of the Lord or changed into the same Image from glory to glory euen as of the spirit of the Lord. So that as the Moon and the Starres that hauing no in-borne or inherent Light streaming from themselues and yet gathering together into their burning faces the beames of the Sun freely sent abroad and bestowed amongst them appear like so many little images of the great Lampe of day So all the Holy Lamps of Heauen made for Gods seruice haue onely the Light of Gods countenance to kindle themselues with which he out of his bounty casts abroad amongst them and they according to their seuerall capacities to fill vp their measures of glory most ambitiously vessell vp This being the Royalty of the Diuine Nature who is the spiritual sonne of eternall Essences that he beyond all other is most emissiue and communicatiue of himselfe For as Light is more visible then any colour and sends out in the eradition of it a more full and luminous species of it selfe then any other thing because it is as the Philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the colour of all colours so God who is the Light of all Lights must needs in himselfe bee most visible though neither it to the eye of an Owle nor God to the sight of our vnderstanding yet beetle-browed can so appeare But when as Dauid sings our soules shall awaken and the youth of our bodies shall be renewed as the Eagles both they with the Diuinity and these with the Diuine humanity shall be transformed into the same image of glory which they shall behold in him And though now they blinke at Sunne-shine yet then where the body of glory is thither shall the spirituall Eagles be all gathered together and there feede and fill the righteous hunger and thirst of theirs And this is the fulnesse of glory our Sauiour meanes to satisfie them in heauen with who on earth nourish in themselues the righteous hunger after Grace When the vnderstanding shall be filled with truth in which is no shadow of error the will with goodnesse in which is no mixture of euill the affections with ioy and delight in which shall be neyther defect nor end when the body shall be satisfied with Life that knowes no dying shall be quickned with health that feares no sickenesse shall be imbrightned with beautie that can neyther bee impayred with disease nor impalled by death when the whole person shall be crowned with honour glory shall be leagued in friendship with Angells and Saints shall bee vnited to Christ in body to the holy Ghost in Spirit to God in a bright similitude and likenesse of his Diuine nature in a word when they shall enioy which this world is out of hope of honor without ambition beauty without pollution glory without pride power without iniury riches without oppression all good without any end of possessing feare of losing or sinne in spending Let vs therefore quicken our drowsie spirits with IIII. A short incitement to the heauenly ambition of Gods Saints IT was a speech of the most ambitious Spirit in the world in the excuse of his high swelling thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a man would do iniurie it should bee for a Kingdome piety was to be obserued in lesse matters as hee thought but the truth is hee needed not haue supposed it to bee such a difficult thing to be perswaded to doe iniury For as the Philosopher speakes Nothing is more easie then to doe another man wrong and he giueth the Reason why Iustice although it be so beautifull a Light in the world that as he sayes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither the morning nor the euening starre is halfe so Oriently beautiful yet so few men are in loue with it because it is the good of another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee are all naturally engrossers of goods for our selues but wee are loth though iustly to diuide or part them with any other and therefore with more reason the religious man who is the most ambitious creature vnder heauen may whet and edge his flaming desires to goe through all the sweat and labour of righteousnesse with the same speech inuerted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a Kingdome be the reward of Piety who would not be religious But it is a myracle in reason to see that when there are three sorts of ambitious in the world Sinfull Naturall and Religious how many and those of the choicest wits offer their harts and sacrifice themselues as whole burnt offerings to the ambition of sinne and how few set their thoughts on fire with the holy ambition of Gods Saints And yet there is no difference betweene sinfull and sainâ—ly ambition for both would be like God but that the first would be like him without dependance and would be proud in being so affecting a diuine similitude beside the right meanes and beyond the due measure and the other is content to climbe by the valley of Christs humility to this mountaine of holinesse The sinfully ambitious would haue Gods glory but not his goodnes his power but not his iustice the Maiesty of his Kingdome but not the manner of his gouernment And therefore all those Angelicall stars of Light whom God in the Morning of his Works made Heauen shine with are now become through this sinfull ambition wandring Starres to whom is reserued the blackenesse of darkenesse for euer And this was it that smote not onely so many stars out of heauen but would haue struck into hel the whole posterity of Adam had not our Sauiour snatch'd vp some few of vs into heauen with him and yet how many soules still scorche themselues in these flames It was the imperious speech of the Assyrian Tyrian and Romane Princes I will be like the most high I will ascend into Heauen I will exalt my throne aboue the starres of God Esay 14. I am God Ezech 28. I sit a Queen mening as the Lady and Commandresse of the whole World and shall see no sorrow c. Alas how high this sinfull ambition would climbe in thought and indeed how low doth it fall It aspires to the sides of the North Esay 14. 13. verse And verse the 15. it is cast downe into the sides of the pit It would ascend into Heauen verse the 14. and in the next it is brought downe to hell It fancies to it selfe a high flight among the starres and Angells of God And loe the shadows of darknesse are moued from beneath to meet it and the dead ghosts are stirred vp to salute it with this derisory taunt Art thou become like vnto vs How art thou fallen from Heauen O Lucifer sonne of the Morning And these perhaps great princely and honourable Diuels of Ambition may seeme in comparison of the lesser to delude their followers with a kinde of bâ—aue and royall misery But in very truth it is a sight full of wonder to obserue the children of this generation at how small game
yet is it not a prouerbe as poore as Iob. Besides Mathew and Zachaeus Ioseph of Arimathaea were all before rich men but as soone as they followed Christ their riches left theÌ„ and they became poore religious men together Again was it not Dauids coÌ„plaint in the 73. Psal That the wicked are not troubled like other men neither are they plagued like others but their eyes stand out with fatnesse they haue more thâ—n heart can wish And the prophet Ier. as he succeeded him in time so he followd him in his complaint Ier. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talke with thee of thy iudgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deale very deceit fully That we may the better know then V. Why the godly are many times poore how the wicked are often rich in this world WE must learne to distinguish rightly of the times when the children of God are poore and of the persons of wicked men how they are rich There is a time of pouertie and a time of riches and to say true except Gods children were first poore how could Gods blessing enrich them after So Abraham and Dauid and Iacob had their times of pouertie they were poore at first but their end was rich and full of Gods blessing where contrary the wicked man is neuer rich in the conclusion So Dauid tells vs in the 37. and 73. Psalmes when he went into the Sanctuarie to see the end of these men hee saw the end of the vpright to be peace Marke the vpright man for the end of that man is peace sayes the Prophet but what sayes he of the wicked The end of the wicked shall be cut aff So was the end of Diues in the 12. of Luke Hee had no sooner sung the merry Carroll to his soule of Soule eate drinke and bee merry c. he had no sooner ended his Antheme but the same night his soule was begd from him and hee could not get a drop of drinke for it hee had prouided much for his soule but he had not prouided his soule a whit for God the therefore spirituall furies did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soone begd away his soule from al the pleasurns hee had loaded his new built Repositaries to banquet it with and in a moment ingulft it into perpetuall torment for as Iob speakes of the wicked Momento descendunt in infernum Pphylosophy teaches vs that there can bee no motion in an instant but sin lies so heauy vpon the soule of the wicked that it is no sooner out of his body but it is descended in a moment to hell and therefore though it be sayd of Lazarus and the Begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome yet it is no sooner sayd The rich man died also but as if there had bin no time betweene his dying and being in hell it streight followes And in hell lift vp hiss eyes c. O how sodainly sings the Psalmist doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Psal 73 18. The new translation turnes it how as in a moment and indeed the originall is Be-raga in momento So Dauids greene Bay-tree Psal 3. 35. a tree that euer beares leaues but neuer fruit therefore fit to shadow vnder the lawes of it a a fruitlesse professour though hee floorisht it for awhile yet suddainly Dauid did but turne him about and he could not finde so much as the place where he stood But let vs graunt Diues the happinesse to die a rich man which he shall neuer doe for as the heathen sings of death I â—uoluit humile pariter celsum caput Aequatque summis infirna Death and the Graue make euen all estates There high and low rich poor are mates Yet the riches they haue are not like Wisedomes durable riches but God blowes vpon them not only cutting off themselues and their remembrance as sparkes from the earth but scattering their estates and blasting their seede and posteritie so that he perisheth both sooner and oftner then other men He spends his daies in wealth Iob 21. 13. and in a moment descends into hell there how soon is his soule lost His bodie is as chaffe that the storme carries awey ver 17. 18. there he loseth his body as soone And what pleasure hath hee in his house after him when the number of his moneths is cut off in the middest ver 21. there perisheth his estate And to conclude God laies vp the punishment of his iniquitie for his children ver 19. there hee dies in his posteritie So that although he flatter himselfe with an opinion of his riches that it will keepe him aliue in his name and memorie and posteritie and houses and lands beyond the condition of other men as Dauid tels vs Psal 49. 11. that this is his very thought yet to speake soothly as the last of the best and the best of the last Poets saies of all morall helpes which Fabricius and Cato and Brutus three of the most famous of the Romane Worthies thought to eternize themselues by Cume sera vobis rapiet hoc etiam dies Iam vos secunda mors manet So may the vngodly rich more truly say of himselfe and all worldly meanes whereby he hoped to perpetrate his life and memorie The poor man dies but once but O that I Already dead haue yet three deaths to die For being dead in his bodie he still remaines aliue in his soule estate and posteritie to suffer death and therefore death is said to gnaw and feed vpon him Psal 49. 14. And it is worth the obseruing how soone his name rots which that it might flie into eternitie beyond the names of poorer men he so feathered himselfe with houses and lands and children and called them all by his owne name And therefore our Sauiour in the Storie of Lazarus and Diues keepes the poore mans name aliue to the worldes end but industriously leaues the rich mans name at vncertaintie with There was a certaine rich man This is the first and maine difference of the times but there is another For there are some times of persecution and some of peace When we therefore say that a religious man is a Thriuer we meane in the time of peace when God bleses the Land he liues in with quiet and lets the beames of his Gospell freely display themselues but in the times of persecution when clowds and storms arise when the Arke of God is tempested about and failes as it were in the bloud of his Children it is contrarie For as before the poore religious man growes rich with Abraham and Iacob and Dauid and Isaac so in the times of bloudy persecution the rich man that is truly religious voluntarily grows poore as Mathew and Barnabas and Zachaeus did But their riches then left not them for want of Gods blessing but they to get a blessing
the food of our soules then our earthy diet can bee the food of our bodies because hee is euery way both in respect of himselfe and vs more preseruatiue then to bodies any bodily sustenance can be For that makes vs continue by being destroyed it selfe and destroyes vs too if it be taken in excesse though it be neuer so often vsed yet soone after we shall hunger againe and thirst againe neither can it repaire our nature in the headlong ruines of age so fast but that we must euery day forfeite a little spoile to mortality which it can no way possibly recouer and in conclusion vnable to hold out any longer it must yeeld vp the whole body as a pray to death But we cannot drinke too much of our spirituall rocke nor eate too much of our heauenly Manna which after we haue feasted our hearts with we shall find noe more hunger or thirst feele noe more iniuries of age or time feare noe more spoiles of mortality or death Neither is the soule nourished by this diuine food as the body is by wasting that whereby it selfe is preserued and consuming that to maintaine it selfe whereby it selfe is kept from corruption but as the sight of al eyes is preserued and perfected by the light of the Sunne whose beames can neuer be exhaust so our spirituall life is nourished by the participation of the life of Christ which is indeede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 annona cali the flower of heauen neuer engrost by possessing nor lost by vsing nor wasted by nourishing nor spent by enioying but hath that heauenly and vnconsumable nature in it being to nourish immortall soules that it preserues all without decaying it selfe it diuides it selfe to al without losse or diminution of it selfe it is imparted to all and not impayred by any of those replenished soules that banquet vpon it Now if the quaere be made how our soules are thus by Christ preserued from their owne corruption and beyond their owne natural life to a life Celestiall diuine there can be no other answere giuen but by beeing implanted into the life of righteousnes which fontally is in him As if the branches of a wild oliue being cut off from the reall stocke where it grew naturally should be kept from withering and corruption by ingrassing it into the stocke of a sweet and flourishing Oliue-tree So our soules beeing created in naturall righteousnesse and holylinesse by God and being soone after by our fall cut off from that life and so remayning in the state of corruption and decay would soone wither and dye totally were they not eftsoons reymbark't and stock't againe into the Tree of life from whence they sucke a more diuine life of righteousnes then that they were created or now liue in For the natural righteousnes thogh it were in the kind of it perfect yet it was of a short continuance as nature left to it selfe alwayes is and our habituall righteousnesse though it continue for euer yet it is very imperfect like the twilight of an euening or the first breake of day in which the shadows of earth and the light of heauen are confused and therfore the soule of man vnable to liue perpetually by any of these liues which were defectiue could haue no way bene preseru'd from his owne corruption but by the participation of this diuine Righteousnesse of Christ which is infinitely more durable then Adams naturall and more perfect then our poore habituall righteousnes either is or euer could haue bin Neyther let it seeme strange to any that the Soule which dies by vnrighteousnes and sinne should be sayd by grace onely and righteousnesse to receyue againe life and preseruation Hence are those scripture phrases so frequent You are dead in your sinnes ye are strangers from the life of God of the wanton and sinfull widow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she was dead being aliue that is dead to God and the righteousnesse of Christ and aliue onely to nature and the corruption of it Hence againe on the contrary the Iust man is sayd to liue by the righteousnes of faith Hab. 2. 4. Heb. 10. 37. and therfore this life which we could not acquire by our nature because it is eternall God is said in he first Epistle of Sa. Iohn 5. 11. to haue giuen it to vs and least wee should trouble our selues to know where this life was found out for vs it is added in the same place And this life is in his Sonne Thus Saint Paul speakes Col. 3. 3. that â—ur life is hid in Christ and that it was no more he that liued but Christ that liued in him Galat. 2. 20. thus hee tells the Corinthians that wee were made the Righteousnesse of God in Christ 2. Cor. 5. 21. and 1 Cor. the 1. the 30. that Christ was made of God vnto vs Wisedome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption and therefore twice the Prophet Ieremy tells vs that This is his name wherby he shall be called IEHOVAH tsidkenu THE LORD OVR RIGHTEOVSNESSE Ie. 23. 6. and 33. 16. For as verily as our sinnes tooke away his life so assuredly shall his righteousnesse preserue ours in which because wee haue a double state one in our apprehension of it by faith the other in our comprehension of it by vision and intuition therefore here the Saints of god are sayd to be blessed onely in their hunger but hereafter they shal be happy in their fulnes here God onely feeds them with a sufficiency of grace there he fills them with such a satietie of glory in which their soules with the greatest excesse without the least surfet shall bee feasted for euer For God is not like old Isaac that hath but one blessing for his sonnes and therefore as wee must learne of S. Paul with our sufficiency to bee content My grace is sufficient for thee so let vs with him striue at least in our most heauenly thoughts get awing and rauisht into the third heauen then to behold III. What is the fulnesse wherewith those Soules that hunger after Righteousnesse shal be satisfied THE fulnesse heere meant is nothing else but a perfect expletion of all the naturall desires of Soule Body and Person according to the vttermost receptiuity of them all which their owne proper and most agreeable obiects wherein euery desire rests it self wholly acquited and filled For instance nothing can arrest the vnderstanding of man but that which is absolutely true or rather Truth it selfe For that is the most proper and agreeable obiect to our vnderstanding and who is that but Christ our Lord I am the Truth saies our Sauiour Nothing can satisfie the reasonable will of man but onely that which is perfectly good or rather goodnesse it selfe and who is that but onely God For as our Sauior speakes there is none good but God nothing can fill the restlesse affections of man but onely those fountaines of pleasure that haue in them neither defect nor end such as can be
found no where heere And where are they but at the right hand of God only Psalm 16. 11. In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore the first takes away all defect In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy and the second admits of no end at thy right hand are pleasures for euer And this is the first fulnesse or saturity of the soule the second is of the body And the naturall desires of the body are life health and beautie Now where can we finde life but in that Country which is the land of the liuing whether no death is suffered to approach or whether should we go to meet with indeflowrishing and vnattainted health but where there is no sorrow no paine no sicknesse at all And that is no where but onely in the Holy City which S. Iohn calls the new Hierusalem Reuel 21. 4. There shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine but as the two glories of the Old and New Testaments Dauid and S. Paul speake God shall deck his Saints with health and wee shall put on incorruption and immortality in those Courts of Honour And thus as the soule and body haue their natural desires so the whole person of man desires naturally as close an vnion with the Diuine being as it is possibly capable of secondly it desires glorie and honour being one of the beames of GODS countenance which hee casts vpon his most noble creatures For there is a sparke of Diuinity in Glory which makes all men I had almost said all creatures naturally appetent of it according to the size they haue measured them out by God to vessell it vp in Cupido gloriae nouissimè exuitur etiam a sapiente sayes the wise Historian many to giue life to their Honor hauing lost their owne And this holy Ambition as it deriues it selfe to another world so it is in man both a naturall and lawfull desire within the expectation of which the whole creature stretching out the neck of it as S. Paul most significantly speakes waites for and sighes for and like a woman is in a dolorous trauaile for to be deliuered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the free libertie of glory granted to the sonnes of God The last hunger both of soule and body as they are vnited is of diuine societie and friendship and therefore as the Philosopher calls man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sociable Creature so the Apostle would haue vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to associate our selues at least in our trauelling thoughts with the Citizens of Heauen who as for number they are infinitely more so for nature are farre more illustrious and blessed then our vnder companions that liue here below centred with our selfs in this little point of earth are For God himselfe being a Diuine Spirit and those Palaces of glory being farre more extensiue and spacious then our narrow regions how can there but be as Dauid and Daniel both witnesse ten thousand times ten thousand and thousand thousands of ministring Spirits to wait vpon their high and transcendent Soueraigne the King of Spirits Royal and therefore S. Paul reckoning vp our heauenly companions Hebr. 12. 22. begins with an innumerable cōpany of Angels so that this desire shall aboundantly be satiated and content But of heauen we that are on earth cannot say much For though Satan took our Sauiour vp into a high mountaine and thence shewed him all the Kingdomes of the earth and the glory of them in a moment of time Luk. 4. 5. which shewes of how small moment they are that in one short instant and article of time could sodainelie giue a blaze and so vanish yet there is no mountaine high enough nor any time long enough but eternity to vnuaile the glory of the Kingdome of Heauen which God purposely no doubt hath concealed that he might know who would loue him for himselfe because all men could not but loue him for his glory if he should let it fall vpon our eyes and display it selfe in the diuine beames of it Yet as farre as the eye of right reason guided like the wise men in the search of our Sauiour by the heauenly starres of light that shine euery where in Gods word may discouer this holy land let vs not wrong our sacred hunger of knowledge as blindely to wrap vp all in a cloud and to denye it this iust satisfaction which especially consists in a threefold glorious vnion wherewith God hath promised in his Word to vnite the persons of the Elect to himselfe which close with the Diuine Being I mentioned before to be the most ardent and naturall desire of our whole person and that wherwith the whole man is most delighted satisfied and filled First therefore wee are vnited vnto Christ as vnto our Head and so wee make but one body with him and this is a closer vnion then eyther children can be vnited to Parents for they are diuided parts from their Father but wee are vnited parts to Christ our Lord or married couples can be vnited each to other For they being diuerse bodies are vnited but into one flesh but wee to Christ are vnited into one body and one flesh as the Apostle speaks we are all set into his body and are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee with a most significant elegancy speakes in the 4. and 6. to the Ephesians And this is the first vnion of our persons with God by his Son Iesus Christ which makes vs way and entrance to the two remanent The second vnion is whereby our persons are spiritually vnited to God by the very Diuine and Holy Spirit of God him selfe so that this infinite and glorious and euer-liuing Spirit diffusing it selfe through euery member of Christs mysticall body makes vs of one spirit and one soule as it were with the Diuine being not by the vnion of essence and information but of inhabitance and participation The last vnion is that whereby the Diuinity of God dwelling in vs after an vnspeakeable gracious manner vnites himselfe whole although not wholly to vs far beyond the possibility of any other creature in the World For other creatures haue no power of vniting themselues so as God hath The reason is cause they are of so grosse and if not corporeall yet materiall being that it is impossible for them to make vs partakers of their Essences which haue all of them certaine Characteristicall and indiuiduall differences whereby they are incommunicable in their Natures to any other beside themselues But wee are made as S. Peter tells vs partakers of the Diuine Nature after an eminent manner which though it cannot be plenarily exprest yet it may bee shadowed by some weak resemblances The Rule whereby we may conceiue of this vnion is that Euery thing the more subtill and pure and immateriall it is the more closelie it may vnite it selfe
in their spirituall riots they will play away the saluation of their soules O the cheap damnation of sinners With how seely baytes their soules are angled into eternall perdition A messe of pottage will buy away Esaus birth-right A small vineyard will make Ahab sell himself to worke sinne and forfeit his kingdome and all his posterity to the wrath of God A fayre-look'd apple pleasant to taste will hooke into the Lake of brimstone a whole world of beguiled soules The Harlots beggerly bread and water Prou. 9. 17. will get more followers then Wisedomes costly banquet choicest wines though the bread bee stollen and the waters hid If GOD should liue amongst vs thirty pence would buy him A cup of fornication is enough to make all the Kings of the Earth wait vpon the Whore the Beast And can it can it be Sathan should hyre vs to bee the seruants of sinne with such small wages and God with a Kingdome should not moue vs to be his sonnes O let not Nature in wicked and prophane vnreasonable Creatures go beyond Grace in profest Christians Balaam the Sorcerer would dye the death of the righteous the naturall good will hee bore himselfe taught him to wish it And it is the obseruation of the Philospher That all Creatures naturally desire to draw and assemble themselues as close to the diuine Being as possibly they can which hee makes to bee the Reason why there is in them all so vehement a desire which hee calls of all other the most naturall of begetting another like vnto themselues because not being able in their owne bodies to be euerliuing they deriue themselues to eternity by their issues thereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee sayes partaker of the Diuine being as farre as they are able This is therefore the reason why there is sowne in our Nature Tantus amor prolis generandi gloria but this naturall and lawfull ambition of glory in the Creature is most liuelie exprest in the eight to the Romans of which I spake in the former section Let vs therefore if the wicked desire the death endeuor to obtaine the life of the righteous if the whole creation grone and sigh and trauel to be deliuer'd from the corruption whereunto our sinne hath imbondaged it into the glorious liberty of the children of God at least as S. Paul speakes in the same chapter groan with them and within our selues to bee deliuered from our owne sinne and to bee made partakers of that glory which God diuides among his saints Let vs set before our eyes those Noble examples which the Scripture hath lighted vp for vs to looke vpon For this is that heauenly Countrie which Gods soiourners and Pilgrims heere on earth seeing a farre off sweetly saluted Heb. 11. 13. and trauelling as strangers thorough the world esteemed onely worthy of their ambition Thus Enoch walked with God before his death and therfore without death was translated to him being as S. Iude speakes the seuenth from Adam whom God happily sanctified to himselfe with eternall rest because he was the Sabbaoth of Men. Thus Moses preferred the naked and solitary wildernesse before the delights and treasures of Pharaohs Court and was not this the cause because he looked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the great recompence of the Reward by Faith seeing him who is inuisible Heb. 11. 27. This made Daniel esteeme the Lions Denne better then Darius Palace and the three children aduenture to meete heauen in hell God in the middest of a furnace infernally heated This made not valiant men onely but weak women fearefull by nature but resolute by faith in the midst of all their tortures not accept deliuerance but making their way through all the cruel mockings scourgings and bonds and prisons and stones and sawes swoords of wilde persecuting Tyrants passe on to the Land of promise without desire of liuing or feare of dying Heb. 11. 36. This made the olde Auncient-bearer of Valens the Emperour and elder Souldior of Christ Saint Basil in his Oration of him so much admires that signal Martyr Goelius tell the raging and menacing Prince that he knew his reward shold be greater then his torment and when the Emperour promised him very great matters to aske him smiling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether hee had any thing to giue him more worth then the Kingdome of heauen In a word this carried the heart of olde Simeon into such a holy extasie of religious delight that earth could hold him no longer but he must needs as it were breake prison and leape out of his olde body into heauen O what a desire of departure to it doth a true sight of this saluation kindle Lord saies he now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace c. for mine eyes bane seene thy saluation As if he should say Lord now the child is borne let the olde man die now thy son is come let thy seruant depart now I haue seene thy saluation O let mee goe to enioy it Now I haue beheld the humanity of thy sonne what is worth the looking vpon but the diuinity of such a person which is able to make my young Lord heere euen proud of his Humilitie For so great a ioy of spirit can neuer be thrust vp into so small a Vessell as an olde shrunke-vp body of earth is Since therefore I haue testified of thy Christ since I haue made an end of my dying note and sung thee my Christmasse song since I haue seene thee O thou holy one of Israell whom no flesh can see liue what haue I to do to liue O Lord What should I weare this olde garment of flesh any more Thou hast left thy fatnesse off O thou faire Oliue Tree and the oyle of it hath made mee haue a cheerefull countenance thou hast forsaken thy sweetnesse O thou beautifull Vine and thy fruit hath warm'd thine olde Seruant at the very hart Now therfore being thou hast powred thy new wine into this old vessell O giue the olde bottle leaue to breake O let me depart in peace for I haue enough I haue seen mine eyes haue seene thy saluation These are high-wing'd ambitious indeed whose thoughts creep not vpon the earth nor whose Honours shall be euer layed in the dust but that flye among the Starres and Angells of GOD that boast of their kinred with the Almighty and call themselues the Sonnes of God Wisd 2. whom our Sauiour hath made the fauourites of Heauen companions for his Angels co-heyres with himselfe Temples for his Spirit Parts of his Bodily and partakers of his Diuine Nature whose kingdomes end not with their liues but begin with their deaths whose pleasures vnlike to Ionathans hony kil not with tasting whose gains haue no fire-brands like Sampsons Foxes no hell in their tales whose celestiall banquets are like the feastes of Cana where their water is turned into wine al their teares into ioy not like faire Absolons a Type
by the blessing of God must labour for it FOr as GOD would haue the World cost himselfe sixe daies labour though in one moment he could haue finish'd it so hee sets vs to taske by his owne example to our weekely stint Sixe dayes shalt thou labour Exod. 20. 9. and doe all that thou hast to doe Which is not to bee vnderstood as a Permission but as a Praecept as though God gaue vs onely leaue not charge to labour For hee sayes not sixe daies thou Maist labour but six daies thou Shalt labour If our mouths will eat as Salomon tels vs All the labour of a man is for his Mouth Eccles 6. 7. our browes must sweat for it For as the Heathen had a Prouerbe among them Dij venaunt omnia laboribus Their Gods they sayd sold all for labour so we may truely say of GOD indeed hee hath set the price of all his earthly blessings to be sweat In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread all the daies of thy life Genesis 3. Neither let the Master thinke to wipe off all his sweat to the brow of his seruant as though like our Gallants hee were borne onely to disport pleasure and his seruants to labour and toyle for him No euery Man is Gods Taskeman and it is as naturall for vs to labour as it is for flame to ascend so Eliphaz speaks of vs Iob. 5. ver 7. Man is borne to labour as a sparke to flie vpwards Indeed the labors of men are different some of mind and some of body some in the field some in the Citie some abroad at Sea and some at home but labour will meete a man euery where be hee where hee will It is our portion vnder the Sunne as Salomon tells vs Behold that which I haue seene sayes the wise man Eccles 5. 18. It is good for a man to eate and to drinke and to enioy the good of all his labour which he taketh vnder the Sunne for it is his portion So that euery one that would enioy the good creatures of GOD this subcelestiall happinesse which flourishes vnder the Sunne if hee would eate and drinke or enioy any good it must be of his labour his owne labour not another mans for that is to steale another mans goods and with his sweate to warme our own browes And so seuere was the holy Apostle of Christ in this point that Golden and Elect instrument of Gods grace to vs who in labours excelled them all that were hired into Christs vineyard to worke that hee would haue him starued to death that to maintain his life would not labor Hee that will not labour let him not eate sayes the Apostle 2 Thes 3. 10. It were vnnecessary to adde more out of the word of God to acquaint vs with our duety of labour the places to this purpose and the Scripture in this argument is prodigall Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands Ps 128. 2. Ephes 4. 28. Let him that stole steale no more but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing that is good that hee may haue to giue to him that needeth Where wee see the Apostle ties not onelie euerie man to his worke but would haue him though hee labour with his owne hands to get his liuing yet to giue something to him that needeth wants hands or feete or health or strength or liberty wherby to labour Looke then as we see a field as long as it hath any heart in it if it be manured and tilled sowne and weeded and well husbanded in euery part neuer deceiues the hopes of the greedy husbandman but paies him in his own seed with the most lawfull vsury of naturall and very plentifull encrease which if it bee neuer wrought vpon with the labour of man but falls perhaps into the hands of the sluggard growes presently full of nothing but thistles and thornes ranke hurtfull weedes as Salomon tels vs Prou 24. 30. I went by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the slothfull man and loe it was al ouergrowne with thornes and nettles had couered the face thereof so is it with the body of man If it be wel and faithfully laboured it is fruitfull both to himselfe his family and the whole Common-wealth but if it sleep away all his time in idlenesse hee growes not onely vnprofitable but full of noysom vices and is as the Poet cals him onely fruges consumere natus a hurtfull Vermin good for nothing but to liue vpon the spoyle Are not al things imbrightned with vse and rustied with lying still Let but the little Bee become our mistresse Is shee not alwaies out of her artificiall Nature either building her waxen Cabinet or flying abroad into the flowry Meadowes or sucking honey from the sweete plants or loading her weake thighes with waxe to build with or stinging away the theeuish Droan that would faine hiue it selfe among her labours and liue vpon her sweete sweat Ignauum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent And shal this Little creature this Naturall good-houswife thus set her selfe to her businesse and shall we droane away our time in idlenesse and which alwaies followes it vicious liuing Shall our fieldes labour so faithfully to reward vs and shall we betray our whole liues to idlenesse and sloath Find mee but one example in the World to countenance and sample a man in his idlenesse GOD himselfe is the watchman of Israel that neuer slumbers sleepes My Father workes sayes our Sauiour and I worke The holy Angels are alwaies either ascending vp vnto God as we may see in Iacobs ladder that is lifting their thoughts vpwards to honour him in their eternall song Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Sabbaoth c. or descending from God to Men with his blessings as being his Ministring Spirits sent for the good of the Elect to pitch their pauillions round about and defend vs from many spirituall and blind dangers which alas our soules neuer see Not one of them all was seene to bee idle or stand still Man himselfe which is worthy our obseruing euen then when hee was first paradis'd in the Garden of pleasure yet had something to doe in it and was not suffered to walke idlely vp downe like a Loyterer or Idlesbye that had nothing at all to doe but was set to keepe it dresse it Gen. 2. Labour hee must though sweat he should not and businesse hee had to doe though sweat hee should not and businesse hee had to doe though in the doing of it he felt no wearinesse or toyle And as these most noble creatures of God Angels and man were not suffered to bee idle so if wee looke vp to the heauens themselues we shall there see there that mighty body in continuall motion neuer standing still but flying about the world with incredible swiftnesse that Dauids great Giant who euery morning like a Bridegroome comes out of his Easterne chamber delights
to till the earth then it is now a blessing to haue earth to till so that wee haue learnt to turne by the corruption of our nature our apparell that should couer our shame to proclaime our pride our Lands that should feede vs by our labour to the food of our luxurie In a word Religion was once the Lord of our Reason and our Reason the directer of our vnderstāding and our vnderstāding the guider of our will and our wills the cōmanders of our affections and the affections which the Philosopher calls materiall reasons because by them the soule rules our body the gouernours of our bodies and our bodies the controllers of our desires and lusts but now Lust hath snatched the reynes into his owne blinde gouernment and madde with Iehu driues on the body and the body the affections and they the wil and that the vnderstanding to all vnreasonable and irreligious excesses so that poore Reason carried headlong to the ruine of it selfe sits like a Waggoner or rather like vnhappy Hupolitus without his reynes and is hurried by his wilde horses whither soeuer they please frustra retinacula tendens Fertur equis auriga nee audit currus habenas And from this disorder of mans nature comes it to passe that in the yearely fruits of the earth which wicked men reape all the paines of Nature serue them only to maintain the pleasures of their lust who are alwaies eyther misdoing or doing naught Let vs leaue therefore the Commendation of Husbandry and end with IX A iust reprehension of ill husbands who eyther straggle out of their own Callings or haue vnlawfull vnprofitable or no Callings at all IF therefore thou wouldest call downe Gods rich blessing vpon thy estate rest thy selfe in that vocation God hath set thee as a Souldiour maintaines the station his Generall places him in and breakes not ouer the hedges either to idle courses or other folkes businesse When God meant to enrich Iacob he made him vigilant and laborious when he meant to honor Daniel he made him studious and wise when hee purposed to crowne Dauid hee sowed in his Youth the seeds of Religion and Valour God hath alwaies set the right meanes before the end doe not thou therefore grudge and repine against God and set vp sayles to carry thee to some other coast then GOD hath appointed Delight not thy selfe in planetary motions but moue constantly in thine sphere It is indeede the nature of al men to think other mens liues more happy then their owne Optat ephippia Bos piger optat ar ace Caballus Faine would the Oxe the horses trappins weare And faine the Horse the Oxes yoake would beare The Countrey man admires the brauery of the Court and the Courtier the content of the Countrie But take heede of this leuity of minde goe thou alwaies on in the knowne roade God hath set thee otherwise though thou striue neuer so much and with the two lowing Heyfers that carried the Arke 1. Sam. 6. goest on complaining vnchearfully in the way of thy calling if thou bearest Gods Couenant with thee God will carry thee thither and thou shalt endure much misery by the way Ionas wee know was sent by God to Niniue but he because he knew God was mercifull and feared more his owne shame in being counted a false Prophet then fauoured Gods honour in sparing the Niniuites when hee should haue gone to Niniue set vp his sayles for Tarshish thinking most foolishly to flie him that was euery where but God had soone sent his winds after him to driue him thither whither hee denied to goe and when they were not strong enough but hee chose rather to lose his life then to be thought though for Gods honour a false Prophet would needs be cast into the Sea from his obedience to God GOD had prouided a strong pursuiuant to waft him thither with incredible speed to land him whether he would or no vpon the shoares hee fled frō The Prophet thought he had beene in the belly of hell as hee speaketh of himselfe in the 2. and 2. of his Prophecie when he lay stewing in the stomacke of the Fish and sayling vnder water to the coast God had sent him Follow therefore thou the vocation God hath set thee in Onely take heed that it be a lawfull profitable and honest Calling For some there are like the smoothe-tongued Parasite in the Comedie that get their liuing by flattering and lying lips that traffique with their tungs for their belly in spending their whole liues to finde out merry tales and beyond-Sea newes to feede his eares that feeds them and these with their Attique dialects doe so fleeke and smooth him vp they liue vpon that they make the rich foole halfe besides himselfe with an opinion of his singular goodnesse and rare vertue and so continue to blanch his fowle life spent in riot and gaming and prodigious luxury till they haue made him as poore in his estate at length as before hee was proud in his expence and such harlotrie the young prodigall in the Gospell met with but such callings are neither lawfull for him that liues by thē nor profitable for him that is fed vpon nor honest before God or men And therefore these voces ad placitum that were all borne in the Familie of Gnatho must take heede lest their merry laughing and lying trade of flatterie though it were alwaies quaestus multo vberimus since the begining of the world when Pride first infected our soules to these later times wherein it is prophecied that men should be more then ordinary louers of thmselues and proud boasters be not onely in conclusion punisht with Seuerus his smoake that stifled a Flatterer to death with this derisory motto Fumo perijt qui fumos vēdidit but with Gods fire to which will reward it with the same fire it was kindled with Iames 3. 6. Others spend their liues in Callings ciuilly lawfull but such as are neyther profitable for the Common-wealth nor before God iust and honest Such was the Trade of Demetrius the Siluer-Smith in the 19. of the Acts that made siluer shrines for the worship of the goddesse Diana that is Little temples of siluer in which the image of Diana sate as it did in the great Temple and such are all those curious puppet-dressing trades that serue for nothing else but young Ladies Gallants to dresse and pride themselues vp in the superfluous vanity of ouer-rich and fashionable apparell fit indeede for the corruption of the time but vnfit for vncorrupted persons contrary to the Apostolicall Canon 1. Tim. 2. 9. and the will of God Zephany 1. 8. And among the crowde of this ranke wee may thrust in our idle Pamphleters loose Poets no better then the Priests of Venus with the rabble of Stage-players and Balleters and circumferaneous Fidlers and Brokers all which if they were cleane taken out of the world there would bee little misse of
them Others bestow their time in Legall and Callings vsefull to the Common-wealth but as they abuse them neyther honest nor iustifiable before God Such are our Tap-houses Gaming Innes I meane not harbouring and viatory Innes which questionless in fit places and where Iustice is neere at hand if rightly vsed are not onely lawfull and profitable but necessarie and honest for to lodge weary Trauellers as Rahab did the Spies of Israel or to let the poore labouring man to haue iust allowance of bread and drinke for his money can bee accounted no other then necessary reliefe but for our Tipling Innes in small vntract Hamlets without which our Country-Diuels of drunkenesse Blasphemy Gaming Lying and Queaning could amongst vs finde no harbor though perhaps in places of more resort they haue credit enough to be entertained in fairer lodgings they are eyther the Diuels vncleane Ware-houses for his spirituall wickednesses to trade in or in our plaine world hee hath no traffique at all The last sort of offendors against the vertue of honest Labour are our Out-of-Calling Gentlemen who in husbanding their Lands and ouerseeing their seruants and gouerning their families and in relieuing aduising and quieting their neighbours in giuing good and religious examples themselues may finde imployment enough for Gods many talents hee hath trusted them with But they neuer thinking why they came into the world when they should warme their bodies with wholesome labour take thought onely how they shall boyle them in vncleane lusts when they should wash them with the sweat of some honest Calling they with vnwash'd and durty affections swinishly wallow themselues in vnchaste intemperate vices making their Lands giuen them to set them a-work the maintainers of their idlenesse their bodies as Seneca speaks of them Cribra tantum Ciboruâ— poâ—uum Sâ—â—es onely to straine meates drinkes thorough and their seruants for want of skill to command them Lords to dispose all their Lands as they please themselues Such the Romane Common-wealth was full of in the declining periods of it as all the stories tell vs such the pride of Israel nourished iust before the captiuity of the tenne Tribes Amos the 6. the 4. 5. 6. verses such the kingdome of Iudah vnhappily swarmed with immediately before Hierusalem was set downe weeping by the waters of Babylon Ierem. 5. the 7. 8. Such alwaies the body of euery Common-wealth like ill-humours is surcharged with for the Diuine patience commonly waites for his size till sin hath fil'd vp her measure before hee giueth it a purge either by water as when hee baptized the whole world from their lasciuious running after strange flesh or by fire as when hee sent hell out of heauen against Sodom and Gomorrha or before hee lets out the inflamed bloud to quench the malignant heat of it as wee see in the Tribe of Beniamin Iudg. 20. and after in both the Lands of Israel and Iudah in the forementioned Prophets A rugged fellow and vnmannerly would our Gallants I dare say think him that with the angry Romane writing in commendation of these country labours should chide them as he does to their worke and vpbraiding their luxurious paines to wait vpon sinne after the vomit of much indignation tell them that they would when they had suckt out all health and vitall sappe from their languish'd bodies bring themselues to that passe vt in ijs nihil mors mutatura videatur That they had need to be embalm'd as well before as after their deaths or should with the Taske-masters of Pharaoh say to them as they did to stragling Israel coasting about to gather straw and stubble for their Egyptian works Ye are idle idle are ye goe now therefore and worke Exod. 5. 17. Indeed they would thinke hee knew good fashion and ciuill carriage that would aduise them to trauell with the Prodigall into some farre Countrey there to spend riotously all their goods vpon Harlots Luk. 15. 13. or if he would counsaile them to liue in the City and frequent Maskes and Tauernes Theaters or if he encouraged them to the sports of hawking and hunting and if the weather were churlish and lowring to carding and dicing or if he would wish them to follow the Court in the delights and reuells of it not in the honourable seruice and studies of one that meanes to fit himselfe for worthy imployments and actions whether in Warre or Peace But thou O maÌ„ of God flie these things in thy Christian Calling follow after righteousnesse and holinesse in thy particular vocation exercise thy self in such things as may be not only lawfull in the Common-wealth wherein thou liuest but profitable both to thy selfe others and especially in the sight of God and his Church iust and honest so that thou maist as it becommeth a Noble Christian both reproue with thy coÌ„trary practise the rich and honourable lasiness which such Lords of Idlenesse that keepe their Christmasse all the yeere count the priuiledge of their gentilitie and delight thy selfe with Isaac to sowe the seeds of thine owne labour for the obtaining of Gods blessings And the God of Peace if thou water the ground with thine owne sweat shall blesse thy labours heere a hundred fold and hereafter shal end thy labours in Rest Eternall Amen ACTS 10. 43. To him giue all the Prophets witnes I. The wisest of the heathen and all creatures are good witnesses WHen the heauens and the earth are so farre distant a sunder who would euer suppose al things on earth should draw to themselues a vitall efficacy and heauenly fertilitie from those as the Scripture cals them kind influences so farre sent except the whole world were campus dicendi a large field wherein euery plant with so many sweet flowers of naturall eloquence lessoned our reason by sence and experience to beleeue it vpon the departure of whose Summer beames all the fruite againe and comly flowishes of earthly profit and pleasure in re-interring themselues eftsoones faint and die away But this Annual resurrection of Nature we therfore see in this world which wee should neuer otherwise haue beleeued that wee might beleeue that which in this world we shall neuer see that God is to receiue vs what heauen is to earth For thogh he say of himselfe Esay 55. the 9. As the heauens are higher then the earth so are my thoghts higher then your thoughts Yet it pleases him to descend from that height in the 57. and 13. of the same Prophesie Thus saith the High and loftie One that inhabits eternitie I dwell in the high and holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to reuiue the spirit of the coÌ„trite ones Earth hath no power to mooue vpwards it is beyond the sphere of her actiuitie Heauen therefore virtually descends man hath no power so much as to send a good thought vp to God God therefore bowes the heauens and comes downe in two speciall beames one of
the wordes of their Prophecie and that Christs Church may see this truth Christ sends out into the whole earth these seauen guifts of his Spirit as Lamps to giue Light both to his Prophets and Apostles So that if any Spirit of Antichrist obtrude vpon the Catholique Church any other witnesses or blinde Light of gouernment interpretation besides these or think that Christ sent his seuen spirits forth into Rome not forth into the whole earth it is to be held a Spirit of Error and not of Truth But to close vp this generall shadow of the Prophets which I haue vnawares vnfolded beyond my first purpose and to open the particular substance of their seuerall Prophecies we shall find thē all so signally point at our Sauiour that if Moses veyle were not taken frō his face and layd vppon their hearts if they did not by a wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the olde Prophecies set the last comming of our Sauiour in glory before his first in humility that so they might grow proud by him who would first learne them to be humble Learne of me for I am humble they could not but now at length see him to be the Glory of Israel who hath beene so long a time already the Light of the Gentiles all the Circumstances of his Birth the Miracles Offices Doctrine and Humilitie of his life the causes manner and other cōcurrences of his death the Place of his buriall and the assurance of his rising againe being so cleerely praeassigned by their owne former Prophets liuing so long before Let vs therefore diligently search into III. The seuerall Prophecies concerning the Birth Life Death and Resurrection of the Sauiour of the world FIrst that his Mother should be a Virgin was foretold Isay 7. 14. and we shal finde it Mat. 1. 18. fulfilled Beholde a Virgin shal conceiue which the Iews most sillily translate a young woman as Trypho the Iew in his disputatiō with Iustin Martyr and Aquila and Theodotion both Iewish Proselites in their Translations But as Iustin replies it were no wonder for a young woman to conceiue whereas the Prophet speaks of it as a wonder Behold the Lord himselfe will giue you a signe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as your ancient Septuagint saith the Father reads it and not as your idle Rabbies newly translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold a young woman shall conceiue making that a very strange wonder then which nothing is more common and vsuall Besides to speake in grammer property 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alma signifieth neyther a Virgin simply nor yet a young woman but one betweene both a Virgin already espoused but not married such as Mary was to Ioseph such as Rebecca was to Isaac when she veyled her face at his sight Gen. 24. 65. and is therefore deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to veyl or hide This being the maiden ceremony of the olde world for Virgins after they had once made choice of their husband to couer their faces to be Nuptae before they were Maritae veyled from al other before they married their owne man The husbands being to become the veyle of her eyes as Abimelech speaketh of Abraham to Sarah Behold he is the veyle of thine eies And this was Gods owne Argument to prooue our Sauiour his Son the Messias Gen. 3. 15. Ier. 31. 22. and in the place now cited And as the person of his Mother so the person of his Messenger was as disertly fore-told by the Prophets Esay 40. 3. Malach the 3. 4. chapters and fulfilled by Iohn the Baptist Luke the 4. who is therefore called Eliah not because he was to be person aeliter but onely personate being to come in the spirit of Eliah and in the manner of his life Eliah fasted often so did Iohn Eliah was girt with a leather girdle so was Iohn Eliah spake all his Prophesie writ none so did Iohn Eliah reproued the people openly to their faces so did Iohn Eliah was sent to renew the worship of God then defaced and changed so was Iohn Eliah told Ahab and Iesabell of their faults plainely so did Iohn Herod and Herodias painted Iesabel sought Eliahs life to slay him dancing Herodias sought and obtained the life of Iohn and slew him So that in his place and apparell in his manners and Prophecies in the prosecution of his life and persecution at his death Iohn though he were not Eliahs persō yet did throughly personate Eliah And this was Iohns crying Argument to proue our Sauiour the Messias The voyce of a Cryer in the wildernes prepare ye the way of the Lord saith Esay Who art thou say the Iewes to Iohn The voyce of a Crier in the Wildernesse prepare yee the waies of the Lord saith Iohn to the Iewes But our Sauiour as he had two Natures so hee had two Messengers Iohn was a burning shining Light on Earth but the Starre burned shined to giue him Light from Heauen A Starre shall come out of Iacob saith Balaam Num. 24. 17. Where is the King of the Iewes saies the Wise men for we haue seene his starre are come to worship him Mat. 2. 2. And this is the heathen mans argument that so much troubled Herod and all Hierusalem with him Now if we search diligently eyther the time when this starre first appeared or the place whether it led the Wise men after it had brought them out of their owne Countrey was it not in the time of the first Herod Luke 3. 1. when the Scepter was departed from Iudah Gen. 49. 10. And the Land was forsaken of both her Kings Esay 7. 16. And this was olde Iacobs argument to proue Iudahs sonne the Messias The Scepter shal not depart from Iudah till Shiloh that is his Sonne come And went it not with them directly to a little Bethleem foretold by Micah the 5. the 2. and in the 2. and 5. of Mathew interpreted by the chiefe Priests and Scribes and people all gathered together at the commmand of Herod to this very purpose who making this quiry Where Christ stould be borne receiued this answere In Bethleem of Iudah And thou Bethleem art not the least among the Princes of Iudah for out of thee shall come the Gouernour that shall rule my people Israell And this was the Argument of all our Sauiours enemies met together against him Herods the chiefe Priests the Scribes and the Peoples to proue him the Messias Wee might now take our Sauiour out of the Cradle of his birth and looke vpon him in the Miracles Offices Doctrine and Humanity of his Life all which wee shall finde curiously foretold by Moyses Dauid Esay Zachary and witnessed not onely by the mouthes of Children and Wise men but forcibly arrested by the Peoples Pilates and the voyce of the very Diuells themselues crying Wee know thee what thou art euen the Holy one of God but because the great Rocke of Scandall whereat both the obstinate Iew
all And this was Caiphas the High-priests blind argument to proue our Sauiour the Messias It is expedient that one man should dye for the people Iohn 11. 50. In a word his Buriall in the graue of rich Ioseph is foretould by Isay 53. He shall make his graue with the rich and his Resurrection by Dauid Psal 16. 10. Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy one to see corruption For God before had made his soule an offring for sinne as Esay tells vs 53. 10. And this was the great argument of the two great Apostles wherewith they conuerted both Iewe and Gentil to the faith of Christ Acts. 2. and 13. Chapters 800. at two sermons I will not adde to these Diuine Attestations the propheticall Acrostique of Sebyd Erythcaea cited by Constantin in his oration which he intitled ad Caetuâ—â— sanctorum the 18. Chapter and translated as he sayes by Tully before our Sauiour was borne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who I doubt not not but might Prophesie of Christ as Balaam did Nor the Aegyptian crosse which among their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diuine Hieroglyphicks signified Saluation as the heathen themselues confest out of Socrates in the 5. booke of his Ecclesiasticall story the 17. Chapter Nor th' illustrious report of Iosephus in th' 18. of his Antiquities both of our Sauiour and Iohn the Baptist which the Iewes ignorantly slaunder as inserted by the Christians mistaking this Iosephus the sonne Matathias who writ in Greeke for another Iosephus of theirs who writ in Hebrew the sonne of Gorion in whom indeed there is no such report Nor the wirtie but not so weighty Arguments of some of the Fathers As of Iustin Martyr who would needs perswade Trypho and his two fellowes that the holding of Moses Armes in the figure of a crosse and the spitting of the Paschalll Lambe with the two shoulders passant prefigur'd the crucifying of our Lord or of Irenaeus speaking of the incredulous Iew who should see our Sauiour the life of the world hang before his eyes and yet obstinate his heart in vnbeleefe out of the eight and twenty of Deut. Et erit vica â—ua pendens ante oculos tuos non credes vitae tuae lib. 4. aduersus Haereses cap. 23. But if any would lay the foundation of his faith wider and hope to himselfe more Arguments to ground his beleefe vpon Let him but aduisedly thinke with himselfe how it became the Sauiour of the world to liue and what other witnesses to beare him testimony of him and then let him adde to the prophesies of his death the innocence of his life For neuer any man liued as he liu'd which of you sayes our Sauiour as to all our enemies can accuse me of sinne And to the innocence of his life the Authoritie of his Doctrine Neuer man spake as this man does say the emissary scouts sent to apprehend him And to the Authoritie of his Doctrine the power of his miracles Wee neuer saw such things in Israel say all the people and to the miracles that hee wrought the miseries that he suffered Behold and see if there were euer griefe like my griefe may our Sauiour truely say of himselfe And to the miseries that he suffered himselfe the constancy of his Appostles and Primitiue Martyres that suffered for him Who who euer had such witnesses as to kindle other men into the same faith with them would set themselues on a light fire of zeale till they were consumed for the honour of their Lord So that the first Imperious Persecutour of the Christians Nero that in humane lumpe of crueltie whom Nature for hast might seeme onely to haue curded vp into a knot of bloud guest not much amisse when anoynting their bodies of the Christians he set them burning in euery street of Rome like so many Torches to giue light to the Cittie as Tacitus reportes in the 15. of his Annales For they gaue light indeed not for awhile onely to that heathenish Cittie but to the whole Christian world for euer after Neuer was there day kindled with halfe so many beames as that night was sure neuer was there night though all the Starres in Heauen should flame out in it to make it glorious that shone halfe so brightly as did this when to meet their Bridegrome in the first watch and morning of their Gospell so many early Virgins had lighted their Lampes And to these liuing Martyres let him adde two dead witnesses the voyce of the Sonne from heauen at his exspiration when the whole world lost the day at Noone the voyce of the Earth at his Resurrection when her mouth opened and let abroad so many Saintly bodies that awakned and leapt out of their graues to tell it in Ierusalem that Christ was risen O the Diuine vertue of this celesticall body If it die heauen that enlightens all extinguishes it selfe if it reuiue the dead worke of the Graue that receiues the dying excludes the liuing and like the barren wombe of Sarah is alust to bring forth the Children of promise in testimonie of the secret influence of life it felt after Christ had layen with her And thus it became the Sauiour of the world to liue thus to be borne thus to die againe these witnesses became him these Miracles And therfore giue me leaue to vse first IIII. A free Reprehension of all fashionable Aggrippaes in faith and farther motiues to winne them to become through beleeuers AFter the voyce of so many Prophesies witnesses art thou yet an Infidell O that there were not in Christs militant Church as there were in Othoes military Campe so many men so few Soldiers so many professors so few Christians Let me but aske thee as St. Paul did Agrippa Beleeuest thou the Prophets and I would I could say as he does I know thou beleeuest but I feare I may better say as the Prophesie it selfe speakes Who hath beleeued our report And what might the reason be of so much infidelitie among so many beleeuers of vs that so many with the Roman Soldiers should kneele downe to Christ and by an open professioÌ„ of their mouthes say to him Hayle King of the Iewes with the smooth voyce of Iacob and yet with their practise and rough hands of Esau smite him on the head face and crucifie him Is it not because they liue neither as iust men by Faith nor as wisemen by reason but wholy by sence so ignorant are they like bruit Beasts before God beleeuing only what they see quae sunt ante pedes as the Oratour speakes what they must needes stumble vpon with their eyes and no more Well hast thou both thine eyes out of Faith and Reason giue me thy hand O thou reasonable Beast and follow me with that one blind eye of Sence that thou hast left thee Thou wilt not beleeue in Christ because thou didst not see the former Prophesies foretoulde of him fulfilled by