present among the Iewes and hereafter in the fulnes of time to be constituted among Christians vntill the worlds end For this clause may bee construed of the mysticall heauen and temple so well as of the materiall heauen and temple The good man I meane the true Christian is not only Gods house but also Gods temple yea Gods heauen as Augustine expounds the words of Christ Our Father which art in heauen that is in holy men of heauenly conuersation in whose sanctified hearts hee dwelleth as in his sanctuarie Archimedes in his conference with Hiero said Giue me a place where I may stand out of the world and I will moue the whole earth in like manner hee that will be reputed a Saint and so take vpon him to remoue men earthly minded from their worldlinesse must himselfe at the least haue one foote out of the world seeking as the blessed Apostle speakes the things aboue that other may see his good workes and glorifie God which is in heauen that is according to the true soule of our text praise God in his Saints which are his sacrarie his sanctuarie his house his heauen Heere then all the three diuers lines praise God in his Saints praise God in his sanctitie praise God in his sanctuarie meete in one centree namely God is to bee praised in his sanctuarie for his sanctitie conferred vpon his Saints whereby they shined as lights in this heauen on earth and now shine like starres in that heauen of heauen If I were not according to the text and the time foreward to prosecute the gunpowder men as the more dangerous enemies of God and his Gospell I might vpon this ground take vp the bucklers against idle Nouelists vtterly condemning the festiuals of holy Saints established in our Church by good order of law Their principall obiection is taken out of Pauls epistle to the Galathians chap. 4. vers 10. Ye obserue daies and moneths and times and yeares I am afraid of you lest I haue bestowed vpon you labour in vaine To which answere is made that there is a fourefold obseruation of daies Naturall Politicall Ecclesiasticall Superstitious Of all which onely the superstitious is condemned as Aretius and Illiricus and other Protestant Diuines vpon the place Now the superstitious obseruation is either Iudaicall or Idolatricall it is apparent that Paul meant the first hereof especially because the Galathians after they were conuerted vnto Christ were seduced by false teachers vnto the ceremonies of the Iewes as concerning the Sabbaths the new Moones and the like the which were figures of Christ and had their end in him Are ye so foolish that hauing begun in the spirit yee would now be made perfit by the flesh As for Idolatricall obseruing of times it is granted easily that the Pagans in dedicating feasts vnto false gods and in making differences of daies dismall and fortunate either by curious arts or by particular fansies or popular obseruations are worthily reputed superstitious And the Papists also solemnizing holy daies of the Saints in their Churches with idolatrous worshipping of the creatures and their Images and out of their Churches with Epicurelike belly-cheere reuelling and idlenes turne againe to the beggerly rudiments and fashions of the world but the festiuals of England celebrated according to the doctrine and Iniunctions of our Church are very farre from these and all other kindes of superstition for then is God truly worshipped in the publike congregation I say the true God is truly praised in his true Saints on our holy daies the sacraments are rightly ministred the Scriptures are fruitfully read the Word is faithfully preached all which are maine meanes to withdraw men not only from superstition and idolatrie but also from all sorts of error and impietie whatsoeuer Yea but the words of the Commandement are sixe daies shalt thou labour Ergo there should be no holie day besides the Lords day Protestant Diuines answere that the clause sixe daies shalt thou labour is a permission or a remission of Gods right who might chalenge to himselfe all our time for his worke and not a restraint for any man from seruing of God on any day For the Iewes beside the Sabbath had diuers other feasts as Easter the feast of vnleauened bread the feast of first fruits Whitsuntide the feast of blowing trumpets the feast of Tabernacles all which as we reade Leuiticus 23 they kept by Gods appointment holy notwithstanding these words of the law sixe daies shalt thou labour And so the Christian Church in all ages hath vpon iust occasions separated some weeke daies vnto the praising of the Lord and rest from labour Ioel 2. 14. Blow the trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemne assemblie Daies of publike fasting for some great iudgement dayes of publike reioycing for some great benefit are not vnlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessarie Whosoeuer doubtes of the Churches libertie herein or of the practise of this libertie may peruse the ninth chapter of Ester in which it will appeare that Gods people by the commandement of Mordecai did euery yeare solemnize and keepe holy the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the moneth Adar in remembrance of their great deliuerie from the treason of Haman Vpon these grounds the last euer renouned Parliament enacted that wee should for euer spend the prime part of this present fifth of Nouember in praying and praising the Lord for his vnspeakable goodnes in deliuering our King Queene Prince and states of this realme from that hellish horrible bloody barbarous intended massacre by Gunpowder Now that I may for my part execute the will of the Parliament sparing the Nouelists and referring such as desire to bee further satisfied in this argument of holy dayes vnto the iudicious writings of my most honoured and honourable maister Archbishop Whitegift in the defence of his answere to the Admonition I proceede in the text praise him in his noble acts praise him according to his excellent greatnes Some reade laudate eum in virtutibus eius praise him in his powers other ob fortitudinem eius praise him in his power and according to these two diuerse translations I find two different expositions one construing it of Gods glorious Angels and the other applying it to Gods glorious acts for the first it is euident in holy writ that there bee certaine distinctions and degrees of Angles in the quier of heauen there be Seraphins Esay 6. 2. Cherubins Gen. 3. 24. Thrones dominions principalities and powers Coloss. 1. 16. in all which and for all which God is to be praised as being his ministring spirits for the good of such as shall bee heires of saluation as long as wee serue God all these serue vs euen the Cherubins and Seraphins Angels and Archangels I say so long as we serue the Lord these pages of his honour and parts of
AN EXPOSITION OF THE LAST PSALME DELIVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLS Crosse the fifth of Nouember 1613. By IOHN BOYS Doctor of Diuinitie Augustine de lib. Arbit lib. 3. cap. 15. Qui Deo non reddit faciendo quod debet reddet patiendo quod debet AT LONDON Imprinted by FELIX KYNGSTON for VVilliam Aspley 1613. AN EXPOSITION of the last Psalme PSALME 150. O praise God in his holinesse c. ALL the Psalmes of Dauid are comprised in two words Halleluiah and Hosanna that is blessed be God and God blesse as being for the greater part either praiers vnto God for receiuing mercies or else praises vnto God for escaping miseries This our present Hymne placed as a Conclusion of the whole booke yea the beginning middle end to which all the rest as Musculus obserueth are to be referred inuiteth vs in prescript and postscript in title in text in euery verse and in euery Clause of euery verse to praise the Lord. Teaching these two poynts especially 1. For what 2. With what God is to be magnified For what vers 1 2. O praise God in his holinesse praise him in the firmament of his power praise him in his noble acts praise him according to his excellent greatnes With what euen with all that is Without vs vers 3 4 5. Praise him in the sound of the trumpet c. Within vs vers 6. Omnis spiritus c. Let euery spirit praise the Lord praise ye the Lord. This in briefe is the whole texts Epitomie I come now to the words Anatomie cutting vp euery part and particle seuerally beginning first at the first O praise God in his holinesse Of which one sentence the Doctors haue many though not aduerse yet diuerse readings especially three Praise God in his saints praise God in his sanctitie praise God in his sanctuarie S. Hierome Augustine Prosper and other as well ancient interpreters as moderne translate here praise God in his saints For if he must be praised in all his creatures how much more in his new creatures if in the witlesse wormes and senselesse vapours Psal. 148. much more doubtlesse as Theodorit here collects in men in holie men in saints vpon whom hee hath out of his vnsearchable riches of mercie bestowed the blessings of the life present and of that which is to come First almightie God is to bee blessed for giuing his saints such eminent gifts of grace for the good of his Church and for the setting foorth of his glorie So Chrysostome Basil Euthymius Prosper Placidus Parmensis expound it Euery good and perfit gift is from aboue descending from the father of lights a good thought in a saint is gratia infusa a good word in a saint is gratia effusa a good deed in a saint is gratia diffusa through his grace which is the God of all grace saints are whatsoeuer they are Wherefore praise the Lord in his saints often remember their vertues as their true reliques and as it were bequeathed legacies vnto Gods people So the wise man Ecclesiasticus 44. Let vs now commend the famous men in old time by whom the Lord hath gotten great glorie let the people speake of their wisdome and the congregation of their praise So the Confession of Bohemia chap. 17. Wee teach that the saints are worshipped truly when the people on certaine daies at a time appointed doe come together to the seruice of God and doe call to minde and meditate vpon his benefits bestowed vpon holie men and through them vpon his Church c. And for as much as it is kindly to consider opus diei in die suo the worke of the day in the same day it was wrought it is well ordered by the Church of England that the most illustrious and remarkable qualities of the saints are celebrated vpon their proper festiuals that on S. Stephens day we may learne by S. Stephens example to loue our enemies on S. Matthewes day to forsake the world and to follow Christ on S. Iohn the Baptist his day to speake the truth constantly and to suffer for the same patiently Thus in stedfastnes of faith and godlinesse of life non legere modò sed degere sanctorum vitas as one wittily to bee followers of them as they were followers of Christ is as blessed Latymer was wont to say the right worshipping of Saints and of God in his Saints Againe for as much as there is a communion of Saints as we cōfesse in the Creed a knot of fellowship betweene the dead Saints and the liuing it is our dutie to praise God for their good in particular as they pray to God for our good in generall It is required on our part I say to giue God most humble thanks for translating thē out of this valley of teares into Hierusalem aboue where they be clothed with long white robes hauing palmes in their hands and crownes of gold on their heads euer liuing in that happie kingdome without either dying or crying Apocal. 21. 4. and this also in the iudgement of Augustine Hierome Hugo Raynerius and other is to praise God in his Saints These reasons are the grounds of certaine holy daies established in England by law namely to blesse God for his Saints eminent grace while they were liuing and exceeding glorie now they be dead Wherein our Church ascribes not any diuine worship to the Saints but all due praise to the sanctifier in celebrating their memorie saith Augustine we neither adore their honour nor implore their helpe but according to the tenour of our text wee praise him alone who made them both men and martyrs In the words of Hierome to Riparius Honoramus reliquias martyrum vt eum cuius sunt martyres adoremus honoramus seruos vt honor seruorum redundet ad dominum If thou desire to doe right vnto the Saints esteeme them as paternes and not as patrones of thy life honour them only so farre that thou maist alway praise God in them and praise them in God The gunpowder men erre very much in this one kinde of honouring God for either they worship his Saints as himselfe or else their owne saintlings and not his Saints In praying to the dead in mingling the blood of their martyrs with the precious blood of their Maker in applying their merits and relying vpon their mercies it is plaine that they make the Saints as Melancthon tels them in his Apologie for the Confession of Auspurge quartermasters with God and halfe mediatours with Christ I say ioynt mediatours not of incercession only but of redemption also Nay they make the blessed Virgin vpon the poynt their only mediatrix and aduocate so they sing and so they say They sing in their publique seruice Maria mater gratiae mater misericordiae c. the which is Gods owne stile 1. Pet. 1. 10. 2. Cor. 1. 3. so
they likewise say Maria consolatio infirmorum redemptio captiuorum liberatio damnatorum salus vniuersorum Giselbertus in lib. altercationis Synagogae et ecclesiae cap. 20. Maria quasi maria saith Augustinus de Leonissa sermon 5 vpon Aue maria for as all riuers come from the seas and returne to the seas againe Ecclesiastes 1. 7 so forsooth if you will vndertake to beleeue him all grace is deriued from Mary and ought to be returned again to Mary We finde so much in Rosario Mariae reparatrix saluatrix desperantis animae c. That which is worse their owne Pope who cannot as they teach erre in a poynt of doctrine as Pope calleth her expresly Deam Pet. Bembus in his epistles written in Pope Leo 10. name lib. 8. epist. 17. printed at Strasburg an 1609. that which is worst of all in their most approued Bible they translate Gen. 3. 15. ipsa conteret caput tuum she shall breake thine head although as their owne Iesuit Ribera confesseth honestly the Hebrew text the Chaldee paraphrase the translation of the Septuagint and all good Latin copies reade ipse conteret he shall bruise the serpents head applying it to Christ according to that of Paul The God of peace shall tread downe Satan vnder your feete Rom. 16. 20. by this euidence you may see that the gunpowder crue praise not God in the saints nor the saints in God but on the contrarie the saints as God Againe these S. Peter men and as I haue warrant to terme them on this day Salt Peter men erre from the true meaning of our text because they doe not praise God in sanctis eius in his saints but dishonour God in sanctis eorum in saints of their owne making vsually praying vnto some who were no men and to many who were not holy men It is doubted by the two great lights in their glorious firmament Bellarmine and Baronius whether there were euer any such man as S. George or such a woman as S. Catharine Cardinall Bellarmine lib. de beatitudine sanct cap. vlt. § respondeo sanctorum doth acknowledge that they worship certaine saints whose stories are vncertaine reputing the legend of S. George apocryphall according to the censure of Pope Gelasius and Cardinall Baronius ecclesiast annal Tom. 2. ad an 290. according to the impression at Rome fol. 650. as also de Martyrologio Romano cap. 2. confesseth as much of Quiriacus and Iulitta declaring plainely that their acts are written either by fooles or heretikes and in his annotations vpon the Romane Martyrologie 23. Aprill he taketh vp Iacobus de Voragine for his leaden Legend of our English S. George concluding in fine that the picture of Saint George fighting with a Dragon is symbolicall and not historicall If the Scripture be true whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne then assuredly these men as Paul speaks are damned of their owne selues in their owne conscience who notwithstanding all their doubts pray still in their publike seruice Deus qui nos beati Georgij martyris tui meritis intercessione laetificas Concede propitius c. An Idoll as Paul affirmes 1. Cor. 8. 4. is nothing Ergo the Papists in worshipping S. George which is nothing commit euen themselues being Iudges abominable Idolatrie As they worship some who were no men so many who were not holy men as a reuerend Doctor of our Church accutely Non matyris domini sed mancipes diaboli the Souldiour who peirced Christs holy side was a Pagan neither doth any storie which is authenticall speake of his conuersion and yet they worship him vnder the name of S. Longinus or Longesse March 15. Papias as Eusebius and Hierome report held the heresie of the Millenarians and yet he is honoured as a saint in the Romane Calender vpon the 22. of Februarie Becket was a bad subiect in his life and no good Christian at his death in that hee commended himselfe and the cause of his Church vnto S. Denys and our Lady Yet S. Thomas of Canterburie was honoured at Canterburie in the daies of popish ignorance more then either the worlds Sauiour or the blessed Virgine his mother in which relation I appeale to the records of that Church as also to the very stones vnder his shrine worne with the knees and hands of such as came thither to worship him Boccace reporteth how one Sir Chappelet a notorious Italian Vsurer and Cousoner came to be honoured as a Saint in France Sanders among them is a saint albeit he liued in plotting and dyed in acting rebellion against his gracious Soueraigne Queene Elizabeth of famous and blessed memorie Nay Dauus is Diuus Saul is among the Prophets pater personatus father Parsons all the daies of his life was a perpetual Martyr as his fellow Ribadeneira termeth him and yet one who sometime was his inner man and knew him as I presume better then euer did Ribadeneira transposing the letters of Robertus Pársonius Iesuita found this anagramme Personatus versuti oris abi the wit-foundred drunkard Henry Garnet who did not according to the Counsell of Paul vse vino modico but as Paulinus pretily modio that lecherous treacherous Arch-priest Arch-traitor Arch-diuell in concealing if not in contriuing in patronizing if not in plotting the powder intended massacre is returned a Saint from beyond the seas with à sancte Henrice intercede pro nobis his action is iustified his life commended his death honoured his miracles and memorie celebrated by that Ignatian spirit portentum nominis portentum hominis hauing a great deale of name though a very little modestie Andreas Eudaemon Ioannes Cydonius but notwithstanding his apologie the saintship of Henry Garnet is so buffeted by the replies and antilogies of our accuratlie learned diuines as that his straw face will hereafter hardly be worth a straw Catesbie Winter Rookwood and the rest of the Cole-saints and hole-saints who laboured in the diuels mine by the Popes mint are numbred among the holy ones also Babilon and Egypt praise God in them and for them I haue heard much of roaring gentlemen in London and Canterburie but if the Lord himselfe had not watched ouer his Church if the Lord himselfe had not written England in the palmes of his hands if the Lord himselfe had not kept King Iames as the apple of his eye if the Lord himselfe had not been on our side now may Gods Israell in England say if the Lord himselfe had not been on our side when they rose vp against vs if the Lord himselfe had not out of his vnspeakeable goodnesse toward vs and our posteritie broken their snares and deliuered our soules out of that horrible gunpowder pit these bellowing Buls of Basan and Canon-mouthed hell-hounds would haue made on this day such a roare that all Christendome should haue felt it and the whole world haue feared it O