THE EVNVCHE'S CONVERSION A Sermon preached at Paules Crosse the second of February 1617 By Charles Sonnibank Doctor of Diuinitie Canon of Windsor COR VNVM VIA VNA LONDON Printed by H. L. for Richard Fleming and are to be sould at his Shop at the great South doore of Paules on the right hand going vp the steps 1617. To the Right Worshipfull my worthie Friend William Allen Esquire Sonne and Heire to the Right Worshipfull Sir William Allen Knight sometimes Lord Maior of the Honourable Citie of London C. S. wisheth all the blessings of this and of the better life THis meane labour and work of mine Right Worshipfull and my worthie Friend framed onely for the Pulpit not for the Presse and intended onely to the eares not to the eyes of men had not at this time in this shape and forme presented it self to your view If either I could haue satisfied the importunitie of many of my Friends which did earnestly solicite me to print the same or could haue preuented the purpose of others whom without breach of charitie I may in some sense tearme my Foes who as I had a watch-word giuen me were minded in case I could not bee thereunto entreated to set forth in print those broken and vnperfect notes which they tooke from my mouth at the time when I deliuered this Sermon And here I confesse I was brought into a strait by my Friends on the one side my Foes on the other So that although I had long since put on a settled purpose to publish no Pamphlets in this Scribbling Age wherein so much paper is blotted and wherein so many as soone as they haue but laid an egge do presently cackle and bewray an itching humour of beeing in print yet as one that had forgot himselfe I haue relapsed and by a kinde of constraint haue fallen as you see from my first and best resolution and so by pleasing others haue displeased my selfe But howsoeuer I rest assured your loue to mee will excuse mee and will take in good parte this Paper-Present which reacheth out the hand vnto you for acceptance the rather for that in one part and passage thereof it putteth you others of your ranke in mind of that which You seldome forget namely that as God hath been very gratious to you in blessing you not only with great abundance of temporall blessings nor onely with a wise vnderstanding but with a pious and religious heart and in these respects hath made you great so you should striue by all means to blesse honor him from whom you haue your greatnesse as also for that it commeth from such a one whose desire is that all they who vouchsafe to reade these lines should knowe that the Author of them is one of those many which honour your Vertues and loue your Person Yours in all Christian offices of loue CHARLES SONNIBANK The Authors Post-script In page 114. line 14. these words 1. Effect He beleeued would haue been placed in page 112. immediately before the last line Faults of the Presse in some few Copies Page Line 26. 10. 11. For comforth read comfort 32. 1. For their read in their 33. 17. For way read may 94. 1. For came read ranne 108. 5. For on read onely THE EVNVCH'S Conuersion Acts 8.26.27.28 c. 26. Then the Angel of the Lord spake vnto Philip saying Arise and goe toward the South vnto the way that goeth downe from Ierusalem vnto Gaza which is waste 27. And he arose and went on and beholde a certaine Eunuch of Aethiopia Candaces the Queene of the Aethiopians chiefe gouernour who had the rule of all her treasure and came to Ierusalem to worship 28. And as he returned sitting in his chariot he read Esaias the Prophet c. AS we may cleerly see and behold with the eyes of our bodies the power and goodness of God in the creation of the worlde by his Sonne by whom hee made the world Hebr. 1.2 So may wee with the eyes of our soules much more cleerely see behold his more powerfull omnipotencie and goodnes in the recreating and new making thereof by the same his Sonne by whom he remade that is to say he redeemed the world Iohn 3.16 In the former Dixit formata sunt omnia Hee spake the word and all things were formed in the later passus est Christus reformata sunt omnia Christ suffered all things were made anew and reformed In the former hee shewed digitum potentiae the finger of his power in the later hee shewed manum misericordiae his whole hand of mercy In the former he breathed into the world the breath of life in the later it pleased him that his Sonne should expirare should breathe out his owne breath and lay downe his owne life for the world that so it might haue eternall life Thereby verefying vnto vs the comfortable trueth of that assertion which reuerend and Christian antiquity hath from age to age commended vnto vs to wit that God hath shewed himselfe more glorious in redeeming than in making the world and mankinde Now that this great work of mercy wrought by God in the person of Christ for the saluation of man might bee made knowne to all men it pleased God to make that great persecution mentioned in the beginning of this chapter to be a very effectuall meanes For whereas the godly and faithfull beleeuers in Christ were all gathered together in Hierusalem as it were so many Bees in one Hiue God beeing pleased that the hony sweetness of his sauing truth and the knowledge of his Sonne should be no longer shut vppe in that one Hiue but should bee imparted to others both men and nations suffered them to be scattered and dispersed in similitudinem granorum seminis vt ex ipsis magna seges fidei multiplicaretur that so of their sowing the seedes of faith of the knowledge of Christ there might follow a great haruest of beleeuers vnto God Which thing did accordingly fal out Nam vt ex grano spica as of one graine commeth a whole eare and sometimes many eares of corne so was it in them for many times one of their Sermons did beget and bring forth a multitude of faithfull beleeuers Among those faithfull beleeuers which by reason of this great persecution were driuen from Ierusalem beeing scattered abroad went to and fro preaching the word as appeareth in the fourth fift verses of this chapter Philip was one not that Philippe which was one of the twelue Apostles for they all as appeareth in the first verse of this chapter stayed still at Ierusalem but it was that Philip which is the second in the Catalogue of the seauen Deacons Act. 6.5 And this Philip after that hee had preached and conuerted the City of Samaria as it is set downe in the former part of this chapter was imploied and vsed as you see in the wordes of my Text for the conuersion of this
Wise men to our Sauiour Christ were not receiued by him into his owne hands because hee was an Infant but into the hands of his Mother that yet neuerthelesse he gaue vnto the Wise men that offered him those gifts Pro auro fidem pro myrrha spem pro thure charitateÌ„ for the gift of golde the vertue of faith for the gift of myrrh the vertue of hope for the gift of frankincense the vertue of charity And why may not we likewise say that although those temporal blessings which by honourable or rich or great men are offered to Iesus Christ himselfe in his poore members or are bestowed to pious and good vses that though they bee receiued onely by the hand of their Mother the Church yet for all that Christ Iesus himselfe will gratiously and plentifully reward the giuers of them 3 The third or the next thing which I noted in the person of this noble Eunuch is that hee came from his owne Countrie to Ierusalem to worship He might haue stayed at home and so haue saued himselfe a great iourney hee might haue sacrificed to the Gods of his owne Nation and there haue had other Noblemen of his owne ranke to associate him Hee might haue worshipped in Meroe the chiefe and Metropolitan Citie of Aethiopia and needed not to trauell so far as Ierusalem the chiefe and mother Citie of Iudaea But he could not so satisfie himself the Spirit of God wrought another effect in him and that light of knowledge which he had by the operation of the same Spirit which now had changed him into another man did to affect him and worke with him that now no Country but the Countrie of Iudaea no Hill but the Hill of Sion no Place but the Temple no Citie but the Citie of Ierusalem no God but the God of Israel could containe the large extent of his deuotion could fill the desires of his heart and satisfie his soule with comfort It was not contentment enough for him to wish with the Prophet Dauid O that I might ascend into the house of the Lord and come againe vnto Ierusalem there to pay my vowes to the Almighty and so to goe thither in conceit onely It did not sufficiently content him with the Prophet Daniel to set open those his windowes which were towards the holy Citie and looking towarde Ierusalem to direct his prayers to the Almighty It could not sufficiently content him to make a proxie to send giftes and to visit Ierusalem by his deputie but though the iourney were long the way dangerous and the expences great yet would hee vndertake the iourney and goe his owne selfe in person thither Hee went vp to Ierusalem to worship And although it could not choose but prooue a matter of hatred at the least if not of danger and disgrace to this noble Eunuch to entertaine a new forme of Gods worshippe different from that which was vsed by his owne Nation to renounce the superstitions of his Countie-men to single himselfe from the multitude and to refuse to communicate with his Ancestors and forefathers their heathenish and idolatrous seruing of God Yet did hee more esteeme the fauour of God then he feared the malice or disgrace of men and therefore the reuerence and loue which he did bear inwardly in his heart towards the law and truth of God and his holy worship hee shewed it outwardly in his actions openly professed the same before men Hee went vp to Ierusalem to worship An excellent example and worthie imitation not onely of great men and noble personages but of all men of what degree or calling soeuer they be In the matter of religion and the seruice and worship of God not to tie themselues to tread in the steps of others not to bee swayed by a multitude nor to follow their Ancestors and Forefathers in their errours and superstitions but most humbly and most willingly to embrace the true knowledge and sincere worshippe of God whensoeuer and by whom soeuer it is truly taught and brought vnto them A lesson not vnfit for these times and this Age wherein wee liue in which our aduersaries the Papists do so commonly vrge and so strongly inforce the example of our Ancestours and Forefathers against vs thereby concluding that because they were borne and brought vp liued died as they speake in the Romish religion that therefore we ought not to dissent from them and that without the blot imputation of Schism and heresie wee â—ay in no wise separate our selues from their communion or professe any other faith than that which they professed And to speake a truth I am hereof verely perswaded that by this as by their most powerfull and potent charme they doe bewitch and enchant more soules especially of the weaker sort than by all their other sorceries whatsoever and by this as by their strongest argument they do much preuaile and draw many from Iewry to Italy from Ierusalem to Rome from Christ to Antichrist By this motiue especially it commeth to passe that heere in this our Land as it may bee obserued great and whole Families great and whole Kindreds almost haue been and doe continue Popish because their Ancestors and Forefathers were so before them and because it were great presumption in them as they are made beleeue to thinke themselues wiser than They were But if this were an vniuersall absolute and certaine truth that fathers must be patterns and rules for their children to serue God by so that in no wise they may differ from them in matters of Gods worship then how is it that our Sauiour saith in the 14. of Luke the 26. that He that will not leaue his father and his mother for Christs sake should not be his disciple When all the Tribes reuolted together saith Tobit and the house of my father Nepththali sacrificed to the heifer Baal I alone went often to Ierusalem at the feasts as it was ordained vnto all the people of Israel Tobit 1.5.6 Gedeon was commanded by the Lord to throwe downe the Altar of Baal which his father had made and to cut downe the Groue that was by it Iudg. 6.25 And some of the Kings of Iuda are commended because they walked not in the Idolatrie of their Forefathers Saint Paul was the sonne of a Pharisie and the scholler of a Pharisie yet neither Father nor Master could make him continue in the superstition of the Pharisies after that hee was once illuminated and instructed in the truth It is a wise and and a godly speech of Seneca Epist 117. when wee cannot dissentire salua gratia nor consentire salua conscientia when wee cannot dissent from others without their displeasure nor consent vnto them without wounding or offending our owne conscience Let vs preferre conscience before fauour And it is a golden rule which Diuines haue resolued on and deliuered Where God and man speake both one thing there harken vnto both but where God speaketh one thing and
finde if with a single eye and without partialitie wee enquire thereinto that as in the former times so in all succeeding ages times euen to this of ours there was a Church of our Religion And although the Professors therof could not possesse whole Nations or Countries or Cities wherin they might freely openly professe their faith by reason of the great height tyranny of the church of Rome which not onely obscured them but did also cruelly persecute them Yet were there few Nations fevv Countries few Citties wherein there were not some from time to time yea and that also in the very bosome and midst of the Church of Rome that did learnedly and zealously and with the losse many times of their liues professe the same If any man shall heere call vpon vs to make a particular and precise bed-roll or catalogue of their names and aske vs who they vvere that so haue done I answere that besides all those which liuing in former ages and in the times of Popery who either could not by reason they were vnlearned be known publiquely to the world but onely to God and to their ovvne consciences to bee professors of our Religion or if they were learned did yet commit nothing to writing wherby the same might be known of them I say besides all those whose number no doubt was infinite great is the nūber of those godly and learned men of those faithfull witnesses which frō time to time both by writing by preaching and by dying haue shewed to the world that they groned vnder the burthen of Popery that they wished a reformation and that they were of our Church and professed our Religion The names of which men with the times in which they liued together with those passages and parts of their bookes and writings in which they witnesse that which I haue affirmed of them are collected together and set downe by many learned men of our part and therefore I will spare my selfe the labour of naming them vnto you at this time If any man shall further except and say They are but few that are named in comparison of the rest that their number is small let such a one know that the number is not small and if it were yet that it is no maruell that so few are named it is rather a maruell that so many are named seeing that the Church of Rome hath in all ages times so earnestly laboured to blot out and to deface the memory of all both men and matters which might speake for vs or beare witnesse vnto vs. For if at this day our Aduersaries wipe our very names out of bookes and command that no man shall name vs but in contempt wee may well assure our selues that their Ancestors haue done the like in former ages to the men of our Religion and hence it commeth that so few are mentioned and named in ancient stories The practice of the Papists at this day with vs defacing our names belying our opinions burying our memory corrupting our books suppressing the truth of things purging and razing all manner of Euidence by that diuelish deuice of their Indices expurgatorij their purging tables maketh vs assure our selues that in the same manner our Ancestors were vsed And this is a principall reason why wee yeeld not so perfect a catalogue as else we might doe 2. Proposition My second proposition vvhich I deliuered was this that They did not all die Papists which in their life time and in outward profession were Papists For seeing it pleaseth God sometimes euen at the eleuenth howre to call men to the knowledge of himself and to repentance and seeing Gods mercy is not bounded or confined to any times but that as hee will haue mercy on whom he wil haue mercy so also hee will shew mercy at vvhat time it pleaseth him to shevv mercie VVho can tell but that many of our Ancestors and forefathers being touched in conscience and renouncing themselues and all humane satisfactions haue at the time of their dissolution the approching of death changed their mindes and so in that faith and religion which wee professe yeelded vp their soules into the hands of God A thing the more probable and like to bee true because in these our dayes many Papists haue bin by most certaine and true experience obserued to haue done and to do the like who in articulo mortis beeing at the brink and point of death haue been content not onely to suspect and feare but to renounce their own merits and their owne works to disclaime the vvhole body of humane satisfactions and to cleaue onely and alone to the mercie of God in Christ for their saluation and so though they liued Papists haue died Protestants And no maruaile though many Papists haue so done and do so daily for alas what comfort or consolation can a wounded conscience and a soule laden with sinne now ready to depart the vvorld and to appeare before the maiestie of GOD in whose presence the Cherubins are polluted the Angels are vnholy and the heauens are vncleane there to answere the iustice of God and to giue an account for all things that it hath done in the bodie I say what comfort or consolation can such a sinfull and dying soule finde in reflecting it selfe vpon it selfe in the works of it owne hands in the worth of it owne merites in the fruites of it owne labours in crosses crucifixes Saints Agnus Dei's blessed graines holy reliques pilgrimages extreame vnction dirges trentalls masses in Priests absolutions in Bishops blessings in Popes pardons or in all or any of these or other the trash trumpery of Rome Will such Figge-leaues couer our shame will such sacrifices satisfie for sinne or can such stubble and strawe endure the fierie triall of Gods iustice and yet not be consumed Foolish Semele great was thy folly and thou art worthily taxed branded with a marke of folly and dangerous indiscretion euē by Poets themselues for desiring that Iupiter would in the selfe-same manner visit thee at his next comming in which hee vsed to visite Iuno by vvhich meanes it came to passe that thou wast not onely amazed at his brightnes but also by the lightning and thunder which attended him when he was in his maiestie wast burnt vp quick quite consumed So may I truly say and it is no poeticall fiction but an vndoubted truth which I am about to vtter to all proud Papists proud Pharisees and Iusticiaries whatsoeuer which gird themselues with their owne righteousnesse and arme themselues vvith their owne good deseruings and merites as it were with armour of proofe and coats of steele Foolish Papist great is thy folly thou art woorthily taxed and branded with a marke of folly and dangerous indiscretion who puffed vp with the winde of thine owne worth and being tickled in thine own heart with the wanton conceit of I wot not what proportionable agreement between thine owne proper inherent
ioyfull Message or gladsome tidings So spake the Angell to the Shepheards Be not afraid for behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shall be to all the people that is that vnto you is borne this day in the Citie of Dauid a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2.10.11 Which most heauenly most sweet comfortable doctrine when Philip had once taught and preached to this noble Eunuch it was no maruell though as a man full of gladnesse he went on his way reioycing For if libertie be gratefull to him that hath long been captiue if to be made a free-man be a cause of ioy and reioycing to him that hath long been a bondslaue if to be eased of a heauie burden if to be cured of a dangerous disease if to be brought foorth of a darke dungeon into the cleere light to conclude if to be raised from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to haue our part and portion in the communion of Saints if all and euery of these be blessings much to be esteemed of and true causes of reioycing Thē to be brought into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God to be made the Lords Free-men to be eased of the heauy burden of sinne to be cured of the infectious diseases which arise from humane corruption to be enlightened by the Spirit of God to liue vnto the Lord the life of righteousnes and to haue our names written in the booke of life all which were offered and exhibited by Philip to this noble Eunuch in his preaching of Iesus vnto him these things I say could not chuse but much affect him and be great causes of great ioy and reioycing vnto him And as Philips preaching of Iesus was to this honorable Eunuch a cause of much reioycing so also should the preaching of the same Iesus be a cause of ioy and reioycing to as many of vs as are by the mercy of God and the labour of his faithfull Ministers made the happy hearers partakers therof For looke what plenty is to men that haue long liued in penury what health is to men that haue been long visited wearied with sicknes what meat is to them that haue been long pinched and almost starued with hunger the same and more is the publishing and preaching of the comfortable assurance of Gods loue and fauour towards vs in Christ Iesus In whom though the traytor Iudas found no excellency aboue the value of thirty peeces of siluer yet his godly and faithfull children can and doe finde in him all the treasures of wisedome of iustification of redemption and saluation When Samson in the time of his extreame thirsting faintnes euen then when he cried out and said Giue me vvater or I die for thirst had tasted of that water which God miraculously sent vnto him his spirit came againe he was reuiued Iudg. 15.19 When Ionathan had tasted a little hony his eyes were opened his spirits comforted and his body strengthened 1. Sa. 14. Yet neither was the water which Samson dranke of nor the hony which Ionathan tasted of halfe so sweet comfortable to them as the preaching of Christ Iesus is to the fainting dying soules of true Beleeuers Great is the ioy vnspeakable are the comforts which the preaching of Iesus affordeth to the children of men the sauour of which comforts is sweeter in the Church of GOD than the sauour of Libanon and the ioy therof like vnto the dropping of milke and hony vpon their soules Samson found a swarme of Bees and hony in a dead Lion Hic est favus qui ex ore Leonis mortui exiuit Out of the mouth out of the word out of the preaching of Iesus Christ which is the Lion of the tribe of Iudah which was dead but is aliue and liueth for euer commeth such sweetnes as cannot be vttered or cōceiued Nemo nouit nisi qui accipit This is such a ioy as is not like worldly ioy which may be taken away Your ioy shall no man take from you Iohn 16.22 Christ like a royall King neuer entreth any citie any towne any village any priuat house or into the soule or minde of any priuate man but hee giueth gifts And it also pleaseth him of his fulness to giue to his Apostles his Disciples his Ministres power and grace also to make them able whersoeuer they come and wheresoeuer they preach him and publish his truth as heere Philip did to this Eunuch to giue great gifts to the sonnes of men to instruct them in the knowledge of God and so to fill their hearts vvith sweet ioyes heauenly comforts The publishing of the word of God the preaching of Iesus Christ is as Chrysostome speaketh in his 5. Homily vpon Gene. a casting of spirituall treasures into the laps or bosomes of men The L. God grant that my preaching of Iesus at this time may be a casting or sowing of such spirituall treasures and heauenly seed as may bring forth in you all much fruite of good liuing to eternall life Amen FINIS