euident proofe for this your publike meeting There is Matth. 18.20 a speciall promise of a blessing to light vpon you as oft as you shall come to this place and thereof the author of all truth assureth you Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them O weigh and consider this If you loue and would haue the societie fellowship and company of your sweet Sauiour Iesus Christ you must frequent this place hither must you come Know this you cannot be right worshippers of God in priuate if you refuse or neglect to frequent this publike assembly the Sion the Ierusalem from whence God is pleased to speake vnto you Much then very much to blame you whosoeuer doe for none or for small occasions absent your selues from this plâ—ce this house of God at appointed times where and when your publike prayers should be as it were a publike renouncing of all sects and society with idolatry and prophanesse an acknowledgement and confession of the true God and a publike sanctification of Gods holy Name to the glory of God The time was and I dare auouch it Act. 21.5 when all the congregation of Tyre with their wiues and children bringing S. Paul out of the towne to the sea shore kneeled downe with him and prayed Shall we in these dayes finde this zeale among Christians I much doubt it and am perswaded men will be ashamed in imitation of those Tyrians to kneele downe in an open place to pray vnto God publikely I will not rub this sore I know somewhat and you know more than I how backward many of you haue been from doing God due seruice in this place Shall I say you haue dishonoured him some by irreuerence some by much absence some by wilfull refusall to bee made partakers of the blessed Communion of the body and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ I thinke should any one of you inuite your neighbour to sup with you but once and he refuse it you would take some displeasure at him and shall God Almighty the mighty creator of Heauen of Earth and of all you that heare me this day inuite you many times to come and sup at the table of his blessed Son and you refuse it Beleeue it he cannot take it well It is no indifferent or arbitrary thing to come or not to come to the Lords table Come you must of duty though of duty you are first to examine your selues Whosoeuer therefore wilfully refuseth to come he sinneth very grieuously as a learned b Butanus Iâ—c 48. Diuine well noteth 1 Because he contemneth not any humane but a diuine edict the expresse commandement of the Lord of life Doe this in remembrance of me 2 Because he little esteemeth the remembrance of Christ his death by which we are redeemed 3 Because he neglecteth the communion of the body and bloud of Christ 4 Because he sheweth himselfe to be none of the number of Christs disciples I beseech you dearely beloued lay vp these things in your hearts let this day be the beginning of your reformation resolue from henceforth to performe your due obedience to God in this place to powre forth your prayers before him to heare his holy word and to frequent the Lords table where by faith in his death and passion you may receiue many a gracious blessing forgiuenesse of your sins your reconciliation with God the death of iniquity in you and the assured pledge of eternall life I haue now by occasion of Sion and Ierusalem the place from whence God will speake vnto you exhorted euery one of you in particular to come to the Church I pray you note this to be but a part of your duty It is not enough for you to come your selues to the Church you must sollicite and exhort others to come likewise Fathers must bring their children Masters must bring their Seruants For old and young should come My warrant for what I say I take out of Ioel 2.15 16. Call a solemne assembly gather the people sanctifie the congregation gather the elders assemble the children and those that sucke the breasts Marke I beseech you Children and such as sucke the breasts must be assembled You must haue the spirit of resolution to say with Ioshua chap. 24.15 I and my house will serue the Lord. Your duty is yet further extended beyond your children and seruants to your neighbours and also strangers if they come in your way This we may learn out of the prophecies of Esay Micah and Zachary First Esay 2.3 The faithfull shall say Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and wee will walke in his paths for the law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Againe Micah 4.2 You shall finde the very same exhortation made by the faithfull and in the same words Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of thâ— Lâ—rd to the house of the God of Iacob c. The Prophet Zachaâ—y chap. 8.21 for summe and substance speaketh the same thing They that dwell in one towne shall goe vnto another saying vp let vs goe and pray before the Lord and seeke thâ— Lord of hosts I will goe also Thus farre of the place from whence the Lord speaketh expressed by two names Sion and Ierusalem THE Fifth Lecture AMOS 1.2 And he said the Lord shall roare from Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem and the dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish and the top of Carmel shall wither OF the speaker and place from whence he speaketh I haue heretofore spoken Now proceed wee to the sequels of the speech which shall for this time be the ground of my discourse The dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish So doe the words sound for their substance Yet after the letter in the originall and Hebrew copy we are to read otherwise the fruitfull or pleasant places of the shepherds haue mourned Let vs briefly take a view of the words as they lie in order The dwelling places So is the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 englished not vnfitly For though properly it signifieth fruitfull and pleasant fields and pastures yet because shepherds did vse in the wildernesse neare vnto such fields and pastures to erect themselues little cottages and cabins that they might be at hand to defend their harmlesse sheep from sauage and rauenous beasts it may here well be englished the dwelling places The dwelling places of the shepherds In my first lecture vpon this prophecy I told you there were two sorts of shepherds In the first ranke I placed sheepmasters in the second their seruants Among the first sort of shepherds was Mesa King of Moab who 2 King 3.4 is called a shepherd and there registred to haue rendred to the King of Israel an hundred thousand lambes and an hundred thousand rammes with the wooll The
Saint Hierome See their many madnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagint many miraculous and strange demeanours Oecolampadius saith Stupenda multa many prodigious deportments Drusius Strages multas many slaughters Caluin Concussiones multas many concussions violent and publike extortions Vatablus and Mercer Contritiones multas many Contritions brusings or cursings of the afflicted Iunius and Piscator Vexationes plurimas very many vexations Gualter Tumultus multos many tumults Brentius Tumultus magnos great tumults Great tumults It s our translation See See then many madnesses strange and prodigious behauiours slaughters concussions contritions very many vexations many and great tumults All these see In medio ejus in the middest of Samaria Yet is not this all you are there to see For see also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnaschukim the oppressed in the middest thereof For the oppressed Caluin hath Oppressiones the oppressions it is the marginall reading in our now-Bible Brentius hath Calumnias so hath Oecolampadius Saint Hierome and the Vulgar Latine Calumniam patientes Their meaning is that in Samaria in the middest thereof in penetralibus eius in the in most parts thereof there were many that were calumniated were accused falsly were appeached wrongfully were charged maliciously were reproached vniustly were reuiled iniuriously Such doing was there in Samaria not onely in the country abroad but also within the walls thereof Euery where did cruelty aduance it selfe and so did Couetousnesse And thus haue I expounded the Proclamation the words thereof in which the Philistines and Aegyptians Gentes extra Oeconomiam Dei prophane Nations are cited to be witnesses yea and Iudges too of the impurity and vncleannesse that was in the Lords owne people the people of Israel My obseruation is God â—ometimes conuinceth his owne people of impiety by comparing them with forreine Nations Such a comparison is that Ierem. 2.10 Passe ouer the Iles of Chittim and see and send vnto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be any such thing Hath any Nation changed their Gods which are yet no Gods But my people haue changed their glory for that which doth not profit It is a vehement expostulation and in the paraphrase may be thus You my people of the Iewish Nation passe ye ouer vnto Chittim to the Macedonians and Cyprians see of what Religion and constancy they are and send ye vnto Kedar to the Hagarâ—ns obserue them marke them diligently Can you finde thinke you any Nations so like your selues so inconstant so mutâ—ble Is there any Nation in the whole world that so rashly changeth her Gods Gods Gods of the Nations They are no Gods but Idols the froth and skumme of mans braine And yet are the Nations constant in the worship of these their false Gods their no Gods But you you of the Iewish Nation mine owne people you haue changed your Glory Me the true faithfull and euerliuing God in whom alone you should haue gloried Mee haue you changed for a thing of nought Be astonished O ye Heauens at this be ye horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. A like comparison is that brought by our Sauiour in the Gospell Matth. 12.41 Where from the example of the Niniuites he inferreth the condemnation of the Iewes The men of Niniueh shall rise vp in iudgement with this generation Luk. 11.33 and shall condemne it because they repented at the preaching of Ionas and behold a greater than Ionas is here The Niniuites were Gentiles and Barbarians the Iewes were Gods owne people the Preacher to the Niniuites was Ionas a meere man and a stranger but Christ God and man of the line and race of Dauid was the Preacher to the Iewes Ionas his preaching continued bur for three daies and the Niniuites repented Christ preached for three yeeres together and the Iewes blasphemed Therefore shall the men of Niniueh rise vp in iudgement with the Iewes and shall condemne them Saint Paul likewise presseth the example of the Gentiles the more to accuse the Corinthians of grieuous sinne among them 1 Cor. 5.1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles The Gentiles who know not God nor haue heard of the faith of Christ will not commit so foule a sinne and will you Christians you who hope for saluation by faith in Christ will you defile your selues with such abomination For the loue of God for the loue of your owne soules flye from fornication And thus haue you the confirmation of my second obseruation which was God sometimes conuinceth his owne people of impiety by comparing them with forreine Nations The vse of this obseruation may be to teach vs who professe the faith of Christ that the glorious name of Christianity is but vaine and idle if a mans life through his corrupt and dissolute behauiour be not answerable Saint Augustine in his time propounded this question to an Auditory of his in his second Sermon vpon the thirtieth Psalme Quam multos putatis fratres mei velle esse Christianos sed offendi malos moribus Christianorum My brethren how many thinke ye there are that would willingly become Christians but that they take exception at the euill liues of the Christians Long after him great Gregory Moral lib. 25. cap. 10. complained Nonnulli fidem medullitèr tenent sed viuere fideliter nullatenùs curant Many there are that make profession of the faith of a Christian but they take no care at any hand to liue the life of a Christian The life of a Christian if you take it in its full perfection is not such a kinde of life as the Christians vse to liue at this day in the world but such a life as our Sauiour Christ liued such as his Disciples liued such as the holy Martyrs vnder the Primitiue Church did liue a life that is a continuall crosse and death of the whole man whereby man thus mortified and annihilated is fit to be transformed into the similitude and likenesse of God But where is the Christian that now adayes liueth such a life Hath not dissimulation and hypocrisie in a manner couered the face of the Earth Christi nomen auditis you heare the name of Christ but where shall you see the man that liueth the life of Christ Crepamus Euangelium we cry the Gospell the Gospell but where is he that yeeldeth obedience to the Gospell Doctrinam fidei ebuccinamus we trumpet out the Doctrine of faith but the discipline of a Christian life we exterminate we banish Multa passim fides absque operibus euery where there is much speech of the efficacie of faith without workes but where is the man that sheweth me his faith by his workes Beloued what shall I say more If we haue a delight to be called the people of God if wee take any ioy in the name of a Christian let it be our care to liue as it becommeth the people
want I meane when God so preuenteth by death that Baptisme cannot be had according to the manner allowed in the holy Word of God In this case the childe that dieth vnbaptized is not in any danger of damnation For as Comestor in his Euangelicall History cap. 197. saith Sine Baptismo saluatur homo cum eum excludit articulus necessitatis non contemptus religionis A man may be saued though he be vnbaptized if Baptisme be excluded through the instant of necessity and not by contempt of religion So before him taught Saint Bernard Baptismatâ—s fructu priuatur qui baptizari contempsit non qui non potuit It is in his Epistle to Hugo de S. Victore Ep. 77. He is depriued of the benefit of Baptisme that despiseth Baptisme not hee that cannot haue it This truth he supporteth by two chiefe pillars of the Christian Church Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose in his funerall Oration of the death of the Emperour Valentinian doubteth not to say that Valentinian was Baptized because he desired Baptisme not because he had it Certè quia poposcit accepit doubtlesse because he desired it he had it God accounts vs to haue that we vnfainedly wish Saint Augustine lib. 4. de Baptismo contra Donatistas cap. 22 saith that faith is auaileable to saluation without the visible Sacrament of Baptisme but then Cùm ministerium Baptismatis non contemptus religionis sed articulus necessitatis excludit When the ministery of Baptisme is excluded not of contempt but of necessity I could here shew vnto you from the testimonies of our learned aduersaries that the absolute necessity of Baptisme is not â—ustifiable by the practise of primitiue antiquity but I stand not in this Mount of God to reade a Controuersie I shut vp this Discourse with the words of Saint Bernard in the Epistle aboue alleaged Nequaquam omnino possum desâ—erare salutem si aquam non contemptus sed sola prohibeat impossibilitas I cannot altogether despaire of the saluation of such as depart this life without Baptisme if it be not done of contempt but when as Baptisme cannot possibly be had Now of the soules of Infants who liue nor to desire Baptisme what shall I say May not the desire of others be theirs as well as the faith of others beleeuing and the mouth of others confessing is theirs Here it is safe to suspend and dangerous to passe iudgement Secret things belong to God Hee that made all soules knoweth what to doe with them neither will he make vs of his counsell Our resolution must be to honour good meanes and vse them to honour Baptisme and vse it if we may and in the necessary want thereof to depend vpon God who can worke beyond without and against meanes You see how farre I haue beene carried with the obiection drawne from women baptizing in case of necessity whereby they are intruders into that function which is appropriate to the Ministers of the Word If they will needs be medling with a calling I will shew them a calling of their owne wherewith they may busie themselues As the Minister holds his calling from God so doth euery other member of the Church There is not a member of the Church man or woman but holds a particular standing and function from God and is ranked in order by Gods speciall prouidence and calling And it is to great purpose that you all know this in your owne particulars For First it enforceth diligence If God hath set thee in thy calling then it stands thee vpon to discharge the duties of thy calling with all sedulity and alacrity Secondly it may admonish thee not to passe the bounds of thy calling Seeing thou art in thy place by the Will of God thou must take heed that thou goe not beyond thy limits either by vsing vnlawfull courses or by intruding into other mens functions Thirdly it may teach thee that thy particular calling is to serue the generall Euery Christian hath two callings a particular and a generall The particular which is also personall is the externall designment of a man to some outward seruice in the Church or common wealth to the discharge of speciall duties in regard of the distinction betweene man and man The generall calling is the calling of Christianity it is the singling out of a man by speciall sanctification to glorifie God and to seeke out his owne saluation in the things of the Kingdome of Christ this is common to euery member of the Church to all beleeuers Both these callings generall and particular must be ioyned together in our life as the body and soule in man Where they are not ioyned together there may be a shew of Christianity but the substance will be absent Mat. 6.23 Christs Commandement that men seeke first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse is a demonstration that men ought not so to follow their outward businesse and employments as to omit the meanes of knowledge and grace The particular calling must serue the generall Fourthly from this consideration that we hold our particular callings from God we are to learne contentment in the willing vndergoing of the daily molestations troubles and crosses that doe befall vs in our seuerall courses and kinds of life It is a lesson in the practise whereof Saint Paul had well profited I haue learned saith he in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to be content Philip. 4.11 He knew how to bee abased and he knew how to abound Euery where and in all things he was instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need Let vs set him for the patterne of our imitation and we will be content with what we haue be it much or little If we haue little our account shall be the lesse if more we are bound to doe the more good I haue done with the Introduction to the similitude It is time that I proceed with the similitude it selfe As the shepheard taketh out of the mouth of the Lion two legs or a peece of an eare so shall the children of Israel bee taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in Damascus in a couch Hereof I finde diuers expositions Some will haue this similitude to signifie that few of the Israelites shall be deliuered from the spoile of Samaria and those such as shall be sicke weake and feeble and therefore shall be despised and left behind as vnprofitable and of no vse to be carried into captiuity And this is the exposition of Theodoret Vatabius Isidore Rupertus and Montanus Christophorus à Castro thus giues it in his paraphrase As when a Lion hath eaten his fill and hath satiate his hunger the shepheard findeth two legs or a leg or a peece of an eare to shew that the sheepe hath beene worried so of the whole body of Samaria one or other a few a very few shall be deliuered from the slaughter of the enemy and they