the blind fury of our lusts it comes into vs to quench their heat and to abate their rage It giues vs also sober counsels by restrayning our senses vnder discipline and custody so to put off the dangerous temptations which by the senses would breake in vpon vs. But these men haue a contrary busines they kindle that which the Spirit quencheth they set fire on the body which is the house of the soule they giue life vnto that which is mans death and striue to kill men better that are already too much dead in sinnes and concupiscences Brokers for the Deuill that make wares for hell and the returne of their merchandise is the soules of men But leaue off this needlesse as well as wicked Trade Lust is as good an euill Painter as your selues it needs no obiects nor representations for it selfe chuseth obiects fast enough and makes to it selfe too many imaginations and pictures But if you will shew the excellence of skill doe something of rarity and make such Images that may fright away Lust by the apparition of torments and miseries attending it or may perswade Temperance by some liuely patternes and characters of Sobriety and the excellent benefits following it Another kinde of Representation and which is done most to the life is that which is done most by the liuing so that life it selfe dwells in that Representation Hence things so represented though past are freshly animated by the spirits of others and liue in them againe and that so naturally that they seeme not to be others but the same and not so much to bee the second as the first And surely if this Representation were of profitable commendable things in a profitable and commendable manner I doe not see how it can be condemned except a thing may be condemned for being profitable or for being a Representation The first no man will affirme and I thinke the latter can hardly bee defended for the personating of others may be patterned euen by Diuine examples One Prophet takes to him the representation of a foolish Shepheard another of a man wounded by him whose prisoner he set free a third of a man fettered in chaines and all these to teach more liuely and to mooue more forcibly But such great abuses haue defiled this kind of Representation that it hath not onely left the true and naturall profit of it but it hath seemed to many graue and godly men rather fit to bee taken away then hopefull to be cured On the other side I see no hope of the taking away and therefore I desire it may bee cured and to that end am willing to shew the chiefe corruptions of it so that eyther the diseases may bee healed or the whole may abstaine from being infected A first Abuse of this kind of Representation is in the person represented when such are represented for pleasure whose representation to wise men is lothsome or to weake men is dangerous I should here beginne with the transfiguring of men into fooles so to make men merry with the deprauation and abasement of a Creature made to Gods Image yea of the very Image of God in that Creature For this feeds that euill humour and condition of foolish men that vseth to reioyce in folly and make it selfe merry with that which makes a wise man eyther angry or sorry But the world is inexorable in this point and they will not haue the foole taken from them but wil needs delight in their like and therefore I will passe to points of more hope and greater possibilitie A second Fault in this kind is the Representation of Women by Men which I thinke is a most dangerous and pestilent Spectacle I need not goe to the old Law for proofe but only appeale to new and lamentable experience and desire the confession of them that know the times whether the shape of a woman hath not made masculine loues and whether the maide hath not procured loue to the boy I am loth to speak of that wherof the very speech is lothsome but it may not bee that sinnes should haue priuiledge to prosper because they are lothsome to be mentioned but euen because they are lothsome they should the more terribly be reprooued But I will goe a middle-way betweene saying all and nothing and wish that there were not so much merchandize of Play-boyes nor so much counterfeiting intisement to that trafficke Sure I am in some Countries at some times the purchase and attendance of a play-boy hath been a speciall ornament and if there bee faults issuing of this fountaine I onely say thus much That for such Lands vse to spew out their Inhabitants Heauen raynes down Hell on Earth and men of Earth goe downe aliue to Hell A third Fault is when the persons of men eyther holy by profession or conuersation are brought forth to the mockes and scornes of prophane Herods In such God himselfe is sacrilegiously derided while eyther his functions or graces are turned into laughing stockes It is a cursed laughter that laughs at him by whom we laugh and he who made laughter doth also make weeping and as certainly as they now laugh and his Spirit is grieued so hereafter will hee laugh and they for griefe shall weepe and that weeping shall be eternall for it shall be caused by a worme that dieth not and a fire that neuer shall be quenched A second sort of Abuse is when euill speaches that corrupt good manners are represented Of these I will name three sorts A first is rotten and filthy language wherein one defiles his owne tongue that he may defile another mans eares he takes the fire of his owne lust and by his tongue flings it in at the windowes of the eare to set young or youthful souls on fire And left this poyson should doe no harme filthinesse very often is conserued and sugred in wit that death may be sure to be swallowed and that the filthinesse may enter and pierce the deeper being poynted by the sharpnesse and pleasantnesse of wit Surely such men become deuills vnto men and turne wit into temptation peruerting that excellent issue of the Soule to bee a Factor for the Flesh yea to carry errands of beastlinesse between Flesh and Flesh the inuenter and the hearer Yea the Soule by this meanes becomes a destroyer of Soules for while it foldeth vp the Flesh in sweetnesse it killeth the Soule that made it and the Soule that heares it if with hearing it be loued as it will be if wit can doe it But besides this lowe debasing of so high and excellent a power of the Soule Let mee tell them for an aduantage that it is often the signe of an hungry and needy brayne for as filthinesse sometimes borrowes of wit to make it handsome so a bad wit often borrowes of filthinesse to make it selfe toothsome for a little wit with a great deale of filthines hath often among vulgar and muddy eares more fauor then much wit if it
Holinesse Mat. 5.16 Fourthly let men know renounce as an extreme folly that temporall Thrift which causeth an eternall losse Surely if that Lord who is Wisedome it selfe commended the Steward for a Wiseman that abated his temporall Reckonings to increase his eternall Rewards hee cannot but disprayse for a Foole that man that wil increase a little perishing vanity that hee may decrease an exceeding weight of eternall glory Whereas a hundred abated heere would increase a thousand hereafter this man by a most foolish thrift will saue fifty here that hee may lose fiue hundred hereafter Ill Husbands they are in the midst of their good husbandry and the Husbandmen of this generation shall rise in iudgment against them for these will not sow sparingly that they may reape sparingly but with a full hand do sow that with a full hand they may mow Let vs therefore pray the Lord of the Haruest he that as he increseth our seed will also increase our sowing that as he outwardly ladeth vs with the bounty of his blessings he will inwardly fill vs with the bountie that giueth these blessings that partaking of his good things wee may also partake of the goodnesse that bestoweth them Then by the same goodnesse which gaue vnto vs shall we giue vnto others the goodnes of God supplying vs both within and without inwardly giuing vs the power of giuing and outwardly giuing vs the matter of giuing And to these men that are filled with this goodnesse the Mother of good Workes is especially recommended that saying of S. Paul Hee that prouides not for his owne is worse then an Infidell To such I say it belongs who are likely to stray too farre on the right hand of Bounty and not to such who most commonly abuse it for the defence of their left-handed Parsimonie This place is to limit those that are excessiuely good not to stop and bound those that are not yet good enough Wherefore goe on boldly a good way farther for there is yet a good distance betweene this place and thee except thou art in doubt of being too good There is yet a third sort which I would only name and I wish that there might be no Examples of such hereafter knowne in Gath nor spoken of in Ashdâ—d and that is when they that beare the true marke of God in their foreheads and haue ript off the Badge of worldly loue from their harts yet in some sleepe of their consciences the enemie soweth some Tares of worldly Lust Couetousnesse or Ambition Dauid sinned in one kind and no doubt men of perfect hearts sinne in other kindes and single Actions of sinne issue from them that haue an habite or rather a nature of Grace God hath left the Canaanite in vs to exercise vs to humble vs that wee may haue an Enemy to fight against before we weare the Crownes of Glory and that we may haue a patterne of our corruption to humble vs as the Valleyes before we receiue his showres of Grace and Mercy from those hils from whence commeth our Saluation What remaynes but that we fight like men for the killing of that old man which fighteth to kill vs While we stand let vs stand in humility taking heed lest wee fall and this humilitie which makes vs take heed lest wee fall will best keepe vs from that falling whereof wee are to take heed And if wee doe fall as what man lineth that sinneth not let vs rise by giuing our hand to Christ in Faith and Repentance who by his bloud washing vs and by his Spirit quickning vs will raise vs againe set vs on our feet That we may run the way of his CoÌ„mandements Neyther let the wicked in the fals of the Godly magnifie themselues and despise the other as such Pharisies vse to do for though these two did the same kinde of fact yet the fact is different The godly man fals by infirmitie as by the weight of his body or slip of his foote the wicked fals with the swinge of his will as if hee ran his head against the Rockes The godly man hates his owne fault and ariseth from it the wicked man neuer truly hates it neuer heartily forsakes it Yea the godly man is bettred by his fals and by falling stands the more strongly because the more humbly and warily And finally though hee passe by some particular frailties yet vpon the whole he is still better and growes from strength to strength vntill he appeares before God in Sion CHAP. XI An Errour that forbids men though mortally diseased to be cured by a sicke Physician THere is an Errour which though it possesseth not many yet some it possesseth strongly and this is a great mischiefe belonging to it that they thinke themselues better then others for being deceiued and so they become angry with those that would cure them because they seeme to indeauour not to take away an Errour from them but to depriue them of their Eminence Their misbeliefe is this That none but sanctified Preachers can teach vnto Sanctification and Saluation And first for a generall remedie I desire these men to consider that as in naturall so in spirituall fiâ—e there are two things of especiall and inseparable vse the one is Light the other Heate Let the heate of Nature make a mans body neuer so actiue and able yet if the eyes be shut vp so that this heate by the inward light which it makes cannot entertayne the outward light the more actiue and stirring this man is the more hee stumbles and the more hee fals Euen so in the things of Grace if a man will separate heate from light hee diuorceth those â—hat in the spirit are ioyned together and therefore it is likely that such are Saint Iudes men separaters sensuall not hauing the spirit For where the spirit is there light is the guide of heate and such are led by euident Truth not by blind violence But to meete with their Errour more particularly I will first lay my foundation and it is this An assured discouery of the true cause of mans Saluation Not to runne into by-wayes the true way to life is Christ The Way the Truth and the Life Christ our life shall appeare saith Paul and againe Our life is hid with Christ in God More particularly Christ entring into man doth abolish the olde man which is the bodie of Sinne Death and giues vs the new man wherein is included a right of Inheritance vnto Life Eternall The bodie of sinne by sinne had bound vs vnto death and by Dominon had bound vs to sinne but Christ Iesus entring into vs by his Spirit by his Death freeth vs from the Death to which we were bound and by his sanctifying Grace freeth vs from that Dominion by which wee were bound vnto sinne So from henceforth neyther sinne nor death haue dominion ouer vs but the free and freeing Spirit of Christ dwels in vs whereby we are sonnes and heires of Life Eternall Rom.
grow more good by commonnes Indeed if knowledge were a fether or a hat or a beard or in summe a thing of fashiō it were a reason very receiueable though not very reasonable to say The fashion is common and therfore contemptible to be suppressed But knowledge is a thing of vse and that of the highest nature it is the food of Spirits and food may not bee taken away from the hungry though there be a common plenty of it and fulnesse in many hath bred loathing And indeed if thou hast any thing that may adde vnto knowledge or vertue there is a hunger and need of it and thou art farre from that Noblenesse which thou pretendest if thou doest not commiserate necessitie neither resemblest the chiefest paterne of Maiestie and Honour who filleth the hungry with good things It is indeed a matter of Pusillanimitie not to bee able to indure a false and witlesse aspersion and such is that censure which condemnes thee for being publikly profitable And if there be any spot or griefe in this taxe of vulgaritie vndergoe it patiently for the good of the publike and so become a Confessor for pietie and vertue And if yet thou be ashamed to be knowne for a publicke well-doer giue vs thy workes and keepe thy name to thy selfe But if all this cannot draw thee out of thy denne of singularitie I wish thou mayest be famished out of it by the returne of thine owne reason and dealing vpon thee For it is a rule of Iustice that which men do they should suffer and yet I would haue thee suffer it no longer but till thou doest it no more Now that which thou doest and thy fellowes doe is this yee are a world by your selues and the rest are left as a world by themselues Now as yee are men of another world to this world by the way of retribution should this world be a diuers world vnto you As your litle world keepes his worth to it selfe so should the great world keepe his worth to it selfe And then I doubt not but hunger and thirst and labour would teach you the lawes of Trafficke and force you out of your Cels of separation Then would nature teach to giue where there is a receiuing as grace hath already taught vs. That it is more blessed to giue then to receiue And indeed where hath any man gotten this high priuiledge to be so excellent a part of the whole that the whole should onely bee a seruant of that part That a part is inferiour to the whole euen as a member to the bodie the ancient doctrines and examples of Heathens will teach thee if thou art a Heathen for they haue beene prodigall of their liues to bring their words of this kind into Actions But if thou art a Christian the Word is neere thee euen in thy mouth That the members of Christ must loue and cherish each other as the members of a bodie To this end excellēt is the exhortation of the great GREGORY Qui audit dicat veni c. Let him that inwardly heares the voyce of grace outwardly call men by the voyce of exhortation But especially remarkable is that in his Pastorall Cure Christ our elder brother being dead we are bound to rayse vp seed vnto our elder brother And if any that are enriched with gifts yet dote on the priuatnesse of contemplation and neglect the profit of the publike surely in the strictnesse of iudgement how much they may profit so much they are guiltie Now a second cause of this mysterie of silence is a distemper of the bodie when man are chayned vp with Melancholie and durst not breake prison These loue not the light but inioy darknesse and bring vp their children and burie them in the dungeon with them To these I wish a bodily cure and outward physicke Yet with all the physicke of grace by which wee are stirred vp to resist and ouercome the whole flesh in the different vices of his seuerall humors and complexions CHAP. II. The Follie of Naturall Wisedome preferring the Handmaid before the Mistres Philosophie before Diuinitie D. Char. in his preface of Wisdome THere is a certaine Wizard whose Moralitie outstrippeth his Diuinitie that accordingly preferreth the practice of Moralitie before the practice of Diuinitie He sayth the vertue and honestie of Diuines is deiect sad fearfull and vulgar but that of the Philosophers is pleasant puissant noble and rare These words haue an vnmannerly sound though some of his Sectaries will perchance say they haue a sound meaning but if his meaning were good it had not beene amisse in so waightie a matter to haue bestowed other or more words vpon vs that among some of them we might haue found out the goodnesse of his meaning For my part I cannot perceiue any iustifiable sence in them but hold them being radically and fundamentally examined full of danger and vntruth Dangerous they are especially to the vnwritten Tables of young braines for by the Proclamation of such notable excellence and transcendence in humane wisdome the affections of such are lifted vp to the more noble knowledge and they looke downe with contempt on a lower and meaner Learning But let those who by that Authour are brought into danger know that they are brought into danger by an vntruth then perchance the knowledge of the vntruth may preuent the hurt of the danger And though to some it may seeme that because there are profitable truthes to be found in this Authour therefore a few errours should be pardoned I confesse I am euen for this reason the more vnwilling to pardon them For therfore are the errours more dangerous because they come in the company of some notable Truths it being a readie and common course that Errours accompanyed with Truthes are the more easily swallowed the excellence of the Truthes speaking for the Errours and strongly perswading that the Authour of such Truthes can hardly be also the Authour of Errours Besides it were far safer that he had kept both his Truths and Errours in silence then that they should both haue an equall acceptance For hee that learneth not those Truths from him may learne most of them from others for others haue spoken much of that which hee teacheth and yet if they faile of a great part of them there is truth enough besides to bee had to make a man temporally and eternally happie But hee that receiueth these Errours though accompanied with his notable Truths the Errours will make him miserable if beleeued euen in spite of the Truths For certainly it is the most fearfull miserie of all to confine Mankind within such a dungeon of wickednesse and wretchednesse as this world is and though these Wizards charme their Disciples with their wittiest inchantments yet they shall still be but wretches the naughtinesse of the world and the crasie infirmities of their owne bodies shall torment them the blacknes of darknesse euen the shadow of death shall terrifie them
inferences as loudly though not so truly it shall say Vos autem sic You shall not be as the kings of the Nations sayth one Text yet other Texts with their glosses will bring it so about that the Kings of the Nations shall be but your Vassals and shall be metamorphosed into Brutes euen Aspes and Basiliskes for Popes to tread on And hither tend the mayn endeuors of diuers later Popes euen to settle a principality by the Gospell Yea and when the Gospell would not helpe them for it will not they striue to establish it by warres by tumults by treasons things meerly repugnant and forbidden by the Gospell So necessary it is that the Pope must bee the Head of the World that he had rather kill the body then not be the Head So is hee a true and liuely Antichrist euen an opposite to Christ For Christ being the true Head of the Church gaue himselfe to death for the life of his body But this Man being as his owne say but a Ministeriall head giueth the body of Christ to distraction for the life of this imaginary Head On this Theme are spent the huge labours of Baronius And to this end is the Popes authoritie ouer Princes maintayned by Bellarmine and others and to this end is the doctrine of Treasons against excommunicated Princes taught printed by many of the Popes Parisites so that euery Protestant Prince may truly be called a Confessor for he confesseth the Christian Religion with the danger of his life Which transcendence both of pride and sinne though the Court of Rome maintayne yet because some members of the same Church haue confuted and disclaymed it I may the more truely call it a different kind of Religion Another sort shall bee termed Religio Theologorum the Religion of the Diuines or that doctrine which is ordinarily taught or acknowledged for the sauing of learned souls of this also there are three degrees The first is Crassa doctrina the grosser or lesse refined doctrine which was both more common more grosse before Luther and yet hath large entertaynment among â—hem such is the doctrine of Merits of condignity of Predestination ex praeuisis operibus of worshipping of Images with the worship due to the sampler c. which assertions if any would farther learne he shall finde them in the confutation of their owne â—eater Writers who among the Hereticâ—es confute also their fellows grosser opinions And those confuters are those which teach the second degree of Doctrine which is Doctrina limita a refined kind of Doctrine conceiued by the genuine interpretation of Scriptures yea inforced by the euident light of the Word and approcheth very neere to that of the Reformed so that though not out of one yet out of all our Doctrine may bee proued and deduced And this is that which yeelds the matter of such workes as the Catholick Apologie Papa non Papa and such other which by the Romanists haue confuted the Romane Religion A third degree is Doctrina Spiritus aut Conscientia the Doctrine of the Spirit or Conscience which is when Men taught by the Spirit of God or enforced by the Light of their own Conscience confesse their owne vnworthinesse and wholly extoll as the surest Refuge the mercy of God in the merits of Christ. This former is frequently seen in Barnard Thomas Campensis and others that liued in that Church Men as I hope sanctified and taught by the Spirit Others also by the terror or conuiction of their Conscience haue acknowledged the same as Stephan Gardiner at his end and Bellarmine when after disputation of merits he confesseth this affiance in Gods mercy to bee the safest rest of the soule And no doubt when men are approching by death to the barre of a supreme Iustice before a perfect God with pure eyes if they haue any portion of the Spirit they abhorre themselues with Iob and doe so see and feare their own corruption that they cannot find rest but in perfect merits and a perfect satisfaction So that I doubt not but of these there is a reserued number euen a number reserued by Gods election which is truly Ecclesia Electorum hauing washed their robes white in the bloud of the Lambe A third and last sort of Religion may be called Doctrina Idiotarum euen that Doctrine which is taught to the common people apprehended and accordingly practised by them as sufficient to saue their ignorant Soules This is generally a Religion very neere fitted to brute beasts for it teacheth them to be saued in ignorance and by beleeuing as the Church beleeues Which is vpon the matter by beleeuing that which they know not and by not knowing what they beleeue So is the Soule which should bee the principall agent in Religion left out in Religion and lyes like the first Chaos voyd and full of darknesse And the body is principally instructed Accordingly they are taught by Images Pictures more then by preaching as men that haue fiue senses without but no sense within They must confesse they must doe penance they must say Creeds and Aue-Maries in Latine and those they must mistake for prayers they must worship Images and adore the Sacrament They must bring their bodies to the Church leaue behind their vnderstandings for in their Liturgie there is only worke for the eare and none through the eare for the vnderstaÌ„ding And as this teaching of Religion is brutish so is the practice Mechanical They worke it out with their limbes and the poore Soule stands by and knowes not a iot of the busines The mouth speakes the knee bowes the hand mooues on the beades or knocks vpon the breast the eye lookes vp the eare heares and yet the soule and spirit which giue the onely life and beeing to the worship that God a Spirit loues knowes nothing vnderstands nothing what the body is doing And as for the Images the poore wretches must needs commit flat Idolatry for I neuer heard that any of their Doctors did perfectly teach their common people to distinguish between Doulia and Latria but as one of their owne sayth If they worship them with all their heart they thinke they haue done it excellently Surely it cannot be conceiued that the ignorant Papists who haue no Commandement against Images should in this point doe better then the Iewes who had a plaine Commandement against them But the Iewes fell to Idolatrie against an euident Commandement yet these Doctors think that their people shall be held from Idolatrie onely by a distinction Surely they little regard the infirmity of miserable Man fallen into so great an Ignorance and Corruption that he is apt to learne Lyes of a stock and to be inflamed with Images vnder euery greene â—ree Neither doe they consider the strictnesse of Ielousy which in the Lord Almightie is as perfect and infinite as himselfe Now perfect Iealousie cannot abide to haue a known Adulterer come neere to his spouse neither can it indure to haue
Wine more hereafter Secondly If thy tast delight thee how much is that exceeded by the delights of the Spirit The Church confesseth that the kisses of Christ Iesus who kisseth his Church by the Spirit are pleasanter then Wine Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua sayth Dauid Hee is fayne to aske how sweet because he cannot tell nor expresse the sweetnesse of it What is sweeter then hony sayth Samson and yet Dauid sayth The Word of God being tasted by the Spirit is sweeter then hony How many Saints haue left their meat and drinke for the Wine of the Spirit How many haue beaten downe their bodies by abstinence that they might the more fully tast the Sweetnesse of God Wherefore if thou wilt indeed tast sweetnesse get thee a Spirituall tast receiue the Wine of heauen giuen by Christ Iesus the Wisdome of God For he it is that Pro. 8. calleth the sonnes of men promising to fill them with delights vers 31. And surely those must needs be the chiefe delights which issue from the taste of the Deity which is the vppermost Sweetnesse Wherfore desire thou rather to taste God in himselfe then in his Creatures for that is the highest pleasure of tasting which flowes from the taste of the sweetnesse of the Highest Thirdly If thou desire Wine for the cheerfulnesse and ioy which it breedeth know that the Spirit of God is the Fountaine of Consolation and then chuse thou whether thou wilt drink of the streame or of the fountaine The Spirit of God hath in it the ioy and comfort of Wine Yea Wine hath his ioy and comfort from the Spirit for the Spirit of God as once by miracle so still by course of Nature turnes water into Wine But there is another euen a new Wine in the kingdome of God and this is the best wine A new Wine it is to vs but not in it selfe new to vs because wee were first filled with the old Wine of our fall and secondly with this Wine of excesse and after wee come to drink this wine of regeneration and glorification So it is new to vs but it is old in it selfe as flowing eternally from an eternally from an eternall Deity This is the true Wine which recoyceth the heart not of the body onely but of the soule also to which the outward Wine connot reach This is the Wine of blessed Spirits the drinking whereof is the cause of those vnvtterable ioyes which dwel in the dwellers with God In this the Spirit giues not some grosse and bodily relish thereby to become comfortable to the bodily part of Man but in this the Spirit communicates the sap tast and relish of its owne primitiue sweetnesse vigour and cheerfulnesse so that wee doe not so much tast comfort as the Comforter himselfe In the drinking of this Wine shew thy manhood Drinke deep and true healths for with this drinking is ioyned true and eternall health The more thou drinkest of this the wiser the holyer the more sober thou art for in the same Spirit wherein is cheerfulnesse is also Wisdome and Vertue The tast of this Wine is a bequeath of dying Christ Iesus to his beloued Spouse the Church whom he comforteth and supporteth with the flagons thereof in his absence before the Day of his great Marriage where it shall bee giuen in fulnesse And the comforts of it are sufficient to strēgthen vs against all sorts of griefe yea they make vs cheerfully to scorne and despise the pleasures of sinne they make vs to looke on death with disdayne as vpon a Snake whose fling and teeth are pulled out Death where is thy sting Graue where is thy victory They make vs to long for heauen and stirre vp the stomacke of the soule by these measured tastes of God to tast him perfectly in a most blessed full and eternall fruition But perchance thou wilt tell mee that thou tastest no such sweetnesse in God thou hast heard him spoken of in Churches and Pulpits and thou sayest thy prayers as others doe and yet thou perceiuest no such matter as I talke of Surely I must confesse This Wine is not for euery mouth neyther is euery mouth for this Wine The holy Wine must be put into holy Vessels for it is farre holyer then the shew-bread for the receiuing whereof Abimelech would that the young mens Vessels should be cleane The corrupt and lustfull Flesh as it tasteth not this Wine no more doth this Wine indure to be tasted by it this fruit of the tree of Life cannot be receiued but where the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill is spit out and denyed The louers of Egyptian Onions are no true tasters of celestiall Manna therfore striue to cast out the old Man corrupt with deceiuable Lusts which makes thy taste grosse and earthly and then thou shalt taste the sweetnesse of God and his consolations And hauing tasted it thou shalt despise the tast of thy former gluttonies and drinkings and thou shalt say with Dauid Thou hast put more ioy into my heart then formerly there was when the Oyle and Wine were plentifull This is a priuiledge of Saints bee thou a Saint and inioy the priuiledge Thirdly for drunkennesse had need to be haled out with a three-fold cord behold a benefit of this Spirituall wine which the other wanteth yea behold the same thing commendable in the one damnable in the other and that is excesse Thou must drinke too much of the outward wine but canst not drinke too much of the inward and therfore if thou loue safety better then danger loue the wine of the Spirit rather then the fruit of the Vine If thou knowest a Physitian that heales all that he meddles with and another that hath killed as many as he hath vndertaken doest thou not shew thy folly to preferre the killer before the sauer Surely the spirit saues all that it vndertakes and wine hath slaine many soules and bodies by excesse O loue life and seeke not death by the errours of this life Drinke the Spirit without feare but drink wine still in feare thou mayst not feare in the drinking of the spirit except thou wilt feare increase of comfort of light of holinesse Thou canst not drinke freely of wine without feare except thou do not feare the losse of light the losse of reason of goodnesse of thy whole selfe The spirit by how much it groweth in thee the wiser the better the more larger thou art But by how much more thou drinkest the wine of excesse the foolisher the wickeder the lesser thou art Therefore when thou takest the Cup of Saluation open thy mouth wide that it may bee largely filled but when thou takest thy cup of wine know it is a cup of danger and let in danger as sparely as thou mayst It is the saying of a Wiseman Hee that loueth danger shall perish in it and surely hee that loueth wine loueth danger and therefore hee that lowine is likely
the Wisedome of dispensation suffered this roaring Lyon no longer to terrifie but vntill his Terror did mollifie Hee aymed indeed at despayre and destruction but the Church aymed at Humiliation and Conuersion yea to Consolation and Saluation For indeed Humiliation for Sin is the way to Conuersion from Sin and Conuersion from Sinne is the way to the consolations of the Spirit and the comfortable Spirit is both the guid and way to Life eternall Therfore when the man is humbled Satan is cashiered the Horse-leach is taken away when he hath sufficiently abated the vicious and superfluous bloud And now the man formerly forsaken by all is comforted of all the gates of Heauen are vnlocked to him and hee is restored to both the Heauens the Communion of Saints and the ioyes of the Spirit Thus are wee healed by wounding and by humbling wee are exalted O admirable vse and command of Satan Hee is an enemy to God yet doth him seruice he is an aduersary to Man and yet helps him A strange thing it is that Satan should helpe the incestuous Corinthian to the destruction of his flesh and the edification of his soule A strange thing that Satan should teach b 1. Tim. 1.20 Himeneus and Alexander not to blaspheme His Kingdome is seated in the Flesh and yet the Flesh he destroyes Hee is the Author of blasphemies and yet hee teacheth not to blaspheme But is Satan contrary to himselfe and is his Kingdome diuided in it selfe No surely But one that is stronger then hee both in wisdome and power manageth both his craft and malice to ends which himselfe intendeth not The Deuill is one and the same still euen purely malicious And in this malice hee tempts men being in high bloud vnto a presumption of sinning And by the same malice hee tempts the same men being cast downe vnto a despayre of Mercie Now as Remedies are by contraries so a measure of despaire is medicinable to a measure of presumption And iust so farre doth God suffer Satan to goe on in his temptation as temptation is profitable and no farther Therefore while Satan is driuing the Offender to despaire God stops his course when the Sinner is come to due humiliation And then as it was with Christ in the Wildernesse so it is with the humbled Sinner Satan is dismissed the Angels come and minister to him And as God doth publikely administer this Remedie to the members of his Church in publike Euils so also doth he priuately exhibite it to his choysest Saints in their priuate Necessities And so a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet Paul that by the strokes of him who is the king of pride God might teach his seruant Humility But what shall we say to these things Are men at this day willing to take this physicke of the Physician of our Soules Christ Iesus or doe not most men that are of any growth thinke themselues too great to bee taken by this Net of Mercy but are willing to breake through that they may be taken in the Net of Iudgement I wish wee had not farre more need of the words of Saint Ambrose then he had when he vsed them c S. Ambros apologia Dauid cap. 2. What great or rich man sayth hee shall yee now find that will take it well to be reproued of a fault Yet this man Dauid being glorious in Kingly power and often approoued by Diuine Oracles when he was reprooued by a subiect because hee had grieuously offended did not repine in a rage but confessing reâ—ented by Repentance And a little after Other men when they are reproued of the Priests increase their fault by going about to deny or diminish it so that by the same meanes by which they should haue beene amended they increase their sicknesse Had this holy Man a cause to complain to whose keyes the Emperour Theodosius submitted himselfe both for binding and loosing and haue not our dayes much more wherein men of a farre inferiour greatnesse thinke it a speciall priuiledge belonging to their dignity to sinne without controlment And yet if wee looke clearly into the matter a priuiledge to sin quietly is but a priuiledge quietly to be damned But I think it much rather a miserable in conuenience of greatnes and a meere abuse of it when the terror therof is employed to fright away grace so terrifie saluation These are they of whom it is said Potentes potenter cruciabuÌ„tar The mighty by the abuse of their owne might shall be most mightily punished And if greatnesse would but take a proportion of wisdome and patience and thereby soundly examine why he is angry when hee is iustly reprooued I thinke he will be so farre from finding a reason for his anger that hee will on the other side find a reason of thankes and reioycing For put the case as it is too often that a great man hath offended to him the Man of God speakes or writes in due or respectiue manner and discouers his Sinne and his danger by sinning The mayne intent of Gods seruant is but to take away the Sinne that would slay him and instead of Sinne and Death to recommend vnto him Grace and Life Now wherein hath this man offended whose only businesse is to take from greatnesse Sinne and Misery and to giue it Vertue and Happinesse Surely thou hast nothing to dislike except it bee to be lesse wicked and lesse miserable and to be more vertuous and more happy Yet though without a reason greatnesse will in this case often be angry though it haue most reason to bee angry with it selfe for being angry without a reason But when reasons faile I thinke this must represent one That it is a dishonour for a superiour to bee reprooued of the inferiour and it is commonly a little great Man that doth not think more honourably of himselfe then of most of the Priesthood To this I answere that this exception is made all of stomack nothing of reason And first I could confute much of it by proouing and proposing the dignity of Priesthood from whose Spirituall power it being as the Scripture sayes a power vnto edification of exhorting teaching reproouing yea binding and loosing I thinke no true member of Christs Church should desire to be exempted Besides Saint Paul without any distinction writes to the Thessalonians to acknowledge those that laboured among them who as he affirmes were ouer them in the Lord. Whence might bee deduced this Doctrine That the Layitie in generall is the Flocke and the Priests are the Shepheards and spirituall Shepheards in the administration of spirituall things are ouer their Flockes But flesh bloud is loth to heare of any Eminence though it bee but spirituall and not of this world Therefore I must talke with it in a Language more naturall to it and therevpon I reply That an Inferiour which in his manner of speaking keeps safe and whole the dignity of the Superiour to whom hee speakes and in