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.
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
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
Curse with Cursing hee takes his Soule and teares it to pieces by raging and repining and contrarie to Paul that reioyceth hee raueth in Tribulations The great pursuer of Vertue whose loue to his Countrie was admirable though the fruits of it scarse iustifiable at his death defies Vertue it selfe and in discontent renounceth her as a Vassall of Fortune The end of pleasure is Lothsomnesse and the apprehension of an End saddeth the mids of it Yea in the mayne course of his Life he is in bondage by the feaâ—â— of Death and that feare of Death bittereth his Life Accordingly haue I heard one to fall out with his Life because of Death speaking in the playne but pittifull language of a meere Naturallist what auayles mee any thing that I doe since whatsoeuer I doe I must dye And indeed if Death end the whole Man by that end the workes of Man are to no end for what can any workes auayle the Man that is not And now if we consider another way the Carnall mans life wee shall find that very often hee is put to hard seruices and hath but a bad Master of the Deuill Take out some one of the chiefest and set him for a Patterne and you shall see his Life to be a perpetuall Drudgerie and hee is no other then a Gally-slaue rowing hard for the execution of his beastly lusts And if hee sinke downe into some rest the Deuil spurres him vp againe with one Concupiscence or other that he must needs goe being Deuill-driuen Perchance he hath a piece of whordome in his head and the house of his flesh is on fire about his eares and hee can neuer be quiet before he hath quenched it and then also hee is not quiet but euen by quenching growes more fiery Before his beastly satisfaction he hath the labour of watching sending giuing and contriuing he feares the harlots husband or his owne Wife the parents the friends of both and generally the eyes of Men. Sometimes the Necke it selfe must be aduentured in cruell Murders for the remoouall of Impediments and sometimes for remoouing the Fruits And if you marke what basenes such people put on in this sneaking Vice somtimes equalling themselues with base persons sometimes couering their filthinesse with base shifts a noble heart would scorne it for meere Nobilitie But it is an excellent piece of Iustice that filthinesse and shame are fast tyed together and he that will haue one must needs take the other for his labour And after Satisfaction he is not satisfied for one sinne satisfieth but one lust and the roote of lust assoone as that one is satisfied is readie to bud forth a new Yea Lust the more it is obeyed the more it commands the more fewell is brought to it the more it burneth and when vpon a call it is vsed to satisfaction it will call the oftner for satisfaction It is like a Childe begotten and taught by the same Lust whom you doe not still by giuing that it cryes for but by giuing you inuite it to cry for more Therfore denyall is the best remedie for Lust and the next way to quietnesse For Lust vsed to denyall will grow fainter in asking that which it hath often beene denyed But your common granter of Lusts is a Dogge in the wheele of Lust still fetching downe the top of satisfaction and when that is vnder his feete there is still another top aboue him to bee fetched downe againe So is his businesse neuer at an end vntill the wheele be rotten or the Dogge old and notable to trauell any more But perchance hee is no Whoremonger but he is a couetous man and surely that man aboue the rest is the Deuils Post-horse his braines or his bodie or his eyes or his Letters are euer trotting abroad for bargaines and sales and sometimes he is tormented because he cannot be more tormented by being in many places at once Hee could gladly bee scattered abroad into those diuers places where are diuers good bargaines or diuers dangers of losse One man had need to be wrought out of his Liuing for enlarging the Territory the other must bee tentred with a forfeiture that the most may be made of him a third must bee vexed in Law for a profitable composition And if any of these misse our Ahab is heart-sick and cannot be cured but by a Playster of Naboths bloud of Iezebels of the Deuils owne making And still his head is full of Bullockes and Sheepe Hedges and Closes Townes and Tenements Markets and Fayres Siluer and Gold Obligations and Feoffments Ouer and aboue all this hee serueth his God Mammon in great and painfull Deuotions euen in long Watchings most abstinent Fastings earnest Prayers for Profit and hearty Repentance for a good Bargaine lost I wonder what greater paines would Grace haue asked vnto Saluation then here sin hath voluntarily vndertaken vnto damnation But if Ambition bee the disease of the man of flesh then doth hee lye perpetually in a bed of Thornes and too true it is for him that Honour and Miserie walke often together in the same path He is like a short Man still standing on tip-toe to looke ouer a tall Mans shoulder and sure hee cannot but bee in much paine by his stretching Hee hates them aboue yet croucheth to them and desires to be one of them whom hee hates hee loues them below yet lookes bigge vpon them and cannot abide to bee one of them whom hee loues So an Ambitious man may well be painted with two Faces or Aspects the one looking vpward and making many curtesies the other looking downward and making many Frownes and Terrifications His life is full of labour for he will neuer suffer his worke to be done for he proposeth ends which when he hath attayned he suffers them to bee ends no more This man and the rest of his fellowes I hold to bee very miserable because they buy Misery with Misery and with temporall paines purchase eternall torments And herein is there Miserie more miserable that they delight in their Miserie and this delight makes them willing to be still miserable These are truly those Egyptian Israelites that for loue of the Flesh-pots and Onyons can bee contented to carry straw and make bricke all the the dayes of their liues yea they preferre the labours of Egypt before the freedome rest of Canaan they had rather to bee set on worke by lust then to enioy the rest and peace and ioy of the Holy Ghost But I could wish those men would learne of the West Indiaâ—s whome perchance in scorne they will terme Sauages and Barbarians but the worse thou callest them the worse thou callest thy selfe if thou be worse then they It is recorded of some of these Indians that they were wearie of their gods and willing to change them because they had so much labour to please them For their Deuill-gods would not bee pleased but with many Sacrifices of men which cost them much warre and bloudshed
more Reason to bee valiant in the defence of his Country or a lawfull cause then a Christian The greatest abatement of Valour commonly ariseth from a fearfull apprehension of death But the Christian hath least Reason of any to feare death for by it he is sure to gaine the aduantage of an eternall felicitie And therefore hath he most reason to be valiant This beliefe of eternitie euen a Heathen Poet commended as a principall root of valour and he commended it in the ancient Brittons for saith he it is a foolish thing among them to be sparing of that life which will returne againe and he calls them happy in this errour whereby they are freed from that greatest feare of death And by common reason He that beleeues nothing to be beyond life should feare more to lose life which is all that he knowes then another which knowes a second life to follow this which farre excelleth it Againe as the Christian hath least cause of feare so hee hath most cause of valour and where is more cause there is to be expected a greater effect Now it doth plainly appeare that a Christian hath more cause then a Heathen to bee valiant For besides the loue of his Countrey and the preseruation and enlargement of Fame which are reasons common to both the Christian hath for his aduantage the highest Essence commanding him confirming him and standing before him as his reward God is his warrant for his action he is his strength in the action he is his happinesse if he dye in the action So many aduantages hath a Christian of a Heathen and therefore his valour should by so many degrees be more excellent then a Heathen Therefore if a Christian be not so valiant as a Heathen it is not because he is a Christian but because he is not Christian enough and no question but hee that is fearefull beeing a Christian would bee much more fearefull if hee were a Heathen For let the Philosopher rack vp his wits to the highest tenters to see if hee can reach to higher causes of valour then these of a Cristian I am sure hee can propose no greater reward then eternall felicitie he can conceiue no higher incouragement then the word of the highest he can imagine no valour more full of force and vertue then that which is infused by the originall Fountayne and Roote of all might and power who alone is iustly termed the Almighty and the Lord of Hoasts and the God of Battailes Who should be stronger then hee that hath the Author of strength on his side and who can feare that hath a greater with him then against him Therefore Paul sendes a chalenge to swords and famines and persecutions crying out if God bee on our side who shall bee against vs and though all things bee against vs yet wee be sure to bee more then Conquerours through him that loueth vs. So wee need not to feare except we will feare to conquer And indeed the patent of our saluation runnes in those very words Wee are deliuered from our Enemies that we may serue God without feare Accordingly Dauid professeth that because God is on his side hee doth not feare what Man can doe vnto him and he would not be afraid if ten thousand inclosed him And the true Roote of his inuinciblenesse hee discouers in the eighteenth Psalme which is this Because hee is backt and supported by the Deity And since I am now met with him I will set him foorth to challenge the Ethnickes to giue vs one like him that being a boy slew a Beare a Lyon and a Gyant Herein I thinke they will bee farre short of Dauid and it wil be well if they come to his thirties and his threes And as the Heathen magnanimitie comes short of Dauid so I thinke will the Doctors Philosophie And indeede the Doctour meant to steale away the question while vnder the name of Diuines he intends certaine Scholasticall Rauens that are themselues growne fearefull with Melancholie and vnder the title of Priesthood picke out the eyes of the sheep committed to them by an implicite Faith a slauish Ignorance They pull out their eyes and then leade them in the darke bound vp in the chaynes of scrupulous Superstition and timerous Deuotion And you know darknesse of it selfe is fearefull and rayseth vp in a man fearfull Images and perpetuall doubts Surely the doctrine of such Diuines is far inferiour to that of the Philosopher But the Doctour must know though he professe not to equiuocate yet these are but equiuocall Diuines and from his equiuocall Antecedent hee shall neuer deduce an vniuocall consequent Hee might as well goe into the house of a Painter and beholding there the picture of an eloquent Orator returne to his schollers and tell them that hee saw such a man of late and hee hath the worst vtterance of any man in the Citie But renouncing these scrupulous and paynted Diuines I will haue Dauid to be a true patterne of a true Diuine and let the Doctor take his Character from him euen of that whâ—ch is written both of him and by him and then let him consider whither there bee a more noble puissant confident and free spirit then that of Dauid His Valour hath before beene apprâ—oued and his cheerfulnesse in vertue and bolde confidence are readie to be manifest Hee danceth before God with all his might the lawes of God are sweeter to him then honie and more precious then gold and he is confident beyond exception for hee calls God his Rocke his Fortresse and his Refuge His faith and holinesse make him familiar with God and hee is bold to fetch from mercifull Omnipotence whatsoeuer he wanteth Now from this Diuine let the Doctour fetch the patterne of Diuinitie and see if hee can ground thereon the basenesse and deiection of his Monkish superstition But the Doctors Epistle had forgotten the Doctors own Chapter of Pietie for the one confuteth the other while in the Chapter hee sayth thaâ— God is not to be imagined as some terrible spectre whose imagination frighteth men from him Againe That Religion setleth a man in peace and rest and lodgeth in a free liberall and generous Soule Againe That the office of Religion is to reunite Man to his first cause as to his Roote wherein so long as hee continueth firme and setled hee preserueth himselfe in his own perfection Now if this Doctrine bee more truly the doctrine of the Diuines then his then hath hee vainly condemned it for this doctrine agrees excellently with Nobilitie and Puissance and reiecteth basenesse and feare This therefore I thinke was not meant to bee censured by him but it remaynes theâ— that the Religion of the Diuines which he censured was not his Religion but some other and so they were not both Catholikes or else this difference arose because he could not knit his diuers common-places into an harmonious Vnitie And indeed eyther of these may be true For first where hee
to be the footstoole of the spirit But if thou abide constant in the spirit thereby art possessor of thy owne soule and a commander of things transitorie thy sowing to the spirit shall make thee to reape of the spirit and thy Haruest shall bee life euerlasting Thou shalt also stop the mouthes of them that speake euill of Dignities and for the abuse would take away the vse Thou shalt bee called a builder of Sion and a repayrer of the breaches of Ierusalem But on the otherside They that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption They that build vp a Babell shal be stricken with confusion They that partake with the Harlot in her sinnes shall partake with her in her plagues and * Reuâ— 18 7 8. one of her chiefe sinnes is Pride and her plagues are Mourning Famine Death and Fire Their soules shall be banished from the Tree of Life which is the extremity of hunger They shall be sent into weeping and gnashing of teeth which is the most bitter mourning and to the second Death where the Worme dyeth not and the fire neuer shall be quenched CHAP. XIII A double fault in teaching one that fretteth the whole flesh the other nourisheth the proud flesh one thinkes to saue men by angring despising them the other will not saue them rather then offend them OVr Sauiour CHRIST sayth Wâ— to you when all men speake well of you and Saint Paul sayth I seeke to please all that by all meanes I may winne some In these two Sayings there is a shew of Contrariety between the Master and the Seruant Christ accounts them accursed with whom all are pleased and yet Paul striues to please all though those with whom all are pleased bee accursed And according to the misinterpretation of these two places haue risen two Errours the one of them that thinke their Ministery neuer well set on worke or sufficiently confirmed vntill it hath stirred vp the whole World against them The other of them that thinke it the chiefe discretion of their Ministery not to speake any thing which by a reproofe of euident sins may hazard the loue of any of their hearers But Verity being euer the Companion of Vnity and Christ and Paul speaking both infallible Verity they are certainly at Vnity Now this Verity like a right Line will plainly shew the crookednes of both these Errours and this Vnity will condemne their contentiousnesse that fal out about the defence of Errours Christ speakes not to this end that the Ministers should labour for hatred or striue that men should speake ill of them but he sayth That the ill speeches of men are ordinary consequents of a faithfull Minister yea a faithfull man Hee doth not tell the Ministers that they should follow hatred but he tels the Ministers that hatred will follow them Hee doth not set the Minister by the eares with the World but hee saith the World will take the Minister by the eares Hee is of Saint Pauls minde that he would haue the Minister in all indifferent things to please all but yet he denounceth that though such courses be taken of pleasing yet the very exercise of the Ministery will mostly get displeasure And heereof no better example then Paul himselfe with whom though striuing to please all yet the most of all were much displeased So that both these Sayings may bee harmoniously contracted into one sentence Striue to please all that you profit some yet striuing to please all be ye sure that some will bee displeased For the Seed of the Serpent will hate Seed of the Woman and the World that only loues her own will hate them that are not of the World But that we wander not on eyther hand into these diuers Errors let vs find out the right paths of truth euen the true Lawes of pleasing and displeasing In pleasing let this bee the first Law That Ministers are to propose a good end in their pleasing they must not please men to their damnation nor please them to Gods dishonour nor for their owne vaine glory but they must please them to saue them and to bring them to serue and glorifie their Creator Secondly they must please them in things lawfull euen in things good or at least indifferent They may not please them in euill that good may come thereof neyther may they sooth them in their sinnes which is to edifie the Kindome of Satan but if there bee at anytime a conniuencie at no hand may there be a combination nor incouragement it must bee for the more profit euen to watch a better oportunity And still be it prouided that no perfect peace by any meanes be made with sinne Aboue all let a Minister striue to please in holinesse of life for the beautie thereof hath often stolne away the hearts of the gain-sayers and gained their affections euen against their wils Yea let his Gesture haue an amiable comelinesse befitting one that is a Man of God And such is a graue Humility euen without Pride or Basenes not carnally but spiritually both confident and humble Thirdly let them please them in the wisdome and discretion of their Dispensation Let them giue the great Ones their Honours and Respects let Festus be called Noble and let King Agrippa haue his commendations of beleeuing the Prophets for this is not to giue Titles or to call good euill but to speake truth and to giue honour to whom honour belongeth A wicked Man may be outwardly honorable and thou mayst not rob him without because hee is alreadie robbed within Thou mayst cast him downe by spirituall iudgement but not degrade him of his temporall dignity thy weapons are spirituall not carnall and thy Masters Kingdome is not of this World If thou doe otherwise rayle on the Pope as much as thou wilt thou art surely a limbe of him for he robs men wholy of temporall honour for spirituall offences and thou robbest them in part Eccl. 12.12 But thou shalt prooue thy selfe an ill Fisher for soules if thou wilt not bayte thy doctrine or behauiour with that sweetnesse or ceremony by which the fish will byte the better and be the sooner caught In summe know the estate of thy Flocke in particular to bee to euery one a seuerall Man in thy priuate conuersation and still one man in the publike Be that to euery Man by which thou mayest winne him most For thou must bee all for gaine a true Worldling but of another World Thirdly in indifferent things as lawfull and decent recreations allow them yea sometimes therein ioyne with them God that filleth vs with food and gladnesse allowes these blessings especially to his blessed ones the rest haue it by stealth Let vs not make the gate of Heauen narrower then God hath made it neyther let vs make Religion a ghastly thing by vnnecessary opposing of Nature for the businesse of Religion is not to crosse Nature created but Nature corrupted euen our Corruption not our
Creation Yet in Recreation both Decency and Sobriety must bee regarded Besides thy presence may restraine or reform sinne But indeed if there bee anvnreformable course of sin as blsphemy c. I know not well how to allow any patience of wickednesse neyther how the conuersation of the Sodomites can be at the same time vnto Lot both a recreation vnto his minde and a vexation to his soule Lastly please them by outward profiting them If almes hospitality a milde exaction of dues may winne them shew with Paul that thou seekest not theirs but them And now as concerning a generall displeasing farre be it from vs to make it eyther a vertue or a touchstone It is not to be prosecuted as a businesse nor taken for a marke Christ indeed makes generall pleasing an ill signe but generall displeasing hee makes not an infallible good signe for euen the wicked Iewes as Paul sayth are contrary to all men Yea to all men they are a reproch But the true and laudable displeasing must bee imposed not sought and imposed for duties absolutely necessary and performed in due manner It must be for the profession or practise of that Truth which to conceale will be to the losse of Gods glory or for the reproofe of those sinnes which the same glory cannot suffer to bee vnreprooued Yet must these things bee done with a hearty desire that they may please since it is a true Rule That it is a foolish kinde of Rhetoricke to alien his affections whose iudgement thou seekest to gaine And most That a Christian ought to seeke peace with all men and to doe all things in loue Vnauoydable and imposed persecution is the Crowne and reioycing of a Christian and he is neerest the twelue Thrones that is neerest the Apostles in necessary losses for Christs sake But let vs not snatch such glory out of Gods hands nor with the sonnes of Zebedee intrude our selues into the right and left hands of Christ for they only shall haue these seates to whom they are appointed of the Father If God call vs to Confession or Martyrdome let vs runne to it or at least run to him by Prayer that he will enable vs to run and that so wee may obtayne But if God call not but wee runne without his call let vs know That that running makes Confessors and Martyrs of the Deuill CHAP. XIIII The Diseases of Representation which infect by the eye and eare IT was a cleere Truth which the Poet said That pierceth deeper into the heart which enters by the eye then that which enters by the eare Heereupon growes the excellence of representation which as it hath beene vsefull so it hath beene also in great vse and the vsefulnesse of it hath beene so eminent that men haue imployed the strength of their wits to turne Eares into Eyes euen to fasten on their imaginations the same character shape by hearing which hath bin beheld by seeing So that though the outward gates were diuers yet by that diuersity almost the same inward apprehension and knowledge eyther of persons or actions are receiued into our mindes Hence is it that the Poet Orator or Historian describes a person or a quality with such lif that though the Eare heare but words yet the Eye sees the things at least thinkes it sees them And by this liuely portrature of wit the matter is so euidently presented to the imagination and so stedily riuitted to the memory that it is our owne and pregnantly readie for vse vpon euery occasion But this vse hath bin likewise poysoned with abuse and that excellent Pensill of the Soule wit and conception which should haue paterned and fastned vertue to our affections in her truely amiable feature and haue stripped vice before our eyes into her natural vglinesse contrarily it hath giuen a painting of Pleasure vnto Vice and made it louely by the adornment of wit which of it selfe is most foule and abominable So in steed of being helpfull to the minde by a vigorious impression of vertue it hath beene made a stampe of the Deuill mightily to print vice into our soules by representing the Images of Death vnto Life Another kind of representation of the manuall Pensill hath also beene vsefull for the liuely expression of persons actions and stories In the Histories of Martyrs this hath conueyed their sufferings to the mindes of men with a mighty current that the dead similitude hath set life in the affections and that which moued not it selfe yet moued the beholder both to compassion and indignation But this kind also hath bin abused and that most grossely vnto spirituall corporall vncleannesse It hath been abused to Idolatry eyther while that which is worshipped is painted or that which is painted is worshipped To paint the God-head which only for it selfe is to bee worshipped is a dumbe blasphemy and a silent Lye It sayes God can bee represented by colours or that hee is visible to the Eye and so makes vs beleeue we see what indeed cannot be seene So to speake truth it shewes to vs what God is not and not what he is not a likenesse but an vnlikenesse of God and whereas they pretend it to bee Gods Picture it is meerly a Picture of not God A grosse fault it is also to worship that which is painted For though the body of Christ himselfe to be pictured and yet I neuer knew any sound proofes that hee hath a true Picture yet may not the Picture bee worshipped with the honour due to Christ. Though his Humanity may be worshipped yet that is for his vnion with the Deity euen a true reall and hipostaticall vnion But the vnion betweene the Image and the patterne is only Imaginary not reall or hypostaticall so that while we may well say wee worship Christ because he is God wee cannot say wee worship the Image because he is Christ. A farre more reall vnion there is betweene the Saints Christ euen the members and the head for Christ sayes The Father is in him and hee in them yea if Christs Prayer be heard we are one with him yet because it is not a personal and hypostaticall vnion with the God-head euen Peter himselfe forbids Cornelius to worship him Therefore farre be it that a bare likenesse should deserue worship when a reall and participating vnion doth not This Pensill of the hand hath bin also a Factor for vncleannesse while it presenteth incendiary spectacles to the eies of humane frailty Surely Concupiscence is a free horse and wanteth not sharpe spurs but a strong bitte it is readie of it selfe to carry away the soule and breake her necke by a high fall into a low place euen as low as Hell But these men least damnation should not be swift enough set wings on her armes and spurres on her sides that shee may flye away with the soule by an extreame and irreuocable celeritie Thus are they quite contrary to the Spirit of God for that sees and pitties
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
Vice flyes maynly at the face of this Image and seekes to scratch it out of the soule and so to leaue man as base and dishonorable as the Beasts whome man despiseth most So is this excesse a notable kinde of murder for it kils that which is indeed the man euen Reason and Vnderstanding And as it is thus contrary to the Creation by defacing that Image of God which the Creation planted in vs so it is also contrary to Regeneration and the recouery of that decayed Image So is it a murder of the second Adam in vs as well as of the first euen a murdeâ— of life eternall The new man saith Paul is created in knowledge and true holinesse but drunkennes it is a foule word and an honest eare is troubled with the sound of it quencheth the shining Lampe of knowledge and the spirituall fire of holinesse and leaues the soule of man as den of darkenesse and vncleannesse It thrusts a finger into the very eye of the soule euen the vnderstanding and puts it out and it leaues such a drosse and muddinesse on the will that it growes base and downward the fiery mountings of the spirit being quenched by the fogs and cloudes of moysture Namque affigit hums diuinae particulam Aurae Such lamentable effects of excesse you shal ordinarily see in these thirsty men or men-fishes for their life is only in liquido they haue commonly rebated and dull vnderstandings and base grosse and muddy affections They loue base company base places and base courses But if it be not yet odious enough behold the Monster it selfe as you go in the streets for you can hardly misse him and that will best affright you A certaine thing it is that perchance was lately a man but now hath nor soul nor body That little mouth of his hath swallowed downe his whole selfe he is intombed in his owne bowels and that which is buried in him is his Sepulchre Hee is now only Belly Foolishnesse and Sicknesse his panch hath buried the Wine and in the Wine is his wit buried his soule his hands his feet and perchance his last wealth Thete can be nothing sayd of him now but that hee is a meere Caske the shell of wine yet worse then that a Caske that marres the Wine and it selfe is marred by it You may strike him if yee will he feeles it not for he is dead as well as buried and whosoeuer would speake with him he must stay till hee come home for the drinke hath turned him out of doores But to what end doe I cast away my words If I speake to such a one I speake to the dead and how can hee heare And if I speake to the liuing He is not such and hee hath no need of my speaking Surely I will here take vp the saying of Salomon of the other generall death That it is good to see the house of death because the liuing shall lay it to his heart So though I haue small hope of the dead in excesse A Lazarus of that kinde being very seldome raysed vnto life yet let the liuing behold this house of death and hee may lay it to his heart Let those that stand by the falne take heed least they fall Let the vglinesse which they see abhorre in others make them striue not to bee that which they doe abhorre Beware of Wine because it tempts to excesse and therefore handle it with feare I speake now chiefly to them that excuse themselues by being ouertaken because it hath a sting in it But especially beware of excesse for without this sting the wine will hurt thee Be an equall Iudge betweene thy taste and thy whole selfe euen thy body thy soule yea Grace the soule of thy soule Bee not partiall to thy base sensuality but rather â—â— thy selfe and fauour those excellent things Gods Grace thy owne soule and bodie Abate that which would abatâ— thee and lose any thing rather then thy selfe A third dehortatiue is thâ— consideration of persons for the persons whom hee dehorteth are men and Christians and such of all other it worst becommeth A Swine oâ— a Heathen or a Heathens fellow a Swaâ—geret it becomes somewhat kindly But men of vnderstanding seruants members of Christ Iesus it fits by no meanes yea it is a miserable incongruity A man that hath some remnant of Gods Imaâ—e yea which is more that hath Gods Image renued in him yea is bought and brought to the wearing of this Image by the preciouâ— bloud of the Sonne of God that such a one should defile and deface Gods Image in himselfe this is a great absurditie Therefore hee coniureth them by their Manhood and by their Christanity that they would not put on this wilfull madnes by which both Manhood and Christianitie may be lost Christ hath dyed for thee doe not spoyle him with thy drinke for whom Christ dyed Doe not thou defile with thy Wine that which Christ hath washed with his bloud and where Christ indured so great a paine as accompanyed the shedding of his bloud and nayling on the Crosse for thy saluation doe not thou shed thy Wine vpon thy selfe to procure thy owne damnation Surely thou preferrest Wine before the bloud of Christ and before the Spirit of Christ. Thou art not a Christian but a Gadaren or rather the Hogge of the Gadarens now in carrying by the Deuill into the Deepe if thou preferre a Swinish pleasure before the most precious bloud of the Sauiour of the World Therefore behold thy dignity and that may suffice thee Thou art elect according to the fore-knowledge of God by the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit and is there a greater excellencie then this to bee a sonne of God so freely elected so preciously redeemed so diuinely sanctified And now put this filthinesse by the side of it a lothsome and odious comparison I confesse but profitable by the lothsomenesse and can any man indure to loose the Trinity that hee may gaine Sensuality to leaue to be a Saint that hee may be a Beast to lose Heauen that he may gaine Hell Me thinkes a man had neede bee drunke before-hand in this case to make a choice of Drunkennesse And now Paul passeth from the Vice to the Remedie An admirable fit and soueraigne Remedie as which helpeth it three wayes First by a contrariety for cures are most commonly by contraries and as excessiue wine hath bin shewed to be contrary to the spirit so is the spirit to it Secondly by a conformitie with it but excelling it and so the eminence of it calleth vs away from that which is meaner to that which is more precious as the offer of gold calls vs from siluer or brasse Thirdly by a priuiledge wherein it differs from it as not hauing the danger of wine which is excesse for there is no excesse in the spirit but excesse is a vertue in it and the greater measure the more commâ—ndation Now
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
very character is Cholericke for it is a Locust that hath the tayle of a Scorpion and a sting in his tayle c. Reu. 9. But for Phlegmatickes there are no patternes like the Monkes whose Life in generall is paine by ease and labour in eating And in this payne and labor they expresse a wonderfull patience This is the man whom that excellent pensill of the Spirit Saint Paul describes weeping whose end is damnation whose god is their belly and whose glory is their shame And if you will see the face of Melancholy behold your Anchorite or Stillite who often by a fullen humour falls out with the world and falls into a corner and at best vndertakes voluntary temptations that hee may escape necessary ones This man also Saint Paul describes when hee calls his Religion a shewe of wisdome in wil-worship and humilitie and punishing the body And these differences haue also bred oppositions among them The Popes turning Religion to be a Pander for pride lusts and pleasures is condemned by diuers as Barnard Cassander Mantuan c. The Iesuite is condemned by the Priest yea by the founder Romanists for being too pragmaticall and the whole world cryes out on the Monckes and the Poets make songs on them But the Melancoly Christian seemes most reuerent as hee doth among vs yet they haue beene censured by men of Iudgement as Cornelius Agrippa de vanit sci cap. 62. and Barnard in Cant. sermo 35. and others who condemn that life which liues to it selfe profiteth not others and runnes into Salomons Vaesoli And no doubt by the lawes of flesh and bloud the Pope in his glory cannot but laugh at their Penury and he that reioyceth in his gayne by Fabula de Christo which was the blasphemous speedy of an impious Pope must needs thinke them mad that loose thereby eyther pleasure or profit No doubt as fitly by the Pope may be giuen to these men of penance that saying which was bestowed on the common people that sought a fatherly benediction Quando populus hic decipi vult decipiatur Againe the Philosophers had Sects agreeable to different Complexions The Epicure fitted eyther the Sanguine or Phlegmaticke the Stoicke and Cynicke the Cholericke and Melancolicke So much in all men that are meerly naturall doth the Body worke on the Soule and the Soule by the same blindnesse which it suffers from the Body hath this defect that it sees not that it is blind and therefore beleeuing that it sees it calls that an opinion which is indeed but a preiudice Now the Remedie of this Disease as of others is by contraries Surely as these Complexions of the Flesh in their extremities fight with the Spirit so doth the Spirit with them and therefore the Remedie of the Flesh is the Spirit and wee shall bee safe from the extremities and superfluities of the Flesh if wee keep our selues in the vprightnesse vnpartialnesse and indifferency of the Spirit Now this shall wee performe if wee be guided by certaine rules whereof it may be truly sayd that hee that keepeth these rules keepeth his way and he that keepeth his way keepeth himselfe in the Spirit and hee that keepeth himselfe in the Spirit keepeth his Life And most true it is that they that walke by these rules peace shall bee vpon them for they are the very Israel of God The First of these is this That euery man truely iudge himselfe his Complexion and Constitution in the outward glasse of the eye and the inward glasse of the soule so to find out the exuberant abounding and reigning Complexion and that being found to bee farre from fauouring and defending it in the things of God which is the vsuall manner of flesh and bloud But rather on the contrary let him suspect and stoppe himselfe in that way to which his inclination ouer-hurries him and condemne his errour when he goes astray and hauing condemned it returne backe to his true way Surely in this we must imitate the Nauigators The Nauigators know the right Line that leades to their intended Hauen and to that Line by the Compasse they set the course of the Shippe But if contrary windes ouer-rule them turne them from this right proposed Line to any one side then they reckon how farre they haue gone on the one side and by another returne they requite it and so bring themselues againe into their right intended way Doubtlesse our Life is a Voyage our Hauen is the Citie of God the Line of our course is Sanctification and the Spirit is our Compasse This Spirit pointeth vs our way and our Soules must resolue to run in that way But it so falls out that the tempests of the Flesh of Complexion of exorbitant Constitution carries vs aside what remaynes but that wee find out this Errour and finding it allow a returne as long and as large as our wandring But farre be from vs that foolish and dangerous Custome of those blind Soules who being hood wincked by Humour and Complexion doe make their Humors and Complexions the Guids of their Soules and not their Soules guided by the Spirit the Guide of their Humours Yea they thinke that Humor is the Spirit and so they erre by authority and are therefore farre more incurable This is to make the winde the Guide of the Shippe and not the Compasse and surely such men shal be sure neuer to come to their pretended Hauen For the end of the Flesh is Death and the fruit of the Spirit onely is Life Neyther is it hard for each man to finde out the superfluities of his flesh and to correct them if hee follow the Second Rule which is this Man must not compare himselfe with himselfe nor measure himselfe by himselfe for euery man is as tall as his own measure and he cannot thereby finde out his shortnesse or tallnesse But Man must seeke out for his patternes both the words and persons of men truly sanctified or rather the words and deeds of the Spirit speaking and liuing in them euen such whose vnpartiall vprightnesse hath wholly giuen them vp from the Flesh to the Spirit The chiefest is Christ himselfe whose vpright temper rectified and guided by an vnmeasured Spirit setleth him in a perpetuall equilibriousnesse apt vpon occasion to the effects of any Complexion yet vnapt without to be led by any of them Next to Christ are his Apostles And among them most conspicuous and most knowne in S. Paul In him shall yee see the reasonable vse of each Complexion while he chideth the Galathians and Corinthians while he reioyceth for the Romanes while he expresseth a feruent loue to Timothy and many other Saints yea to his owne Nation wishing with his owne perill that they might bee saued while he speakes weeping of those whose end is Damnation and being still one and the same man he is full of anger when Elimas resisted him and full of patience when the Iewes afflicted him And euen at this day are there paternes