refused with a secret checke Mat. 8.19 whilst another that in a religious excuse would needs goe bury the Dead bury perhaps his owne dead his corruptions the Lord commanded instantly to goe and preach the Kingdome of God Luk. 9.60 Thus the intruder upon divine Ordinances doth justly meet with his Quomodo huc introisti Friend how camest thou hither When the humble man that chides his owne abilities by undervaluing them shall be honour'd with an Ascende altius Friend sit up higher and in that height findes worship with all that are about him Luke 14.10 It is the observation of Saint Augustine that Christ was boldly invited to the house of a Pharisee but modestly denyed the roofe of a Centurion Audi saith the Father in domo erat D. Aug. de ver Dom. in Mat. Serm. 6. in corde non erat hee was in the house of the Pharisee not in his heart And why the Pharisee was ambitious and pride is not the seate of Religion On the other side In corde erat in domo non erat hee was in the heart of the Centurion not in his house why the Centurion was humble and humility is the ground-worke of all spirituall advancement And doubtlesse hee that is thus accommodated is fittest for a sacred designe whither for Gods call or choice or employment for to call to choose and to employ Ieron part 3. Tract 15. Ep. 82. are termes distinct upon which some of the Fathers playing as well the Criticke as the Divine would have the word vocation to belong indifferently to God and man election properly and solely unto God the Church say they might Multi sunt vocati magistri per omnes ecclesias multi vocati m nistri sed nescio an electi magistri min stri Ibid. and did then vocare but not eligere Hence it was that Saint Ierome tells his Heraclius That there were Masters and Ministers in the Church to his knowledge abundantly called but whither chosen or not he left to the searcher of their hearts and his And thereupon concludes that it was with some Pastors as with some Martyrs Qui vocati sunt Martyres non electi he instances in those Qui postea to rmentorum Agones Ierom. ibid. Carcerum non usquè ad finem in Confession is toler antiae perseverarunt So that belike that Pastor that shrinkes and gives ground in time of persecution is but Pastor vocatus But he that so buckleth on his armour that neither Sword the Fagot nor the Wheele nor all the dreadfull Engines of the Tormentor can startle one inch from the constant profession of his faith He is electus Pastor or rather Pastor coronatus the Lord assuring him that if he be faithfull unto death he will give him a crowne of life Rev. 2.10 But doubtlesse the Father there by the word Electus meant rather the eternall then the temporall election That to the everlasting Kingdome not this barely to the Priesthoode For if we examine the body of divine writ we shall finde that the usuall liveries of God's speciall servants are in this kinde principally two Missio and Vocatio or else the Dabo vobis in the text I will give you Hence it is that we so often meete with a mitto Prophetas and a mittet Operarios and a mittam Legatos and a dabit Angelos Labourers and Messengers and Prophets Mat. 23.34 Mat. 9.28 Mar. 1.2 Mat. 26.53 and Apostles and Embassadors and Angells themselves are under the condition of a mittam vos or a dabo vobis he sends or gives or calls them And certainly they were not so neerly Gods if God did not so send or call them Those are not truly Pastors that have not heard the voyce of the great Shepheard that have not beene acquainted with his whistle or his Call The sonnes of Zebedee were but poore fishermen mending their nets 'till the Lord call'd them Math. 4.12 Saint Paul is in fury running to Damascus 'till by the grace of God he was called Gal. 1.15 Nay the great Byshop and Shepheard of our soules Christ Jesus himselfe comes not to his office without a calling neither I have called thee in righteousnes saith the Prophet and I have called thee from the Wombe From the Bowells of thy mother have I made mention of thy name I have made thy mouth as a sharpe sword and as a polished shaft in my Quiver have I hid thee Isai 49.1 2. verses Thus unbidden Guests may not come to the supper of the Lord and a wedding garment is requir'd to the marriage of the Kings sonne Whom God employes in his services he calls and whom he calls he cloaths giveth as well abilities of doing as authority to doe And where both these are the Lord hath some speciall interest If Saint Paul have a doore of utterance God himselfe must open it Coloss 4.3 If the Apostles speake wonderfully the mysteries of God Act. 2.3 the holy Ghost must come downe upon them in fiery tongues If Isaiahs lipps be purified from their uncleannesse a Seraphim must touch them with a coale from the Altar Isai 6.6 There is nothing to be done in spirituall undertakings without this dabo vobis I will give you Hence it was that in time of consecration certaine peeces of the Sacrifice were given or put into the Priests hands under the Law Exod. 29. the ceremonies of that age looking belike to those of ours where as an emblem of our Ite and Praedicate the Byshop in time of ordination gives a Bible into our hands not only as a rule and platforme of that which should direct us but also a sacred witnesse of that profession into which we are by a divine hand invested Hereupon the Hebrewes of old were wont to stile consecration T. G. Iewish Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 5. the filling of the hand so it stands upon record against Ieroboam as his perpetuall wound and infamy whosoever would he filled his hand that is consecrated whom he list and out of the basest of the people made priests of the high places Kings 13.33 The Church of God is never so much sensible of her Blemish Dishonour as when her Pastors are thus sifted out of the very drosse rubbish of the multitude And therefore in the first plantation of it God himselfe gives Moses an especiall charge and Moses Aaron that his Levites for the text saies they were wholly his should be first severed from among the children of Israell and then their cloathes washed were presented as an Offering before the Lord. Numb 8. v. 14 15 21. Now their manner of Severing was double Numb 3.15 First in the initiation of their office which was when they were but a moneth old Numb 8.24 then at their consecration at the age of 25. which was solemnly done through the imposition of handes by the sonnes of Israell some reade others by the first borne of Israel who were then the
to the Right Honourable IOHN Lord POVLETT Baron of Henton St. George SIR IF there be a Succession of Vertues with the Fortunes of Great men doubtlesse there should be of the Services of those that honour them This makes me speak boldly through the sides of your Noble Father whose continued respects towards me and incouragements I cannot better acknowledge than by my thankefull expressions to such a Son who in the hopes and expectations of his Countrey shall no lesse inherit Him than his Revenewes Ana then Honour Riches Wisedome you cannot but prescribe for what else may either intitle you to Greatnesse here or to Glory hereafter Such a Patronage as This I could not but listen after where is as well Vertue to countenance me as Power and so perhaps Censure and Prejudice may be a little hush't or at least not so loud but that the labours of poore men may travell the world if not without their snarlings for who can so muzzle a blacke mouth'd Curre yet without their publique Barkings and traducements Beleeve it Sir what I present you here is mine owne though but a mite and a mite thus offered cannot prove lesse acceptable to a noble Treasury than an Oblation of a richer value since your Free-will offerings were ever of best esteeme both with God and Good men which doth hopefully incourage me of your faire entertainment of This from the hands of Your most devoted HVM SYDENHAM THE CHRISTIAN DUELL The first Sermon ROM 7.25 So then with the minde I my selfe serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sinne THis life is a warfare and this Text a lively description of it where the parts lye as the two Armies of Israel and the Philistines did in Elah Ephes Dammim there is a Mountaine on the one side and a Mountaine on the other and a Valley betweene them 1 Sam. 17. Here is first Lex Dei V. 3. the Law of God on that Mountain the Israelite pitcheth then Lex peccati the Law of sinne on this the Philistine betweene both there is a spacious Valley where David encountreth the mightie Goliah the spirituall Combatant his fleshly adversary and this in the Ego ipse I my selfe where the conflict is both hot and doubtfull sometimes the flesh hath the defeate and then the Law of God hath the glory sometimes the minde is overlaid by the strokes of the Flesh and then the Law of sinne In this Duell our Apostle is a maine Champion or to use his own word a Servant Ego ipse servio I my selfe serve and I serve two wayes mentally with the minde that is for the Law of God carnally with the flesh this for the Law of sinne Serm. 44. de temp Audi saith the Father vitam justi in isto adhuc corpore bellum esse nondum triumphum the righteous man hath but a skirmish here no triumph no triumph yet but a daily tempest and strugling betweene the minde and the flesh the Law of God and the Law of sinne and this Law is the occasion of that warre and that warre of captivitie and yet this captivitie at last of triumph I finde a Law in my members fighting against the Law of my minde Quando audis repugnantem quandò captivantem bellum non agnoscis D. Aug. ibid. and bringing me into captivitie to the Law of sinne V. 23. Here is fighting and bringing into Captivity that 's the Warre on the other side Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord v. 24. Here is deliverance from death and Grace by Iesus Christ our Lord this the Triumph Now the ground both of that warre and this Triumph the Apostle locks up here in a Nempe igitur a so then So then with the minde I my selfe serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sinne Thus you see how the Field is pitch'd and every word in its severall squadron but before wee enter lists or can well shew you the heate of the encounter it will not be amisse to open first what the word Minde imports what her office and properties then what the Law of God and the service requir'd there and so the Analogie between both In the next ranke what the word Flesh specifies what the Law of sinne the service due there also and the relation between them This done I shall in the reare bring up the ego ipse the Apostle himselfe harness'd and ready arm'd for the spirituall conflict and setting him betweene the Minde and the Flesh the Law of God and the Law of sinne typifie and represent unto you the state of a true Christian Souldier here on earth how his loynes should be girt his feet shod his Armour buckled on what his breast-plate and Shield and Sword and Helmet and how farre able or not to withstand all the firy Darts of the wicked one This whilst I endevour to performe I shall desire this honorable and learned Throng to make use of Saint Augustines Apologie on the same subject Potentiam mihi praebeat charitas vestra D. Aug. Serm. 5. de verb. Ap. ut si habeam propter obscuritatem rerum difficilem disputationem saltem habeam facilem vocem ut autem prosit labor noster sit patiens auditus vester Discourses which savour of depth and industry are most proper for noble and ingenuous Auditories and looke for patient attention and candid interpretation I begin where I should with the minde of man tell you what it meaneth here and how it holds conformitie with the Law of GOD. PARS I. With the minde I serve the Law of God AND for the better opening of this Cloud both Fathers and Interpreters make a criticisme between Soule and Minde and Spirit which some endevouring to expresse have not unfitly compar'd to a house of three roomes or stories in the lower roome is Anima in the middle Mens above both Spiritus as the Cock-loft or upper Region of the Soule In these three is the substance of the soule lodged Quasi quadam sua Trinitate this being it seemes an Embleme of the Deity a Trinitie in Unitie and a Unitie in Trinitie the Essence the same in all but the proprietie diverse like severall strings in an Instrument set in tune to make up one Harmony and therefore it is call'd Anima De spirit Anima c. 12. dum animat Spiritus dum spirat mens dum metit meminit Or else Anima dum vegetat mens dum intelligit Spiritus dum contemplatur So that here is no Essentiall but onely a Vertuall difference the substance of the soule lying in the powers and properties thereof and yet not divided into parts but simple and individuall these powers neither impairing nor adding to the unitie of the soule no more than the diversities of streames to the unitie of one source or fountaine And yet there are divers steps
the Apostle confesseth that hee is not yet delivered of the burthen of the Flesh that hee still labours of her infirmities that hee is Carnall both by Nature and Suggestion by * Pareus in cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 25. Nature because borne so by Suggestion through the daily flatteries and titillations of his fleshly associate Quae non post nos sed in nobis nos sequitur saith St. Ambrose de poeniten lib. 1. cap. 14. which haunts and whores us wheresoever wee goe a continuall Dalilah about us and within us not discarding of this Hittite nor this Amorite but in despight of us it will bee medling with our flesh pot so journe it will in our Mesech here dwel in our tent of Kedar However I presume you conceive a difference betweene Flesh and Flesh onely that is meerely Carnall and another which is carnall but in part him that is In the Flesh walkes in the Flesh and whose weapons are fleshly and him that is onely obnoxious to the infirmities of the flesh In cap. 7. ad Rom. an Amphibion as I may call him betweene Flesh and Spirit Carnem habentem legi Dei obstreperam as Carthusian speakes whose flesh is ever scolding with the Spirit and his spirit ever chiding with the flesh for to bee flesh imports for the most part a humane Imbecillitie but to be In or After the flesh an vniversall bondage and subjection of mans nature to the lusts of the flesh The Patriarcks and Prophets and Apostles them selves were flesh and liv'd heere saith St. Augustine but they liv'd not here In the flesh Portabant Carnem Serm. 6. de verb. Dom. non Portabantur a Carne the flesh was their Burthen not their Guide And therefore it is one thing to say that Sinne and fleshly corruptions are in man another that man is in sinne and in the Flesh as that of St. Peter to Simon Magus was more wounding Thou art in the gall of Bitternes then if hee said the gall of Bitternes is in thee For for man to bee In sinne and In the flesh presupposes a kind of Uassalage and Thraldome sinne the flesh have over him for sinne to bee in man an Hereditary corruption quam nec fugere possumus nec fugare St Bernard serm 7. sup cant circurn ferre necesse est which wee can neither shake off nor avoid but it sticks like a Burre to our fraile condition and though we labour to wash it out with all our Hysop all our Nitre yet this Aethiope will not bee cleane this Leopard will not change his spots but though the Minde bee intent upon the Law of God yet the Flesh the weak weake flesh will bee still serving the law of Sinne. The Law of Sin what 's that what that which before S. Paul entitled to the Lex membrorum The Law in his members v. 23. what is that Law That which in the next verse he calls Corpus mortis The Body of death And what is that death and that Law v. 24. That which all the Servants and Saints of God have pang'd and groan'd under Concupiscence that which S. Austin stiles legem foetidam legem miseram vnlnus tabem languorem Serm. 46. de temp A putred loathsome and wretched law an enticing lustful law lodging and raigning in our very members and in such a Tyrannicall way that the Flesh is even inforc'd to serve and obey it and therefore by the Apostle here call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law the word Law being taken at large for any thing that governes and moderates our actions So that Concupiscence holding such a strict Empire and Commaund over it can be no lesse then a Law unto it and therefore Peter Martir calls it Vim * In cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 24. peccati et innatae pravitatis The Scepter as it were and Prerogative of sinne an inbred pravitie Qua quisque * D Aug. in 7. ad Rom. tom 4. carnis consuetudine implicatus astringitur By which every man involv'd in the customary snares of the flesh is so manacled bound as by a rigid Law Now it is call'd lex peccati The law of sin because such concupiscence is sin indeed not only Fomes et Causa and Poena peccati as the Church of Rome doth cavill but peccatum it selfe S. Paul no lesse then fourteene times in this Epistle calling it plainely Sin seven times in this Chap. foure times in that before three times in the next that follows It is called Lex membrorum the law in our members because it useth all our parts powers faculties as instruments or members or else lex membrorum in relation to corpus mortis This law in the mēbers Pet. Mart. in cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 24. being afterwards call'd The body of death and there is no true body you know without its mēbers which mēbers do here signifie as wel al the Powers of the mind as al the parts of the body infected defild by sin which as an hereditary disease we have derived even from the wombe residing not onely in some one part of us but sprinkling this contagion through the Whole Man and every parcell and memeer of him Now this whole man though it suffer the distinction of Interior and Exterior Homo yet it is but one the self same man But by reason of divers States Affections and Operations call'd the inward and the outward man and not as the Manichees wildly fancy teaching two soules in man the one good from which vertues flowed the other evill whence vices proceeded and so consequently that in one man there were as two men the inward embracing those vertues and the outward following these vices but in one and the same man there is one and the same soule and in this same soule and the same portion and faculty of it Calvine sets this Apostolicall combat Cor. lap in cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 25. making the inward man nothing but the minde quatenus consentit legi Dei the outward the same minde quatenus concupiscit mala which though the Iesuite cry downe for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soli renati habent hom nem interiorem Ephes 3.16 soli filij dei sunt renati Ioh. 1.13 soli renati spiritum habent-Rom 8.14 quem mundns excipere non potest Iohn 14.17 et Haeretica and set's up Reason sense in a vie with the Flesh and the Spirit for mine owne part I thinke it both senselesse and reasonlesse forasmuch as the combat betweene these is proper only to the Regenerate Betweene the other to the meere naturall and carnall man who hath no touch of the Spirit at all nor oftentimes of God about him And therefore that wee may at length take away the vaile from this darkned face pull aside the curtaine that so obscures the Text wee must know that in one and the same S. Paul here there is a double
D. Aug. serm 5. de verb. Apostoli Apostle by an ingenuous and humble confession of his owne frailties doth bemoane his present condition and though in the state of grace findes himselfe not onely not conformable but in part averse to the spiritualitie of this Law acknowledging with deepe groane that he was Peccati mancipium sold under sinne as he phraseth it that inward sinne he meane Concupiscence not onely a servant to it but a very captive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leading mee captive to the Law of sinne v. 23. A Metaphor taken from the practice of Generalls in their Warres whereas some are destin'd to the Sword so others to thraldome and imprisonment In which though there be not alwayes a noyse of slaughter there is of bonds and shackles and sometimes of death too when the Ammonite must to the Saw and the Axe and the Harrow of iron 1 Chron. 20.3 But in this Apostolicall Warre there is no danger of the Axe nor the Saw though there be of the shackle no stroake of Fate but of captivity no marking out to the Sword but to Ransome to that Empti estis pretio magno 1 Cor. 6.20 In expectation whereof though he complaine for a time of wretchednesse and death with a Quis me liberabit who shall deliver me from the body of this death yet a death indeed he rather bewailes than suffers this being the voyce not of one despairing Vox non desperautis sed deplorant is carnis infirmitatoÌ„ Aret. in c. 7. ad Rom. v. 24. Trahi captivum in legem peccati solum est renati cum â—mpii a gratia alieni ultro ad mala currunt imoruant Par. ad cap. 7. Rom. v. 25. but deploring his carnall infirmities So that in this service of the law of sinne Saint Paul is not a voluntiere you see but goes upon command hath his presse-money from the Flesh serve he must whether he will or no he hath a Marshall within him that dragges him as a slave and hee must fight or suffer This makes him groan indeed groan to an AeruÌ„nosus ego homo wretched wretched man that I am And yet though he so groane and under the heate it seemes of his restlesse assaults and is thereby inforc'd sometimes to retrait yet hee leaves not the field totally a Captaine he had rather be than a coward and a Captive hee is made but 't is much against the haire serve hee doth and must but assent hee will not Nemo sponte captivatur paer Rom. 7. his minde is ingag'd another way that 's for the Law of God but the Flesh the traiterous Flesh lyes in ambush all the while and this betrayes him to the Law of sinne this makes him so deeply complaine I know that in mee that is in my Flesh V. 18. dwelleth no good thing that is true none not in my Flesh no good there and why because it serveth the Law of sinne But I know againe that in me that is in my minde dwelleth some good that 's true too good there and why because it serveth the Law of God Et in isto bello est tota vita sanctorum Ser. 5. de verb. Apostoli saith Saint Augustine Every sanctified life is but a Duell such a Duell as this between the Minde and the Flesh No true childe of God but hath beene a Captive in this Combat whosoever is regenerate is spirituall I confesse but he is in part carnall too for as much as he hath not depos'd his carnall infirmities not yet totally uncloth'd himselfe of Nature and the Flesh Si quiâ— dubitet excutiat cor suum if any scruple it let him search his heart a little sift his owne bosome and there hee shall finde either his lust lurking or his hypocrisie we are not all Minde nor all Flesh but compos'd of both lest we should either despaire for our infirmities or grow proud through our spirituall endowments The Mind perhaps may be mounting and rowzing as it were her feathers take her flight upwards to God and his pure Law but the Flesh will be still bottoming Caro semper manet infirma semper nos in cursu moratur Aret. ad cap. 8. Rom. v. 21. fluttering here below and stooping servilely to the Law of sinne Now this Law hath not barely an habitation in our Members but a very Throne it not onely possesseth the Regenerate but raignes in him raignes in him as a Tyrant not as a King makes him a slave not a subject bids him acknowledge a sword for a Scepter and a Scorpion for a sword And therefore Lombard tells us Lib. 2. d. 32. that it is Ipse Tyrannus in membris a very Nero in our members or else Manubrium Daemonis as Pimenius hath it the Hilt of the Divels sword De vit pat l. 7. cap. 25. by which he brandisheth and plaieth so cunningly his prizes with the Flesh And of these and the like Fancies Greg. de val depec orig cap. 60. Bonavent sent 2. d st 32. the Schooles doe generally ring Vulnus animae and Languor naturae and Habitus corruptus and Vitium ingenitum A wound a disease a languishment nay a Vice they will heare of Thom. 1.2 q. 82. Art 10. ad 1. Estius sent 2. dist nct 32. lit g. b. Lom lib. 2. dist 32. lit 8. but not a Sinne a Sinne by no meanes the Master himselfe allowing the word Vitium but not Peccatum the Mother * Causa Fomes poena peccati Psal 51.5 De fide ad Pet. Diacon cap. 26. and Nurse and rod of Transgression the Tinder and Touch-wood of sin nay the match and the sparkle too and yet not sinne it selfe When our Apostle here Be-sinnes it over and over the man after Gods owne heart confessing that He was shapen in wickednesse and that in sinne this very sin his mother conceiv'd him And therefore S. Augustine or as some would have it Fulgentius puts it on Peter the Deacon as a point of Faith That every man was borne Impietati subditum so that not onely concupiscence it selfe but as they rarifie it with their Primi Motus the Ebullitions First-risings and Assayes of lust nay their Primo-primi or if they have an Art to mince them smaller their Primi-primo-primi are all Sin forasmuch as Concupiscence being evill of it selfe is of it selfe without the consent of the will * Pol. Synt. lib. 6. cap. 3. Omnes primi motus quia apti sunt insequirationem peream regulari si eam pervenerint dici possunt peccata etiam in parvulis fatuis quia sunt praeter ordinem naturae primitus institutae Gerson de reg mor. pag. 128. lit B. a sinne Otherwise in infants which by reason of their suckling and tender yeares cannot yet assent to wicked desires there should be no sinne at all whereas these inordinate motions are not barely the Symptomes but the very Impressions of a sickly soule Strom. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Rivers of Oyle will be in the Canaan above The earthly Jerusalem may abound with Silver and Gold and Arabian spices But what are These to the gates of pearle to the streets pav'd with precious stones Sheba and Tharshish and Ophir may supply her both with treasure and delight Ivory and Apes and Peacoks 1 King 10. But these are comparatively Toyes in respect of those rich and glorious Constellations which shine in the heavenly Ierusalem The Emerauld the Saphire and the Chrysolite are there The Iacinth the Topaz the Amethist are above Rev. 21.20 Honorificentissima praedicantur de Te Psal 87.3 O Civitas Dei Summè honorifica Great and excellent things are spoken of Thee thou City of God Thou everlasting City Great and excellent indeed for there is neither true Greatnesse nor Excellency but There where we shall grow up to the perfect Man Indeed as S. Paul tells us And to the measure of the ture of the Fulnesse of Christ Ephes 4.13 when we shall lay hold on that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Aeternum pondus Gloriae The excellent and eternall waight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 No Defect there no Sinne no Temptation no Lust no Infirmity no Sorrow but we shall be filled with all the Fulnesse of God Ephe. 3.19 The Sun shall not burne us by day nor the Moone by night Nay there shall be no need of Sunne and Moone for the Glory of God shall shine there and the Lambe is the light thereof for evermore But whilst we wander as strangers and pilgrims here on earth there will be a daily tempest betweene the Flesh and the Spirit a wildernesse of sin must bee past through and a fiery pillar requir'd to guide us in our night of errors And though God by his great mercies in his Sonne Christ Iesus hath brought us out of darkenesse into his marvelous light yet even in this light darkenesse sometimes over-shadowes us And therefore as in the Creation of the greater World God ordained two principall lights the one to rule the day and the other the night So in the restauration of this lesser World Man God hath set two lights also a Sunne and a Moone Christ and his Church the one to governe him by Day when the beames of the Spirit doe enlighten him the other in the Night when the fogs and mists of the Flesh doe overspread him and as those naturall Planets doe sometimes meet with their Clouds and Eclipses so doe these mysticall also Now as the interposition of the Earth betweene the Sunne and the Moone causeth an Eclipse in the Moone and as the interposition of the Moone betweene us and the Sunne causeth an Eclipse in the Sunne So the interposition of the Flesh which is as our earthly part betweene God and the Soule causeth an Eclipse in the Soule whereby her saculties are over-clouded and the interposition of concupiscence or lust betweene our Spirit and the Spirit of God causeth an Eclipse in the Spirit whereby Grace is darkned and that Sunne of Righteousnesse which would otherwise arise in our hearts is many times over-shadowed by our corrupter motions insomuch that the best Saints and Servants of God have often groan'd within themselves and powr'd out their complaints in bitternesse of Soule with an Vsquequo Domine Jesu usquequo How long Lord Iesus how long How long this Tyranny of the Flesh this bondage of corruption this body of Death this captivity to the Law of finne Psal 120.5 Wretched wretched that we are who shall deliver us Woe that we are thus constrained to sojourne in Mesech here and to dwell in the Tents of Kedar But even in these spirituall convulsions they have their lucida intervalla their Divine solaces and refreshments this being not the language of desperation but complaint Ieb after all his passionate expostulations with God tell 's Bildad that hee knowes his Redeemer liveth Iob 19.25 And Saint Paul after his sad and manifold disputes with his owne frailties here can give thankes to God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 which sacred ejaculations of theirs preach no other Doctrine and use but this That wee feeling this thorne in the flesh and the messenger of Satan ever ready to buffet us 2 Cor. 12.7 should not be exalted above measure but when wee begin to bristle and advance our selves in the whitenesse of our feathers swell in the opinion of our owne Justice and perfections wee should cast downe our eyes upon the blacke and ugly feet of our infirmities and so humble the pride of our imaginations with the modest language of the Prophet Lord blot out my transgressions as a mist and as a thicke cloud my sinnes Isai 44.22 Melior est peccator humilis quam justus superbus D. Aug. serm 49. de temp a sinner in his humility is a more acceptable Sacrifice than a just man if such a one may be in his pride And yet as we should be thus sensible of our infirmities how daily how hourely how minutely how unavoidably they are so we should not humble our selves below our selves forgetting the great Pilot and Anchor of our Soules but whilst we have armes and Oares and plankes to waft us in let us not voluntarily plundge our selves in that depth which may occasion our everlasting shipwracke diffidence and despaire but knowing that Prophers and Disciples themselves have beene in the like Tempest the Ship ready to sinke and her Great Steeres-man asleepe they crying amazedly we perish we perish yet if we invoke him by our zealous importunities rouze him with a Master Master hee shall awake at length and rebuke the churlish windes and the waves Luke 8.24 and a blessed calme shall follow The greatest servants of God have had their great infirmities and yet none so great but have had a faire audience in his Court of mercy and met both with excuse and pardon from the mouth of a compassionate Iudge who acknowledgeth that their spirit is ready though their flesh be weake and their minde following the Law of God though the Flesh the fraile Flesh bee led captive by the Law of sinne And this peculiar Plea of Gods chosen Servants is at length become an Apologie for the customary sinnes of those who in their conversations are most wicked and deprav'd the prophanest Esaus Pet. Mart. in cap. 7. ad Rom. v. 25. the loosest Libertines that are Illae pestes furiae temporum as Peter Martyr calls them those plagues and furies of the times lay title to it and 't is made not onely the excuse of their sinnes but their very patent and priviledge of sinning who under the colour of their carnall frailties can blanch and palliate their deepest enormities make Scarlet Snow and Crimson Wooll crying out with those wretches in the times of S. Augustine Vide D. Aug. Serm. 46. de Temp. Ser. 13. deverbis Dom. Serm. 6. de verbis Apostol Non nos sed Caro non nos
maintenance and support of these fleshly tabernacles thou shalt eate and drinke ad necessitatem and the church to take downe the frankenesse of nature and tame the wildnesse of the flesh for in point of fasting there is as well a religious as a civill or politicke respect saies thou shalt not eate and drinke ad intemperantiam let us so eate and drinke that we may live and not lust and so live that thus eating drinking we care not if we die to morrow The cause why Moses so long fasted in the Mount was meere divine speculation the cause why David did humiliation so that the way to mortify the flesh and to advance the spirit is by the doore of abstinence whereby wee may undermine the pallaces of lust and wantonnes plant parcimony as nature where riotousnes hath beene study Hooker Eccles pol. lib. 5. that whereas men of the Flesh eate their bread with joy and drinke their wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 The man of the Spirit may be contrite and wounded and so humble his soule with fasting Psal 35.13 Beware then of this Ingenuosa Gula this kick-shawed luxury when the braine turnes Cooke for pleasing both of the eye and palate let 's not court appetite when we should but feed it not feed excesse when we should strangle it Moderation and sobrietie are the best Governours of our meetings and where these are as they are not too often in the meetings of a multitude the example of our Saviour will allow us to turne Water into Wine and the advice of his Apostle to drinke it also for our stomacks suke and doubtlesse sometimes for our mirths sake too if we exceed not the bounds of temperance nor flye out into superfluity or Epicurisme which are the blot and staine of Societie and a hinderance of that true joy and comfort which otherwise might smile in our publike meetings when invitations are turned into riots feeding into suffocation clogging the body and damping the spirits and thereby those blessings which else happily might have shower'd upon us A Soule drown'd in meat as the Father phraseth it can no more behold the light of God than a body sunk in puddle can behold the light of the Sun For as fogs and mists arising from the Earth and hiding the light of the Sunne from us debarre us for the present of the vertue of those heavenly influences which otherwise we might partake of So the fumes and vapours of an over-charg'd stomacke ascending to the brain cause a cloudinesse in the soule hindring and darkning those heavenly speculations which the Spirit would else mount to in God and his Son Christ Iesus To conclude then it should be our principall care to keepe the whole man brush'd all sluttishnes swept-of as well within as without not only those outward spots and blemishes which bestain the flesh but even those smaller dusts and atomes which over-spred the soule Remember it is the white robe which is the dressing of the Saint and that the hand which is wash'd in innocency is accepted at Gods Altar The haire that is unshaven is not for his congregation nor the fowle and uncleane thing for his kingdome We read that Solomons Temple had two altars the one without Vbi animaliū caedebatur Sacrificium 1. Kings 6.20 22. where the bullocke was flaine for sacrifice The other within Vbi Thymiamitis offerebatur incensum where incense and perfumes were offered the best mirrhe and the onyx the sweet storax Ecclus. 24.15 And we know that this temple of the holy Ghost hath two altars also the one without in the flesh where the bullocke should bee slaine the Hecatomb of our hundred beasts offered our beastly lusts and corruptions which fight against the soule The other within in the minde where the fumes of mirrhe and frank incense ascend the incense of prayer and gratulation that spirituall holocaust that viall of the Saints full of odours which reacheth the very nostrils of the Almighty On these two altars D. Aug. 256. serm de temp God requires a two fold sacrifice munditiem in corde cleanesse in the heart which David so vehemently desired create in mee a cleane heart O God Psal 5 1. and castitatem in corpore chastity in the body S. Bern. inter sententias which S. Bernar calls martyrium sine sanguine a martyrdome without bloud where there is a death of the flesh without the death of the body a death of her lusts and a death of her corruptions by mortifying and subduing all carnall rebellions And this martyrdome of the flesh S. Paul glories in I keepe under my body or as the Greeke hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus contundo Paulin. Ep. 58. et Lividum reddo soe Paulinus reades it to S. Augustine I Bray as it were and macerate my body and marke what followes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In servitutem redigo I bring it into subiection 1. Cor. 9.27 And in subjection indeed it must be brought in subjection to the soule which as it gives the other forme so it should steere and master it Vnumquodque sicundum hoc vivat unde vivit saith S. Augustine let every thing live according to the rule and platforme of that by which it lives Vnde vivit caro tua De anima tua unde vivit anima tua De Deo tuo unaquaque harum secundum vitam suam vivat Whence lives thy body from thy soule whence lives thy soule from thy God Let both then live according to that Life which gave them life The world was made for man and man for his soule his soul for God Tū rectè vivit carosecundū animā D. Aug. Serm. 13. deverb Dom. cùm anima vivit secundum Deum The sweet Saint Augustine still then the body lives rightly according to the soule when the soule lives rightly according unto GOD. Let the body then so live after the soule and the soule after GOD that both body and soule may live with God in his eternall kingdome and that for his deare Sons sake Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory ascrib'd both now and for ever Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo FINIS Jehovah-Jireh GOD In his PROVIDENCE And OMNIPOTENCE Discovered A SERMON PREACHED Ad Magistratum at CHARD in Sommerset 1633. By Humphrey Sydenham Laudate Dominum de omnimoda potentia ejus Laudate eum secundum multitudinem Magnitudinis ejus Psal 150.2 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TOMY HIGHLY HONOUR'D FRIEND Sr. JOHN STAVVELL Knight of the BATH THIS SIR IUST promises are just debts and debts though delayed ever come acceptably if they come with advantage I long since promised you a transcript of this Sermon which was the Principall and now I send it you with a Dedication which is the Interest and such an Interest I
many things which God can doe by his absolute but not his Actuall Omnipotence Pol. Synt. lib. 2. cap. 29. so there are some which he can doe by neither For instance he cannot make Contradictions kisse neither can hee beatifie a Stone for though his Power be infinite yet he never workes but as it is modefied by his will or wisedome which sometimes either prohibit absolutely the doing of a thing or else thinke it not convenient to be done And now here 's a way made for the Libertine to cavill the Scepticke in Religion to exercise the venom of his wit who deale with Gods Power as some broken Artificers doe with coyne which either forge a new stampe or else deface the old Some dilate and beate it out too farre others againe doe wash and clip it Plin. lib. 2. nat Hist cap. 7. Superstition gives it too much and Atheisme too little Pliny will deny Gods Al-able Power because he cannot kill himselfe and Elymas the Magician because he cannot deny himselfe Dyonis lib. de Divin nom ca. 8. strong reasons doubtlesse to puzzle a Divinity arguments sitter to confirme Omnipotence than to convince it For if God could give way to his owne death or deniall he must lose his two attributes of Life and Truth and then he should not be so much not Omnipotent in what he could not doe as in what he did God were not truely Omnipotent if hee could doe all things Haec non potentiae sunt sed infirm talis D. Aug. lib. 5. C.D. cap. 10. Idem lib. 15. de Trinit cap. 15. lib. 1. de Symb. sid ad Cathcc ca. 1. to dye dissemble lye deceive are rather arguments of Frailty than of Power Magna Dei potentia est non posse mentiri saith S. Augustine 'T is a great proofe of Omnipotence in God that he cannot lye for if he were subject to this or the like passions and defects he could not be possibly God and therefore not possibly Omnipotent Every possibility of doing doth respect an active Power from which it may be done which Power doubtlesse is an absolute persection And therefore Estius l. 1. sent dist 42. Sect. 1. lit E. those things which speak infirmity or defect in the doer are not ascribeable to God whose omnipotence extends only to the doing of those things whose effects argue no imperfection in the doer Nemo ergo Deum impotentem in aliquo dicere presumat sharpe arrowes of the mighty with coales of juniper blister that foule tongue which would make God impotent in any thing and the reason Lombard gives Quia omnia potest quae posse potentiae est et inde dicitur Omnipotens in the first booke of his sentences 42. distinction And here with one breath wee may blow-off the languishing and soule-lesse allegations both of Libertine and Atheist whose strongest objections against Gods Omnipotence are for the most part such as doe not signifie Action but privation or if Action Action with Deformity or Defect or else such as import motion or mutation which cannot be without passion and therefore some imperfection or lastly such as jarre absolutely amongst themselves and imply a manifest contradiction as to suffer to be deceiv'd to sinne to be unjust to be truth and yet salshood and the like which are Symptomes of debility and impotence and cannot possibly comply with Divine power Revera quaedam non potest Deus quia-est omnipotens D. Aug. lib. 5. de C. D. cap. 10. For God is so farre from being omnipotent because he should doe all things that he cannot doe some things because he is omnipotent And therefore to keepe these in an even Scale Divines distinguish betweene impossibilities of and in Nature Impossibilities of Nature are such as exceed the ordinary course and Law of Nature as that the Sunne should stand still Iron swim Fire not burne which that God hath caused to doe or not to doe the Scripture is a witnesse Impossibilities in Nature are such as repugne the very definition of a thing and thwart Ens as it is Ens which yet never were and lest they should be are hindred by Gods ordination and decree such as imply in themselves a being and no being truth and yet lyes which are simply and altogether impossible as that contradictories should bee both true that a perfect Triangle should not have three angles equall to two right that Lines drawne from the Centre to the Circumference should not be equall Talia imposstbilia Deus non potest Pol Synt. lib. 2. cap. 29. such impossibilities God cannot doe because contraries cannot subsist in a Nature most simple and immutable nor contradictories finde any roome in an Essence void of all falsehood in a truth most absolute and perfect And herein both Schoolemen and Philosophers will countenance and direct us Sub omnipotentia Dei non cadit aliquid quod contradictionem implicat Thom. part 1. q. 25. Art 4. vn corp Arist lib. 6. Ethic. cap. 2. so Aquinas And Hoc solo privatur Deus ingenita facere quae facta sunt so Aristoile whatsoever implies a contradiction comes not within the verge of Omnipotence and Divinity is then put to the non-plus when it would make a thing done and undone at the same instant The Sententiaries therefore here digge out their Cliffes and bounds and with certaine words as by their proper stones and land markes have limitted and pent in divine power Estius lib. 1. Sent. dist 42. §. 1. and they are two factibile and possibile and in this sence onely understand God omnia posse because he can doe omne possibile and that power which in him they call active lookes onely to omne factibile or agibile so that his Omnipotence reacheth farther than to things able and possible to be done and all things are contain'd within those possibilities which imply not a manifest contradiction and they which doe are more properly said Aquin. part 1. q. 15. Art 3. Non posse fieri quam quod Deus non potest facere for in that they cannot be done 't is not through any defect of divine Power but because they have not the nature or reason of things possible For no understanding can conceive that truth and salsehood which are diametrally oppos'd should possibly be reconcil'd and so the maime rests still in the contrarieties of things not in divine power which therefore seemes lame and imperfect because things cannot be done not because it cannot doe them Or should we say peremptorily as we doe and did before that there are some things God cannot doe we should neither dissect nor weaken the nerves and sinewes of his Omnipotence for he is most potent which hath an immutable and constant power and from that Power will not tread aside nor decline Constancie in the best things being the best power And therefore those which God hath accustomed to doe hee being goodnesse it selfe are doubtlesse the best things and
also And at length soar'd so high D. Aug. lib. 5. de Civ Dei cap. 19. Vt nihil molle habere crederetur si nesciretur There was not so much as a thought of Mercie left because none of Goodnesse And now to be savage is no lesse his inclination than his sport Sloth and Cruelty two rare Eminencies in Superiours must innoble him to posterity where hee seemes to be as greedy of Fame as before of Bloud Rome must be called Neropolis and that moneth and season of the yeare which was for his recreation and disport Annot. Lud. viv Ib. dem Neroneus What projects will not ungodly men set on foot first for the advancement of their name and then the perpetuity But such a perpetuity is not without a kinde of rottennesse 'T is a curse the Spirit of God breathes against the wicked that Their memory shall rot nothing shall remaine of them but their Vices and they sometimes of that stench and loathsomnesse that the Sent of them is quick though unsavoury in the nostrills of Posterity Eccles 9.5 What lives there of Herod besides his Lust and Cruelty but the manner of his death which was no lesse a prodigie than his life the story of the one being written by the bloud of Innocents of the other by the fury of Wormes And yet how cautelous this Monster was to propagate his honour to After-ages who doubting the basenesse of his parentage should in future be discovered burnes the Genealogies of the Jewes that hee might be thought to have had his discent as royall as the rest of his Predecessors And this is the customary Plea of the Aspirer the Gourd and Mushrome in Common-wealth hee cares not whose name be obliterate so his owne flourish causing other families to vanish in a snuffe whilst his owne must shine like a light in a Watch tower or a Beacon flaming on the top of a mountaine I could wish we had not such Foxes in our Vineyards such Boares about our Forrest which will not onely feed where they enter but root out and destroy like a steepe Torrent driving all before them or as A sweeping raine saith Salomon which leaveth no food Pride Violence Pro. 28.3 oppress on are too low for them nothing stands up with the greatnesse of their Spirit or designe but a Generall devastation laying house to house and field to field like Ravens of the valley Prov. 30.17 pecking out the very Eyes and Heart-bloud of those that come under the Tyranny of their Bill And thus They gather stones for other mens buriall in which they interre both their Fortunes and their Name not onely scarifie them alive but Torment them when they are dead also strip them of their monumentall Rites the solemne pompe and Trophies of the Grave ravish their sepulchres deface those ensignes and inscriptions which should remarke them to succeeding Times A Barbarisme or rather Sacriledge abhorr'd amongst the Heathens as a Capitall injury and violence to their Manes and infernall Gods the prophaners whereof they threatned with the torture of all the Furies O consider this All you whom God hath advanc'd either in Title or Bloud above others thinke it not enough to be Great or Fortunate but to be Good also that men may as well sing of your Mercy as your Power rather magnifie your compassion than murmure at your rigour you are exalted to protect the innocent not to oppresse them to relieve the poore man not to grinde him The Lazar and Widow and Orphan should proclaime your care and pitty not your insultation acknowledge your Power rather by their Love than Feare Remember the greater you are in place the nearer you are unto God and he that is neere unto God hath a Greatnesse as well of Mercy as of Power And as of these you sing unto God so the afflicted must sing unto you and as in their calamities you have been a strength and resuge for them so in all your troubles God wil be a Sanctuary for you and then you may boldly rejoyce in the words of our Prophet here I will sing of thy Power and I will sing aloud of thy Mercy in the morning because thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble Gloria in excelsis Deo Amen Osculum Charitatis OR MERCY and JUSTICE kissing A SERMON PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY Anno Dom. 1635. By Humphrey Sydenham Osculetur me osculis oris sui sunt enim Amores tui meliores vino Cant. 1.2 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TO THE TRVLY GENEROUS AND NOBLY DISPOS'D DENYS ROLE Esquire This. SIR IT was not thought of Old however the Conditions of Men and their Times vary either Presumption or Rudenesse in the Divine to salute his Superior with a Kisse Prophets have done so to Kings themselves at their Regall Unctions in the very Dawne of Soveraignty And Apostolicall men to their greatest Proselites in the first rising of the Christian Church where the prime Ceremony was a Kisse And a Kisse like This I present you with Osculum Charitatis a Kisse of Charity A Kisse indeed of your owne choice in your first honouring of it from the Pulpit and now in all justice of your countenance at the Presse A Kisse much like your selfe and Actions where there is such a sweet mixture of Charity with Power that I know not well whether I should rather magnifie Fortune that you are Great or Vertue that you are Good Your Noble Deportment in the publike Services of your Countrey your great and unpattern'd Supplies of your ingag'd and necessitated Friends your courteous and liber all respects to those despised ones of mine owne Coate besides the daily flowings of your Elëemosinary Bounties can speak what temper you are of In all which though you wanted not a Trumpet to proclaime you yet you blew it not your selfe So just you are to your owne merits that doing Courtesies you scorne to blabbe them Maxima Laus est non posse laudari Tua non velle It is the greatest argument of Praise to be beyond it of Noblenesse without it Merit will be Merit without popular acclamations and common applause doth not alwayes give Lustre to particular honours but sometimes Suspition For mine own part my Style and Disposition both are too rough for a Panegericke And indeed to sow pillowes under Elbowes I ever thought fitter for an Upholster than a Divine However let the world know I no lesse hate Rudenesse than Flattery And as I would not be thought clawing so not uncivill especially in religious Ceremonies in this holy one of the Kisse which I shall desire you to entertaine fairely and cheerefully with an even Brow and not like the coy Dames of our Age turne the Cheeke for the Lippe and so lowre a Kisse into a Scorne That were to lessen you in your former ingenuities and cast a cloud over
stones and sometimes Divells as our Ephisian here did whose impietyes consisted most in the darker practises of Magicke and Idolatry the one a plaine trassicke with the Divell the other a tribute to him Now what is the cause of these prodigious aberrations but an invellectuall blindnesse a darknesse of the inward man A stupid ignorance of God and things divine And therefore as a wicked man is not quis but quasi quis or else non homo sed quasi cadaver hominis as Boetius hath it So an ignorant man is not a man properly but a quasi homo as it were a man Nay quasi cadaver hominis as a carkasse of a man that was And where is a fit place for a carkasse but in darkenesse So I told you before my bed is made in the darkenesse And what is this darkenesse but death I goe whence I shall not returne saith Iob And where's that To the land of darkenesse and the shadow of death Iob 10.22 Tolerabilior est poena vivere non posse quam nescire 'T is a calmer punishment to be depriv'd of life then knowledge For knowledge is a posting unto life and ignorance a lingring or hanging backe unto death And therefore Solomon tells us that the holy Spirit of discipline will remove from thoughts that are without understanding Wise 1.5 God dwells not with him that dwels not with himselfe that is Multi multa sciunt seipsos nesciunt cum tamen summa philosophia sit suipsius cognitio Hugo de sancto victore lib. 1. de Anima cap. 9. not with one that knowes not himselfe and his God too So that in every man there is a double knowledge not only requir'd but necessary unto life Dei Sui of God and of Himselfe Of which he that is ignorant comes within the lash of this Olim tenebrae and is not only Darkenesse but in the way to utter Darkenesse Such an Ignorance being not only dangerous or desperate but Ad perditionem Damnable too So sayes Saint Bernard in his 36. Sermon upon the Canticles Nosceteipsum was one of the proverbs of a secular wiseman and Reverentia Iehovae of a sacred First know thy Selfe that morality enjoynes and doth distinguish Man from Beast then know thy God and feare him too This Divinity requires and divides man from man makes that Spirit which was before-Nature and is no lesse then Caput scientiae The spring-head as well of life as knowledge Prov. 1.7 And indeed what hope of life without this knowledge or of this knowledg without humility and feare of humility in thy selfe which as it is the Mother of vertues so of happinesse of feare in respect of God which as it is the beginning of Wisedome so of divine Love Non potes amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris S. Bern. 37. Serm. super Cant. thou canst neither love him whom thou knowest not nor enjoy him truely whom thou dost not love And therefore labour to know thy selfe that thou mayst feare God and so feare and know God that thou maist love him too In altero initiaris ad sapientiam in altero consummaris the one is the first step to wisdome the other the staire-head that as earth which is the footstoole this as Heaven which is the Throne of God Moreover as from the knowledge of God proceeds his feare so from the same knowledge love and from both hope which is the bloud and marrow of faith and saith of life and glory Fili mi Reverere Iehovam saith the Wiseman My son feare the Lord and what then Salutare erit umbilico tuo medulla ossibus tuis It shall be health to thy navell and marrow to thy bones And is this feare then of the Lord all No but get wisedome and understanding too and why why Longitudo dierum in dextra ejus in sinistra divitiae honor Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Pro. 3.8 Now as knowledge doth mightily advance man and sets him up to God so simplicity pulls him downe and thrusts him below himselfe It unmans him makes him beast buries him in shame contempt and obloquie whither in a morall or civill or spirituall way The Stoicke will tell us Loco ignominiae est apud indignum dignitas Titles or Fortunes cast on a worthlesse and simple man tend more to his scorne than honour for hee is but Simia in tecto or Latro in scalis as Ludolphus hath it Apishnesse or robbery advanc'd De vita Christi part 1. cap. 68. and in the vote and opinion even of the multitude Non ad honorem sed ad derisionem he is rather expos'd to laughter than applause as if men by nature were taught to shun the presence of him in whom they perceiv'd not the lippes of knowledge Prov. 14.7 And indeed such a one is but a meere Bladder of honour some thing that time and Fortune have blowne up as children doe their bubbles to game and sport at a meere windy Globe which hath colour but no weight Titulus sine homine Contra Avaritiam lib. 2. p. 68. saith the sweet-tongu'd Salvian a Title without a man or a man without his Soule or a Soule without her ballace Reason and Vnderstanding Man that is in Honour and understands not what becomes of him Aske the Psalmist and he will tell you Similis fit jumentis hee is made like unto the beasts what Beasts Iumentis qui pereunt to the beasts that perish Psal 49.20 Other Beasts are not like or equall to him but beyond him Isai 1.3 God giving them a distinct preheminence the Oxe and the Asse before his Israel Nay the Storke the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow with the rest of that winged Common-wealth are better disciplin'd than he they know their appointed times and observe them too But Populus meus non intelligit my people doe not understand S. Bern. Serm. 37. in Cant. Ier. 8.7 An non tibi videtur ipsis Bestiis quodammodo bestialior esse home ratione vigens non vivens saith Saint Bernard A man endued with reason and not squaring his actions accordingly is hee not more brutish than the beast himselfe Yes questionlesse for though the one be steer'd altogether by sence reason being a peculiar property and prerogative of man yet man faltring either in the use of it or end the beast hath got the start of him and is become if not more rationall more regular than he Si ignor as ô pulcherrima foeminarum sayes the Beloved to the Spouse If thou knowest not O thou fairest amongst women if thou knowest not what then what Egredere post greges tuos Get thee behind the footsteps of thy Flocke and feed thy Kids besides thy Shepheards Tents Cant. 1.8 Marke the Text sayes not get thee out with thy Flocke or to it but behind it And Ad quid hoc saith Saint Bernard what meanes