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A15722
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The patterne of an inuincible faith A sermon preached at Paules Crosse, the first Sunday after Trinity, being the 2d. of Iune. 1616. By VVilliam VVorship, Doctor of Diuinitie.
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Worship, William.
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1616
(1616)
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STC 25995; ESTC S120350
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24,803
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50
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But stay in the hundred thirty and six Psalme Psal 136. there is nothing but His mercy endureth for euer His mercy endureth for euer His mercy endureth for euer is the foote of the Song and is found six and twenty times in six and twenty verses It is Yet harko what a ratling thunder-clap is heere 15. 17. 18. 19. 20. And ouerthrew Pharoah and his Host in the Red Sea and smete great Kings and slew mighty Kings Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan Therefore Beloued if wee will haue mercy at the Tribunall Seate of GOD let vs humble our selues for our manifold and bloudie sinnes Cypâ— Nec quisquam peccatis retardetur aut annis saith Cyprian And let no man hold off for that his offences are heynous and that hee is old and mosse-growne in them onely let him beware of Hypocrisie and Delay which will cheat the soule and bring it to destruction That Part of the Petition which is put downe Determinatly is in these words My Daughter is miserably vexed with a Deuill Where shee instantly beseeches Christ euen in the bowels of compassion to behold her Child her little Child as Saint Marke hath it Marke 7. 23. and to dislodge an vncleane and raging Spirit who had taken vp her body as a Cabin to rest in Where first obserue that she makes her Daughters misery her owne Haue mercy on ME my Daughter Acknowledging withall that GOD in chastening the fruit of her wombe had laid his scourge vpon her also Againe take notice how it is the nature of loue to Descend and how the affection of Parents to their Children is farre more deere then that of Children to their Parents We reade heere in this and in sundry other places of the Gospell how carefully Parents made meanes to Christ for the chasing away of Deuils and diseases from their Children but where reade yee that the Children did the like for their Parents In the eighth of this Gospell Verse 21. there 's a sonne intreates our Sauiour that hee may go bury his Father that he may throw Moulds on him and make him sure but he neuer once prayed him to heâ—le him when hee was sick or raise him when he was dead Marke further how sore and strange afflictions befall sometimes GODS dearest children Woe and alas here 's a furious Deuill that possesseth the body of this womans Daughter If he had onely haunted the house or outwardly wrought vpon her child the chastisement had beene grieuous but to enter into her with his very substance is most lamentable to thinke on And yet the Lord thus correcteth her in Loue Heb. 12. 6. in Loue I say howsoeuer it seeme a Paradox to Reason O it 's an heauy iudgement of GOD when a man thriues in sinne and when in the midst of his rebellions hee spreads himselfe against the Sunne like an Apricock When the anger of GOD waxed hot against the Israelites hee threatens that hee will plague them How plague them in not plaguing them Hos 4. 14. I will NOT visite your Daughters when they are Harlots nor your Spouses when they are Whores Certè tunc magis irascitur Deus cum non irascitur saith Bernard Bern. Certainely GOD is then most angry when hee seemes not angry at all Misericordiam hanc nolo For mine owne part saith he I would none of this mercy Moreouer note how all things worke together for the best to them that loue GOD. Rom. 8. 28. Heauen Earth Fire Water good Men bad Men wilde Beasts tame Beasts Calmnesse Tempests Peace Warre Freedome Thraldome Wealth Want Healthfulnesse Crazinesse Life Death Angels Deuils Aug. de Ciu. Dei lib. 14. cap. 13. Etiam peccata Domine Euen our sins also ô Lord saith Austen Audeo dicere saith the same Father superbis esse vâ—ile cadere in aliquod apertum manifestumque peccatum I dare bee bold to speake it that it is good that proud men do fall into some grosse and open sinne that so Shame may driue them to remorse This Doctrine is true But let no Spider suck poyson thence One wold haue thought that this woman who was not long before coÌ„uerted to Christ wold haue laid the blame on her Religion and thought hardly of GOD thus to single her out for a spectacle of misery and scarse to shake his rod at her fellow Gentiles but see how this correction brings her neerer to GOD and how the Deuill himselfe is a meanes to further her saluation Lastly it is obserueable that Sinne is the most fearefull thing in the world The body of Man was made to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost but sinne makes it a Stie and Plauncher for Satan who teares it wallowes it and torments it piteously as here Verse 20 and in the ninth of Saint Marke Shall I in one word set out the vilenesse of it It is a Deuill And why not worse For what makes the Deuill a Deuill but Sinne Take that away and hee 's a good creature Besides here 's a single Deuill in this Childe without a partner but sinne is so congregable that it is impatient of solitude Our Father Adam eates the forbidden fruit we would thinke it but one sinne but what sayes Austine Aug. Enchir. Superbia est illic SacrilegiuÌ„ HomicidiuÌ„ Fornicatio Spiritualis FurtuÌ„ Auaritia Pride was at the fact Sacriledge Murder and Spirituall Fornication and Theft and Couetousnes This is the Diuell that reignes at this day in the ChildreÌ„ of Disobedience with which yet they play as with a feather and take pleasure in Pleasure O Sinne thou art delightfull at the first but at last thou stingest like a Bee like a Waspe like an Hornet like a Scorpion O Pleasure thou hast a Honey-suckle in thy mouth but a bitter branch sticking at thy heart I would name Rue but that thou hast nothing to doe with Hearbe of Grace And this of the PROTASIS The EPITASIS followes wherein we are to weigh the sundry Repulses and Discouragements to weigh the sundry Repulses and Discouragements of this good Woman together with the constant prosecution of her cause as they lye in order For the first Repulse the Evangelist sayes that He answered Her not a word What not vnfold his lips to giue one word O wonderfull temptation For what might shee thinke Is this Hee in whom all the Nations of the earth should bee blessed Gen. 12. 3. Isaiah 55. 1. 65. 24. Is this He of whom Proclamation was made Ho Euery one that thirsteth come yee to the Waters Is this He that will heare his seruants while they speake and answere before they call No no I see my labour is lost my hopes degraded and my thoughts frustrate I haue look't vp to the Sunne and can see no light I haue hied me to the Fountaine and can finde no water I haue runne and cried after the GOD of All comfort and He
disdaines to speake the least word to me Ah my deere Childe my heart melts like Wax in the midst of my bowels to thinke of thee Thou art alas what say I where am I thou art poore wretch possessed of a Dieull and there was hope but now what shall I doe when the Lord of Life shuts his eare to my complaint and roundly answeres me in not answering me Thus she might haue debated the case but she did not For though Christ was silent yet in truth He gaue her a double answere the one by the generall promises of his word the other by the secret whisperings of his Spirit Hee mindes her well enough but Hee makes as though Hee heard not that the precious graces lock't vp in the Cabinet of her heart might bee brought forth to light Besides her cries were Musicall so hee is loth to haue them broke off And more this Delay bred no danger but wher on her affection and made the gift more welcome at the receipt for vsually what is hardly got is greatly set by It is euen so the childe of GOD prayes sometimes on his Knees sometimes on his Face and that with sighes that cannot be expressed and yet GOD seemes not to regard but rather to be angry at his prayer Psalme 80. 4. O Lord saith the Church in her affliction how long wilt thou bee angry against the prayer of thy people Psalme 22. 2. O my God saith Dauid I cry in the day time and thou hearest not and in the night season I take no rest Lam. 3. 44. Thou hast couered thy selfe with a cloud saith the desolate Ierusalem that our prayer should not passe through What then Esay 59. ◠Is the Lords hand shortned that it cannot saue Or his eare heauy that it cannot heare No But our Iniquities do separate betweene vs and our GOD and our sinnes hide his face from vs that hee will not heare Sometimes we aske we know not what with the sonnes of Zebedee Math. 10. 22. Sometimes we aske with doubting and wauering Iames 1. 6. Sometimes wee aske amisse that wee might consume it on our lusts Iames 4. 5. Sometimes we offer a Dogges-necke Esay 66. 3. our soules delighting in our abhominations Sometimes nay almost alwaies wee haue rouing and ranging thoughts and so no maruell if wee receiue not Quomodo te audiri à Deo postulas cûm te ipse non audias saith Cyprian Cypr. de Orat. Dom. How dar'st thou desire that GOD should heare thee when thou hearest not thy selfe Thou wakest with thine eyes and sleepest with thine Heart where a Christian should wake with his Heart when he sleepeth with his Eyes But let vs step on to the second Discouragement Then came to Him his Disciples and besought him saying send her away for shee cryeth after vs. Where the Disciples do not entreate Him to pittie her but onely to dispatch her one way or other because she kept such a bawling Which dealing of theirs discouers their Curiosity for they will needes for sooth teach their Maister what to do as though Hee leard not as well as they and would not haue dismist her had hee thought it conuenient Thus tampers Peter in a matter of Life and Death and that Eternall and Vniuersall Math. 16. 22. till our Sauiour cals him Satan for his paines But that which I chiefly fasten vpon from the Disciples indifferency is the boundlesse and bottomelesse mercy of GOD which compared with Mans is as the Ocean to a Drop Which made Dauid in the wonderfull strait of Three plagues propounded to choose to fall into the hand of the Lord not into the hand of Man These Disciples were the friends and followers of Christ the Light of the world the Patriarkes of the New Testament assigned to high and heauenly Functions Mathew to bee an Euangelist Peter an Apostle Saint Iohn an Euangelist an Apostle and a Prophet an Euangelist in his Gospell an Apostle in his Epistles a Prophet in his Reuelation Then who should be good if they were euill who tender-hearted if they were vnmercifull Yet such small compassion harbour'd they in their bosomes that so she would leaue her clamouring whether shee sped or no they car'd not greatly Which makes me wonder that the Romanists should bee so chub-headed as to proue from hence the Invocation of dead Saints For first this Woman desires none of them to speake for her Secondly they complaine they make not intercession Thirdly she is neuer the neerer for their request Fourthly suppose she had far'd the better yet I hope there is great difference between praying to the liuing and to the dead Me thinks they should be ashamed thus foully to wrest this Example but who would looke for water from a Pumice-stone or vertues blush in an Italianated cheeke Are these the men so renowned for Artes Tongues Reading Are these the Kil-Cowes of the world for learning Are these the best Schollers of their Seuen-headed Parnassus Come come the Iesuits the Popes Roaring Boyes know well enough we haue got the start of them and therefore they make now no Syllogismes but in FERIO Yet some of our Gentlemen that haue made a steppe beyond the Alpes looke as bigge as Bull-beefe if we offer to compare with them and tell vs with a shrugge that They haue Scripture Councels and the Fathers on their side But when wee come to the battell they tell vs from Cardinall Bellarmine that Scripture is not a Rule but a Commonitorie That it is not sufficient That it is not necessarie Come to Councels we are willing to be iudg'd by the most sacred Councell of Ierusalem and in all poynts of Faith by the Ancient Generall Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedonia They make shew of no great dislike but at last they bring vs to the Councell held at Rome vnder Iohn the Three and twentith where the Owle sate President on the Beame or to the Councell of Constance where they burnt the Diuell in Iohn Husses Mitre or to their deare deare Councell of Trent where the Pope against all conscience was both Partie and Iudge Descend we to the Fathers they bring forth marching in single file Origen Cyprian Athanasius Ambrose Austen Ierome Chrysostome and the rest and would make vs beleeue they came Voluntaries when in truth they prest them into the field Where when they bid CHARGE they giue them two blowes for our one and S. Augustine that carries the garland from them all ioynes cheerefully with vs and with speare in wrest makes lanes amongst them Which they perceiuing determine the next time to be euen with vs and to bring forth old Doctors indeed that will stand to them backe and edge namely my Neam Clement and my Neam Abdy and my Neam Martiall and my Neam Hyppolite and my Neam Amphiloch and other such Buttoncap't Fathers as were neuer yet in Rerum Natura Thus haue I Beloued vpon occasion of this simple