10.1 After his Death Apostles Bishops Deacons After the Apostles dayes Bishops Priests Deacons I too well know Hesterni Illi as Tertullian called Praxeas Some later Writers have had their new-found and different thoughts touching those Church-Degrees and Hierarchy But the Consentient Judgment of Antiquity and universal continued practise of the Church shall ever be reputed by me The best Interpreter of Scripture The third thing is their Preparation The two first make good the last And we must be Discentes antequam Docentes as Bernard said Learners before we can be Teachers They tell us greater Gifts were reserved for these times and those dayes of Ignorance are past Amen say I. But what if our Gifts be less and our Presumption more They tell us of Jeremy and Daniel both Children of Amos an Herd-man of Elisha this Elisha taken from the Plough But sure Jeremy was Propheta Natus Jer. 1.5 yet was afraid to undertake the Calling till he had a command and a promise and a touch too v. 9. Daniel was bred up a Scholar Dan. 1.4 and at v. 17. God gave him knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdome And Amos had his special call from God Amos 7.15 c. I have read indeed of Learning gotten without Learning Archippus Ingenio pro Libris utebatur Anthony had the Heavens for his School-master Nepotianus his memory alone made him learned so that from a Souldier he became a Priest Johannes Trajectensis Episcopus à Plaustro ad Pulpita ascendit Divinitùs edoctus Nay I have read of one Qui omnium Linguarum notitiam ex morbo adeptus est An happy Sickness What shall I say of these but that Spiritus ubi vult spirat John 3.8 The Creator of Spirits can inspire how and when and whom he please And these and the like Examples are not for Imitation but Admiration Solomon hath a good Rule Prov. 24.27 Prepare thy Materials and then build thine house First get Learning and then expect a Call 'T is St. Paul's Rule too 1 Tim. 4.13 Attende Lectioni and v. 15. Give thy self wholly to it v. 16. persist continue But beware of those Clouds without Rain that boast themselves of their false Gifts Prov. 25.14 Who instead of dividing the Word aright 2 Tim. 2.15 do slice and chop it out without Rules Method Matter any thing full of Battologies Tautologies vain Repetitions tumbling out Non-sense with incredible Confidence The second observable thing This Filius Prophetarum was Vxoratus a married Man We meet with three sorts of men The first are Enemies to Women The second to Marriages The third to Priests marriages As for Women-haters in general I could willingly let them pass by as unworthy to be thought upon but that some of them think it their greatest praise when they can wittily dispraise that Sex I can think them no better then Cowards that are sure to strike when they cannot be stricken again Doubtless there 's many a Jezebel Herodias Messalina and those Jones of Naples There are many such as Bernard stigmatizeth Mulier secularis Organum Satanae But 't is Secularis then 't is a bad woman must be so bad an Instrument Tertullian cryes out Tu es Diaboli Janua Tu es c. But I see no reason why one Eve should make us angry with the whole Sex more then one Adam who did personate and represent Mankind and by his Transgression conveyed sin to all his Posterity And though the Apostle some where layes the blame on Eve for the priority in the Transgression Adam was not deceived but the Woman 1 Tim. 2.14 Yet for Natures Gangreen and Sins Transmission the same Apostle sends us all to Adam Omnes in Adamo 1 Cor. 15.22 All died in Adam I might hear bring in Cyril speaking but untowardly of Women but he elsewhere gives them their Right again And the like doth Hieronimus Tertullian after so many shrewd speeches yet he allows them a place in Heaven though not as Women for he thinks they must change their Sex into that of men Idem Sexus qui est viris The Turk in his Alcoran shuts all women out of Heaven But let him go for a Turk Some may think better of him who gave the Gods thanks that he was not born a woman But I am sure he had never been born without one We must pass from Women-haters to Wedlock-haters Such as like the Sex but not the Knot They can love a Woman but not a Wife There are perchance too many Libertines of this Opinion in these dayes of old the Adamites and Albanenses of late the David-Georgians taught Matrimony to be evil in it self The Tatians nil differre à Scortatione Durand de Waldach Matrimonium nil aliud esse quam occultum Meretricium O Enemies of Mankind O Doctrine of Devils Foretold condemned by St. Paul 1 Tim. 4.3 Matrimony instituted in the time of Innocency and honoured by our Saviours presence in the Gospel 2 John Well if not all Marriages yet Priests-Marriages are cryed down hewed down by a stronger hand Indeed they be but yet with greater strength justice reasons powerfully maintained I shall but touch this string 'T is a common question between us and the Papists 'T is sufficient that amongst the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and ancient Bishops and Fathers of the Church we still find married men who lived more chastly with their Wives without Concubines then these now with their Concubines without Wives But above all we have the Apostles warrant for it Marriage is honourable in all Heb. 13.4 And the Son of the Prophet here was a married man The third Observation He was a good man He did fear the Lord. Yea will some body say So did the Devils also Ja. 2.19 Nay not so 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there they do more than fear they tremble and alwayes tremble A word taken from the waves of the Sea that are never at rest No Lucida intervalla no hope no intermission Non est pax impiis Less Diabolo The usual distinction of Fear is into Filial and Servile Fear Fear to offend and Fear to suffer But Devils fear Timore Desperationis And good men fear Timore Venerationis So is Fear taken in this place for the Worship of God Veneration and Piety Moses will tell you that to fear God is To keep his Commandements Deut. 6.2 The Psalmist will tell you He that fears the Lord doth delight in his Commandements Psal 112.1 Solomon He that fears the Lord will depart from evil Prov. 3.7 and Chap. 14.2 He that walketh in Vprightness feareth the Lord. St. Paul sums it up in three words Titus 2.12 Sobrie juste pie Those three duties concern God our Neighbour and our Selves Piety is for God Justice for our Neigbours and Sobriety for our own selves And these make a man good indeed These are like Solomons three-twisted cords not quickly broken Eccl. 4.12 Religion consists not in Lip-labour nor in hanging down the heâ—d or
Blessed be God we need not say so we amount to thousands and as Tertullian said of the Christians in his days Singuli magis noti quam omnes Could we take a view there thousands might amount to millions such as whatever their knees have done their hearts never bowed to God-Parliament But what are these to many millions So many so suddenly fallen off from Religion Loyalty Friends Faith and all that good is But the Devil is a cunning Fisher and hath baited his Hooks thorowly with the fat Lumps of Bishopricks and Cathedrals and least that should he too little for the Maws of those Cormorants there 's more bait Forrest-lands Ships Offices and I know not what And now have they verified that old Proverb No Bishop no King But God bless them both I hope he will suffer no man long to do them wrong There is one thing yet remains and that 's the Place whither our Pilgrims went But I remember that saying Vivorum difficilis censura 't is dangerous to censure living men much more whole Countreys specially where the Censor is nec beneficiis nec maleficiis cognitus But something doth misg ve where the sweet Innocent Dove finds no rest fo the sole of his foot I hope he shall ere long and an Olive-branch too But you Worthâ—es and the rest of my dear Country-men In Joshuah's dayes one Aâ—hâ—â— was the overthrow of an Army The Theft of Achan Afterward in Jeroboam's dayes the Son of Joash one Jonah w thout a special Providence had been the total ruin f a Ship and all the Passengers The Disobedience of Jonah In Christ's dayes one Judas dissolved the best Society that ever trod upon the Earth The Treason of Judas Is there no Achan Jonah Judas amongst us God grant it You have gone from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People and are you all sound at the heart none tainted with the Vices of those Countries you come from Let no Amasiah bite the lipp and tell me this is Bethel I know it well But where was God more dishonoured then at Bethel which became Bethaven And who hath more betrayed a glorious Cause for King Country and Religion then some which were the sometimes Grandees of the Court and the pretended Servants to the same And who hath more disgraced dishonoured blasphemed the Name of Christ and his Religion then those that do profess themselves the Reformers and Refiners of Christianity You know the Macedonians in Babylonia Carthaginians at Capua and the French at Naples what they found and what they learnt and what the end of it was If any one be tainted yet there is a Salve for that soar there is a Noli amplius O sin no more least a worse thing happen Give Glory to God with Achan Cry tollite me with Jonah Or if that be hard then say with David Tolle or Dele blot out my unrighteousness till thou find none I conclude with the words of St. Paul Rom. 10. My hearts dâ—sire and prayer to God is that they may be saved And that as Israel you may have power and prevail with God and Man Be of one heart and of one mind Pour out your souls in prayer for all men for Kings for our King O Lord deliver him not over unto the will of his enemies and let not those who câ—â—selesly and maliciously persecute him let them not longer triumph over him Cloth them all with shame but upon himself let the Crown flourish May we live to see the day when we shall sing with Moses Surge Domine Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered Nay Return O Lord return to the ten thousands of Israel Numb 10. ult With David I began with David I must end Arise Lord into thy resting place thou and the Ark of thy strength Let him find a resting place Let his golden Pot of Manna be all glorious without and gracious within Let Aaron's Rod bud blossom and yield Almonds Let the Tables of the Covenant be preserved entire in despight of all cursed Covenanters And let him who is utriusque Tabulae Custos find favour in the eyes both of God and Man Amen A SERMON UPON 2 KINGS IV. 1 2. Now there cryed a certain woman of the wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy servant mine husband is dead And thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord And the Creditor is come to take unto him my two Sons to be Bond-men And Elisha said unto her what shall I do for thee tell me What hast thou in thy House And she said Thine Hand-maid hath not any thing in the house save a pot of Oyl DEATH Sorrow Penury and Fears begin the Text Compassion Deliverance and Plenty end it Here 's a Story fraught with much variety Many are the Miseries and yet a Salve for every Sore After Poverty comes Plenty unexpected Mercy follows cut-throat Cruelty Fear and Danger find Deliverance You have here the brief Relation of a Man and his Wife of a Widow and her Children of a Creditor and his Debtor Of a Prophet and his Client or Petitioner The Woman acts the greatest part in whom you may observe three things Her Distress Her Address Her Redress 1. What she suffered 2. To whom she applyed her self 3. What the Issue was Her Distress is fully shewed in three respects 1. In the loss of a good Husband 2. Ecce Creditor she is like to loose her Children after 3. Her poverty and inability to relieve her self or them We shall begin with the Husband He is said to be Filius Prophetarum and a good man and therefore the loss the greater Where by the way those Prophets were not only such as did foretell things to come and are often called Seers in Scripture but also such as did interpret and expound the Law teach and instruct the People and pray for the Congregations Now Filii Prophetarum were such as were bred up in Learning and fitted to succeed the Prophets either at Jerusalem in the Temple or in the lesser Synagogues abroad in the Country And we shall note in them three things Cohabitation Subordination Preparation First their Cohabitation in the Schools and Nurseries of Learning Secondly their Subordination and rising by degrees Whence the younger are called Filii Prophetarum Thirdly their Preparation and fitting them to the work they were to be imployed in not leaping into the Ministry but acquiring some competent knowledge and measure of Learning before they presumed to offer themselves abroad unto the World First For their Cohabitation in certain Schools and Nurseries of Learning read but 2 Kings 2.3 at Bethel vers 5. at Jericho 2 Kings 4.38 at Gilgal Unto which add 2 Kings 6.1 Acts 22.3 Secondly For their Subordination and Degrees You have Aaron and his Sons Priests and Levites Principes Levitarum Principes Principâ—â—â— Numb 3.32 In the New Testament we have our Saviour the High-Priest twelve Apostles seventy Disciples Luke
can offer up no greater Sacrifice to our Master We can purchase no greater happiness to our selves We can leave no better example to others We can bring no greater comfort to our Friends then under the hand of the merciless Executioner undauntedly to acknowledge whose Servants we are and with a free though fading spirit to confess our Saviour First We can offer up no greater sacrifice to our Master You shall first understand who ought properly to be called a Martyr Cyprian makes two sorts The first of them who shed their bloud Cypri ep st 9. Epâ—â—t 25. c Lib. de Duplâ—ci Martyrio in ter opera Cypriani tomo tertio Zanch. tomo 6. in cap. 2. ad Philip v 30. apud Aquinam 2â— 2â— q. 124. art 4. the second of them who are ready so to do for Christs sake And to those last torments were wanting saith one they were not wanting to the Torments Zanchius a knowledgeth that the Curch did usually call this later sort Confessors yet he will have Epaphroditus a Martyr and Hierom doth somewhere call the blessed Virgin a Martyr quamvis in pace vitam finicrit and Poâ—icrates * Euseb l 3. c. 28. G. 3. calls John the Evangelist a Martyr And Chrysostome tells the people of Antioch that a man may alway be a Martyr for Job was one and suffered more then many Martyrs did saith Bernard in his Sermon of Abbot Benedict Homil. 25. pretily differenceth Martyrs from Confessors and somewhere else tells us of three kinds of Martyrdom without bloud We must first conclude with Cyprian and Augustine In Senten Gab. Prateol Flench Heâ—es lib 3. §. 5 The Cause not the Suffering make a Martyr We disclaim the Campates a kind of Donatists who would have all voluntary Deaths Martyrdoms I think St. Augustine calls them Circumcelliones August de Haeres c 69. Prateol l 13. § â—6 Zanch tomo 6. in epist ad Phil cap 1. Idâ—m ib d August â—omâ— in Psal â—â— And l kewise Pelibianus who taught them to be Martyrs who slâ—w themselves in detestation of their Sins But â—o saith one Judas should have been a Martyr Secondly As Talis Causa so Talis Poena They are Martyrs who testifie the Truth Vsque ad mortem even sealing it with their 〈◊〉 The other whom the Church calls 〈◊〉 are â—eâ—â—de 〈◊〉 Martyres aequivocè Martyres so Zanchius Vbi Suprà in c. 2. v. â—0 in secundam secundae q. 124. art 4. Apud Zauch ubi supra in cap 1. Designati Martyres so Tertullian Interpretativè inchoativè secundum quâ—d mental Martyrs so Cajetan And therefore we may be bold with St. Augustine to blot out some and question other some even the holy Innocents themselves question I say not their bliss but their testimony that the dignity of Proto-Martyrship may remain unto St. Stephen The sum of all is this He is properly a Martyr who is tormented to the death for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ Revel 1.9 Of King Henry and Queen Maries Martyrs both for the honour of the dead and the peace of the Church I say nothiâ—g Academ quaest Cic 1. Officiorum Perchance the question then was or most while was for bounds as Tully speaks but now 't is for the whole possession and inheritance Nay 't is Vter esset non uter imperaret I am sure Heaven cannot hold us and Mahomet and blessed is he that shall lay down his life in so good a Cause A cup of cold Water shall not lose his reward Math 10 4â— Whosoever shall forsake Houses Mark 10 3â— or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for the Name of Christ shall receive an hundred fold more for the present and in the world to come eternal life What shall he have that forsaketh all He that offereth praise and thanksgiving honoureth God Ps◠〈◊〉 ver◠〈◊〉 He that gives his bread to the poor members of Christ feeds his Saviour but he that gives himself his life his bâ—â—â—â— doth give all and therefore more then all He that gives his life can give no more John 15.13 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen thou couldst offer no greater sacrifice to thy Master Secondly We can purchase no greater happiness to our selves I should much wrong you if I should labour to prove this If Heaven be better than Earth if the Crown of life better than the pains of death if things eternal better than temporal if to be alwaies happy better than ever in hazard in fear in trouble then he that suffereth for the Name of Christ doth to himself purchase Name Fame Heaven Happiness and with Mary hath chosen the better part which shall never be taken from him then he that loseth his life shall find it Math. 10.39 and he that dies with Christ shall live with him shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2.11 and the momentany afflictions which he doth here endure shall cause to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more excellent weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 In a word participes passionis shall be gloriae participes as saith Chrysologus If we share with him in affliction here Chrysolog serm 40 Calvin inâ—titut lâ—b 3 â—ap 8. sect 7 he will impart to us blessedness hereafter So happy are these men whom God vouchsafeth that special honour as to die for him Write them blesâ—ed aâ— the voice said Revel 14.13 no men more no mâ—n like And therefore râ—member â—rom whence thâ—â— a t falâ—en Thou couldest purchase no greater happiness to thy self Thirdly We can leave no better Example to others St. Paul Philip. 1.12 14. tells us that his durance turned to the furtherance of the Gospel insomuch that many Brethren in the Lord were emboldned through his bands and durst more frankly speak the Word In Ecclesiastick History you shall read continually how one Martyr led the way to another and the noble resolution they shewed in their Death made hundreds then alive to take the same course yea so powerful is Example in this kind that the very Heathen not onely gave them testimony of Courage but were won to the Faith and sealed the same Testimony with their bloud Beda Hist. Angl. lib. 1. Palatina and the 3 Convers of England part 3. So did St. Alban beget his Headsman to the Faith and had him his Companion to the Kingdom of God So did the Constancy of Pope Sixtus the second strengthen St. Laurence and St. Laurence brings Romanus from a persecuting Souldier to be his fellow-Martyr Tryphon did the like and almost who did not The Phoenix-ashes some say yields another Phoenix but the Martyrs by life and death beget many Tertul. apolog c. 50. Semen est sanguis Christianorum Now if they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. How happy are those faithful Witnesses in Heaven whose holy lives and unterrified
unappalled deaths did strengthen some and raise up others and draw thousands from the very sink of Atheism and Infidelity to know and acknowledge their most gracious Redeemer And therefore remember from whence thou art fallen thou couldst never leave a better Example to others Fourthly and last of all We can never bring greater comfort to our Friends The Heathen when his Child was dead comforted himself with that inexorable unavoidâ—ble law of Mortality scio me genuisse mortalem but what unspeakable comfort would it be to say I know I have begot one who is now a Saint in Heaven 3. Convers of England part 3. Chrysolog serm 134 c. This made those three Mothers Felicitas Simphorosa and that other in the Maccabees to encourage each of them their seven Children in their torments and the comfort they received in their Childrens Constancy was much more than the pains they endured through the Tyrants fury This made the Mother of Simphorianus run after him when he went to hâ—â— Martyrdom still crying out Son Son be mindful of everlasting life Histor. Eccl. lib. 4. c 16. look up to Heaven c. And this made that Woman in Theodoret renowned for her care as well as constancy When Valens the Emperour had threatned death to all un-Arrianized Christians at Edessa and Modestus the Governour with his Souldiers stood ready in the Market-place to execute the Decree a Woman leading her little Child by the arm broke through the press and laboured to get in among her fellows The Governour demanded her whither she went she tells him She would drink of the same Cup the rest did And being further demanded what her Child made there and why she had brought it Her answer was That he also might die that blessed death Indeed great was the joy of the whole Church Erasmus vâ—rginum Martyr Comparat Cyprianus de lapsis tom 2. Vbi Martyr constanter exhalasset animam pro Christo Great was their joy if any died couragiously and great their sorrow their grief if any fainted cowardly wretchedly wickedly Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen Thou couldst bring no greater comfort to thy Friends Tertullian writing to the imprisoned Christians whom he calls Martyrs Cap. 4. exhorts them to endure constantly by the Example of Lucretia Mutius Empedocles and such others who suffered much to little purpose onely to get a terrene fading faine among men Tanti vitrum Ibid. quanti verum margaritum If they did so much for glass what should we do for gold If honour were bought at so dear a rate why should we grudge upon the same terms to get Heaven Cygneorum Carm lib. pag. 1051. a. Nazianzene s mâ—where tells us that the Heathen were onely valiant when the danger could not be shunned it was much if it were so But what bad Scaevola burn his right hand for missing in the murther of Porsenna Cic orat de Provinc Consul or if he stood in danger what is that to Lucretia or to those Noble Virgins who threw themselves headlong into Wells to save their Virginity Who made Brutus and Torquatus kill their Sons Who compelled Regulus to return ad crudelissimum hostem Cic. 3. officiorum ad exquisita supplicia to those mercisess Enemies to that strange death of his at Carthage And what made the Stoicks so prodigal of their lives B King on Joâ—as Lect. 27. that they little regarded the very extremity of Tortures and when they were upon the Rack they would cry out O quà m suave as if it were sport Surely nothing but a thing of nothing Honour and a Name amongst men while the noble Martyr shall have the acclamation of the Angels and an Euge of his Saviour Heaven is his 2 Sam. 12.8 and as Nathan told David if that be too little he shall have more his Name shall never perish from the Earth As Cicero said of Metellus Pro domo sua ad pontifices Calamity hath made them immortal even here also Their Prisons were visited as places made holy by the Inhabitants Men Women young old did kiss the Chains in which they had been fettered preserve the swords for Relicks by which any had been deprived of their life their Ashes sacred their memories blessed their Anniversaries kept the day of their Death being their Natalitiae the first of time in which they began truly to live And what could be wanting where Miracles were plentiful God even at those very places where the Martyrs lay witnessing their blessed state by many Miracles but I forbear As St. Ambrose said of one of them De virginibus lib. 1. Appellabo Martyrem praedicavi satis The Name of a Martyr is a whole world of Commendations Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works But this is not all here is a Quo vadis here is a whither we fall as well as whence we fall and a Terminus ad quem As God said by Jeremy Cap. 2. v. 13. The people have committed two Evils They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and have digged them pits even broken pits that can hold no water and as elsewhere They have forsaken me 1 Sam. 8.8 and worshipped other gods no Gods They have gone from Christ to Antichrist from God to Mahomet that same inimicus home that hath done so much mischief to Gods Vineyard Wherefore as Pilate sometime said of him in whom he confessed John 19. that he could find no fault at all Ecce homo I shall say to you of this cursed Caitiff and scourge of Christendom in whom I can find nothing but faults and those monstrous ones Ecce homo Prateolus en Rinoldo Haeres lib. 2. in Bayras Polidor Virgil. de invent lib. 7. cap. 8. take a view of him And though I cannot affirm whether he were genere admodum vilis as some or nobili genere natus as others Whether he were descended of Noble or obscure Ancestors nor whether his Parents were Jewish or Pagan or both or neither nor whether he were an Arabian or a Persian or neither nor whether he was buried at Mecha or Medina or at neither but devoured of Doggs the hellish history of his Life and Death being as obscure as Hell Purchas lib cap 3. In Verrem 3. yet all accord that he was what Tully said of one Immensa aliqua vorago aut gurges vitiorum turpituâ—inumque omnium the very puddle and sink of sin and wickedness A Thief a Murtherer an Adulterer and a Wittal And from such a dissolute life proceeded those licentious Laws of his That his followers may avenge themselves as much as they list Ph. Morney de veritate Christian. relig c. 33. That he that kills most Infidels shall have the best room in Paradise and he that fighteth not lustily shall be damned in Hell That they may take as many Wives as they be able
those crimson Capital offences that as the Orator said 2 in Verrem They might Cure not cover the wound and labour to profit raâ—her then to please the Patient So Clerus Romanus ad Cyprianum inter ejus opera tomo 1. ep â— That neither the wicked might be incouraged by their Facility nor religious minds disheartened by their Cruelty and yet of the twaine it was better with Domitius to be thought severe in punishing then dissolute in praetermitting passing by the wickedness Thus were some strengthened in Faith and armed against Lapses others were made to see the greatness of the sin and terrified against Relapses All were framed ordered tuned to a most wished happy harmony in the Church of God Reply p. 41. Yet Mr. Cartwright that disturber of Sions peace will cry out against the Churches severity extream excessive severity and though he somewhere tells us That Murderers Adulterers and Incestuous persons must die the death the Magistrate cannot save them such is this mild Moses's mercy toward those yet here pardon Ibid. p. 36. pardon pardon And lest he might seem any way to favour the proceedings of the Roman Church though when she was younger by fourteen hundred years then now she is Ibid. p. 149. He tells you That if Offenders be not meet to receive the holy Sacrament of the Supper they are not meet to hear the Word of God they are not meet to be partakers of the Prayers of the Church and if they be for one they are also for the other But this is he who thinks it more safe for us to conform our indifferent Ceremonies to the Turks Ibid pag. 131. Calvin Institut lib. 3. cap. 3. sect 16. Ibid lib. 4. â— 12. sect 8. which are afar off than to the Papists which are so near Indeed his Master tells us That the Church did use too much rigour And would know Si Deus tam benignus est ut quid Sacerdos ejus austerus vult videri God saith he is merciful and gracious why should his Priest be so austere and rigorous Ibid. lib. 3. c. 4. sect 10. Art 33. And yet Calvin here in our case will have the Sinner yield sufficient testimony of his sorrow That the scandal which the offender hath given may be obliterated and taken away And it must be palam in Templo and so doth our Church teach The Offender must be openly reconciled by Pennance Indeed we might be as unreasonably plausible as other some are and with those Hesterni as Tertullian calls Praxeas Cyprian tomo 1. epist. 10. Prov. 22.28 we might remove the ancient bounds which our Fathers have set We might be as unhappily undiscreetly merciful as Foelicissimus in Cyprian or another if it be true Tom 1. ep 40. lib. 6. cap. 9. in Socrates we might after a welcome-home admit them to the Church and Sacraments Cyprian de lapsis but it would prove a worse persecution then the first and we should call them A medela vulneris Idem tomo 1. ep st â—â— Serm de Benedicto Abbate it were the way to kill out-right and not to cure the disease Quae nimis propere minus prosperè The words are Bernards but it is a Proverb of our own More haste than good speed This made some Holy men of old pray That those which had fallen might know and acknowledge the greatness of their fall that so they might learn non momentaneam neque praeproperam desiderare medicinam That they might with all fearful humbleness expect Clerus Romanus ad Cyprianum inter ejus opera tomo 1. epist. 31. and not audaciously presume a pardon But to soder those rents to daub the breach with untempered mortar to incarnate on the splintred bones to cry peace peace in a present peril and the greatest danger what is this else but to precipitate and plung a poor distressed Soul into a more perplexed case and desperate disease It is a terrible lenity as saith St. Augustine Terribilis lenitas blanda pernicies stulta misericordia Bern ser 24. super Cantica a courteous mischief as St. Cyprian a foolish pity as St. Bernard Misericordiam hanc ego nolo God keep all poor sin-sick-souls from such Physicians Let the righteous rather smite me friendly and reprove me but let not their precious balms break my head Let me know my danger and whence I am fallen that I may repent and do the first works If much be remitted of the ancient severity as we see there is and the punishment be much less then those primitive Times did usually inflict it is not because the Sin is now less or the Compassion of the Faithful greater for that ancient discipline is to be wished for again but these delicate Times will not suffer it And the Church is forced to condescend to the weakness of her Children Church-book ante Comminat Tertul de poenitent cap. 1. Many men are become pudoris magis memores quà m salutis They will rather hazard the loss of Heaven than endure disgrace so they account it on earth And this is the very cause why many and as I am informed many hundreds are Musmans in Turky and Christians at home doffing their Religion as they do their Cloaths and keeping a Conscience for every Harbour where they shall put in And those Apostates and circumcised Renegadoes think they have discharged their Conscience wondrous well if they can Return and the Fact unknown make profession of their first Faith These men are Cowards and flexible before the fall careless and obstinate after it but what good will it do them saith Lactantius Bern. in Psal Qui habitat serm 11. l. 6. c. 24. non habere conscium habere conscientiam To have no witness without and one within To hide their sins from men and to appear as they are to the righteous Judge from whose eyes nothing is hid nothing is secret To be baptized with Simon Magus and yet live in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Cyprian de lapsis These are those cursed wretches to whom proprius interitus satis non fuit who will not perish alone but both by their example and their exhortation draw others into the same pit of perdition also who do add sin to sin and multiply and aggravate their offences by hiding denying excusing translating sin So that they may be Men here they care not to be Devils afterward If any such be here who hath received the Mark of the Beast and lives unknown yet for Gods sake for his own sake for that sweet Name by which he is named the Name of Christ by the hope of Heaven by the fear of Hell by his Friends on Earth and the holy Angels in Heaven who joy at the Conversion of a sinner by whatsoever is dearest unto him Gregory Nyssen in the end of his Homil. of Repentance Si vis curam agnosce languorem P. Chrysolog