eâ—antutique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis Cyprian makes an inference from these words for which the Popes have looked awry upon him ever since The inference is this Christ after his resurrection gave all his Apostles equall power saying as my father sent me so I send you receive ye the holy Ghost whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted Here lest any addicted to the Papacy might thrust upon the Martyrs words this meaning that Christ gave all the Apostles equall authority among themselves but not equall to Peter their head he addeth the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was admitted into an equall fellowship both of honour and power Marke I beseech you the Martyr speakes here not of a priviledge or singularitie but a society consortio not a superiority but a parity pari and this parity both in honour honoris and of power also potestatis where there is a parity in honour there can be no preheminencie where there is a parity in power there can be no supremacy Where then will our Adversaries fasten Upon those words of Christ u Mat. 16.18 Thou art Peter and upon this rocke will I build my Church St. Austin beats them off this hold expounding the rocke of Christ not of Peter thus Upon me I x August in haec verba Super me aedificabo te non super te aedificabo me will build thee not me upon thee Yet if we should leave it them the building upon Peter or laying him in the foundation of the Church will no more make him the supreme head of the Church than the rest of the Apostles for we read of y Apoc. 21.14 And the wall of the Citie had 12. foundations and in them the names of the 12. Apostles of the Lambe twelve foundations upon which the heavenly Jerusalem is built on which the names of the twelve Apostles were engraven and of more also now therefore saith he ye are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and z Eâ—hes 2. â—0 Of more Prophets From whence Saint a Jer adver Lucifer Super omnes ex aequo Ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur Jerome inferreth that the strength of the Church is solidly founded and equally built upon all the Apostles Will they fasten upon the promise made to Peter Mat. 16.19 whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven these words might carry some shew of a priviledge granted to S. Peter if S. Matthew and the other Apostles were not joyned in Patent with him z Mat. 18.18 whatsoever yee shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and * Joh. 20.23 whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them The last refuge to which our adversaries flye is that text a Joh. 21.15 Feede my lambs feede my sheep Which charge of our Saviours makes nothing for Peters supremacy Peter himselfe being Interpreter for what Christ gives him he gives all Elders in charge b Pet. 5.2 Feed the flocke of God which is among you If feede my sheepe make Peter an oecumenicall Pastor then feede the flocke of Christ spoken in like manner to all Elders makes them oecumenicall Pastors If the word pasce when it is spoken to Peter signifies rule as a Monarch then pascite feede yee spoken by S. Peter to Elders must likewise bee interpreted rule yee over the Flocke of God and Church of Christ as Monarchs For as c Cic. orat pro Cecinna Nunquam obtinebis ubi tu volueris verba interdicti valere oportere ubi tu nolueris non oportere Tully spake to Ebutius so may I say to Bellarmine you shall never perswade any man of understanding that words must signifie what you will have them and conclude nothing but what you will inferre from them that the word pasce or feede when it serveth your purpose must be taken for to beare rule over the whole Church and when it serveth not then it must signifie nothing but teach as every Pastor doth Had the Apostles so understood the words of our Saviour to Saint Peter Upon this rocke will I build my house and To thee I will give the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven as the Church of Rome at this day doth viz. I will appoint thee Head of all the Apostles and visible Monarch of the Church and infallible Judge of all controversies they would never have contended as they did afterwards d Luk. 20.24 which of them should bee counted greatest they would never have taken upon them to send him e Act. 8.14 Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John with John It is not the manner of Subjects to send their Soveraignes in Embassages or messages much lesse joyne any other of their Subjects in equall commission with them as the Apostles doe John with Peter Had the Church in the Apostles time understood that our Saviour by that charge Pasce oves meas Feed my sheep made Peter universall Pastor of the whole world and by his prayer for him that his Faith might not faile priviledged him from all possibility of errour they would have rested upon his resolution in the first f Act. 15.11 Synode Saint James would never have presumed to speake after him in the great point which was then in controversie nor have added a distinct Head or Canon of his owne That the Gentiles should abstaine from pollution of Idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from bloud The Apostolicall letter should have beene indorsed not as it was The Apostles and Elders and Brethren but Peter Christs Vicar and Monarch of the Church and the Apostles his Counsellours or after the like manner Had Saint Paul beleeved Saint Peter to be Head of the Church he would never have g Gal. 2.11 withstood him to the face as hee did at Antioch much lesse have stood upon even tearmes with him as he doth saying h 2 Cor. 12.11 In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles and i Gal. 2.6 they who seemed to be pillars added nothing to mee and ver 7. the Gospell of the uncircumcision was committed to mee as the Gospell of the circumcision was to Peter If any mans eyes are so dazeled with the lustre of the Popes triple Crowne that hee cannot see Pauls equality to Peter in the letter of the text yet hee cannot but see it in the Fathers Commentaries k Ambros in comment 2 Cor. 12. Hoc dicit quia non est minor neque in praedicatione neque in signis faciendis nec dignitate sed tempore Chry. in 2 Cor. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle speaketh on this wise saith Saint Ambrose that or because he is not
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
departure Buried out of the said Hospitall this yeere 200 Remaining under cure at this present 304 There hath beene brought into the Hospitall of Bridewell for this yeere past of wandring souldiers and vagrant persons to the number of 1578 Of which number many have beene chargeable for the time of their being there which cannot be avoided by reason of their misery nor passed away without charge There is maintained and kept in the said Hospitall in arts and occupations and other workes and labours Apprentices taken up out of divers parishes and streets of this City to the number of 200 I have made an end of the Catalogue but you must not make an end of your good workes I have set before you a faire copy you must write after it or else this schedule will prove a hand-writing against you at the day of judgement who have had not onely many most forcible exhortations to good workes in this place but such noble and royall presidents as you see and yet have not been bettered by them You cannot want pitifull objects of mercy your pious charity hath daily Oratours the teares of orphans the sighes of widowes the groanes of the sicke and the lamentable cryes of prisoners and captives Neither is it sufficient for you now and then to drop upon the dry and thirsty ground you must stillare pluviam liberalissimam you must powre downe golden showres to refresh Gods inheritance To whom much is given much shall bee required of him In other seizements you give as you are in the Kings books but contrariwise you are in Gods bookes and hee valueth you as you give to pious and charitable uses And let mee intreat you for the love of your Redeemer from everlasting thraldome to open your hands towards the redemption of many hundreds of our countrey-men whose bodies are in captivity under Turks and Infidels their wives and children in misery at home and it is to be feared their soules in worse case Next to the redemption of these spirituall Temples of the holy Ghost I commend unto you the reparation and beautifying of his materiall Temple you have most decently and beautifully adorned and trimmed the daughters of Zion the lesser and later built Churches in this City let not your piety bee lesse to the Mother-Church dedicated to the most publike and solemne worship of God where you are fed with the finest flower of wheat and drinke of the purest juice of the grape and in the fullest manner partake of the communion of Saints which was the second inference I made from the attribute of Christ in my text whereby hee is stiled Primitiae dormientium The first fruits of them that slept 2 The second inference from the attribute here mentioned the first fruits of c. is the communion of the faithfull with Christ both in sanctification and glorification for the further manifestation whereof it will bee requisite to specifie whereof Christ is the first fruits viz. 1 Coeli for he is the first begotten of his Father 2 Uteri for he was the Virgins first borne 3 Sepulchri for hee is the first fruits of them that slept In all three the faithfull partake with him after a sort 1 In that hee is Primitiae coeli the first fruits of heaven For as hee is the naturall sonne of God so are wee the adopted sonnes of God and by his spirit made l 2 Pet. 1.4 partakers of the divine nature as hee is the first borne of heaven m Heb. 12.23 so wee are also of the generall assembly and Church of the first borne which are written in heaven 2 In that he is Primitiae uteri virginei the first fruits of a virgins womb For as Christ was borne of a virgin Mother so the Christian Church our Mother is continually in child-bearing and yet remaineth still a virgin 3 Most properly doe wee partake with him in that hee is Primitiae sepulchri for hee is n Joh. 12.24 that corne of wheat Saint John speaketh of which was sowne at his death digged deepe into the earth at his buriall sprang up againe at his resurrection and now is become the first fruits of them that slept in like manner wee are sowne at our death digged deep into the earth at our buriall and shall spring up againe at the last resurrection and bee offered as o Apoc. 14.4 first fruits unto God and the Lambe Where the first fruits are taken out there must needs bee a lumpe or heape out of which they are taken p Calvin in hunc locum In primitiis totius anni proventus consecrabatur in the first fruits the whole crop of the yeere was hallowed so in Christ who is our first fruits all true believers are sanctified as those words of our Saviour in that most divine prayer to his Father recorded import q Joh. 17.19 for their sakes I sanctifie my selfe that they also might bee sanctified through the truth If Christ sanctified himselfe for us shall not wee endeavour as hee enableth us by his grace to sanctifie our selves also for him If hee impart this his dignity to us and maketh us r Jam. 1.18 the first fruits of his creatures let us dedicate our selves unto him let us bee given to him as Å¿ 1 Sam. 1.28 Samuel was all the dayes of our lives Hee hath chosen us to bee marke I beseech you what fruits not blossomes not leaves fruits I say not stalkes not empty eares like those who make a bare profession of the truth and all their religion is in their eares bearing no fruit at all or in no degree answerable to their holiest profession If God hath made us fruits let us not make our selves ranke weeds by heresie or filthy dung by a corrupt life After the first fruits are carried away out of the field the rest of the shockes or sheafes follow of course t Theod. in hunc locum primitias universa massa sequitur Christ the first fruits is carried away long since out of the field of this world into the celestiall barne A barne farre more stately beautifull and glorious than any Princes pallace upon earth and when the harvest shall come which is u Mat. 13.39 the end of the world wee shall bee carried thither also every one in his owne order the first fruits is Christ after they that are Christs at his comming ver 23. Before I can proceed according to my desire and your expectation to the period of my discourse and end of all mens course viz. death called here sleepe I must remove sixe rubbes that lye in my way For wee read of three dead men raised in the Old Testament and as many in the New before Christ himselfe rose how then is hee the first fruits of them that slept 1 I will offer to your consideration many solutions of this doubt that you may take your choice Saint Jerome gives but a touch at it yet because it is upon the
that were served in at the Idols table Let them therefore beware of some fearfull judgement of God who without any calling or commission out of meere curiosity enter into the house of Rimmon and behold those Idolatrous rites wherewith Romish superstition hath corrupted the pure worship of God How can they bee there with them without offence If they joyne not with these Idolaters in censing bowing before offering unto and kissing their Images in calling upon Saints and praying for the releasing of soules out of Purgatory they give offence to them if they joyne with them they give greater offence to the Church of God and not onely receive a p Hom. against rebellion the Pope is called the Babylonish beast marke from the beast but a grievous wound The Corinthians whom S. Paul in these words plucks as it were violently out of the idols Temple had as colorable a pretence as these Naamans can have They pleaded that they went not to the idols temple to worship but to make merry with their neighbors and feede their bellies with the idols relicks these in like manner say that they resort not to places where Masses are said to worship the wafer or breaden god but to feede their eyes with their garish shewes and please their eares with their exquisite musicke They proceeded farther in their defence alledging that they knew the idoll was nothing and in their eating of things offered to it they had no relation to the Paynim deity nor purpose to worship it but the true God whose creatures they received with cheerefulnesse and thanksgiving And is not this the fairest glosse they set upon their foule and scandalous practise in pressing into Popish chappels that they know the sacrifice of the Masse is nothing neither doe they any reverence at all to image or picture but to God to whom they pray against those superstitions even when they are at them But what doth the Apostle answer to the Corinthians viz. That though the idoll bee nothing in it selfe yet sith it is a supposed Deity in the minde of the Idolater who intendeth a religious worship thereunto in keeping those heathenish feasts a Christian may not joyne with him in the outward action of his idoll service whatsoever the intention be without receiving a foule staine both in his conscience and in his good name To lift up the heart to God when they fall downe with their body before the Hoste or Image will no more acquit them from idolatry than it will cleare a woman from adultery to thinke upon her husband when shee prostituteth her body to the impure soliciter of her chastity Neither is it easie to sever the soule from the body in one and the selfe same act as q Aug. confess l. 6. c. 8. Alypius ab amicis violenter in amphitheat um adductus dicens si corpus meum in illum locum trahitis numquid animum adero itaque absens sic vos illa superabo ille diuclausis oculorum foribus interdixit animae ne in tanta mala procederet utinam aures obturasset nam quodam pugnae casu curiositate victus aperuit oculos percussus est graviore vulnere in animâ quam ille in corpore Alypius found by his woefull experience who being violently drawne by his friends into the Romane Theater thus reasoned with himselfe What though you have drawne my body into this place you shall not draw my soule seeing you will have it so I will stay with you but I resolve to be absent when I am present and so I will deceive you and them According to which his firme purpose hee kept the liddes of his eyes shut that his soule might not as it were goe out of them and gad after these vanities And it had beene happy for him saith Saint Austine if hee had locked up the gates of his eares also for on the suddaine hearing a great shout and applause ere hee was aware hee opened his eyes and by seeing that bloody spectacle received a deeper wound in his soule than the hurt Fencer in his body Is it not to bee feared that as the r Gen. 30.39 And the flockes conceived before the rods and brought forth cattell ring streked speckled and spotted sheepe which conceived before the coloured roddes brought forth spotted lambes so the prayers and meditations which are conceived before idols will receive some impression from the image and bee tainted with idolatry or spotted with superstition Was it unlawfull for the Corinthians to partake with idolaters in meats offered unto idols and can it bee lawfull for these men to communicate with Papists in prayers offered unto them If they answer they pray to Saints and before images and not idols let them know that any image or creature to which religious worship is given thereby becommeth an idoll If Saint Cyprians zeale transported him not too farre when hee peremptorily determineth there can bee no society betweene faith and perfidiousnesse or betweene the true and false worship of God If the ſ 2 Cor. 6.14 What fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse c. Apostle alloweth of no more communion betweene Christians and Idolaters than betweene righteousnesse and unrighteousnesse or light and darkenesse or t Ver. 15. Christ and Belial certainely all Interimists and Pseudo-Cassanders and catholike Moderators of these times who goe about to bring Christ and Antichrist to an enterview sodder unity and schisme piece faith and heresie and make the Whore of Babylon and Christs spouse good friends are like to have a hard taske of it For what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols but yee are the Temple of God Doctr. 3 Yee The light of the sunne is common unto all but not his influence in like manner there are certaine enlightning gifts which are not denied to the unregenerate but the sanctifying and saving graces of the spirit are peculiar to Gods children God forbiddeth in the Law the annointing any thing with the holy u Exod. 30.33 oyle save the things that are there specified he maketh it death to put that holy oyntment to any common use and shall wee thinke that hee will shed the oyntment of his spirit into any impure or prophane heart will hee cast his pearle before swine The piety of Paynims is Necromancy or Idolatry of Heretickes is Will-worship of Hypocrites is Formality of Schismaticks is Faction There can be no true devotion without illumination of the understanding and renovation of the will and purifying the heart by faith there is no Temple of God which is not built upon the corner stone Christ Jesus Ye and none but such as ye are The Church in the song of Solomon is compared to a * Cant. 4.12 A garden enclosed is my sister my spouse a spring shut up a fountaine sealed garden enclosed or a fountaine sealed The prophane and ungodly drinke not of the river of her pleasures they taste not of her
thirsteth for righteousnesse and therefore is satisfied The modest man hath no opinion of his owne wit or wisedome and therefore willingly bringeth every thought into captivity and every affection to the obedience of the Gospel The lowly in heart esteemeth more vilely of himselfe than the world can and therefore hee chearfully taketh up his crosse and followeth Christ Thus have I cleared the title of the poore in spirit to the Kingdome of Heaven which is so sure and unquestionable that our Saviour saith not Theirs shall be in the future but in the present tense Theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And likewise Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto mee for of such r Matth. 19.14 is the Kingdome of Heaven As we say of such an one that hath the advowson of a Benefice or reversion of an Office under seale or of an heire to a wealthy father such a Lordship or such a Mannour or such an Office or such a Benefice is his either because hee is as sure thereof as if he were possessed of it or because he hath actually jus ad rem though not in re a right to it though not in it so in regard of the poore in spirit their undoubted right to and their present interest in some of the priviledges and profits of their heavenly Fathers Kingdome that Kingdome is said here to be theirs already When Cyneas the Embassadour of Pyrrhus after his returne from Rome was asked by his Master what hee thought of the City and State he answered that it seemed to him Respublica Regum A State of none but great States-men and a Common-wealth of Kings Put the same question to Saint John concerning Jerusalem that descended from God he will answer you in like manner Videri rempublicam Regum that it is no other than a Parliament of Emperours or a Common-wealth of Kings For in the Kingdome of grace upon earth all Kings are subjects but in the Kingdome of glory in Heaven all subjects are Kings Every humble and faithfull soule is coheire with Christ and hath a robe of honour and a scepter of power and a throne of majesty and a crowne of glory If you peruse the records and evidences of Heaven exemplified in holy Scripture you shall finde no estates there but inheritances no inheritances but kingdomes no houses but palaces no meales but feasts no noyse but musicke no rods but scepters no garments but robes no seates but thrones no head ornaments but crownes these inheritances these palaces these feasts these songs these scepters these thrones these robes these crownes God bring us unto and possesse us with through poverty in spirit in the right and title purchased for us by our elder brother Christ Jesus To whom c. THE COGNISANCE OF A CHRISTIAN OR CHRIST HIS NEW COMMANDEMENT A Sermon preached in VVooll-Church THE TWENTIETH SERMON JOH 13.34 A new commandement give I unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that yee also love one another Right Worshipfull c. ALL that by a Christian vocation are severed from the world and cut as it were out of the common rock of mankinde and by faith relye upon Christ are like so many hewen stones laid upon the chiefe a Eph. 2.20 corner stone rising to a spirituall building reaching from the earth to heaven The line by which they are built is the Word of God the cement wherwith they are held fast together is Christian charity the soder of mindes the couple of dispositions the glew of affections and the bond of all perfection which to fasten the more strongly among all that gave their name to Christ the Primitive Church in the daies of the Apostles added a double tye 1. Sacred 2. Civill The sacred was the frequent receiving of the Lords Supper the civill was the celebrating their Agapae's or keeping their love-feasts Which though they were in after ages taken away by reason of manifold abuses and disorders committed in them even in the place of holy assemblies yet it were to be wished that all our feasts were truly love-feasts I meane that the rich among us would imitate holy Job and not eat their morsels alone but invite those of the poorer sort to their Tables whom Christ bids to his board or at least that they would defaulke a great part of that charge which is spent in furnishing these luxurious feasts wherein this City exceedeth all in the Christian world and convert it to the refreshing of the bowels of poore prisoners or clothing the naked or redeeming captives or to some other pious and charitable use so should your City and Company feasts be true Agapae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love-feasts and you testifie to all the world what account you make of Christ his new commandement in my Text Love one another Of all speeches we ought to give most heed to those of our Saviour of all speeches of our Saviour to his commands of all commands to this of Christian charity 1. Because it is a rare and choice one A new 2. Because it is a sweet and easie one To love 3. Because it is a just and reasonable one One another 4. Because wee have such a singular President for it As I have loved you c. Wee have all Athenian eares thirsting after newes behold a new Wee all professe obedience to Lawes behold a commandement Wee all acknowledge Christ to bee our supreme Lord who hath absolute power of life and death hearken then to his Proclamation I give unto you If hee had laid a heavie burthen and hard yoke upon us wee must have submitted our neckes and shoulders to it and wee have all reason so to doe For hee tooke b Esay 53.4 Surely be hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes upon him our infirmities and bare our sorrowes how much more when hee layeth so sweet a yoke upon us as to love so light a burthen as to love one another Nothing more agreeable to our nature than to love nothing more needfull to our condition than to love one another Wee all stand in need one of another this need is supported by love this love is commanded by Christ this command of Christ is new As c M. Tul. Cicer. Orator Numerum verborum numero sententiarum complexus est Tully spake of Thucydides his stile that in his Orations every word was a sentence And as Saint Jerome observeth in the Apocalyps Quot verba tot sacramenta that there are so many mysteries in it as words so wee may say of this Text Quot verba tot argumenta so many words so many arguments so many notions so many motions or motives to this duty of mutuall love To which we ought to have a speciall eye and extraordinary regard First because it is a new commandement Secondly because it is Christs commandement I give unto you Thirdly because it is an amiable and easie one To love Fourthly because it is
visus in grosse For hee will certainly call all men to a most strict and particular account of every moment of time they have spent of every particular grace they have received of every particular duty they have omitted of every particular sinne they have committed in deed word or thought nay of the first motion and inclination to evill The smallest atomi or moates that flye in the ayre are discerned in the Sunne so the smallest sinnes and offences shall be discovered at the brightnesse of Christs comming And as the words that are written with the juyce of a Lemmon cannot be read when they are written but may be plainly and distinctly if you hold the paper to the fire and dry the letters so the smallest letters in the book of our conscience yea the least notes and points and scratches which neither any other nor our selves see well now shall easily be discerned by the fire of the last judgement The conceit whereof tooke such a deep impression in the render heart of Saint Hierome that he professeth x Victor Reat in vit Hieron Sive comedo sive bibo sive quid aliud facio semper videtur mihi tuba illa terribilis sonare Surgite mortui venite ad judicium wheresoever he was whatsoever he did whether he ate or dranke or walked abroad or sate in his study or talked with any he thought he heard the last Trump sound shrill in his eares Awake yee that sleep in the dust and come to judgement At which time that you may be all more perfect I would advise you to y Barradius comment in concord Evang. Ascendat mens tribunal judici rationem ratio exposcat reckon before hand with your selves either at private fasts or every evening Among z Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythagoras his golden Verses these seem to mee to be most weighty Before thou suffer thy temples to take any rest resolve these three questions Wherein have I transgressed What have I done What part of my duty have I left this day undone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which rule Seneca recordeth it to the eternall praise of Sextius that every evening hee put these interrogatories to his soule * Quod hodiè malum sanâ—st cuâ— vitio obstitisti qua parte melior factus es What wound hast thou healed this day What vice hast thou withstood Wherein art thou better than thou wert the day before thus Pythagoras advised thus Sextius did and yet neither of them for ought appeareth thought of any other judge than their reason nor accusers than their thoughts nor tormentors than their vitious affections nor hell than their owne conscience What suppose yee would they have done what care would they have taken how oft would they have revised their accounts if they had thought they should have been brought to answer for all their actions speeches gestures affections nay thoughts purposes intentions deliberations and resolutions before God and his holy Angels at the dreadfull day of judgement If the consideration of these things no whit affect you you shall one day give an account among other your sins for the unprofitable hearing of this Sermon His word which I have preached unto you this day shall testifie against you at that day Give me leave therefore a little to rouze you up and by applying the steele of my Text to your flinty hearts to strike out of them the fire of zeale I told you before of foure sorts of Stewards the sacred the honourable the wealthy and the common and ordinary I will begin with the sacred 1. Appl. to Ministers Thou to whom the Oracles of God and soules of men are committed who hast received grace by imposition of hands not to gaine applause to thy selfe or an high step of dignity on earth but to win soules to God and bring men to Heaven thou to whom the mist of blacke darknesse is reserved for ever if thou departest from the holy commandement and drawest others after thee but an eminent place amongst the Starres if thou turne many to righteousnesse how is it that thy minde study and endeavour is not to build Gods house but to raise thine owne not to adde by the ministery of the Gospel those to the Church that shall be saved but Imponere Pelion Ossae to lay steeple upon steeple and preferment upon preferment and adde dignity to dignity either not preaching at all or like the high Priest in the old Law entering but once a yeere into the Sanctum sanctorum or at the most furnishing but some few high Festivals with some rare and exquisite peeces of stuffe embroidered with variety of all arts and sciences save Divinity Is this to preach Christ crucified Is this to a John 21.16 17. feed feed and feed is this to be b 2 Tim 4.2 instant in season and out of season to reprove rebuke to exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine is this to c Acts 20.27 I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsell of God declare the whole counsell of God is this to d 1 Tim. 4.13 attend to reading to exhortation to doctrine to continue in them is this to give themselves wholly to the worke of the Ministery that their profiting may appeare unto all is this to e Acts 20.31 warne every one publikely and house by house day and night with teares to save themselves from the corruption of the world the snares of Sathan wrath to come Will a purchased dispensation of absence from thy Cure upon some plausible pretence or thy Curates diligence excuse thy supine negligence or secure thee from the Apostles f 1 Cor. 9.16 Vae Woe be to mee Paul if I preach not the Gospel in mine owne person O thinke upon it in time to make a better reckoning before thou be summoned to give up the last accounts in the words of my Text Give an account of thy Stewardship of thy Ministery Next to the sacred Steward commeth in the minister of State and Magistrate to bee rounded in the eare with the admonition in my Text. 2. To Magistrates Thou to whom both the Tables are committed who art ordained by God and appointed by thy Soveraigne to see religion maintained justice executed and peace kept how commeth it to passe that the sword of justice lyeth rusty in the scabard and is not drawne out against Sabbath-breakers contemners of the Church discipline blasphemers swearers drunkards lewd and scandalous livers Doest thou use the authority committed to thee to revenge thy selfe and not to redresse wrongs done to the law nay doest thou protect and bolster iniquity and impiety doest thou live by those sinnes and draw a revenue by licensing those places of disorder which thou art made a minister of justice to suppresse Is this to be a man fearing God and hating covetousnesse is this to stop the mouth of impiety to cleanse the
his bloud f Ephes 2.14 For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken downe the middle wall of partition betweene us Through him we have an accesse by one Spirit unto the Father ver 18. Now therefore we are no more strangers and forreiners ver 19. but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God g Ephes 3.6 Fellow heires and of the same body and partakers of God his promise in Christ by the Gospell Now as there is one shepheard so but one sheepfold and for this very cause Christ is called Lapis angularis the corner stone because the Gentiles and Jewes like two sides of a wall joyne in him and are built up to make a holy Temple unto the Lord which is his visible Church Neither are the Gentiles onely admitted into the terrestriall Jerusalem and Church militant but also into the celestiall and Church triumphant For so we reade that after there h Apoc 7.4.9 were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel Loe a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lambe cloathed with white robes and palmes in their hands Before Christ came into the flesh there was as it were a small wicket open in heaven for the Gentiles at which some few entered one by one as Jethro and Job and Melchizedeck and the King of Nineveh and the Queene of the South and some other but since the death resurrection and ascension of our Lord wee reade of a i Apoc. 4.1 great doore opened in heaven at which great multitudes may enter together Even from the beginning of Christs comming into the flesh the Gentiles went in equipage with the Jewes For when the Angell preached the incarnation of Christ to the Jewes a new Starre preached it to the heathen Sages that all men might know according to Simeon his prophesie that k Luke 2.32 he was no lesse a light to lighten the Gentiles than the glory of his people Israel For this cause we may conceive it was that he was borne in an Inne not in a private house and baptized in the river Jordan not in a peculiar font and suffered without the walls of the City to make it manifest unto us that the benefit of his incarnation baptisme death and passion is not impropriated to any sort of people nor inclosed within the pale of Palestine but like the beames of the Sunne diffused through the whole world Thus farre we all teach universall grace that is the grace and favour of God offered unto all by the preaching of the Gospell not the grace they call sufficient conferred upon all since Adam's fall This secret belongeth unto God to whom he will make this offer of grace effectuall but that which he hath revealed belongeth to us and our children that l Tit. 2.11 12 13. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and wordly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The m 2. Tim. 2.19 foundation of God remaineth firme having this seal God knoweth who are his not we We therefore who are dispensers of the mysteries of salvation must be open handed unto all and indifferently tender unto them the pretious pearle which the rich Merchant man sold all that he had to buy First because it is Christs expresse command that we should doe so Goe saith Christ preach to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Or as we finde his words related by Saint Marke n Marke 16.15 Goe yee into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but he that beleeveth not shall be damned 2 Next Because the Elect could not be called by us who cannot discerne them from the reprobate if we preached not the Gospell to all without exception Howsoever therefore our preaching to the reprobate doth them little good proving no better unto them than a savour of death unto death yet our labour is not in vaine in the Lord because in every assembly we may piously hope there may be some if not many of the Elect to whom the Word will prove a savour of life unto life 3. Lastly By thus propounding conditions of peace and a desire of reconciliation on Gods part through Christ unto all the reprobate are debarred of that excuse which otherwise they might use viz. that they would have embraced Christ if he had beene offered unto them and have walked in the light of the Gospel if it had shined upon them Tullie speaketh of a Panchrestum medicamentum a remedy for all diseases and Plinie of Panaches a salve for every sore Such a catholike medicine such an universall salve is the death and passion of Christ not only sufficient for all but also soveraigne and effectuall unto all but then this potion must be taken this salve must be applied Obser 2 And so I fall upon my second note that though the promises of the Gospel are generall without exception yet they are not absolute without condition The hidden Manna and the white stone and the new name are promised to every one that is so qualified The promises of the Gospel are generall that none should dispaire but yet conditionall that none should presume Eternall life by the ministery of the Gospel is offered unto all but upon condition of faith o John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting Pardon and remission of sinnes is promised unto all but upon condition of repentance and new obedience p Ezek. 18.21.22 If the wicked will turne from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keepe all my statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live hee shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shal not be mentioned unto him in his righteousnesse that he hath done he shall live Rest is offered unto all but upon condition of submission to Christs yoake q Mat. 11.29 Take my yoake upon you and learne of me for I am meeke and lowly in heart and you shall finde rest unto your soules Salvation is offered unto all but upon condition of r Mat. 13.13 perseverance he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved An incorruptible crowne is promised unto all but upon condition of faithfulnesse Be Å¿ Apoc. 2.10 thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the crowne of life Fishermen in their draw-nets use both lead and corke lead to pull downe some part of it under water corke to
descried even so the leaders of Papists deale with them they will not suffer them to heare our Sermons or consult with our Divines not for love to their followers lest they should be insnared by us but lest their falshood should be discovered 2 Of Puritanisme By Puritans the Preacher professed that hee understood not those who are usually branded with that name but a sect of impure Catharists or Donatists stiled The Brethren of the Separation who refuse to partake with us in our Prayers and Sacraments whose God is their fancie and Religion the dreame of their owne heart who seeke to build a Babel of confusion among us but the God of heaven confound their tongues Was not the Church of Corinth more corrupted in Doctrine and Manners than they pretend ours to be yet Saint Paul calleth it a Church Doth not Christ call it his field where there grew many tares Did not Christ suffer Judas whom hee knew to bee a Theefe and a Traitour to partake of the Sacrament with his Disciples Yet these pure Sectaries will none of our Communion for that some uncleane persons presume to come thither To whom wee answer as Saint r Lib. 3. c. 50. ep 48. Austine doth to Cresconius These evills are displeasing to the good wee forbid and restraine them what wee can what wee cannot wee suffer but wee doe not for the tares sake forsake the field for the chaffe leave the floore of Christ for the evill fish breake the net for the Goats sake refuse the fold of Christ When Religion was partly corrupted partly contemned in Israel and the Prophets cryed Goe out from them and touch no uncleane thing did they then sever themselves from them I finde no such thing saith Saint Å¿ In Evang. Serm. 8. Austine yet doubtlesse they did themselves what they willed others to doe Hoc ergo est exire ore non parcere hoc immundum non tangere voluntate non consentire liber in conspectu Dei est cui nec Deus sua peccata imputat quae non fecit neque aliena quae non approbavit neque negligentiam quia non tacuit neque superbiam quia ab unitate Ecclesiae non recessit 3 To nourish the tender and feeble plants that is to shew mercy on them that are in need When I call to minde your Almes-houses for the poore your Hospitalls for the maimed your houses of correction for idle persons I cannot but commend your care in this behalfe this Citie may be a president for all other places the Garden of Eden never smelt so sweet in the nostrils of Adam as the remembrance of these your workes of mercy in the nostrils of Almighty God Nunquam veterascet haec manus t Eccles 11.1 Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many dayes thou shalt finde it but see thou cast the bread thou hast justly gotten Quicquid enim saith St. Gregory ex scelere in Dei sacrificio affertur non placat Dei iracundiam sed irritat Secondly Cave ne rem pauperum non pauperibus tribuas liberalitas liberalitate pereat Thirdly give that thou intendest whilest thou livest For thou knowest not how thy Will will be performed Heare what St. Basil saith When thou shalt have no name among the living thou saist I will be liberall Is not this to say in effect I would live alwaies and enjoy my substance but if I die then I give Wee may thanke thy death for thy bounty 2 Cor. 9.7 not thee Be not deceived God would have a living not a dead sacrifice Lastly you must continue in good order the severall places of your charge the cursed earth will still bring forth weeds wherewith your garden for want of care will be soone over-growne Remember Saint Pauls cursum consummavi non cepisse sed perfecisse virtutis est nec inchoantibus sed perseverantibus datur proemium And so I fall upon my fift point 5 Touching the reward Yee shall not dresse Paradise in vaine God will be unto you as unto Abraham a buckler and exceeding great reward he will build up your house and blesse you in all your wayes yea he will give you to feed on the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God 6 Touching the prohibition Sith God is so bountifull to permit you to eat of all other trees eate not of the tree of knowledge you shall not be as Gods though the Divell tell it you nor gaine heaven by it but lose Paradise Naboth's vineyard Uriah's wife Achan's golden wedge Belshazzar's quaffing bowles Gehazi's bribes were forbidden fruit sweet in the taste but death in the stomacke 7 Touching the punishment Although corporall death seizeth not forthwith upon offenders yet the sentence is passed against them the life of grace is departed from them and except by repentance they seeke to have part in the first resurrection they shall be cast into the lake of fire without redemption To conclude all let us that are desirous to walke with God as our callings require seeke to dresse and keepe the garden our mother Church and Countrey let us not make our selves like briars to scratch her or thornes to pricke her or weeds to annoy her but as blessed plants let us beare plentifull fruits to comfort and nourish her Thus this Speaker as if he had tasted of the tree of life which as Josephus writeth prohibuit senium mortem this aged Paul discoursed unto you of the Garden of Eden in a flourishing stile he as the former two presented the Spouse with a precious border wherein I am now to work his embleme consisting as the former of an Image and a Motto the Image is Triarius the Motto the words of Tullie de claris Oratoribus Me delectabat Triarii in illa aetate plena literatae senectutis oratio quanta severitas in vultu quantum pondus in verbis quam nihil non consideratum exibat ex ore I was much taken with the learned oration of Triarius that ancient Oratour what gravitie was in his countenance what weight in his speech how did he ponder every word that proceeded out of his mouth THE FOURTH BORDER OR THE SACRIFICE OF RIGHTEOUSNES The fourth border of gold with studs of silver which the fourth Speaker offred to the Spouse was wrought upon that text Psal 4.5 Offer the sacrifice of righteousnesse and put your trust in the Lord. And thus he put it on Right Honourable c. GOd hath made us a feast of many dayes The fourth Sermon preached by master Francis White now L. Bishop of Ely and L. Almoner to his Majestie that we be not unthankfull unto him let us offer him a sacrifice especially that which is prescribed in the words of my text Wherein you have a double precept 1 Of righteousnesse Wherein observe 1 The act Offer 2 The matter a sacrifice 2 Of hope and confidence Wherein observe 1 The act Trust 2 The object in the Lord. 1
Evangelii and Clemens Alexandrinus his Stromata but also in the divinely inspired writings of St. Paul 4 Fourthly I observe that it is said borders of gold with studs or spangs of silver not borders of gold and silver much lesse borders of silver with studs of gold the borders of gold were not made to set out the studs of silver but contrariwise the studs of silver to beautifie and illustrate the borders of gold We must not apply divinity to art but art to divinity lest we deservedly incurre the censure of St. q Basil ep 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil upon some preachers in his dayes They preach art and wit and not Christ crucified We must not make our Scripture texts serve to vent our secular learning but contrariwise modestly and moderately use secular learning to explicate and r Sanctius in hunc locum Concionatores ars talis esse debet ut auri nitorem non obscuret sed accendat quod in monili praestant argentei vermiculi illustrate texts of Scripture sentences of Fathers and other Authors may be scattered in Sermons as spangs of silver about the Spouse her border the border must not be made of them A faire ſ Quintil. inst orat Ut affert lumen clavus purpurae loco insertus ita certè neminem deceat intexta pluribus notis vestis jewell in the hat or pendants at the eare or a chaine of gold or strings of pearle about the necke become the parts well but to bee all hung about with foure hundred distinct jewels as Lollia Paulina was and not onely to bore the eares with rings but also to dig holes in the cheekes chinne and lips and there sticke pretious stones after the manner of the t Bertius Geograph Peruvians were vaine folly if not madnesse I have done with our taske I come now to yours Although it properly appertaines to our skilfull Bezaleels and Aholiabs to make borders and chaines for the Spouse yet you are to contribute at least to the making of them it is your duty to bring into her wardrobe jewels of gold and jewels of silver and jewels of raiment It is not enough to love God with your strength you must honour him also with your substance It is not onely required that you communicate with your Pastors in the Word and Sacraments but also that you communicate to him that teacheth u Gal. 6.6 in all good things you have not well acquitted you of your devotion when you have given Christ your eares you must farther give eare-rings to his Spouse it will not excuse you to write Christ his words in the palmes of your hands if you make not bracelets for her armes you have not done all when you have bowed your necke to his yoake you must farther decke her necke with chaines there is something more required of you than to put on the Lord Jesus you must cloathe his Queene in a vesture of gold Where can you better bestow your wealth than upon the Church which receiveth of you glasse but returneth you pearle receiveth from you carnall things returneth to you spirituall receiveth from you common bread returneth to you sacramentall receiveth from you covers of shame returneth to you robes of glorie in a word receiveth from you earthly trash returneth to you heavenly treasure When God commanded the people to bring x Exod. 35.5 offerings to the Lord they brought them in so freely that there needed a Proclamation to restraine their bounty And Livie reporteth of the Romans that when the Tribunes complained that they wanted gold in the treasurie to offer to Apollo the Matrons of Rome plucked off their bracelets chaines and rings and gave them unto the Priests to supply that defect And who knoweth not that our Forefathers in the dayes of ignorance placed all Religion in a manner in building religious Houses and setting them forth most gorgeously O let not the Jewes exceed us Christians let not Heresie Idolatry and Superstition out-strip true Religion in sacred bounty If their devotion needed bridles let not ours need spurres If they built Temples upon the ruines of private families let not us build private houses upon the ruine of Temples If they turned the Instruments of luxury into ornaments of piety let not us turne ornaments of piety into instruments of luxury As nothing is better given than to God so nothing is worse taken than from his Church Will God thinke you enrich them who spoyle him will he build their houses who pull downe his will he increase their store who robbe his wardrobe will hee clothe them with his long white robe who strip his Spouse of her attire and comely ornaments Nay rather as Aeneas though before he had purposed with himselfe to spare the life of Turnus yet when hee espyed Pallas girdle about him Et y Virg. Aenid notis fulserunt cingula bullis he changed his minde and turned the point of his sword to his heart saying Tun ' hinc spoliis indute meorum eripiêre mihi so our blessed Redeemer when hee seeth his Priests garments upon sacrilegious persons and the chaines and borders of his dearest Spouse upon their minions neckes will say Tun ' hinc spoliis indute meorum eripiêre mihi shalt thou escape judgement who hast robb'd mee thy Judge shall I spare thee whom I finde with mine owne goods about thee shalt thou get out of my hands who quaffest like Belshazzar in the bowles of my Sanctuary and bravest it in my Spouse attire Now as the speciall operations of the soule reflect upon themselves and as definition defines and division divides and order digesteth so also repetition may and ought to repeat it selfe For the close of all then I will recapitulate my recapitulation and rehearse my selfe as I have done the foure Preachers Of this parcell of Scripture Faciemus c. I have made a threefold explication and likewise a threefold application the first explication was of the rich attire of Solomons Queene the second of the glorious types of the Jewish Church under the Law the third of the rich endowments large borders and flourishing estate of the Church under the Gospel My application was first to the Clergy secondly to the Laity thirdly to this present exercise The friends that here promise to adorne the Spouse with rich borders I compared to the foure Preachers their Sermons to the foure borders both in respect of the matter and the forme their matter was Scripture doctrine like pure gold their forme exquisite art beautifying their Scripture doctrine with variety of humane learning and sentences of the ancient Fathers like spangles or studs of silver In the borders of Solomons Queene there was the representation of a Dove whence they are called Torim which z Brightman in Cant. some translate Turtures aureas and their preaching was not in the inticing words of mans wisedome but in the evidence of the spirit which descended in the likenesse
the Arke of the Lord within curtaines Is this decent or fitting that the King should bee better housed than his maker and advancer to his royall throne Yee would expect that hereupon he should have concluded upon building God an house but hee proposeth only the major his owne house the minor the Arke and leaveth the Prophet to inferre the conclusion because in a matter that so neerly concerned the honour and service of God he would not seem to lead the Prophet but rather be led by him from whence we may gather three speciall observations not unworthy our most serious thoughts 1. That in matters immediately appertaining to the service of God and advancement of religion the Prophets of God are to be called and their advice to be asked and taken even by Kings themselves 2. That it is a noble and princely worke to build Temples or Churches 3. That we are to set more by the glory of God than our own ease and safety and rather to desire the erecting of his house than the raising our owne fortunes After we have gathered these there be other which will fall of themselves from the branches of the Text as wee lightly passe over them And it came to passe when the King sate in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies that the King said unto Nathan Behold now c. The circumstance of time challengeth our due consideration in the first place It is not usuall for men sitting at ease and at rest to entertaine godly motions and resolve upon workes of pious bounty Otium pulvinar Satanae rest is oftentimes the Divels cushion but here it was not so but rather a chaire of state for God himselfe to rest in After David had been for a long time pursued by his enemies and driven from place to place as it were powred out of vessell into vessell when he now stood still he settled not upon his lees with Moab but breathed out these sweet and heavenly meditations and vowes Behold now I sit at rest and the Arke of the Lord tosseth and tumbleth from place to place I lye safely under a sure roofe able to beare off wind and weather and the Arke of God hath no better fence than a few curtaines spread over it the walls of my house are hung with rich arrasse and the sides of the Arke are covered but with skins is it fit that it should be so Nathan Speak thou on Gods behalfe who art his Prophet Is the Kings Cabinet more precious than the Lords Arke Shall the King have a palace and God have no house Shall I provide a safer place for my records and evidences than for the records of heaven and the tables of the testimony and the inspired Oracles of God This must not be so I protest it shall not be so I a Psa 132.3 4 5. sweare unto the Lord and vow a vow unto the mighty God of Jacob that I will not henceforth enter into the tabernacle of my house nor come upon my bed I will not suffer my eyes to sleep nor my eye-lids to slumber until I find out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Such holy vowes and religious oathes and protestations many of Gods children make in the depth of their misery but few as here David doth in the height of their prosperity and the midst of their triumphs The zeale of most men lieth in their heart like fire in a flint it must be strucke out with some violence their prayers and fervent meditations like hot spices are then most fragrant when their hearts are bruised in Gods mortar and broken with afflictions and troubles Some such thing befalleth the soule in prosperity as the husbandmen observe in a fat soyle and plentifull yeere Luxuriant b Ovid. l. 1. de art animi rebus plerunque secundis Prosperity breedeth a ranknesse in the desires and a dangerous riot of sinne whereof Moses maketh great complaint in his song But c Deut. 32.15 Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxed fat thou art growne thicke thou art covered with fatnesse then he forsooke God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation and God by the Prophet d Hos 13.6 Hosea According to their pastures so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten mee O how great is our ingratitude when God most remembreth us we most forget him drinking our fill of the rivers of his pleasures and never thinking of the spring devouring greedily the good blessings of God as Swine doe acornes upon the ground never looking up to the tree from whence they fall David was farre from this brutish vice for as soone as God had destroyed his enemies round about him he thought of building a magnificent Temple When other Kings after so good successe and glorious victories obtained in war would have cast away all care or thought of Religion at least for the present to give the more scope to their licentious desires and lusts David confineth himselfe to his closet there recounteth the innumerable benefits God had heaped upon him and studieth how to expresse his gratefulnesse to him in fine he resolveth with himselfe to build a stately palace for the King of heaven and sendeth for the Prophet Nathan to advise with him about it The King said to Nathan the Prophet David a Prophet himselfe conferreth with the Prophet Nathan Saint Peter a prime Apostle is reproved by the Apostle Saint Paul John the elder is instructed by an Elder Whence we learn That Prophets need Prophets advice Apostles need Apostles admonitions Elders need Elders instructions As two tooles whet one the other and two Diamonds point each the other and two Torches mutually light one the other so it pleaseth the wisedome of God to divide the gifts of his Spirit severally among the Pastours of the Church in different kindes and degrees that they might be one bettered by the other In which consideration among many others not lesse important the Founders and Benefactors of Collegiate Churches and Universities have built so many houses for Prophets and Prophets children as you see to live together and by lectures conferences and disputations to whet and sharpen one the other And if one starre one eminent Doctor in the Church give so great a light in the darke of ignorance what a lustre what an ornament must a Colledge of such Doctors an University of such Colledges as it were a conjunction of many starres or rather a heaven of many such conjunctions and constellations uniting their light be If one aromaticall tree send forth such a savour of life as we smell in every particular congregation what shall we judge of a grove of such trees surely it can be no other than the Paradise of God upon earth But because David is not here stiled the Prophet but the King The King said to Nathan the
she is rather encreased by it For the ashes of Martyrs in this exceed the ashes of the Phoenix out of her ashes riseth but one Phoenix but out of the ashes of one Martyr many hundreds The Arke at the first was carried on the shoulders of the Levites but in later times was put in a z 2 Sam. 6.6 Cart and drawne by beasts who shooke it and were like quite to have overturned it I need not make the Antapodosis ye shall find it in the Writers of the Ecclesiasticall storie at the first the Church was governed for neere sixe hundred yeeres by worthy Prelates and Pastours but afterwards especially in some parts by such as deserved rather the name of beasts than men and some of them of monsters than beasts The arke removed still from place to place a See Spec. Pontif Plat. omâ—h Mâ—gaeburg till Solomon brought it with joy and triumph into the Temple which he had built for it even so the militant Church is tumbled and tossed from one countrey to another and shall finde no resting place till the true Solomon Christ Jesus carry her in triumph into the Temple which hee hath built for her in heaven meane while she still remaineth under the Curtaines Under the Curtaines The Curtaines under which the Arke remained saith an ancient Father prefigured the Bishops and Governours of the Church who are set in high and eminent places above their brethren as the Curtaines made of Camels haire and badgers skins were spread over the Arke to cover it and save the precious stuffe within it from wet and soyling Which interpretation if we allow certainely they who live in Colledges and private Cures under the governement of Bishops and Prelates have no cause to envie at their eminent dignity but all reason to pray for their safety For if any storme of persecution arise and beat upon the Church the curtaines that are uppermost must beare it off and while they hold out the inferiour Clergy who resemble the inward linings of blew silke are safe There are many fruits that are set in sunny places to ripen them but as good are scorched and dryed up with the heat of the Sunne beames which would have thrived in the shade As the corall branch is fresh and greene under the water but as soone as it appeareth above it turneth red according to the motto of the Poets embleme nunc rubeo ante virebam so have wee seen many that prospered under the government of others and flourished as it were in the shade who after they came into the Sun that is into the eye of the world being advanced to great dignities and preferments have turned red with the corall blushed with shame enough having too narrow mindes for such ample dignities and estates Thus I might enlarge and spread my meditations to the full length of the curtaines in my Text but because I see the time will out-strip mee if I make not the more haste and because I see many composing themselves to their rest and some fast already I will begin to draw the curtaines and shut up all that hath beene delivered with a briefe application to our selves Behold now I dwell in an house of Cedars and the Arke of the Lord within the curtaines If ever God affected any King above others David was he a man after Gods owne heart If ever David affected any worke above others it was the building of Gods House which he solemnly a Psal 132.2 vowed and largely contributed of his b 1 Chron. 29. owne to it as we may reade in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah Yet David who dedicated himselfe wholly to God was not permitted to dedicate a Temple unto him David whose heart so boyled with the zeale of Gods house that it consumed away in sighes and teares and these and the like meditations and exclamations Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord and O how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of hosts My soule is athirst for God even for the living God When shall I come and appeare in the presence of God David whose ambition was to be a doore keeper in the house of God and his greatest envie against the birds that built upon Gods Altars where he desired to repose his soule yet could not obtaine the honour to begin much lesse to finish the holy worke of building the Temple What may wee conceive to bee the reason hereof God forbad him Why did God forbid so good a King to undertake so good a worke God himselfe yeeldeth a reason Because his hand had shed much bloud Yet it may be truly alledged in Davids defence that his warres were just and that it was his infelicity not his fault that his sword had bin so often drawne against his enemies Howsoever because hee had embrued his hands in bloud God would not suffer him to lay a stone in the foundation of the Temple to teach us that the foundation of the Church is not to be laid in bloud Speares and Swords are not fit to build withall Phyfes and Drummes are no proper instruments to sound out the Gospel of peace Religion is such a professed friend to peace and a sworne enemy to bloudy warres that shee suffereth not willingly a sword to be drawne in her owne defence How then doth she make her part good against her mortal enemies cruell persecuters not by the Sword but by the Word not by c Lactan. divin instit l. 5. c. 20. Non occidendo sed moriendo non saevitiâ sed patientià non scelere sed fide nam si sanguine si tormentis si malo religionem defendere velis non defendetur illa sed polluetur violence but by patience not by resisting but by submitting not by killing but by dying The best armour of a Christian is his proofe of patience and his only lawfull weapons against his lawfull Soveraign are prayers teares wherewith S. Ambrose fought against the Arrian Emperor Rogamus Auguste non pugnamus we fall down before thee O Emperor we rise not up against thee we beset thee with petitions not with armes And when the Emperor commanded him peremptorily to give up a Church to the Arrians hee useth no other violence in withstanding the command of the Hereticall Prince than of passionate affection no troupes but tropes I can sorrow saith he I can sigh I can weep these are my weapons by other means I neither may nor can make resistance If you seeke for my goods take them if you desire my life I lay it at your feet I will not stand upon my guard I will not flye to Sanctuary to save my life I will most gladly be sacrified for the Altars of my God if it so please you upon them This was the ancient carriage of Christian subjects towards their Soveraigne though infected with heresie enraged against the true professours not to take armes against them but to lift up their hands to
to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build up A time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance c. In which distribution of time according to the severall affaires of our life all actions and accidents all intents and events all counsels and acts all words and workes all motions and cessations businesses and recreations beginnings and endings inchoations and perfections yea affections also as joy and griefe love and hatred have some part and portion of time laid out for them sinne only is exempted that is never in season As the Apostle spake to Simon b Acts 8.21 Magus Non est tibi pars neque sors it hath neither part nor lot in this partition and yet it intrudeth upon us and usurpeth upon either the whole or the greatest part of our demised time We heare of a time to build and a time to pull downe a time to spare and a time to spend but not in like manner a time to doe good and a time to doe ill a time to live godly and a time to sinne a time well to imploy and a time to mispend neither God nor Nature hath bequeathed any legacie of time to sinne Sinne should have no existence at all and therefore no time no estate and therefore neither terme Sinne is none of Gods creatures nor the issue of nature therefore hath no just claime or title to time the best of Natures temporall goods much lesse to happy eternity which is the purchase of the Sonne of God to the price whereof Nature cannot come neere Moreover sinne mis-spendeth spoyleth maketh havocke of our time abridgeth it and often cutteth it off and therefore deserveth that not a moment of time should be given to it Will you have yet more reasons ye have them in the Text drawne from all the differences of time sin hath been unfruitfull is shamefull and will prove pernicious and deadly therefore no portion or part of time is to be allowed to it against which all times give in evidence The time past brings in against it all sorts of dammages and losses sustained by it What fruit had yee The present time layeth open the shame filthinesse of sinne Whereof yee are now ashamed The future produceth the great and grievous penalties which the sinner by the breach of the eternall Law incurreth The end of those things is death A wise man holdeth intelligence with the time past by memory with the present by prudent circumspection with the time to come by providence by re-calling that which was fore-casting what will be he ordereth that which is and therefore he cannot but be sufficiently advertised of those hainous and grievous imputations laid upon sinne by the Spirit of God in my Text. It is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable good for nothing What fruit had yee It is shamefull and infamous Whereof yee are now ashamed Nay it is pestilent and pernicious For the end of those things is death If this forcible interrogatory of the Apostle so full of spirit of perswasion worke not in us newnesse of life and a detestation of our former sinfull courses we are not only insensible of our profit prodigall of our credit and reputation but also altogether carelesse of our life Nihili est saith the c Plaut in Pers Certè nihili est qui nihil amat quid ei homini opus est vitâ Poet qui nihil amat he is of no account who makes account of nothing Non spirat qui non aspirat he breathes not who gaspeth not after something What then is that ye desire How bestow ye your affections What object hath the command of your thoughts and soveraignty over your wills and desires Is it gaine wealth and affluence of all things flye then sinne for it is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable Is it glory honour and reputation eschue then vice for it bringeth shame and infamy upon you and your posterity Is it long life nay with Melchizedek to have no end of your dayes abandon all wicked courses for they have an end and that end is death and that death hath no end That sinne is unfruitfull not only formaliter but also effectivè not only negatively by bringing forth no fruit but also positively by bringing forth evill corrupt fruit by making the soule of man barren of the fruits of righteousnesse yea and the earth also and trees barren of the fruit which they would otherwise have brought forth to our great joy and comfort hath been the subject of our former discourses spent especially in the proofe of these particulars That sinne eclipseth the light of our understanding disordereth the desires of the will weakneth the faculties of the soule distempereth the organs of our body disturbeth the peace of our conscience choaketh the motions of the spirit in us killeth the fruits of grace inthralleth the soule to the body and the body and soule to Sathan lastly depriveth us of the comfortable fruition of all temporall and the fruition and possessions of all eternall blessings All which laid together will make a weighty argument bearing downe and forcing our assent to this conclusion That sinne is sterill and barren and consequently that every sinner is an unthrift and in the end will prove bank-rupt how gainfull a trade soever hee seeme to drive with Satan for as Christ cursed the figge-tree in the Gospell so God curseth all trees that beare the forbidden fruit of sinne and therefore the Apostle truly tearmeth the works of darknesse unfruitfull saying d Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darknesse but reprove them rather The godly man whose delight is in the law of the Lord is likened e Psal 1.3 4. to a tree planted by the rivers of waters which bringeth forth fruit in due season but the wicked to chaffe which the winde scattereth abroad For although they may sometimes build palaces upon the ruines of the Church and fill their houses with the treasures of wickednesse and their coffers with the Mammon of unrighteousnesse yet in the end they will appeare to bee no gainers no nor savers neither by their trafficke with the Devill For if they gain wealth they lose grace if they gaine glasse they lose pearle if they gaine earth they lose heaven if they gaine an estate for tearme of yeares among sinners they lose an eternall inheritance with the Saints in light if they gaine a small portion of the world they f Mar. 8.36 lose their whole soule and what advantageth it a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule Alas what gained g Josh 7.25 Achan by his Babylonish garment and wedge of gold nothing but a heape of stones wherewith hee was battered in pieces What gained Gehezi h 2 Kin. 5.27 by his great bribe a leprosie that cleaved to him and his posterity after him What gained i Judg. 8.27 Zeba and Zalmunna by
dicitur ut possit interioris animae manus contingere de verbo vitae Origen his note on the Canticles Christ becommeth to everie sense a most delectable object light that the eyes of the soule may have wherewith to be enlightened the word that the eares may have wherewith to be filled or rounded the bread of life that the taste may have to please it and stomacke to satisfie it spicknard to delight the smell of the soule lastly flesh that the hands of the soule may handle the word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 O how should this enflame our love to God that hee should become to our soule whatsoever shee can desire And not this onely but that he should condescend in love to take upon him all callings and offices for the safetie well-fare and comfort of his Church To give her contentment in himselfe he weddeth her and becomes her husband to dresse her vines and ripen her fruits her husband-man to instruct her in the doctrine of salvation her Schoole-master to cure her diseases her Physitian to plead her title to the kingdome of heaven her Advocate and lastly to keepe her from all ghostly and bodily enemies her Guardian and Watch-man That which Cain refused to bee to his owne brother God is to his Church that is her keeper and so watchfull and carefull a keeper is hee that his eye is never off her day nor night The point of speciall observation in the whole text is the watchfull eye of Gods providence over his Church which never closeth nor so much as winketh The parts are 1. The person who tendeth and tendreth Israel hee 2. The office he undertaketh and performeth keepeth 3. His charge that is the object of his care Israel 4. His vigilancie over his charge neither slumbreth nor sleepeth The enemies of the Church are either bodily or ghostly against the former he fenceth her with his power against the latter with his grace To keepe is to looke to preserve and protect save and defend from all violence or injurie waste or spoyle hurt or destruction as an husband doth his wife a guardian his ward a tutour his pupill a Centurion his band a watchman his quarter a shepherd his flocke a keeper his parke And all these relations the Church hath to Christ in regard of the kinde offices which he continually performeth to her in greatest love For shee is his spouse and he her husband she his ward and he her guardian she his pupill and he her tutour she his band and he her Sentinell shee his citie and he her watch-man she his flocke and he her shepherd she his parke or rather deere and he her keeper In the verse immediately going before the Prophet spake in the singular number he shall keepe thee but here in the plurall extending the care of God to the Church in generall to teach us that our heavenly father holdeth such a watchfull o August confess Sic curas unumquemque tanquam solú cures sic omnes tanquam singulos eye of providence over every one of his faithfull children as if he tended him onely and yet taketh such a care of all in generall as of every one in particular Shall neither slumber nor sleepe p Aristot de som vigil Somnus est ligatio sensuum Sleepe is the tying of the senses which if they be heart-bound wee are said to sleepe if slacke or loose to slumber The senses of our body are the windowes of the soule which in a slumber are as it were shut to but barred and bolted when we are fast asleepe Like as we see sometimes there ariseth out of the earth a thin mist which the sunne easily pierceth with his beames and disperseth it with his heat sometimes a thicke vapour mounteth up to the middle region of the aire where by the temper of the place it is turned into a dark cloud that obscureth the skie for many houres in like manner when a thin fume ascendeth from the stomacke into the braine it causeth but a slumber out of which wee easily rouze up our selves but when a grosse vapour climbeth up thither it overcasteth the cleare skie of our fancie and in the fall stoppeth all the passages of our senses and then we sleepe soundly But I need not discourse of the nature of sleepe and slumber there be few here but too accurately distinguish them for though they count it a foule shame to sleepe out a Sermon yet they make no scruple of conscience to slumber and sometimes nod who shall not need with q Aristot vit praefix op Aristotle to hold a brazen ball in their hand over a bason to awake them if sleepe chance to surprize them if the words of our Saviour continually ring in their eares r Mark 14.37 Can yee not watch with me one houre Out of this briefe representation of the nature of sleepe it appeareth that it is a matter of much more difficultie to abstaine from slumbring than from sleeping therefore the members of this sentence may seeme to be displaced and therefore ſ Calvin in Psal 121. Calvin and t Bucer in Psal 121. Bucer thus translate the words Non dormitat nedum dormit hee that keepeth Israel never slumbreth much lesse sleepeth or wee may paraphrase the words thus Hee that keepeth Israel neither suffereth his eye-lids to slumber by day nor his eyes to sleepe by night but keepeth a continuall watch over his people The words thus illustrated present to our serious thoughts these most important considerations 1. That God himselfe is the Churches keeper 2. That how many or how great enemies soever lye in wait for her ye she is kept Israel is an impregnable castle not by reason of the nature of the place or situation nor in regard of the great store of men and munition in it but because he that keepeth it doth neither slumber nor sleepe Ecclesia oppugnatur saepe expugnatur nunquam Many times have they u Psal 129.1 2. fought against me from my youth up may Israel now say Many a time have they afflicted mee from my youth up yet they have not prevailed against mee There can be no State Societie Kingdome or Common-wealth so strongly built and fenced but if the flouds of sedition arise and the raging tempest of forraine forces beat upon it it may be ruinated because it is founded upon sand that is men who are but sand and dust but let the flouds of persecution arise and the wind of heresie blow never so furiously upon the Church yet it will stand because it is built upon the rocke Christ Jesus What speake wee of clouds which are the windowes of heaven the gates of * Matt. 16.18 hell shall never be able to prevaile against it By the gates of hell many learned Interpreters understand the counsels projects plots and designes of wicked men because for the most part the counsell among the Jewes for their better security sate in their