of their pamphlets and parlies not for any hold I am perswaded they finde in it themselues but as the last cavill to hold out plea before their seduced proselites who if it were not for some such goodly retentiues would be alwaies flitting from them For what can bee more impertinent and praeposterous then when the question is concerning Doctrine and Discipline whereby a true Church may be discerned from a false to intangle the businesse with personall circumstances and knots of storie and Chronology which either for want of certaine evidence may proue vndeterminable or cleared to the vtmost make nothing to the purpose For suppose we had no certainty of our predecessours before Luther as our opposites haue alwaies taken the strictest course that we should not is it not sufficient wee finde by the vndoubted word of God wee are in the right from which all Churches had their originall as their owne Marinarius tells them roundly in the Councell of Trent and must be reformed when corruptions grow intollerable Now they that reforme according to this Rule erect not a new Church but correct enormous novelties or inveterate deformities in the old 2. Chron. 29.16 When good King Ezkiah purged the Temple from all vncleannesse in the Olde Testament and our SAVIOVR from buyers and sellers in the New May they bee said to haue set vp a New Temple or rather reduced the Olde to its ancient lustre The reforming of Romish Missals Pontificals Ceremonials and Breviaries according to Trent-Constitutions hath not hatched vs I trow a new masse of Catholicisme For if Bellarmines position be passable Ipsa Christi Ecclesia non fuit nova respectu Iudaica sed solum mutatio quaedam statûs Ecclesiae De notis Eccles l. 4. c. 5. Christianity changed not the Churches substance but the condition only from that which it had in the Jewish Synagogues why may wee not rather tell them vpon the same grounds that our present Church compared with that of our forefathers before Luthers Reformation Non est nova sed tantùm mutatio quaedam statûs Ecclesiae The place the same the case altered the good graine reserued in the same floore the chaffe and darnell onely fanned away Were it not peevishnesse here to imagine that one Arke should become two because here it is shaken by the beasts that drew it but afterward convayed more staidly on the shoulders of the Levites Forged suppositions are poore grounds to make men see their errours First let them convince vs that our Church is new and essentially different from that of our predecessors before Luther and then we shall cast about to frame her a genealogy accordingly 7 This one answere might suffice to stop the monthes of the clamorous and giue satisfaction to the vnpartiall of either side Yet to cleare our proceeding from the least suspicion of factious novelty wee farther make plaine vnto them that the idolatrous and tyrannous additions which they for their glory and gaine haue patched to the common grounds of Christianity and wee now protest against haue beene ever withstood at their first entrance or reproved as they grew on by the most eminent and honestmen in every age according to the hint that it was possible for them to take These groaned after the Reformation which wee now enioy but overborne as it was fore-prophecied by an impetuous maior part which commonly proues the worst could never bring it about They haue had Catalogues vpon Catalogues of such names and witnesses which they never haue offered solidly to answere but by catching at some extravagancies and suppressing alwaies the maine bearing their proselites in hand that no such matter could be ever shewed Haue they not among their owne Professours Alvarez Pelagius Nicolaus Clemangis Theodoricus à Niem and divers other of the same freedome whose complaint of the abominations of those times haue never beene refuted or redressed What is the cause that the workes of William de sancto amore Peter de Vineis Thomas Gascoine Robert Grosthead Iohn Wicliffe with others haue beene suppressed so carefully but that they were too free against Friers fopperies Popes tyrannies and Romes vnsufferable purloynings and superstitions Why satisfied they not the greivances of the Emperour Maximilian French and Germans which their owne Orthuinus à Graies hath bundle vp together in Fasciculo rerum expetendarum When wee read in their owne Cardinals Bellarmine of the tenth age Chrono p. 256 anno 907. Ecce seculum infelix no writers no Councells no Popes tooke care for the publike good Baronius of the same Baron ad ann 912. n. 8. Potentissimae aequeè ac sordidissimae meretrices impetuous and debosht Curtezans had gotten a hand to Pope and vn-Pope their Paramours as their fancies led them Peter de Alliaco in a booke for Reformation offered to the Councell of Constance wherein the sticketh not strangely to averre that the Church was then in that case that it was worthy to bee governed only of reprobats we conceaue that in our moderate reformation we haue hit the marke that these men aimed at And can this be censured for setting vp a new Church or Religion No no Beloued if Romes Rocke and Peters Chaire they vant of had not bin subiect to shaking Fascicul rerum expetend p. 172. as the Arke here was why did Pope Adrian the sixt acknowledge their grosse corruptions and promise the Germans by his Legate Cheregatus that they should haue a reformation Why did the Trent Fathers assigne especiall Deputies to enquire into abuses if the Church should loose her being by an orderly Reformation 8 And here because they sleight these instances wee bring ad of disunited particulars and require visible congregations that taught as we doe from Luther vp ward in this also their owne men shall furnish vs and cleare vs from being Novelists to the
defect then all this was of a fit House for Gods Service that which wee had being too scant for the Company and otherwise very incommodious This God put into your heart to supply before wee complained or others saw cause which resolution could scarce be so naturall to any other as to Great Sir Thomas Bodley'es Kinsman and worthy Mr Periam's Nephew They that view and consider the Worke will hardly be perswaded that it was erected at the sole cost of one Fellow of Exceter Colledge not preferred as many are and hauing two Sonnes of his owne to provide for otherwise Iohn and George Hak will But where God inlargeth the heart such difficulties restraine not the hands Promise performance founding finishing came freely on together which Wee trust in time some other of our Worthies will hereafter imitate as all are ready to commend All succeeded the better through your owne carefull presence and directions and will proue I am perswaded more auspicious in that it was contriued by you to be consecrated vpon that very Day which made England most happy and triumphant by your Noble Master Prince Charles his Returne from beyond the Seas This Sermon was over-hasty to beare any correspondency with the solemnity of a Consecration But such as it is you may claime it as your owne over-valued purchese together with the Author Whom long sithence you haue obliged vnto you by many real kindnesses Which here he thankfully acknowledgeth who desires ever to continue Exceter Colledge Novemb. 15. Your ready friend for requitall as God shall ever inable IOHN PRIDEAVX LVKE 19.46 My house is the house of prayer FEw passages in Scripture are more often pressed or precisely recorded the the words I haue read vnto you Beloued Our Saviour cites them out of the Prophet Isaiah chap. 56.7 and three Evangelists distinctly set them downe and the fourth intimates the matter of them Which harmony of both Testaments and foure Evangelists though it make not this text more authenticall then other as being of equall authority from the same Author yet well may it invite vs to a more serious consideration of them in regard that is not likely to be of ordinary consequence which it pleaseth the Holy Ghost so often to repeat and register It is obserued by most interpreters that twice our Saviour entred into Ierusalem and purged the Temple first a little after his Baptisme Joh. 2. and next not long before his passion recorded by the three other Evangelists Math. 21. Marke 11. Luke 19. Caietane thinks that this last time this purging was twice performed first as S. Mathew relates it vpon the first triumphant entrance and secondly which S. Marke mentioneth the very next day after But by conference of both Evangelists I find no ground for this assertion other Interpreters note it not we may passe it therefore as an vncertaine coniecture and observed by the way vpon better evidence first how soone corruptions grow vpon persons places manners never carefully reformed and next what zeale and resolution is to be vsed of those whom it truly concernes when Religion is prophaned Temples polluted holy things perverted by doggs and crafty Merchants to private gaine Luâ—e 2.7 with publike scandall He whose birth was the patterne of patience life the Legend of lowlinesse Math. 11.29 Philip. 2.8 Isaiah 53.7 death the most submissiue degree of humiliation and true obedience who as a Lambe was brought to the slaughter and as a sheepe before the shearer 1 Pet. 2.23 opened not his mouth who when hee was reviled Isaiah 42.3 Math. 12.18 reviled not againe when be suffered threatned not never trod so heauy as to breake a bruised reed or quench through impatience the flax that smoaketh in sacrilegious abuses Religious quarrels Churches rites and rights behold how hee looseth the raynes to an holy indignation The multitude of the offenders the might and malice of the observers the danger of the action the perill of the consequence among such a rabble and outcry of exasperated miscreants stay not his hands at all but a scourge is made of small cords to lash them Iohn 2.15 Out must the sheepe and Oxen downe must the Tables of Doue-hucksters and mony-changers where no doubt but as S. Hierome hath it on the 21. chap. of Mathew the rayes of his Divinity miraculously darting from his sacred countenance Math. 21.12 Mar. 11.15 stayed all opposition in the guilty and part-taking in the astonished beholders Notwithstanding that all might be sensible of the fault and take notice of the reason that moued him so vnexpectedly to such extraordinary severity he vpbraides them with that of Ieremy Is this House which is called by my name Cap. 7.11 become a denne of robbers in your eyes haue you no other Exchanges but Churches or Faires for your sheepe and Oxen or markets for pedling-wares and mony but such places as are consecrated to religious vses Thinke not that my earnestnesse is without ground or Zeale without knowledge you might learne of the Prophet Isaiah that I speake not without booke For there you haue it written My house not yours is and so must ever continue the house of prayer not a denne of theeues and shop for merchandice as you haue impiously made it And this I take to be the scope and meaning in generall of the few words my text consisteth of 2 In which may it please you to obserue with mee these Three circumstances 1. What God reserues to himselfe in the generall grant of all things to man A house 2. A distinctiue propriety whereby it is set apart from common vse intimated in the possessiue My. 3. The principall end of this separatioÌ„ by a Synecdoche including all other religious duties in that it is termed by an excelleÌ„cy the house of prayer The first includeth a ground for Churches and Chappell 's the second a warrant for Consecration the third a direction for the chiefest vse of both GOD will haue a House this House must appeare to bee his peculiar this peculiar must not be made common 07 as an I ld hall for playes or pleadings or a shop for merchandice or a cloyster for idle-walkers or a gallery for pleasure or a banqueting house for riot much lesse a brothell for wantonnesse or a cage for idolatrous superstitions but reserved as a sacred Congregation-house where penitent submissiue supplicaÌ„ts may learn their duty by Preaching assure their good proceedings by SacrameÌ„ts obtaine their graces by Prayer Though HeaveÌ„ be Gods Throne the Earth his footstoole his Essence infinitely aboue all through all in all beyond all yet his delight is such to be among the children of men that it liketh him to haue a place of assembling them together for his publike worship Math. 18.23 where he vouchsafeth to be in the midst of theÌ„ And this must be not a mountain a caue a groue or obscure hovel but as my text hath it a convenient house the first
other of the like nature which our Adversaries so stifly stand vpon referred to the dignity of the worker imports a meritorious cause But in regard of the worke it selfe or of the humane Nature apart a consequent to that which went before and a passage to the reward which followes vpon it So much the word merit commonly among the Ancients signified and therefore is fitly expounded by compararare acquirere obtinere adipisci to get to receaue to obtaine to take possession In which sense the most Advised Divines ever vnderstood their Predecessors But this contents not our moderne Merit-mongers Merit is the Popes Mint and therefore must be alway kept going The merit of Christs humanity and the merit of blessed Angels between the instant of their creation and possession of eternall happinesse must be so strictly vrged to make way for Monkish merit and fill their own Church Treasure with workes of superrarogation Otherwise the doctrine of Iustification by faith alone would quickly make them all turne mendicants The more it stands vs vpon Beloued to weigh their peeces before we take them for pay and not to be too liberall in granting them such premisses whereby they shall be animated to venture vpon worse conclusions In a contrary strayne how dangerously doth Socinus take vantage by affirming that Christ so meriting for himselfe serued his own turne only and not ours in that behalfe and therefore his doings and sufferings were only exemplary for our imitation not satisfactory for our redemption Which cuts off all the assurance comfort of our salvation Such dangerous heresies may arise from the misconstruing of one particle as combustions from the neglect of the smallest spark The Master of the sentences shall shut vp this point as being sounder in it then most of his Schollers If Christs virtues and Actions saith he were enough to cleare himselfe from blame wherefore should he suffer and dye His answere is prote non prose for thee not for himselfe But how for mee Vt ipsius passio tibi esset forma causa forma virtutis humilitatis causa gloriae libertatis That his passion might be to thee a patterne and cause a pattern of virtue and humility a cause of glory eternall freedome And here wee may not let slippe that vse which a reuerend Father of our Church hath wittily obserued vpon the like connection Here saith he on earth there is an exaltauit oftentimes a lifting vp of the head to preferment without a propter quod so Sobna and Haman and Sanballat with others of the like merit are sometimes exalted but no man can guesse or imagine why or wherefore But with God it is alwaies otherwise Proptereà must goe before exaltavit the race before the meed the therefore before the lifting vp of the head labouring in the vineyard before the distribution of the penny faithfulnesse in a little before the rule over much The Corne must first dye before it blossome out the blade or eare and wee dye before wee rise and drinke our part of the brooke before the head be lifted vp Which falleth on the manner of our Saviours exaltation and the matter I intend to conclude with 9. Shall he lift vp the head The lifting vp of the head most commonly signifieth in scripture the Advancement from an inferiour condition to a better So Evilmerodach lifted vp the head of Iehoiakim his Captiue to a freer estate 2. Kings and the last Thou art my worship and the lifter vp of my head Psalm 3. In the 52. of Isaiah wee haue three words in the same verse which note in this kinde the three degrees of comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold my servant shall deale prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high v. 13. Which the ancient Rabbins with the Chalday Paraphrase expound expresly of the Messias Howsoeuer the latter contradict it for as in his humiliation all were amazed at his visage mangled and marred more then any mans so in his exaltation they admire the vnexpected change and Kings shut their mouthes at the hearing and seeing of those things they thought incredible as it followeth there immediatly to the'nd of the Chapter All this is here comprized Hee not another saith S. Ierome but the person that was abased in the Incarnation and Passion Shall by his owne power not vpon a vantage occasionally taken but by an absolute decree set downe from eternity Life vp the head to spoyle principalities by his triumphing over the powers of darknesse to trample the world vnder his feet by his glorious Ascention Rule in the midst of his enemies by the Iron rod of his wrath conquer the Nations to be converted by the two edged sword of his word and rescue and redeeme his owne elect by his euerlasting Priesthood Lift vp your heads therefore O yee Gates and bee yee lifted vp yee everlasting doores that the King of glory may come in Who is the King of glory Hee that was a man of sorrowes brought as a Lambe to the slaughter Isai 53. and buried in the graue with the wicked But after he had made his soule an offering for sinne and quitted himselfe from the brooke of all those miseries then the pleasure of the Lord prospered in his hand to divide the spoyle among the mighty Then brake he the arrowes of the bowe the sword the shield and the battle became of more honour then the hills of the robbers and shewed himselfe triumphantly to be the King of glory 10. And now Beloued is it not meet that the members by drinking and swimming with all resolution and perseverance should prepare to lift vp their heads also by following this their head But alas how should Cain lift vp the head who hath slayne his brother Abel or Achab that hath made away poore Naboth to possesse his vineyard Or Iudas that hath betrayed his Master Or Simon Magus that is in the gall of bitternesse or Ananias Saphira who goe about to cosen the holy spirit of God With what face can that head bee lifted vp which is drowsie with drunkennesse or distracted with idle or pernitious plots or whirled about with vaine glory or poring still on muck through covetousnesse or looking askew through envie and implacable malice Awake thou therefore that sleepest and lift vp thy head and he that beholdeth thy tossings will ever keepe it aboue water neuer feare of drowning as long as he directeth and such a Pilot hath thee in his charge If thou sinking cry out with Peter his hand will bee quickly stretcht out to saue thee and set thee at last in the surest landing Regino reports in the first of his Chronicles pag. 19. that Guntranne a German King sleeping on a time by a brooke there came a little thing out of his mouth which sought a passage ouer but dared not to venture Wherevpon his
nourished and brought vp children and they haue rebelled against me How children if no way of the Church How rebells if not swarving from their Mothers Doctrine or Discipline As Antichrist therefore that Arch-heretique is not to bee sought I wot not where at Babylon from the tribe of Dan but taken sitting in the temple of God 2. Thes 2.4 exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God so heresies are rifest there where the grace of God is turned into wantonnesse and Gods word made stoope to serue mans turnes and turnings Rev. 2.13 14. that is in the Church In Pergamus commended for holding fast Christs name the Doctrine of Balaam will haue countenance V. 20. And notwithstanding Thy atira'es fayth and charity bee vpon the mending hand the woman Iezabel will play her part to seduce Gods servants No otherwise here Pauls planting and Apollo'es watring could not so secure these Corinthians but that it was not onely possible or likely but necessary not onely that there should be divisions but heresies not darting at them a farre off or neare beleagring them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iust in the midst of them and therefore it stood them vpon the more resolutely and warily to guard themselues 11. If the Church then be the stage where heretiks play their parts and where Satan hath his throne how much then doth it concerne her to haue provident seers vigilant watchmen able Leaders willing obedient and painefull Ministers to be alwaies in a readinesse as occasion shall be offered That which our Apostle foretold the elders of the Church of Ephesus that not onely greivous wolues should invade their flocke Acts 20.29.30 from abroad But even of themselues should arise men speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them falleth out to be the case of most particular Churches especially those whom peace hath made proud plenty wanton liberty luxurious dignities ambitious immunities idle vilifying and insulting over their meane brethren commonly muzling the mouthes of those oxen that take most paines in treading out the corne Laodicea was much of this vaunting humour I am rich Rev. 13.17 and increased with good and haue need of nothing But he that hath an eare to heare may heare what the spirit saith vnto such churches I know thy workes that thou art neither cold nor hote I would thou wert cold or hote so then because thou art lukewarme and neither cold nor hote I will spue thee out of my mouth God forbid Beloued that our lukewarmenesse in charity and coldnesse to mayntaine the truth that so long hath beene a blessing to this church and state should any way at length giue ground for an application to affright vs with the like iudgment O God if thou shouldst spue vs out what ditch or sinke would receiue vs If thou shouldst remoue our candlesticke what Egyptian darknesse must needes follow Those that are well Beloued can never be too carefull to keep themselues so or too thankfull to him that protects them so or too solicitous of the heresies and evills that may alter them from being so or too forward and zealous for the propagating of that truth they are entrusted with that must continue them so For if neglects should here breed rents and rents ruines inferiors may feele the smart but the heauiest doome perchance would light on superiors who are not only accountable for themselues but others And they betray them that sooth their security and take not all fayre opportunity according to their places and callings to mind them of it There is not such a scarsity of flatterers in this age that wee need flatter our selues Brethren wee see our calling knowe the depths of Satan and the worlds wilinesse How soeuer therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time-servers reile to and fro and stagger like drunken men and become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the toy takes them in the head instable as S. Iames taxeth them in all their waies the Lord will order a good mans going and doe well vnto them that are true of heart the eater shall yeelde him meate the rocke hony Heresies an opportunity to approue manifest his goodnesse Which is the exposition of the former position and the part J haue left to conclude with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12. That they which are approued may be made manifest amongst you Such is the tendernesse of our great God to the infirmity of his children that he will impart so far his secrets vnto them as may stand for their incouragement The multiplication of Schismes and Heresies here mentioned might much cast them downe if this Jtem had not beene added that they should doe them rather good then harme This exposition therefore includes the reason why God so deales with his Church that whē such things fall out they may take them for no newes Brethren saith Peter thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall 1. Pet. 4.12 as though some strange thing happened vnto you of which you neuer heard and against which yee are altogether vnprovided Abrahams faith had neuer beene so manifested if he had not beene enioyned to sacrifice his sonne Gen. 22. Iob's constancy had passed in obscurity if such horrible afflictions had not fallen vpon him And the resolution of the Martyres in Gods cause neuer shined brighter then in the light of those flames that burned them to cinders For many may bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of abilities and sound resolutions that appeare not so to the world and some will needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which never were truely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make a shew to the world of that which was never in them They will haue their degrees as wee say in the Vniversity before they doe their exercise But here wee see what Gods method is first hee furnisheth his with armour of proofe they shall be first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approued tried sifted weighed in the ballance and not found too light And then he brings them forth for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the world may find them so by conversing with them and acknowledge it This leads on the godly to imitate them confoundeth the wicked in their proiects glorifieth Gods wisedome and goodnesse in extracting good out of ill and cleareth many vsefull points of Divinity which otherwise would haue been too much neglected To this purpose De Civit. Dei l. 16. c. 2. vid. de Genes ad lit c. 1. De vera relig c. 8. S. Augustine hath divers excellent passages Multa ad fidem catholicam pertinentia c. Many things saith that judicious Father which pertaine to the Catholique faith are cleared far the better through the opposition of Heretiques cum ab Adversario mota quaestio discendi existit occasio when the Adversary giues the hynt by his wrangling to learne that which was not so seriously thought vpon