Church is naturally denoted and figured unto us By the holy place whereunto came onely the Levites and those which ministred at the Sacrifices are signified unto us the Ministers of the word of God who are chosen and put a part in his Church to be Heraulds and Embassadours of his holy will offering the ordinary Sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving which are his delectable and well accepted service By the Sanctum Sanctorum or the most holy place is truly figured unto us Heaven for as the high Priest entred not into that place before he had first purified washed himselfe according to the Divine ordinance so the faithfull cannot enter into heaven untill hee hath first divested sinne and be covered with the cloake of Iustice holinesse and innocencie therfore Iesus Christ himselfe declareth the same thing unto us with his owne sacred mouth saying Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. The Prophet David expresseth exceeding well the same words in the 15. Psalme saying Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnesse and speaketh the truth in his heart And in the 24. Psalme Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place hee that hath cleane hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soule unto vanity nor sworne deceitfully Hee shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation And in the 33. Chap. of Isaiah ver 14. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gaine of oppressions that shaketh his hands from receiving of bribes that stoppeth his eares from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evill He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rockes bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure His eyes shall see the King in his beauty they shall behold the land that is very farre off O what admirable places how many faire and rare promises doe all these Prophets make to the faithfull who shall keepe his heart from sinne and his hands from iniquity and Iesus Christ himselfe commeth after to confirme their testimonie and to ratifie their words saying in this place Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. Words very energetically and significant as if hee had said Dearely beloved the onely and perfect way to possesse all happinesse all pleasures and all the advantages that you can wish and in a word to enjoy eternall felicity to contemplate face to face Gods divine Majestie wherein consisteth the fulnesse of happinesse and all contentment following the serpents example to cast off the olde skinne that is to pull off the olde coate of sinne infected with the leprosie of iniquity to fly and eschew evill to embrace good to hate vice and perfectly to love vertue which is the true way to heaven to the possession of heavenly graces and in a word to the fulnesse and perfection of all true happinesse Blessed are then the pure in heart for they shall see God Now to enter into a more particular explication of these words we will divide them into two principall parts and will consider 1. who are the pure in heart And secondly the cause why they are blessed The royall Prophet David in the 15. Psalme describeth perfectly unto us those that are pure in heart They are those saith hee that lye not and who live uprightly they who backbite not with their tongues nor doe evill to their neighbours and in whose eyes a vile person is contemned but they honour them that feare the Lord they that sweare to their owne hurt and change not they that put not out their money to usurie nor take bribes or reward against the innocent This is a very faire true and ample description of the Righteous man who hath a pure heart that is who hath his conscience pure and just and who lives in integrity justice and innocencie For this word heart is not here to be understood or taken for the materiall carnall heart placed in our breasts which is the fountaine and beginning of life the first living the last dying in man but for the soule that keepeth there her ordinary Sessions as we commonly say that is corne by showing onely the sacks that hold it there is the Kings Treasure by shewing onely the Exchequer Chamber where it is kept the place containing being called and taken by the name of the thing contained so must we understand a pure heart to bee taken for the conscience which therein makes her residence Where at the first sight we finde a thing very remarkable and worthy our consideration that to wit that sinne being as it were a black and venomous Inke or an infect d and corrupted poyson as soone as it comes neare our hearts the seate of our soules it defileth infecteth and makes them so stinking that God cannot endure them before his face so much abhorreth he the very sent and smell of sin and so much the very object of iniquity is noysome and troublesome to him Now Iesus Christ knowing that man brought into the world from his mothers wombe with life the cause of death that is originall sinne cursed sinne a disastrous blade or stalke which like the wilde and evill plants casteth continually forth so many young sprigges which doth so people and store the field of our soules that in the end in stead of a Garden of Eden where God tooke pleasure to walke in stead of a delightfull River where the Angels bathed it be comes a hideous and dreadfull wildernesse where the devils and wicked spirits keepe their Sabaths and criminall Assises and Sessions a filthy sinke where wicked and impious men like Hogges continually wallowe And therefore Iesus Christ I say to bring his Apostles to perfection and to put them and all the faithfull in the way to heaven he exhorts them to keepe their hearts pure cleane and naked from all sinne filthinesse and iniquity to extirpate the thistles bryers from the fields of their soules to plow and till it carefully with the share and harrow of contrition and repentance for their sinnes In a word to make it aground fit and fruitfull to receive the holy seed of the word of life and to make it beare fruites to immortality and eternall life As men would bee curious to sweepe and cleanse a house wherein a King resolues for a while to be resident and may justly accuse him of imprudence and impudence who having advice and notice of his comming would not make hast to perfume it to adorne and enrich it with the fairest furniture to embellish it with all the rarities and most pretious jewels they could recover So alas the hearts of the faithfull are nothing else but the house of God
THE SOVLES PILGRIMAGE TO CELESTIAL GLORIE OR THE PERFECT VVAY TO HEAVEN AND TO God Written by J. M. Master of Arts. LONDON Printed by Aug. Mathewes and are to be sold by William Sheares at the Signe of the Harrow in Britaines Burse 1634. discoursed and published the excellencie of your goodnesse and merits Shee seemes to be sparing of your prayses which are so justly due to you For Experience hath now made me know a thousand times more therof then heretofore I heard or understood because I find so much benignity and goodnesse among you and especially your Honours house that I should esteem my selfe to be guilty of a base ingratitude if I consecrated not the remaynder of my dayes to the honour of your service and commands For I confesse that this small Present which I now present and proffer you cannot countervaile or equalize those sublime favors whereby you have eternally made me your debter Those Philosophers which entreat and discourse of naturall causes doe affirme That the Sunne which makes the Raynebowe in the firmament by the darting and defusion of his rayes in a watry clowd disposed to receive it doth there forme and ingender this diversity of colours so pleasing to our sight Your Honour my good Lord is the Sunne of my happinesse and I am this clowd covered with the rayes of your favors which makes all the world admire in me the greatnesse of your Generosity and the excellencie of your goodnes But herein notwithstanding consists not my satisfaction but rather your honor and glory and as I desire to publish that so I likewise desire to finde this For I cannot live contented if I made not a publique acknowledgement of those many favours whereby you have perfectly purchased and made me yours and this Confession consisteth in the oath of fidelity and obedience which I have sworne to the honour of your service and to testifie the immortality of my vowes wherein with all possible humility I present you my selfe and this small Booke to your Honours feete A worke proportionable to my weakenesse but meerely disproportionable to your Greatnesse If I am any way guilty herein your goodnesse is the true cause thereof in regard it makes me beleeve that you will rather excuse my Zeale then accuse or condemne my presumption and I doe promise my selfe this hope and flatter my selfe with this confidence that your Honour will partly excuse this worke of mine if it be not accuratly or delicately polished and that the will remayning where the power wants is free and current payment with great and generous spirits Some perchance may affirme and say that I have discoursed and treated those Matters with too much simplicity which indeed is my only intent and designe Because my text and matter doe necessarily oblige and tye me thereunto as also in regard I ever find the easiest way to be the best for that the thornes of Studie and Schollership doe but ingage and ingulph our Wits in the labyrinth of insupportable length and lauguishment and the which most commonly when we have all done and ranne thorow wee in the end finde but a Minotaur of doubts and a pensive melancholy anxietie which devours them My Lord I have no other designe or ambition in this my Dedication but to pay this tribute to your Honour hoping that your charitie will cover my defects and your goodnesse over-vayle and pardon my weakenesse and imperfections And my Lord it is with all manner of right and reason that I consecrate and inscribe this small Worke of mine to your Honour and place your Honourable name in the Frontispice thereof as a bright Phare and relucent torch which shall communicate and lend its lustre and light to make it see and salute the world And so my good Lord I will seeke my delights in the honour of your service my inclinations shall have no other centre but the execution of your commands My vowes and prayers shall be incessantly powred forth for your prosperities and my Ambition shall never flye or soare higher then to conserue the honour of your favours and to be both to your Honor and to the young Noblemen your Sonnes Your most humble and truely devoted Servant I. M. THE SOVLES PILGRIMAGE TO Celestiall Glory OR THE PERFECT WAY TO HEAVEN and to God MATH 5.7 Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine Mercy THat which in men changeth Reason courtesie and humanitie into a wilde fierce and brutish nature and which makes them lesse pittifull then Lyons and more to be feared then Tygers is crueltie that terrible vice the mother of cowardize the spring of disasters and the death of innocencie For after a Coward hath once tasted of blood he delights in no other spectacle It is the cause of mischiefes and of so manie fatall and mournefull accidents for there being a naturall Antipathy betweene that vice and reason shee expells reason and therfore will not hearken unto her in her furious violent and suddaine counsels In a word it is the death of innocencie for to satisfie her bloody appetite shee spareth neither age nor sexe but upon the altar of her furious and brutish passion sacrificeth as well the just as the guilty and would not spare her selfe if shee feared not the selfe same paines and torments which she inflicts on others Now this vice is detested by noble spirits and generous soules is abhorred by Angels and in great abomination to God himselfe so by the law of contraries mercie must be the subject and royall field where we must abundantly reape the honour of men the love of Angels the graces and blessings of our heavenly Father then must mercy be practised by men admired by Angels and bee delightfull to God and therefore we see in our Text that the beloved Sonne of eternity it selfe Iesus Chist our Saviour to perfect his Apostles in the way of salvation saith to them in generall Blessed are the mercifull c. As if hee had said I doe much hate and abhorre cruelty that I desire also that you that are my Disciples should expell and banish it quite from your hearts and thoughts and in her roome to admit and entertaine mercy that heavenly vertue which I both esteeme deerely and love and respect perfectly You must therefore practise this eternally praise-worthy vertue if you will be blessed for it is impossible to get into my Fathers favour if you be not furnished and armed with mercie You cannot ascend to the top of felicity before you have left sinne this heavie and intolerable burthen I say before you have received pardon and absolution for your faults which you can never obtaine before you have forgiven your brethren their offences before you have shewed your selves favourable and willing to assist them In a word before you have extended and practised on them all sorts of mildnesse clemencie and meekenesse which they shall stand in neede of for I say vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessed are the
and full of wounds and doth not give him bread to eat calleth him not into his house to warme him and that like the Samaritane powreth not oyle into his wounds what Adamantine heart is so hardned as not to open and cleave with griefe at the object of such pittifull spectacles and sights There be some that take the Etymologie of Misericordia Mercie from that it makes the hearts of men miserable by beholding the miserie of others and that with as much truth as reason for the truly mercifull feeleth in himselfe all the miseries of others which was it that drew so many teares out of Heraclitus his eyes being able to behold nothing on earth but what was lamentably miserable Saint Paul exhorteth us Rom. 12.15 to weepe with them that weepe and to be of like affection one towards another Good Iob in his complaints Chap. 30.25 said Did not I weepe with him that was in trouble was not my soule in heavinesse for the poore It is one of the most pious and generous actions of the soule to take upon her the afflictions of others and to ease them of them It is the sacrifice the most delightfull with which the Lord is pleased they are Ieremiahs ragges but they draw us from the Cave of sinne from the pit of iniquity it is the dry rock of the mountaine of Horeb from whence flowes aboundantly the wholesome waters of grace and blessing In a word it is a Iacobs ladder by the which the Angels of consolations and divine favours descend upon us by the which our faith our love and affection ascend up to Christ who stayeth for us on the top to say unto us Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you before the foundation of the world And will not therefore our hope to heare those sweet and gracious words oblige us to comfort and consolate the afflicted and with our meanâ—s to ease and refresh the poore and needie since those are actions so pleasing acceptable to God that S. August saith That charity towards the poore was a second Baptisme because that as the water of baptisme is a sacred signe unto us that the fire of originall sinne is ex inguished in our soules so pitie and compassion of the afflicted is an undoubted marke that God hath powred out the sacred waters of his grace and forgivenesse upon the burning coales of our transgressions to quench them Saint Chrysostome calles it the friend of God that obtaineth of him all she asketh shee setteth prisoners at liberty recalls the banished and implores and obtaines grace for the condemned the hand of the poore is the purse of God it is the Altar whereon wee leave our gifts to goe and reconcile our selues to our eldest brother Iesus Christ our Saviour whom the wickednesse of our sinnes did cruelly fixe and naile to the Crosse Having sufficiently considered the two first branches of mercie let us now behold the third branch of this divine plant which Saint Luke hath perfectly taught us saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love your enemies and ye shall be the children of the most high Math. 5.44 Luk. 6.27 Luk. 3.24 for hee is kinde unto the unkinde and to the evill And indeed this part of mercie doth greatly beautifie and make glorious her body for her two sisters Pitie in giving and Compassion in condoling are actions which humanity cannot refuse to the lamentable cries of the languishing to the sad and sorrowfull objects of poore and miserable men but must move your hearts were they of steele and draw teares from your eyes though they were of marble But to forgive our enemies is to vanquish and overcome our selues it is a nearer approaching to the divine nature then to the humane All Histories are full of charitable actions of men towards their neighbours and without taking them out of Scripture the examples are thankes be to God usually to be seene but to forgive our enemies not to annoy them when it is in our power is to be enlightned by the sacred presence of the holy Ghost to be regenerated by his grace to bee fully possessed of mercy Moses that great servant of God who had beheld him face to face that had seene him practise this rare and excellent vertue towards the people of Israel falling into Idolatry Hee that had mediated for them speaking to God after this manner O Lord what will thy enemies say that thou hast brought thy people out of Egypt by a strong hand and stretched out arme to kill them in the wildernesse seeing that thou couldest not bring them into the land which thou diddest promise them and himselfe notwithstanding is carried away by this passion of revenge when hee made the earth open and swallow vp alive Core Dathan and Abiram with their families though it bee not mentioned that they had participated in the murmuring of their heads yea he did not spare Mary his owne sister whom he covered with leprosie Neither is it to the purpose to say that it was in Gods cause that hee used this revenge that is vallable in putting Nadab and Abihu to death because they had violated the divine ordinance God forbid that I should excuse their fault but I desire onely to shew that though Moses were so holy a man yet hee had some touch of humane weakenesse But in this circumstance what shall wee say of David a man after Gods owne heart that so often curseth his enemies that giveth charge to Salomon his sonne to revenge him of the injuries and curses which Shimhi had spoken against him as he fled from before Absalom What greater Prophet then Elijah neverthelesse because two of Achazias Captaines were gone to seeke him to take him and bring him to the King as hee had commanded them he made the fire fall downe from heaven which consumed them with their fifties And the Apostles themselues having not beene well received in a certaine place said to Christ Wilt thou that we make fire fall from heauen upon that Citie but Iesus diverted and hindered them Wee produce all these examples not to imitate but to shunne them and thereby to make it appeare that wee must not revenge our selues when wee can doe it but rather to doe good to our enemies when they have done us hurt is to make our selues perfect in this excellent vertue of Mercy It is to becom conformable to the Saviour and Redeemer of our soules who seeing and feeling the horrible cruelties of the Iewes against him hearing the blasphemies which they pronounced against his divine Majestie notwithstanding in stead of revenging himselfe he prayeth his Father and crieth out thus Father forgive them for they know not what they doe That which made Saint Stephens martirdome the more honourable is that in the middest of his torments among a fearefull shower of haile of stones cast against him hee desireth not God to punish his tormentours but rather being possessed with the spirit of mercie and meekenesse
the mercifull yea in this life with blessings favours and graces spirituall and temporall giving unto them a hundred times more then they have given to the poore and giving them consolation in their distresse as they also have suffered with their neighbour in his affliction But let us consider the third fruit of charitable workes which is the highest degree of honour unto which the mercifull shall ascend to wit eternall blessednesse and withall we will also examine the cause wherefore the faithfull receive graces spirituall temporall and eternall which doeth clearely enough appeare in our Text Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie The onely and perfect felicity of man both in this life and in that to come consisteth simply and soly in the possession of the favour of God which the wicked cruell and impious shall never be partakers of but only the Saints the bountifull and mercifull shall pitch their tents there the reason why the one are put backe from this infinite good and that the others shall bee received and cherished therein for ever is because the first have lived in crueltie rigour and tyrannie and shall therefore be thus punished but the second having beene gracious bountifuâ—l and meeke they shall obtaine mercy according to that saying of Christ With what measure you mete it shall be measured unto you againe In these words to obtaine mercie wee have many very remarkable circumstances for God will shew himselfe such unto us as wee shall shew our selues to our neighbours if wee give a crumme of bread to the poore languishing at our doores hee will call us into his royall Pallace hee will make us sit downe at his Table he will fill us with the dainties of his house and will make us drinke abundantly in the river of his delights if wee beare with griefe our neighbours affliction if wee dresse his wounds and powre oyle on them hee will comfort us in our sorrowes hee will wipe off the teares from our eyes and will fill our hearts with joy and gladnesse if wee forgive our brethren their offences when either maliciously or through infirmity they have offended us hee promiseth and assureth us to be so bountifull and mercifull to us that hee will drive our sinnes away from before his face hee will scatter our misdeedes like a cloud dispersed by the parching beames of the Sunne and in this part shall wee finde the center where the fulnesse of our felicitie resteth and resideth This forgivenesse of our sinnes is that which covereth us from the divine justice that giveth into our hands the shield of assurance which is impenetrable by the revenging shot of his just judgements that maketh us walke voyd of feare towards the throne of grace and that without the least doubting for since God is with us who shall be against us shall the world why it is vanquished shall hell why it is fettered and shackled Shall death why it is dead shall sinne why it is prevented and pardoned Finally shall the flesh why it is crucified Wee may therefore say and conclude with the Apostle Saint Paul O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory now thanks be to God that hath given us victory through his Sonne Iesus Christ From this word obtaine wee will also derive and draw this remarkable doctrine for he presupposeth asking seeing wee cannot obtaine a thing before wee have demaunded it which teacheth us our duties towards God acknowledging our selues poore weake and miserable both in body and soule subject in body to thousands of sicknesses weaknesses and necessities troubled in minde with a world of businesse crosses and afflictions and so laden in soule with sinnes misdeedes and iniquities that they are more in number then the sand that is on the Sea shore But the onely remedy to these sicknesses is to have our recourse to Gods mercie which is the sacred anchor of our hopes the haven of our salvation and the eternall residence of our incomparable and incomprehensible felicities Arid let us hold for certaine and infallible that wee shall never bee refused by his sacred goodnesse which calleth out aloud unto us Math. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that are troubled and heavie laden and I will ease you take my yoake upon you for it is light and ye shall finde rest to your soules his yoake is nothing else but the affliction weakenesse and necessity of the poore that is the yoake he commandeth us to beare that is to say we must take off the loade of misery and calamity from the poore to lade it upon our owne shoulders and wee shall finde that his yoake is easie and his burthen light because he will then augment our strength and will make us so able to beare it that we should be sorrowfull ever to cast it off againe As a King findeth the waight of a crowne but small when it is upon his head by reason of the wealth honour and power that follow the heavinesse of this burthen as hee would never leave his Kingdome his power and his Empire for the waight of a Scepter seeing they make him honourable to his Subjects and feared of Strangers so that faithfull man which hath compassed and environed his forehead with the crowne of love to his neighbour that hath adorned his hand with the Scepter of charity to the needy and miserable hee without doubt shall finde rest in his soule which is the fulnesse of all felicity Now since such great and admirable effects since so excellent profits and advantages proceede from our mercie charity and bounty to our neighbour since in the practise of it wee finde our felicity which consisteth in the love which God beareth unto us in the confirmation of the pardon for our offences since againe God assureth us that the charity which we give and exercise to our neighbours hee will accept as done to himselfe alas who would be so savage and hardened with rigour who would be so defiled with ingratitude that having received favours from a King would yet refuse to obey him and to serue him with all his power should not hee be worthy of the greatest torments of the most cruell punishments that have ever beene imagined would not the heaven the elements and all the creatures together rise up to judgement to aske punishment for so grievous a crime since it is most true that ingratitude is the basest and damnablest vice that can infect the soule of man Let us remember that we have nothing but what we haue received of our heavenly Father and if wee have received it from his favourable and fatherly hand why should wee be so ungratefull as to refuse him a small portion of it when hee asketh for it Now and at all times when we heare and see the poore praying and crying unto us in the streetes or at our doores it is the voyce of God himselfe that calleth us to acknowledge his benefits as often as wee see one afflicted
that asketh us helpe and consolation let us runne to him and give him occasion of joy and gladnesse for it is Christ himselfe which was comforted by an Angell in the Garden when praying to God his Father hee sweated drops of blood which made him pronounce these lamentable words so full of griefe My soule is full of sorrow even unto death When we have bin offended by our neighbour and that he will cast himselfe at our feete to aske us forgivenesse let us not be such tygers and so unnaturall as to refuse him his request remembring that it is a condition needfull to obtaine the pardon for our owne sinnes which wee shall never obtaine untill wee have first forgiven our brethren their offences but let us follow the example of our heavenly Father who saith That at what time so ever a sinner repenteth him of his sinnes he will put away his wickednesse out of his remembrance And when wee must appeare before the terrible and dreadfull Throne of the Soveraigne Iudge when wee shall be called to a strict account for the talents and administration which hath beene committed to our charge by our heavenly Master let us then I say follow the example of that wise Steward let us make our selues friends with the riches of iniquity let us fill the hand of the poore which is the Altar of God upon the which hee affectionatly receiveth the Incense of our prayers as a delightfull and pleasing Sacrifice to the glory of his holy name Then I say shall wee heare that sweet and heavenly voyce of the Saviour of our soules speaking graciously to us after this manner Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you before the foundation of the world Amen Amen The Prayer O Lord God full of mercy and compassion O favourable Father that art the fountaine of pardon and remission and the refuge of them that truely repent who desirest not the death of a sinner but rather that hee may turne from his wickednesse and live wee thy poore and miserable creatures who by the weaknes of our flesh by the malice of our mindes by our owne vitious inclination to follow ill examples have provoked thee to make thy wrath and indignation fall upon our sinfull heads we have many wayes and times by our transgressions incited thee to cast upon our sinfull soules the thunderbolts of thy judgements we have made sinne our delight and iniquity the height of our happinesse Thy justice did cry and runne after us like a roaring and ravening Lyon seeking to devoure us thy judgements were ready to cast our bodies and soules into hell but that the excellent greatnesse of thy mercie O bountifull and gracious Father hath interposed her selfe and hath not permitted that we should be cast downe into the depth of eternall death and condemnation thy hand O sweet Saviour hath upheld us and thy clemencie O our Redeemer hath perfectly delivered us therefore O gracious Father seeing thou hast preserued us from evill conserue us still in good things receive if such be thy good pleasure the incense of our prayers our sacrifice of thankesgiving which wee most humbly offer upon the sacred Altar of thy divine compassions Put up our teares into thy bottels accept our contrite hearts broken with griefe to have offended thee for a pleasing Sacrifice receive our griefes and displeasures for thy satisfaction and behold thy Sonne thy onely thy welbeloved Sonne his head pricked with thornes for our sinnes his hands his sides and his feete pierced with Lances and nayles for our iniquities for his torments sake for his paines and for his deaths sake restore us unto life forgive us our sinnes O great God blot out our iniquities that so following thy example wee may doe the like to them that have offended us change in us our hard hearts and make them gentle and easie to pardon and forgive and suffer not our soules to be defiled and infected with the venome of revenge but that leaving it unto thee we may thinke of nothing else but to be obedient unto thee blessing those that curse us speaking well of those that slaunder us and praying for those that persecute us O good God kindle in our soules an holy love towards our afflicted brethren that wee may partake with them in their afflictions and so ease them that they may the better beare that burthen which thou hast imposed upon them We most humbly beseech thee also O good Saviour to give us charitable hearts and full of compassion to helpe the poore in their neede remembring that they are our brethren that thou art the Father of us all and that we are the children of the same mother that a glasse of cold water onely given unto them is of an inestimable price before thee because thou acceptest of it as willingly and recompensest it as largely as if it had beene given to thy selfe make us understand and know that thou art the King and great Master of the world that all that is therein justly belongeth unto thee that wee are but thy Stewards to dispose of thy goods to them of thy houshold to wit the poore who as well as we have that honour to belong to thy house to be thy servants yea to beare the name of thy children that when it shall please thee to call us to account wee may bee found to have used with profit the talent committed unto us and that it may please thine infinite goodnesse not for our sakes but through thy mercy for thy welbeloved Sonnes sake to call us good and faithfull servants and to make us enter into our Masters joy which is the heavenly Ierusalem Amen The second Way to Sion THE PRAISE OF PVRITIE MATH 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God IN the holy and sacred Temple of wise King Salomon there were three things chiefely considerable that is 1. The body of the temple whereto the people came 2. The holy place appointed for the Levites and those that ministred at the Sacrifices And 3. the Sanctum Sanctorum or the most holy place consecrated for the Arke of the Lord who had appointed it for his ordinarie dwelling and residence wherein he commonly appeared in the forme of a darke clowd out of which were heard the divine Oracles and the irrevocable sentences of his sacred judgements It was a place whereinto none upon paine of death could come except the high Priest and that but onely once every yeare and yet with many precautions and circumstances for hee was first to purifie himselfe to wash his body and to change his cloathes before he appeared in the terrible and fearefull presence of the living God By this faire and meruailous Temple of King Salomon is lively represented unto us the world adorned and diversified with so many faire and admirable creatures By the Body of the Temple where the children of Israel heard the reading of the law of God his Spouse the
it is peaceable and no way mooved by the windes of seditions nor of desperate passions Shee is like the Sea when it is calme and quiet there is nothing fairer to behold then the humid and serene plaines of it all seeming to be an entire piece of Christall And to prove that peace is nothing else but gentlenesse and courtesie let us heare the Apostle St. Paul Heb. 11.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that beleeved not when she had received the spies with peace which is gently and courteously so that she did them no harme nor suffered any to be done unto them any way at all So we read that Christ after his resurrection came among his Disciples saying unto them Peace be unto you We reade also in the 2. Chap. of Saint Luke ver 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word that is thou sufferest him to depart with happinesse and felicity since he hath seene thy face And in the 10. Chap. of Saint Math. ver 13. If the house be worthy to receive you let your peace come upon it but if the house be not worthy let your peace returne to you Where all interpreters agree that by this word peace Christ understandeth all things good and favourable all blessings and all graces Now that wee may the more delight in the description of this garden of peace let us therein imitate these Painters who intending to represent unto us some very excellent beauty use to draw and place close by it some black and ghastly picture that by the opposition of that deformity our eyes may take the more pleasure and delight in beholding that faire and beautifull face opposite to it according to the truth of the Latine Proverb Contraria contrarijs opposita mag is elucescunt One contrary appeareth better by the opposition of his contrary so the darknesse of the night makes us find the Sunnes light more pleasant the thornes embellish the Roses and the roughnesse of the black briers seeme to adde excellencie to the soft whitenesse of the Lillies Even so if wee speake a little of the mischiefes of warre we shall find the sweetnesse of peace farre the more excellent and without staying let us here say with Plutarch in the life of Fabius Maximus That warre is a time when neither right nor reason can finde place Caesar said that the time of warre and that of lawes were two It is a time when Iustice is trodden under feete when the time of ill doing is in season when unfaithfulnesse is taken for vertue O time pitifully miserable since force trampleth Iustice under foote when nothing is to be seene but fire slaughters treasons robberies cruelties tortures in a word all that fearefulnesse which hell can afford there you may see virgins ravished children hanging on their mothers breast slaine honest women mocked and abused by the insolent souldier Churches robbed houses pillaged there is nothing to be seene but burning but slaughtered bodies but blood nothing is to be heard but lamentable sighes cries and groanes in a word all humanity is banished from thence so that wee say that warre est bonorum mors omnium vero malorum fons scaturigo Warre is the death of goodnesse and the life and beginning of all evill Now is not this face at the first sight capable to make us abhorre it even before we perceive the least lineament or the least draught or shadow of beauty which appeares in the face of his contrary that is of peace But let us see the effects of warre in the hearts where it is praedominant certainly ex malo coruo malum ovum ex malo ovo malum omen Of an ill Raven an ill egge of an ill egge and ill presage for as the Philosophers say Qualis causa talis effectus as is the cause so is the effect Eagles doe not bring forth Doves nor warre this horrible and fearefull monster any thing else but cruelty rigour and fiercenesse When man is possessed by any of these foolish passions daughters of disaster and mothers of misfortune then his reason is all disfigured by it the use of it is lost Denigrata est super carbones facies ejus The functions of his minde are turned upside downe they are like a broken clock wherein all is in disorder and to which there is no trusting The royall Prophet David sheweth us the effects of it in few words In mine anger saith he mine eye was troubled my soule and my belly were moved And indeed in that case man is quite perverted his functions depraved hee foames at the mouth his eyes glister he shaketh and sweateth all over his body Ora tument ira nigrescunt sanguine venae Lumina gorgoneo savius igne micant As in the clowds are formed all the meteors all the stormes thunders hayles mists raines fogges that trouble the ayre make the earth dirty and cause a thousand incommodities to the world even so in the microcosme or little world wrath confoundeth all and overthroweth all order But when that powerfull planet the sunne of reason hath dispell'd and scattered the mists of those confusions the clowds of so many disorders then his light pierceth and passeth through all those obscure darknesses to shine on the actions and to put the minde in her first station and temper A cholerick man maketh me remember the Bee that being troubled stingeth him that angereth her but in stinging leaveth her sting in the wound and with it her life Animasque in vulnere ponunt So the cholerick man thinking to wound others killeth his owne soule and murthereth it with his owne weapons patitur tâ—lis vulnera facta suis Salomon that wise King saith That the Kings wrath is like the roaring of a Lyon and against which who can subsist and that his mildnesse is like the morning dewe When the Sunne passeth through the Zodiack and is entered into the signe of Leo we endure unsufferable heat so when wrath is joyned with power and some likelihood of reason it produceth strange effects The Lyon is a beast of an exceeding hot complexion which causeth in his mouth so strong an infection and stinke that when hee hath devoured the halfe of his prey that which he leaveth is suddenly putrified and corrupted this eternall fire is so violent in this beast that it is commonly the cause of his death happening by the corruption of his bowels Is not this a lively Embleme and representation of the cholerick man whose slandering tongue is so venomous and stinking that it corrupteth and infecteth his neighbours good name if he touch it never so little in a word wrath is a black and burned humour that not onely corrupteth the body but also killeth the soule In the law of Moses those birds that had crooked clawes and lived by prey were not to be eaten nor sacrificed under the shadow of this figure let
our blood from all parts of our bodies to come to assist and succour our heart which shutts and hoodwinkes our eyes against reason and imagineth that all objects whatsoever presented to us have all together conjured and conspired our ruine as those who fly from a battaile feare every bush which they see or meete with to be their enemies who purposely pursue them and runne every where to kill them Or else as those who are led to their executions and deathes whom feare doth so powerfully seize and surprise that by these passions and effects it in a manner deprives them of life before they think thereof the which wee can testifie and approve by many irrevocable precedents and examples No no It is not of this defect of judgement or of this cowardly apprehension and feare which our Apostle tells us of but it a holy just and commendable feare which we ought to have and retaine in bearing an admirable respect and honour to the Creator and conseruer of our bodies and soules As to feare and tremble before the terrible throne of his divine Iustice and by not rashly abusing of his favours and mercies so liberally so bountifully extended to us because his presence is a consuming fire which devoures and consumes to ashes all those who unreverently approach his sacred Throne his most holy hill as heretofore hee forbad the children of Israel not to approach mount Sinay because hee was there purposely to speake with his servant Moses But not to stay any longer on this point let us say with the Philosophers and Theologians that there is generally two sorts of feare that is to say Divine and Humane which againe subdivide themselues every one into three severall parts and branches The Humane feare compriseth and comprehendeth 1. The Naturall which hath wholly buried in her the senses all Philosophy and the strongest and most assured courage cannot hinder him from shutting his eyes at the suddaine surprise of a flash of lightning or at the feignednesse of a hand which unexpectedly approacheth our face or that we withdraw not or turne not our head from the sight of a fearefull precipice or that a suddaine crack or noyse doe not at first hearing terrifie or astonish us Primi illi motus non sunt hominis The first motions or terrours are not in our power 2. Corporall whereby wee naturally abhorre Death and feare to expose and cast our selues into danger 3. Mundane or worldly whereby we feare to lose our wealth honours and dignities but it is of neither of these sorts of feares which our Apostle speakes unto us but ondy of Divine feare which likewise streames foorth in three rivolets 1. Servile whereby we feare God for the apprehension we have of the infernall tortures and torments of Hell and this degree and sort of feare is not good of it selfe because it hath no good object nor is made or formed to a good end neverthelesse it is held and termed good because it conduceth to good 2. Initiant which lookes two wayes 1. towards the torments wee feare 2. towards the glory we desire and it is also termed enterwoven or mixt because it is composed both of a good and bad feare 3. Filiall which is the last and best sort of divine feare whereby we love God not only for our owne glory or for the apprehension of torments but for his goodnes excellency perfection and in a word for and in regard of himselfe Saint Bernard lively describes and pertinently represents those three sorts of feare 1. Ne cruciemur à gehenna 2. Ne exclusi à visione tam inestimabili gloria privemur 3. Replet animum sollicitudine ne deseratur à gratia Which is to say The first feare apprehends torments The second the privation of glory and the third wholly possesseth our hearts and mindes with care and anxiety as fearing not to lose Gods grace and favour The servile feare is attributed to the wicked The filiall to the good I meane to those who are the children of God The Initiant or intermixed is proper as well to the good as the bad and also it is the most frequent and generall Those three sorts of feare are so many wings which conduct elevate soare us up to heaven The Servile begins first which denounceth to sinners eternall death and damnation and that sharpe and sensible apprehension to be devoured with the flames of hell fire It opens him the gate to be sorrowfull for his offences which threaten to precipitate him in that unquenchable fire and afterwards entering into a firme and lively repentance for his former sinnes hee begins to conceive the future felicity and glory of Heaven for the love whereof hee partly resolues to forsake and abandon sinne as Salomon saith By the feare of the Lord men depart from evill Prov 16.6 Although neverthelesse that he doe it partly for feare of punishment which will infallibly follow him and afâ—er that it againe leades him into this perfect filiall feare whereby he so infinitely loves God that hee had rather dye then offend him in the least thing of the world so neerely he loves him so deerely he honoureth and adores him St. Augustine makes onely two sorts of feare to wit Filiall and Servile and makes them different in this That the Servile hath for object malum poenae the evill of punishment and the filiall malum culpae the evill of guiltinesse Illo timetur ne incidatur in tormentum supplicij isto ne amittatur gratia beneficij By the first wee feare the torments of hell fire By the second wee feare to lose the grace and favour of God It is this faire this sweet spirituall vertue which gives us admittance and entrance into the closet of God which openeth unto us the treasures of his favour and mercy and which makes us enter into the possession of life eternall For those who feare the Lord shall behold his face shall have prosperity and see good dayes saith the royall Prophet King David Psalm 34.11 It is this feare of the Lord which makes men prosper on earth as saith Salomon the Prince of wise men and the wisest of Princes The feare of the Lord prolongeth dayes but the yeares of the wicked shall be shortned Prov. 10.27 This wise King in all his afflictions and troubles had still his recourse to the feare of the Lord which was his fortresse his Sanctuary his comfort and consolation as wee shall read in the 14. Chap. of Proverbs In the feare of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge The feare of the Lord is a fountaine of life to depart from the snares of death He againe teacheth us that wealth is unprofitable yea prejudiciall to us without this salubrious this sacred feare of God that poverty is to be preferred before fading and perishable riches Better is a little with the feare of the Lord then great treasure and trouble therewith This feare of the Lord