the Indians and in some countryes themselves as among the Americans yet for all this their throwing themselves into or causing others to passe through the fire to their Moloch or Saturne or Abaddon they are not to bee accounted zealously affected in religion because what they doe in this kinde is not done by Gods commandement nor intended to his honour but in obedience and to the honour of an Idoll or Devill whom they worship in stead of the true God 3 The Jesuite or Jesuited Romanist is a kinde of zealot for hee will compasse sea and land to make a proselyte hee will sticke at nothing for the advantage of the catholike cause no not the sticking or stabbing of Kings and Princes his zeale is so hot that it will kindle a fire to blow up whole Parliaments for an Holocaust to the Romane Moloch yet is hee not zealous because hee is hot and fervent not for Christ but for Antichrist and hee useth not sanctified but execrable and damnable meanes to promote the catholike cause as he termeth it and enlarge the territories of the Man of sinne The last condition of true zeale is that it keepe within the walke of mens speciall calling which they who confound for the most part bring confusion upon themselves as did King Uzziah who would bee thought out of zeale to burne incense unto the Lord but because hee tooke upon him to doe that which i 2 Chron. 26.18 appertained not to him but to the Priests of the Lord the sonnes of Aaron that were consecrated thereunto his incense stanke in the nostrils of God ver 19. and himselfe also for a leprosie rose up in his forehead before the Priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar and Azariah the chiefe Priest thrust him out of the Temple ver 20. yea himselfe hasted also to goe out because the Lord had smitten him Nothing is more necessary or usefull than fire if it bee kept within the furnace oven or tunnell of the chimney yea or within the barrell of the piece and from thence orderly issue out but nothing so dangerous if it bee not contained within the hearth or breake out of it selfe and flye abroad so nothing is more commendable or profitable than well guided nothing more incommodious and perillous than exorbitant zeale when the Prince medleth with the censer or the Priest with the scepter when private men take the sword out of the Magistrates hand or the Magistrate mis-applyeth the publike sword of justice to revenge his private wrongs Thus have I at length defined zeale and confined it within the limits of every mans lawfull and speciall calling Which limits shall be the bounds of my speech and your attention at this present The best k Plin. nat hist l. 12. c. ult Optimum quod est odoratissimum è semine ac maximum ponderosissimum moâ—dens in gustu est fervensque in ore balsamum and most soveraigne is that which is biting in the taste and burning in the mouth such have beene the observations upon this text biting in the taste and hot in the mouth God grant that like true balsamum they may prove a savour of life unto life to all that have heard me this day I am come with our Saviours Commission to put fire among you and what is my desire but that forthwith it be kindled to purge out all your drosse to purifie the sons of Levi like l Mal. 3.2 silver to burne up all hay and stubble built upon the foundation of our most holy faith and lastly to consume all our spirituall sacrifices But non opis est nostrae non opus est nostrum alas it is not my breath will doe it it must bee the blast of Gods holy Spirit that can first kindle and after keepe this sacred fire in the hearth of our hearts To him therefore who descended in the m Act. 2.3 similitude of fiery cloven tongues let us lift up our hearts hands and voices beseeching him to tind and preserve this spirituall fire in our 1 Hearts 2 Eares 3 Tongues 4 Hands that wee may bee zealously affected to Godward in meditating on him in hearing from him in praying to him in doing and suffering for him To knit up all in a word His grace make us sincerely entirely discreetly and constantly zealous 1 Of his gifts 2 In his service 3 For his honour to whom bee ascribed all honour glory c. THE SEASONING OF ALL SPIRITUALL SACRIFICES OR The Salters Text. A Sermon preached before the Company of the Salters at S. Maries Church in Bread-street THE FIFTEENTH SERMON MARKE 9.49 For every one shall bee salted with fire and every sacrifice shall bee salted with salt Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THat I may not entertaine your religious attention with a cold or unseasonable discourse I have made choice of a text wherein I finde both fire and salt fire to heat it and salt to season it And if any parcell of Scripture may be appropriated to any of the Worshipfull Societies or Companies of this Honourable City certainly you may challenge a peculiar interest in this For here is both salt and salting from whence you take your name both of men sacrifices The best of all creatures on earth are men and the best of all gifts of men are sacrifices both are made savory and acceptable to God by seasoning they with fire these with salt In relation to the former me thinks as Christ said to Andrew and Peter a Matth. 4.19 Follow me I will make you fishers of men so I heare the holy spirit say to mee Observe this text well and apply it and I will make thee a salter of men for every man must bee salted with fire and as it followeth Every sacrifice must bee salted with salt b Lev. 2.13 Every oblaâ—ion of the meat offering shalt thou season with salt neither shalt thou suffer the covenant of thy God to bee lacking from thy meat offering With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt saith Moses from God Every sacrifice shall bee salted with salt saith Christ from Moses whose drift in this place is somewhat obscure because the sense is covered under the vaile of an Allegory which wee cannot draw without looking up higher into the chapter and touching upon the precedent verses Wherein our Lord threatneth unquenchable fire and an immortall worme to all that for want of the fire of zeale grow cold in religion and for lacke of the salt of grace putrefie in their sins If saith he that person or thing that causes thee to offend either in want of courage for God or of zeale and Christian resolution against thy bosome sinnes and naturall corruptions bee as deare to thee as thine eye or as necessary as thy right hand part with them thou must if it be an eye plucke it out if an hand cut it off and cast it away from thee better
affect the judicious eare which expresse more by expressing lesse the sentence being broken off in the midst to shew the force of violent passion which bereaveth us on the sudden both of sense and speech The Musicians also in their way tickle the eare by a like grace in musicke to that figure in speech by unexpected stops and rests making a kinde of Aposiopesis and harmonicall Ellipsis Surely as the broken joynts and maimed limbes of men uncovered much move us to compassion so the imperfect and maimed members of sentences uttered in anger or griefe are aptest both to signifie and to move passion Such is that broken speech of b 2 King 13.14 Joash the King concerning Elisha over whose face hee wept and said O my father my father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof And that of c Psal 6.3 David My soule is sore troubled but thou O Lord how long And the like of our d Luke 19.42 Saviour If thou hast knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace And semblable thereunto is this in my text Shikethka Jisrael perdidit te or perditio tua it hath undone thee or thy ruine O Israel For those words ex te which we finde in many latine copies are added by the Translator to fill up the breach in the sentence in the Hebrew there is a verball Ellipsis or defect which expresseth a reall Ellipsis or utter failing of Israels strength and a figurative Ellipsis and seeming deficiency in God himselfe through a deepe taking to heart of Israels now most deplorate estate e Virg Aen. 2. ruit Ilium ingens Gloria Dardanidum The Crowne of Israel is fallen from his head and all his honour lyeth in the dust Israel after many grievous strokes and wounds received now bleeds at the heart and is a breathing out his last gaspe and the God of Israel by a Sympathy of griefe seemeth to lie speechlesse For his words faulter thy destruction Israel or it hath destroyed thee Israel is destroyed who hath destroyed Israel or why is Israel destroyed why is the cause and author of Israels woe concealed and the sentence left abrupt and imperfect f Tertul. adver Hermog c. 22. Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Tertullian speaking of the perfection of Scripture saith I adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures in another sense yet true I may use the contrary attribute and say I adore the deficiencies and seeming vacuities in Scripture sentences where the roome left for words is anticipated by passion and filled up with sighs and grones Will you have the cause why God expresseth not the cause of Israels plagues Because he would not adde unto them Had he filled up the bracke in the contexture of the sentence it must have bin with these or the like words by the consent of Interpreters It is thy stubborne heart O Israel and thy open rebellion against mee it is thy stoning my Prophets and killing my messengers sent early and late unto thee it is thy spirituall fornication and Idolatrous worship of Jeroboams golden calfes that hath heretofore brought all thy miserie upon thee and now hath wrought thy finall overthrow But alas this had beene to mingle judgement with wormewood to kill them with a word whom he meant to smite with a sword It is enough for a Judge to pronounce the dreadfull sentence of death it is too much then to fall foule upon the prisoner with amplifications and bitter invectives Howbeit whether for these or better reasons best knowne to himselfe God doth not here particularly set down the author or cause of Israels woe yet in the other member of the sentence but in mee is thy helpe removing the cause from himselfe and professing that there had beene helpe in him for them but for some barre he giveth them to understand in generall what it was hee forbare to speake but they could not but conceive and wee must gather out this Scripture for our instruction that the cause of Israels overthrow and the ruine of all other Kingdomes is in their sinnes and from themselves As in musicke though each string hath a different sound by it selfe yet many of them strucke together make but one chord so the last translation which I follow and all the former which I have read though they much differ in words yet they accord in the sense by mee now delivered For whether wee reade as some doe Rex tuus thy King or as others Vitulus tuus thy calfe or as Calvin Aliquid praeter me something besides me hath destroyed thee or as St. Jerome doth Perditio tua ex te thy destruction is from thy selfe or as the Kings Translators render the Hebrew thou hast destroyed thy selfe the sentence is all one thy mischiefe is from thy selfe but all thy hope of help is from thy God Julian gave for his armes in his Scutchion an Eagle strucke through the heart with a flight shaft feathered out of her owne wing with this Motto propriis configimur alis our death flies to us with our owne feathers and our wings pierce us to the heart To apply this patterne to my text and leave the print thereof upon it to imprint the doctrine thereof deeper in your memories The Eagle strucke dead is the Church and Common-wealth of Israel the arrow is the swift judgement of God the feathers shed out of her owne wings which carried the arrow so swift and drave the head of it in so deepe are Israels sinnes It is a lamentable thing to heare of the ruine and utter overthrow of any Kingdome how much more of the downefall of Israel Gods chosen people his chiefe treasure his only joy But that Israel should be Israels overthrow that Israel should be felo de se and accessarie to his owne death and utter confusion this must needs pricke the quickest veine in our hearts And these are the three points which by the assistance of Gods spirit I am first to cleare to your understanding and after to presse upon your religious affections 1. The accident to the subject Destruction 2. The subject of this accident Israel 3. The cause of this accident in this subject Thou or thy sinnes thou by thy sinnes hast destroyed thy selfe O Israel First of the privative accident destruction Destruction is opposed to construction as corruption to generation and as that is the death and dissolution of all naturall bodies so this of all artificiall I except not such as are purposely made to preserve corpses from corruption and putrefaction as coffins of lead and sepulchres of Marble For these also in time corrupt and moulter away Sunt ipsis quo que fata sepulchris Nay we may make this strong line of the Poet a little stronger ver 14. and say truly sunt ipsis quo que fatis fata death it selfe hath his dying day for my Prophet in this chapter threatneth g O death I will be
and hee layeth all the blame either upon bad servants or theevish neighbours or racking Land-lords or hard times or some losses by sea or land but never looketh into his owne heart where the true cause lyes be it covetousnesse or distrust of Gods providence or a quarrelling disposition or pride or idlenesse or luxurie or sacriledge Another is still whining that hee cannot get or keepe his health and he imputeth this either to his crazie constitution by nature or ill ayre or over much labour and study whereas indeed the cause is his ill diet his sitting up all night at Revels his powring in strong wines and spending the greatest part of the day in Tavernes his intemperancy or incontinency All other sinnes are without the body but hee that g 1 Cor. 6.18 committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body First against the honour of his body for thereby he maketh the members of Christ the members of an harlot next the strength health and life of the body which nothing more enfeebleth empaireth and endangereth than greedily drinking stolne waters and coveting after strange flesh A third is troubled in minde and hee feeleth no comfort in his conscience the good spirit hath left him and the evill spirit haunteth him and scorcheth his soule with the flashes of Hell fire and hee ascribeth this to some melancholy bloud or worldly discontent or the indiscretion of some Boanerges sonnes of thunder who preach nothing but damnation to their hearers whereas the true cause is in himselfe hee grieveth the spirit of grace hee turneth it into wantonnesse and quencheth the light of it in himselfe and therefore God withdraweth this holy Comforter from him for a time When h Just hist l. 1. Zopyrus qui sibi labia nares praecidi curasset queritur crudelitatem Regis Zopyrus had cut his owne lips and nose he gave it out that the Babylonians had so barbarously used him such is the condition of most men they disfigure their soules dismember their bodies by monstrous sinnes and yet lay the whole blame upon others i Mat. 10.36 The enemies of a man saith our Saviour are those of his owne house So it is so it is saith S. k Bern med c. 13. Accusat me conscientia testis est memoria ratio judex voluptas carcer timor tortor oblectamentum tormentum inde enim punimur unde oblectamur Bernard in mine owne house in my proper family nay within my selfe I have my accuser my judge my witnesse my tormentor My conscience is the accuser my memory the witnesse my reason the judge my feare the torturer my sinfull delights my torments l Camerar med hist cent 1. c. 20. Plancus Plautius hiding himselfe in the time of the proscription was found out onely by the smell of his sweet oyles wherewith hee used luxuriously to anoint himselfe m Eras adag Sorex ut dicitur suo indicio Sylla hearing some displeasing newes was so enflamed with anger that streining himselfe to utter his passion he brake a veine and spitting bloud died Remember the words of dying Caesar when hee felt their daggers at his heart whom he had saved from the sword Mene servare ut sint qui me perdant O that I should save men to doe mee such a mischiefe O that wee should harbour those snakes in our bosomes which if wee long keepe them there will sting us to death A strange thing it is and much to bee lamented that the soule should prescribe remedies against the maladies of the bodie and yet procure nourishment for her owne diseases What are the vitious affections we feed and cherish within us but so many pernitious infections of the minde What is anger but a fit of a frenzie feare but a shâ—king feaver ambition but a winde collicke malice but an apostem faction but a convulsion envie but a consumption security but a dead palsie lust but an impure itch immoderate joy but a pleasing trance of the soule These are the greatest causes of our woe not onely because they disturbe the peace of our conscience and set us upon scandalous and dangerous actions but also because they draw upon us heavie and manifold judgements From which if we desire to be freed that they prove not our utter destruction let us First confesse our sinnes with David to be the fuell of Gods wrath and the fountaine of all our miseries n Psal 51.4 Against thee thee onely have wee sinned and done this and that and the third and many more evils in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and cleere when thou art judged and with o Salv. l. 4. de provid Sive miseâ—ae nostrae sint sive infirmitates sive eversiones c. testimoniâ— sunt mali servi boni domini quomodo mali servi quia patimur ex parte quod meremur quomodo boni domini quia ostendit quid mereamur sed non irrogat quae meremur Salvianus Whatsoever our miseries are or afflictions or persecutions or overthrowes or losses or diseases they are testimonies of an evil servant and a good master How of an evill servant Because in them we suffer in part what wee deserve How testimonies of a good master Because by them he sheweth us what wee deserve and yet layeth not upon us so much as we deserve Secondly let us compose our selves to endure that with patience which we have brought upon our selves Tute in hoc tristi tibi omne exedendum est Thirdly let us forsake our beloved sinnes and then God will take away his plagues from us let us be better our selves and all things shall goe better with us let repentance be our practise and a speedy reformation our instruction so Gods judgements shall not bee our destruction Now O Father of mercy and tender compassion in the bowels of Jesus Christ who hast shewed us what wee deserve by our sinnes and yet hast not rewarded us according to our iniquities take away our stony hearts from us and give us hearts of flesh that thy threats may make a deepe impression in us and that wee may speedily remove the evill of our sinnes out of thy sight that thou maist remove the evill of punishment from us so our sinne shall not be our destruction but thy mercy our salvation through Jesus Christ To whom c. THE CHARACTERS OF HEAVENLY WISEDOME A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall in Lambeth THE EIGHTH SERMON PSAL. 2.10 Be wise now therefore O yee Kings be instructed yee Judges of the earth Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe mirrour of humane eloquence apologizing for his undertaking the defence of Murena against Cato the elder pertinently demandeth a Cic. pro Muren A quo tandem Marce Cato aequius est defendi Consulem quam a Consule who so fit a patron of a Consull as a consull himselfe The like may be said in
seemeth more secure than sitting in a chaire yet Judge e Aug de civit Dei l. 22. c. 22. Quid videtur sedente securius de sella cecidit Eli mortuus est Ely fell out of his chaire and brake his necke Wherefore since Judges themselves are as subject to the lawes of humane frailty as other men since for ought they know they are as neere death as the prisoner whom they have newly condemned to dye let them look above them not about them let them feare God not man let them deliver nothing at the bench which they are not assured in their consciences that they are able to make good before the Judge of quicke and dead from whose face heaven and earth fled away and their place could no where be found Judges may be considered either as of a particular circuit of the earth and so they must receive instruction from the King or Lord of that land or as Judges of the earth at large and in that regard must take their Commission and receive Instruction from the Lord of the whole earth who requireth in his Judges 1 Religion f Exod. 18.21 thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as feare God 2 Moderation g Gal. 6.1 to restore such as are overtaken in a fault in the Spirit of meeknesse 3 Learning and knowledge in the lawes of which before 4 Integrity they must h Num. 11.24 hate covetousnesse i Exod. 18.21 Deut. 16.19 they may not take a gift c. 5 Indifferency they k Deut. 1.17 must not respect persons in judgement but heare the small c. 6 Attention and diligent enquiry they l Deut. 1.16 13.14 19.18 must heare causes and make search c. 7 Expedition m Zech. 7.9 to execute true judgement and not delay justice 8 Resolution and courage not to n Deut. 1.17 feare the face of man 9 Equity to o Deut. 1.16 Joh. 7.24 judge equally and righteously betweene every man and his brother 1 Want of Religion makes a prophane Judge 2 Want of Moderation an unmercifull Judge 3 Want of Learning an unsufficient Judge 4 Want of Integrity a corrupt Judge 5 Want of Indifferency a partiall Judge 6 Want of Attention a rash Judge 7 Want of Expedition a tedious Judge 8 Want of Resolution a timorous Judge 9 Want of Equity an unrighteous Judge Lastly Want of any of these an Incompetent Judge want of all these an unsufferable and execrable Judge 1 Religion is required in a Judge without which there will be no conscience of doing justice where injustice may be borne out and because even religious men are subject to passion to religion a Judge must adde 2 Moderation and governement of his passions and because a man of temper fit for a Judge may mistake his marke if he be not expert in the Law to moderation he must adde 3 Learning and knowledge in the Law according to which he is to give sentence and because bribes blinde the p Deut. 16.19 eyes of the wisest and learnedst Judges to learning he must adde 4 Integritie and incorruption a sincere heart and cleere hands and because where bribes cannot open the hand yet favour may enter at the eye to his Integrity he must adde 5 Indifferencie free from all kinde of partiality and because a Judge though never so religious temperate learned incorrupt and impartiall cannot yet give right judgement without a full hearing and exact discussing of the cause before him to indifferencie he must adde 6 Patient Attention and diligent q Deut. 19.18 inquisition and because the plaintife or defendant are nothing benefited by the Judges hearing of or searching into the cause if after examination there follow not a sentence to Attentition he must adde 7 Expedition for delayed justice oftentimes as much wrongeth the plaintife as injustice and because after enquiry and hearing though the Judge be expert and readie yet judgement may be stopped if a great person appeare in the cause to Expedition he must adde 8 Courage and Resolution and because if a Judge strike too hard with the sword of justice he may breake it as also because the sentence of the law may be just in generall yet in regard of difference in circumstances may wring and wrong a man in particular to all the former vertues a compleat Judge must adde 9 r Levit. 19.15 In equity shalt thou judgethy neighbour Equity and stayed discretion which holdeth steedily the gold weights of justice and addeth or taketh away a graine or more to make the piece and weight perfectly agree 1. Religion Alvares reporteth that the Aethiopians place many chaires about the Judges seat not out of State but out of Religion supposing that their Gods fit there with their Judges That which they suppose we certainely know that God and his Angels are present at the Assises and that he judgeth among the Å¿ Psal 82.1.7 gods that is the Judges or Princes How religious then ought Judges to be who are Almighty Gods Assessours So neere is the affinity betweene Justice and Religion that as Priests are called Judices sacrorum Judges of Religion and causes Ecclesiasticall so Judges are by Ulpian stiled Sacerdotes justitiae Priests of justice And not only the high Priests among the Jewes but also the Archontes of the Athenians the Archiflamines and t Cic prò domo suâ ad Pontifices Cum multa divinitus Ponâ—ifices a majoribus nostris in venta atque instituta sunt tum nihil praeclarius quam quod vos cosdem religionibus deorum immortalium summae reipublicae prae esse voluerunt Pontifices of the Romanes the Muphteyes of the Turkes the Brameres of the Indians the Druides of the ancient Brittaines were trusted with Justice as well as Religion and that for important considerations For sith mortall men cannot prescribe against God nor dispence with his commandements sith the divine law is the supreme law to which lyeth an appeale from all humane statutes and ordinances they who by their calling are Interpreters of that law might well be thought fit Umpires in all controversies concerning the equity of lawes and conformity to the divine especially in such points wherein the lawes trench upon holy things But I list not in the heat of modern oppositions to drink of the waters of strife let that question passe whether sacred persons expert in the divine law are not fittest to judge in secular causes of greatest moment this I am sure Judges must be if not in orders yet eminently religious and skilfull in the law of God for the judgement they are to give is u Deut. 1.17 Gods If a Judge be not religious he will never be zealous for Gods honour nor severely punish the breaches of the first Table If a Judge feare not God hee will feare the face of man and flye backe when he should stand out for a poore
innocent against a mighty adversary x Martial epig. Contra libertum Caesaris ire timens If a Judge make no account of giving one day an account of all his actions to the supreme Judge of quicke and dead hee will make no consscience of delaying justice or denying it or perverting it or stifling it or selling it Justice shall be cast in her owne Court and overthrowne upon her owne Tribunall The Judge y Cypr. l. 2. ep 2. Inter leges delinquitur inter jura peccatur innocentia nec ubi defenditu◠servabitur Sen. de ira l. 2. Quam turpes lites quam turpiores advocatos habent Judex damnaturus quae fecit eligitur corona pro mala causa bona patroni voce corrupta Lactan. divin instit l. 1. who sitteth on the bench to punish delinquents will prove the greatest delinquent and dye his dibaphum or bis tinctum his twice died scarlet the third time with innocent blood If a Judge depend upon the King and not upon God Seianus shall bee condemned to a most painefull and ignominious death upon a bare letter from Tiberius though no man know for what crime or upon what evidence nay a Pilate will condemne Jesus himselfe to be crucified rather than not be thought a friend to Caesar If a Judge be like Cardinall Caraffa securus de numine out of all feare of Gods vengeance hee will make the law a snare and justice a net and the bench a step to his owne advancement He will either like Hercules Priest play with one hand for Hercules and the other for himselfe Or like a Mazar in Ps 51. Ayat the Jew utraque manu tanquam dextra uti take bribes on both sides and doe Justice on neither 2 A Judge must be a religious man and none but such ought to be called to the bench yet neither are all religious men fit to be Judges for beside the feare of God and devotion in a Judge there must be temper in him and singular moderation he must be a Moses b Numb 12.3 a very meek man above all the men that were upon the face of the earth the mind of a Judge should be as still and calme as the upper region of the aire Perpetuum nullâ temeratum nube serenum For it is impossible for him clearely to discerne betweene man and man cause and cause blood and blood there being colourable pretences on both sides whose eye is clouded with passion or overcast with any mist of prejudice When the water is troubled or mingled with mud we see not a bright pearle or piece of silver in the bottom in like maner when the mind is stirred troubled with perturbations we cannot discerne the truth which for the most part lyeth not in the top but in the bottome as it were of a deepe Well according to * Democ. dixit veritatem in fundo demersam Democritus his embleme In this consideration the Areopagite Judges prohibited Orators to play their Prizes of wit before them or goe about any way by figures of amplification and exaggeration to move any affection in them of love or hatred or feare or anger or envie or pity And c Arist Rhet. l. 1. c. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle yeeldeth a good reason for it It is the part of an unskilfull and foolish artificer saith he to endevour to bow or crooke his owne rule whereby he is to work Now the understanding of a Judge is as it were the rule square by which all causes are to be tryed and justice mett out By indirect meanes then to pervert the minde of the Judge and deprave his judgement what is it else in an Advocate or Pleader than to crook his owne square and falsifie the common measure of right Most certaine it is that as meat tasteth not a like to a cleere stomacke and to a stomacke repleat with ill humors so that no matter in debate presents it selfe in the like hue to a single and cleer eye and to a dazled or blood-shot Let S. James give the Judges their Motto Be swift to heare slow to speak slow to wrath d Vellaius Pater l. 1. hist Quicquid voluit valde voluit Brutus nimium Cassius Brutus would have made an ill judge who was affianced to his owne will and Cassius a worse who was wedded to it and Herod worst of all of whom Josephus giveth this character that he was Legis dominus irae servus Lord of the law yet a slave to his owne passion It is no strong piece that will easily bee out of frame frame therefore and temper must needs be in a Judge yet this will not serve without a great measure of 3 Knowledge and learning in lawes 1 Divine 2 Humane As also in causes 1 Ecclesiasticall 2 Secular of which before 1 Civill 1 Municipall 4 Integrity Probè doctus est qui probus est he is intirely learned who to his learning hath added integrity Learning teacheth what is wrong as well as what is right and without integrity instructeth a Judge how to make wrong passe for right in a legall forme If a Judges eye be open to favour or his hand to gifts his learning will serve him to no other end than cunningly to divert the streight current to bring water to his own Mill. He that opens his hand to catch after a great reward cannot chuse but let fall his rule out of it In which regard the e Rainold com in Rhet. Arist l. 1. Thebanes pourtraying a Judge drew a venerable personage in a sacred habite fitting still in a chaire having neither eyes nor hands his sacred habit represented his religion his venerable yeeres his learning and experience his still sitting his moderation his eyes out his indifferency or impartiality his want of hands his integrity or freedome from taking bribes f Mazar com in Psal 51. Mazarinus complaineth of the Judges beyond the sea and there let them still bee that they resembled the blood-stone which hath a speciall property to stanch blood yet it is observed by Jewellers that it never exerciseth this vertue nor stancheth blood unlesse it be set in or covered over with silver and so applyed to the veine How true this is I know not but sure I am that those who use a silver plummet draw blacke lines When Demosthenes having received a large fee of the adverse party to be silent in a cause and being called to plead pretended the Squinsie his clyent handsomely came over him saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non est ista angina sed argentangina I could match such an Advocate with a like Judge in Poland called Ictus who a long time stood for a poore plaintife against a rich defendant in the end took of the defendant a great summe of mony stamped according to the usuall stampe of the countrey with the Image of a man in complete armour and at the next Sessions in court judged the
eleven Apostles or to more than five hundred brethren that saw him all at one time nay what to more than five millions of Confessors and Martyrs signing the truth of it with their blood and shewing the power of it as well by the wonders which they wrought in his name as the invincible patience wherewith they endured all sorts of torments and death it selfe for his name I might produce the testimony of Josephus the learned Jew and tell you of Paschasinus his holy Well that fils of his owne accord every Easter day and the annuall rising of certaine bodies of Martyrs in the sands of Egypt and likewise of a Phoenix in the dayes of Tyberius much about the time of our Lords resurrection rising out of her owne ashes m Lactant. in Poem Ipsa sibi proles suus pater suus haeres Nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi Ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia ipsa nec ipsa Eternam vitam mortis adepta bono But because the authours of these relations and observations are not beyond exception I will rather conclude this point with an argument of Saint n De civit Dei l. 22. c. 5. Haec duo incredibilia scil resurrectionem nostri corporis rem â—am incredibilem mundum esse crediturum idem dominus antequam vel unum horuÌ„ fieret ambo futura esse praedixit unum duorum incredibilium jam factum videmus ut quod erat incredibile credeâ—et mundus curid quod reliquum est desperatur Austines to which our owne undoubted experience gives much strength The same Spirit of God saith hee which foretold the resurrection of Christ foretold also that the doctrine thereof should bee publickly professed and believed in the world and the one was altogether as unlikely as the other But the latter wee see in all ages since Christs death and at this day accomplished in the celebration of this feast why then should any man doubt of the former The Apostles saw the head living but not the mysticall body the Catholike Church of all places and ages We have read in the histories of all ages since Christ and at this day see the Catholike Church spread over the whole face of the earth which is Christs body how can wee then but believe the head to bee living which conveigheth life to all the members I have set before you the glasse of the resurrection in the figures of predictions of the Old Testament and the face it selfe in the history of the New may it please you now to cast a glance of your eye upon the Image or picture thereof in our rising from the death of sinne to the life of grace All Christs actions and passions as they are meritorious for us so they are some way exemplary unto us and as none can bee assured of the benefit of Christs birth unlesse hee bee borne againe by water and the Spirit nor of his death unlesse hee bee dead to sinne nor of his buriall unlesse hee have buried his old Adam so neither of his resurrection unlesse hee bee risen from dead workes and continually walketh in newnesse of life See you how the materiall colours in a glasse window when the sun-beames passe through it produce the like colours but lesse materiall and therefore called by the Philosophers intentionales spiritales on the next wall no otherwise doth the corporall resurrection of Christ produce in all true believers a representation thereof in their spirituall which Saint John calleth o Apoc. 20.5 the first resurrection Saint Paul p Heb. 6.1 repentance from dead workes Sinnes especially heinous and grievous proceeding from an evill habit are called dead workes and such sinners dead men because they are deprived of the life of God have no sense of true Religion they see not Gods workes they heare not his Word they savour not the things of God they feele no pricke of conscience they breath not out holy prayers to God nor move towards heaven in their desires but lye rotting in their owne filthinesse and corruption The causes which moved the Jewes so much to abhorre dead corpses ought to be more prevalent with us carefully to shunne and avoid those that are spiritually dead in sinnes and transgressions they were foure 1 Pollution 2 Horrour 3 Stench 4 Haunting with evill spirits 1 Pollution That which touched a dead corpse was by the law uncleane neither can any come nigh these men much lesse embrace them in their bosome without morall pollution and taking infection in their soules from them 2 Horrour Nothing so ghastly as the sight of a dead corpse the representation whereof oft-times in the Theater appalleth not onely the spectatours but also the actours and yet this sight is not so dreadfull to the carnall man as the sight of those that are spiritually dead I speake of foule notorious and scandalous offenders to them that feare God Saint John would not stay in the same bath with Cerinthus and certainely 't is a most fearefull thing to bee under the same roofe with blasphemous heretickes and profane persons who have no feare of God before their eyes 3 Stench The smell of a carkasse is not so offensive to the nostrils as the stench of gluttony drunkennesse and uncleannesse in which wicked men wallow is loathsome to God and all good men 4 Haunting with evil spirits We read in scriptures that the men that were possest of the divel came q Mat. 8.28 out of the tombs and graves and we find by dayly experience the like of these rather carkasses than men that the devill hankereth about them and entereth into their heart as he did into Judas filling them with all wickednesse and uncleannesse After they have exhausted their bodies with incontinency their estate with riotous living and have lost first their conscience and after their credit they fall into the deepest melancholy upon which Sathan works and puts them into desperate courses r Psal 73.19 O how suddenly doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Me thinkes I heare some say wee heard of places haunted by evill spirits in time of popery are there now any such not such as then were solitary houses ruined pallaces or Churches in which fearefull noyses are said to have beene heard and walking spirits to have beene met For at the thunder of the Gospell Sathan fell like lightning from heaven and hath left those his old holds but places of a contrary condition such where is the greatest concourse of people I meane profane Theaters disorderly Tavernes Ale-houses places of gaming and lewdnesse yea prisons also which were intended for the restraint of wickednesse and punishment of vice are made refuges of Malefactors and schooles of all impiety and wickednesse Quis custodes custodiet ipsos As in the hot sands of Africa where wilde beasts of divers sorts meet to drinke strange monsters are begotten which gave occasion to that proverbe Å¿ Eras
where divers candles or torches in a roome concurre to enlighten the place the light of them remaineth impermixt as the Optickes demonstrate by their severall shadowes so all the divine graces conjoyne their lustre and vertue to adorne and beautifie the inward man yet their nature remaines distinct as their speciall effects make it evident to a single and sharp-sighted eye God was in the bush that burned and consumed not yet God was not the bush The holy Ghost was in the fiery cloven tongues yet the holy Ghost was not the tongues The spirits runne along in the arteries with the purer and refined blood yet the spirits are not the blood The fire insinuateth it selfe into all the parts of melted metall and to the eye nothing appeareth but a torrent of fire yet the fire is not the metall in like manner zeale shineth and flameth in devotion love godly jealousie indignation and other sanctified desires and affections it enflameth them as fire doth metall it stirreth and quickeneth them as the spirits doe the blood yet zeale is not those passions neither are all or any of them zeale howsoever the schooles rather out of zeale of knowledge than knowledge of zeale have determined the contrary 2 Secondly zeale is defined to bee not a morall vertue but a divine gift or grace of the Spirit the Spirit of God is the efficient cause and the Spirit of man is the subject which the Apostle intimates in that phrase i Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fervent or zealous in Spirit This fire like that of the Vestals is kindled from heaven by the beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse not from any kitchen on earth much lesse from hell They therefore qui irae suae stimulum zelum putant they who imagine the flashes of naturall choler are flames of spirituall zeale toto coelo errant are as farre from the marke as heaven is distant from the earth No naturall or morall temper much lesse any unnaturall and vitious distemper can commend us or our best actions to God and men as zeale doth The fire of zeale like the fire that consumed Solomons sacrifice commeth downe from heaven and true zealots are not those Salamanders or Pyrausts that alwayes live in the fire of hatred and contention but Seraphims burning with the spirituall fire of divine love who as Saint Bernard well noteth kept their ranke and station in heaven when the other Angels of Lucifers band that have their names from light fell from theirs Lucifer cecidit Seraphim stant to teach us that zeale is a more excellent grace than knowledge even in Angels that excell in both Howbeit though zeale as farre surpasse knowledge as the sunne-beame doth a glow-worme yet zeale must not be without knowledge Wherefore God commandeth the Priest when hee k Exod. 30.8 lighteth the lamps to burne incense though the fire bee quicke and the incense sweet yet God accepteth not of the burning it to him in the darke The Jewes had a zeale as the l Rom. 10.2 Apostle acknowledgeth and the Apostle himselfe before his conversion yet because it wanted knowledge it did them and the Church of God great hurt No man can bee ignorant of the direfull effects of blind zeale when an unskilfull Phaeton takes upon him to drive the chariot of the sunne hee sets the whole world in a combustion What a mettled horse is without a bridle or a hot-spurred rider without an eye or a ship in a high winde and swelling saile without a rudder that is zeale without knowledge which is like the eye in the rider to choose the way or like the bridle in the hand to moderate the pace or like the rudder in the ship to steere safely the course thereof Saint m Inser 22. in Cant. Bernard hits full on this point Discretion without zeale is slow paced and zeale without discretion is heady let therefore zeale spurre on discretion and discretion reyne zeale fervor discretionem erigat discretio fervorem regat Discretion must guide zeale as it is guided by spirituall wisedome not worldly policy and therefore Thirdly I adde in the definition of zeale that it quickeneth and enflameth all our holy desires and affections according to the direction of spirituall wisdome For wisdome must prescribe zeale when and where and how far and in what order to proceede in reforming all abuses in Church and State and performing all duties of religious piety and eminent charity What Isocrates spake sometime of valour or strength is as true of zeale viz. n Isoc ad Dem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that zeale and resolution with wisedome doth much good but without it doth much mischiefe to our selves and others like granadoes and other fire-works which if they be not well looked to and ordered when they breake do more hurt to them that cast them than to the enemie Yet that we be not deceived in mistaking worldly policy for wisdome I adde spirituall to difference it from carnall morall or civill wisedome for they are too great coolers they will never let zeale exceed the middle temper of that * Vibius Statesman in Tiberius Court who was noted to bee a wise and grave Counseller of a faire carriage and untainted reputation but hee would o Juven sat 4. Ille igitur nunquam direxit brachia contra torrentem never strike a stroake against the streame hee would never owne any mans quarrell hee would bee sure to save one Such is the worldly wise man hee will move no stone though never so needfull to bee removed if hee apprehend the least feare that any part of the wall will fall upon himselfe The p Cic. de orat l. 1. Tempus omne post consulatum objecimus iis fluctibus qui per nos à communi peste depulsi in nosmetipsos redundarunt Romane Consul and incomparable Oratour shall bee no president for him who imployed all his force and strength to keepe off those waves from the great vessel of the State which rebounded backe againe and had neere drowned the cocke-boate of his private fortune Hee will never ingage himselfe so farre in any hot service no not though Gods honour and the safety of the Church lye at stake but that he will be sure to come off without hazzard of his life or estate Hee hath his conscience in that awe that it shall not clamour against him for not stickling in any businesse that may peradventure reflect upon his state honour or security In a word peradventure he may bee brought with much adoe to doe something for God but never to suffer any thing for him This luke-warme Laodicean disposition the lesse offensive it is to men the more odious it is to God who is a jealous God and affecteth none but those that are zealous for his glory he loveth none but those that will bee content to expose themselves to the hatred of all men for his names sake Hee q
their actions or satisfie by their passions taketh away not only all merit but all worth from them both 2. It instructeth the penitent for if afflictions are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discipline and nurture then somewhat is to be learned by them It is good for mee saith h Psal 119.71 David that I was in trouble that I might learne thy statutes Blessed is he saith Saint * Greg. mor. in Job c. 5. v. 17. Gregory who is chastened of the Lord Quia eruditur ad beatitudinem because he is set in the right way to blessednesse The Greekes say in their Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines answer them both in the rime reason Nocumenta documenta that is we gain wit by our losses and the rod imprinteth learning into us What wee learne in particular by it I shall God willing declare at large hereafter this lesson shall suffice for the present That as a loving father never beateth his child without a fault so neither doth God chasten us without a cause our sins are the cords which furnish his whip Lam. 3.39 Man suffereth for his sinne It is true that sinne is not the adaequate or onely cause for which God striketh his children yet is it alwayes causa sine quâ non a cause without which hee never striketh them i Joh. 9.3 Although neither the blind man his sinne nor his fathers were the cause why hee was borne blind more than other men but that through the miraculous cure of his blindnesse all might see the divine power of Christ yet certaine it is that hee and his father for their sinnes deserved it or a greater punishment Likewise Jobs sinnes were not the cause why the arrowes of the Almighty fell thicker upon him than any other but it was to make him a rare mirrour of patience and convince Satan of his false slander and to take occasion of crowning him with greater blessings in this life and everlastingly rewarding him hereafter yet Job denies not that those calamities fell justly upon him k Job 7.20 I have sinned saith he O Lord what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men 3 It comforteth all that are afflicted there are as many arguments of comfort in it as words of arguments Is any man either impoverished with losses or visited with sicknesse or strucken with soares or oppressed with heavie burdens or pined with famine or grieved with death of friends or affrighted with terrours of conscience let him lay this text of holy writ to his heart and it will presently asswage his paine and in the end if not cure his malady yet make it sufferable yea and comfortable also to him Let him thus question with himselfe Who afflicteth me It is answered God I. How proceedeth hee to afflict After warning and upon conviction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rebuke What are afflictions chastisements and chasten Whom doth he thus afflict only some stubborn and obstinate sinners or desperate cast-a-wayes nay but all his children as many Why afflicteth he Because he loveth them I. It is God that smiteth me can I resist his power must I not obey his will Rebuke Hee hath given me warning before and I suffer but what I deserve Quae venit ex merito poena ferenda venit Chasten Hee inflicteth with griefe moderateth with love guideth with fatherly providence what hee ordereth mee to suffer shall I refuse nurture and shew my selfe a bastard and no sonne had I rather hee should leave me to my selfe to follow my owne courses according to the bent of my corrupt nature with a purpose to deprive mee of his glory and dis-inherite me of his kingdome As many Hee disciplineth all his children am I better than all the rest As I love His only motive herein is his love and shal I take that ill which is sent to mee in love shall I bee afraid of and refuse love tokens shall I bee grieved and dismaid because I have now more sensible experience of his care and love than ever before To joyne all together to make of them all a strong bulwarke against impatiency in all sorts of afflictions and tribulations Shall wee either stubbornly refuse or ungraciously despise or take unkindly after all faire meanes by us sleightened the deserved chastisement of our heavenly father which with great moderation and greater griefe he inflicteth upon all his deerest children in love Can we justly repine at any thing offered us upon these tearmes is not this salve of the spirit alone of it selfe able to allay the most swelling tumour of the greatest hearts griefe I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Rebuke and chasten So doth the Translatour render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly and answerably to the main intent of the Spirit but not fully and agreeably to the nature of the letter wee have no one English word capable of the whole contents of the two words in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primarily signifieth to evict or convince to give evidence of any thing or against any person to lay his sinnes open before him in such sort that hee cannot but see them and bee ashamed of them as in these passages l Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m Eph. 5.11 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n Psal 50.21 Bud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the evidence of things not seene and I will rebuke thee and set thy sinnes in order before thy face and Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but by the light of truth discover and openly rebuke them Likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word much more pregnant than chasten and if you will have it in one word expressed is I nurture or I discipline for the word implyeth as well instruction as correction Now out of the nature of the phrase which signifieth to rebuke upon conviction or evidently convince by reproofe and the order of the words first rebuke and then chasten All Judges and Ministers of justice are lessoned to bee better instructed and informed in the causes they sentence than usually they are to sift matters to the very bran to weigh all circumstances together before they give judgement For to reprove without cause deserveth reproofe to censure without a fault deserveth censure and to punish without conviction deserveth punishment o Fulgent ad Monimum Ipsa justitia si puniendum reum non invenerit sed fecerit injusta est Punishing justice if it fall not upon a party legally convicted is it selfe injustice and punishable in a Magistrate Now that they who are in authority may not exercise injustice in stead of executing justice 1 They must indifferently heare both parties Philip kept an eare alwayes for the defendant p Orat. de coron in prooem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes in his famous oration for Ctesiphon putteth the Athenian Judges in mind of this which he calleth