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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13068	A third proceeding in the harmonie of King Dauids harp that is to say, a godly and learned exposition vpon 17. Psalmes moe of the princely prophet Dauid, beginning with the 45. and ending with the 61. Psalme: done in Latine by the learned Reuerend Doctor Victorinus Strigelius, Professor of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Lypsia in Germanie, anno Christi, 1562. Translated into English, by Richard Robinson citizen of London. An. Christi, 1595. Seene, perused, and allowed.; Hypomnēmata in omnes Psalmos Davidis. Psalm 45-61. English	Strigel, Victorinus, 1524-1569.; Robinson, Richard, citizen of London.	1595 (1595)	STC 23361; ESTC S117926	98,441	165

Church and in midst of death giueth life to those that are put to death The comparison of the Mariage and the league that is betweene Christ and his Church doth greatly adorne the reading of the 45. Psalme Psalme XLV And exposition thereof Verse 1. My heart is inditing of a good matter I speake of the things which I haue made vnto the king Verse 2. My tongue is the penne of a ready writer LIKE as Orators are placed next vnto Kings so vnto the heart of man are added the instruments of vtterance and speech that if nature be sound and vpright of her selfe there should be an excellent consent or agreement of heart and tongue namely mans heart enflamed with the light and loue of God shoulde manifest diuine motions with the tongue honouring God and in speaking things iust and vpright towardes men the hearte and tongue should agree in one Now in this corruption of mans nature the heart oftentimes disagreeth from the tongue as Cicero saith Frons vultus oculi persaepe mentiuntur oratio verò saepissime The face the countenance and the eies very often deceiue men but the speech of tongue most often deceiue them But yet in those that are newe borne of the holy ghost the consent of heart and tongue is restored as in this place the S●nnes of Chora do say My heart is inditing of a sweete song and that the tongue is the interpreter of godly cogitations This prouidence of the almighty worke-master in knitting the heart and tongue togither let vs first of all consider so often as we reade the beginning of the 45. Psalme Next of all let vs embrace and extoll this Psalme seeing the holie ghost affirmeth that he setteth downe vnto vs a certain excellent kinde of song Also the thing it selfe sheweth that this verse was largely and plentifully written and both replenished and adorned with all the most choyse words and most graue sentences of Rhetoricke Lastly the subiect of the matter as we in schooles doe argue doth allure vs much vnto the reading of this Psalme For he saieth profoundly that he singeth this song concerning the King the Messias and the mariage which he maketh vp with the true Church Verse 3. Thou art fairer then the children of men full of grace are thy lips because God hath blessed thee for euer First here is praised the person of the Messias and is preferred before the beauty or comelinesse of all men because in very deed neither is the wisedome nor vertue of any man like vnto the wisedome and vertue of Christ of which things the beauty or excellency is sincere and speciall aboue all other for in him clearely shineth a most firme acknowledgement of his eternall father and in him is inflamed a special loue towards the eternall father and other most excellent vertues Wherefore when we thinke vpon the Messias let vs thinke vpon this sincere excellency of personage that is of the wisedome shining foorth in him and all other vertues wherewith he is most speciallie adorned and as the Husband bestoweth not only his body but also al his worldly substance vpon his Wife So Christ the husband endoweth his wife the Church withall his benefits or blessings namely wisedom which is the acknowledgement of the mercy of God for his sake in the gospell promised also righteousnes life euerlasting Although therefore we are by nature deformed and without all fauour that is in very deed defiled with sinnes and therefore guilty before God and worthy of all miseries and calamities yet by reason Christ imparteth vnto vs his beauty or excellency we are receiued by God as if we were without any blemish as in the 2. Cor. 5. cap. it is said For he hath made him to be sinne for vs which knew no sinne that wee shoulde bee made the righteousnes of God in him vers 21. Christ knew no sinne for as the Prophet Isay saith cap. 53. vers 9. He did no sinne neither was any guile foūd in his mouth And what say you to that where he was not only conceiued and borne without sinne but also liued and died without sinne And yet was hee made sinne that is a certain guilty thing a castaway into most grieuous punishmēts For God powred forth his displeasure vpon the Sonne who was made our Mediatour and sacrifice for sinne and therefore suffered iudgement and punishment that wee might become righteousnes of God by his meanes that is iust and acceptable vnto God for the Mediator sake Last of all the eloquence of this King is praised Full of grace is thy lips as if hee said Thou art not onely of an excellent mind but vnto thy eloquent speech there is a speciall grace also annexed And we were went to behold him whom God had adorned with eloquence as the verse saith in Homer Attentique ●udire omnes cum dulcia fundit Verba ver●cunde ciues verisque gubernat Consiliis longe quos inter hic eminet vnus In dubiis rebus cum concio magna coacta est When he should speake they all were bent to heare Sweet modest words vnto them forth he giues His citizens and with counsels sinceare He rules as one in honour high which liues In doubtfull matters hee's the only man To speake for him and his constrained than What hony sweet eloquēce is that in Christ thē Certes I beleeue there is no man of so base a minde but when he heareth these words Come vnto me all yee which labour and are loden and I will refresh you Math. 11. 28 also So God loued the world c. Iohn 3. 16. that they are sweeter then the hony or hony combe he wil easily confesse For no Mother can with more sweete perswading wordes call vnto her her only and most dearest childe then Christ doth vse in calling sinners vnto him Touching this eloquence of Christ speaketh Io. Baptist where he saith Ioh. 3. He that hath the Bride is the Bridegrome but the friend of the Bridegrome which standeth and heareth him reioyceth greatly because of the Bridegromes voice This my ioy therefore is fulfilled vers 29. But although Wisedome Vertue and Eloquence are singular ornamentes yet notwithstanding without power and strength in doing things they are not much worth For often time Wisedome is driuen away and Might ruleth the matter and as the verse saith Spernitur Orator bonus horridus Miles amatur Men do despise the speaker good And loue the souldier fierce of mood Non doctis dictis certatur sed maledictis Some not with learned speech contend But with euill tearmes their cause defend As the Poet Ennius saith in those verses Therefore the Psalme not only attributeth these thinges vnto Christ which I haue spoken of but also armeth as it were this king with diuine power or might in these words Therefore hath God blessed thee for euer He expresly calleth the Messias a blessed king that is acceptable or pleasing to God and so furnished with

exposition thereof Verse 1 O heare ye this all yee people ponder it with your eares all yee that dwell in the world Verse 2 High and low rich and pore one with another Verse 3 My mouth shall speake of wisdome and my heart shall muse of vnderstanding Verse 4 I will incline mine eare vnto the parable and shew my darke speech vpon the harpe THe Psalme purposing to speake of a speciall matter vseth a stately beginning I exhort all persons without exception to draw neare and take knowledge what is to be thought of the difference betweene the godly and vngodly ones and of the future iudgment For so it shall come to passe that they shal not onely prouide for this mortall life but shall with a true feare and faith and other duties pleasing God prepare themselues vnto that iudgement which is to come Beasts frame themselues fit vnto that thing onely which is present and as the time serueth very little regarding either that is past or that which is to come But men because they are partakers of reason and are created to the iudgement of God let them so order the course of their whole life that they go not astray from the Commaundement of God Whatsoeuer thou doest do it wisely and regard the end And surely the end of our life is either eternall society with God or otherwise eternall miserie Let vs therfore chuse the meane wayes leading vnto the hauen of euerlasting beatitude and withal indeuour as they vse to say let vs eschew perpetuall and most miserable death Cheled is deriued of the word Chadal that is cessauit hath ceased For it is a familiar transposition of the letters vsed in the hebrue tongue This phrase of speech then signifieth that the world within a while after shall haue his end as in the I. Corin. 7. it is said The fashion of this world goeth away verse 31. Neither in deede is it hupostasis a Forme not Substance as the Philosophers speake but Emphasis that is a banishing away Furthermore the difference knowen betweene Homo and Vir which is oftentimes vsed by the Prophets and Apostles as in Iohn I. verse 13. Not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man For as Homo signifieth a base and obscure person So Uir signifieth a great and noble personage excelling others in wisdome power Justice and authoritie Like as then Saint Paul saith Rom. I and 14. verse That he is debter both to the wise man and to the vnwise So this Psalme calleth vnto this sermon both high and low learned and vnlearned persons Finaly it calleth the doctrine of future iudgement and of life and death euerlasting wisedome vnderstanding a parable and darke speech because this secret wisdome placed far beyond the sight of mans reason must be discerned from Phylosophy For the alone doctrine of the church affirmeth there is a life remaining after that wee shal depart from hence she alone preacheth vnto vs touching the iudgment that shall be vppon all mankind and nameth certaine witnesses which shalbe the beholders of many that being dead shall liue againe Verse 5 Wherefore should I feare in the euill day and when the wickednes of my heeles compasseth me round about Verse 6 There be some that put their trust in their goods and boast themselues in the multitude of their riches Unto the beginning is annexed a Proposition which setteth downe a consolation to be applyed from the example of one member vnto the whole body of the church as is here sayd Like as Lazarus being all full of soares straied not away from God because he sawe the rich man abound with wealth and pleasures and himselfe placed in an extreame state of miserable perplexity So let not any the other Godly ones be ouercome with the threatnings and inticements of the world that they thereby cast away the gospell or doe any thing against the other Commaundements of God This is the effect of the Proposition Verse 7 But no man may deliuer his Brother nor make agreement vnto God for him Verse 8 For it cost more to redeeme then soules so that hee must let that alone for euer There followeth a Reason which appeareth in the Antithesis or contrarietie as in the argument it is saide For these verses agree with that saying of Christ Math. 16. verse 26 What shall it profite a man if hee gaine all the whole world and lose his owne soule That is the whole world is not a sacrifice for sinne nor for death eternall no nor yet for the death of the body Why then are men so greatly carefull for things appertaining vnto this life or why with such disquietnes seeke they after those benefits which can neither take away sinne nor death But this preposterous care and greefe which the poet describing crieth out vpon thus O Ciues Ciues quaerend a pecunia est virtus post nummos riseth of a blindnes and security neglecting or contemning the iudgement of God which euery one of vs after this death shall abide and suffer Whereas if our whole life should looke well vpon that Iudgement truely ambitious honour wealth and filthy pleasure should lesse trouble vs which three the world doth esteeme as three gods But seeing this disease is farre more furious then that it may by our owne abillityes be healed or remedied let vs flee vnto the Sonne of God and craue that hee would illuminate our hearts with his holy spirit so as vnto that iudgement we may bring but the beginnings of righteousnes Verse 9 Yea though hee liue long and see not the graue Verse 10 For he seeth that wise men also die and perish together as well as the ignorant and foolish and leaue their riches for other In the full polishing of the former verses hee repeateth the same meaning that riches power and pleasure are the fading benefits of this mortall life and can neither driue away death nor yet profite those that are dead For as we came naked out of our mothers wombe so surely shall we returne into the earth either naked or very thinly clothed And here the Reader may repeate that saying in the 39. Psalme 7. verse For man walketh in a vaine shadowe and disquieteth himselfe in vayne he heapeth vp riches and cannot tell who shall gather them That is as Cicero in his dialog of Frendship sayth Catera cum parantur cui parantur nesciunt nec cuius causa laborent Other things when they are prouided or for whome they may be prouided they knowe not nor for whose sake they take al that paines Verse 11 And yet they thinke that their house shal continew for euer And that their dwelling places shall endure from one generation to another and call the land after their owne names Verse 12 Neuertheles man wil not abide in honour seeing he may be compared vnto the beasts that perish This is a patterne of the vngodly mens liues which dwell in goodly

and gorgeous buildings which are garnished with scutchions and pictures and furnished with things wherein they abound that are reputed for blessed Such a life we all doe desire which exceedeth in pleasure and other instruments But the end sheweth howe much vainitie there is in this trifling or britle brauery when one seely houre may bring all topsituruy All men will know what power and riches Alexander the great was of who consumed the huge treasures almost incredible of the Persian Kings after his conquest obteined and vppon Ephestions funeral lauished out twelue thousand talents that is Threescore and twelue tunnes of golde as wee call them But this so mighty a personage when he had drunke too too much wine at the funeral feast of Ephestion and got himselfe thereby a most greeuous burning feuer died the 28. of June in the xxxii yeare of his age twelfth yeare of his raigne and in the 323. yere before the birth of Christ This example admonisheth vs touching the incanstancy of humane affaires and setteth out this verse of this Psalme Man will not abide in honour c. Verse 13. This is the way of them and this is their foolishnes and their posterity praise their saying That the chiefe felicity of man consists in the pleasures of the body not onely the epicure but the greatest multitude of men doth so thinke But this perswasion doth this Psalme expresly cal foolishnes because the obiect of mans will is not a benefit hauing end that is being short and momentany but a benefit without end and euerlasting as else-where more largely is said in refutation of the epicure and in the doctrine touching the obiect of mans will Verse 14 They lie like sheepe in the hell death gnaweth vppon them and the righteous shal haue domination ouer them in the morning their beutie shall consume in the sepulcher out of their dwelling This verse discribes the last degree of punishment alotted for the vngodly ones namely eternall misery which is a worme for euer gnawing the conscience of man and a fire neuer ceasing but without end tormenting them as Isayas sayeth in his 66. and last chapter 24. verse Their worme shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched But as Neither the eie hath seene nor eare hath heard nor mans heart hath conceiued those good things which God hath prepared for them that loue him 1 Cor. 2. 9. So no man can expresse either in thinking or speaking the greatnes of the euerlasting punishment ordayned for the wicked ones But here some man would obiect I see not by what reason Saint Paul being put to death by Nero should be lord ouer Nero I answere though Paul was slaine of a most cruell Tirant yet was he not vtterly destroyed neither was he left in destruction and death as Nero is but he is adorned with euerlasting rewarde and in the last day of the world he shal with Christ iudge Nero and al the vngodly ones Now indeede our life as in the 3. Coloss verse 3. is written is hidde with Christ in God When Christ which is our life shall appeare then shall yee also appeare with him in glory verse 4. Then shall the vngodly ones haue in their minde and mouth the words extant in the 5. chapter of the booke of Wisedome verse 3. These are they whom we sometime had in de●●●ion and in a parable of reproofe We fooles thought their liues madnes and their end without honour verse 4. Beholde how they are counted among the children of God and their portion is among the saints verse 5. Therefore we haue erred from the truth c. verse 6. Verse 15. But God hath deliuered my soule from hell For hee shall receiue me Hetherto at large he handled the first parte of the Antithesis touching the vanitie and punishment of the vngodly ones which put all their full hope and confidence in their riches Now doth he hereunto adioyne the other partie as touching the godly ones whose hearts are enclined vnto the testimony of the Lord And not vnto death as in 119. Psalme is said And it promiseth plainly vnto the Godly ones deliueraunce from euerlasting death most miserable and restitution vnto life euerlasting for because God in the very lawfull act of adoption receiueth and taketh vs for his children it cannot be that he will leaue his dearest children in death Like as therefore in this life he giueth his holy spirit as a pledge and token of our inheritance So when he hath raised vs from death to life he will doubtles giue vs the full and perfect inheritance and hee shall then be all in all He then that hath this hope sanctifieth himselfe like as he is holy saith Saint Iohn 1. epist 3. chapter 3. verse Verse 16 Be not thou afraid though one be made rich or if the glorie of his house be incresed Verse 17 For hee shall carie nothing away with him when he dieth Neither shall his pompe follow him He repeateth a principal proposition which comforteth the godly ones lest they taking offence at the felicitie and passing prosperitie of the vngodly ones do slide away frō God but that they would preferre the true and permanent good things before the shadowes of fraile and vanishing benefites But seeing it is needelesse here with perspicuous wordes to make any long interpretation I wil recite two histories worthy of memorie which examples propone vnto the sentence of the affirmatiue part that the glory of exploits done and other great benefites nothing auaile them that be dead which things the blinde nature of man coueteth especially Saled nus king of Asia Syria and Egypt saide hee was not lesse wise in his death then when in his life time before he had done any notable act for he commanded that his very linnen garment next to his shert which he vsed to weare should be borne vpon a long speares point throughout all his tents and he that carried it should cry with a lowd voice and say Saladine the conquerour of Asia of so great wealth which hee had gotten caried away with him at his death but only this linnen garment For wisely though lately being admonished of mans misery woulde hee also in such sort admonish others thereof There is extant an historie in the seuenth booke and second chapter of Baptista Fulgosus touching wise sayings and doings and as Dion writeth these wordes are read of Seuerus the emperour When as he lying at Yorke in Britaine neare the point of death deploring mans miseries saide I haue beene all things and nothing auaileth me Verse 18 For while he liued he counted himselfe an happy man and so long as thou doest well vnto thy selfe men will speake good of thee Verse 19 He shall followe the generation of his fathers and shall neuer see light Verse 20 Man being in honor hath none vnderstanding but is compared vnto the beasts that perish Although saieth he the vngodly superabound in pleasures yet within

hope well of things deferred and to rest at peace in God yea though he cast a sterne countenance at vs and so to perseuer euen vnto the very end To this purpose Iob saith cap. 13. verse 15. Yea though hee shall kil me yet will I trust in him and he shall be my Sauiour So Dauid with a great respect or regarde of fayth saith I haue put my trust in God and wil not feare what flesh can doe vnto me yea although all feares and all dangers euery where arise ouer mee yet I hold it a thing both certaine and affirmed to yeelde and obey to God calling mee and not to start aside no not a naile bredth from his worde For if God be on our side who shall be against vs Rom. 8. 31. O that it would please God to giue vs in the great outrage of stormes and concourse of calamities like strength of faith vanquishing feares and doubtings And without all doubtes he shall be mightie in our infirmitie if we make our prayers vnto him according to his promise Math. 7. 11. How much more shal my heauenly father giue you his holy spirit when you pray for it Verse 5 They daily mistake my words al that they imagin is to doe me euil Verse 6 They hold altogether and keepe themselues close and marke my steppes when they lay waite for my soule Verse 7 Shall they escape for their wickednes thou O God in thy displeasure shalt cast them downe Hee handleth at full the historie as touching his miseries in time of his banishment Like as in Esops fables all beasts conspire together to spoile the poore Camel So as Tyrteus the musitian saith Nemo curat vagos ledere nemo veretur Non exul cur● ducitur esse Deo No man careth for the wandring wights to hurte them none doth feare Men thinke that God forgetteth quite pore Exiles liuing here But vnto a most euident complaint wee neede not to adde any long declaration Verse 8 Thou tellest my flittinges putte my teares into thy bottell are not these things noted in thy booke O the vnspeakable fatherly louing kindnes of God numbring the very haires of our head and gathering our teares For I pray you thinke and consider how great this gatherer is namely the Creator of all things the King of kings and Lord of lords Wee merueile at the humanitie of Theseus who washed with his owne hands the dead carkases of his slaine souldiers at the water of Thebes But much more let vs maruell yea and al amased wonder at this when we reade and heare that God gathereth our teares But whose teares I pray you gathereth he not the teares of Angells but of sinners whose infirmitie and filthines is great Surely I can scarse tell whether any more notable description bee extant of Gods prouidence either in the histories of the Prophets or of the Apostles Let this therefore be fast fixed in our mindes so that it may comfort vs so often as wee are vehemently disquieted touching the will of God and are vexed with a certaine speciall sorow God taketh care not onely for our bodies and soules but also euen for our very haires and seely teares and keepe them as it were a matter of great importance and as a treasure of great prise Therefore notably said Saint Paul that our light afliction which is but for a moment causeth vnto vs a farre more excellent and an eternall weight of glorie 2. Cor. 4. 17. Verse 9 When soeuer I call vppon thee then shall mine enemies be put to flight This I know for God is on my side In this verse let there be considered a difference betweene the doubting of the Ethnicks and the careful confidence of the church Cato although he beleeued there was a God yet hee doubted whether he might be hard and by litle and litle was plunged into desperation But the church which embraceth the worde deliuered from God striuing against doubting beleeueth assuredly that she is receiued and heard for the Mediators sake and the cause of his assurednesse is the worde of GOD in which phrase or speech I comprehend the commaundement promise oath and truth of God But these things are elsewhere often expounded Verse 10 In Gods word will I reioyce in the Lords word will I comfort me Verse 11 Yea in God haue I put my trust I will not be afrayd what man can do vnto me Verse 12 Vnto thee O God will I pay my vowes vnto thee will I giue thanks Verse 13 For thou hast deliuered my soule from death and my feet from falling that I may walke before God in the light of the liuing So often times as I haue now spoken of thanksgiuing vnto God the same is to be referred vnto three conclusions whereof the first is that the glory of the power liberty and presence of God in his Church might be attributed vnto God and that Epicures Stoicks and other blasphemous persons which crie out that God is either idle or blinde might be refuted c. The second conclusion is that true acknowledgement of God might goe forwards in vs and that God hencefoorth would vouchsafe to communicate himselfe vnto vs for God ceaseth to communicate himselfe vnto vnthankefull persons which are lyars and vniust Lyars indeed because they acknowledge not from whence their benefit is receiued and vniust because they render not due recompenses whereunto they are bound The last conclusion is that others by our example might be assured or woon●e to the true acknowledging and inu●cating vpon God Unto these finall effects let vs referre our Eucharist or thanksgiuing and let vs declare our thankefulnesse not onely in speech and preaching but with all obedience in our vocation life and calamities PSAL. LVII Miserere mei Deus miserere mei quoniam in te confidit anima mea c. To him that excelleth Destroy not a Psalme of Dauid on Michtam vvhen he fled from Saul in the caue 1. Sam. 24. 4. THE ARGVMENT PLato in Protagora citeth the saying of Simonides Uirum vere bonum nasci difficile est qui manibus pedibus mente sit Tetragonos that is A hard matter it is to finde a right good man borne which of his hands feet and minde is alwayes vpright and constant Such a man was Dauid who could more hardly be withdrawen from an honest or good purpose then the shining Sunne may be driuen out of his course for although by great right he might haue slaine Saul yet neither would he vse the law of defence whereof politike lawes do make mention nor yet take occasions which ministred oportunity vnto him to slay Saul For seeing he had altogether consecrated himselfe vnto God and his country that is the Church he would not be the authour of an euill example amongst Gods people in putting kings to death but in faith craued and looked for helpe from God wherefore let vs maruaile at this humility and gentlenesse in Dauid here

to showe For well it will be with the good when wicked are in woe Tho. Buckminster PSAL. XLV Eructauit cor meum ¶ To him that excelleth on Shoshannim a Song of loue to giue instruction committed to the sonnes of Korah The Title TO him that ouercommeth a learned song touching Roses ful of loue sung by the sonnes of Chora IN this title we must first speake of the Author next of the kind of song and lastly of the Subiect as they call it The Authors of this most sweete song were the sonnes of Chora whose father with the opening of the earth beeing swallowed vp died so wretchedly as the 16. Chapter of the booke of Numbers mentioneth But as in punishing the father Gods wrath appeared against those heinous offences so in the giftes of his children is manifested an example of Gods mercy which must be referred vnto Ezechiels sermon in his 18. Chapter The sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the father ●er 20. For that the posterity of Chora was indued and adorned with excellent giftes of the holy ghost and especially with the gifts of prophesie the Psalmes do wel witnes which are intituled to the sonnes of Chora Very wel then touching this progeny prophetical may that be said which Prometheus as AEschilus reciteth speaketh of his deliuerer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inuisi patris hoc mihi dulce est pignus In english A sweet pledge is this truly of my father hated before me And the kind of song is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a song of mirth iolity loue or it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mariage song wherin the holy Ghost is a maker vp of the marriage betweene Christ and his Church For in this kind of matter here is handled an vsuall commendation of the Bridgrome spouse or husband which is borrowed from the excellency of his wisedome and vertue yea from the sweetnes of his humanity from his eloquence his riches dignity or comelinesse of personage or other thinges which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the leading causes of loue For euery loue is stirred vp by manifestation of some good thing giuen But why is mention made of Roses Roses doe minister matter of ioy and gladnes in garlandes made at marriages therefore they betoken the celebrating of marriages with ioy and that sweet surpassing sauour of the heauenly doctrine which doth chiefly make vp or accomplish this marriage for with the word as with a sweete smelling Rose the mutuall loue betweene Christ his church is confirmed And certes let these seeme to be sufficiently enough spoken touching the Title novve let vs come to the Argument of the Psalme THE ARGVMENT THose things which are said in this Song as touching the Bridegrome and the Bride the Spouse and his Spousesse the Husband and the Wife doe properly appertaine vnto the Messias and vnto the true Church This ground of purpose in the Psalme S. Paules epistle to the Hebrews cap I. doth not only confirme but the confession of the Rabines also For the better learned and sounder sort of the Rabines being vtterly vanquished with the circumstance of the phrase and comparison of the partes thereof doe confesse indeed that this Psalme was written as touching the Messias Now then this ground of purpose in the Psalme being thus confirmed that it speaketh expresly of the Messias and of the true Church let vs compare if it please you the Mariage togither with the league that is betweene Christ and his Church for there are fiue speciall properties or tokens of sincere Matrimony namely the first mutuall loue the second faith the third society or partaking in weale and in woe the fourth procreation of issue and the fift defence from the husband to the wife And first of all indeede the loue of man and wife ought to be feruent without dissimulation and compulsion sincere without suspitions and finally sweetely delightfull without bitternes and disdaine That such kind of loue was in the sonne of God towards his spouses the church his taking of humane nature vpon him doth well witnes for seeing by that secret and marueilous league he ioyned vnto himselfe this nature let vs most firmely beleeue that in Christ there is not a fained but a true and feruent loue towards vs and here hath that sentence of the poet Theocritus his effect Quae minime sunt pulchra ea pulchra videntur amanti Those things indeed which base doe seeme The louer beautifull doth deeme For although the Church by reason of persecution is the more deformed and also in that she carrieth about her the remnants of sinne yet is shee vnfainedly loued of Christ as this Psalme saith ver 12. So shal the king haue pleasure in thy beuty Secondly commeth faith in place Christ loueth the Church onely embracing the gofpell he loueth none other sects either Mahometicall or Hereticall so againe the Church acknowledgeth onely Christ for her Mediator and embraceth his doctrine only and will not be an harlot she polluteth not her selfe with the opinions and worshippings which other sectes doe vse Thirdly there is ordained a Society or partaking of them both in weale and wo Christ bestoweth his benefits righteousnes and life vpon his church returneth vnto himselfe the calamities of the church and was made a sacrifice for our sinnes so againe the Church bestoweth her benefits vpon her husbande namely her confession wherewith shee worshippeth honoureth her husband and becommeth a partaker of the crosse of her husband and like as touching matrimoniall fidelity this Psalme saith in the 11. ver Harken O daughter and consider encline thineeares forget also thine owne people and thy fathers house euen so touching society or partaking of prosperity and aduersity these verses doe make mention ver 14. The kings daughter is all glorious within c. also in the 9 ver All thy garments smell of Myrh Aloes and Cassia out of the Iuery pallaces whereby they haue made thee glad For although these smels or sauours are pertinent vnto the royal estate of any king or Queene yet rightly doe they signifie the afflictions which Christ and his Church do suffer Fourthly there is a generation or ofspring in the Church so as Christ giueth his word and holy spirit wherby daily new members are borne in the Church but this comes to passe by the ministery of the gospell in the church as it were a mother nourishing and bringing vp her child vnto this property of loue let that litle verse be referred ver 17. Insteed of thy fathers thou shalt haue children whom thou maiest make princes in al lāds Fiftly like as it is the spouse or husbands part to defend or maintaine his Spouses and wife so Christ euermore defendeth his church subduing deuils Tyrantes and heretickes and although hee will haue her a partaker with him of his crosse and affliction yet he mitigateth those afflictions preserueth the body of his