the Iudge of the world to giue dome and definitiue sentence both of quicke and dead and that as it were in open court of generall Sessions or assises when as he shall render to euerie man according to his workes vengeance vpon the wicked and reward vpon the righteous destruction and damnation vnto the vngodly but soules health and saluation vnto the Godly Seuenthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of the Epiphanie not the first Epiphanie when Christs birth was manifested to the wise men of the East by the leading of a starre but when Christs glorie shall be reueiled by the finall eclipse of the sunne the darkning of the moone the falling of the stars and the shaking of the powers of heauen when as the sonne of man shall so come as the lightning commeth out of the East and shineth vnto the West Mat. 24.27 and 29. when as the hearts of all men shal be made manifest Eightly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of visitation when as Christ Iesus the great bishop of our soules shall visit the ample diocesse of his Church and shall call all the cleargie before him and cause them to render account of their cures and charges and shall make those shine as starres for euer and euer that shal winne soules vnto God but will remoue those candles out of their candlestickes or els the candlestickes out of their places which either giue no light or bad light or are either dropping candles by their lewd lothsome life or spitting candles by their troublesome and seditious doctrine Ninthly the day of appearing as in this place because that then our Sauiour the sunne of Righteousnesse shall sodenly pearse the cloudes and breake fourth in glorious brightnesse by the shining beames of his heauenly grace fulfilling the heartes of all the faithfull with the cheerefull light and comfortable heate of his diuine presence which haue lien long as it were in Iosephs colde yrons of aduersitie and affliction and languished in Daniels darke dungeon of despaire As the naturall sunne with his gladsome glee after the dismall darkenesse of the wearie night dispelleth and dispierceth the thicke clouds being long looked and longed for at the last appeareth to the chearing and cherishing of all mankind so called an appearing to the comfort and consolation of the good the godly that when they see the least glimpse and glimmering of him to peepe out or appeare they should then lift vp their heads and looke vp because their redemption is at hand for then and neuer till then shall the workeman receiue his wages the labourer in the Lords vineyard his pennie the faithfull seruant the rule of the Lords house the thriftie vser of his talents the gouernment of so many Cities the constant runner his propounded garland the spirituall souldier his promised crowne the little flocke their prepared kingdome the followers of Christ in their regeneration their thrones of iudgement Which time teacheth vs that we should not so doate as to dreame of any crowne throne or kingdome in this life or once to looke for any paradise heauen or other blessednesse in this world nor any time to hope for any happinesse before our chiefe shepheard doe appeare For as there is no heauenly paradise but in Abrahams bosome nor any pleasures for euermore but at the right hand of God nor any true ioies to be found but in the kingdome of heauen so are we not to enter into this paradise to enioy these pleasures and to be partakers of these ioies vntill the day of his appearing In the meane time therefore we must not with the husbandman looke to reape with ioy before we haue sown with tears nor to looke to liue with him before we haue died with him to raigne with him before we haue suffered with him to be glorisied with him before we haue beene crucified with him to sit with him on his right hand and on his left before we haue drunck of the cuppe that he hath druncke of and been baptized with the baptisme that he hath been baptized with to bee crowned with this crowne of glorie before we haue bin crowned with his crown of thorns to be found as fine gold for the treasure-house of the Lord vntill we bee purged and purified in the fire and fornace of affliction to be good corn in the Lords garner before we haue been sifted by Sathan Finally not to sit on his throne before we haue continued with him in his temptations For first must the Church be militant here vpon earth before it can be triumphant in heauen first must we suffer affliction before we can liue Godly in Christ Iesus and to conclude first must we be in tribulation before we can enter into the kingdome of heauen It followeth in the next words Yee shall receiue c. Now come we to the reward which our Apostle Peter promiseth in the person of our Sauiour Christ which is no light thing of small valew or meane account but the greatest gifte and richest reward that can be giuen and receiued a bountie beseeming the person of our Sauiour the bestower and worthy the partie that is partaker Kings and Princes when they liberally conferre gifts and rewards they giue not toies and trifles but great and royall guerdons such as are agreeable to their maicstic and magnificence Aristotle writes of his Magnanimus that he bestowes benefits vpon others freely and franckly and that herecompenceth aboue measure and proportion and that he will not vouchsafe to giue light little things but precious and peerelesse presents But howsoeuer the Philosopher frame such a man according to his owne fantasie as a Phaenix seldome or no whereto be found yet such a one the Scripture describeth God the Father and Christ Iesus his sonne and our Sauiour to be in all respects as first to be the giuer of all things and that liberally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not vpbraidingly and those that he doth giue to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good gifts and perfect gifts Iames 2.17 farre surpassing in worth and worthinesse the gifts of any Palatines or Potentates Kings and Keysars Conquerors and Monerches in the world Pharo King of Egypt gaue noble gifts vnto Ioseph when he gaue him his owne signet to weare on his hand fine garments of linnen to put on his backe a chaine of golde to put about his necke and gaue him to wife a Princes daughter and made him Vice-roy of all his land and gaue him his best coach but one to sit in Gen. 41. Saul king of Israel honourably rewarded Dauid when as hee gaue him his royall robe and all his Princely garments vnto his sword his bow his girdle and made him lieutenant generall of all his forces and smally his owne daughter to wife 1. Sam. 18. The Queen of Saba gaue princely presents to Salomon when shee gaue him sixscore talents of golde and an exceeding quantitie of sweete odours and an infinit number of precious stones
Adam foure creations of man who was only formed of the slime of the Earth without man or woman then the second Eue who was made of a ribbe of man only without any woman and then the third of all men in generall both by man and woman according to the ordinarie and common course of nature This foure being by woman alone without man a new thing a strang matter a wonderfull miracle neuer the like seene nor hard of before Yea such a marueile as that the reporte of it made an infant to skippe in his mothers wombe for Ioye the Heauens to speake by a starre to declare the wonder of it the wise men from the East to come from farre to see and be eyewitnesses of it the Angels to singe in the Consort and to shew fourth their gladnesse after it was made knowne vnto them The sheaphards of Bethlem to runne in hast to behould it after it was declared vnto them the auncient father Simeon to desire to die and departe in peace after he had seene his saluation Finally this made the ould Prophetesse Anna when as by the motion of the spirit this thing was reueled vnto her to leaue her prayer to God and to fal to praising the Lord Christ and from fasting to come not only to confesse him her selfe but also to commend him vnto other And such a misterie as none was thought worthie to be messenger of the same not a holy preist nor a deuine Frophet nor a greate Patriarch but an holy Angell and Archangel euen Gabriell that standeth in the presence of God Whose countenance being terrible his garments glorious and his cōming sodaine in visiting the virgin Marie he troubled her and yet his voice being pleasant his words sweete and his tydings gladsome in saluting her comforted her telling her that as she was the beloued virgin of God and handmaide of God so she should be the blessed mother of God and spouse of God And such a miracle as whereby the word did not perish being turned into fleash but fleash least it should perish cleauing to the word that as man is both soule and bodie so Christ might be both God and man not by confusion of nature but by vnitie of person and this conceaued and perceaued not with the Eies of the fleash but with the faith of the harte the only begotten and the first begotten of his Father and the first begotten of his bretheren lying in a manger filling the whole world wrapped in swadling clothes and thundering in the Cloudes sucking on earth the pappes of his mother and yet sitting in Heauen at the right hand of God his Father and is finally such a greate mysterie as that it compriseth the principall Pillour of our faith the most certaine groūd of truth the strongest foūdation of the Church wherein we are to consider first the vnspeakeable loue of God the father towards vs who would not spare his owne and only sonne but freely gaue him to saue vs. And our Sauiour in the gospell God so loued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne c. Secondly his owne incomparable loue in shewing himselfe so kinde and courteous vnto mankind as to suffer himselfe to be cast in his mould to be clothed with his fleash to be compassed about his infirmities which he himselfe commen deth Iohn 15.13 Saying to his disciples greater loue then this hath no man c. Both which their loues our Apostle Paule setteth out most liuelie Rom. 5.8 when he saith God setteth out his loue towards vs seing the while we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. And thirdly our Sauiour Christs lowly humilitie herein likewise appeareth as Paule also declareth the same as that he being in forme of God and thinking it no robberie to be equall with God made himselfe of no reputation c. Phil. 2.6.7 Here then first we are to know for our instruction the two natures of Christ secondlie the destinction of both his natures 2 natures of Christ as first his diuinitie in that the Apostle calleth him God Three distinctions and then his humanitie in affirming him to be manifested in the fleash Thirdly the Hipostaticall vnion and communitie of of properties in one the same personne of our Sauiour three deepe misteries contained and couched in three words in quibus saieth Beza verie briefly duae ponuntur distinguntur vniuntur naturae Christi whereby three sorts of Heresies are confuted First the Arrirans that denie the diuinitie of our Sauiour Christ secōdly the Marcianits who gaine say Christ to haue a humaine and fleashlie bodie but only an heauenly spiritual bodie thirdly the Nestorians who affirme Christ to haue two persons one of his Humanitie the other of his diuinitie and that his manhoode was deified and changed into his godhead Secondly we are to learne for our edification that we may make vse and take proffit in our life and conuersation by this misterie euen three thinges Austin comprehendeth them together in one sweete sentence Ser. 22. 3 things to be lerned by this misterie De tempore in these words omnis Natiuitatis schola est humanitatis officina patientiae massa virtutis agonia First humilitie in following him in the like lowlinesse in making our selues equall with them of the lower sort as Paule exacteth secondly Patience whereof he shewes himselfe a president that we should follow his steppes in constantly bearing and abiding all kind of aduersitie and of affliction as Peter admonisheth And finally vertue and especially loue that we should loue one another as Christ hath loued vs as our sauiour himselfe cōmādeth Thus much of these words as hauing a general vew of them but now let vs sift the same more narrowly and perticularly consider them not in waie of ample discourse but in manner of a short suruey as first to declare what manifestation this was and secondly the forme thereof For Paule here saith not only that God was manifested but also sheweth how in the fleash we read in Prophaine Histories that the Gods of the Heathen as first Iupiter the greate Father of these Gods that he did metamorphose himselfe into diuers shapes and formes of sundrie Creatures As into a Bull when he laye with Europa into a swanne when he begat of Leda Castor Pollux and into Amphritrio a man when he begatt of Alcmena Hercules of which the Poet. Nā Deus humana lustrās sub imagine terras And likewise the other Gods that they tooke vpon them the like semblance to the same ends and purposes as Apollo when he changed himselfe into a crowe Bacchus into a goate Diana into a catte Iuno into a Cowe Venus into a fishe and Mercurie into the bird Ibis As Ouid conteineth thē altogether Metamorph. 5. Delius in Coruo proles Semeleia capra Fele soror Phebi niuea Saturnia vacca Fisce venus latuit Cyllenius Ibidis alis But these are but Poets faininges being the Painters out of false
out of the Lords vineyard and as enuious dogs shut out of the doores euen as reiected reprobates and runnagate castawaies scattered ouer the face of the whole earth without land without Lord without a Church without common wealth without gouernment without grace or without any good thing at all The abomination of desolation Their diuine law changed into a corrupt Cabala their heauenly Temple turned into a denne of Idolatrie their mount Syon the hill of exaltation and holy Ierusalem the Citie of Sanctification the one the seate the other the sanctuarie of God become according to the prophesie of our Sauiour in the gospell not onely a desolate habitation Mat. 23.38 but also the abomination of desolation Mat. 24.15 as it was also foretold by Daniell 9.29 The like of the seuen sometimes excellent Churches of Asia mentioned in the first of the Reuelation of golden candlesticks then now made leaden shrines Synagogues of Satan sinkes of sinne and puddles of perdition First planted by Paul as it appeareth in the Acts and watred by Iohn as it is manifest in the Apocal and flourishing in Christ but afterwards supplanted by the false Apostles choaked with Mahometisme and finally fallen away by Apostasie As also may be said of the church of Rome which was sometimes a congregation of Saints Rom. The church of Rome 1.7.8 but now a confusion of sinne and sinners in Pauls time famous for faith and obedience throughout the whole world 8. and 16. chap. 19. but in our daies infamous for Infidelitie and Apostasie throughout all christendome Then treading downe Satan vnder their feet 16.20 but now trampling the Saints of God vnder their feete then the seate of Christ now the chaire of Antichrist and therefore now not olde Rome but new Babylon as Peter tearmeth it by the confession of the Catholikes themselues The vse of all which vnto vs is this That hauing the good benefits and blessings of God especially the gifts and graces of the spirit we keepe sure and holde fast the same with might and maine with tooth and naile with hand and foote especially the inestimable iewell and invaluable margarite of the word of God and Gospell of Christ whereof Mat. 13.46 least by vnthankfull neglecting and lothing it we finally leaue and leese the same for as the Poet Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri It is no lesse masterie to keepe and saue that which a man hath gotten then to haue and get at the first Hauing therefore present possession and full fruition of this so great a treasure let vs take heede betimes least by vnthankfully abusing the same we afterwardes lament the lacke thereof Carendo enim magis quam fruendo when as rather by wanting then by enioying we shal perceiue how gracious a blessing this is Nor doth our Apostle here say to the elect and faithfull Christians to whom he writeth Ye shall haue as that they should haue hereafter but had not yet which although it might seeme to carrie some shew of an houering hope of future consolation yet had it not been halfe so comfortable for many things may happen betweene hope and hauing According to the Prouerb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra many things may happen betweene the cuppe and the lippe And while the grasse groweth the steede may starue and it is ill hoping for dead mens shooes as we say and one birde in the hand is worth two in the wood a little in re esse is better then much in spe posse and a small thing in present possession is more then a great deale in reuersion and remainder If hee had allured them by promise it had been verie forcible and effectuall because God is faithfull in all his promises nor is not as man that he should lie nor as the sonne of man that he should repent and when as all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Iesus but he confirmeth them in putting them in remembrance of a diuine benefite already performed and bestowed vpon them which at that instant they enioyed which must needs be more auailable and aduantageable they then feeling and finding in themselues the fruit and effect therof and the rather because the promises of God are but conditionall that if we accomplish what he doth require then shall we bee sure that he will performe what we do desire otherwise he may seeme to be changed in his word Non Deus mutatur sed nos ipsi mutamur Aug. by not obseruing couenants with vs when as indeed we are changed in our works by not keeping his commandements So that our Apostle could not haue spoken more fully and Emphatically to shew foorth their perfect happy state wherein they now stand wherein also note the great bountie and beneficence of the Lord God towards these his faithfull as being a Lord of great largenesse and liberalitie as Iames describeth him 1.5 and that of his best gifts If any of you want wisedome let him aske it of God who giueth to alimen liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be giuen him Not giuen sparingly as man doth by pence farthings mites but plentifully by talents by pressed down measure and running ouer and not with one hand but with both hands yea with a full hand full horne and full haruest Nor obraidingly as we vsually doe by hitting men in the teeth with that we haue bestowed vpon them As the Comicall Poet Haec commemoratio est quasi exprobratio but gratiously and cheerefully aboue our desert or desire and still multiplying his gifts and graces vpon vs more more beyond our hope and expectation and not content once but often to preuent and present vs with the blessings of his goodnesse but alwaies to crowne vs with mercie and louing kindnesse as it may appeare more in particular As our Apostle putteth them in minde that first they haue fellowship with the Father and with his sonne Iesus Christ 1. ch 5. v. Secondly that they haue an aduocate with the father euen Iesus Christ the righteous 1. Ioh. 2.1 And that now thirdly they haue an ointment from him that is holy therefore insinuating that God hath so aboundantly blessed them that they haue no want of any heauenly gifts or graces yea so bountifull and beneficiall is the Lord God towards all in generall Simile that euen as Kings and Emperours at their coronation vse to cast out among the people handfuls of money and to cause the common conduits to runne with wine for all commers to drinke thereof and to feast al whosoeuer will taste of their princely liberalitie and royall munificence And as Aristotle describeth his Magnificus in his Ethicks lib. 4. cap. 2. not onely to be sumptuous and surpassing bountiful in his gifts according to the name and nature of the vertue which he vseth but also to be large in his expences as that he will not vouchsafe