Cap. 10.4 change the name and the vision is ours twice or thrice hath hee risen from vs in that yeere of 88. In the death of our Soueraigne In the plague and now hee stands on the doore as though our abominations would driue him away looking vpon vs with a ruefull eye will yee driue mee quite away Shall I bee gone for all adoe yet hee dwelles amongst vs. And yet for all this what amendment doe you finde How many hearts haue bled How many teares haue beene shed what restitution of wrong gotten goods what vaine fashions and wanton attires haue your Dames of Sion cast off what crying sinnes haue beene strangled in the suburbs of this place doubtlesse the wrath of God is not appeased for our sinnes but is stretched out still O beloued presume not too much prouoke him not too often for when we are most secure at peace with all at home and abroad while wee least thinke of euill so long as this pitch of iniquity remaineth there may breede that in the bowels of the Church which may be her ouerthrow Now the God of peace and comfort who sent his sonne vnto vs to suffer these things for vs worke true Repentance by his blessed Spirit that his wrath may bee pacified towards vs and he pleased to dwell amongst vs while the Sunne and Moone endureth and that for his sonnes sake our blessed Redeemer to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit three persons and one immortall God be all honour and glory both now and for euer Amen FINIS THE WISDOME OF THE RICH. A Sermon at PAVLS Crosse Octob. 3. 1611. LVC. 16.9 Make you friends of the vnrighteous Mammon that when you shall want they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations THis is the generall application or vse which Christ makes of a Parable a Parable standing betweene two other Parables The prodigall Son immediately before The rich Glutton following after This of the vniust Steward in the middest 1. The Prodigall spent his portion brought himselfe into misery his misery brought him to humility his humility found mercy because he had a Father 2. The Steward spent another mans goods hauing warning to giue accompt by wisdome preuented miserie else had he beene turned out of all because hee was but his Master 3. The Rich man had enough to spend abused it and himselfe dropt of a sudden into hell where the most louing father that euer was had no pitty on him This is the very frame wherein these Parables thus placed by the Euangelists were made for our instruction that wee should not seuer these three which the holy Ghost hath so ioyned together When men haue runne themselues out of breath in wickednesse and wickednesse hath brought misery vpon them they get this Parable by the end and while they are in the wine of their vanity all religion and resolution is but to make vse of this one Parable That when extremity and the feare of death is at hand then they purpose to goe to their Father and say Father I haue sinned against heauen and against thee and thinke the Father must needes heare them because of this Parable Therefore Christ annexed this second Parable of the vniust Steward who if hee had stayd till misery had seized vpon him as the Prodigall did he had been turned out of all and should haue had neither house nor tabernacle wherein to put his head Verse 3. His wisdome is heere commended vnto vs That wee would call our selues to accompt before hand take vp his Quid faciam what shall I doe I shall bee turned out of my Stewardship I wote not how soone may bee to night before to morrow Christ was borne Beloued in an Inne that Christians might accompt houses Innes heere to day and gone to morrow The holy Ghost hath euer taught to reckon our life by dayes and not by yeeres as one did in the twelfth chapter Cap. 12.19 for many yeeres but not only accompted a foole for so reckoning but his many yeeres were contracted into a peece of a day Stulte hac nocte To day then if we heare his voyce let vs not harden our hearts but euery one reckon with himselfe Quid faciam Thus and thus haue I spent my time strength wealth powers and faculties of soule and body not so much to the honour of my Lord and Master as to satisfie my humour and giue my selfe content if mine accompt bee taker I cannot answer one of a thousand Thus to cast and neuer leaue casting till we come to his Scio quid facians his resolution Verse 4. I know what He take another course then bitherto I le forsake my darling sinnes and naile them to the Crosse I le crucifie my sweetest affections by true repentance I le doe my poore endeauour while I liue to doe good I le get mee friends by Gods blessing and such friends as may stand mee in stead when I neede This is Christs aduice But wee are yet taking of the frame wherein my Text stands according to the olde rule Vide quid supra vide quid infra This Steward for all his wisdom in one point of wisdome was defectiue in that he deferred his resolution till his Master had giuen him warning Giue an accompt of thy stewardship Verse 2. for thou must be no longer Steward for if wee deferre our reckoning till sicknesse or some other Messenger of death arrest vs it may be we shall want either Time or Power to prouide for our soules Therefore followes the third Parable of one that fared deliciousty euery day had no admonition before Verse 19. neither misery to bring him home nor warning to prepare himselfe but died suddenly and went to the Diuell fearefull examples wee haue euery yeere of some that are snatched away by sudden death Qui in momento descendunt in Infernum take the easiest translation which in a moment doe descend downe into the graue Thus is the King of Heauen a Father to one a Master to another but a iust Iudge to the third To the penitent Conuerts a louing mercifull father as to the prodigall Sonne more ready to receiue vs then we to offer our selues I le goe to my Father sayes the Sonne the Father ranne to meet him the young man goes the olde man runnes runnes and fals vpon his necke and kisses him But if this tenderly and fatherly affection be abused and ouermuch presumed on then the second Parable makes him a Master that will call vs roundly to accompt and bid vs giue ouer our Stewardships and if the seruant of that Master deferre will not beleeue Moses and the Prophets but say his Master will bee long a comming then the Master of that seruant shall come in an houre when he lookes not and giue him his portion with the rich Glutton and Hypocrites Therefore it is good to bee wise in time and rather then faile to learne wisdome from the children of this world
REPVTATION A Publique Sermon GENESIS 3.22 Behold the man is become like one of vs. ALL story and discourse whatsoeuer endited by the spirit of Wisedome the more concise it is the more pithy is the sentence and the matter of more speciall note which Truth if it hold as like it doth in Diuine writte Lo heere the Acts and Monuments of a thousand six hundred and odde yeares comprized within the compasse of six small chapters the onely true Records of that Age containing story of more weight and worth then all the bookes and Chronicles of the Kings of Iuda which respect beside others common to holy scripture doth intimate vnto vs what vertue and pith the holy Ghost hath pressed and couched together within euery sentence of this Chronicle whereof my Text is one and such an one amongst the rest as is noted by the finger of the holy Ghost in the margent Behold the first word of wonder we finde pointing at some spectacle worth the beholding A spectacle not for men to gaze vpon but Man a spectacle to God and Angels who beeing placed by God in Paradise was by his folly put into a dreame of a deity aspiring in knowledge to become a God was in vnderstanding made like the beasts that perish turn'd out of Paradise into the open field amongst the beasts to be clad in Leatherne hides and skins of beasts wandering in this miserable plight Almighty God puts him in mind of his glorious Godhead Behold the man is become like one of vs a God and no man where indeede hee was a wretched worme and no man These wordes deliuered by God in a figuratiue speech and in the forme like nailes doe pierce deeper and sticke faster then an ordinary speech An ironie but vttered by a man of God 1 Kings 18.21 made Baals Priests lance themselues with kniues till the bloud followed A figure that being spoken as here it was to a proud man in misery is Death vnto him and cuts deeper then any knife vox tamen haec est non tam insultantis quam caeteros ne superbiant deterrentis God in this Ironie did not so much intend to wound a miserable man as to warne his posterity Wherefore Right Honourable Right Worshipfull welbeloued when I gaue all diligence to speake vnto you of those swelling humours that raigne in the Sonnes of Adam I was directed to this Scripture which for the Maiesty of it was deliuered by God himselfe in the solemne assembly of the blessed Trinity and holy Angels for the vse of it to the terror of all vs which lay in the loynes of Adam for the Vertue of it pointed with an Irony to pierce our affections and sticke fast in our memories That wee breake not Gods bonds asunder nor cast away his cords from vs least he that sitteth in Heauen laugh vs to scorne and the Lord should haue vs in derision The sentence it selfe like Christs garment may not bee diuided it is so wouen into one period that to dismember the words were to disgrace the figure yet to auoid confusion of speech and helpe our memories I will distinguish these two points 1 Mans purpose and aspiring minde to become a God 2 The shamefull misse of his purpose that indeede became nothing lesse Both which are insinuated in this figure and may naturally be branched out of this sentence Verse 22. Peccasse Adamum tam specie quam indiuiduo is a schoolepoynt very probable That Adam did not sin onely personally as a particular man but as bearing the person and nature of all mankind for that diuellish infection of an aspiring minde hath made as deepe an impression in Adams posterity as euer is did in himselfe Dan. 4.27 Acts 12.21 Nebuchadnezzar and King Herod the one for Power the other for Speech affecting a Diety are two fit Emblemes of man in this place Is not this great Babel that I haue built by the might of my power for the honour of my Maiesty spoken like God himselfe Is not this great Heauen and Earth which I haue built by the might of my power for the honour of my Maiesty but while the word was in the Kings mouth his Kingdom was rent from him himselfe turned out of his palace among the beasts of the field Herod after hee had made a smooth oration in a great assembly for assenting to the peoples applause The voyce of God and not of man became a prey to the wormes these two beare the Image of the olde Adam who being in honour like Nebuchadnezzar was cast out of Paradise amongst the beasts that perish and for listening to the Serpents voyce Eritis sicut Dij like Herod became mormes meat Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne But what do I tel you of Kings and Monarches that of the Poet Est Deus in nobis is common in euery mans conceipt no affection so ridiculous which vaine man hath not made a God 't were vaine to stand vpon particulars shall I tell you of the God of Gods exalted aboue heauen and earth It is the God of honour and reputation amongst more A God mighty and terrible a iealous God and a consuming fire a God more honoured of English Gallants then euer was Iehouah in Iudaea or Iupiter amongst the Grecians Si quoties peccant homines Iupiter is very sparing of his thunder-bolts though often dishonoured of mortall men and the God of Israel when hee was in his greatest fury and most prouoked to execute iudgement yet is sayd to seale vp his plagues amongst his treasures Deu. 32.34 as though hee were loth to spend them God is patient and yet God is prouoked euery day but if our honours bee touched neuer so little agitante calescimus illo out goes a challenge presently hee shall die the death Thus as vengeance were ours miserable men will bee Gods to die for it By your patience Honourable and worshipfull sauing your Honours and Reputations giue me leaue to estimate them one degree below Gods honour and your owne saluation Happily you will obiect It is our honour and wee stand vpon it more precious and deere to vs then life it selfe for that is the life of our mortall liues and preserues vs liuing after our death life without honour is no life and honour after life makes death no death wherefore in this respect no lesse honourable is our Resolution then Razis the father of the Iewes commended in the Machabees 2 Machab. 14.42 in chusing rather to die manfully then suffer reproach vnworthy his noble stocke 'T is true God forbid we should deny but that honour in a noble minde is to bee preferred before a thousand liues if our liues were altogether in our nostrils if our Essence did returne into the wombe of the first Chaos as things of baser being if our spirits did vanish into the light aire like the spirits of beasts then were this reason without exception But wee must remember that besides
we may take vp our lodgings with Baucis or Philemon or content our selues with ten shekels of siluer and a suit of apparell Then sure blessed must that house be where God is so wel regarded saies that idolatrous miscreant Micah Iud 17. ver vlt. As for Tithes and Offerings they be but Leuiticall customes ceremonies and shadowes vanished away at the Sunshine of the Gospell thus are wee content to haue our mouthes musled and our tongues tied The Romane Orator plaid his prizes neuer worse then in his owne cause and I know not how it comes to passe either we are ouer-modest to pleade for our selues least wee might seeme partiall or too timerous wee are content at Balacks becke neyther to blesse nor curse or which is worst of all if euer wee meane to enter Gods house our selues must come like Gods like Iupiter himselfe in a goulden shower or stand without ô aur eum orationis flumen these be the golden streams of eloquence that make the Preachers voice the voice of a God But as I begun to say we are vnfit Orators for this theam will it please you to heare almighty God speake in his own person Malac. 3.8 Will a man spoyle his gods but you haue spoyled me saith the Lord A strange speech for the God of heauen to speake to mortall men You haue spoyled me and that made the people of Israell to wonder Lord wherein haue we spoyled thee God answers in Tithes and Offerings parturiunt montes a ceremony a shadow a toy no beloued almighty God fights not with shadowes nor is so zealous for a ceremony there is more in it then all they account for these are not Mint and Annise we talke of but matters of greater moment All the wonders the Apostles wrought vpon the earth were sauing wonders restoring men to their health and perfection but when they mette with sinne of alienating Church goods in Ananias and Saphira their wonder was an extraordinary iudgement no lesse then present death When the Lambe of God walked vpon the earth hee is obserued neuer to haue wrought any thing by force or violence but all with gentle perswasions and fatherly admonitions so obserueth S. Augustine in one booke Vera relig c. 16. Cap. 13. yet the Father was deceiued for himselfe doth retract that point in his booke of Retractions and does confesse that indeed when hee met with this sin of Marchandize in the Church of God then his patience was mooued to vse some Discipline then and onely then in all his life did the Lambe of God play the Lion of the tribe of Iuda for himselfe alone with a three-stringed whip draue the Marchants out of the Church Now if these Marchants shall quit him with his owne and through their marchandize driue Christ out of the Church they are no more to look for a whip of cords but a rod of iron to break them in peeces like a Potters vessel If they will needs meddle with forbidden fruit as Adam did they must looke to turne Gods as Adam did in whom I beseech you a little to looke your selues as in a glasse Man hauing his choyce of all the pleasant fruits in Paradise only except the forbidden fruit whereof if hee eat the same day he must die the death was visited by the Serpent yea hath God indeede sayd ye shall not eat indeede sayes the woman we eat of the trees of the Garden but of the fruit of the tree in the middest of the garden there is a tree in the middest of the garden worth all the rest of the fruit of that tree God hath sayd Yee shall not eat neither shall ye touch it lest yee die Die sayes the Serpent yee shall not die die the same day yee shall not die at all die the death yee shall liue most happy liues yee shall bee Gods but what became of them we all know by wofull experience So you beloued are by Gods goodnesse heere placed in a land like Eden for pleasure and plenty blessed like Ifrael with the deaw of heauen and fat of the earth enriched like Tyrus whose Marchants were Princes and Chap-men the Nobles of the land sucking the abundance of the sea and treasure hid in the sand onely the forbidden fruits of the Church touch not least ye die the Death Then comes the Serpent hath God indeed said ye shall not eate of these fruits Indeed answers flesh and bloud we eat of the fruits of the Land and aboundance of the Sea but there be certaine Holy fruites of the Land worth all the rest Tithes and Offrings the flower and fat of the land pleasant springs Orchards Gardens for recreation goodly stones that wold build vs stately houses and towers whose top might reach vnto heauen were we but possessed of these we should be gods vpon earth Thus stollen waters are sweete and the bread of deceit is pleasant to a man but afterwards saies Salomon it turnes to grauell in the mouth and then you know what followes a gnashing of teeth when almighty God shall come to giue sentence Adam where art thou Hast thou eaten of the forbidden fruit whereof I saide thou shouldst not eat Thou shalt be cast out of the Paradise of this world not in Letherne skins among the beasts of the field but starke naked among the fiends of Hell where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Then he that sits in Heauen shall laugh them to scorne and the Lord shall deride them with a bitter Irony Behold the man is become like one of vs Sonne remember thou in thy life time hadst a paradise of pleasure no dwelling would please thee but the sanctuary and habitation of God no lands and liuings content thee but those hallowed and dedicated to God no bread sweet and pleasant vnto thee but Tithes Offrings and holy things of God This shall be the Lords derision this is that fearefull sentence whereto my text is but a warning peece and the fall of Adam but a figure and so wee haue done with the second generall point wherein the Sonne of Adam affecteth to become a God like one of vs. Out of the last words Vnus è nobis it is agreed that almighty God directed his speech to the persons in Trinity whence it may bee demanded to which of the three persons man affected to bee like like one of vs though indefinitely it may be vnderstood of any yet the Schoole determines Hee affected not so much to bee like the Father in power or the spirit in loue as in knowledge to resemble the second person who is the wisedome of his Father for it followes like one of vs knowing good and euill The sum of which is that man created in perfect reason endued with great measure of knowledge according to his kind yet in time was to attain to greater perfection but vnwilling to stay his time and expect the meanes appointed by God thought to take a shorter out but tast an
via sacra Abraham came out of Chaldea so must they out of their Sects before they come to these two things set downe in the Text. The Foundation The Rocke The Building The Church Verse 17. The Rocke imports first a foundation and the surest vpon which the rest of the grunsels are layd what this Rocke is poynts to the premises to that Rocke which Peter discouered before and layd hold on that rocke which flesh blood had not reuealed vnto him but the father in the 17. verse As thou art Peter which signfies a Rocke so vpon this Rocke which thou hast discouered Lib. 6. de Trinit Lib. 61 9. in Luc. Hom. 55. in Matth. Vlt. Tract in Ioh. Serm. 3. de verb. Retra 1.21 will I build my Church So saith Hillary Super hanc confessionis petram Ecclesiae aedificatio est So Ambrose Fundamentum Ecclesiae sides est So Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vpon faith and confession So Augustine Super hanc petram quam confessus es edificabo Ecclesiam meam And in another place De verb. Dom. And in his Retractations he confesseth that he hath expounded it of Peter in some places recals it Christ the son of the liuing God is the ground besides which none other can bee layd Or that Christ is the sonne of the liuing God is the first ground of truth whereupon the Church is built vp in faith and knowledge of that rocke which is permanent wee say the first ground and principle of Christianity whereupon the rest of the gruncels and articles of Christian faith are layd and out of which the other are deriued The Logicians make a question which is the first principle in reason whether one or many but this is the first in faith and the very rocke of all Lue 17.6 In the 17. of Luke ver 6. The kingdome of God is compared to a seede The least of all seedes and to one graine of that seede for as our articles are not many so are they contained in one which is the first and that this is mole minimum but virtute maximum it is cleere for in it as a seede the rest are contained If then we be settled in our hearts There is a possibility of rest and a facility of beleeuing the rest that followes If that man Christ was the image of his father by whom all things were made he might easily preserue his mothers virginity and so be borne of a virgin If we beleeue that this man was true God then we may as easily beleeue that he was able to suffer the Iewes to crucifie kill bury his body and raise it vp againe by the power of his diuinity if Christ by whom all things were made of nothing bee able to gouerne then is he able to rectifie and restore all by the resurrection of the body to eternall life This was first reuealed by the Angell at his conception He shall be called the sonne of the most high Luc. 1.32 2. Installed the Head of the Church at his Baptisme This ground was first reuealed Mat. 3.17 not by an Angell but by his owne father Matth. 3.17 and when Iohn Baptist was to beare witnesse Ioh. 1.34 Ioh. 1.34 I saw and beare record that this is the sonne of God 3. When hee was about to goe out of the world at his transfiguration Mat. 17.5 This is my beloued sonne heare him This is the ground of all that the beloued Disciple makes so much of in his Epistle 1 Ioh. 4.15 1. Ioh. 4.15 Whosoeuer confesses that Iesus is the sonne of God in him dwelleth God and 1. Ioh. 5.5 Who is hee that ouercomes the world 1 Ioh. 5.5 but he that beleeueth that Iesus is the sonne of God he hath gotten heere this very seed and ground of all 4. Heere the rocke is reuealed to Peter from heauen expressed by Peters confession Therefore they that beleeued Christ did first lay holde on this Nathanael in the first of Iohn Ioh. 1.49 Rabbi thou art the sonne of God The Centurion at his death in the 27. of Matthew Mat. 27.54 Doubtlesse this is the sonne of God Therefore this is the first sparke of Christian faith that fals into the heart 5. Did Christ tell Peter this Rocke Let vs then see vpon what rocke Peter built for hee was a master-builder Looke the last Catholique Epistle the first Chapter 2 Pet. 1.14 and the foureteenth verse Seeing I know the time of my departure is at hand I must lay downe this my Tabernacle euen as our Lord Iesus Christ hath shewed me Verse 15. Verse 15. I will endeauour therefore alwaeyes that I may bee able to haue remembrance of these things after my departing How endeauour Verse 16. Verse 16 For wee follow not deceiueable fables with our eyes wee saw his Maiesty For verse 17. Verse 17. hee receiued honour and glory of his father when a voice came from him Verse 18. This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased This voice we heard in the eighteenth when it came from heauen being with him in the holy Mount This hee confirmed by the Prophets Verse 19. The sure word of the Prophets Though as a light in a darke place not so manifestly shining as afterwards And that he may confirme this confirming authority of the Prophets verse 20.21 hee sayes Verse 20.21 It was an inspiration from the holy Ghost and therefore Peter had beene ouerseene that if Christ had poynted to Peter in these words Super hanc petram if Peter poynted not the Church to the successors of Rome super hanc petram especially knowing of his departure taking his fare-well making his last Catholique Epistle he poynts onely to this rocke that Christ is the Sonne of God 6. That other master-builder so soone as euer the scales fell from his eyes Act. 9.20 straight-way hee preached Christ in the Synagogue That he was the sonne of God 7. The Eunuch receiued Baptisme and all exacted at his hands was the confession of this poynt Act. 8.37 I beleeue that Iesus Christ is the Sonne of God Did Philip teach him that he and his Queene of Aethiopia must goe after to Rome as before to Ierusalem I thinke hee troubled his head with no such points so still this is the first ground whereupon the rest are built and therefore no maruell though Sathan hath so malitiously from this day opposed this poynt From the beginning did the gates of hell oppose it Mat. 4.3 Mat 4 3. So soone as euer Sathan enters hee begins If thou be the Sonne of God At his death The houre and power of darknesse Math. 27. Mat 27 40. Sathan did then set his instruments against that Rocke If thou be the Sonne of God come downe from the Crosse and we will beleeue thee After the Ascension the most generall and pestilent heresie that euer was of Arrianisme opposed this ground Sathan well
it is not relied vpon That which indeed is stood vpon and the very maine issue of the whole question es that Bellarmine pitcheth vpon deuised by some latter schoolemen a little before That the Apostles were all equall during their liues Mortuis autem Apostolis summa potest as in solo Petri successore permansit The Apostles for terme of life had as much authority as Peter but Peter as an ordinary Pastor for his successors and that by vertue of this Text Pasce Oues Peter as Pastor they as Delegates hee ordinary they out of speciall grace so as all their successors shall heereafter depend vpon Peters successors and deriue their power from them Where note by the way that the visible Church of Christ from the Ascension into heauen till the death of the Apostles which was aboue sixty yeares The Church I say had no one visible head all the Apostles were alike all supreame Gouernors and euer after though the circuit were farre greater and the people in the Church farre more vnruly yet it shall haue but one to gouerne all and he sometimes but a silly one God wott yet shall his charge bee greater his dignity more excellent and his command more absolute then euer Peters was for Peter had many peeres euery whit as good as himselfe But let vs follow the point This onely was Peters priuiledge aboue his fellowes That authority which hee had in common with the rest during their liues he might as the ordinary Pastor of the Church conferre it wholly vpon his successor of Rome so might no other What all that authority wholly I le be carefull for doing them any wrong Not their Apostolicall authority but all their Episcopall and Pastorall authority which is to be perpetually in the Church by vertue of this Pasce Popes doe not challenge to bee called immediately of Christ Apostles to haue seene Christ in the flesh as the Apostles did to worke miracles to be free from error in preachings and writings as the Apostles were sauing in their seate when they haue the Church about them That which is pastorall is perpetuall Peter is a Pastour by vertue of this Text Pasce Therefore he may conferre this authority vpon his successours so haue you their meaning let vs follow it It is a sure rule Species aequè participatur in Indiuiduis that which agrees to a man as a man agrees to euery man Quod conuenit homini vt homo singulis hominibus pastori vt pastor singulis pastoribus Now that which is sayd heere to Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feede my sheepe is sayd to the Presbyters in the Acts of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 20.28 To feede the Church yea but they meane not that Peter is as an ordinary Pastor then somewhat must be added to this Text It s not pasce oues meas will carry it It must bee pasce prae caeteris or pasce pastores Either feede before the rest or feede them that feede else pascere Ecclesiam is as much as pascere oues if not more Heere is nothing singular in this text but the singular number thrice repeating of it alluding to the thrice denying of Christ which will not be for their credit to stand vpon for it is noted by an Ancient and let vs not forget it to be rather a stay of his weaknesse then a note of his greatnesse But let vs follow their conceit without Scripture Peter was cheefe Pastor of the whole Church therefore had power as Pastor to leaue that power to his successours Were not the rest of the Apostles Pastours as well as Peter had not they this power as well as hee I meane not Apostolicall but Episcopall and Pastorall which is perpetuall Heare what Bellarmine hath ingenuously deliuered from the consent of the ancient Lib. 4.24 Sicut me misit pater factos esse his Christiverbis Apostolos Christs vicartos immò ipsum Christi officium aut horitatem accepisse en Apostolica authoritate contineri omnem potestatem ecclesiasticam sicut me misit pater siquidem misit filium summa potestate praeditum That they are all the Vicars of Christ that they haue all the office and authority of Christ himselfe hauing alledged the fathers to this end hee inferres thus Vbi vides idem dari Apostolis per illa verba ego mitto vos quod Petro fuit promissum per illatibi dabo claues postea exhibitum per illa pasce oues meas id est iurisdictionem plenissimam etiam exteriorem Bellarmine concludes that that full and outward iurisdiction that was promised to Peter in the keyes and exhibited to him in his pasce was also giuen to all the Apostles in their generall Commission Sicut me misit iam sumus ergo pares These Texts that we haue troubled you withall leaue them equall why may not then the rest of the Apostles make their successours in other Churches aswell as Peter at Rome and if we may credit Ecclesiasticall writers so they did Iames left Simeon to succeed him at Ierusalem Simeon left Iustus Iustus left Zacheus and so along Iohn left Polycarpus in Smyrna as Tertullian auouches Paul left Timothy at Ephesus Titus in Creete Dionysius at Athens as Eusebius All this they confesse Where are we now Wee are come to a narrower issue so narrow that it crowdes the supremacy in peeces for how can the successours of Paul of Iohn and of the rest depend vpon Rome They fetch it from the other Apostles They immediately from Christ as you haue heard Sicut me misit Bellarmine sayes It is a prerogatiue which is not found in Scripture but in other authors as in Iohannes de Turrecremata Peter was made Bishop by Christ and Peter made all the rest of the Bishops why Alioquienim cum omnes Apostoli plurimos Episcopos in varijs locis constituerint si Apostoli ipsi non sint facti Episcopi à Petro certè maxima pars Episcoporum non deducet originem suam à Petro. If not the Apostles then not the greatest part of Bishops take their originall from Peter then we are vndone Bellarmine makes an obiection If Peter made Iudas Bishop our answer is Iudas was no Bishop no In the Acts Let another man take his Bishopricke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's but praefecturam Did he make Iohn Bishop the Disciple whom Iesus loued did he make Paul Bishop who does so glory that his authority came not of men or by men Galat. 1.1 Then comes in Bellarmine In Apostolica authoritate contineri omnem potestatem Ecclesiasticam sicut me misit In good time now the Popedome is conteined in the Apostleship had Campian got vs at such a vantage how he would haue gloryed with his spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici I do protest I haue beaten my braine to reconcile them in this point and I cannot I would gladly haue a sentence of a Father that Peter made Paul Bishop or Iohn
conceiue vnspeakeable were our sinnes therefore vnspeakeable were his sufferings 3 Giue me leaue to take the fruit with the tree The fruit repentance with the passion for more easie passage for out of Christs passion springeth our passion a penitent and godly sorrow for sinne Zach. 12.10 So it behooued Christ to suffer That Repentance might be preached That which God said by Zachary in the 12. Hee would poure vpon the house of Dauid and the inhabitants of lerusalem the spirit of Grace and compassion to looke vpon him whom they had pierced and mourne for him as an onely Sonne Is accomplished by repentance for if the spirit of grace be in vs wee will mourne in compassion for him whom wee haue pierced with our sinnes That which Christ Prophecied of vs Iohn the 12. When I am lift vp from the dead I will draw all men to me takes effect in vs by repentance for if we remember his sufferings wee cannot forget our sinnes and if we loue him for his suffrings we must hate those sinnes that brought him to it Let vs neuer bite at the stone with the dogge whosoeuer were executioners whosoeuer were instruments euery one of vs had an hand in killing the Lord of life and the more hainous sinnes we haue committed the more be our hands imbrued in that innocent bloud let therefore Peter goe weepe bitterly let Mary Magdalen shed a bason of teares let sinners weepe let great sinners howle let the inhabitants of the citty mourne like Hadradimmon in the valley of Megiddo for piercing me saith the Lord Zach 12.13 shall wee sooth and flatter our selues with sleight sorrow then I beseech you consider vnder what terrible tearmes this doctrine of Repentance is commended vnto vs The Scripture not onely speakes of weeping and mourning Acts 2.37 but of Pricking the hearts in the Acts of the Apostles of cutting the foreskin of their harts to make them bleede of Renting the heart as a garment of crucifying our affections see how Repentance is described vnto vs in the very termes of Christs passion weepe for these sinnes which haue caused him to shed the teares of bloud be pricked in heart for these sinnes which haue pierced the Sonne of God cut off the foreskin of thy heart and make it bleed for him which shedde his hart bloud for thee crucifie those affections which haue crucified the Lord of Life I am a foole Beloued so often to vrge this doctrine of Repentance it is so harsh and bitter that you cannot abide it it makes you heauy and melancholly it pinches it cuts it rents your hearts it crucifies your sweet affections I know it is so vnsauory you cannot abide it yet let me tell you with S. Paul that whom God hath foreknowen them hee hath predestinated to bee conformeable to the image of his sonne Rom 8.29 in sufferings for of sufferings hee speakes and that those to whom the spirit of grace is giuen to consider his passion haue also the spirit of compassion to lament as one mourneth for his onely sonne to lament for offending such a gracious God who hath giuen his sonne his onely sonne Christ for the sinnes of the world I might dwell all day vpon this day vpon this for it is a Meditation for the Day but the time and my Text plucks me forward with more speede And to rise from the dead the third day 2 The workes The Resurrection As there was neuer Priest before had the loue to sacrifice himselfe for the people so neuer any had the power to reuiue the Sacrifice he once killed but our High Priest Christ had Loue to lay down his life power to take it vp againe By the first hee shewed himselfe the sonne of man after the flesh By the second hee was declared mightily to bee the sonne of God Rom. 1.3 1. Many shall be raised from death as well as hee who haue lien longer in the graues then he yet no Gods True but Christ was not onely passiuely raised in his flesh but did himselfe actiuely rise in his power Destroy this Temple and I will build it he sayd he would raise himselfe therfore he did it else God would neuer haue raised him by miracle to second and confirme a lie 2. Diuers did rise with him but Christ was the first fruits of them that slept by whose vertue some few eares that were then ripe and heereafter the whole haruest shall be carried into euerlasting barnes 3. Some rose before him Lazarus the widowes sonne Iairus daughter but they were deliuered to their friends againe conuersed amongst men as before and in the end returned from whence they came Act. 13.34 but Christ was the first that rose to eternall life neuer to visit the graue any more More cannot be sayd for this then is expressed in the Reuelation Reu. 1.18 I am aliue and was dead and behold I am aliue for euermore and haue the keyes of hell and death 1. I am aliue and now dead the first that rose againe from death 2. Aliue for euermore neuer to see death againe 3. I haue the keies to open the graue to whom I list and to shut in the rest till the last trumpe For the manifestation of which power the bowels of the earth and her foundations were shaken when the first borne of the dead came forth Mat. 28.2 When you haue perceiued an earth-quake out of your naturall obseruation you say some abundance of spirits exaltations were bent in the body of the earth which by force made her tremble beleeue it it is most true that Spirit that abundant spirit of the Diety inseparably vnited to the precious body of Christ euen in the hart of the earth could not be shut vp in the earth maruell not then at that great extraordinary miraculous earth quake for then were the fetters of Golgatha shaken off like Peters in prison then was the wombe of the graue rent and the power of death shaken in peeces for saith Peter it was impossible that Christ should be holden of death holden he was for a time Acts 2.24 but a very short time the third day was the furthest of this humiliation for the manifestation of the truth of his death he could rise no sooner his fathers loue to him and his owne loue to his Church would suffer him to lie no longer If Ioseph in collaterall affection to his brethren could not suffer them aboue three daies in prison Gen. 42.18 but the third must call them out could God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ suffer his onely Sonne to be longer imprisoned in the bonds of death who so lately pacified his Fathers wrath for vs and so patiently endured those bitter passions in him vndeserued nay to compare God with God if hee taught his Church to challenge his promise vnder these tearmes in the Prophecy of Hosea Hos 8 2. After two daies will he reuiue vs and the