violence there is no insequent time to call for grace and mercy But 3. since violence overcame them the sin was none of theirs but the Ravishers As St. Austin said of Sextus Brutus and Lucretia Duo fuerunt unus commisit adulterium the sin was wrought between two and yet one only committed adultery because Lucretia was forced But you will say and why doth St. Paul put Samson in the bedroul of the Patriarchs that had obtained the Promise if every one that is guilty of his own violent death be a Reprobate St. Austins answer is Latenter à spiritu sancto jussus est Samson had departed out of this world a Cast-away if he had not been prompted to pull down the Theater of the Philistins by some inward motions sent from God But some litigious one will say Was any sin ever committed but such an answer will make it a vertue Beloved Samsons case was not every mans for first he had extraordinary Revelations of the Spirit God did work many Miracles by his hands Secondly Samson prayed that his strength might be restored that he might be avenged of the Philistines and the Lord did give him strength for that purpose beyond the capacity of a natural man Put these together and they make a particular case that he above any other of the like sort was directed by the Spirit to pull down the house upon his enemies But in my own private judgment I have ever thought that Samsons care was not to bring certain death upon himself but only to hazard his life in a great venture which is lawful in Military Stratagems against enemies as to enter a breach upon the mouth of a Canon a Souldier may come off with safety but it is odds he dies for it A Seaman being boarded blows up the Deck he may escape himself but his chance is very hazardous and for ought any man is able to say to the structure of this house which Samson pluck'd down he saw no possibility but he might escape although he profest he would adventure to die with his enemies a mixt case it was not very hopeful nor quite desperate Howsoever St. Austins answer as I have illustrated it unto you is very satisfactory that he was moved unto it by some special instinct from God And so far upon this Point wherein I have laboured to let you see that the Devil hath not a more poysonous Arrow in his Quiver than to excite one to kill himself Bear with me if I have been copious in it Who can say enough against a sin so horrid so unnatural so unpardonable It did not content the Devil that Christ should fall from the Pinacle unless it were his own voluntary act If thou he the Son of God cast thy self down After this demand of Satans I propounded to intreat upon what supposition it was demanded If thou be the Son of God This thorn is yet in his foot and pricks him he would fain put it out of doubt whether this were the eternal and only begotten Son of God And he follows the search in these words as if he were no Infidel but by way of Concession yielded this thou art the Son of God therefore it can be no harm to thee to cast thy self down from a Pinacle of the Temple Which is as St. Paul writes If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead he was certain to atttain unto it and therefore that IF is a Particle of Modesty not of Hesitation As Ribadenira says of Father Ignatius that he halted of the wound which he received at Pampelune but so little that the most curious could scarce discern that he halted So Satan distrusts whether Christ were the promised Messias but so artificially that he would not seem to be distrustful But distrust he did and did rather presume Christ was no more than some excellent Prophet than otherwise For he knew that God could not be tempted the crafty Angel had that understanding therefore he hoped mainly he did but bicker with a man And a certain Expositor plaies wittily upon this notion that St. Matthew St. Mark and St. Luke deliver the manner of this tentation but St. John speaks not a word of it For as he collects the other three begin their Gospels with Christs temporary Generation how he was made man St. John begins thus In the beginning was the Word from the generation of God but because God cannot be tempted at all he found no place in his Gospel for this story Well because Christ eschewed the Tempters craftiness in the former bout and held him yet in suspence he lifts at him now with all his strength and thinks to be upon the rack no longer this second If thou be the Son of God shall discover all he doth not doubt it Et verbo facto est exploratio It is an exploration driven home both by word and fact 1. He took him up to the Pinacle Would he be taken along by him if he were the mighty Son of God Why not As an invincible Champion that dare fight upon any ground with his Adversary 2. The Messias was expected both at the holy City and at the Temple and he brings him unto both to see if he would acknowledge his Kingdom The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Sion Psal cx 1. And again The Lord shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Mal. iii. 1. Yet Satan could gather nothing from this for he made himself invisible in this transportation and was not seen Hereafter at his own season the whole City and Temple shall ring of him Behold thy King cometh unto thee meekly upon an Ass 3. He popp'd in a place of the Psalm but hereafter more of that very perversly hoping Christ would declare himself and say the application of this Psalm belongs to all the holy Saints but not to me that am greater than Saints and Angels But Christ spared that labour and gave him Scripture for his Scripture 4. Upon the tentation it self he presumed it would perfectly come to light who he was For if he cast himself down thinking he should be safe as when he pass'd through the air and yet catch hurt it is as he could wish Or if he catch no hurt and cast himself down that Miracle must allow him to be the Son of God All this the wisdom of our Redeemer declined proving that mans life must not be cast into danger where there is no necessity thus you see the Devil laboured hard and yet could not resolve the Riddle that troubled him If thou be c. And now let me shew you that this vile Connexion which he hath made is against all reason and consequency If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down There is as little Logick in this Hypothetical Proposition as there is Divinity in that verse of Davids Psalm as he hath quoted in the
better tidings to you Israelites than to any other Nation if you will accept them The Son of God came of their Fathers according to the flesh in their Country he came to preach daily and no where in the world beside in their eyes he wrought his Miracles and upon their bodies he practis'd his wonderful power to cure their Diseases to make their Blind to see and their Lame to walk He professed himself to be more devoted to their welfare than to all the earth beside before the Canaanitish woman I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel They were his he did acknowledge it he was theirs but they denied it he came to his own but his own received him not To abreviate my discourse in this point Evangelizo vobis they are glad tidings to you because it is given to you to hear the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven for blessed is the ear that heareth the things which you hear Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God It is flat cheating in the Devil to put dubitation into mans fancy on this wise I am partaker of the outward word but I know not whether God have gone any further with me to give me his inward Spirit to quicken that seed unto immortal life Beloved as Christ did institute both Bread and Wine to be the outward Elements of the Sacrament of his Body and Blood Bread is the substance of food Wine causeth the concoction and makes it comfortable food So the word preacht is the food of life and God never lets it go alone without some drops of the Wine of his Grace to make it nourishing and beneficial Jude xiii 23. Manoah the Father of Sampson cries out to his Wife we shall surely die because we have seen God Nay says she If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not receive a burnt-offering at our hand Neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would at this time have told us such things as these So let me answer all dubitative Christians unless the Lord did desire thy salvation he would not put his Word into thy ear nor his Sacrament into thy mouth The Gospel is an happy annuntiation to every one that hears it unless he quench the Grace which is offered unto him Evangelium omni populo the tidings are auspicious to all people To all people Trahit sua quemque voluptas There are so innumerous many fond pleasures desires vanities affections in several appetites can any thing satisfie them all yes it is relishable to every palat that will taste it though the true delight apprehended is included among the small number of the Elect yet it is given to all and no man shall say he is lost for want of a Redeemer and a sacrifice for his sins Cum omnibus scriptus significavit omnes says Origen He was taxed in his Mothers Womb by Augustus Caesar when all the world was taxed to intimate that he did communicate himself to all the world that after that conscription of their names in Caesars enrollment whosoever believed in him his name might be written among the Saints in the book of Life In the first lesson read upon Christmas-day thus you have it Isa ix 3. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil A good Harvest is not welcome to one Village but it is gladsome to the whole Country round about and when spoils are divided after the vanquishing of an Enemy every Souldier is enricht and hath his share Such a communicative blessing is our Saviours Incarnation every man fills his bosom with the sheaves of the harvest every Christian Souldier that fights a good warfare plucks somewhat from the spoils of the Enemy The dew of thy birth is as the womb of the morning A learned Father of our own Church transposeth the Versicle on this wise Thy birth from the Womb is as the morning dew which waters the whole earth As the walls of Jericho fell down before the sound of the rams horns so the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile methinks it fell down flat to the ground at this blast of the Angels trumpet in my Text that these were glad tidings not toti populo but omni populo not to the whole people of the Jews but to all the people of the world The wall of discord is taken away in the universe which parted those two great houses and shall not the sweet welcome of the Birth of Christ take away a wall of partition between thee and thy neighbour which is in thy heart Can you out of enmity and hatred wish sorrow unto any when God wisheth joy great joy unto all dost thou envy at the prosperity of thy brother when the Lord would have the same glad tidings common to you both Lay down old grudgings and quarrels with the old year and begin the new year with a new reconciliation in love unfeigned and true meaning Charity and the Lord renew a right spirit in us all Amen THE SIXTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 11. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. THE Angel hath made a brief Sermon upon a great occasion The occasion is the Incarnation of our Lord and who can be so copious upon that subject as the Mystery requires yet the Sermon which the Angel preacheth is neither a whole Chapter nor a whole Gospel but three verses of a Gospel In the multitude of words a great deal is lost unto the hearer the good application of a little whatsoever we think will yield the best fruits of increase But for such divine joy as is here proclaimed it was fit to roul it up in a small pill and to minister it to the audience in a little quantity How is it possible for frail flesh to subsist and not to be dissolv'd for gladness if the Angel had continued his tidings with such matter as he begun a Saviour is born unto you a Saviour is born no petty redeemer but the Lord strong and mighty a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. O it was provident care after the Shepherds had heard a little to tell them no more at once but rather to send them away into the City that they might see the rest After Israel had shaken off the Chaldean slavery and the Lord had turned the captivity of Sion David knew not how to express their astonisht joy but thus they were like unto them that dream as Livie says of the Grecians when the Romans that conquer'd them sent them unexpected liberty Mirabundi velut somni speciem arbitrabantur they received the tidings as if it had been a pleasing dream and themselves scarce awake So our sins have so much discomforted our hearts that our spirits are confus'd and faint if we receive all the comfort that God sends at once like a strong
day or in that year he did not learn the Shepherds nay I speak it with modesty I do not think he could teach himself Therefore I recoil back from that nicety and lay down my doctrine in this large lesson it was expedient that many revolutions of years should run out from the promise of Christs Birth unto the actual accomplishment 1. So great a matter was worthy much expectation and many predictions of the Prophets So St. Austin Quanto major Judex veniebat tanto praeconum series longior praecedere debebat the greater the Judge that was to come the greater troop of Harbingers and Apparitors should go before him 2. His Incarnation is fitted to the fulness of time because it falls out equally to try their Faith that should believe in Christ to come and to try their Faith who ought to believe that he is come that he is dead and risen again and ascended into glory 3. Between the time of Adams disobedience and the Birth of the Lamb of God a long space of years doth interlope that man might have time enough to see and feel his misery before the medicine was made to apply unto his sore 4. God is pleas'd to confer great honour upon our humane nature at three extreme distances in the beginning of the world toward the midst of it and in the end of all things In the first creation God made man after his own Image so began our excellencies then he made his own Son in the similitude of man a long distance went between these two Hereafter at the period of all things we are sure to have a glorified body and that our mortal shall put on immortality Now Christs Incarnation comes in the midst because he is the center of all Gods mercies towards us 5. The Jews whom Christ above all others calls his own He came unto his own c. they did sustain at this time and for some years had sustain'd a bondage under the Roman Conquest perhaps it is our Saviours pleasure that a great part of the Church shall be under a Romish thraldom against his second coming But this bondage was bitter to the Jews even at this day when Christ was born Caesars taxes were very grievous for Mary being ready to lie down was compell'd to come to Bethlehem to be taxed now in this day of oppression when the Jews I believe thought the yoke of captivity to be more intolerable than their sins and that they wisht for a victorious champion to fight for them then did God send them a greater Saviour than they wisht or lookt for not to acquit them from the Roman Dominion but from the pit of Hell And this is all that can be modestly conjectured about the opportunity of time c. This day is born unto you and as near as we can observe the course of the year by Astronomical skill this was the very day yet it is not that hodie of which the Angel spake unto the Shepherds then is not this part of the Text utterly unappliable to us no beloved but appliable to us also in the nearest degree for as we say of the sin of Adam Actu transiit manet reatus the act past away at the first but the guilt remains upon his posterity so our Saviour was born upon one particular day which is past but the merit and virtue of it is never past but abides for ever Wherefore to them that make the right use of this blessing St. Paul says it is out of date at no time but now is the acceptable time now when you will your self now is the day of salvation The Prophet Isaiah says the joy of this birth it like the joy of men in harvest that 's for the universality of all those that belong unto the field but for the extension of time it is not for the season of harvest alone but for all the year not gaudium in annum but gaudium in sempiternum Not an harvest joy for the plenty of one year but this is the bread of life whose plenty rejoyceth the eartn unto all ages It is as good news upon any day as it was upon one day says Bernard that Christ is born That day comes always anew to them that are renewed in the spirit of their mind and he is born every day to them in whose hearts he lives by Faith I must here cut off the circumstance of time and because the Sacrament must have a time to be celebrated I will speak but a few words upon the place and conclude The Angel directs the Shepherds to the City of David and thither did all the Scribes and High Priests direct Herod with full consent Bethlehem of Judea was the place where Christ must be born for so it was spoken by the Prophet Now Bethlehem is that City of David I know in the Old Testament the Tower of Sion is sometimes called the City of David a strong fortress in Jerusalem which David built to curb the Jebusites but that famous Metropolis of Jerusalem had nothing to do with this birth Little Bethlehem is here called the City of David where David was born Take notice I pray you that the Angel could have call'd it Bethlehem to take away all mistaking but it makes more to the matter to shew that Christ came of the house and lineage of David which was foretold Psal cxxxi Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat And mark how it falls out agreeably that Joseph and Mary came to no other Town but this to pay Tribute unto Caesar Had they been only of the Tribe of Judah as David was no nearer allied unto him they might have gone up to many other Cities much more famous than this to be taxed but being of the stock of David and indeed the nearest living in blood unto him therefore they go up to no City but to Bethlehem the City of David And thus you see the Angel conferr'd with the Shepherds in such words as were very proper they knew the place it was the next at hand they knew it belong'd to him that should be the Saviour of his people who according to the Scriptures belong'd to David by blood and to the City of David for his Country A poor caskenet to contain so great a Jewel Thou Bethlehem says the Prophet Micaiah the least among the Princes of Judah yet big enough to contain the Prince of Heaven and Earth Little Zoar says Lot and yet Zoar was big enough to receive him and his Children safe out of the fire of Sodom Poor Bethlehem which had but one Inn for strangers in it all it seems and that of small capacity which had no room no by-corner for a woman to be delivered in but only the manger of the stable Mean Bethlehem unless the Angel had spoke it the Prophet foretold it and the Star had shewed it to the Wise men who would not have gainsaid that the Saviour of all men could be
right to go first and the Tail to come after but Officers were changed upon importunity the Body was scratcht the Head was bruised every thing was out of order and by consent of all parts the Head was restored to that dignity for ever after to lead the Body And when disobedience hath disjoynted the frame of any Polity it is obedience must set all together and unite the Fabrick Observation of Ceremonies and petty duties may seem perhaps to be maintained too severely and the peremptory keeping of Circumstances to be rather Rigour than Discipline But it was the answer of a wise Magistrate to this complaint that assault would quickly be made against greater matters if the lesser were despised For observe it in a Wine-vessel the small twigs bind about the hoops the hoops bind about the planchers the planchers alone seem to contein the liquor you would think yet cut the small twigs and the hoops fly asunder the planchers start and the wine is spilt So is it with Ceremonies to despise our Garments our Gestures our Canonical Ordinances may seem no damage to Religion but the very substance of our Christianity would lie open to the wild Boar out of the Wood to root it up if the Hedg were broken In some cases I will grant it to be very true that the Orator says generosus est animus hominis magisque ducitur quà m trahitur our mind is free and noble and would rather go alone than be forced to duty but what duty can be expected from them in greater cases who are headstrong against Ecclesiastical Government in the smallest Ceremonies They that zealously wish abundance of happiness in the Church will be so far from complaining that Ceremonies are a burden to their Liberty that they would wish I think that Canonical obedience did lie more strictly upon the Clergie in the whole course of their Profession Which if it did I am perswaded that the studies of the Learned and the painful industry of Scholars had been more renowned in this Island than over all the World It is the sweet lenity of our Pilots to give us sea room to sail at random 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we were compelled to knit our strength in clusters our prowess would be better tried in Gods Cause than when we come single and scattered one from another to write a Controversie For when every man follows the genius of his own disposition licence cannot choose but bring in confusion for though every one should do well for his own part yet the work must be out of order Some Monk will say perchance this is our Religion and just as we would have it Immane quantum c. great is the difference between my Doctrin and theirs and I fear we shall not part friends thus First I commend obedience where the thing commanded is feizable and may be done as to build no houses to drink no wine they call for obedience in things impossible as to water a dead stick and make it grow to pour water into a Siev and the like This is not obedience but pertinax inertia loss of good hours wasting of time and fruitless negotiation I commend obedience which turned the heart of the Children toward their Fathers and gives this praise to the Rechabites that they would not be enticed by Priest or Prophet but in all things hearkned to the voice of Jonadab they commend those unnatural Monks that take a Cloister over their heads to sleep and fatten though their Parents be most unwilling and curse them for it I commend the Rechabites obedience which is grounded upon the Scripture approved by the Spirit of God and his Prophet Jeremy they have no ground for their Canonical Orders but mans institution Votum obedientiae non directè colligitur è scripturâ says Gregory of Valentia nay temporibus Apostolicis non institutae sunt religiones says Aquinas our Religious Orders are later than the times of the Apostles Lastly the obedience which I praise is such where the things commanded are lawful and just Wine in those hot Countries might well be forborn and temperance the better mainteined in Tents they might dwell and shades of Tabernacles to acknowledg themselves but Strangers and Pilgrims in this World and Heaven to be their Country some say it was to forewarn the Israelites that the Captivity of Babylon was hard at hand and it was in vain to build Cities for a long habitation Finally having neither Barns nor Store-houses their Herds and their Flocks were their riches and they forbore to sow the ground and to gather in the fruits of the Harvest these things are lawful and honest and in them it was expedient to hearken to the voice of Jonadab But the Romanists commend obedience wherein fas and nefas are alike to complot Treasons and Massacres to dissemble and lie for Priests to leave off their Weed and ruffle it in other Countries like Gentlemen all this is obedience yea Maffaeus commends a Novice of the Jesuits Order who was consecrating the Host at the Communion his Superior Liola call'd him away for no other end but to try his duty he left his God Almighty half made and half unmade in the midst of Consecration and hasted to his Superior This is sweet obedience Men that have reason and will subject themselves to the power and dominion of their Rulers by the inclination of their own will natural agents are compelled to yield to forcible agents because the weaker qualities cannot resist the stronger Now the Underling that obeys his Praelate is exempted two ways from his Authority as natural things two ways do controul the vertue of a superior agent 1. Propter impedimentum ex virtute superioris moventis if a greater force oppose a lesser the greater must carry the sway Green wood resists the flame of a little fuel because the mixture of the wood is too hard for so small a fire so the supreme dominion and power belongeth unto God and that obedience which is performed to Man against God it is sacrificium de rapinâ not Obedience but Atheism not Obedience but Sacrilege not Obedience but Flattery The second resistance is when a natural body is subject in some qualities and in some free from subjection as wax subject to the fire to soften to the Seal to set a stamp upon it So an Handmaid is to yield all bodily service of labour to her Lord but quoad prolis generationem aut corporis sustentationem non ligatur To surfeit her body by excess of meats or to pine it away with fasting to commit uncleanness or to enthral her self to Virginity this is beyond the Sphear of Authority and she is not bound unto it Let us gather up this second part of my Text into one closure we commend the Rechabites for their Obedience and by their example we owe duty to our Parents natural and civil those that begot us those that govern us We owe duty to the dead after
though they came of Bond-women Bildah and Zilpah Non illis obfuerunt natales ancillarum sed praevaluit semen paternum says St. Austin it did predominate in the advancement of their fortune that such a Father did beget them though their Mothers were Servants So it prevails in the holy things of the Gospel that the Father of Grace is above that blesseth them though they be delivered to you immediately by him that is a bond-man to iniquity the impediments that are under foot here be no impediments because our Jerusalem is from above Fourthly This holy City of God is above because it pursues not the things beneath but it seeks those things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God it is above in its affections The delights of the Synagogue were victory over their Enemies length of days a Land of Wine and Olives and flowing with Milk and Honey poor accessories of a transitory happiness This was tolerated unto them when the first Rudiments of the fear of God were taught but grandescenti puerilia excutiuntur these are too childish for us to look after In as much as long continuance of time hath taught us to choose the better part Jerusalem facit amor Dei Babyloniam facit amor seculi says St. Austin he refers all the World to belong to two Cities which he calls Jerusalem for the sound part Babylon for the wicked The whorish Babylon is built up with the love of transitory things the Virgin the Daughter of Sion is built upon the love of God Our Predecessors that lived near to the Apostles days did give such reputation to the Christian Name in the holiness of their conversation that all that they did or desir'd savour'd even in the nostrils of their Enemies of that which was above ask them what they would have The Kingdom of Glory And why they spent the day and night in fasting and weeping For the Kingdom of Glory And why they exposed their lives to ovethrow the Idols of the Heathen To get the Kingdom of Glory What need we more witnesses said the Judges that examin'd them their heads are forfeit for by their own confession they seek the Kingdom Alas poor souls trained up by Fishermen who had learn'd that one lesson from the mouth of their Teacher Behold we have left all No delights under the sky which they forsook not that they might not be forsaken of God took no more but bare necessaries for life out of all the store which the Earth afforded but fill'd up the wide chinks of their heart with the contemplation of that which is above In the antientest Irish Synod held under St. Petricius there is a polite passage for those Times and that Climate Use these outward things moderately non sumit lucerna nisi quo alitur all is superfluous in a candle but that which the snuff sucks up to maintain the light Some came after these that were renowned for the contempt of transitory things and the sweet elevation of their spirit among whom was Gregory the Great says our Bede praising him for our sakes animo illius labentia cuncta subter esse as water runs under a Bridg so all the fluxive things of fortune flowed beneath his mind But all latter Ages have justly deplored the decay of sanctity of manners as the vertues of Miracles were withdrawn so that admirable sanctity in the Church which bred both envy and amazement in the Heathen came to a much meaner perfection I know not how the baits of honours and voluptuousness are grown to be stronger tentations now than in those days when our Progenitors were squeaz'd between persecution and poverty for where is he that doth his duty now-a-dayes and looks not for some part of his payment in hand and to reap a crop out of these transitory possessions As Manna desisted to fall when the people eat of the fruits of the land so the sweetness of heavenly joy is not perceived any longer when our appetite rageth for these vile things for a dividend of dust and clay Recall your Soul and lure it higher when it stoops to this bait below when it extends its desires to things that are worse than its own substance so is every thing that we behold with our bodily eye it must needs return home less unto it self and be justly despised of God whom we talk to in our Prayer as if we were perswaded he was in Heaven and yet so busie we are in action beneath as if we sought our God upon Earth In a word by penetrating so far into these corruptible objects you have excommunicated your own Soul from the Church of Saints for that Jerusalem is above Fifthly The Church Evangelical is Jerusalem above in respect of the Jewish Hagar propter sublime pactum the Covenant that is made with us is sublime and magnificent not the dreadful Law of Works but the mild and gentle Covenant of Faith in the bloud of Christ Now this is nothing else but the very next point in effect the freedom or eternal redemption of Jerusalem which requiring a more spacious part of time to handle it I conclude all that hath been spoken for the present in the name of the Lord. AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON GAL. iv 26. Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all ST Paul in his Apology which he made against those that did detract from him at Corinth confessed that he was rude in speech And St. Hierom says Paulum nequaquam de humilitate sed de conscientiae veritate dixisse That is he wrote it in the earnestness of truth and not in the submission of humility St. Austin says he did but grant his obtrectators their own false opinion in that saying for he had the genius of a most perswasive Oratour and spake with the tongue of an Angel These passages may be reconciled For verily he did for the most part go the beaten way of the Spirit of God and handled heavenly things in a plain stile For the Gentiles sought after wisdom but since by wisdom they knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe Yet St. Austin had his eyes open that he did espy very elegant and most graceful amplifications here and there in his Epistles as occasion did demand that he should dip his Quill in Eloquence We are at home for an instance in this Text. An Allegory of all other Tropes in Rhetorick is no little Bud but the fairest flower and most blown in their Garden This Figure the Apostle makes use of as he professeth vers 24. and runs upon it very copiously to set the Synagogue and the Christian Church the Old and New Testament in comparison one against another He carries it before him from the situation of two Mountains Sinah in the Desart of Arabia Sion in the Holy Land which two Hills became very famous by accident Sinah for the Law Sion for the