silent others crying some prejudiciall only to the delinquent others pernicious to the Church and Common-wealth For the former mercy often intercedeth seldome or never for the latter Againe some offenders are like a Eras Adag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart of oake which many strong blowes of an axe will scarce enter others like the Balsamum of Judea which you kill if you b Plin. nat hist l. 12. c. 25. Inciditur vitro lapide osleisve cultellis fertum odit laesis vitalibus emoritur protenus incidentis manus libratur artifici temperamento ne quid ultra corticem violet touch but the rine of it with an iron instrument and therfore they which keep them provide instruments of glasse or knives of bone to prune them The former resemble the Adamant which can bee cut or pointed by nothing but an Adamant the latter the c Solinus c 40. tit Euphrates Pyrrhites teneri se vehementiu non permittit ac si quando arctiore manu premitur digitos adurit Pyrrhite a precious stone which may be gently ground or cut with a sharpe toole but if you presse it hard or handle it rudely it burneth the fingers For the latter mercy sometimes intercedeth not so for the former Lastly after the offence committed some are like bruised reeds falling downe upon the earth and imploring mercy Others like a stiffe or strait cane never so much as bowing some stand in defence of that they have done others ingenuously confesse their fault some glory in their sinne others are confounded with it in a word some are obstinate some are penitent those mercy disclaimeth these shee often taketh to her protection They who in former times like pipes of reeds have sweetly sounded out the praises of God but now are cracked with some pardonable errour in judgement or slip in manners if they be truely bruised with the weight of their sinne and throughly contrite may plead the priviledge of the bruised reed in my Text not to bee broken by any over hard and severe censure or sentence not the Atheisticall scoffer not the impudent Adulterer not the obstinate Recusant not Jesuited Papists which like the Egyptian reeds mentioned by the Prophet run d Esa 36.6 Thou trustest in the staffe of this broken reed on Egypt whereon if a man leane it will goe into his hand and pierce it into the hands and sides even of e Jaques Clement and Raâ—iliac who murdered two late Frenâ—h Kings Henr. 3. 4. See Pierre Matthew and other French Historians Kings and Princes They who have formerly shined before their brethren both in their pure doctrine and good example though now by the violent blast of some fearfull temptation are blowne out as it were and send up bitter fumes of sorrowfull lamentations for their sinfull iniquity or impurity in some cases are not to be quenched what therefore are not hereticall apostataes and schismaticall boutefieus and fire-brands of Church and State not to bee quenched and trode out which if they be not quenched in time will set all in a combustion in the end To conclude as I began with the words of my Text it is the bruised reed that is not to be broken not the poysoned dart it is the smoaking flaxe that is not to be quenched not the burning match A bruised reed he shall not breake Behold in the reed your frailty in the bruised reed your condition in the not breaking the bruised reed a singular rule for your direction of which I spake but now and a strong staffe of comfort of which before God grant that wee may all acknowledge our frailty as being no other than reeds and to arme our selves with patience against manifold pressures and tribulations as being reeds that are or shall bee bruised and when wee are afflicted or oppressed not to despaire of helpe and ease but to trust in Gods mercy and hope for a joyfull deliverance as bruised reeds that yet are not to be broken and lastly expecting mercy for our selves shew mercy with discretion unto others as being reeds therefore not broken that we may learne by the example of our Lord and Master not to break the bruised reed To whom c. THE SMOAKING FLAXE A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace the Lord Bishop of London and other his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall Decemb. 5. 1618. THE SECOND SERMON MAT. 12. 20. ESAY 42. 3. And smoaking Flaxe shall he not quench Most REVEREND c. THe sweet temper and gracious disposition of our blessed Redeemer is as the sap in the root which conveyeth life to the two branches of this Scripture For by it the dâ—y and bruised reed is nourished as with moisture supplyed and the smoaking flaxe and dying lampe is refreshed as it were with oyle That he will not break this he will not quench Luk. 4.18 He who came to heale the broken hearted and set at liberty them that are bruised will not breake the bruised reed Hee who was sent to give light to them that sit in darknesse Luk. 1.79 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita 70 Interp. Esay 53 4. and in the shadow of death will not quench the smoaking flaxe or dimly burning weeke He who bare all our infirmities and carried our sorrowes will not lay too heavie a burthen upon those that are truely humbled but will so lightly passe over their sinnes that he will not breake or crush in pieces the bruised reed nor tread out the smoaking flaxe This Text speaketh peace and much comfort yet not to all but to the contrite soule only Matth. 27.30 The bruised and soft reed shall not be broken but the stiffe and hard reed like that wherewith Christ was smitten shall be broken They who after their sinnes committed relent not at all they who are not troubled in conscience nor crushed with feare of judgement but stand in justification of their sinnes and excuse their prophane sports on the Lords day saying they use but lawfull recreations and their defiling the flesh by pretending that it is but a tricke of youth and their drunkennesse that it is but good fellowship and their sacriledge that it is the custome to pay no more and cover other vices with the like cloakes may challenge no interest in this promise but the bruised reed that is the contrite sinner he who is displeased with himselfe because he hath displeased his gracious God he whose spirit grieveth because he hath grieved Gods holy Spirit he who because he hath done that which God abhorreth abhorreth himselfe in dust and ashes hee who when God chasteneth him for his sinnes kisseth his heavenly Fathers rod and acknowledgeth that hee deserveth farre smarter blowes than those which yet hee feeles hee who goeth mourning all the day long and will never be at peace with himselfe till hee hath made his peace with his Maker hee who alwaies feeling the weight of his sinnes sigheth and groaneth under them and never
secondly the civill thirdly the wealthy fourthly the ordinary and found them all very tardy and imperfect in their accounts which that you might not be I but even now delivered unto you the rule of three or golden rule as it is called in sacred algebray whereby you may easily number your dayes and cast up your accounts and infallibly perfect the bookes of your conscience What remaineth but that at your first and best opportunity you fall on this worke cast your accounts privately in the chamber of your heart peruse the booke of your conscience mend what is amisse by unfained and hearty repentance fetch out all the blots and blurres there with the aqua fortis of your teares and if yet there remaine any thing which you cannot well account for to meet your Master before hand upon your knees and beseech him to put it upon his Sonnes score and to satisfie himselfe out of the infinite treasury of his merits or to wipe it out with the spunge that was offered him on the Crosse This if yee practise daily and make even with God every night you shall be perfect and ready when your Master shall call for your accounts and you shall be found of him in peace and he shall then say unto you Well done good and faithfull Stewards yee have been faithfull in a little I will set you over much yee have been faithfull in temporall I will trust you with eternall goods yee have been faithfull in earthly I will commit to you heavenly treasures yee have been faithfull in a Stewardship I will give you a Kingdome enter into your Masters joy Into which God grant we may all enter when we are passed out of this vale of teares through the merits of Christs death and passion by the conduct of his holy Spirit To whom three persons and one God c. PHILIP HIS MEMENTO MORI OR The Passing Bell. A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell at the Funerall of Master Benet Merchant THE XXII SERMON DEUT. 32.29 O that they were wise then they would understand this they would consider their later end Right Worshipfull c. HEnoch lived by just computation so many yeeres as there are dayes in the yeere viz. 365. and he was the seventh man from Adam and dyed in anno a Sethus Calvis in Chron. Sabbathico the Sabbathick yeere and thereby became a lively Embleme both of this life and the life to come For the labours of this life are governed by the course of the Sunne which is finished in that period of time and the rest of the life to come is evidently prefigured in the Sabbath It is farther written of him in the holy Records of eternity that he b Heb. 11.5 Gen. 5.24 walked with God and was therefore translated that hee should not see death to teach us that they who walke with God all the dayes of their life as he did shall come into no condemnation but immediately passe from death to life from death temporall to life eternall which was not obscurely disciphered unto us in the narration of the seventh dayes creation After the mention of every day in the weeke and the worke thereof wee reade so the evening and the morning were the first day and so the c Gen. 1.5 8 13.19 23 31. second and the rest but after the relation of the seventh dayes creation on which God rested and blessed and sanctified it the former clause is quite d Gen 2.1 2 3. omitted It is not added as in the rest so the morning and the evening were the seventh day because in Heaven whereof the Sabbath was a type there is no morning and evening much lesse night but as it were perpetuall high-noon For the e Apoc. 21.23 Lambe is the light thereof and this Lambe is the f Mal. 4.2 Sunne of righteousnesse which never riseth nor setteth but keepeth still in the midst of the Empyreall Heaven and Throne of God as on the contrary in Hell there is nothing but continuall midnight and everlasting darknesse Thus the wisedome of God justly and the justice of God wisely hath proportioned the rewards in the life to come to the workes of men in this life they that cast off the works of darknesse and put on the armour of light and walk in the light as children of the light here shall hereafter possesse the inheritance of the g Colos 1.12 Saints in light but they who love darknes more than light and have fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse and continually walke as in the darke in grosse and palpable ignorance in gluttony and drunkennesse in chambering and wantonnesse and the like sinnes of darknesse here shall hereafter inhabit the region of perpetuall darknesse and never vanishing shadowes of death O that we were wise then we would understand these things and in the beginning of our race in this world thinke of our h â—â—n ep 30. Ut mortem nunquam timeâ—s semper cogita later end For the beginning of wisedome is the consideration of our end and a forcible meanes to bring us to everlasting life is to meditate continually upon our death To thinke what wee shall be stench and rottennesse and worse if we be not better ashes and cinders of hell will through the power of Christs death make us what we should be that is dead to sinne dead to the world dead in our selves but alive in God How can hee live in sinne who perpetually apprehendeth that hee shall dye eternally for his sinne how can he make a trade of iniquity and a sport of religion and a mock of God and a god of his belly who hath hell torments alwayes before the eyes of his minde i Lament 1.9 Jerusalem remembred not her last end therefore shee came downe fearfully and because wee put from us the evill day it commeth fast upon us It were unpossible to goe on forward as wee doe in the wayes of sinne and pathes of death if wee would dwell but a little while upon these or the like thoughts After a few dayes perhaps this very day yea this houre I shall be called to a strict account of my whole life charged with all the sinnes open and secret that ever I have committed accused by the Divell convicted by mine owne conscience condemned by the dreadfull Judge of quicke and dead to be cast into utter darknesse in hell there to endure such torments for ever as it would breake the strongest heart and conquer all humane patience to feele but for an houre Haec cogitare est vitiis omnibus renunciare to enter into a serious consideration of these things is to chase away all wanton and wicked thoughts and to send a bill of divorce to the world and all her minions the mistresses of our carnall affections but this is the mischiefe as S. k Cyp. de mortal Aeterna tormenta nemo cogitat quae metueret conscientia si crederet si metueret
upon the wicked From the former spirituall wisdome gathereth the sweet fruit of comfort from the latter the bitter fruit of terror from both the most wholesome fruit of instruction The fruit of comfort she gathereth by using Jacobs ladder to rest upon when she is weary Hagars fountaine to quench her thirst the widowes meale to sustaine her in famine Jonah's gourd to shade her in heat Jonathans hony to cleere her eye-sight Hezekia's figs to heale her plague-sores the Samaritan's oyle to supple her wounds and Christs Crosse to support her in all The bitter fruit of terrour she gathereth when she maketh the drowning of the old world a warning to her for security the confusion of Languages at Babel for pride the burning of Sodome for unnaturall lust the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned for backsliding and disobedience the plagues of Egypt for hardness of heart the captivity of Israel and Judah for Idolatry and the finall destruction of the City and Temple for infidelity and persecution of Christ and his Gospell When the Divell offereth us any forbidden fruit seem it never so pleasant to the eye let us thinke of Adam when a wedge of gold of Achan when red broth of Esau when a pleasant vineyard lying neere to our house of Ahab when a bribe of Gehazi when holy vessels to carouse in of Belshazzar when mony for the gifts of the holy Ghost of Simon Magus when the price of innocent bloud of Judas when a share in sacriledge of Ananias Let us learn by Adams fall to shut our eares against evill counsell by Noahs shame to abhorre drunkennesse by Davids adultery to fly idlenesse by Josephs swearing by the life of Pharaoh to avoid ill company by Peters deniall to beware of presuming on our owne strength by Pauls buffetting to take heed of spirituall pride Doe the students at the law follow all Courts and are ready at all assizes with their table-books to note what passeth in all trials to put downe the cases and take the sentences of the Judges and shall we neglect the judgements of the Almighty and not write downe in the tables of our memories such cases as are ruled in the Court of heaven There is nothing will more deject us in the opinion of our own wisdome and stir us up to the admiration of Gods wisedome justice and power than to observe how he compasseth the wise of the world in their owne wayes and shooteth beyond them in their owne bow and over-reacheth them in their highest designes how he chuseth the foolish things of the world to convince and rebuke the wise the weake things of the world to conquer the mighty the ignoble things of the world to obscure the glorious and the things that are not to confound the things that are When we see him draw light out of darknesse sweet out of sower comfort out of misery joy out of sorrow and life out of death how can we distrust his goodnesse Again when we see on the sudden how he turneth day into night liberty into captivity beauty into ashes joy into heavinesse honour into shame wealth into want rule into servitude life into death how can we but feare his power When we see Scepters made of mattocks and mattocks of Scepters hovils of Palaces and Palaces of hovils valleyes raised high and hils brought low Kings cast out of their thrones to the ground and poore raised out of the dunghill to sit with Princes how can we be proud When we observe the godly man like the Oxe that goeth to plow worn out with labour and pain and the wicked like beasts fatted for the slaughter abound with riotous superfluity how can we but be patient When we see daily stars rise and fall in the firmament of the Church how can we then but be solicitous Lastly when we see our wants as well as our wealth our defects as well as our exceedings our falls as well as our risings our sorrowes as well as our joyes our fasts as well as our feasts our sicknesse as well as our health our terrors as well as our comforts our crosses and afflictions as well as those we call blessings worke for the best for us how can we but be content This rule of wisedome every man by his experience can easily draw out at length and the time calls upon me to cut the threed of this discourse wherefore in a word I will now deliver that precept of wisedome in the last place which in practice must challenge the first viz. that in all serious and weighty affaires especially such as concerne our spirituall estate we aske counsell of God who among other glorious attributes described by the Prophet Isaiah is stiled the wonderfull p Esay 9.6 His name shal be called the wonderfull counseller Aâ—oc 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold c. Counseller who freely gives us that counsell which cannot be got by any fee from mortall man Successe crowneth no great attempt which wisdome undertaketh not wisdome undertaketh nothing but by the advice of counsell and no counsell safe in deliberations of this kind but from the spirit of God The Israelites usually asked counsell of God by the Ephod the Grecians by their Oracles the Persians by their Magi the Egyptians by their Hirophantae the Indians by their Gymnosophistae the ancient Gaules and Brittaines by their Druides the Romans by their Augures or Soothsayers It was not lawfull to propose any matter of moment in the Senate q Cic. de Arusp resp priusquam de coelo servatum erat before their wisards had made their observations from the heaven or skie That which they did impiously and superstitiously we may nay we ought to doe in another sense piously viz. not to imbark our selves into any action of great importance and consequence priusquam de coelo servavimus before we have observed from heaven not the flight of birds or houses of planets or their aspects or conjunctiâ—ns such fowle or star-gazing is forbid by a voice from heaven but the countenance of God whether it shineth upon our enterprises or not whether he approve of our endeavours projects and designes or dislike them if he approve of them we need not feare the successe for if it be not good for the present it shall be good if he dislike them we may not hope for successe for if the issue be not bad for the present it shal be bad in the end Tullies resolution is good r Cic. ep ad Att. sapientis est nihil praestare praeter culpam a wise man is to looke to his intentions and to answer for his actions that they be without blame not to undertake for the events Let us make good our ends and the meanes we use and God will make good the issue and turne all to the best A Pilot as Quintilian observeth cannot be denied his lawfull plea dum clavum rectum teneam though the ship be cast away or drowned he is
sonne when it is ripe which he permitted to grow in the father without applying any such remedy outwardly unto it yet this is most certaine that he never visiteth the sinne of the father upon the children if the children tread not in the wicked steps of their father Thus much the words that follow in the second Commandement imply unto the n Exod. 20.5 third and fourth generation of them that hate mee He often sheweth mercy to the sonne for the fathers sake but never executeth justice upon any but for their owne sinnes The sinne of the sonne growes the more unpardonable because he would not take example by his father but abused the long-suffering of God which should have called him to repentance The Latine Proverb Aemilius fecit plectitur Rutilius Aemilius committeth the trespasse and Rutilius was merced for it hath no place in Gods proceedings neither is there any ground of the Poets commination o Hor. l. 3. od 6. lib. 1. od 28. Negligis immeritis nocituram postmodo te natis fraudem committer◠fo rs debita jura vicesque superbae te maneant ipsum Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane For God is so far from inflicting punishment upon one for the sins of another that he inflicteth no punishment upon any for his own sinne or sins be they never so many and grievous if he turne from his wicked wayes and cry for mercy in time for God desireth not the death of a sinner but of sinne he would not that we should dye in our sinnes but our sinnes in us If we spare not our sinnes but slay them with the sword of the Spirit God will spare us This is the effect of the Prophets answer the summe of this chapter and the contents of this verse in which more particularly we are to observe 1. The person I. 2. The action or affection desire 3. The object death 4. The subject the wicked 1. The person soveraigne God 2. The action or affection amiable delight 3. The object dreadfull deprivation of life 4. The subject guilty the wicked The words are uttered by a figurative interrogation in which there is more evidence and efficacy more life and convincing force For it is as if he had said Know ye not that I have no such desire or thinke ye that I have any desire or dare it enter into your thoughts that I take any pleasure at all in the death of a sinner When the interrogation is figurative the rule is that if the question be affirmative the answer to it must be negative but if the question be negative the answer must be affirmative For example Who is like unto the Lord the meaning is none is like unto the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but thee that is I have none in heaven but thee On the other side when the question is negative the answer must be affirmative as Are not the Angels ministring spirits that is the Angels are ministring spirits and Shall the Son of man find faith that is the Son of man shall not find faith Here then apply the rule and shape a negative answer to the first member being affirmative thus I have no desire that a sinner should dye and an affirmative answer to the negative member thus I have a desire that the wicked should returne and live and ye have the true meaning and naturall exposition of this verse Have I any desire that the wicked should dye 1. God is not said properly to have any thing 2. if he may be said to have any thing yet not desires 3. if he may be said to have a desire of any thing yet not of death 4. if he desire the death of any yet not of the wicked in his sinne Have I As the habits of the body are not the body so neither the habits of the soule are the soule it selfe Now whatsoever is in God is God for he is a simple act and his qualities or attributes are not re ipsâ distinct from his essence and therefore he cannot be said properly to have any thing but to be all things Any desire Desires as Plato defineth them are vela animi the sailes of the mind which move it no other wayes than the saile doth a ship Desire of honour is the saile which moveth the ambitious of pleasure is the saile which moveth the voluptuous of gaine is the saile which moveth the covetous Others define them spurres of the soule to prick us on forwards to such things as are most agreeable to our naturall inclination and deliberate purposes Hence it appeares that properly there can be no desires in God because desire is of something we want but God wanteth nothing Desires are meanes to stirre us up but God is immoveable as he is immutable If then he be said to desire any thing the speech is borrowed and to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such sort as may agree with the nature of God and it importeth no more than God liketh or approveth such things That the wicked should dye A sinner may be said to dye two manner of wayes either as a sinner or as a man as a sinner he dyeth when his sinne dyeth in him and he liveth as a man he dyeth either when his body is severed from his soule which is the first death or when both body and soule are for ever severed from God which is the second death God desireth the death of a sinner in the first sense but no way in the latter he desireth that sinne should dye in us but neither that we should dye the first death in sin nor dye the second death for sinne He is the author of life p Job 7.20 preserver of mankind He is the q 1 Tim. 4.10 Saviour of all especially them that beleeve Hee would not that any should r 2 Pet. 3.9 perish but all should come to repentance If he should desire the death of a sinner as he should gain-say his owne word so he should desire against his owne nature For beeing is the nature of God Sum qui sum I am that I am but death is the not beeing of the creature No more than light can be the cause of darknesse can God who is life be the cause of death If he should desire the death of a sinner he should destroy his principall attributes of wisedome goodnesse and mercy Of wisdome for what wisedome can it be to marre his chiefest worke Of goodnesse for how can it stand with goodnesse to desire that which is in it selfe evill Of mercy for how can it stand with mercy to desire or take pleasure in the misery of his creature Doth he desire the death of man who gave man warning of it at the first and meanes to escape it if he would and after that by his voluntary transgression he was liable to the censure of death provided him a Redeemer to ransome him from death calleth all men by the Gospel to
thy noble Prophet of the royall race t Esa 53.8 5. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgressions of my people was he stricken He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes wee are healed therefore was Barabbas acquitted and Jesus condemned to the scourge and the crosse Againe ver 12. hee powred his soule unto death and hee was numbred with the transgressors therefore Jesus was executed with two malefactors the one on the right hand the other on the left Againe hee bare the sinne of many and made intercession for the transgressors therefore Jesus when they crucified him said u Luk. 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they doe How readest thou in Moses law * Deut. 21.23 cursed is he that hangeth on a tree therefore Jesus who became a curse for us hung on the tree of the crosse Againe all things by the law are purged by sprinkling of blood with a bunch of Hyssope therefore Jesus blood was x Joh. 19.29 shed upon the crosse and a bunch of Hyssope there offered unto him How readest thou in the booke of Psalmes y Psal 22.21 they gave me gall to eate and when I was thirsty they gave mee vinegar to drinke therefore Jesus said on the crosse I thirst and they filled a spunge full of vinegar and put it on a reede and gave him to drinke Againe z Psal 22.18 they parted my garments among them saith David Christ his type and on my vesture did they cast lots therefore after Jesus * Mat. 27.35 gave up the Ghost the souldiers parted his garments and cast lots Christ was fastened to the wood of the crosse as a Gen. 22.9 Isaak was bound to the faggot Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled hee b Esa 53.10 made his soule an offering for sinne be not faithlesse but believe Christ was lift up c Num. 21.9 upon the crosse as the brazen serpent was set up upon a pole for a signe Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled d Zach. 12.10 they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced be not faithlesse but believe Christs flesh was torne bruised pierced and as it were broached on the crosse as the paschall Lambe yet without any bone broken Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled e Psal 22.16 they pierced my hands and feet and thou f Psal 34.20 keepest all my bones so that not one of them is broken Be not faithlesse but believe sith every circumstance of Christs passion is a substantiall proofe every indignity offered unto him is an Axiome every nayle and thorne a poignant argument every marke and scarre in his flesh a demonstration à signo and his extension on the crosse a declaration and ostension that hee is the true Messiah The Jew hath his payment I now take the Gentile to taske Vs 2 Contr. Graec. Gentiles who maketh a laughing stocke of the crosse O foolish Greeke why dost thou esteeme the doctrine of the crosse foolishnesse in which all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid The Abderites tooke Democritus for a man besides himselfe but Hypocrates that great Physician made them know that they were out of their wits not the Philosopher The folly O Greeke is in thy judgment not in the doctrine of the crosse the shadow is in thine eye or the dust in thy spectacle and not in the object for hadst thou a single eye and a cleare spectacle thou mightst see the crosse beset with foure Jewels 1 Wisedome in the height and top 2 Humility in the depth and basis 3 Obedience on the right side 4 Patience on the left Thou mightest see by God his infinite wisedome light drawne out of darknesse and good out of evill and order out of confusion Thou mightest observe in it infinite justice and mercy reconciled thou mightest admire glory conquered by shame power overcome by weakenesse wisedome confounded by folly death killed by dying the grave destroyed by being buryed in it and hell by descending into it Yea but thy pride will not brooke to have any faith in a man crucified or to hope for salvation from him who could not save himselfe from the accursed tree Indeed if he had beene inforced thus to die if he had not laid downe his life of his owne accord and made his soule an offering for sinne thy objection had something in it considerable but sith he dyed by power and not of infirmity for though to dye simply be of infirmity yet so to dye to lay downe his life at his own pleasure and take it up again was of power sith being in the form of God he g Phil. 2.8 humbled himselfe to death even the death of the Crosse and in it triumphed over death hell and the Divell stop thy mouth for ever from blaspheming the crosse or rather open it to the everlasting praise of him that dyed on it whose misery if thou beleeve is thy happinesse his ignominy thy glory his death thy life his Crosse thy Crown Thou eternizest the memory of Codrus Curtius the Decii and D. Claudius for devoting and sacrificing themselves for their Country how canst thou then but much more love and honour yea and adore Jesus Christ who Codrus-like put on the habit of a common souldier or rather servant and dyed in the battaile to gaine us an everlasting victorie over all our enemies Curtius-like leapt into the Hiatus or gulfe of death and hell to save mankinde from it Decius and Claudius-like devovit se pro terrarum orbe gave himselfe up to death for the life of the whole world Use 3 And so I let the Greeke passe the Romanists turne is next who maketh an Idol of the Crosse Contra Papist O superstitious Papist why dost thou vow pilgrimages and creepe on all foure to the Crosse Why dost thou fall downe at it and often lash thy selfe before it Why dost thou kisse it and weepe upon it and make a woodden prayer to it saying Ave lignum spes unica all haile thou wood of the Crosse our onely hope Was the Crosse crucified for thee Did thy gilt crucifix die for thee Hast thou not heard how the Gentiles of old traduced the Christians quod h Minutius Fâ—elix 〈◊〉 Oâ—â— 12 10. Crucis erant religiosi that they religiously worshipped the Crosse and what answer the godly Fathers in those purest times returned unto them Cruces nec habemus nec optamus we neither have Crosses nor desire them Didst thou never heare what S. Helena the renowned mother of great Constantine did when she discovered the true Crosse to which our Lord was nailed by the inscription St. Ambrose telleth thee i Orat. de obit Theod. Invenit titulum Regem adoravit non utique lignum quia hic est
for then they will cease to be blessings unto you nay they are already become curses because they withdraw you from God which is a kind of death of the soule How then may we know that they are undoubtedly blessings of God unto us that we may rejoyce and take comfort in them By this If we over-joy not in them if they diminish not but contrariwise increase our love of God if they serve as instruments and encouragements of vertue not nourishments of vices if our expence on the poore be some way answerable to our receits from God if we love them only for his sake that gave them and for his sake are willing to part with them x Lib. de mirab cuscuit Aristotle writeth of a parcell of ground in Sicilie that sendeth such a strong smell of fragrant flowers to all the fields and leazes there-about that no Hound can hunt there the sent is so confounded with the sweet smell of those flowers Consider I beseech you this seriously with your selves whether the sweet pleasures of the world have not produced a like effect in your soules whether they have not taken away all sent and sense too of heavenly joyes whether they hinder you not in your spirituall chase if not ye may take the greater joy and comfort in them because it is an argument of rare happinesse not to be overcome of earthly delights not to be corrupted with temporall happinesse But if ye find that these transitory delights and sensuall pleasures have distempered your taste in such sort that ye cannot rellish heavenly comforts if they have made your hearts fat as the Prophet speaketh so that the spirits of your devotion are dull and grosse and ye are altogether insensible of Gods judgements then re-call your minds from those pleasant objects and represent to your conceits the loathsome deformity of your sins the fearfull ends of those that are rich and not in God the vanity of earthly comforts and the heavie judgements which ye have deserved by being not made better but worse by Gods benefits These very thoughts will be as rebukes and inward chastenings which if they worke in you godly sorrow and unfained humiliation God will spare further to afflict you who are already wounded at the heart or humble you whom he finds already humbled Now for those that are under Gods hand afflicting them outwardly with any scourge the Spirit layeth forth this exhortation It is God that rebuketh you justifie therefore not your selves acknowledge your sins that he y Psal 51.4 may be justified in his sayings and cleare when he is judged it is he that chasteneth you resist not but submit and amend hee rebuketh and chasteneth you in love repine not at it but be thankfull What folly is it to resist Gods will I. What profit to be nurtured chasten What honour to be admitted into Christs Schoole and ranked with Gods dearest children as many What comfort to be assured of Gods love as I love The wheat is purged by the flaile the gold tryed by the fire the vine pruned by the knife the diamonds valued by the stroake of the hammer the palm groweth up higher by pressing it downe the pomander becomes more fragrant by chasing If your afflictions be many and very grievous know that God maketh not choice of a weake champion be assured that he will lay no more upon you than he will enable you to beare Souldiers glory in their wounds which they receive in warre for their King and Country have not we much more cause to glory in them which we endure for the love of God What joy will it be at that day when the Son of man commeth with the clouds and layeth open his scarres before all the world to have in our bodies store of his sufferings and to be able to shew like stripes and wounds to his Possesse your soules therefore in patience for a while and on the sudden all prisons shall be opened all chaines loosened all stripes healed all wrongs revenged all your sufferings acknowledged all your miseries ended and your endlesse happinesse consummated I end in the phrase of the Psalmist Though in the great heat of affliction and persecution yee look as if yee had lien among the pots yet ye shall be as a z Psal 68.13 As a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold dove whose feathers are silver and wings of pure gold wherewith your soules shall flye into heaven and there abide and nest with Cherubins and Seraphins for ever Deo Pâ—â—â— Filio Spiritui sancto sit laus c. THE PATTERN OF OBEDIENCE THE LI. SERMON PHIL. 2.8 Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Right Honourable c. OPposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt contraries are illustrated by their contraries the darke shadow maketh the picture shew more lightsome the blacke vaile the face more beautifull a gloomy cloud the beames of the sunne breaking out of it more bright and conspicuous sicknesse health more gratefull paine pleasure more delightfull affliction and misery prosperity and happinesse more desirable in like manner the obscurity and infamy of Christs passion setteth off the glory of his resurrection Neither doth it illustrate it only but demonstrateth it also à priori for his humiliation was the meritorious cause of his exaltation his obedience of his rule his crosse of his crowne so saith the Apostle in the next verse therefore hath God highly exalted him As wee cannot certainly know how high the surface of the sea is above the earth but by sounding the depth with a plummet or diving to the bottome thereof so neither can wee take the height of our Lords exaltation but by measuring from the ground of his humiliation The crosse is the Jacobs staffe whereby to take the elevation of this morning starre and as Ezekiah was assured that fifteene yeeres were added forward to his life by the going backe of the sunne ten degrees in the Diall of Ahaz so wee know that 1500. yeares nay eternity of life and glory is added to our Saviour by the going backe so many degrees in the Dyall of his passion in the which the finger pointeth to these foure 1 Humility 2 Obedience 3 Death 4 Crosse These selfe same steps and staires by which hee descended in his passion he ascended in his exaltation upon these therefore my discourse shall run humility and the manner of his humilitie obedience his death and the manner of his death his crosse How low must the descent needs be where humility and lowlinesse it selfe is the uppermost greece Beneath it lyeth obedience for a man may bee humble in himselfe and yet not voluntarily bow his necke to another mans yoake Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient Obedient a man may bee and yet not ready to lay downe his life at his Masters pleasure hee became obedient unto death Obedient to death a man may bee and
yet not willing to bee put to an infamous cruell and accursed death he became obedient to death even the death of the crosse The repeating the word death seemeth to argue an ingemination of the punishment a suffering death upon death It was wonderfull that hee which was highest in glory should humble himselfe yet it is more to bee obedient than to humble himselfe more to suffer death willingly or upon the command of another than to be obedient more to bee crucified than simply to die Hee was so humble that hee became obedient so obedient that hee yeelded to die so yeelded to die as to bee crucified his love wonderfully shewed it selfe in humbling himselfe to exalt us his humility in his obedience his obedience in his patience his patience in the death of the crosse His humility was a kinde of excesse of his love his obedience of his humility his death of his obedience his crosse of his death He humbled himselfe According to which nature divine or humane In some sort according to both according to his divine by assuming our nature according to his humane by taking upon him our miseries And became obedient It is not said hee made himselfe obedient because obedience presupposeth anothers command wee may indeed of our selves offer service to another but wee cannot performe obedience where there is no command of a Superiour parere and imperare are relatives To whom then became hee obedient To God saith Calvin to Herod and Pilate saith Zanchius the truth is to both to God as supreme Judge according to whose eternall decree to Pilate by whose immediate sentence hee was to suffer such things of sinners for sinners To death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether inclusivè or exclusivè whether is the meaning hee was obedient all his life even to his last gaspe or hee was so farre obedient that hee yeelded himselfe to the wrath of God to the scorn of men the power of darknesse the infamy of all punishments the shame of all disgraces the cruelty of all torments the death of the crosse The difference betweene these is in this that the former maketh death the limit and bound the latter an act of his obedience to which interpretation I rather subscribe because it is certaine that Christ was not onely obedient unto the houre of his death but in his death also and after his death lying three dayes and three nights in the grave Here then we have the sum of the whole Gospel the life and death of our Lord and Saviour his birth and life in the former words He humbled himselfe his death passion in the latter and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse He humbled that is took on him our nature infirmities became obedient that is fulfilled the law for us by his active satisfied God for our transgressions by his passive obedience Obedience most shews it selfe in doing or suffering such things as are most crosse repugnant to our wil natural desires as to part with that which is most dear pretious to us and to entertain a liking of that which we otherwise most abhor Now the strongest bent of all mens desires is to life honor nothing men fear more than death especially a lingring painful death they are confounded at nothing more than open shame whereby our Saviours obedience appeares a non pareil who passed not for his life nor refused the torments of a cruel nor the shame of an ignominious death that he might fulfill his fathers will in laying down a sufficient ransom for all mankinde Even the death of the crosse As the sphere of the Sun or Saturn c. is named from the Planet which is the most eminent part of it so is the passion of Christ from his crosse the crosse was as the center in which all the bloody lines met He sweat in his agony bled in his scourging was pricked in his crowning with thornes scorned and derided in the judgement hall but all this and much more hee endured on the crosse Whence we may observe more particularly 1 The root 2 Branches 3 Fruit. Or 1 The cause 2 The parts 3 The end of all his sufferings on it 1 Of the cause S. a Aug. l. 3. de Civ Dei c. 15. Regularis defectio non nisi in lunae fine contingit Austin demonstrateth that the Eclipse of the sun at the death of our Saviour was miraculous because then the Moon was at the full Had it bin a regular Eclipse the Moon should have lost her light and not the Sun so in the regular course of justice the Church which is compared to the Moon in b Cant. 6.10 Scripture should have been eclipsed of the light of Gods countenance and not Christ who is by the Prophet Malachy stiled c Mal. 4.2 Sol justitiae the Sun of righteousnesse But as then the Sun was eclipsed in stead of the Moon so was Christ obscured in his passion for the Church he became a surety for us therfore God laid all our debts upon him to the uttermost farthing The Prophet Esay assureth us hereof d Esa 53.4 5. He bare our infirmities carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him by his stripes we are all healed O the wonderfull wisdom justice of God! the just is reputed unjust that the unjust might be reputed just the innocent is condemned that the condemned might be found innocent the Conquerer is in bonds to loose the captive the Creditor in prison to satisfie for the debtour the Physitian taketh the bitter potion to cure the patient the Judge is executed to acquit the prisoner What did the welbeloved of his Father deserve that he should drink the dregs of the vials of wrath why should the immaculate Lamb be put to such torture in the end be slain but for a sacrifice why should the bread of life hunger but for our gluttony the fountain of grace thirst but for our intemperancy the word of God be speechlesse but for our crying sin truth it self be accused but for our errors innocency condemned but for our transgressions why should the King of glory endure such ignominy shame but for our shameful lives why should the Lord of life be put to death but for our hainous and most deadly sins what spots had he to be washed what lust to bee crucified what ulcers to bee pricked what sores to bee launced Doubtlesse none at all our corrupt blood was drawn out of his wounds our swellings pricked with his thornes our sores launced with his speare our lusts crucified on his crosse our staines washed away with his blood It was the weight of our sins that made his soule heavie unto death it was the unsupportable burden of our punishment that put him into a bloody sweat all our blood was corrupt all our flesh as it were in
the more humble the more grace because they more desire it and are more capable thereof For the more empty the vessel is the more liquor it receiveth in like maner the more empty wee are in our owne conceits the more heavenly grace God z Mat. 11.25 infuseth into us To him therefore let our soules continually gaspe as a thirsty land let us pray to him for humility that wee may have grace and more grace that wee may be continually more humble Lord who hast taught us that because thy Son our Saviour being in the forme of God humbled himselfe and in his humility became obedient and in his obedience suffered death even the most ignominious painfull and accursed death of the crosse thou hast exalted him highly above the grave in his resurrection the earth in his ascension above the starres of heaven in his session establish our faith in his estate both of humiliation and exaltation and grant that his humility may be our instruction his obedience our rule his passion our satisfaction his resurrection our justification his ascension our improvement of sanctification and his session at thy right hand our glorification Amen Deo Patri Filio Sp. S. sit laus c. LOWLINES EXALTED OR Gloria Crocodilus THE LIII SERMON PHIL. 2.9 Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him Right Honourable c. WEe are come to keep holy the solemnest feast the Church ever appointed to recount thankfully the greatest benefit mankinde ever received to celebrate joyfully the happiest day time ever brought forth and if the rising of the sun upon the earth make a naturall day in the Calendar of the world shall not much more the rising of the Sun of righteousnesse out of the grave with his glorious beams describe a festivall day in the Calendar of the Church If the rest of God from the works of creation was a just cause of sanctifying a perpetuall Sabbath to the memory thereof may not the rest of our Lord from the works of redemption more painefull to him more beneficiall to us challenge the like prerogative of a day to be hallowed and consecrated unto it shall we not keep it as a Sabbath on earth which hath procured for us an everlasting Sabbath in heaven The holy Apostles and their Successors who followed the true light of the world so near that they could not misse their way thought it so meet and requisite that upon this ground they changed the seventh day from the creation appointed by God himselfe for a a Ignat. epist ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Homil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. de verb. Apost ser 25. Domini resuscitatio consecravit nobis diem Dominicum Vide Homil. Eccl. Of the time of prayer Hooker Eccles polit l. 5. sect 70. p. 196. The morall Law requiring a sevent part throughout the age of the world to be that way employed though with us the day be charged in regard of a new revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time continueth which was before because in a reference to the benefit of creation and now much more of renovation thereunto added by him which was the Prince of the world to come wee are bound to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duty which Gods immutable decree doth exact for ever Sabbath and fixed the Christian Sabbath upon the first day of the weeke to eternize the memory of our Lords resurrection This day is the first borne of the Church feasts the Prototypon and samplar Lords day if I may so speak from whence all the other throughout the yeere were drawne as patternes this is as the Sunne it selfe they are as the Parelii the Philosophers speake of images and representations of that glorious light in bright clouds like so many glasses set about the body thereof With what solemnity then the highest Christian feast is to be celebrated with what religion the christian Sabbath of sabbaths is to be kept with what affection the accomplishment of our redemption the glorification of our bodies the consummation of our happinesse the triumph of our Lord over death and hell and ours in him and for him is to be recounted with what preparation holy reverence the Sacrament of our Lords body and bloud which seales unto us these inestimable benefits is to be received with that solemnity that religion that affection that preparation that elevation of our minds we are to offer this morning sacrifice Wherefore I must intreat you to endeavour to raise your thoughts and affections above their ordinary levell that they fall not short of this high day which as it representeth the raising and exaltation of the worlds Redeemer so it selfe is raised and exalted above all other Christian feasts Were our devotion key cold and quite dead yet mee thinkes that the raising of our Lord from the dead should revive it and put new life and heat into it as it drew the bodies of many Saints out of the graves to accompany our Lord into the holy City After the Sun had bin in the eclipse for three houres when the fountaine of light began againe to be opened and the beames like streames run as before how lightsome on the sudden was the world how beautifull being as it were new gilt with those precious raies how joyfull and cheerfull were the countenances of all men The Sunne of righteousnesse had been in a totall eclipse not for three houres but three whole dayes and nights and then there was nothing but darknesse of sorâ—ow over the face of the whole Church but now hee appeares in greater glory than ever before now he shineth in his full strength What joy must this needs be to all that before sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death In the deadest time of the yeere we celebrated joyfully the birth of our Lord out of the wombe of the Virgin and shall we not this Spring as much rejoyce at his second birth and springing out of the wombe of the earth Then he was borne in humility and swadled in clouts now he is borne in majesty and clothed with robes of glory then he was borne to obey now to rule then to dye now to live for ever then to be nailed on the crosse at the right hand of a theefe now to be settled on a throne at the right hand of his Father As Cookes serve in sweet meats with sowre sawces Musicians in their songs insert discords to give rellish as it were to their concords and b Cic. de orat l. 3. Habeat summa illa laus umbram recessum ut id quod illuminatum est magis extare atque eminere videatur Rhetoricians set off their figures by solaecismes or plaine sentences in like manner the Apostle to extoll our Saviours exaltation the higher depresseth his humiliation the lower he expresseth his passion in the darkest colours to make the glory of his resurrection appear the brighter
many jewells I make no doubt but that you will resolve with the Apostle to desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified Let Israel hope in the Lord saith the b Psal 130 7. Psalmist for with the Lord there is mecrcy and with him is plenteous redemption Plenteous for what store of bloud shed he in his agony in his crowning with thornes in his whipping in his nailing and lastly in the piercing of his side whereas one drop of his bloud in regard of the infinite dignity of his person might have served for the ransome of many worlds one drop of his bloud was more worth than all the precious things in the world As Pliny writeth of the herbe c Plin. l. 22. c. 15. Scorpius herba vâ—let adversus animal sui nominis Scorpius that it is a remedy against the poyson of a Scorpion so Christs death and crosse is a soveraigne remedy against all manner of deaths and crosses For all such crosses make a true beleever conformable to his Redeemers image and every conformity to him is a perfection and every such perfection shall adde a jewell to his crown of glory This death of Christ so precious so soveraigne we shew forth in shadow as it were and adumbration when either we discourse of the history of Christs passion or administer the Sacrament of his death but to the life when as Saint Francis is said to have had the print of Christs five wounds on his body so wee have the print of them in our soules when we expresse his death in our mortification when we tye our selves to our good behaviour and restraine our desires and affections as he was nailed to the crosse when we thirst after righteousnesse as he thirsted on the crosse for our salvation when we are pierced with godly sorrow as his soule was heavie unto death and when as his flesh so our carnall lusts are crucified when as hee commended his soule to his Father so we in our greatest extremities commit our soules to God as our faithfull Creatour Cui c. THE SIGNE AT THE HEART A Sermon preached on the first Sunday in Lent THE LXVII SERMON ACTS 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren What shall we do SInnes for repentance to worke upon and repentance for sinne take up in a manner our whole life Not onely the wicked in their endlesse mazes in the rode to hell but even the godly who endeavour to make the streightest steps they can to heaven Ambulant in circuitu walke in a kind of circuit From fasting to feasting and from feasting againe to fasting from Mount Gerizin to Mount Hebal and from Mount Hebal to Mount Gerizin from sinnes to repentance and from repentance backe againe though against their will to sin It is true that grace in the regenerate never quits the field but groweth more and more upon corrupt nature and in the end conquereth her yet so conquereth her as Lucullus and other Romane Captaines did a Cic. de leg Manil. Ita tamen superarunt ut ille pulsus superatusque regnaret Mithridates that nature still ruleth in the members and often putteth the mind to the worst alwaies to much trouble Wherfore as the Sea-mew that maketh her nest on the sea shore is forced daily to repaire it because every day the violent assault of the sea waves moulter away some part thereof so the regenerate and sanctified soule hath need to renew the inward man daily and repaire the conscience by repentance because every day nay almost every houre by the violent assaults of tentation and sinnes as they are termed of ordinary incursion some breach or other is made into it Now albeit private repentance hath no day set nor time prefixed to it but is alwayes in season yet now is the peculiar season of publike when the practice of the primitive and the sanction of the present Church calls us to watching and fasting to weeping and mourning to sackcloth and ashes to humiliation and contrition when in a manner the whole Christian world I except only some few Heteroclites accordeth with us in our groanes and consorteth with our sighes and keepeth stroake with us in the beating our breasts and setteth open the sluces to make a floud of teares and carry away the filth of the whole yeere past Abyssus abyssum invocet let this floud carry away the former deluge Verily such is the overflowing of iniquity and inundation of impurity in this last and worst age of the world that the most righteous among us can hardly keep up their head and hold out their hands above water to call to God for mercy for themselves others hath not then the Church of God great reason to oppose the Eves Embers Lent fasts as so many floud-gates if not quite to stay yet somewhat to stop the current of sin Anselme sometimes Archbishop of Canterbury whom the Church of Rome hath inserted into the Canon of Saints but he ranketh himselfe among the Apocrypha of sinners recounting with hearts griefe and sorrow the whole course of his life and finding the infancy of sinne in the sinnes of his infancy the youth and growth of sinne in the sinnes of his youth and the maturity and ripenesse of all sinne in the sinnes of his ripe and perfect age breaketh forth into this passionate speech Quid restat tibi O peccator nisi ut totâ vitâ deploret totam vitam What remaines for thee wretched man but that thou spend the remainder of thy whole life in bewailing thy whole life What should wee Beloved in a manner doe else considering that even when we pray against sin wee sin in praying when we have made holy vowes against sin our vowes by the breach of them turne into sinne after wee have repented of our sinnes we repent of our repentance and thereby increase our sinne In which consideration if all the time that is given us should be a b Hier. ep 7. In quadragesima abstinentiae vela pandenda sunt tota aurigae retinacula laxanda Lent of discipline if all weekes Embers if all daies of the weeke Ashwednesdayes how much more ought we to keep Lent in Lent now at least continually to call upon the name of God for our continuall blaspheming it Now to fast for our sinnes in feasting now to weep and mourne for our sinnes in laughing sporting and rioting in sinfull pleasures to this end our tender mother the Spouse of Christ debarreth us of all other delights that wee should make Gods statutes our delights for this cause shee subtracteth our bodily refection that wee may feast our soules therefore shee taketh away or diminisheth our portion in the comforts of this life that with holy David wee should take God for our c Psal 119.57 portion This is a time as the name importeth Lent of God to examine our
to an account to consider how deeply thou hast engaged Gods justice to poure down the vialls of his vengeance upon thee for thy rebellion against his ordinances thy corporall and spirituall fornication thy resisting the spirit of grace thy peremptory refusing of the meanes of salvation thy persecuting the truth even to the death and imbruing thy hands in the bloud of Gods dearest servants sent to thee early and late for thy peace Jerusalem had a day and every City every Nation every Church every congregation every man hath a day of grace if he have grace to take notice of it hath an accepted time if he accept of it and he may find God if he seek him in time It was day at Jerusalem in Christs time at Ephesus in S. Johns time at Corinth Philippi c. in S. Pauls time at Creet in Titus time at Alexandria in S. Markes time at Smyrna in Polycarps time at Pergamus in Antipas time at Antiochia in Evodius and Ignatius time at Constantinople in S. Andrew and Chrysostomes time at Hippo in Saint Austines time now in most of these it is night it is yet day with us O let us worke out our n Phil. 2.12 salvation with feare and trembling whilest it is o Heb. 3.7 13. called to day if the Sun of righteousnesse goe downe upon us we must looke for nothing but perpetuall darknesse and the shadow of death Although Ninevehs day lasted forty daies and Jerusalems forty yeers and the old worlds 120. yeers and although God should prolong our daies to many hundred yeeres yet we should find our day short enough to finish our intricate accounts That day in the language of the holy Ghost is called our day wherein wee either doe our own will and pleasure or which God giveth us of speciall grace to cleare our accounts and make our peace with him but that is called the Lords day either which he challengeth to himselfe for his speciall service or which he hath appointed for all men to appeare before his Tribunall to give an account of their own workes A wicked man maketh Gods day his owne by following his owne pleasures and doing his own will upon it and living wholly to himselfe and not to God but the godly maketh his owne daies Gods daies by imploying them in Gods service and devoting them as farre as his necessary occasion will permit wholly to him Wherefore it is just with God to take away from the wicked part of his owne daies by shortening his life upon earth and to give to the godly part of his day which is eternity in heaven I noted before a flaw and breach in the sentence as it were a bracke in a rich cloth of Tissu If thou knewest in this thy day what then thou wouldst weep saith S. p Homil. in Evang Gregory thou wouldest not neglect so great salvation saith q Comment in Evaâ—g Euthyrtius it would bee better with thee saith Titus Bostrensis thou wouldst repent in sackcloth and ashes saith r Brug in Evang Brugensis But I will not presume to adde a line to a draughâ— from which such a workman hath taken off his pensill and for the print I should make after the pattern in my Text and now in the application lay it close to your devout affections I may spare my farther labour and your trouble for it is made by authority which hath commanded us to take notice of those things that belong to our peace viz. to walke humbly with our God by fasting and prayer wherefore jungamus fletibus fletus lachrymas lachrymis misceamus let us conspire in our sighes let us accord in our groanes let us mingle our teares let us send up our joynt praiers as a vollie of shot to batter the walls of heaven let all our hearts consort with our tongues and our soules with our bodies what wee doe or suffer in our humiliation let it be willingly and not by constrant let our praiers and strong cries in publike be ecchoed by the voice of our weeping in private who knoweth whether God may not send us an issue out of our present troubles by meanes unexpected who knoweth not whether he may not have calicem benedictionis a cup of blessing in store for those his servants beyond the sea who have drank deep of the cup of trembling Christ his bowells are not streightened but our sins are enlarged else it would be otherwise with them and with us I have given you a generall prescription will ye yet have more particular recipe's take then an electuary of foure simples The first I gather from our Saviours garden Let your Å¿ Luke 12.35 loines be girt and your lamps in your hands Let your loines be girt that is your lusts be curbed restrained and your lamps burning that is your devotions enflamed Gird up your loines by mortification discipline and have your lamps burning both the light of faith in your hearts and of good workes in your hands The second I gather from S. John Baptists garden t Matth. 3.8 Bring forth fruits meet for repentance or worthy amendment of life let your sorrowes be * Cyp de laps Quam grandia peccavimus tam granditer defleamus answerable to your sinfull joyes let the fruit of your repentance equall if not exceed the forbidden fruit of your sin wherein ye have most displeased God seek most to please him Have ye offended him in your tongue by oathes please him now by lauding and praising his dreadfull name and reproving swearing in others Have ye offended in your eies by beholding vanity and casting lascivious glances upon fading beauty enticing to folly make a covenant from henceforth with your eies that they cast not a look upon the world or the flesh's baits imploy them especially from henceforth in reading holy Scriptures and weeping for your sins Have ye offended in thought sanctifie now all your meditations unto him Have ye offended in your sports let now your delight be u Psal 1.2 in the Law of God let the Scriptures bee your * Aug. l. 11. confes c. 2 Sint deliciae meae Scripturae tuae nec fallar in iis nec fallam ex iis delicacies with S. Austine meditate upon them day and night make the Lords holy-day your delight Esay 58.15 and honour him thereon not following your owne waies nor finding your owne pleasure nor speaking your owne words The third I gather from S. James his garden x Jam. 4.10 Cast down your selves before the Lord and he will lift you up The Lion contenteth himselfe with casting downe a man if he couch under him and make no resistance he offereth no more violence Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrâsse Leoni It is most true if we speake of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah for hee will not break a bruised reed much lesse grind to powder a contrite heart If Ahabs outward humiliation who notwithstanding had sold himselfe