jolly Man O what shall be thought of him when he shall cease to be a Man when dust shall return to the Earth as it was for this dust shall return to the earth as it was and Body and Soul must part their fellowship The third Part. The Laws established by Parliament say where the order of State requires a difference and mortal Powers claim a priviledge Let no man presume to kill Patridges Pheasants c. at length except they be Earls Barons Knights or any other that can thus and thus dispend But the Great Lawgiver gives no sucâ— liberty his words are general All Men must die Though with Asa we run to the Physician 2 Chron 16. or with Saul we seek to Witches 1 Sam 28 or with Maximus his Father we beg for mercy at their hands who never knew what Mercy meant The story is recorded by St. Gregory Yet nor the Physician by his application and lawful means nor the Witches by stipulation and ungodly compact nor the Devil by his long experience and accommodation can lengthen mans life Let the Physician pardon me for his being knit up in this triplicity I honour his Skill and if he be a good Man I honour his Vertue ease me he can but lengthen my daies he cannot I have read Bevenovitius who hath left no stone unturned to maintain their Power and when all is done that in Job stands as a firm Maxime or Conclusion His daies are determined the number of his months is with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass Job 14. verse 5. In Noah's daies some went into the Ark and some were kept out In Joshua's daies some went into Canaan and other some remained beyond Jordan In the Circumcision Women were priviledged In the Wars Levites were excepted In Egypt only the First-born perished But here is a general Decree of Death an universal sentence is past upon all flesh All Men are Dust and all dust must return to the earth from whence it came The Sun did once stand still at the prayer of Joshuah and once went back in the Dial of Ahaz and Death did once depart again for fifteen years at the earnest Prayer of Hezechia's But the Sun returned to his course again and Hezechia's Plaister could not prevent a second sickness Once these things were to shew GOD is above Nature and these things were but once to shew Nature is the hand-maid of God Once these things were that we might acknowledge a God above and these things were but once that we might not forget our selves beneath The first Garments our first-Parents wore Fig-leaves excepted might read us a lesson of our frailty and mortality those exuviae mortuorum those Skins of Beasts taken from the Dead to cover those that could not live for ever But he is now worse then a Beast that needs a Beast to be his Teacher Adam and all Adams Posterity unto this day do speak as much Our Life is like Jonah's Gourd which a little Worm could smite and make it wither Our Life is a shadow which every cloud of Sickness can take away Our Life at best is but a Sun which if it can hold out till the Afternoon of Old-Age yet at length it doth decline and set and shrink away Said I a Sun or like the Sun No no Soles occidere redire possunt the Sun doth set and rise again and as he goes he comes again But Man if once he sets he sets for ever Dust doth return to the Earth as it was and all corrupts and all resolves into that Element from whence it came All that was Earth returns to the Earth What saith the Jewish Sadducee or the Seleucian Heretick is there therefore no resurrection of the Flesh Can these Bones live Ezekiel 37. and can dead Earth revive again Surely those Bones did come together and live and stand up And Aarons dry Rod did bud And a Virgin did bear a Child Why not as well a Resurrection of the Flesh Yea why not rather a Resurrection than a Creation facilius est restaurare quà m à novo nihilo facere Tertul. Apolog. cap. 48. Though to God it be all one it should seem in all Humane understanding a great deal easier to recollect what is then to Create what is not I might argue from the Justice of God and from the Resurrection of Christ and from the Renovation of the Phoenix and from the Resuscitation of Lazarus and the rest Or which our eyes daily behold from the Corn in the ground which is not quickened except it dies Or from those industrious subtilties of the Alchimist who by his Calcination dotb pulverize his Mettals and by his Congelation doth restore them much more perfect then before But we believe and therefore I return to Solomon The Spirit returns to God that gave it Returns to God and to God that gave it Why then the Soul of Man was not Created by Angels as the Enthusiasts and Seleucians have foolishly imagined Nor doth the Soul die together with the Body as the Albians and Trinitarians would fain perswade themselves Neither have we a Catabaptistical sleeping Soul neither have we a Papistical walking Soul Neither said the Pythagoreans true there was a transmigration into Beasts nor the Tertullianists how the Souls of wicked men are converted into Devils No The Spirit returns to God that gave it Those Spectrum's those Apparitions of Men departed how are they of the Body which returns to the Earth how of the Soul which returns to God But 't is not mine intent at this time to handle Questionâ— or compound Differences Only my desire is hereby to excite us to Repentance That seeiâ—g our Body must to the Earth we be not proud and seeing our Spirit must to GOD we be not careless that we acknowledge our weakness in that we must die here and by a good life labour to prevent all danger that we may live hereafter That since our Body and Soul are come as Friends together Friends meet and part and so must they Since life cannot be kept death cannot be avoided and since our Soul must needs appear before his Maker before his Judge to have its private Trial and particular Judgment according to the things it hath committed in this life good or evil O listen we not to those Syrens Songs that cry Peace Peace all is well Be we not like frozen and benummed ones that have no feeling Suffer we not our selves to be lulled asleep in that pernicious Cradle of Security as if one Sigh one Groan one Domine or Mercy LORD should by and by transport us into Paradice The Devils did believe and Judas followed Christ the Pharisee did good works and Ananias gave half of that he had unto the poor Balaam did pray and Cain repents and Judas restores O GOD help us we are not gone as far as these in the way to Heaven and how shall we escape their punishment who have matched them and I
thirst after Blood after his Blood There is a saying in Philosophy that violent motions slacken by degrees the longer the lesser the softer These men impugn the very principles of Nature and their violent motions grow more violent A malo ad pejus Betray him deny him and kill him too In the 19. of St. Luke the Parable goes no farther than Nolumus hunc Regnare Fare-him-well He might live but he must not be their King But these men cry Nolumus hunc vivere Cut him off he must not live Deprivation of a Crown is not enough unless it be of Life too No nor is it enough to kill him He must die of all Deaths the most disgraceful and ignominious Death For whereas the Jews had four kinds of Death appointed for Malefactors Stoning Burning Decollation and Suffocation None of these will serve the turn and therefore they deliver him over to Pontius Pilate that he might die that worst of Deaths that death the Romans inflicted upon the basest sort of People the bitterest and the basest Death Vt simul honor persona Christi Crucifigeretur as St. Augustine saith They would kill his good Name as well as his Body Constantine the Emperour did afterward forbid this kind of Death should be inflicted upon any Ne salutare signum serviret ad pernitiem so Sozomenus And this is all I shall say of the Fecistis the Did it VOS FECISTIS follows You Did it You as well as your Rulers You the Common sort of People You that cryed Crucifige Away with him Crucifie him You killed him in that you Cryed to have him Crucified to have him killed You are guilty of that blood the Souldiers shed And though they were loath to hear it Acts 5.28 God forbid this mans blood should be laid to their Charge Yet Vos primores Vestri Rulers and People all were involved in the same Sin Interficiebant quem interficiendum offerebant as St. Augustine said They who conducted him to Pilate and they who cryed for Justice at Pilates hands All Murtherers Guilty All. O wretched World They who flocked to him from all parts who followed him by thousands who climb Trees to see him Untile houses to come to him who say Never man did as this man did They who cut down Branches spread their Garments in the way for him to tread upon They who sang Hosanna's with a Benedictus to him Mark 11.9 These are that VOS the self-same Men who presently after within the compass of a week call for Justice at the hands of Pilate and nought but that Innocent Bloud can quench their thirst Constat de Facto They are All guilty You did it And yet I wot saith our Apostle that through Ignorance ye did it If one man sin against another the Judge shall Judge him but if a man sin against the LORD who shall intreat for him Ely's words 1 Sam. 2. Now these men sinned against the Lord of Life and who doth first plead for them but the Lord of Life Nesciunt quid faciant Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23.34 They did it through Ignorance so Christ And St. Peter after his Master I know that through Ignorance ye did it mitigating extenuating and directing them to a Resipiscite the only salve for that soar Let us see then First of Ignorance what it is Secondly of these Jews Ignorance Thirdly how far this Ignorance of theirs might excuse them Ye did it of Ignorance The Schools distinguish of Nescience and Ignorance Nescience is simplex scientiae Negatio or Negative Ignorance and this may be nay is in Saints in Angels A finite Nature cannot have an infinite power and therefore of necessity must be ignorant in many things Ignorance is the privation of Knowledge and 't is two-fold Lawful and Vnlawfull Of those things which we may know and of those things which we are bound to know We may know many things which we are not bound to know but may be ignorant of them without sin Aristodemus the Philosopher bestowed many years in searching out the Nature of the Bee which yet he could not compass so Augustine Another in Tertulllian Sexcentos execuit ut Naturam hominis inveniret Anatomized six hundred men to find the Nature of Man and he came short of his desire In the Day of Judgment men shall not be judged and condemned for their Ignorance in Logick Astronomy Musick and the like but for the neglect of that Duty they were bound to perform so the same Augustine Now in those things which we are bound to know there is a double Ignorance The one they call Simple the other Gross or Affected The first Quo simplicior eò tutior The more simple the more pardonable Of this St. Augustine Temeritas poenam habet Ignorantia promeretur veniam Resolved rash wilful undertakers must expect a plague when honest Ignorance will find favour And this I take to be St. Pauls Case A Blasphemer a Persecutor and Injurious but all through Ignorance 1 Tim. 1.13 And therefore saith he I obtained Mercy And being better informed you have him by and by a Better man and no way disobedient to the Heavenly Vision There is another which they call gross or affected Ignorance When he that is ignorant will be ignorant still He doth quench the motions of the Spirit Slights the dictates of his own Conscience Neglects to enquire or use the means whereby he may be better informed Thus the Sadduces They did erre not knowing the Scriptures Matth. 22.29 They would not know them But as the Psalmist saith of such like They know not neither will they understand but walk on still in darkness Psal 82. From these mens Ignorance The Lord Deliver us Now which of these was the Jews Ignorance Our Saviour tells us Matth. 13.14 15. The Heart of this people is waxed gross and their Ears are dull of hearing and their Eyes have they closed least they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and should be converted and I should heal them Occaluerunt Rom. 11. stark stupid and sensless men They know not the voyce of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day Acts 13. No excuse here And therefore they are not only said to kill our Saviour but Manibus sceleratis by wicked hands they killed and Crucified him Pilates or worse than Pilate He feared Caesar these men feared not GOD A Sin a monstrous malicious matchless Sin Most gross Ignorance but still Ignorance Scio quod per Ignorantiam and Ignorance Repented shall find favour Nay every pardonable Sin hath some Ignorance or other annexed to it Either they examine not the greatness of that Sin they do commit which divers Circumstances do aggravate and make greater As The Party against whom we offend The Example we give The Scandal we leave The small Reason we had to do it nay The strong Reasons vve had against it Or they do
can do no worse by us than did that Lion by the man of God 1 Kings 13. kill the body and gaze upon the Carcass But Animae non habet quod faciat as Bernard said the best part of us is without the reach of the Lion and Dragon too You know that story of Anaxarchus when the Cyprian Tyrant caused him to be pounded with brazen Pestles in a Mortar Tunde saith he Tunde sacculum Anaxarchi Pound pound the bag the Case of Anaxarchus himself you cannot hurt They may have that power upon us as the Devil had upon Job we may suffer in Children Goods Body There 's one part of us they cannot hurt Keep we our Conscience sound and God will preserve our soul intire In the mean time their day is coming when they must hence and shall be no more Yea happy they if they might be no more indeed if soul and body might perish everlastingly But they must know a Day of Retribution is at hand when God shall render unto every man according to his works Return they shall but not to life Not to those Monuments of Bloud Avarice and Ambition which by their Cut-throat cruelty they shall leave behind Those places from which they must shall see them no more Psal 103. What say we then to Apparitions To the raising up of Samuel at the instance of Saul c. 2 Kings 4. A Child 2 Kings 13. A man restored to life again A thing frequent in the New Testament and afterward One in the Bed another in the Bier Lazarus from out his Tomb And after the Passion of our Saviour the Graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52.53 Some body tells us of one Curma sent b ck again from the Judgment-Barr because Death or the Angel of Death had mistaken him for another of the same Name And a Jesuite tell us of one who a good whâ—le dead and buried by prayers and permission came back again enjoyed his wife and kept his former habitation To these two last my Answer is No Scripture no Belief I may call these mens return from Hell or wheresoever 't was a Fable more safely than doth Beza call the Descent of our Saviour thither Fabulam Fabulam a Fable and againe saith he a Fable I do not bely St. Beza you shall find it in his greater Notes upon the Twenty seventh Chapter of St. Matthew Verse 53. As for those frequent Apparitions there may be such Sed non ego credulus illis But these are most while pretended for the Soul alone Though I deny not some such power to the Devil as to put on what shape he please For he that can transform himself into an Angel of Light 2 Cor. 11 14. may easily make or take some body at his pleasure Though most times I conceive such things to be Illusions And some such thing was that of Samuel God forbid we should once imagine any such skill or prevalency in Witches or their great Master either by whom they work that they should have any power upon the Souls of the Godly that are departed out of this Life No no The Scriptures tell us They are in the hand of God and no evil can touch them As for those others restored to life by Elisha in the Old or our Saviour in the New Testament Quod lego credo And God forbid any man should stagger at such plain Evidences Christ hath the Keys of Hell and Death Rev. 1.18 And he can open and shut at his pleasure But this takes not off that General Rule Hebr. 9.27 It 's appointed unto men once to dye where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once and once for all One Death one Judgment for all men Yet Enoch and Elias were excepted as also these others in the Gospel A few Priviledges or Exceptions break not the General Law But what is this to David and to us We must go hence and shall be no more No second Return And therefore as our Saviour said we must agree with our adversary quickly and while we are in the way We have Adversaries enough and too many God knows and some of them will not agree with us But do we our best for Reconcilement especially at such a time as this and such Adversaries as by our doing injuries we have made such There are some Adversaries we may not agree withal No casting in our Lots amongst the Wicked no shaking hands with those whose Religion is Rebellion And therefore no peace with such unless we will be at Enmity with God and there were an Adversary indeed 'T is good agreeing with him and that quickly too no delay and while we are in the way For once gone and no returning back again Si Deus nobiscum If we can get him our Friend no matter if all the World be our Enemies O Lord do thou pardon and forgive Do thou return and refresh us O Lord spare us that we may recover our strength before we go hence and be no more Deo Patri c. A SERMON Preached before His MAJESTY King CHARLES the II. In the ISLE of JERSEY 2 TIM IV. 10. Demas hath forsaken me I Shall rather be perswaded esse Lunares Homines quà m Joculares Daemones To be for Signs and Seasons Gen. 1. doth not exclude those capacious Bodies from other purposes And I know what Heraclides Cardan and others have said touching those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Creatures of a middle condition between Men and Angels As also what Hermes Apollonius and Plotinus have said for the Genii These may be the fancies of men But sure wherever Cornelius à Lapide found his Merry Devils I am confident he could never find any well-affected to Mankind The malicious and wrathful Dragon is ever at war with the seed of the Woman and that same Ponam inimicitias is almost as old as Adam If once the Woman the Church or any Child of hers do parere masculum any vertuous and masculine work that old Serpent is ready with his floud of poyson to destroy both Root and Branch His first attempt is to stifle it in the birth if he fail there then by allurements to make it Deviare in its calling and subjection If he prevail not here then una eurúsque notúsque ruunt Earth Water and all must conspire its utter ruin and destruction Take for this St. Pauls example and where should a man find a better First he is armed with Authority and Commission against the Church A shrewd Temptation which once over-blown and the sometime Persecutor become a Preacher Next there 's a plot to kill him in Damascus at Lystra he is lapidatus scourged and imprisoned at Philippi His death sworn at Hierusalem suffers shipwrack at Malta at length post varios casus he comes to Rome lives in an hired house
death Aquin 2.7 q 124. art 3. Ex zelo fidei charitate fraterna c. saith Aquinas Out of the fervency of their faith and to hearten and encourage their Brethren The Martyrs have often come forth and offered themselves to the fire or other fury of their enemies Apolog. cap. 1. This made Tertullian cry out Christianis quid simile c. What may be compared to the Christian question him and he is glad accuse him and he saith guilty adjudge him to death and he will give thee thanks This made Antonius Pius give a liberal testimony of them in his time Euseb Eccl. Hist. lib. 4. c. 13. It is their desire in Gods quarrel rather to die than to live Not to speak of Isaiah cut in twain Sixt. Senens lib. Sanct. l. 1. Jeremy stoned Ezekiel beheaded Daniel in the Den and his three companions in the Oven and indeed which of the Prophets have not been persecuted and slain Act 7.52 nor of Eleazar beaten to death being fourscore years old and ten 2 Machab. 6. ibid. c 7. nor of that honourable Woman and her seven Sons enduring to the amâ—zement of the Tormentors And though it be most true as one saith Erasmus virginum Martyr comparat Parentes atrocius torquentur in liberis quà m in seipsis The poor Mother suffered more Martyrdoms than she had Children and every stripe their backs felt went to her heart yet she exhorted every one of them with a mâ—nly stomack and prayed them all to die couragiously never deploriâ—g that she had brought them forth to such misery but overjoyed that she should be the Mother of so many Saints And though I know it to be true what the Orator hath Cic. 3. in Verrem Vetera exempla pro fictis fabulis jam audiri Yet will I touch at a few of those holy Saints and blessed Souls in Heaven who willingly joyfully constantly yielded up their spirits in his quarrel who first trod out the way and shed his blood for them Policarpe when many urged him to deny his Saviour and sâ—ve himself answered resolutely fourscore and six years have I served Him neither hath he ever offended me in any thing and how can I revile my King who hath thus long preserved me And when the Proconsul threatned to burn him his answer was Thou threatnest fire for an hour which lasteth a while and is quickly quenched but thou art ignorant of the everlasting fire of the day of Judgment and of the endless torments which are preparâ—d for the wicked And being now come to his last he turneth from 〈◊〉 Persecutor to his Maker O God saith he I thank thee that thou hast g aciously vouchsafed this day and this hâ—ur to aâ—lot me a portion among the number of Martyrs and Servants of Christ Ignatius â—hen he was sent from Syria to Rome to be meat for wild Beasts Idem lib 3. c. 32. Gr. â—5 Now saith he do I begin to be a Disciple I weigh neither visible noâ— invisible things Let Fire Gallows Violence of Beasts bruising of Bones racking of the Members stamping of my whole Bodâ— and all the plagues Satan can invent light upon me so I may win my Saviour Christ Fox in tertia persecutionâ— Simeon Bishop of Hierusalem being an hundred and twenty years old was scourged many daies together and at last Crucified Peter a Noble man of Nicomeâ—ia Euseb Eccl. Hist lib 8. cap 6. had his body rent in pieces with the Lash afterward Vinegar mixt with Salt was poured into his wounds and last of all he was fryed to death upon a Gridiron Sanctus Idem l 5. c 1. one that would neither confess his Name Kinred or Country but only that he was a Christian had his body fired feared scorched with hot plates of brass Forty Martyrs young Gentlemen Fox in decima persecat ex Basil for professing themselves Christians were in the depth of Winter compelled to stand in a Pond all the night and in the morning taken out and burned Take one Wom n among the rest Blanaina Euseb lib 5. a 1. who was tormented from morning till night the Executioners tormenting her by turns and after a world of Cruelties she was wrapped in a Net and tumbled before a wild Bull which tossed her too and fro upon his horns and for a fare-well she had her Head divided from her Body I have read of some Jaques de Lavardin Hist. of Scanderbeg lib. 11. and those some of the valiantest the World did see within their Age who after all kind of Ignominy and Turkish cruelty practised upon them were flead alive by little and little for fifteen daies together Heb. 11.32 Euseb lib. 6. c 40. Gr 41. Ibid cap. 41. Gr. 42. Ibid. cap 40. Idem l. 5 c. 1. And to borrow the Apostles words what shall I more say for the time would be too short for me to tell how some had their eyes pricked out with sharp quills as Metras some were beaten to death with Cudgels as Ischyrion some had all their teeth beaten out of their head as Apollonia And what should I speak of the setting them in the Stocks Fox decima persecut and stretching their leggs unto the fifth-hole or of the Iron Chair wherein they sate broyling to death of holes made in their necks and their Tongues drawn out backward their Eyes pulled out and the hollow places seared with hot Irons (a) D King on â—onas Lect. 24. pownding in Mortars rowling in Barrels armed with pikes of Iron (b) D Benefiâ—ld on Amos Lect 7. Womens breasts seared (c) Sab. Prateolus lib 7. §. 7. Virgins faces whipped their whole body abused prostituted and tormented I am faint in telling and you be weary in hearing but they unterrified undaunted endured all couragiously * Erasmus viâ—ginum Martyr compâ—rat Tertul Apol. cap 50. Hemming in Pâ—â—l â—4 7. Naâ—anz Oat 〈◊〉 de Machabaeis Hosius Confess fidei cap. 6 8. Nasianz Cygneorum Carm. lib. Orat 3â— de Machabeis Heb. 2 Moses and Maximus c. 26 Ep. inter opera Cyprianâ— Tyrannorum ingeniosa crudelitas saith one The bloudy Tyrants set their wits on work to invent torment but nihil proficit exquisitior quaeque saith another the more the Torments the more the Martyrs Their bloud was like corn sown one brought forth many Yea the Persecutors themselves were astonished to see their constancy and how they went to their Martyrdom tanquam ad epulas tanquam ad de licias tanquam ad nuptialem thalamum they went to the fire as to a feast as to a dainty feast as to their bridal bed Wherefore let us also seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of Witnesses cast away every thing that presseth down and the sin that hangeth so fast on Let us remember from whence we are fallen that so we may repent and do the first works We
unappalled deaths did strengthen some and raise up others and draw thousands from the very sink of Atheism and Infidelity to know and acknowledge their most gracious Redeemer And therefore remember from whence thou art fallen thou couldst never leave a better Example to others Fourthly and last of all We can never bring greater comfort to our Friends The Heathen when his Child was dead comforted himself with that inexorable unavoidâ—ble law of Mortality scio me genuisse mortalem but what unspeakable comfort would it be to say I know I have begot one who is now a Saint in Heaven 3. Convers of England part 3. Chrysolog serm 134 c. This made those three Mothers Felicitas Simphorosa and that other in the Maccabees to encourage each of them their seven Children in their torments and the comfort they received in their Childrens Constancy was much more than the pains they endured through the Tyrants fury This made the Mother of Simphorianus run after him when he went to hâ—â— Martyrdom still crying out Son Son be mindful of everlasting life Histor. Eccl. lib. 4. c 16. look up to Heaven c. And this made that Woman in Theodoret renowned for her care as well as constancy When Valens the Emperour had threatned death to all un-Arrianized Christians at Edessa and Modestus the Governour with his Souldiers stood ready in the Market-place to execute the Decree a Woman leading her little Child by the arm broke through the press and laboured to get in among her fellows The Governour demanded her whither she went she tells him She would drink of the same Cup the rest did And being further demanded what her Child made there and why she had brought it Her answer was That he also might die that blessed death Indeed great was the joy of the whole Church Erasmus vâ—rginum Martyr Comparat Cyprianus de lapsis tom 2. Vbi Martyr constanter exhalasset animam pro Christo Great was their joy if any died couragiously and great their sorrow their grief if any fainted cowardly wretchedly wickedly Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen Thou couldst bring no greater comfort to thy Friends Tertullian writing to the imprisoned Christians whom he calls Martyrs Cap. 4. exhorts them to endure constantly by the Example of Lucretia Mutius Empedocles and such others who suffered much to little purpose onely to get a terrene fading faine among men Tanti vitrum Ibid. quanti verum margaritum If they did so much for glass what should we do for gold If honour were bought at so dear a rate why should we grudge upon the same terms to get Heaven Cygneorum Carm lib. pag. 1051. a. Nazianzene s mâ—where tells us that the Heathen were onely valiant when the danger could not be shunned it was much if it were so But what bad Scaevola burn his right hand for missing in the murther of Porsenna Cic orat de Provinc Consul or if he stood in danger what is that to Lucretia or to those Noble Virgins who threw themselves headlong into Wells to save their Virginity Who made Brutus and Torquatus kill their Sons Who compelled Regulus to return ad crudelissimum hostem Cic. 3. officiorum ad exquisita supplicia to those mercisess Enemies to that strange death of his at Carthage And what made the Stoicks so prodigal of their lives B King on Joâ—as Lect. 27. that they little regarded the very extremity of Tortures and when they were upon the Rack they would cry out O quà m suave as if it were sport Surely nothing but a thing of nothing Honour and a Name amongst men while the noble Martyr shall have the acclamation of the Angels and an Euge of his Saviour Heaven is his 2 Sam. 12.8 and as Nathan told David if that be too little he shall have more his Name shall never perish from the Earth As Cicero said of Metellus Pro domo sua ad pontifices Calamity hath made them immortal even here also Their Prisons were visited as places made holy by the Inhabitants Men Women young old did kiss the Chains in which they had been fettered preserve the swords for Relicks by which any had been deprived of their life their Ashes sacred their memories blessed their Anniversaries kept the day of their Death being their Natalitiae the first of time in which they began truly to live And what could be wanting where Miracles were plentiful God even at those very places where the Martyrs lay witnessing their blessed state by many Miracles but I forbear As St. Ambrose said of one of them De virginibus lib. 1. Appellabo Martyrem praedicavi satis The Name of a Martyr is a whole world of Commendations Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works But this is not all here is a Quo vadis here is a whither we fall as well as whence we fall and a Terminus ad quem As God said by Jeremy Cap. 2. v. 13. The people have committed two Evils They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and have digged them pits even broken pits that can hold no water and as elsewhere They have forsaken me 1 Sam. 8.8 and worshipped other gods no Gods They have gone from Christ to Antichrist from God to Mahomet that same inimicus home that hath done so much mischief to Gods Vineyard Wherefore as Pilate sometime said of him in whom he confessed John 19. that he could find no fault at all Ecce homo I shall say to you of this cursed Caitiff and scourge of Christendom in whom I can find nothing but faults and those monstrous ones Ecce homo Prateolus en Rinoldo Haeres lib. 2. in Bayras Polidor Virgil. de invent lib. 7. cap. 8. take a view of him And though I cannot affirm whether he were genere admodum vilis as some or nobili genere natus as others Whether he were descended of Noble or obscure Ancestors nor whether his Parents were Jewish or Pagan or both or neither nor whether he were an Arabian or a Persian or neither nor whether he was buried at Mecha or Medina or at neither but devoured of Doggs the hellish history of his Life and Death being as obscure as Hell Purchas lib cap 3. In Verrem 3. yet all accord that he was what Tully said of one Immensa aliqua vorago aut gurges vitiorum turpituâ—inumque omnium the very puddle and sink of sin and wickedness A Thief a Murtherer an Adulterer and a Wittal And from such a dissolute life proceeded those licentious Laws of his That his followers may avenge themselves as much as they list Ph. Morney de veritate Christian. relig c. 33. That he that kills most Infidels shall have the best room in Paradise and he that fighteth not lustily shall be damned in Hell That they may take as many Wives as they be able
quasi materia Either as something of or something belonging to Repentance either as parts of Penitency or * Ibid. Concil Fâ—orent acts of the Penitent necessary either ut praecepta or media †Concil Trident in â—atechist ad parochos in sacrament poenitent as things of nature or conducing to the perfection of Repentance Many of them have said no more and for ought I see we may as much for when no stone is lest unmoved and sick man-like we have tossed us from side to side we are still in the same place We admit them all in some cases As for Confession to the Priest our Church approves and presseth it * Book of Common Prayer indeed as †B Vsher in answer to the Jesuit challenge p 92. Medicinal not Sacramental and though the Keys be grown rustie yet are they rich But we have not now to do with any secret sin Canus parte quinta de relict poenitent but with a known Capital offence And though with the Greek Church we content our selves oft-times with confession to God alone yet here together with them we do admit approve urge a publick Exhomolegesis open Confession and Church discipline S. Thom. ex Anselmo Satisfactio est compensatio Offensae prae teritae ad aequalitatem justitiae As for Satisfaction our intent is not to make level with the Almighty for our sins We know the disproportion between Mans weakness and Gods justice * Dr. Fulke ad 2 Cor. 2. S. 6. in Rhem. Test and against Stapleton Fortress 10. difference But publick offences may not be smothered privately and he that hath given scandal and offended the Church must to the Church give Satisfaction Said I that he must nay he will he will willingly He will cry ignosce pater for his Sin and ignosce frater for his Example All his grief is that he did sin and not that he doth suffer and freely and ingeniously he will confess That whatsoever is laid upon him whatsoever his pennance be either for the humbling of himself or for a terrour unto others 't is all too little Lib. 1 c 9. Irenaeus will tell you of a Woman seduced by Mark the Heretick which did spend her whole time in bewailing her offence and of others which did Ibid. in manifesto exhomoligesâ—n facere publickly acknowledge and lament their sins and wickedness Lib. 5 c 26. Eusebius will tell you of an Heretical Bishop Natalis who clad himself in sackcloth and ashes falls down to the feet of the Bishop and with a world of sighs and tears craves pardon Socrates will tell you how Ecebolius for renouncing his Faith Lib. 3. c. 11. lay along in the Church-porch and cryed to such as came in Tread me Tread me under your feet for I am the unsavoury Salt Lib 1. de poenitent c. 16. And Ambrose will tell you of many who did even plow-up their face with tears wither their cheeks with weeping prostrate themselves to the feet of the passengers and with their continual abstinence and much fasting they made their living bodies the very Image of Death I might add unto all these old Origen In Suida inter sua opera post libros 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Library of Learning and Ocean of woe But we will pass from voluntary submission to Canonical satisfaction And here give me leave to say somewhat of the Laws Ecclesiastical and punishment inflicted by the Church that which many ignorantly condemn and many most maliciously hew at Lib de poenitent Tertullian will tell you that such like Offenders as these must pastum potum pura nosse Bread and Water must be their diet as the Prophet David said My tears have been my meat day and night That they must pray and sigh and weep pray to God humble themselves to the Priest St. Augustine will tell you De mirabil Sacrae script that they must never think their pennance enough they must alwaies sorrow alwaies cry peccavi life and lamentation must end together St. Ambrose De poeniten lib. 2. cap. 1. The more a man throws himself down by sorrow and submission the more abject he is in his own sight the more accepted shall he be in the sight of God But this is general The Church did appoint certain forms of pennance according to the quality of the offences and for denying the Faith Grandem redeundi difficultatem sanxit antiquitas Apud Carranz cap. â—7 ejusdem Contil 't is a Canon in the Agathon Council about a thousand years agon Our Fore-fathers say they did command and enjoyn a bitter pennance to all such as had denied the Faith Indeed some as 't was said of Novatus would admit no reconciliation some would receive onely once all such as fell after Baptism The usual practice was to enjoyn a three years pennance at the least to such as did in time of Persecution and against their will deny some had their punishment prolonged even unto eight or nine years or more Carranz in Conc. Ancryan Can. 6. Ibid. Can. 1. and some were put off ad magnum diem even till the hour of Death or day of Judgment And if he were a Priest tkat fell he lost his Orders nor might he ever recover his former state but by enduring the brunt of a second Persecution Lib. Eccles Hist. 7 cap. 2. tom 1. ep 10. Pysh Alloy in Miscellan names four sorts ex Conc Nicen. Moses Maximus c. inter opera Cyprian tomo 1. epist. 26. And last of all If any were restored either of the Laiety or otherwise it must be done by laying on of Hands and Confirmation of the Bishop And this Eusebius calls the ancient Custome and Cyprian that to do otherwise were to ruinate and not restore Now during the time of these long appointed Pennance some were Audientes and might only stay the Sermon other were Orantes and might be present at Prayers but must depart when the Eucharist was to be administred To admit them to the Communion was to give that which is holy to Dogs some some and to press to the Altar was Domini corpus invadere De Lapsis Exam. Concil Trident. parte ult de Indulgentiis So Cyprian yet all this while there were Relaxations Moderations Mitigations or as the new word after Chemnitius hath it Indulgences from that rigour and severity and there was a peculiar reserved power in the R. R. Bishop †Concil Ancyran Cau. 2. 5. F Th Gavius de contrit he might either lengthen or shorten the time as he saw cause For as one saith out of Hierom. Apud Deum non tantum valet mensura tempoporis quà m doloris God regardeth not the length of the Pennance but the Contrition of the party not how long but how heartily we humble our selves This was the Discipline of the Primitive Church this was the remedy they did provide against
Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor death Rom. 8.38 39. nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor Turk nor Atheist nor any other Creature shall be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I should say somewhat of the Ephesians of them and to them for I fear me they have a populous posterity even in our own Land Heb 11 6. Jam. 2.17 Works without Faith are unprofitable and Faith without Works is dead nor will every work serve but there must be (a) Rom. 12. fervency in prayer (b) 2 Cor. 9.7 chearfulness in giving a (c) Titus 3 1. promptness (d) Coloss 1 10. fruitfulness and an (e) 1 Cor. 15. ult abounding in every good work (f) 1 Cor. 9.26 Jam. 1.22 so run so fight SPERO MELIORA must be your Motto Do what you can yet know you can never do enough Lip-Religion doth but set an edge upon Gods anger and make man the more inexcusable and therefore see that ye be Doers of the Word and not Hearers only deceiving your selves And so Hear so Do as men that strive for the Mastery they do it 1 Cor. 9.25 as the Apostle saith to obtain a corruptible Crown and the height of their hopes is but unius herae hilaris insania I went by and lo they were gone Psal 37 37. In Homil. Marian. serm 16. but you shall escape that strange dark durable fire of Hell where the worm dieth not and shall be received into your Masters joy into the blessed fellowship of Saints and Angels into the glorious liberty of other the Sons of God as Children Heirs Co-heirs with Christ you shall be glorified with him To whom be ascribed all Honour glory power and praise for ever AMEN A SERMON Preached at the Funeral OF Mr. Humphry Sydenham GOD be merciful to me a Sinner Here 's my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is my Wish this is my Prayer and this must be my Text written in the 18. Chapter of St Luke and 13. Verse GOD be merciful to me a Sinner This is the last Legacy of a dyâ—◠〈…〉 commending his Soul to God and 〈…〉 to the Earth from both which both came This is the Vltimum Vale of a penitent Christian leaving behind him a memorial of his Faith and an Example for all Believers This Task and this Text were committed and commended unto me by that Mouth which hath now breathed his last whiles in the conflict it had with Sin and Deâ—th amongst many other gracious Ejaculations it shed forth this which you have now both heard and read God be merciful to me a Sinner Eccles 4.12 We are bound Triplici funiculo qui difficile rumpitur we are loaden with the weight of Sins sins of Impiety against God sins of Iniquity against our Neighbour and sins of Impurity against our selves And therefore O wretched men that we are Rom. 7.24 who shall deliver us from the body of this death But God hath promised Christ hath purchased the Prophets and Apostles all have preached Remission and forgiveness to the Penitent And therefore Agite poenitentiam this was the first lesson John the Baptist taught Math 3.2 This was the text to our Saviours first Sermon Math. 4.17 And this is the second Means God hath afforded the Sinner to lay hold on and climb up by unto the Throne of Grace Repentance Liâ— 4. Instiâ— â— 19. S. 17. saith St. Hierom is Secunda tabula post naufragium Mr. Calvin doth somewhere nibble at this But there is a double shipwrack One traduced the other perpetrated one transmitted the other committed One as we are in Old Adam the other as Old Adam is in us Baptism is Tabula prima and relieveth us against the first and Penitency is Secunda and restoreth us after the second But as Aliena praevaricatio first enthralled us first plunged us so Aliena justitia must bear us up amidst those waves and bring us out and set us free And therefore discerning our own Inability we disclaim our selves and Peccavi is our only plea. Peccavi with the Prodigal or Miserere with the Publican in my Text. God be merciful to me a sinner Here 's a gracious and acceptable Text pleasing to GOD A piercing and winnowing Text differencing Men A cutting and reproving Text unmasking Monsters Monsters who affect to spuddle in the dung of infirm Offendours and preventing Gods secret Counsels sit down in Judgment and dethrone their Maker justifying themselves and condemning others forgetting that in the 7. of Matthew Judge not but taking up the first stone to cast at the Adulterous woman Joh 8. My Text is a Prayer a Prayer short and sweet made by a Publicane and directed to God He hopeth not to be heard More Ethnicorum for his much babling Mat. 6.7 but petitioneth much comfort in few words It containeth in brief his Heaviness and his Hope Me a sinner Here 's his Confusion Deus miserere Here 's his Consolation A sinner yet Miserere No despairing no presumptuous sinner Here 's the Physician Here 's the Patient Here 's the Soar and Here 's the Salve The Physician is GOD. The Patient the Publicane The Soar is Sin The Salve is Mercy God be merciful c. 1. GOD Ergo potens est He needs not to be rouzed up with Baal nor taken up with Dagon nor assisted with Bell. He only is and is All-sufficient of himself He can 2. Be merciful It s His property to be merciful and to forgive Ergo Vult He can and He will 3. To me What were the whole World to me if my Soul must perish and therefore To me God be merciful to me who do humbly crave it 4. To me a sinner A sinner I confess it but there are Micae Catellis there are Crumbs for Dogs And therefore GOD be merciful to me A sinner 1. Again Many dig unto themselves dry pits which will hold no water Petitis à quibus dari non potest Apol. c. 29. praeterito eo in cujus potestate est as saith Tertullian Therefore GOD. 2. Many ask and receive not because they ask amiss like those Sons of Thunder in the 9. of Luke Therefore God be merciful 3. And now because Amor omnis incipit à seipso and very Nature teacheth every thing to affect and desire its own good Therefore To me God be merciful to me 4. Last of all God resisteth the proud and boasting Pharisees are rejected He that fails in one Commandement in one point of the Commandement is guilty of all James 2.10 and he that kept all yet lacked one thing Math. 19.21 When we have done all we can do yet shall we do too little And he that doth best is but a Servant unprofitable Therefore To me a sinner GOD be merciful to me a sinner 1.
with that Vetus parsimonia so much heretofore esteemed and still exercised by all wise and sober persons After he had taken enough for himself his Friends and his poor Neighbours he carefully laid up the remainder wherewith he hath made a competent provision for his Family which being so honestly gotten and so honourably saved will doubtless carry Gods blessing along with it as it had his Nor was his Religion towards God less than his Loyalty to his Prince or his Charity to his Neighbour it lay not so much in the tongue as in the heart He manifested his Faith the surest way by his Works He was no Pharisaical Christian he did not blow a Trumpet when he gave Alms not tell the People by his looks when he fasted nor call for a witness when he prayed He had got such an art in Giving that one hand know not what the other gave He had a way to conceal his Fasts by the chearfulness of his Countenance and he cared for no other eye to behold his Devotions but Gods and his holy Angels And as he had God for his Father so he had the Church for his Mother which next to God he still respected and reverenced sympathizing with her in what condition soever she was in If she wept then did his eyes gush out with water if she rejoyced then was his mouth filled with laughter and his tongue with joy How have I seen him droop at the news of Gods Ark being in danger to be shaken and how would his spirits revive again at any good tidings of its peace and settlement how did he hate all those that had evil will at Zion yea he hated them as David did with a perfect hatred And how did he delight in all such as did seek the peace of Jerusalem In a word they that were friends to the Church were his friends and he had no enemies but her Adversaries As to his dealings amongst men they were all square and above-board He was a perfect lover of Justice and hated falshood more than death His love where he profest it was without dissimulation He was a true Nathaniel in whom there was no guile And have you heard of the patience of Job why such was his I can compare it to no other As they were both upright men and such as feared God and eschewed evil so was God pleased to afflict them much alike Job was cast out of his own house and so was he Job was plunder'd of his Cattel by the Sabeans and so was he of all that he had by worse than the Sabeans if possible by the rebellious Sequestratours Job lost his Children so did he only in this his misery was not so great Jobs Children were taken away rioting in a Banquetting-house but his died honourably in the service of their Prince Job was afflicted in his Wife too and so was he but in a quite contrary manner Job in having the worst of Wives He in losing the best But the manner of his losing her could not but add much to his sorrow for she was snatcht out of the world in a tempest and swallowed up quick by the merciless waves having all the remainder of the treasure he had about her to a very considerable value and a far greater treasure in her arms then that even his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his young and darling Daughter who chose rather to embrace Death than leave the embraces of her tender Mother and so both sunk together with a Maid-servant that attended her into the depth of the Sea There are some as I think at this time present who were then with her who remain the Monuments of Gods mercy in their deliverance and faithful Witnesses of the truth of what I speak Whose Courage whose Constancy but Jobs or His would not have stagger'd at such a shock whiles he like Job having the Anchor of his Hope both sure and stedfast stood like the Center unmoved And in the midst of all these Crosses and sad events that befel him he lookt upon the Divine hand invisibly striking with those sensible scourges against which he durst not either Rebel or Murmur All those extremities did but exercise his Faith not weaken it which like a well wrought Vault grew the stronger for the many pressures which were laid upon him In all this he did not sin against God by his Impatience nor charge God foolishly but with holy Job resigned himself wholly up to Gods will saying with him The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Nor were they more unlike in their Deaths than in their Lives The Lord blessed the latter end of them both more then their beginning Job died being Old and full of daies and so did he so full of Daies that he was satisfied if not weary with long life desiring rather to be dissolved and to be with Christ And so he died with Moses at the mouth of the Lord God gently drew out the breath which he had breathed into him quietly impinn'd his Tabernacle and so took him to himself in peace And now I find my self like to that bad Orator who could not desinere knew not how to make an end which I cannot but be the more unwilling to do because I know that as soon as I have finisht my discourse he will be carried from us into the silent retirement of the Grave and will be no more seen And methinks 't is some comfort to enjoy him even thus But we must part The Grave beckens him and methinks I see him beckning us to follow him O my Father my Father Nature would speak more but Religion commands me silence Could our Prayers have prevented his death we should have sighed out our Souls to God to have begg'd his life and could our tears yet restore him I see by those watery planets in your eyes we could command a deluge like to that in the floor of Atan or that of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo But he cannot come to us and that 's his happiness but we shall go to him and that 's our comfort Let us not mourn for him therefore as men without hope 'T is but his Body that is dead his Soul is still alive as well as ours but far more happy being already free of the glorious Company of Saints and Angels And we shall meet again I trust in Glory both our Souls and our Bodies where all sorrow shall be wiped from our eyes where there shall be no more fear nor death nor sin but we shall be all as the Angels of God And so Lord thy Kingdom come so come O Lord Jesus come quickly In the hour of Death and in the day of Judgment good Lord deliver us Give us grace so to live in thy fear that we may die in thy favour that so after this mortal life ended we may be received by thee into those heavenly habitations where we trust the Soul of our Dear Father here departed together with the Souls of all them that sleep in the Lord JESVS enjoy perpetual rest and felicity Unto which GOD of his infinite mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake Amen FINIS