in Lambeth Chappell A.D. 1622. March 23. THE TENTH SERMON JOHN 20.22 And when hee had said this hee breathed on them and saith unto them receive yee the holy Ghost Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Reverend Right Worshipfull c. A Diamond is not cut but by the point of a Diamond nor the sunne-beame discerned but by the light of the beame nor the understanding faculty of the soule apprehended but by the faculty of understanding nor can the receiving of the holy Ghost bee conceived or delivered without receiving in some a Aug tract 16. in Joh. Adsit ipse spiritus ut sic eloqui possimus degree that holiest Spirit b Ciâ— de mat Qui eloquentiam laudat debet illam ipsam adhibere quam lâ—â—dat Hee that will blazon the armes of the Queen of affections Eloquence must borrow her own pencill and colours nor may any undertake to expound this text and declare the power of this gift here mentioned but by the gift of this power Wherefore as in the interpretation of other inspired Scriptures wee are humbly to intreat the assistance of the Inspirer so more especially in the explication and application of this which is not onely effectivè à spiritu but also objectivè de spiritu not onely indited and penned as all other by the spirit but also of the spirit This of all other is a most mysterious text which being rightly understood and pressed home will not only remove the weaker fence betweene us and the Greeke Church touching the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Sonne but also beat downe and demolish the strong and high partition wall betweene the reformed and the Romane Church built upon S. Peters supremacy For if Christ therefore used the Ceremony of breathing upon his Apostles with this forme of words Receive yee the Holy Ghost as it were of set purpose visibly to represent the proceeding of the holy Spirit from himselfe why should not the Greeke Church acknowledge with us the eternall emanation of the holy Ghost from the Sonne as well as the Father and acknowledging it joyne with us in the fellowship of the same spirit Our difference and contestation with the Church of Rome in point of S. Peters primacy is far greater I confesse For the head of all controversies between us and them is the controversie concerning the head of the Church Yet even this how involved soever they make it may be resolved by this text alone For if Christ sent all his Apostles as his Father sent him if he breathed indifferently upon all if he gave his spirit and with it full power of remittting and retaining sinnes to them all then is there no ground here for S. Peters jurisdiction over the rest much lesse the Popes and if none here none elsewhere as the sequell will shew For howsoever Cajetan and Hart and some few Papists by jingling Saint Peters c Mat. 16.19 Keyes and distinguishing of a key 1 Of knowledge 2 Of power and this 1 Of order 2 Of jurisdiction and that 1 In foro exteriori the outward court 2 Foro interiori the inward court of conscience goe about to confound the harmony of the Evangelists who set all the same tune but to a different key yet this is confessed on all sides by the Fathers Hilary Jerome Austine Anselme and by the Schoole-men Lumbard Aquinas Allensis and Scotus alledged by Cardinall d Bellar. de Rom. pont l. 1. c. 12. Bellarmine that what Christ promised to Peter e Mat. 16. he performed and made good to him here but here the whole f Hieronymus adver Lucifer Cuncti claves accipiunt super omnes ex aequô ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur bunch of keyes is offered to all the Apostles and all of them receive them all are joyned with S. Peter as well in the mission as my Father sent mee so I send you as in the Commission Lastly as this text containes a soveraigne Antidote against the infection of later heresies so also against the poyson of the more ancient and farther spread impieties of Arrius and Macedonius whereof the one denyed the divinity and eternity of the Sonne the other of the holy Ghost both whose damnable assertions are confuted by consequence from this text For if Christ by breathing giveth the holy Ghost and by giving the holy Ghost power of remitting sinne then must Christ needs bee God for who but God can give or send a divine person The holy Ghost also from hence is proved to be God for who can g Mar. 2.7 or Esay 43.25 forgive sinnes but God alone So much is our faith indebted to this Scripture yet our calling is much more for what can bee spoken more honourably of the sacred function of Bishops and Priests than that the investiture and admittance into it is the receiving of the holy Ghost * Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura regula caeterorum The first action in every kind of this nature is a president to all the rest as all the furniture of the Ceremoniall law was made according to the first patterne in the Mount such is this consecration in my text the originall and patterne of all other wherein these particulars invite your religious attention 1 The person consecrating Christ the chiefe Bishop of our soules 2 The persons consecrated The Apostles the prime Pastours of the Church 3 The holy action it selfe set forth 1 With a mysterious rite he breathed on them 2 A sanctified forme of words receive ye the holy Ghost 1 First for the person consecrating All Bishops are consecrated by him originally to whom they are consecrated all Priests are ordained by him to whom they are ordained Priests the power which they are to employ for him they receive from him to whom h Matth. 28.18 all power is given both in heaven and in earth By vertue of which deed of gift he maketh i Matth. 10.2 choice of his ministers and hee sendeth them with authority k Jâ—h 20.21 as my Father sent me so I send you And hee furnisheth them with gifts saying receive yee the holy Ghost and enableth them with a double power of order to l Matth. 28.19 Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 11.24 This do in the remembrance of me preach and administer both the sacraments and of jurisdiction also Matth. 18.18 Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bee bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And that this sacred order is to continue in the Church and this spirituall power in this order even till Christ resigneth up his keyes and kingdome to God his Father S. Paul assureth us Eph. 4.10.11.12 Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some
of sinnes is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit and by a metonymie termed the Holy Ghost Barradius bringeth us an answer out of the schooles that z Barrad in harmon Evang. remission of sinnes is a worke of Gods goodnesse and mercy now workes of goodnesse are peculiarly attributed to the holy Spirit who proceedeth as they determine from the will of the Father and the Sonne whose object is goodnesse as workes of wisedome are attributed to the Sonne because hee is the word proceeding by way of generation from the understanding of his Father This reason may goe for currant in their way neither have I any purpose at this time to crosse it but to haste to the period of this discourse in which that I may better discover the path of truth in stead of many little lights which others have brought I will set up one great taper made of the sweetest of their waxe The Holy Ghost is sometimes taken for the person of the Comforter which sealeth Gods chosen to salvation sometimes for the gifts effects or operations of the Holy Ghost as it were the prints of his scale left in the soule these are principally three 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall power or authority 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue or ghostly ability to worke wonders and speake with divers languages 1 Is common to all them that are sanctified 2 Is peculiar to Christs Ministers 3 Restrayned to the Apostles themselves and some few others of their immediate successors z Joh. 3.5 Exceâ—t a man be borne of the water and of the spirit 1 Regenerating grace is termed the holyGhost 2 Spirituall order or ministeriall power is called the Spirit or holy Ghost in this place and Luk. 4.18 Esay 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospell c. 3 Miraculous vertue is called the holy Ghost Act. 2.4 And they were filled with the holy Ghost and spake with divers tongues 1 The Spirit of grace and regeneration the Apostles received at their first calling 2 The Spirit of ecclesiasticall government they received at this time c. 3 The Spirit of powerfull and extraordinary operation they received in the day of Pentecost 1 In their mindes by infallible inspiration 2 In their tongues by multiplicity of languages 3 In their hands by miraculous cures Receive then the Holy Ghost is 1 A ghostly function to ordaine Pastors and sanctifie congregations to God 2 Spirituall gifts to execute and discharge that function 3 Spirituall power or jurisdiction to countenance and support both your function and gifts Thus have I opened the treasury of this Scripture out of which I now offer to your religious thoughts and affections these ensuing observations And first in generall I commend to the fervour of your zeale and devotion the excessive heat of Christs love which absumed and spent him all for us flesh and spirit His flesh he offereth us in the Sacrament of his Supper his spirit hee conferreth in the sacred rite of consecration His body hee gave by those words Take eate this is my body his spirit hee gave by these Receive ye the holy Ghost a gift unestimable a treasure unvaluable for it was this spirit which quickned us when wee were dead in trespasses and sinnes it is this spirit which fetcheth us againe when wee swoune in despaire it is this spirit that refresheth and cooleth us in the extreme heat of all persecutions afflictions sorrowes and diseases to it we owe 1 Light in our mindes 2 Warmth in our desires 3 Temper in our affections 4 Grace in our wils 5 Peace in our consciences 6 Joy in our hearts and unspeakeable comfort in life and death This is the winde which bloweth a Cant. 4.16 Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits upon the Spouse her garden that the spices thereof might flow out This is the breath which formeth the words in the cloven tongues this is the breath which bloweth and openeth all the flowers of Paradise This is the blast which diffuseth the savour of life through the whole Church This is the gale which carryeth us through all the troublesome waves of this world and bringeth us safe to the haven where we would be And as the Spouse of Christ which is his mysticall body is infinitely indebted to her head for this gift of the spirit whereby holy congregations are furnished with Pastors and they with gifts and the ministery of the Gospell continually propagated so wee above all nations in the world at this day are most bound to extoll and magnifie his goodnesse towards us herein among whom in a manner alone this holy seed of the Church remaineth unmixed and uncorrupt not onely as propagated but propagating also not children onely but Fathers Apostolicall doctrine other reformed Churches maintaine but doe they retaine also Apostolicall discipline laying of hands they have on Ministers and Pastors but consecration of Archbishops and Bishops they have not And because they want consecrated Bishops to ordaine Pastors their very ordination is not according to ancient order Because they want spirituall Fathers in Christ to beget children in their ministery their Ministers by the adversary are accounted no better than filii populi whereas will they nill they even in regard of our Hierarchy the most frontlesse Papists must confesse the children begot by our reverend Fathers in the ministery of the Gospell to be as legitimate as their owne For albeit they put the hereticke upon us as the Arrians did upon the Catholike Fathers calling them Athanasians c. yet this no way disableth either the consecration of our Bishops nor the ordination of our Priests not onely because we have proved the dogge lyeth at their doores and that they are a kinde of mungrils of divers sorts of heretickes but because it is the doctrine of their Church b See Croy in his third conformity Whitaker in fine resp ad demonstrat Sanderi Rivet procem de haeref q. 1. Cath. orthod that the character of order is indeleble and therefore Archbishop Cranmer and other of our Bishops ordained by them if they had afterwards as Papists most falsly suppose fallen into heresie could not lose their faculty of consecration and ordination The consecration of Catholicke Bishops by Arrians and baptisme of faithfull Christians children by Donatists though heretickes is made good as well by the decrees of ancient as later Councels determining that Sacraments administred even by heretickes so they observe the rite and forme of words prescribed in holy scripture bee of force and validity Praysed therefore for ever bee the good will of him that dwelt in the bush that the Rod of Aaron still flourisheth among us and planteth and propagateth it selfe like that Indian fig-tree so much admired by all Travellers from the utmost branch whereof issueth a gummy juyce which hangeth
Prophet Elias did savory meat from the impure bill of a Raven 2 We absolutely deny that Heretiques either first made this signe or introduced it into baptisme For though it be most confidently affirmed by Cartwright Parker and other Authors of schisme amongst us that the signe of the Crosse was first devised or cryed up by the Heretiques above named yet Irenaeus whom they alledge for it saith no such thing he speaketh not a word in the places quoted by them of the signe of the Crosse but of the name of the Crosse nor of Christs Crosse but of Valentinus his God Aeons Crosse All that he hath in his declaration against those Heretiques touching this point is that Valentinus the Heretique called one of his fantasticall Aeons by two names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is bound or definition and Crosse Now if we may not use the signe of the Crosse because that Heretique called his feigned God Crosse by the like reason we may not make definitions in Logicke nor keepe bounds in our fields because he called his Aeon Horon that is bound or definition Had the Valentinians used the signe of the Crosse as they did the name yet that is no sufficient proofe that they devised this signe or brought it first into the Church It is certaine that this signe was by many Aeons that is ages ancienter than Valentinus his Aeons or his heresie We find some print of it in t Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. Justine Martyr his Dialogue against Tryphon Nazianzen and other Fathers note an expression of it in Josuah's fight with Amaleck Sozomen sheweth solid characters thereof in the Temple of Serapis in the ruines whereof amongst other Hieroglyphickes the Crosse was taken up at the sight whereof many of the Egyptians were astonished and partly induced thereby to embrace the Christian faith The first is therefore a limping objection and the second halteth downe-right It was this Papists have horribly abused the signe of the Crosse ergo we may not use it To argue in such sort from the abuse to the taking away of all use of a thing is an abuse of arguing and a meere non sequitur as u Rhet. l. 1. c. 1. Aristotle teacheth for there is nothing in the world that may not be abused save vertue What creature of God hath not beene abused by Gentiles to Idolatrie What ordinance of God is not at this day abused by Papists to superstition be it the Church or Communion Table the Pulpit nay the Scriptures and Sacraments themselves The Papists abuse lights in the Church must wee therefore sit at Evensong in the darke They abuse Frankincense offering it to their Images may not wee therefore use it in a dampish roome They abuse Godfathers and Godmothers to make a new affinity hindering marriage in such parties will they therefore christen their children without witnessâ—s Excreate sodes Papists abuse spittle mingling it with chrisme and putting it in the mouth of the childe when they baptize it will they therefore never spit It is not the Valentinians first use or the Papists abuse or any thing in the Crosse it selfe savouring of superstition but a crosse humour in themselves which stirreth them up to cavill at and alwayes quarrell with the warrantable and decent rites and commendable constitutions of their Mother the Church of England to whose censure I leave them and come to our selves Use 5 Suffer I beseech you a little affliction of the eare it is a time of penance You have heard of Jesus Christ and him crucified many wayes Contra prof vit in the garden before his death on the crosse at his death and since his death also by the persecutors of the Church and scandalous livers in the Church and foure professed enemies of his crosse 1 Jewes 2 Gentiles 3 Separatists 4 Papists And shall wee fill up the number and adde more affliction and vexation to him by our unkindnesse and ingratitude and neglect of his word and prophane abuse of his sacraments shall wee that are Gospellers by our reproachfull lives put Christ to open shame and crucifie the Lord of life again shall wee whom hee hath bought so deerely loved so entirely provided for so plentifully and preserved so miraculously returne him evill for good nay so much evill for so much good hee hath fed us with the finest wheat flower and the purest juice of the grape shall wee in requitall offer him gall and vinegar by our gluttony and drunkennesse feasting and revelling even this holy time set apart for the commemoration of Christs passion and our most serious meditation thereupon shall wee spit upon Christ by our blasphemous oathes and scoffes at his word and ministers shall wee put a worse indignity and disgrace upon his members than the Jewes or Romanes did by making them the members of an harlot shall wee strip Christ starke naked by our sacriledge sell him by simony racke him by oppression teare him in pieces by sects in the Church and factions in the state u Hom. Id. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc Ithacus velit magno mercentur Achivi It is that our enemies would spare for no gold to buy it at any rate that whilest the shepheards are at strife they might send in their wolves to make havocke of the flocke * Eras adâ—g Pastores odia exercent lupus intrat ovile If any here present at the hearing of these things shall bee pricked in heart x Act. 2.37 as the Jewes were at * Saint Peters Sermon upon this subject and shall demand of mee as they did of him and the rest of the Apostles quid faciemus what shall wee doe I answer in his words y ver 38. repent and be baptised every one of you not in the first which is already past but in the second baptisme which is of teares z Psal 4.4 stand in awe and sin no more commune with your owne heart in your chamber and bee still crucifie the world and the pompes the flesh and the lusts thereof breake off your sinnes by righteousnesse and your iniquities by almes to the poore humble your soules by watching and praying fasting and mourning Prostrate your selves before Jesus Christ and him crucified and after you have bathed your eyes in brinish teares and anointed them with the eye-salve of the spirit looke up with unspeakable comfort on your Saviour hanging on the crosse stretching out his armes to embrace you bowing downe his head as it were to kisse you behold in his pierced hands and feet and side holes to hide you from the wrath of God behold nayles to fasten the hand-writing against you being cancelled to his crosse behold vinegar to search and cleanse all your wounds behold water and blood and hyssope to purge your consciences and lastly a spunge to wipe out all your debts out of his Fathers tables Which the Father of mercy and God of all consolation
of the Martyrs sepulchres when she had no Churches but caves under ground no wealth but grace no exercises but sufferings no crowne but of martyrdome yet then she thrived best then she spread farthest then she kept her purity in doctrine and conversation then she convinced the Jewes then she converted the Gentiles then shee subdued Kingdomes whence I inferre three corollaries 1 That the Roman Church cannot be the true Church of Christ For the true Church of Christ as she is described in the holy Scriptures hath for long time lien hid beene often obscured and eclipsed by bloudy persecutions but the Roman or Papall Church hath never beene so her advocates plead for her that she hath beene alwayes not onely visible but conspicuous not onely knowne but notorious And among the many plausible arguments of perswasion and deceiveable shewes of reason wherewith they amuse and abuse the world none prevaileth so much with the common sort and unskilfull multitude as the outward pomp and glory of the Papall See For sith most men are led by sense and judge according to outward appearance the Church of Rome which maketh so goodly a shew and hath born so great sway in the world for many ages easily induceth them to beleeve that she is that City whereof the Prophet speaks x Psal 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God What more glorious and glittering to the eie than the Popes triple crowne and the Cardinals hats and their Archbishops Palls and their Bishops miters and crozures their shining images their beautifull pictures their rich hangings their gilt rood lofts their crosses and reliques covered in gold and beset with all sorts of pretious stones These with their brightnesse and resplendency dazle the eyes of the multitude and verily if the Queenes daughters glory were all without and the kingdome of Christ of this world and his Church triumphant upon earth all the knowne Churches in the Christian world must give place to the See of Rome which hath borne up her head when theirs have beene under water hath sate as Queene when they have kneeled as captives hath braved it in purple when they have mourned in sackcloth and ashes But beloved y Rom. 10 17. faith commeth not by sight but by hearing and we are not to search the Church in the map of the world but in the Scriptures of God where we find her a pilgrim in Genesis a bondwoman in Exodus a prisoner in Judges a captive in the book of Kings a widow in the Prophets and here in my text a woman labouring with child flying from a red Dragon into the wildernesse I grant that Christ promiseth her a kingdome but not of this world and peace but it is the peace of God and joy but it is in the Holy Ghost and great glory but it is within z Psal 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within c. 2 That none ought to despise the Churches beyond the seas under the Crosse but according to the command of the blessed Apostle a Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversitie as heing our selves also in the body Their turne of sorrow is now ours may be hereafter God hath begun to them in a cup of trembling it is to be feared it will not passe us but we and all the reformed Churches shall drink of it Our Church in Queene Maries dayes resembled this woman in my text theirs now doth both never a whit the lesse but rather the more the true Churches of Christ because they weare his red livery and beare his Crosse 3 That we ought not to looke for great things in this world but having food and raiment as the woman had here in my text to be therewith contented and as she withdrew her self from the eye of the world so ought we to retire our selves into our closets there to have private conference with God to examine our spirituall estate to make up the breaches in our conscience to poure out our soules in teares of compunction for our sins of compassion for the calamities of our brethren of an ardent desire and longing affection for the second comming of our Lord when he shall put an end as to all sinne and temptation so to all sorrow and feare Amen Even so come Lord Jesu To whom c. THE SAINTS VEST A Sermon preached on All-Saints day at Lincolnes-Inne for Doctor Preston THE XXIV SERMON APOC. 7.14 These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe question which the Elder moved to Saint John in the precedent verse to my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what are these mee thinks I heare some put to mee at this present saying What are these holy ones whose feast yee keep what meane these devotions what doe these festivities intend what speake these solemnities what Saints are they Virgins Confessours or Martyrs whose memory by the anniversary returne of this day you eternize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence came they or rather how came they to bee thus honoured and canonized in our Kalendar My direct answer hereunto is my Text These are they c. and the exemplification thereof shall be my Sermon The palmes they beare are ensignes of their victory the robes they weare are emblemes of their glory the bloud wherein they dyed their robes representeth the object of their faith the white and bright colour of them their joy and the length of them the continuance thereof Yea but these holy ones you may object at least the chiefe of them had their dayes apart the blessed Virgin hers apart and the Innocents apart the Apostles apart and the Evangelists apart how come they now to be repeated why committeth the Church a tautologie in her menologie what needeth this sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or congeries of feasts blending of devotions thrusting all Saints into one day and that a short one in the rubricke It is that men may see by that which we doe what we beleeve in that Article of our Creed the communion of Saints Wee joyne them all in one collect wee remember them all upon one day because they are all united into one body admitted into one society naturalized into one Kingdome made free Denisons of one City and partakers of one a Col. 1.12 inheritance of the Saints in light In a word we keep one feast for them all upon earth because they all keep one everlasting feast in heaven the marriage b Apoc. 19.9 supper of the Lambe The Romanes beside severall Temples dedicated to severall deities had their Pantheon or all-gods temple See wee not in the skie here single starres glistering by themselves there constellations or a concourse of many heavenly lampes joyning their lights do we not heare with exceeding delight in the singing of our Church
blessed Virgin the babe a Luke 1.41 sprang in the wombe of Elizabeth so I doubt not but that at the reading of this text in your eares the fruits of your devotion which are your religious thoughts and zealous affections leap and spring for joy in the wombe of your soule for now is the accepted time the time of grace now is the day of salvation the day of our Lords Incarnation As the golden tongued Father spake of a Martyr Martyrem dixisse laudâsse est to name a man a Martyr is to commend him sufficiently so it may be said of this text to rehearse it is to apply it I need not fit it to the time for the time falleth upon this time and the day upon this day now if ever is this Now in season If any time in all the yeere be more acceptable than other it is the holy time we now celebrate now is the accepted time on Gods part by accepting us to favour now is the day of salvation by exhibiting to us a Saviour in our flesh let us make it so on our parts also by accepting the grace offered unto us and by laying hands on our Saviour by faith and embracing him by love and by joy dilating our hearts to entertain him with all his glorious attendants a troupe of heavenly Souldiers singing b Luke 2.14 Glory be to God on high on earth peace and good will towards men c Esay 49.13 Sing O heavens and be joyfull O earth and breake forth into shouting O ye mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon the afflicted Keepe this holy day above others because chosen by God to manifest himselfe in the flesh bid by an Angell and by him furnished both with a lesson and with an Anthem also Well might the Angell as on this day sing glory in excelsis Deo c. for on this day the Son of God out of his good will towards men became man and thereby set peace on earth and brought infinite glory to God in the highest heavens Well may this be called by the Apostle d Gal. 4.4 The fulnesse of time or a time of fulnesse which filled heaven with glory the earth with blessings of peace and men with graces flowing from Gods good will The heavens which till this time were as clasped boxes now not able longer to containe in them the soveraigne balsamum of wounded mankind burst open and he whose name is e Cant. 1.3 an ointment poured forth was plentifully shed upon the earth to revive the decayed spirits and heale the festered sores of wounded mankind Lift up then your heavie lookes and heavier hearts yee that are in the midst of danger and in the sight nay within the claspes of eternall death you have a Saviour borne to rescue you Cheare up your drouping and fainting spirits all ye that feele the smart and anguish of a bruised conscience and broken heart to you Christ is borne to annoint your wounds bruises and sores Exult and triumph ye gally slaves of Satan and captives of Hell fast bound with the chaine of your sinnes to you a Redeemer is borne to ransome you from spirituall thraldome Two reasons are assigned why festivities are religiously to be kept 1. The speciall benefits of God conferred upon his Church at such times which by the anniversary celebration of the dayes are refreshed in our memories and visibly declared to all succeeding ages 2 The expresse command of God which adjoyned to the former reason maketh the exercises of devotion performed at these solemnities duties of obedience It cannot be denied that in this latter consideration those feasts which are set downe in the booke of God have some prerogative above those that are found wrtiten onely in the Calendar of the Church But in the former respect no day may challenge a precedencie of this no not the Sabbath it selfe which the more to honour him whose birth we now celebrate resigned both his name place and rites to the f Athanas hom de semenie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords day and if we impartially compare them the worke wrought on this day was farre more difficult and the benefit received upon it greater than that to the memory whereof the Sabbath was at the first dedicated It was a greater miracle that God should be made a creature than that he should make all creatures and the redemption of the world so farre exceeds the creation as the means by which it was wrought were more difficult and the time larger the one was finished in sixe dayes by the commandement of God the other not in lesse than foure and thirty yeeres by the obedience of Christ the one was but a word with God the breath of his mouth gave life to all creatures the other cost him much labour sweat and bloud and what comparison is there betweene an earthly and an heavenly Paradise Nay if wee will judge by the event the benefit of our creation had beene none without our redemption For by it we received an immortall spirit with excellent faculties as it were sharpe and strong weapons wherewith wee mortally wounded our selves and had everlastingly laid weltring in our own blood had not our Saviour healed our wounds by his wounds and death and raised us up againe by the power of his resurrection To which point Saint Austine speaking feelingly saith Si natus non fuisset bonum fuisset si homo natus non fuisset If hee had not beene borne it had beene good for man never to have beene borne if this accepted time had not come all men had beene rejected if this day of salvation had not appeared wee had all perished in the night of eternall perdition Behold now is the accepted time In this Scripture as in a Dyall wee may observe 1 The Index 2 The Circles Certaine Behold Different 1 The larger 2 The narrower The accepted time The day of salvation To man in generall it is an accepted time to every beleever in particular it is a day of salvation Lynx cum cessat intueri cessat recordari Because we are like the Lynx which mindeth nothing no longer than her eye is upon it the Spirit every where calleth upon us to looke or behold Behold not alwayes or at any time but now not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not time simply but season the flower of time not barely accepted but according to the originall well accepted or most acceptable not the day of helpe or grace but a day of salvation As in the bodies which consist of similar parts the forme of the whole and the forme of every part is all one for example the whole ocean is but water and yet every drop thereof is water the whole land is but earth and yet every clod thereof is earth the
And the Musicians will tell us that some discords in a lesson binding wise as they speake and falling into a concord much grace the musicke 2. Secondly wee wish that all Magistrates Ecclesiasticall and Civill would first make proofe of gentler remedies and seeke rather to winne men by perswasions than draw them to Church by compulsion Monendo potiùs quà m minando verbis magis quà m verberibus to use rather commonitions than comminations words than blowes discourses than legall courses arguments than torments 3. Thirdly in making and executing penall Statutes against Heretickes and Idolaters all Christian Princes and States must wash their hands from bloud and free themselves from all aspersion of cruelty For no fish will come into the net which they see all bloudy and they who are too quick in plucking at those that differ from them in Religion root up those oft-times for tares which if they had been permitted longer to grow might have proved good corne 4. Fourthly they must put a great difference between those that are infected with Hereticall opinions whereof some are ring-leaders some are followers some are obstinate others flexible some are turbulent others peaceable on some they ought to have g Jude 22 23. compassion making a difference and others save with feare pulling them out of the fire 5. Lastly nothing must be done herein by the intemperate zeale of the heady multitude or any private motion but after mature advice and deliberation be appointed by lawfull authority To the particular instances brought from our neighbour Nations that are repugnant to this rule wee answer with Saint h Serm. 66. in Cant. Approbamus zelum factum non laudamus Bernard Wee approve their zeale yet wee allow not of their proceedings These cautions observed that religions differing in fundamentall grounds are not to be tolerated in the same Kingdome we prove 1. First by the Law of i Deut. 22.10 11. Moses which forbiddeth plowing with an Oxe and an Asse together or to weare a garment of divers sorts as of woollen and linnen together The morall of which Law according to the interpretation of the best Expositors hath a reference to diversities in Religions and making a kinde of medley of divers worships of God 2. Secondly by the grievous punishment of Idolaters appointed by God himself k Deut. 13.6 8 9. If thy brother or son of thy mother or thine own son or thy daughter or the wife that lieth in thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine own soule entice thee secretly saying Let us goe and serve other gods thine eye shall not pity him neither shalt thou keep him secret but thine hand shall be upon him and then the hand of all the people to stone him to death Solùm pietatis genus est hic esse crudelem It is piety in this kinde to shew no pity It is not in the power of Kings and Princes to reverse the decrees of Almighty God or falsifie his Oracles who saith No l Matth. 6.24 man can serve two masters For what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse and what m 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16. communion hath light with darknesse or what concord hath Christ with Belial and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols 3. Thirdly if these testimonies of everlasting truth perswade us not that God who is truth must be worshipped in truth and not with lyes and in a false manner yet Christ his inditing the Angel of Thyatira for suffering Jezebel and the Angel of Pergamus for not silencing false Teachers I have a few things against thee saith the Spirit that thou hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Baalam The Spirit chargeth not the Angel with allowing or countenancing but tolerating only false doctrine Therefore the toleration of Heresie and Idolatry is a sinne which God will not tolerate in a Magistrate which I further thus demonstrate 4. Fourthly God will not hold any Prince or State guiltlesse which permitteth a pollution of his name but the worship of a false god or the false worship of the true God is a pollution of his name as himselfe declareth n Ezek. 20.39 Pollute my name no more with your gifts and your Idols God is a jealous God and will endure no corrivall if wee divide our heart between him and any other hee will cut us off from the land of the living as hee threatneth I o Zeph. 1.5 will cut off the remnant of Baal and them that worship the host of Heaven upon the house tops and them that worship and sweare by the Lord and by Malcham 5. Fifthly what shall I adde hereunto save this that the bare permission of Idolatry was such a blurre to Solomon and most of the succeeding Kings of Juda that it obscured the lustre and marred the glosse of all their other Princely endowments For after the description of their vertues this blot is cast upon their reputation But the high p 1 Kin. 15.14 places were not taken away But thrice happy q 2 Kin. 18.4 Hezekiah who by demolishing the brasen Serpent which Moses had made because the children of Israel burned incense to it erected to himselfe an everlasting monument of praise And yet more happy r 2 Kin. 23.25 Josiah after whom the Holy Ghost sendeth this testimony Like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like unto him Why what eminent vertues had Josiah above others what noble acts did he which the Spirit values at so high a rate no other than those which we find recounted in the books of Kings and Chronicles Hee brake downe the Altars of Baalim and cut downe the Images that were on high upon them hee brake also the groves and the carved Images and the molten ſ 2 Chron. 34.4 5. Images and stamped them to powder and strewed it upon the graves of them that sacrificed to them and hee burned the bones of the Priests upon the Altar He defiled Topheth which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom that no man might make t 2 Kin. 23.10 11 12 13. his sonne or his daughter passe through the fire to Moloch and he took away the horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the Sun and the Altars that were on the top of the upper chambers of Ahaz the Altars which Manasseh had made in the two Courts of the house of the Lord and the high places that were before Jerusalem which Solomon had builded and so he tooke away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel and u 2 Chro. 34.33 compelled all that were found in Israel to serve the Lord their God 6. Sixthly farther to teach Magistrates that they ought sometimes to use violent and
gente Antei cuiusdam in stagnum quoddam regionis ejus duci vestituque in quâ—rcu suspenso … nare abire in desertum transfiguratique in lupos Pliny writeth of certaine people of the family of Anteus in Arcadia who having put off their clothes and swom over a deep standing poole wander in the wildernesse runne among Wolves and are transformed into their shape and after returne backe and doe great mischiefe in their owne countrey I beleeve not that there is any such family in Arcadia but I am sure wee have a sort of men in England who putting off the habit of English men and Scholars crosse the narrow Seas converse with Romish Wolves and degenerate into their nature and after they returne backe into their owne countrey make havocke of Christs flocke Here I cannot but cry aloud with zealous Bullenger t In Apoc. c. 2. Quae quaeso clementia est crudelissimis lupis blandiri ut oves innocentes Christi sanguine redemptas impunè dilâ—nient quae haec patientia sinere vineam Domini ab immanissimis monstris devastati What clemency call you this to suffer the Lords Vineyard to bee spoiled and laid waste by cruell Monsters What mercy to spare the Wolves which spare not Christs sheep redeemed with his precious bloud who plot treason against their naturall Prince scandalize the State and staine with impure breath the gold and silver vessels of the Sanctuary who turne religion into Statisme or rather into Atheisme Let it bee accounted mercy not to execute the rigour of penall Statutes upon silly seduced sheep certainly it is cruelty to spare the Wolves which worry them If any pricked at the heart at the consideration of these things say with the Jewes in the Acts y Acts 2.37 Quid faciemus What shall wee doe Wee have used all diligence to find out these Romish Wolves and those that come within our reach wee smite at the rest we set our strongest Mastives and fray them out of our coasts I answer If this were sincerely done of all hands if some shepheards were not seen by the Wolves before they spie them and thereby lost their voices according to the Proverb Lupi videre priores I say if the shepheards and the dogges bestirred themselves as they should yet the wise man in Livie will tell them All will be to no great purpose till the woods and thickets be cut down to which they flie there hide themselves Nunquam defuturi sunt lupi donec sylvae exscindantur you shall never be rid of these Romish wolves so long as in all quarters of this Kingdome they have so many places of shelter to lurke in I had almost sayd Sanctuaries of defence I am now come home to the point I first thought upon when I was sommoned to speake to this honourable assembly This Sermon was preached during the Parliament whereof many were present consisting of so many noble and worthy members of the high Court of Parliament and therefore here I will land my discourse after I have given you but one memento out of the Psalmist Remember the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem how they sayd Downe with it downe with it even to the ground or rather Up with it up with it to the trembling ayre Blow up King Queene Prince Parliament Clergie Laitie Nobilitie Gentrie Commons Lawes Statutes Charters Records all in a cloud of fire that there remaine not so much as any cinders of them upon the earth lest perhaps the Phoenix might revive out of her owne ashes But praysed be the God of heaven who discovered and defeated that plot of hell our soule is escaped as a bird out of the snare the snare is broken and we are delivered I will close up all with those sweet straines of the hundred forty ninth Psalme O sing unto the Lord a new song let his praise be heard in the great congregation let Israel rejoyce in him that made him and let the children of Sion be joyfull in their King for the Lord hath pleasure in his people and will make the meeke glorious by deliverance let the Saints be joyfull with glory let them rejoyce in their beds let the high Acts of the Lord be in their mouthes and a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the Romish Jezebel and rebuke her proselites to bind her Priests in chaines and her Chemarims with linkes of iron that they may be avenged of them as it is written Such honour have all his Saints To whom c. JEZEBEL SET OUT IN HER COLOURS A Sermon preached in Saint Pauls Church Novemb. 20. Anno 1614. THE XXXIV SERMON REVEL 2.20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eate things sacrificed unto Idols Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IN this letter indited by the Spirit and penned by St. John I observed heretofore 1 Superscription and therein 1 The party from whom with his eminent quality the Sonne of God c. 2 The partie to whom it was sent with the title of his dignity the Angel of Thyatira 2 The contents which are so manifold and of such importance that if I had the tongue of an Angel I could hardly deliver them all in particular I have heretofore presented you with twelve sorts of fruits answerable to the fruits of the tree of life a Apoc. 22. described all growing upon the two former branches of this Scripture and this of my text and yet I have not gathered the halfe It resembleth that wonderfull tree which Pliny saw at b Lib. 17. c. 16. nat hist Arborem vidimus â—uxta Tiburtes Tulias omni genere pomorum onustam alio ramo nucibus alio baccis aliunde vite ficis pyris punicis malorumque generibus Tiburts which bare all kind of delicious and wholesome fruits Seneca his observation is true that c Sen ep 23. ad Lucil. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alâ—o latet vena assidoè plenius responsura fodienti baser metals are found neere the top but the richer lie deep in the earth affording great store of precious oare Such is the Mine I have discovered in this passage of Scripture into which that you may search deeper with more profit and lesse danger I will beare before you a cleere light made of all the expositions of the best learned Scribes in the house of God who to enrich our faith bring forth out of their treasuries new things and old And to the Angel that is the Bishop or chiefe Pastour as heretofore I proved at large unto you In the Old Testament we reade of the ministery of Angels but here we finde Angels of the ministery to whom the Sonne of God himselfe kindly and familiarly writeth Our usuall forme of sommoning your attention is Hearken unto the
the more humble the more grace because they more desire it and are more capable thereof For the more empty the vessel is the more liquor it receiveth in like maner the more empty wee are in our owne conceits the more heavenly grace God z Mat. 11.25 infuseth into us To him therefore let our soules continually gaspe as a thirsty land let us pray to him for humility that wee may have grace and more grace that wee may be continually more humble Lord who hast taught us that because thy Son our Saviour being in the forme of God humbled himselfe and in his humility became obedient and in his obedience suffered death even the most ignominious painfull and accursed death of the crosse thou hast exalted him highly above the grave in his resurrection the earth in his ascension above the starres of heaven in his session establish our faith in his estate both of humiliation and exaltation and grant that his humility may be our instruction his obedience our rule his passion our satisfaction his resurrection our justification his ascension our improvement of sanctification and his session at thy right hand our glorification Amen Deo Patri Filio Sp. S. sit laus c. LOWLINES EXALTED OR Gloria Crocodilus THE LIII SERMON PHIL. 2.9 Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him Right Honourable c. WEe are come to keep holy the solemnest feast the Church ever appointed to recount thankfully the greatest benefit mankinde ever received to celebrate joyfully the happiest day time ever brought forth and if the rising of the sun upon the earth make a naturall day in the Calendar of the world shall not much more the rising of the Sun of righteousnesse out of the grave with his glorious beams describe a festivall day in the Calendar of the Church If the rest of God from the works of creation was a just cause of sanctifying a perpetuall Sabbath to the memory thereof may not the rest of our Lord from the works of redemption more painefull to him more beneficiall to us challenge the like prerogative of a day to be hallowed and consecrated unto it shall we not keep it as a Sabbath on earth which hath procured for us an everlasting Sabbath in heaven The holy Apostles and their Successors who followed the true light of the world so near that they could not misse their way thought it so meet and requisite that upon this ground they changed the seventh day from the creation appointed by God himselfe for a a Ignat. epist ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Homil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. de verb. Apost ser 25. Domini resuscitatio consecravit nobis diem Dominicum Vide Homil. Eccl. Of the time of prayer Hooker Eccles polit l. 5. sect 70. p. 196. The morall Law requiring a sevent part throughout the age of the world to be that way employed though with us the day be charged in regard of a new revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time continueth which was before because in a reference to the benefit of creation and now much more of renovation thereunto added by him which was the Prince of the world to come wee are bound to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duty which Gods immutable decree doth exact for ever Sabbath and fixed the Christian Sabbath upon the first day of the weeke to eternize the memory of our Lords resurrection This day is the first borne of the Church feasts the Prototypon and samplar Lords day if I may so speak from whence all the other throughout the yeere were drawne as patternes this is as the Sunne it selfe they are as the Parelii the Philosophers speake of images and representations of that glorious light in bright clouds like so many glasses set about the body thereof With what solemnity then the highest Christian feast is to be celebrated with what religion the christian Sabbath of sabbaths is to be kept with what affection the accomplishment of our redemption the glorification of our bodies the consummation of our happinesse the triumph of our Lord over death and hell and ours in him and for him is to be recounted with what preparation holy reverence the Sacrament of our Lords body and bloud which seales unto us these inestimable benefits is to be received with that solemnity that religion that affection that preparation that elevation of our minds we are to offer this morning sacrifice Wherefore I must intreat you to endeavour to raise your thoughts and affections above their ordinary levell that they fall not short of this high day which as it representeth the raising and exaltation of the worlds Redeemer so it selfe is raised and exalted above all other Christian feasts Were our devotion key cold and quite dead yet mee thinkes that the raising of our Lord from the dead should revive it and put new life and heat into it as it drew the bodies of many Saints out of the graves to accompany our Lord into the holy City After the Sun had bin in the eclipse for three houres when the fountaine of light began againe to be opened and the beames like streames run as before how lightsome on the sudden was the world how beautifull being as it were new gilt with those precious raies how joyfull and cheerfull were the countenances of all men The Sunne of righteousnesse had been in a totall eclipse not for three houres but three whole dayes and nights and then there was nothing but darknesse of sorâ—ow over the face of the whole Church but now hee appeares in greater glory than ever before now he shineth in his full strength What joy must this needs be to all that before sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death In the deadest time of the yeere we celebrated joyfully the birth of our Lord out of the wombe of the Virgin and shall we not this Spring as much rejoyce at his second birth and springing out of the wombe of the earth Then he was borne in humility and swadled in clouts now he is borne in majesty and clothed with robes of glory then he was borne to obey now to rule then to dye now to live for ever then to be nailed on the crosse at the right hand of a theefe now to be settled on a throne at the right hand of his Father As Cookes serve in sweet meats with sowre sawces Musicians in their songs insert discords to give rellish as it were to their concords and b Cic. de orat l. 3. Habeat summa illa laus umbram recessum ut id quod illuminatum est magis extare atque eminere videatur Rhetoricians set off their figures by solaecismes or plaine sentences in like manner the Apostle to extoll our Saviours exaltation the higher depresseth his humiliation the lower he expresseth his passion in the darkest colours to make the glory of his resurrection appear the brighter