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A10491
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A sermon of meekenesse preached at the Spittle vpon Easter Tuesday, M.D.C.XXIII. By William Rawley, Doctor of Diuinity.
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Rawley, William, 1588?-1667.
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1623
(1623)
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STC 20767; ESTC S105187
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19,945
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60
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Matth. 13 What and if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne endureth with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9 And this is to appease the first Motiue of our Murmuring and Indignation against God for the Prosperity of the wicked The other Motiue which armeth vs with Indignation and Murmuring against God is the sense of some present Misery whether it be in our Soule or our Body or our Goods or any other way wherein the hand of God layeth heauy vpon vs. This second Motiue toucheth vs more neerely then the former and is like vnto that wherewith the Deuill thought to haue gotten an ouerthrow against Iobs Patience But put forth thine Hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face In this distresse the Saying of the same holy Man Iob will be very proper to enter into our considerations Shall we receiue good from God and shall we not receiue euill also The Fountaine of all our good is God and if he be pleased to turne our sweet into a little bitternesse why should wee repine against the Omnipotent wisdome of our Maker Againe if we be Gods Children the Afflictions that come from him are not for our Destruction but for our Triall and to make vs shine more gloriously wherefore it will turne to our aduantage when we shall come to reape the fruit of our suffrings and that Quantò in hoc seculo frangimur tantò in futaro solidamur as Saint Bern saith The more we are shaken in this world the more we are rooted and grounded in glory Neither is it of small force to exasperate or mollifie our Afflictions the behauiour wee vse in taking of them seeing it is true as Saint Cypr. saith In sensu doloris est omne quod punit Griefe is according to the apprehension of him that beares it And therefore the same Author S. Cypr. had very good reason to put a diffeÌ„rence betwixt the sufferings of the Righteous and of others that repined with a Heathenish Impiety In his Booke ad Demetrianum Putatis 〈◊〉 aduersa Vobiscum aequalitèr perpeti cum eadem aduersa videatis à Nobis vobis non aqualicèr sustineri There may be the same Latitude of paines inflicted vpon two seuerall Persons and yet the sense and Impression of them much different whilst the one beares them with a patient and calme minde the other with a querulous and vnquiet reluctation But the best Argument is that of Saint Paul Rom. 8. For I reckon that the suffrings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be reuealed in vs. And if there be so much difference betwixt our present Enduring and our future Glory there is as great inequality betwixt the Offence of our Murmuring against God and the Cause of it being for so small matters as the transitory Pelfe of this world which are no better then the fading delight of Ionas censured by God himselfe Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd Looking vnto Iesus the Authour and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. The Scope and Comfort of euery Christians profession And he that looketh vnto Iesus as he ought cannot be much amated at the euill Aspects of worldly Happinesse Finally who can tell whether it be not as Saint Bernard saith Praecordia fatui sicut rota currûs foenum portans murmurans For there is Murmuring in Fulnesse as well as in Emptinesse like the Wheele of a Carre that goeth on creaking and yet carrieth away a full load And we finde that the greatest Murmurers were the Children of Israel People that had the most saturity and were oft replenisht with a Miracle But they receiued the due reward of their Murmuring being stung to death by Serpents The Murmurer hath the Poyson of Serpents vnder his tongue wherewith he wounds God and it is iust for him to receiue his Deaths wound by the Poyson of a Serpent To conclude this part The Root from whence Christian Meekenesse springs is Humility the foremost in the ranke of these eight Beatitudes that is Pouerty in Spirit And it was the Confession of an humble Spirit yet not of an abiect especially being vttered in the Figure of Christ For I am a worme and no man Psalm 22. Then what am I that I should turne againe vpon my Maker And this shall be sufficient to appease our Murmuring and Indignation against God caused from those two Motiues The prosperous Estate of the Vngodly and the vnprosperous Estate of the Godly And thus much for the first Kinde of our Meekenesse toward God The other Kinde of Meekenesse is exercised in a gracious and vsefull Behauiour toward all Men. And this Vertue is recommended vnto Timothy by the Apostle S. Paul In whose speech are inserted some things peculiar to a Bishop other things generall for all Men. And the seruant of the Lord must not striue but be gentle vnto all men apt to teach patient In meekenesse instructing c. and so forward There are three euill Properties reigning in the Breasts of the greater part that doe beare an euill Aspect to this Kinde of Meekenesse toward Man The first is Auger that Quality that is called in Latine Iracundia A Disposition euer ready to be on fire and is as well vnsupportable to our selues as to others The second is Harmefulnesse or a malignant Desire of doing wrong without any offence or occasion giuen The third is a Thirst of Reuenge after an Iniury conceiued whether the Wrong be true or pretended These three must be calmed and appeased before we can prepare a roome for the Vertue of Meekenesse To begin with the first that is Anger The Persons that are prone to this euill disease are of the nature of a Burning Coale or a Thorne full of Prickles on euery side I meane not for their desire to hurt or to consume others for those are the Properties of the following Kindes but because they are alwaies so Hot or so Sharp that you cannot touch them And first this Quality for I finde no better testimony of it is the Quality of a Foole. Anger resteth in the bosome of fooles saith Ecclesiastes in the seuenth chapter vnto which agreeth the Saying of Saint Bernard Tantò quâ—que conuincitur minùs sapiens quantò est minùs Patienâ— A man is vndoubtedly conuinced to want so much of the Power of Wisdome as he wants of the Vertue of Patience Againe it is a Passion that transport vs immoderately beyond the Bounds of Reason the Glory and Priuiledge of Mankinde And I haue read it in one that expresseth this Excesse not vntruly Cogitationes iracundi vipereae sunt generationis mentem comedunt matrem suam The thoughts of an irefull Man are of the Vipers Brood deuouring Reason the Mother that bare them And though it be the Property of other Passions to rebell against Reason for the flesh lusteth against the spirit yet
A SERMON OF Meekenesse PREACHED AT THE SPITTLE vpon EASTER Tuesday M. D.C.XXIII By William Rawley Doctor of Diuinity LONDON Printed by IOHN HAVILAND for Matthew Lownes 1623. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE FRANCIS Lord VERVLAN Viscount St. ALBAN my truely Noble LORD My Lord THere is more reason for the Dedication of this Sermon to your Lordship then for the Impression of it Your Acceptance of me to be yours before you had any other of my Quality The timely fruit of your fauour in my Aduancement vnto that Fortune by which J subsist My Attendance vpon your Employments and Seruices at this present And whatsoeuer is any way eminent either in my Estate or Name J am ready to ascribe it to your Lordship from whence J haue receiued it For the printing of this Booke I can say little Jt is not any greedy Appetite of Life wherein it can take comfort but rather the contrary wherewith euery thing is naturally touched Feare of Death and Obliuion And yet if it be proper to any Discourses those of this nature are fittest to suruiue the first Birth because they conteine the vncorruptible seed which dieth not Besides Printed Sermons haue this priuiledge aboue Vocall Sermons onely that they may be instant in season and out of season J pray God to prosper your Lordships Person and Affaires Your Lordships most humble and truly deuoted Seruant W. RAVVLEY MATTH 5.5 Blessed are the Meeke for they shall inherit the Earth THis Text carries vs vp to the Mount of Euangelicall Holinesse and Perfection and is one of the eight steps by which wee may climbe vnto heauenly Beatitude Our Sauiour Christ when he vnfolded these Mysteries vnto the world ascended vp into the Mountaine A place chosen to resemble the height of those things hee intended to deliuer The Company that was present were onely his Disciples persons of more iudgement and penetration then the common Multitude And though it be certaine that our Sauiours wisdome might vse these circumstances for other causes yet they are not vnfit Arguments to put a distinction betwixt other his ordinary Sayings and these mysterious Sentences And yet if we descend to the opinion of the world there is nothing that depresseth vs so low as the practise of these eight Beatitudes Pouerty in Spirit Mourning Meekenesse and the rest subiects of vulgar scorne and vnsupportable misery but such is the gratiousnesse of God that he hath promised by his Prophets to raise vp the poore out of the dust and to wipe away all teares from the eies of the mourners and lastly that he will beautifie the meeke with saluation and he also performeth it I haue thought fit to present before this great Assembly at this time one of these eight Beatitudes in particular that of Meekenesse First because it was the emploiment of the best Preacher when he liued vpon the earth The spirit of the Lord is vpon me because the Lord hath annointed me to preach good tidings vnto the Meeke Isai 61. It was spoken in prophecy of our Sauiour Christ and is now the office of euery Christian Minister Secondly because I know no subiect more vsefull in the common calamities and troubles of this world than Meekenesse is in which wee haue such continuall need to apply that salue of our heauenly Physitian In your patience possesse yee your soules Luc. 21. And lastly because it is not altogether impertinent vnto this Time in which the Meekenesse of our Sauiour hath exalted him to a ioyfull and glorious Resurrection according as it is acknowledged by Saint Paul Phil. 2. Hee humbled himselfe vnto death Wherefore that implies the cause God also hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name which is aboue euery name And although it may seeme a subiect vnfit for a mixt Assembly in regard that our Sauiours wisdome singled out his Disciples when he first proclaimed this Beatitude Blessed are the meeke Yet I am sure that exhortation of Christ was generall and recommended to the whole multitude Matth. 11. Learne of me for I am meeke and lowly of heart Now being to proceed in this Treatise of Meekenesse I cannot begin better then to craue a taste of it in your present attentions in those words wherewith S. Cypr. beginneth his booke de bono patientiae De patientiâ locuturus vnde potiùs incipiam quam quod nunc quoque ad audientiam vestram patientiam video essencessariam Or to change it into the stile and authority of Saint Iames Receiue with meekenesse the engrafted word which is able to saue your soules The particulars which I shall handle in the vnfolding of this Text may be all reduced to these three maine Heads The first is the Condition or Estate of men whom our Sauiour Christ amongst some others repeated both before and after my Text is pleased to glorifie The Meeke In which part it will not be vnseasonable to lay downe a Modell of the Vertue of Meekenesse and to consider it both in the Properties and Kinds the Opposites the Preseruatiues and such like with the circumstances belonging vnto it The second is the Dignity and Sublimity of such persons as are eminent in this Vertue of Meeknesse Blessed shewing that it is not only a Vertue either Morall or Theologicall but which is more a Beatitude or Blessednesse The third is the Reward which is promised to the practisers of this Vertue whether it be of temporall Blessings or of eternall Blessings or of both For they shall inherit the earth To begin with the first The Condition or Estate of men who are here pronounced Blessed are the Meeke And first that it may be plaine who the Meeke persons be we shall finde this Vertue to be described by the Morall Philosophers and Schoole-Diuines both that it is Moderatiua irarum A moderation about the passion of Anger The Schoole-men haue a distinction not vnprofitable concerning the seuerall offices of the Morall Vertues namely that some Vertues are exercised about the Actions of men others about the Passions Those that are exercised about the Actions are the most easie hauing nothing else to doe but to obserue an euen and golden Mediocrity betwixt two Extremes As Liberality is to obserue a meane in the Action of giuing which may encline neither vnto Couetousnesse nor Prodigality Those that are exercised about the Passions are more difficult hauing a double emploiment in that there is a golden Mediocrity to be obserued and an inordinate Affection to be subdued This Vertue of Meekenesse is about a Passion Besides amongst the Passions some are more tractable and gentle others altogether vntollerable That of Anger is the most furious and vnresistable Passion of the whole number In regard whereof the temper of Meekenesse in persons capable of it is the more rare and excellent first that it is not a Mediocrity onely but a Moderation Secondly a Moderation not of any ordinary or relenting Passion but of the suddenest and most vnruly Passion of all that is anger The