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A10225
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Purchas, his paradise A sermon preached at Lismore in Ireland, upon Sunday the 18. of December, 1634. Preached, and now presented as [sic] the Lord Dungarvans welcome into Ireland. By Ambrose Purchas priest.
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Purchas, Ambrose.
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1635
(1635)
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STC 20501; ESTC S101920
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10,996
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86
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what have wee poore miserable soules that may move Him to set His love or affection upon I can see no reason of His Love but His love it selfe Stat pro ratione voluntas His meere good will is the onely cause and all Hee lookes for againe is our good will Nec is aliud quaerit nec illa aliud habet Neither Bamard doth hee seeke for any thing else neither have wee any thing else to give Him It was answered by one of the old Philosophers in Laertius being asked when a young man should marry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as yet when an old man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at all But let us contrarywise learne to remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth old or young let us know it is now time yea and high time to give consent upon so reasonable conditions Yea it is now a case of necessitie Si non sponte vi pares coactus either we must yeeld to be espoused to Christ who doth dearely love us or else wee must be contracted to the Devill who doth deadly loath us Let us now judge whether it be better to be beloved of a friend or loathed of a fiend Iustin saith That this our Antagonist the Devill is Dei Simia Gods Ape and indeed this word Ape doth very well agree with him in this respect Even as the Ape by kindnesse kills her whelpe with too much love and lulling in her armes So will not Sathan then denie us helpe when as his help may yeeld us greater harmes Amando occidit his love is their death whoever they are hee once commeth to hug or imbrace not much unlike to Ammon who after he had once deflowred his sister Tamar he hated her ever after And wee shall find that what show of love soever this our Enemie hath made to us before Yet his hatred after will be farre greater Dionisius the elder noted very well when seeing his mother very old and overstriken in yeeres desirous to marry a young stripling that althogh it were in her power to violate the Lawes of Syracusa yet not to violate the law of Nature So let me tell you That although it may seeme easie in your conceit to violate the lawes of men yet shall it not be easie to violate the lawes of God by whose edict it stands decreed That either wee must be His Spouse or the Devills harlot with the one wee shall find Treasure incomparable with the other trouble intollerable of the one wee shall find a pretious treasure of the other a pernitious traytor Wee can desire no more then the first if wee refuse the last and wee can deserue no lesse then the last if wee refuse the first I believe not that wee can justly tax Olimpias the mother of Alexander for banishing a noble woman of Macedonia from her Court because shee preferred wealth before vertue in marrying a rich foole No more can we taxe God of injustice if He bannish us from His princely pallace where wee should have beene crowned if wee had espoused him the King of heaven if wee neglecting him become harlots to that old spirituall fornicatour the Devill before mentioned My Love and faire one c. Hence let us take notice that wee are His and no others My beloved is mine and I am His Verse 16. Yea if wee rightly consider it wee are more His then our owne and therefore wee should haue alwayes a greater care to please Him then to please our selues Hence also may we obserue the happinesse of true believers above others They alone shall participate of this His extraordinary Love whereas others shall be excluded this heavenly Paradice as Harlots not worthy to be received but rather to receive their portion with the Devill and his Angels for ever My Love c. Here wee see Hee pleaseth to speake in the singular number to let us understand that He hath but one Love but one true Church as therefore hee will admit of no other no more ought wee There shall bee but one Sheepherd and one sheep-fold Wee read of none but wicked Lamech before the flood that had more wives then one and him Iovinnian called a Monster because he made two ribs of one Yea and another obserueth that the name of his second wife did signifie a shadow because that shee was not a wife but the shadow of a wife So in like manner there is but one Catholike Church the Roman some thinke no better then Lamech's second wife but the shadow of a wife but admit her Christs spouse yet shee hath many foule faults in her much levitie and wantonnesse which God amend But because this will deprive me of my intended discourse I therefore leave it and come againe to the same words before handled My Love and faire one c. Here is both a likely portion and a lovely proportion she is both lovely beautifull Here is His love expressed to his church in many more words then his Anger which lasteth but a while but this His love shall endure for ever She is not now his sister only but His Spouse also not onely His Spouse but also His Love and not His Love alone but His Faire-one Faire first in respect of Her Beauty secondly in respect of her Order Cant. 4. 1. Behold thou art faire my Love behold thou art faire First in respect of Her Beauty The inward gifts of Grace doe shine more brightly in Her Her jmage which was before by nature defaced is now againe revived Christ in Her doth now behold her former perfection and therefore when He had reckoned Her beautifull parts in particular as Thine That is Zeale and Knowledg Iun Eyes are like the Doves c. * They two Breasts are as two yong Roes that are twinnes feeding among the Lillies He concludes in the 7th vers of the 4th Chap. Thou are all faire my Love and there is no spot in Thee Secondly in respect of Order which is the Beauty of every thing for where no Order is there is deformity and where Order is observed there is comelines If you heare but an eloquent Oration will ye not judge the beauty the beauty thereof rather to consist in the curious composing or knitting together of those Rhetoricall flowers thē in the flowers or sentences thēselves It is so in every Society An Army mixed together is a confused multitude but in their Order a beautifull company It is reported of the Queene of Sheba that came so far to see Solomon that when she beheld the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his Ministers and their apparell and his Cup-bearers c. There was no more spirit in her 1 King 10. 4 5. She was ravished here with the very Order and decency of him that was but a type of Christ and his Church then whose Order nothing is more beautifull Wherein every one affecteth not Supremacy but some bare one Office and some another some Apostles some Prophets some workers of Miracles some Heare some reade some Preach some Pray every one do something in their Order Thus having mixt her Beauty with order you see in what a beautifull order the Church remaines Lastly invitavit cum A solitudine seculi ad solicitudinem Caeli immutatione Come away wee ought not now to tarry when God calls Si deserveris coronaberis si manseris laniaberis It is the king of heaven that calleth us who are ready to run into the mouth of the devouring Lyon Let us therefore run hastily towards Him and cry Him mercy that wee have beene so long disobedient and have so long stopped our eares at His call let us now run and cary with us Gemitum in pectore Singulttm in gutture Fletum in facie Groanes in our brest Sighes in our throats Teares in our eyes let there no lōger be need for Him to cry How long would I but ye would not But let us now hast to meet Him who comes not to leade us out of prison to the place of execution but to a place of joy inexpressible to the promised Paradise which as he is willing so also is hee able to bestow upon us There are but three kingdomes Heaven Earth and Hell and he is Lord and Master of them all First He is Lord of Heaven ad donandum to reward us with Secondly He is Lord of Earth ad dominandum to rule and gouerne it and thirdly He is Lord of Hell ad domandum to vanquish it And this is that Lordly Bridegroome betwixt whom and us the Covenants were drawne in Baptisme and have oft since bin sealed and confirmed in the Lords Supper Let us therfore hasten with this our princely Bridgeroome unto our coronation which although it cannot bee comepleately finished till our Soules shall have forsaken these earthly Tabernacles Yet then shal we without molestation enjoy that united peace with God in piety and with our selves in security although we shal neuermore injoy the communion of His affliction yer shall we evermore injoy the union of His affection In the meane time let us labour and indeavour since he hath been so loving to us daily to increase our love againe towards Him This our love to Him must be expressed 1. Corde 2. Corpore First in the heart there true Love out to be founded that it may endure so long as the heart doeth which is primum vivens but ultimum moriens Secondly Corpore By the body is heere meant all outward respect and reverence wee have given Him our soules and shall we deny Him our bodies He hath given Himselfe both to us and for us and shall we keepe backe any thing from Him He hath not onely promised us a crowne hereafter but hath crowned us heere Ezech. 16. 12. He hath set a Iewell on our Fore-head and eare-rings in thine eares and a beautifull Crowne upon thy Head In time of Peace a Crowne of White-roses of Innocency In Persecution a crowne composed of the Re-roses of Martyrdome Now wee are crowned heere if wee desire to bee crowned hereafter Wee must arise out of this Haven of misery and arive at the Heaven of Mercy And then shall there not bee neede for this our Lordly Bridegroome to call againe the third time Arise my Love my faire one and come away FINIS