by-word among the Heathens and our enemies laugh us to scorn Therefore as the good Physitian first seâ—rcheth out the cause of the disease and then prepareth a potion for the cure and as Joshuah when God turned away from the children of Israel and delivered them up into the hands of their Enemies never left searching Josh 7.18 2 Sam 21.1 till he had found out the accursed thing that was the cause of their destruction and David also when there was a famine three years year after year inquired of the Lord what should be the cause thereof so we must inquire and search out the cause why the Lord hath overthrown all our hedges and given us as a spoyle unto our Neighbours And herein as Demodacus said of the Milesians We have committed the same sins and more sins and more hainously than the Israelites did they were no fools but they did the same things that fools did So I say we are no Israelites but I fear we have committed the same sins as the Israelites did Idolatry injustice and contempt of our Teachers nay have we not added unto these Sacriledge Perjury Drunkenness Luxury and all kind of uncleanness Yea have we not made injustice and perjury and sacriledge and contempt of the Ministers and rebellion against the Ordinance of God and many other sins that formerly were but personal sins now to become national when they are committed continued and maintained by the Representatives of the whole Kingdom And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this saith the Lord Vers 19. Yes saith our Prophet wee shall be to them that desire the day of the Lord for it is darkness and not light and it shall be as if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him that is to escape the least and to fall into the greater punishment because the Lion is a more noble enemy than the Bear when as the Poet saith Parcere prostratis scit nobilis ira Leonis But the Bear is a most ravenous raging Beast Hos 5.12.14 that will tear us all to pieces so it is to escape the Sword and to die by Famine to provide against Famine and to be destroyed by the Pestilence which shall follow one another so long as we continue in our sins and the wrath of the Lord shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still As in Levit. 26. after many plagues he addeth I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins And therefore if you would turn away the wrath of God you must turn away from these sins that have provoked him to wrath Quia sublata causa tollitur effectus And then 2. If you would find the Lord 2. The place where God may be found you must go to the place where he resideth for though Enter praesenter Deus est ubique poten or in respect of his omnipotent Essence the spirit of the Lord filleth all places If we climb up into Heaven he is there if we go down to Hell he is there also and as the Schools say he is Supra coelos non elatus subter terram non depressus intra mundum non inclusus extra mundum non exclusus yet in respect of his favourable presence he is not to be found in every place How God filleth all places for if you seek the righteous God among unrighteous men the faithful God among lying perjurers as the Grecians sought for Helen in Troy when she was with Proteus in Egypt we shall be sure to miss him because the holy spirit of discipline fleeth from deceit and dwelleth not in the body that is subject unto sin and therefore the place is to be considered where we must seek him and that is principally 1. The Church of Christ among the faithful And God is found 1. In the Church among the faithful 2. The holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles 1. As Joseph and Mary when they lost Christ found him not in the waies among their friends and acquaintance but in the Temple among the Doctors so we shall find him not in the factious confederacies of private Conventicles but in the publique assemblies of Gods holy Church Psal 26.8 which is the place where his honour dwelleth not among Perjurers Lyers Rebels and the like but among the faithful and among those that fear the Lord for The Lord is with them that fear him and put their trust in his mercy and with such he may be found And therefore if you would find the Lord you must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful you must have nothing to do with the stool or seat of wickedness which imagineth mischief and doth countenance their wickedness by a Law but where you see the righteous gathering themselves in the name of Christ and joyning their forces in the fear of God there is the Lord in the midst of them Lev. 26.12 even as himself hath promised I will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be my people 2 In the holy Scriptures 2. As we may find the Lord in the Church of the righteous so we may find him in the holy Scriptures not in the Turks Alcoron nor in the Popes Canon nor in mans Tradition nor in any like unwritten verities which are the muddy inventions of distracted brains and the idle vanities of seduced souls we send you to no such places to seek the Lord whatsoever the malice of our adversaries saith of us but we direct you to the pure Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thy Word is truth and the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 17.17 John 5.39 Aug. Confes l. 11. c. 2. 2 Tim. 3.13 Hieron in ep ad demetriad testifie of me saith our Saviour and therefore Deliciae meae scripturae tuae thy Scriptures are my delights saith S. Augustine and the reason is rendered by S. Hierom because they are able as the Apostle sâ—ith to make us wise unto salvation and all wisdom without this is but meet foolishness for Quid prodest esse peritum periturum what will it boot a man to be wise unto perdition to be subtle to play the Rebel to be a crafty Traytor and to go to Hell with a great deal of wit and learning Aug. quo sup as St. Augustine speaketh Psal 120.4.5 Therefore though you should be constrained to dwell with Meshec and to have your habitation among the tents of Kedar among the Egyptians or Babylonians among them that are enemies unto peace as God knows how soon any of us may be taken by such enemies yet if we leave them and take the holy Scriptures there we shall have the Lord to be our companion though we should be shut up with Jeremy in the dungeon But 3. For the
of all Seek ye first the Kingdom of God 1. The act injoyned is Seek ye 1. The act that is injoyned and if Christ had said no more but seek ye all men would have readily obeyed his command for all men seek And now they say we have a Sect of Professors that are called Seekers but as those silly women whereof the Apostle speaketh That they are ever learning 2 Tim. 3.7 and yet never come to the knowledge of the truth So our Saviour saith That many men will seek but they shall not find because they seek amiss and that is Either Why men find not what they seek for 1. What they ought not to seek Or 2. When they should not seek it Or 3. Where it is not to be found Or 4. Not so carefully as they ought to seek it 1. What we ought not to seek for 1. The worldlings seek indeed But what do they seek Quaerenda pecunia primum and for the wealth of this world Currit mercator ad Indos And so the Lawyer seeks the Physitian seeks the Divine seeks and every man seeks for something and too many seek for that which should not be sought for for revenge or for their neighbours goods and therefore they shall not find this Kingdom of God 2. When it is too late to seek 2. Others seek for what they should seek for i. e. the Kingdom of God and yet they find it not because that with those foolish Virgins whereof our Saviour speaketh they seek to enter when the door is shut Matth. 25.10 for as it is too late to shut the door when the steed is stollen so many times it is to no purpose to knock when the door is shut or to seek when it is too late for so Dives Qui negavit micas interris rogavit guttas in poenis which denied the crums to Lazarus on earth desires a drop in hell but he is denied and so shall all they be denied Qui quaerunt salutem in medio Gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae which seek for salvation and help in the midst of Hell or of Purgatory which was wrought in the midst of the earth and should be sought after while we live on earth And therefore the Prophet Esay biddeth us To seek the Lord while he may be found and that is now in the Church Esay 55.6 and not hereafter in Purgatory for now is the time acceptable now is the day of salvation 3. Others seek it and find it not 3. Where it is not to be found because they seek it in the place where it is not to be found for as they that seek for counsel among Fools and honesty among Knaves and truth among Hereticks may seek long enough and yet miss to find them so they that seek for the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of Christ in the Dominion of Antichrist or among unrighteous Rebels shall hardly find it And therefore we must seek it where it may be found and that is in the true Church of God and in his Holy Scripture and not in the Synagogue of Satan or in the Fanatique Conventicles of our upstart Sectaries or in any Popish and absolete Traditions of the Church of Rome 4. Others also seek the Kingdom of God and yet find it not 4. When they seek it so carelesly because they seek it so coldly and so carelesly as they do for great things cannot be had without great labour And therefore Solomon saith he that would find Wisedom must search for it as for Silver Prov. 2.4 and seek for it as we seek for hidden Treasure And you see the worldling cannot get a little wealth without labour the Lawyer cannot understand the Law without study and do you think with our foolish Enthusiasts that we shall understand the Holy Scripture without paines-taking Surely How no great nor good thing can be had without labour they that cannot understand Terence without a Comment shall never be able to expound the deep Mysteries of the Scripture and to reconcile the repugnant Texts thereof without Books and without Labour for as St. Aug. speaketh Quidquid est crede mihi in Scripturis illis altum divinum est Whatsoever is in those Scriptures believe me it is high and Divine and though in some places it is like a shallow Foord wherein a Lamb may wade and the meanest man may understand what he should do and the main points of his belief yet in many other places you shall find it like the deep Ocean wherein the greatest Elephant may swim and the best Wits fail to understand it And if the Câ—tizen cannot get his Wealth nor the Scholler his Learning without labour and pains do you think to find and to attain to the Kingdom of God by a â—old and careless seeking after it No no that cannot be Quia non dormientibus sed pugnantibus adveniet regnum Dei the Kingdom of God falleth not into the Sleepers lap but they that strive for it shall obtain it and therefore our Saviour bids us Luke 13.24 strive to enter in at the narrow gate and he saith that the Kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it away And so you see how we ought to seek for any thing that we would find when and where and how it may be found that is with such pains and care as it ought to be sought Now 2. The thing that we ought to seek for 2. Our Saviour thinking it not enough to bid us seek lest we should mistake the thing that we should seek and passing by all other things that are scarce worth the seeking or much looking after he setteth down that Vnum necessarium and that Pearl of invaluable price which we ought to seek that is the Kingdom of God And who would not seek a Kingdom Truly if Christ had said no more but seek a Kingdom I think enow would have been ready enough to seek it for it is strange saith Camerarius Camerar l. 5. c. 8. to consider of the inordinate desire that men have had to reign and to rule as Kings what Villainies they have committed to become Kings and what Execrable things they have don to continue Kings The ambitious and inordinate dâ—sire of men to reign as Kings for Amurath the Third caused five of his younger Brethren to be strangled in his presence and Ismael the second Son to Techmas King of Persia did put to death as many of his Bretheren as he could find and all the Princes that he suspected to have any desire to his Kingdom that so they might reign and rule without fear and Soliman mistrusting his own Son Mustapha when he returned Victorious from the Persian War and was received with such general applause caused him presently to be strangled and Proclamation to be made throughout all the Army that there must be but one God in Heaven and one Emprour
the first part of the practice of these beasts which is their constancy in the service of God day and night 2. Of the harmony of these beasts 2. For the harmony of these beasts I told you that it consisted of six parts whereof the first is concerning the mystery of the Trinity Touching which before I proceed any further I must say with St. Augustine Vbi trinitas unitatis unitas trinitatis Aug. de Trin. lib. 1. Of the true knowledge of the mystery of the blessed Trinity Patris Filii Spiritus sancti quaeritur nec periculosius alieubi erratur nec laboriosius aliquid quaeritur nec fructuosius aliquid invenitur we cannot any where erre more dangerously we cannot seek for any thing more laboriously neither can we find any thing more profitable then the knowledge of this holy mystery and therefore as he saith Non pigebit me sicubi haesito quaerere nec pigebit me sicubi erro discere it irketh me not to inquire where I stumble neither will I be ashamed to retract and to learn where I erre And so to proceed The holy Evangelist in this harmony of these beasts setteth down these two principal things Two things set down 1. 1 Of the Trinity of Persons The Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of Gods Essence 2. The Vnity of Gods Essence in the Trinity of Persons For the first To declare the Trinity of persons the Evangelist saith these beasts cry three times Holy holy holy as if they should have said Holy Father holy Son and holy Spirit and yet they say not holy Gods but holy God and to shew the same truth the very phrase and loquution or the like manner of expressing this mystery is used in divers places of the holy Scripture as where Moses saith Creavit Elohim coelum et terram God created the heaven and the earth where the Verb singular creavit doth manifestly declare the unity of Gods Essence and the Noun plural Elohim doth as plainly shew the Trinity of persons And again where he saith Faciamus hominem ad imaginem nostram let us make man in our Image where the Verb plural faciâ—mus declareth the plurality of the Persons and the Pronoun singular nostram sheweth the unity of the Essence even so here the word sanctus three times repeated doth manifestly declare the Trinity of persons and the word Deus God in the singular number doth as plainly shew the unity of Gods Essence And so the whole sum of all is 1. Quod Deus sit unus quoad essentiam that God is one That God is but one Essence and three persons and but one in respect of his Essence 2. Quod Deus sit trinus quoad subsistentiam that in the Vnity of that Essence there are three Persons in respect of their subsistence or manner of being And this will appear most evidently if you do compare together the 6. Deut. 6.4 Matth. 28 29. of Deut. and the 4. ver and the 28. of St. Matthew and the 19. ver For in the former place it is said Dominus Deus tuus Deus unus est the Lord thy God is one God and in the later place our Saviour commandeth his Disciples to go and to baptize all Nations in the Name and not in the names of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost therefore there is a Trinity of persons that is the Father the Son and the holy Ghost in the divine Nature Et una est numero essentia and yet there is but one Essence because no diversity can be given whereby these persons differ in regard of the Essence And therefore in regard of this identity and unity of essence in the three Persons our Saviour said Ego sum in patre et Pater est in me I am in the Father and the Father is in me and yet as St. Cyril saith Non est dicendum Pater est à filio vel in filio continetur we may not say the Father is from the Son or contained in the Son Nec est filius in patre ut nos in Deo esse et vivere dicimur Neither is the Son in the Father as we are said to be and to live in God Quia de ejus essentia nos non sumus because we are not of the essence of God but in and by the vertue grace and power of God But here it may be some will demand from whence have we the name of Trinity About the name of Trinity when as we cannot find the same in all the Scripture I answer that we have the word three from whence the word Trinity is derived for St. John saith There be three that bear witness in heaven and therefore as unity is derived ab uno from one so Trinity may as justly be derived from three and the Church of God Penes quam usus et forma loquendi to whom the phrases and forms of speech are committed hath power to use such words as may best express the Truth and confute the Hereticks so the same be not contrary to the sense and meaning of the holy Scriptures Now the difference between essence and person is this The difference betwixt the Essence of God and the Persons in the Godhead that the essence is the nature which is indivisible and common to the three Persons but a person Est subsistentia in natura divina as the Schools speak a subsistence or the manner of the persons subsisting in the divine Nature when the one person is distinguished from the others distinguished I say and not divided because there is no division in the divine Nature And the difference betwixt each Person is twofold The difference betwixt each Person and the others twofold 1. Difference internal 1. Internal and 2. External 1. The internal difference between the Persons is and consisteth in their internal operations and proprieties whereof the Divines say that Opera Trinitatis ad intra sunt divisa The internal operations of the Trinity are severed and divided because as St. Augustine saith Hoc est proprium patris quod solus est pater et quod ab alio non est nisi à seipso It is proper to the Father that he only is Father and that he is not from any other but from himself Et hoc est proprium filii quod do patre genitus est solus à solo coaeternus et consubstantialis genitori And it is the property of the Son that he is begotten of the Father the Son alone from the Father only coeternal and consubstantial to his begetter Et proprium est Spiritus sancti quod nec genitus nec ingenitus est sed à patre et filio aequaliter procedens It is proper to the holy Ghost that he is neither begotten nor created but equally proceeding both from the Father and the Son And this difference is not essential because the Essence of all three is the same
Isa 1.23 their chief Lords were rebellious and companions of thieves and their Judges their Sanhedrim and great Council of State afflicted the just as our Prophet saith and took bribes Ver. 12â— Jer 5 5. and turned aside the poor in the gate from their right and what a lamentable thing is this when the poor the fatherless and the widows that are oppressed shall come unto the gods to seek relief and they shall find them like Devils to add sorrows unto their afflictions and to make the remedy far worse than the disease when a man shall spend more in getting his right then his right is worth or when as the Prophet saith the judgement shall be turned into wormwood which is now with us as it was with them the very State of this Kingdom for when His Majesty called a Parliament the highest Court of Justice in our Land I may say of it as the Lord saith of Israel when he looked for grapes it brought forth wild grapes when we expected justice behold we found oppression and wrong yea such oppressions such injustice and such cruelty we found among these Judges and Princes of Israel as cannot be parallel'd among the worst of Pagans so that now indeed they have turned judgement into wormwood which by reason of its exceeding bitterness made the French Proverb Dioscorides l. 3. Apellus in Isagogico Judgment turned to wormwood two waies Fort comme à loyne ou absynte and made the Greek comicks to call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is impotable And judgement may be turned into wormewood two special waies Way 1 1. When it is done as it was upon Naboth without any colour of right without any cause and in the highest degree of injustice with the greatest measure of iniquity as when Aristides was banished out of Athens justus quia justus and the Christians were persecuted and murdered only quia Christiani and the Bishops are now hated of many men only because they are Bishops that is enough though we can find none other cause in them worthy of death or of bonds And this is indeed absynthio amarius bitterer than Wormwood and is done by none but by the Sons of Belial Jer. 5.9 And shall I not visit for these things Way 2 2. When it is done as Sulpitius Gallus did with his wife because she walked abroad without her vaile or as the Elder Cato did often deal with offenders and P. Aemilius did with Rutilius inflict a punishment for a just fault but in the highest degree of severity for though sometimes severity may and ought to be used ut multitudinis furores compescantur atrocia flagitia puniantur that the fury of the wild unruly multitude may be refrained and hainous offences as Treasons and Rebellions and the like intolerable sins may by the punishment of some be prevented in others for so we find that whole Towns have been burnt to ashes and famous Cities have been utterly destroyed for the Tumults and rebellions of undutiful and disloyal Citizens yet in oâ—her cases Lib. 19 in fine as M. Cicero saith in Marcellinus when it was in my power either to condemn or to absolve ignoscendi non puniendi quaerebam causas I did rather search out the means to save them then look after the causes to punish them or as Alphonsus being advised by some of his followers ut ne nimium lenis erga suos esset that he should no be too gentle towards his people lest they might bring him into contempt answered more graciously Good men are naturally clement that he was rather to take heed ne nimia severitas conciliet invidiam lest too much severity should beget him hatred so I believe it is the nature of the best men to be least severe as holding it the better course to offend on the safer side and rather mercifully to remit somewhat of the punishment that is due than rigorously to add any thing more than is just because mercy rejoyceth against judgement and it is hardly believed that the son of Severity can be a good child of the God of Clemency because as the Poet saith Sola deos aequat clementia nobis Claud. Excess of severity condemned by God Amos 1.4 5. And the Scripture reproveth the excess of cruelty towards the greatest Enemies of Gods Church For the Lord threatneth to break the bars of Damascus and to send a fire into the house of Hazael and to devour the pallaces of Benhadad and why will the Lord do all this but because they were not satisfied with the subjection of the Gileadites but when they had vanquished them they shewed themselves so merciless that to satisfie their wrath upon them Vers 3. they thrashed them with thrashing instruments of Iron And so the Lord threatneth the Moabites that he would send a fire upon Moab which should devour the Pallaces of Kerioth and Moab should die with tumult Amos 2.2 3. with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet and he would cut off the Judge from the midst thereof and would slay all the Princes thereof with him And why would the Lord do all this unto the Moabites but because they were not satisfied with the pyls of the Edomites but like merciless wretches triump ng in the miseries of miserable men they were so inraged against them that like bruit beasts which were void of all humanity 2 Reg 3.27 they burnt the bones of the King of Edom into lime for it is not acceptable unto the Lord that any man should insult over his enemies in the day of their destruction not speak proudly in the time of their distress and therefore we must examine quo animo as well as quo supplicio we do punish the greatest transgressours becâ—use God oftentimes is offended with the manner of that punishment whereof in respect of the matter he himself is the author And yet as in judgements and punishments you must qualifie your own Affections to do all without bitterness so you must look to the quality of the offendor for the same censure is not to be imposed nor the same punishment to be inflicted on him that sinneth through infirmity and upon another that opposeth authority and sinneth through obstinacy upon him that is seduced to rebellion and upon the seducers and leaders of the more simple Rebels All sins not alike nor the same sins committed alike for though all sins deserve punishment yet all sins are not alike neither do all commit the same sins alike but some sins are more contracted and more private and others are more publick and more spreading and therefore far more dangerous than the other because such sinners peccant docent peccare and therefore God ordereth his judgements according to the offences sins of infirmity he punisheth with pity and mixeth his punishments with Clemency but upon horrible sins he layeth terrible punishments Micah 5.15 and as he saith in Micah He will execute