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
teach us as Saint Austine noteth that neither the poverty of the one brought him thither nor the wealth of the other kept him from thence y John 14.2 In my Fathers house saith our Saviour there are many mansions some for the rich some for the poore some for noble some for ignoble some for z Agapet ad Justin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kings some for beggars and it is hard to say whethers crowne in Heaven shall be more massie and be set with more orient jewells the rich mans who is also rich in God or the poore mans who is poore for God the wealthy who hath given much to Christ or the needy who hath lost all for his sake the noble and honourable man who by his birth and place hath innobled the Christian faith or the ignoble who hath preferred the ignominy of Christs crosse to all the honours of this world the King who layeth downe his scepter at the foot of Christs crosse or the Beggar who taketh up his crosse and readily followeth Christ It is true which Saint a Cypr. de laps Multos patrimonia pondere suo depresserunt in terâ—am Cyprian chargeth many of the rich in his time with that their great patrimonies and large revenues of their lands with the weight thereof pressed them downe to the earth nay some to hell But the fault was in their minde not in their meanes in their desires not in their fortunes or estates For as when a man taketh a heavie Trunke full of plate or mony upon his shoulders it crooketh his back and boweth him down toward the earth but if the same weight be put under his feet it lifteth him above ground in like maner if we put our wealth and riches above us preferring them to our salvation they will presse us downe to the ground if not to hell with their weight but if wee put them under our feet and tread upon them as slaves to us and quite contemne them in respect of heavenly treasure they will raise us up towards heaven As they did Job who made so many friends of unrighteous Mammon that every eye that saw him blessed him As they did Mary Magdalen whose name is and shall bee like an oyntment powred out to the end of the world because shee brake an Alabaster boxe of most costly b Matth. 26.12 13. Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memoriall of her oyntment upon the head of our Saviour As they did Cornelius whose almes-deeds were a forcible meanes to carry up his prayers into Heaven Acts 10.31 Thy prayer is heard and thine almes-deeds are had in remembrance As they did Dorcas whom the clothes which shee made for the widowes and poore orphants kept warme in her death bed The c Acts 9.39 widowes stood by her weeping and shewing the coates and garments which Dorcas made whilest shee was with them and were motives to Saint Peter by miracle to restore her to life As they did Constantine the great who made his crown the basis of Christs crosse As they did Ludovicus who by continuall largesse turned all his state into obligations The meaning then is not that none are blessed but poore for d 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable unto all things c. Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and the life to come But to make up the harmony of the Evangelicall doctrine in this place wee must take one note from the words as they are related by Saint Luke and another from the words as they are recorded by Saint Matthew in my Text. The note from Saint Luke is That the worlds miserable man is for the most part Christs blessed man Christs words in Saint Luke are these e Luke 6.20 21 24 25. Blessed be yee poore for yours is the Kingdome of God Blessed are yee that hunger now for yee shall be filled Blessed are yee that weep now for yee shall laugh But woe unto you that are rich for you have received your consolation Woe be unto you that are full for you shall hunger Woe unto you that laugh now for you shall mourne and weep Vicibus res disposita est Happinesse goes by turnes Dives shall be Lazarus hereafter and Lazarus on earth shall be Dives in Heaven those who laugh here shall weep there and those who weep here shall laugh there those who feast continually and riot in pleasures in this world shall fast in the other and those who fast upon earth shall feast with the Lambe in Heaven But the note which we are to take from Saint Matthew is That affliction and penury unlesse it be sanctified to us by God no way maketh us happy Blessed are the poore not simply but with an addition in spirit The poore are blessed if poore in spirit that is humble Blessed are they that mourn if their mourning be a godly mourning either out of sense of their owne sinne or compassion of their brethrens miseries For godly f 2 Cor. 7.10 sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to bee repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Blessed are they that hunger and thirst if it be for righteousnesse for there are that hunger for the flesh-pots of Egypt and there are that thirst after bloud or after g Prov. 9.17 Stolne waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but hee knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell stolne waters which are sweet in the mouth but poyson in the belly and rottennesse in the bones And neither of these are blessed All that are in want are not Christs poore neither are all that weare blackes his mourners Saint Luke saith in effect not many rich are blessed Saint Matthew addeth nor all poore but the poore in spirit onely that is such as are of an humble spirit or a h Prov. 16.19 Esay 57 15. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit contrite spirit Those i Beza in Mat. 5. Qui sive paupertate sive aliis calamitatibus domiti sive ultro peccatorum suorum sensu tacti ab omni superbiâ remoti sese Deo subjiciunt who by any affliction outward or inward are so thoroughly tamed and subdued that they humble themselves under the mighty hand of God wholly relying upon his providence for their estate and upon his mercy for their salvation None is poore in spirit saith k Calvin harm Nemo spiritu pauper est nisi qui in nihilum apud se redactus in Dei misericordiâ recumbit namque desperatione fracti cum adversus Deum fremunt elato superboque spiritu esse oportet Calvin but he who being brought to nothing in himselfe casteth himselfe wholly upon Gods mercy For hee who groweth into desperate fits and murmureth against the most
knowing it to be the faith and patience of the Saints Fiducia Christianorum resurrectio mortuorum saith Tertullian If our hope were in this life onely wee were of all men most miserable saith Saint Paul And the rather doth the Spirit ascertaine this doctrine because it hath many enemies Atheists Libertines and sundry sorts of Heretickes besides The Atheist thinketh there is no resurrection because hee seeth no reason for it to whom though it were sufficient to answer with Gregory Fides non habet meritum ubi ratio humana praebet experimentum and with Saint Ambrose Credimus piscatoribus non dialecticis yet to reason a little with these unreasonable men in the words of Saint Paul Acts 26.8 Why seemeth it incredible unto you that Christ should raise the dead Is it not as easie to restore life as to give it at the first to raise man out of ashes as to create him at first out of the dust Considera autorem tolle dubitationem saith Saint Austine The Libertine would have no resurrection that hee might still enjoy the pleasures of sinne and sacrifice to his belly but for him there is first a Text of counsell 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to live righteously and if that will not serve a Text of judgement Phil. 3.19 Whose end is damnation whose god is their belly Of Heretickes that professedly oppugned the doctrine of the resurrection some taught that there is no resurrection at all as the Saduces some that the resurrection was already past as Hymineus and Philetus Satan is a subtle Serpent and turneth divers wayes to get in his head Before Christs death hee worked powerfully in the children of disobedience in Judas to betray him in the Pharisees to accuse him in Pilate to condemne him but after knowing that the time was come that the Prince of the world was to bee cast out by the death of Christ hee was much troubled and laboured by all meanes to hinder Christs Passion Utinam ne in nemore Pelio hee wisheth there were no wood in all the world to make a Crosse of hee workes remorse in Judas giveth him a halter to hang himselfe hee employes Pilates wife to send to her husband to have nothing to doe with him When hee was fast nailed to the Crosse hee setteth the Jewes upon him to see whether they could perswade him to descend from thence After this hee spreads abroad a rumour that Simon Cyreneus was crucified for him or if hee were crucified that it was but in appearance onely and that hee was falsâ pendens in cruce Laureolus and when his resurrection was so palpable that it needed no other argument than the amazement of the watch and Pilates letter to the Emperour hee suborned a desperate rout to sweare that his Disciples stole him away by night After all this hee stirred up certaine Heretickes who taught that albeit Christ were indeed risen yet that wee were not to expect any future resurrection because the resurrection was past already But all these shall find that there is a resurrection for them to wit Resurrectio ad condemnationem John 5.29 Use 1 Is it so that Christ our head is risen then shall wee his members rise also For hee is primogenitus mortuorum primitiae dormientium the first fruits are carried already into the celestiall barne and the whole crop shall follow And this may bee a staffe of comfort to all drouping and fainting soules ut tali exemplo animati sub ictu passionis as Cyprian speaketh non retrahant pedem that they draw not backe but courageously goe on forward to make a good profession as being secure Christi milites non perimi sed coronari bonam mortem esse quae vitam non perimit sed adimit ad tempus restituendam in tempore duraturam sine tempore This was Jobs comfort I know my Redeemer liveth and of other distressed ones who would not bee delivered that they might bee partakers of a better resurrection An ancient father giveth these words for a Christians Motto Fero taceo spero Fero meam crucem ut ille suam taceo quia tu Domine fecisti spero quia utique fructus erit justo Use 2 Is Christ risen from the dead then wee that are his are risen with him at least in the first resurrection if therefore yee are risen with Christ seeke the things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of his Father This indeed ought to bee so but wee finde it otherwise never more preaching of the resurrection and never lesse fruit For all seeke their owne and none the things that are Jesus Christs So that Bernards observation fitteth our time Vides omnem Ecclesiasticum zelum fervere pro solâ dignitate tuendâ honori totum datur sanctitati nihil and againe all men learned and unlearned presse to Ecclesiasticall cures Tanquam sine curis quique victuri sint cùm ad curas pervenerint The Apostle telleth us Qui Episcopatum desiderat bonum opus desiderat non dignitatem saith Saint Jerome sed laborem non delicias sed solicitudinem non crescere fastidiis sed decrescere humilitate Nay not onely opus but onus also in Saint Bernards judgement though perhaps some Atlas's may thinke they never have load enough But are the Laity more excusable who buy and sell the poore for shooes and gay apparrell and strong drinke to whom mee thinkes I heare the poore cry Et vos vanitate peritis nos spoliis perimitis How many are there of them who ingrosse the Lords portion and bestow hallowed things upon worse than vanity Wee have a saying against them also out of the same Saint Bernard De patrimonio crucis Christi non facitis codices in Ecclesiâ sed pascitis pellices in thalamis adornatis equos phalerantes pectora capita deaurantes Is this our resurrection from sinne Saint Paul giveth this lesson with a memento Remember saith hee O Timothy that Christ is raised from the dead It is a truth as stable as the poles of Heaven that wee shall have no part of the second resurrection to the life of glory if wee have not a good part in the first to the life of grace And I have the keyes of Death and of Hell They are well called keyes of Hell because there are Inferorum portae mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of Saint Matthew Matth. 16.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are many opinions about these keyes some will have them to bee two Clavis cognitionis and Clavis authoritatis but Allensis and the Schoolemen denie knowledge to bee a key except in an improper speech Quia requiritur ad usum clavis and they doe well to denie it for what key of knowledge had that Priest of whom the Master of the Sentences maketh mention who baptized in nomine Patria Filia Spiritua sancta Bonaventure ingenuously confesseth Quidam in Ecclesiâ habent clavem quidam claviculam quidam nullam
thing so much as their tiring In summe they spend all their time in a manner in beautifying and adorning their body to please their lovers but in comparison none at all in beautifying and adorning their soules to please their Maker and Husband Christ Jesus Of these Saint m James 5.5 James long ago gave us the character They live in pleasure in the earth and waxe wanton and are fatted for the day of slaughter I spare to rehearse other lavishing out of time lest the rehearsing thereof might seeme worthy to bee numbred among the idle expences thereof And now it is time to set the foot to the account of my meditations on this Scripture The Conclusion and draw neere to that which we all every day draw neerer unto an end The * 1 Pet. 4.7 end of all things is at hand be sober therefore watch unto prayer The day of the Lord will come as a theefe in the night in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the workes thereof shall be burned up This great Doomes-day cannot bee farre off as wee see by the fearfull fore-runners thereof howsoever the day of our death which may be called little doomes-day will soon overtake us peradventure before the Sunne yet set or this glasse be runne Wherefore I beseech you all that heare mee this day in the feare of God by occasion of the summons in my Text to enter into a more strict examination of your life than ever heretofore bring out all your thoughts words deeds projects councels and designes and lay them to the rule of Gods Law and if they swerve never so little from it reforme and amend them recount how you have bestowed the blessings of this life how you have imployed the gifts of nature how you have increased your talents of grace wherein the Church or Common-wealth hath been the better by you consider how you have carried your selves abroad in the world how at home in your private families but how especially in the closet of your owne heart You know out of the Gospel that a mans n Mat. 12.44 house may be swept and garnished that is his outward conversation civill and faire and yet harbour seven uncleane spirits within If lust and covetousnesse and pride and envie and malice and rancour and deceit and hypocrisie like so many serpents lye under the ground gnawing at the root of the tree be the leaves of your profession never so broad and seem the fruits of your actions never so faire the vine is the vine of Sodome and the grape the grape of Gomorrah There is nothing so easie as to put a fresh colour upon a rotten post and to set a faire glosse upon the fowlest matters to pretend conscience for most unconscionable proceedings and make religion it selfe a maske to hide the deformity of most irreligious practices But when the secrets of all hearts shall be opened and the intents and purposes of all our actions manifested and the most hidden workes of darknesse brought to light As it is to bee hoped that many that are infinitely wronged in the rash censures of men shall be justified in the sight of God and his Angels so it is to be feared that very many whom the world justifieth and canonizeth also for Saints shall be condemned at Christs barre and have their portion with hypocrites in hell there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Wherefore sith we shall all one day come to such a publike such an impartiall such a particular tryall of all that we have done in the body either good or evill let us looke more narrowly to all our wayes and see that they be streight and even 1. Let us search our heart with all diligence let us look into all the corners thereof and see there lurke no wickednesse nor filthinesse nor hypocrisie there let us looke to our thoughts that they be pure to our desires that they be lawfull to our affections that they be regular to our passions that they be moderate to our ends that they be good to our purposes that they be honest to our intentions that they be sincere to our resolutions that they be well grounded and firme 2. Next let us take our tongue to examination and weigh all our words in the ballance of the Sanctuary and try whether they have not been light and idle but grave and profitable not crafty and deceitfull but simple and plaine not false and lying but true and faithfull not outragious but sober not filthy but modest not prophane but holy not censorious but charitable not scurrilous but ponderous not insolent but lowly and courteous not any way offensive and unsavoury but such as might o Ephes 4.29 minister grace to the hearers 3. Lastly let us lay our hands upon our handy workes and examine our outward acts and deeds 1. Whether they have been alwayes justifiable in generall by the Law of God that is either commanded by it or at least warranted in it 2. Whether they have been and are conformable to the orders of the Church and lawes of the Land For wee must obey lawfull authority for conscience sake in all things that are not repugnant to the divine Law as Bernard piously resolveth saying Thou must yeeld obedience to him as to God who is in the place of God in those things that are not against God 3. Whether they have been agreeable to our particular calling For some things are justifiable by the Law of God and man in men of one state and calling which are hainous sinnes in another as we see in the cases of Uzza and Uzziah 4. Whether they have been answerable to our inward purposes intentions and dispositions For though they are otherwise lawfull and agreeable yet if they goe against the haire if they are done with grudging and repining and not heartily they are neither acceptable to God nor man 5. Whether they have been all things considered most expedient For as many things are profitable and expedient that are not lawfull so some things are lawfull that are not p 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawfull unto me but all things are not expedient expedient and because they are not expedient if necessity beare them not out they become by consequent unlawfull For we are not onely bound to eschew all the evill we know but also at all times to doe the best good wee can else wee fulfill not the commandement of loving God with all our heart and all our soule and all our strength To summe up all I have discoursed unto you first of the Stewardship of the things of this life secondly of the account of this Stewardship thirdly of the time of this account The Stewardship most large the account most strict the time most uncertaine After the explication of these points in the application I arraigned foure Stewards before you first the sacred
perish You have here as before I shewed you the Church of Christ drawne as it were with a coale and expressed with three darke and sad markes 1 Frailty A woman 2 Perplexity Fled 3 Obscurity To the wildernesse Her nature is frailtie The woman Her state is uncertainty Fled Her glory obscurity remained in the wildernesse a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes From the frailty of her nature let us learne a lecture of sober watchfulnesse from the unsettlednesse of her estate a lecture of prudent moderation from her obscurity or latencie a lecture of modest humilitie 1 If the mother be fraile the daughter is like to be weake They who are subject to slip and fall must carefully avoyd high and narrow ridges as also slippery places and precipices or downefalls We scarce stand f Seneca de ira Recedamus quantum possumus à lubrico vix in sicco firmiter stamus sure upon drie firme and plaine ground therefore let us beware with all diligence how we come nigh high ridges with the ambitious or slipperie places with the voluptuous or downefalls with the presumptuous sinner let us pray to God 1 To make his way plaine before us 2 To order our steps in the plaine path 3 To support us continually with his right hand 2 If the Spouse of Christ be a pilgrime and flieth from place to place from Citie to Citie from Kingdome to Kingdome let us learne by her example and from the Apostle's mouth that g Heb. 13.14 we have here no continuing Citie but seeke one to come St. James by an elegant metaphor calleth the affaires of this world h Jam 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the course of nature a nowne derived from a verbe signifying to runne because the world runneth upon wheeles As in triumphes and pompous shewes we see towers and rockes and castles but enpassant carried in procession not staying any where such is the glory of this world The portable Arke in the Old Testament and the flying woman in the New are images of the militant Church in this world the one was drawne by beasts from place to place the other was carried with the wings of an Eagle from Country to Country neither of them was fixed When two Noble men strived about a fish pond and could by no meanes be brought to an agreement Gregorius Thaumaturgus by miracle suddenly dried it up so God in wisedome taketh away from us the things of this life if we too much strive for them Wherefore let us not build upon the sailes of a wind-mill let us not cast the anchor of our hope on the earth for there is nothing to hold by riches get themselves wings possessions change their Lords great houses according to Diogenes his apophthegme vomit and cast up their owners The favours of men are like vanes on the top of houses and steeples which turne with the wind The Church in many respects is compared to the moone she receiveth her light from the Sun of righteousnesse she hath her waxing and waining is never without spots is often eclipsed by the interposition of the shadow of the earth I meane the shadowes of earthly vanities Those who professe the art of turning baser metals into gold first begin with abstractio terrestrietatis à materia the abstraction or drawing away of earthlinesse from the matter of their metall in like manner if we desire to be turned as it were into fine gold and serve as vessels of honour in God house our earthly dregs and drosse must be drawne out of us by the fire of the Spirit that is our earthly cares our earthly desires our earthly hopes our earthly affections Hercules could never conquer Anteus donec à terra matre eum levasset till hee had lifted him up above the earth his mother no more can the Spirit of grace subdue and conquer us to the obedience of the Gospel till hee hath lifted up our hearts from the earth with these levers especially the consideration of 1 The vanity of earthly delights 2 The verity of heavenly comforts 3 The excellency of our soule 4 The high price of our redemption Can we imagine that so incomparable a jewell as is the soule of man was made to be set as it were in a ring on a swines snout to dig and root in the earth Did God breathe into us spirit and life nay did Christ breathe out his immortall spirit for this end to purchase us the happinesse of a mucke-worme that breedeth and feedeth liveth and dyeth in the dung or at the best the happinesse of an Indian i Chrysost hom 7. in ep ad Philipp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emmet that glistereth with gold dust about her St. Austin hath long agoe christened the contentments of this world in the font of teares by the names of solacia miserorum non gaudia beatorum solaces of wretched not joyes of blessed ones at the best they are but reliefes of naturall necessities For what is wealth but the reliefe of want food but the reliefe of hunger cloathing but the reliefe of nakednesse sleepe but the reliefe of watching company but the reliefe of solitarinesse sports and pastimes but the taking off the plaister and giving our wounds a little aire and our selves a little ease from our continuall labour and paines Like the gnats in Plutarch we run continually round in the circle of our businesse till we fall downe dead traversing the same thoughts and repeating the same actions perpetually and what happinesse can be in this The more we gild over the vanities of this world with the title of honours pleasures and riches the more we make them like the golden apples which hung at Tantalus his lips which were snatched away from him when he offered to bite at them For the k 1 John 2.17 world passeth away and the lust thereof Albeit the earth abideth and shall till the end of the world which cannot be now farre off yet all Monarchs Kingdomes States Common-wealthes Families Houses passe There is written upon them what Balthasar saw the hand writing upon the walls of his Palace Mene mene tekel upharsin Admit they abide for a large time yet we are removed from them by persecution invasion peregrination ejection and death Albeit our Lawyers speake of indefeisable estates and large termes of yeeres to have and to hold lands on earth yet they speake without booke for no man can have a better estate than the rich man in the Gospell to whom it was said l Luke 12.20 Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided so is he that layeth up treasure for himselfe and is not rich towards God Wherefore if ever we looke to arrive at the faire haven we must cast anchor in heaven and not trust in uncertaine riches but in the living God who here provided for the woman both a
mistaking of any other man should not take off the edge of our desires to gaine an invaluable jewell but whet our diligence the more to observe more accurately the notes of difference betweene the true and counterfeit stone upon which I shall touch anon after I have convinced our Romish sceptickes by evidence from the nature of faith the profession of Gods Saints the testimony of the Spirit and undeniable signes and effects that all that are called by the word effectually have this white stone in my text given unto them whereby they are assured of their present estate of grace and future of glory Doct. 1 The faith of Gods e Tit. 1.1 Elect is not a bare assent to supernaturall verities revealed in Scripture which may bee in a Reprobate and is in the f Jam. 2.19 Devils themselves Thou beleevest there is one God thou doest well the Devils also beleeve and tremble but a divine grace whereby being fully assured of Gods favour to us wee trust him with our soules and wholly rely on him for salvation through the merits of his sonne The sure promises of the Gospell are like a strong cable let downe to a man in a deepe pit or dungeon on which hee doth not onely lay hand by faith but hangeth and resteth himselfe upon it and thereby is drawne out of darkenesse to see and possesse the inheritance of the Saints in light To beleeve the communion of Saints is not onely to bee perswaded that there is a communion of Saints in the world remission of sinnes in the Church resurrection of the flesh at the last day and life everlasting in heaven but to bee assured by faith that wee have an interest in this communion benefit by this remission and shall partake the glory of this resurrection and the happinesse of life everlasting They who had beene stung by fiery serpents and were healed by looking upon the brazen serpent did not onely beleeve that it had cured many but that it would cure them Here the Logicians rule holdeth Medicina curat Socratem non hominem physicke is not given to mans nature to cure the species but to every man in individuo to heale his person and to every sicke soule that applieth unto it selfe the promises of the Gospell Christ saith g Mat. 9.22.29 Bee it unto thee as thou beleevest thy faith hath made thee whole goe in peace Hereupon Saint h Fides dicit aeternabona reposita sunt spes dicit mihi teposita sunt charitas dicit ego curro post ea Bernard bringeth in the three divine graces Faith Hope and Charity singing as it were a catch and taking the word one from another Faith beginneth saying everlasting treasures are layd up in heaven Hope followeth saying they are layd up for mee Charity concludeth I will seeke after them And verily no man by a generall Romish credulity but by a speciall faith in Christ can say with Job My redeemer with David My salvation with the Spouse My beloved with the blessed Virgin My Saviour with Thomas My Lord and my God much lesse can hee warrant these possessives with a scio i Job 19.25.26.27 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him stand up at the last day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my selfe And k Psal 45.11.12 I know that thou favourest me thou upholdest mee in my integrity and fettest me before thy face for ever And l Rom. 8.28 Wee know that all things worke for the best to them that love God We know that when m 2 Cor. 5.1 our earthly tabernacle is dissolved wee shall have an eternall in the heavens n 1 Joh. 2.5 Wee know that wee are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Opinion and science a conjecturall hope and an assured beliefe as much differ as a shaken reed and a well growne oake which no winde can stirre To know any thing saith o L. 1 posterior c. 2. Scire est causam rei cognoscere quod illius causa sit quod res illa aliter se habere non posset Aristotle is to know the cause and that this cause is the cause of such an effect and that the thing it selfe cannot bee otherwise than wee conceive of it in which regard the Greeke Etymologist deriveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because opinion waggeth and inclineth the mind by probabilities on both sides but science fasteneth it and maketh it stand unmoveable With these texts of scripture attributing knowledge of salvation to all beleevers our Trent Merchants are manifestly gravelled and sticke in the mud yet they endevour to boye up their sunke vessell by a distinction of a double knowledge 1 By common faith 2 By speciall revelation They yeeld that some who have been admitted to Gods privie Councell by speciall revelation have been assured of their crowne of glory but they will by no meanes grant that beleevers can attain to this certainty by their common faith yet such is the clearnesse of the texts above alledged for the point in question that they easily like the beames of the sunne breake through this popish mist For Job speaketh not of any speciall secret revealed unto him but of the common article of all our faith concerning the resurrection of the flesh I know that my Redeemer liveth and hee shall stand up and I shall see him with these eyes And what David speaketh of his knowledge of Gods favour and stedfast beliefe of his future happinesse p Ad Monim l. 1. â—ustus ex fide vivens fiducialiter dicit credo videre bona domini in terra viventium Fulgentius applyeth to every beleever The just man living by faith speaketh confidently I beleeve that I shall see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living And S. John ascribeth this knowledge not to any singular revelation but to charity the common effect of faith We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren whereupon S. q Tract 5. in ep Joh. Nemo interroget hominem redeat ad cor suum si ibi invenerit charitatem securus sit quia transiit à morte ad vitam Austin giveth this sage advice Let no man enquire of man let him have recourse to his owne heart if he find there charity let him rest assured that he is passed from death to life And S. Paul joyneth all the faithfull with him saying We know that all things worke for the best to them that love God and There is layd up a crown of righteousnesse which the righteous Judge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but to all them also that love his appearing In like manner Saint r Ep. ex regist l. 6. Hac fulti certitudine de ejusdem redemptoris nostri misericordiá nihil ambigere
in Chron. ad an c. 1. Calvisius his hote discordant from our purpose viz. that the yeere of our Lords birth was Annus Sabbathicus a yeere made of seven multiplyed or a yeere of Jubile For even by this very circumstance wee may bee put in minde that he who was borne in a temporall Sabbathicke yeere on earth procureth for us an everlasting Sabbath in heaven 3 Of the day of the yeere From the age in which our Lord was incarnate wee have already proceeded to the yeere now from the yeere wee will come to the day on which God hath set many glorious markes 1 First St. Matthew telleth us of a n Mat. 2.2 new starre that appeared to the heathen Sages which guided them in their way to Bethlehem 2 Secondly St. o Quest vet N.T. Hodâ—eâ—no die natus est Christus octavo Calend. Jan. ab illo die crescunt dies ecce à nativitate Christi dies crescit illo oriente dies proficit Austine and St. p Ambros Serm. 8. de temp Ambrose and q Prudent in hyâ—n ad Cal. Jan. Quid est quod Arctum circulum Sol jam recurrens deserit Christusne terris nascitur qui lucis augit â—ramitem Prudemius note that the day of our Lords birth fell precisely upon the winter solstice and from that day the dayes begin to lengthen 3 Thirdly this day in the vineyard of r Magdeburg ex Martino Vinca Engaddi quae balsamum ferebat horem fructum liquorem simul fudit Engaddi the Balsamum tree both blossomed and bare fruit and liquor also dropped from it Thus we see what golden characters God hath fixed upon the age yeere and day of our Lords birth in which we may read the benefits of his incarnation which are these First rest this seemeth to be figured by the Sabbathicke yeere Secondly peace this was shadowed by the temporall peace concluded through all the world by Augustus Thirdly libertie from spirituall thraldome this was represented by the law of manumission of servants Fourthly Knowledge this was shewed by the new starre Fiftly encrease of grace this was signified by the lengthening of the dayes from Christs birth Sixtly spirituall joy this was expressed by the oyle which sprang out of the earth Seventhly health and life this the Balsamum was an embleme of This peace this libertie this knowledge this grace this joy this health God offereth to us in this accepted time and day of salvation Behold now c. The Jewes had their now and that was from the day of our Lords birth to the time of the destruction of the Temple before which a voyce was heard at midnight saying Å¿ Joseph de bello Jud. l 7. Migremus hinc Let us goe hence The Gentiles now or day of grace began after Peters t Acts 10.11 vision and shall continue untill the fulnesse of all Nations be come in Our Countrie 's now for their conversion from Paganisme began when Joseph of Arimathea or Simon Zelotes or Saint Paul or some other of the Apostles planted the Gospell in this Island for our reversion to the puritie of the ancient doctrine and discipline was from the happie reformation in King Henry the eighth his time and Kings Edward the sixts and shall last till God for our sinnes remove our golden Candlesticke All your now who heare me this day is from the day of your new birth in baptisme till the day of your death Application Behold now is your accepted time now is your day of salvation make good use of these golden moments upon which dependeth your eternall happinesse or miserie Yet by a few sighes you may drive away the fearefull storme that hangeth over you yet with a few teares you may quench the fire of hell in your consciences yet by stretching out your armes to God and laying hold on Christ by faith you may be kept from falling into the brimstone lake While yee have the light of this day of grace t Phil. 2.12 Worke out your salvation with feare and trembling before the night of death commeth when u John 9.4 no man can worke If you reject this accepted time and let slip this day of salvation there remaineth nothing for you but a time of rejection x Mat. 7.23 Away from mee I know you not and a day of damnation y Mat. 25.41 Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire To apply this now yet once more Behold now in these feasts of Christmas is tempus acceptum an accepted time or a time of acceptation a time when wee accept and entertaine one another a time of giving and accepting testimonies of love a time of receiving the holy Sacrament a time when God receiveth us into favour biddeth us to his owne table Behold now is the day of salvation the day in which our Saviour was borne and the y Titus 2.11 grace of God bringing salvation appeared unto all men This day our Saviour will come into thy house and if with humble devotion godly sorrow a lively faith and sincere love thou entertaine him what himselfe spake to Zacheus the Spirit will speake unto thee z Luke 19.9 This day is salvation come to thy house Which God the Father grant for the merits of his Sonne through the powerfull operation of the holy Spirit To whom c. THE SPOUSE HER PRECIOUS BORDERS A rehearsall Sermon preached Anno 1618. THE XXXII SERMON CANT 1.11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver Right Honourable c. AS the riches of Gods goodnesse are set forth to the eye of the body by the diversity of creatures in the booke of nature so are the treasures of his wisedome exposed to the eye of the mind by the varietie of senses in the booke of Scripture Which in this respect is by reverend antiquitie compared to the scrole in a Ezek. 2.10 Vid. Hier. in c. 2. Ezekielis Ezekiels vision spread before him which was written Intus à tergo within and without without in the letter within in the Spirit without in the history within in the mystery without in the typicall ceremonies within in the morall duties without in the Legall resemblance within in the Evangelicall reference without in verborum foliis within in radice rationis as St. Jerome elegantly expresseth it The former sense resembleth the golden b Exod 16.33 And Moses said to Aaron take a pot and put an Omer full of Manna therein c. pot the latter the hidden c Rev. 2.17 Manna it selfe that is as the shell or mother of pearle this as the Margarite contained within it both together as d Nazianz ad Nemes Literalem comparat corpori spiritualem animae Verbum Dei geminam habet naturam divinam invisibilem humanam visibilem ita Verbum Dei scriptum habet sensum externum internum Nazianzen observeth make this singular correspondency betweene the incarnate and the inspired
should dye Mori infirmitatis est sic mori virtutis infinitae There wanted not other meanes to redeeme man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was meet that by the death of the Sonne of God wee should bee redeemed Sanguine quaerendi reditus animâque litandum No escaping the stroake of the Angel but by sprinkling the Lambes life bloud no meanes to returne from exile till the death of the high Priest Must hee dye then and are the Scriptures so strait in this point O death how bitter is thy remembrance witnesse our Saviour Si fieri potest transeat hic calix but sith for the reasons before named that was neither possible nor expedient sith dye hee must what death doth the Holy Ghost thinke to bee most expedient If hee may not yeeld to nature as a ripe apple falleth from the tree but must be plucked thence there are deaths no lesse honourable than violent shall he dye an honourable death No hee must bee reckoned among the malefactors and dye a shamefull death In shamefull deaths there is a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rid him quickly out of his paine Misericordiae genus est citò occidere No that was not expedient Feri ut se sentiat mori it was expedient that hee should dye a tedious and most painfull death wherein a tract of lingering misery and lasting torment was to bee endured What death is that I need not amplifie even by the testimony of the Holy Ghost the death of the Crosse was for the torture most grievous for the shame most infamous He humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death Could his humility goe on one step further Yes one step even to the death of the Crosse that is a death beyond death the utmost and highest of all punishments saith Ulpian Having in it the extent of torture saith Apuleius The quintessence of cruelty saith the Roman Oratour It is not amisse to know the manner of the execution of this death First after sentence given the prisoner was whipped then forced to carry his Crosse to the place of execution there in the most tender and sinewie parts of the body nailed to the Crosse then lifted up into the ayre there with cruell mercy for a long while preserved alive after all this when cruelty was satisfied with bloud for the close of all his joynts were broken and his soule beat out of his body This was part of his paine I say part I cannot expresse the whole the shame was much more Infoelix Lignum saith Seneca truly and unhappy for untill this time the curse of God was upon him that was hanged It is a trespasse to bind 't is wickednes to beat it is murder to kill Quid dicam in crucem tollere Look we to the originall it was first devised by Tarquinius as the most infamous punishment of all against such as laid violent hands upon themselves Look we to the use of it they accounted it a slaves nay a dogs death for in memory that the Dogge slept when the Geese defended the Capitoll every yeer in great solemnity they carried a Goose in triumph softly laid upon a rich carpet and a Dogge hanging upon a crosse Looke wee to the concomitancy Non solent suspensi lugeri saith the Civilian no teare was wont to be shed for such as were crucified And was it expedient that our Saviour should dye this death It was expedient that the prophesie of Esay might be verified We saw him made as the basest of men and of David A scorne of men and the out-cast of the people and of himselfe They shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock scourge and crucifie him These were prophesies that it should be so yet we want a prophesie that saith It is expedient That we doe not Oportet filium hominis exaltari ut Moses extulit Serpentem for that Serpent lifted up to cure all that looked upon it was an embleme of Christ Thus himselfe who was a high Priest for ever did prophesie of himselfe being now both priest and sacrifice It was expedient that he should dye thus dye to be forsaken of his friends falsly accused by his enemies to be sold like a slave mocked like a foole spit upon like a made man whipt like a theefe crucified like a traitour make up a misery that the sun shamed the earth trembled to behold it yet it was expedient it must be done God hath said it Mee thinkes I heare our Saviour say in this baptisme of bloud as he said in his baptisme of water Thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnes and thus it became him for whom by whom are all things to consecrate the Prince of our salvation through afflictions The prophesies had said it it should be so and it was expedient that he to whom they pointed should fulfill them that so in fulness of truth he might take his leave of the crosse and say Consummatum est those things which were written of mee have an end All this while we see not the reason why he should be thus tormented Goe to Pilate his answer will be I am innocent of the bloud of this man Enquire you of the Scribes and Pharisees their answer will be We have a law and by this law he must dye because he made himselfe the Son of God This was no fault he was so and therefore without robbery or blasphemy might both think and declare himselfe to be so Goe wee further from popular Pilate and the cruell Jewes to God himselfe and though we be but dust and ashes for the knowledge of this truth presume we to aske Cur fecisti filio sic How may it stand with thy justice that he should dye in whom there was found no fault worthy death nay no fault at all the unswer is Expedit mori pro populo yet O Lord wilt thou slay the righteous with the wicked nay which is more wilt thou slay the righteous and spare the wicked nay which is yet more wilt thou slay the righteous for the wicked shall not the Judge of all the world doe right God cannot chuse but do right the wages of sin is death though he have not sinned the people have If the principall debtour cannot pay the surety must if the prisoner dare not appeare the baile must Christ was the surety the baile of the people and so God might permit his justice against sin to take hold on him and hee must dye for the people if he will not have the people dye It being knowne that he dyed for the people it is worth the while to know who these people were for whom he dyed Caiphas had respect to the Jewes only and their temporall good but the Holy Ghost intended the spirituall good of the Jewes primarily though not of them alone but of the people also through the world But is it possible that of all people he should dye for the Jewes Ab ipsis pro ipsis these were they
once more to the wicked we send libellum repudii Non est vobis pars neque sors yee may not consort with us in our blessed harmony the voices of Ashdod and Canaan cannot tune together to you belongeth plangent tribus terrae tribulabitur ibi fortis your singing shall be turned to sighing your Tabrets Shaumes into everlasting beatings and hammerings on the anviles of your breast your showting into howling and yelling your clapping of hands into gnashing of teeth your praising into blaspheming cursing all your rejoycing shall be as the mourning of Hadradrimmon in the valley of Megiddo yea much more than of Hadradrimmon because in the valley of Hinnon is the lake and fornace of endlesse disconsolation This Prophet shall conclude Behold my servants shall rejoyce and ye shall be ashamed my servants shall sing for joy of heart and ye shall cry for sorrow and howle for vexation of mind The third combination is Ros tuus terra projiciet which giveth a double proofe of the former doctrine the one as it were of course nature and common sense teacheth the other of force the creature must and shall accomplish it Terra projiciet that is saith Rabbie David Thou O God shalt command it The learned in their Commentaries distinguish these proofes by a discrepancy of words Elicere proper to the dew and projicere fatall to the earth the dew gently allureth and calleth forth the herbes so doth the Word Spirit of God sweetly and easily bring up may I say these embryo's of death But say that the earth withhold them opposing her lockes and barres and pleading perhaps the prescription of hundreds or thousands of yeeres there is then place for projiciet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angry and impatient though she be reddet non sua she must cast them up as the stomach a surfeit and a woman an abortive fruit See how God hath furnished us with all sorts of arguments if Liber foederis will not serve wee may reade in the booke of nature or rather Bibliotheca librorum described with a text hand in faire and capitall letters the resurrection of the dead Interroga jumenta saith Job Interroga olera saith my Prophet Considera Lilia agri saith our Saviour looke into the fields or sit still in your gardens every one under his owne vine and behold the growth of the plants and flowers how after the cold of Winter when the deadnesse of the yeere had blotted and blurred as it were the face of the earth and the print of nature seemeth to bee quite razed out yet as Esay speaketh of the Oake and Elme there is a substance in them and by the comfort of the vernall sun-shine and fatnesse of the clouds dropping on them they garnish and cover the earth againe as with the carpets of Egypt and clothe it as with a Josephs coate with all the variety of colours nature can invent Nature is full of such demonstrations I could bring you a band of creatures to strengthen this point The bird of Arabia that riseth out of her owne ashes the insecta animalia that spend the Winter season in a shadow of death the seed that lyeth and dyeth in the earth our sleepings and awakings nights and dayes winters and summers autumnes and springs but I leave them all and cleave to the resemblance in my Text Thy dew is as the dew of herbes but when this dew and soft distillation is too weake to worke this effect God hath a torrent and floud to doe it Terra ejiciet contermina terrae the sea that is married to the earth lyeth in her armes bosome He shall say to the sea Give and to the earth Restore and all creatures in them and in all the world besides that have devoured and swallowed the flesh of his chosen when that day commeth shall find that they have eaten morsels like aspes and dranke a draught of deadly poyson too strong and hard of digestion for their over weak stomachs I end with the words of this Prophet chapt 66. Quis audivit unquam tale quis vidit huic simile nunquid parturiet terra in die unâ tota gens parietur simul at this day it shall be so Saphirus aureis punctis collucet the best kind of Saphir The recapitulation with addition of appendant arguments saith the Naturalist hath something like points of gold in it Such were these we now handled give mee leave to use the Speakers phrase though not in his sense spare mee to recapitulate or rather from recapitulation for what have I done else all this while Mee thinkes the sixe parts of this Text are like the six cities of refuge Deut. 19. to which those that had slain shall I say nay rather those that are slain may flye to save shall I say nay but to recover and restore their lives and they are all like the wheeles in Ezekiels vision Rota in rotâ or as the celestiall Spheres one in the other all moving alike to the same purpose all striving for an Article of faith one of the twelve flowers in the garland of our Creed one of the twelve stones in the foundation of the holy City I remember in the inheritance of Judah among the rest there fell to their share sex civitates villae earum Is there any such a desart so barren so hopelesse so waste as death and the grave desertion of life and beeing when milke forsaketh the breasts marrow the bones bloud the veines spirit the arteries and the soule the body yet when you are brought to this desart of desarts you shall find sex civitates villas earum six maine and eminent proofes of the resurrection with as many lesse like suburbs granges and appertinent villages For first Mortui vivent is a maine argument grounded upon the Word and Promise like civitas but mortui tui is civitas villa a maine with an appendant argument drawne from the propriety that God hath in us Secondly Cadaver resurget is civitas but cadaver meum is civitas villa a maine argument with an appendant drawn from the society between the head the members he that raised Christ shall quicken us Thirdly Awake sing are civitates main arguments drawn from the command power of God who saith Returne ye sons of Adam and they return but that the nature of the phrase should import a sleep no death no privation of speech but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pythagoricam for a while till God loosen the strings of the tongue and put breath into the organ againe these are civitates villae earum Yet further by Montanus his collection pulvis habitatores pulveris are villae appendant arguments the one from the matter of our creation when we are at the worst we are but dust from which our creation was and why may not from thence our recreation be the other from the terme of our abode habitatio which
saith he is not of those that take up their mansion or long home but of sojourners and factours who continue for a while in forraine countries till they have dispatched their affaires Adde lastly to all these the map of the whole earth in every leafe of grasse describing the truth of this doctrine inscripti nomine vitae nascuntur flores with those insufferable passions pangs and angariations which the common mother to us all is put unto till shee be rid of us as the Whale of Jonas A word of application and it shall be the explication which some very learned Expositors give upon cadaver meum Wee have hitherto taken it to be the word of Christ to his Father they say rather it is the word of the Prophet to his brethren as if in effect hee had said I preach to you no other doctrine than that I beleeve my selfe I teach that the dead shall live and I am assured that with my body shall they rise In which sense it is a parallel to that Magna Charta that great and memorable record which Job transmitteth to all posterity I know my Redeemer liveth and I my selfe shall see him with these eyes and no other concionantur profani homines the fashion of these worldly men is to prate of the life of the righteous as Balaam of their death like men in a trance without sense or affection after it The food of the soule is unto them as Barzillai his bodily food was unto him they eate it without any appetite or rellish Hath thy servant any taste in that he eateth saith he to David and the comforts of the Gospel to them as musicke to him Can I heare the voice of singing men or women They behold Canaan from the Mount and the goodnesse of God afarre off my meaning is they can talke of cadavera aliorum but minde not or at least hope not for cadaver meum Odi sapientem qui sibi non sapit qui sibi nequam cui bonus Nequam saith Saint Bernard is as much as nequaquam all that this man knoweth or doth is as much as nothing sith it availeth not himselfe his case is like that of Tantalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato saith who hath apples at his lips and water at his chinne and yet pines for want O unhappy man goe to the prodigall childe he came to his father with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to that childe of the world who came to our Saviour Magister dic fratri ut dividat mecum haereditatem that is suffer not a goodly inheritance of a joyfull resurrection to be taken away by the violent but thrust thou in for thy part among them and when they shall say corpora nostra our bodies shall rise say thou with a fiduciall faith cadaver meum so shall my body rise and let every one that heareth mee this day say with the Prophet Remember mee O Lord with the favour of thy people and visit mee with thy salvation that I may see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the joy of thy people and glory with thine inheritance THE THIRD ROW And in the third row a Turkeys an Agate and an Amethyst FEw there are but know the Turkeys tanquam ungues digitosque suos wearing it usually in the pale of their rings An excellent property it is said to have of changing colour with the sick party that weareth it and thereby expressing a kinde of sympathy Rueus a great Lapidary averres upon his owne knowledge as much I was acquainted saith hee with a man whose Turkeys suddenly upon his death changed colour Rueus de gem Ego novi quendam quo mortuo Turcois apparuit obscurior and fell in the price The Agate is a gemme of divers colours spots and lines the concurse whereof is sometimes so happy that it representeth the lineaments of men beasts and other naturall bodies Nunc formas rerum dans nunc simulachra deorum Of all that of Pyrrhus was held by him in greatest estimation of others in admiration wherein the lines and spots were so drawne by nature Plin. l. 37. c. 1. In Pyrrhi Achate novem Musae Apollo citharam tenens spectabantur non arte sed sponte naturae ita discurrentibus maculis ut Mulis quoque singulis sua redderentur insignia that Apollo with the nine Muses and their severall instruments were conspicuous in it As for the Amethyst it is a gemme of a middle colour between wine and violets so named either because applyed to the navell it is a remedy against drunkennesse ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steretico 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as saith Pliny quod ad vini colorem accedens priusquam degustet in violam desinat Of this third ranke of stones this may suffice for the application to the third Speaker and his doctrine himself touching the infirmities of the Clergy Laity so feelingly resembled the Turkeys which the Jewelists make the emblem of compassion His Sermon for the variety of good learning in it was a curious Agat most like that of Pyrrhus above mentioned wherein the nine Muses were pourtrayed the parts thereof were like the Amethyst parti-coloured partly like wine partly like violets like wine in his matter of confutation strong and searching like violets in his exhortation sweet and comfortable His description of Christs bloudy death was like wine the bloud of the grape but of the resurrection like violets the first-fruits of the Spring The embossment of gold wherein these gemmes of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of A Sermon preached on Easter Monday by Master Dunster fellow of Magdalen Colledge and Proctor of the University of Oxford APOC. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of hell and of death THese words are a parcell of that booke the reading whereof the ancient Church esteemed so profitable and needfull that they enjoyned all upon paine of excommunication to reade it once a yeere between Easter and Whitsontide Qui eam à Paschate ad Pentecosten non legerit excommunicationis sententiam habeat The words of my Text in speciall are verba pronuntiata verbi annuntiati the words spoken of the word fore-spoken the Sonne of God who is so carefull not to breake the bruised reed that hee seeketh to expectorate all feare out of the mindes of all true beleevers by the force of many arguments The first is drawne à potentiâ Dei I am the Creatour and Judge of your persecuters therefore feare them not The second à praerogativâ Christi I am the first and the last and will take notice of every one that hath been unjustly put to death and make inquisition of bloud from the bloud of the righteous Abel to the bloud of the last Martyr that shall bee shed upon the earth and will require it of them that have spilt it I am the first for
whom that great Patriarch should doe homage and pay tythes save Sem. Lastly those prerogatives of Melchizedek without father without mother without beginning of dayes or end of life agree best to Sem who might be said to be without these either in the notice of the text or in the speech of men because he was now so aged and had lived so long after the Floud that no man then living remembred his Parents He might likewise be said to be without beginning of dayes in respect of the new world after the Floud and without end of life in respect of the old world before the Floud Refut 5 Notwithstanding all these allegations in the behalfe of Sem the truth goeth not so cleare for him but that it is encountred with many and great difficulties For there is no ground to beleeve that Sem left the East and set up his rest in g Calvin in Gen. 14. Neque enim virum aeternâ memoriâ dignum Dominus novo tantum obscuro nomine indicasset ut maneret ignotus neque probabile est Semum ex Oriente migrasse in Judaeam Judea neither is it likely that the Spirit would have described a man worth eternall memorie in such an obscure manner and under such a new name that he remaines yet unknowne Were he Sem why should Moses conceale his name Moreover the Apostle in the seventh of the h Ver. 6. Hebrewes saith in expresse words that the pedegree of Melchizedek is not accounted among men but Sems is as we reade in i Gen. 10.22 Genesis neither is it a solid answer which yet is given by many learned men to say that Sems genealogie is not accounted by the name of Melchizedek For no more is Jacobs accounted by the name of Israel yet none thereupon would say that Jacobs genealogie is not set downe by Moses The Apostles comparison standeth not in the bare name but in the person of Melchizedek whether by the name of Melchizedek or by the name of Sem his pedegree be set downe it is certaine hee cannot be that man whom St. Paul in this resembleth to Christ that he was without father or mother accounted among men for his Parents are upon record 6 What then shall we conclude Either that he was a Ruler of Canaan Confirm 6. whose genealogie is no where set downe nor the day of his birth nor death or that he was a man immediately sent from God and shewed onely to the earth and afterwards taken away after the maner of Enoch or Elias that he might be likened in all things to the Sonne of God or that the Apostle hath an eye onely to Moses his relation in that place where Melchizedek is brought in by him blessing Abraham and receiving tithes from him without any mention there of his Parents in the flesh or successour in his office or day of his birth or death So are wee to conceive of our high Priest who was without father according to his manhood without mother touching his Godhead and in his person which was meerely divine without beginning of dayes or end of yeeres 3 Touching his order or offices it is certaine that he was both King and Priest For he was King of Salem and Priest of the most high God the conjunction of which two offices was not unusuall in those elder times among the heathen for by the light of nature they saw such majestie in the person of a King and eminencie in the office of a Priest that they judged none so worthy of the Priesthood as their Kings nor any so capable of the Kingdome as their Priests and therefore in most places they either crowned their Priests and gave them power or sacred their Kings and gave them orders Right so doth Virgil describe Anius as Moses doth Melchizedek invested with both dignities k Virg. Aen. 3. Rex idem Anius Phoebique Sacerdos At this day the Kings of the East Indians are stiled Brameres that is Priests and by the law are to die in a holy place as persons sacred to God l Arist pol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle remembreth such an ancient custome among the Grecians Res divinae committebantur Regibus and m Cic. pro dom ad Pontif. Cum multa divinitus a majoribus nostris inventa atque instituta sunt tum nihil praeâ—larius quam quod eosdem religionibus deorum immortalium summae reip prae esse voluerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Lips polit l. 4 c. 1. Tullie among the Romans and Stobeus setteth a faire colour upon it The best of all that is God ought to be honoured and served by the best that is the Prince and the service of God which is or should be in all well ordered States the chiefest of all cares ought to be the care of the chiefest that is the King which made Lycurgus the Law-giver of the Lacedaemonians ambitious of the title of the Priest of Apollo and Solon of Priest of Minerva and induced Mercurius Trismegistus Augustus Titus and Trajan to assume this sacred title into their stile and annexe the Priesthood to the Crowne n Ovid. Fast l. 1. l. 3. Et fiunt ipso sacra colente Deo Accessit titulis Pontificalis honos Wherein they may all seeme to have taken Melchizedek for their patterne who the first of all that ever we reade mingled both oyles and compassed the Mitre with a Crowne bearing a Scepter in one hand and a Crozure in the other more fully to represent the Sonne of God who remaineth a Priest and reigneth a King for ever This resemblance betweene them satisfieth not our Adversaries they straine this text hard to draw bloud from it even the bloud of Christ sacrificed in the Masse If say they Christ be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek then he must daily offer a sacrifice unto God under the formes of bread and wine as also did Melchizedek And this is the fairest evidence they bring out of Scripture for the sacrifice of the Masse Against which we object 1 That neither the Hebrew letter nor the vulgar Latine the authority whereof no Papist dare impeach importeth that Melchizedek offered bread and wine but o Gen. 4.18 brought forth protulit non obtulit 2 Admit of the word offered what say they to Rabbi Solomon Tertullian Ambrose yea Andradius also and other Papists of note who referre this offering to Abraham not to God the bread and wine he offered was a present to Abraham not a sacrifice to God Obtulit say they Abrahamo panem vinum and will they make no difference betweene an office of civility and a sacrifice of religion 3 Admit Melchizedek offered this bread and wine or some part of it to God yet doth not the Spirit of God recommend his Priesthood as being any way remarkable for the sacrifice he offered but for the blessing wherewith he blessed Abraham For so it followeth in the text ver
taking the houses of God in their owne possession a fearfull and most shamefull end What gained k 1 Kin. 22.31 2 Kin. 9.33 Ahab and Jezabel by Naboths vineyard the vine of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorrah it cost them their lives and their kingdomes What gained l Dan. 5.28 Balthasar by the plate of the Temple the division of his crown betweene the Medes and Persians What gained m Act. 5.5 10. Ananias and Sapphira by their fraudulent keeping backe part of the price for which they sold their possessions a sudden and most fearfull death What gained n Mat. 27.5 Judas by his thirty pieces of silver which hee received to betray innocent blood a halter to hang himselfe As Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar o Dan. 4.19 this dreame bee to the Kings enemies so I will be bold to say such gaine as is made by commerce with Satan be to Gods enemies Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and the life to come ungodlinesse of neither but contrariwise threats of judgements in both which sometimes fall upon the estate of those that are rich and not in God sometimes upon their bodies but alwayes upon their soules either God suddenly bloweth them away from their great estates or hee bloweth upon their estates and the fruits of their labours and they subscribe probatum est to the Latine proverbs Malè part a malè dilabuntur and De malè quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres ill gotten goods prosper not The officers whom p Suet. in Vesp. Vespasian employed like spunges to sucke in the blood of the subjects he after they were full squiezed them till they were dry And how often doe we see the great spoylers of others spoyled themselves and the secret underminers of other mens fortunes undermined themselves the cruellest exacters upon their tenants exacted upon by their superiour Lords In the second place I treated of the second attribute or consequent of sin shame and by evidence of Scripture and testimony of every ones conscience proved that sin shameth us three manner of waies 1 Within our selves making us seeme most vile filthy lothsome and odious to our selves 2 In the world staining our credit and branding us with a note of infamy 3 At the tribunall of Christ before God Angels and men when our consciences which now like a scrole of parchment lye folded together shall bee opened and spread abroad that all men may read what is written there If the consideration of the unfruitfulnesse and shame of sinne affect us not much nor make any sensible alteration in our lives and conversations behold yet stronger physicke which will worke with us if we be not dead already The end of those things is death Here are three bitter pills that are to bee taken by all them that surfeit in sinfull pleasures and worldly vanities whether they bee lusts of the flesh or lusts of the eye or appertaine to the pride of life 1 These things will have an end The end 2 The end of these things is fearfull Death 3 This death is the second death and hath no end I see saith David q Psal 119.96 that all things come to an end but thy commandements are exceeding broad yea so broad that all wayes and courses besides the path of Gods lawes come to a speedy end and very short period What the Historian observed concerning the race of men Vita hominum brevit principum brevior pontificum brevissima that the life of man is shorter than of other creatures of Princes than of other men of Popes than of Princes may be applied thus to our present purpose The lives of men are but short their actions and endevours of a shorter date but indirect and sinfull courses of the shortest duration of all All the fruit that comes of them like the fig-tree cursed by our Saviour withers suddenly Crassus enjoyed not long the fruit of his covetousnesse but was slain in war and had melted gold poured into his mouth by the Parthians Julius Caesar enjoyed not long the fruit of his ambition but was stabbed with twenty five wounds in the Senate Heliogabalus enjoyed not long the fruit of his pleasure but was slaine and throwne into a jakes Dionysius enjoyed not long the fruit of his sacriledge and tyrannie but was constrained to change his scepter for a ferular and teach Scholars for a small stipend to keepe him from starving If the prosperity of the wicked be an eye-sore unto us as it was sometimes unto David r Psal 73.17 18 19. Let us enter into the sanctuary of God and wee shall see the end of these men namely that God doth set them in slippery places and casteth them downe to destruction How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrours Achan spent not his wedge of gold nor ware out his Babylonish garment but was soone discovered and stripped of all hee had and came to a fearfull end It was not long after Ahab and Jezabel purchased a vineyard at the deare rate of the blood of the owner but they watered it with their owne blood Belshazzar had scarce concocted the wine in his stomacke which hee carowsed in the bowles of the Sanctuary before hee saw a hand writing his doome on the wall and soone after felt the arme of Cyrus executing it upon him Achitophel his policy tooke not long for within a short space after he had animated the sonne against the father his counsell was rejected and hee hanged himselfe The price of innocent blood was not long in Judas his hands before with the same hands hee fitted his owne halter Titus exhibited to the people stately pageants pompes carosels and triumphant festivities for an hundred dayes Asuerus kept royall feasts for halfe a yeere together of both after the prefixed tearm was expired nothing remained but infinite spoile of Gods creatures and an excessive bill of charge Hee that thriveth most by sinfull courses and gurmandizeth all sorts of pleasures and keepeth continuall holy-dayes a great part of his life yet before hee goeth out of the light of this world seeth an end of all his worldly happinesse and there remaines nothing unto him but a sad remembrance distempers in his body wounds in his conscience and a fearfull account to bee given to his Lord and Master for thus lavishing out his goods and wasting his substance in riotous living Pleasures like blossomes soone fall the garlands of honour are withered in a few yeeres the treasures of wickednes soon rust all lewd and sensual all base and covetous all proud and ambitious all false and deceitfull wayes have a short period and a downfall into a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ſ In ep ad Rom. Servitutis culpae triplex est incommoditas primo quia cum damno multo secundo quia cum fructu nullo tertiò quia cum fine malo Gorrhan summeth up all briefly thus There is
oftentimes withhold his rod from his dearest children To speake nothing of the reliques of originall sin in us after Baptisme which like cindars are still apt to set on fire Gods wrath and like an aguish matter left after a fit still cause new paroxysmes of Gods judgements ease it selfe and rest casteth us into a dead sleep of security which we are never thoroughly awaked of till God smite us on the side as the d Acts 12.7 Angel did Peter Prosperity and a sequence of temporall blessings like fatnesse in the soyle breed in the mind a kind of ranknesse which the sorrowes of afflictions eate out Moreover worldly pleasures distemper the taste of the soule so that it cannot rellish wholsome food which evill is cured by drinking deep in the cup of teares Neither seemeth it to stand with the justice of God that they who are to triumph in heaven should performe no worthy service in his battels upon the earth It is too great ambition for any Christian to desire two heavens and to attaine greater happinesse than our Lord and King who tooke his crosse in his way to his Kingdome and was crowned with thornes before hee was crowned with glory e Lact. div instit Lactantius rightly observeth Bonis brevibus mala aeterna malis brevibus bona aeterna succedunt that we are put to our choice either to passe from momentary pleasures to everlasting paines or to passe from momentary paines to everlasting pleasures either to forgoe transitory delights for eternall joyes or to buy the pleasures of sinne for a season at the deare rate of everlasting torments Were there no necessity of justice that they who are to receive a superexcellent weight of glory should beare heavie crosses in this life nor congruity of reason that they who are to be satisfied with celestiall dainties should fast here and taste of bitter sorrowes that they might better rellish their future banquet yet it were an indecorum at least that the Captaine should beare all the brunt and endure all the hardnesse and the common souldier endure nothing that the head should be crowned with thornes and the members softly arrayed that the head should be spit upon and the members have sweet oyntments poured on them Wherefore Saint Paul teacheth us that all whom God fore-knew he predestinated to be made conformable to the f Rom. 8.29 image of his Sonne who was so disfigured with buffets stripes blowes and wounds that the Prophet saith he had no g Esa 53.2 forme in him What himselfe spake of the children of Zebedee appertaines to us all Ye shall h Mat. 20.22 drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptisme wherewith I am baptized withall By baptisme he meaneth not to be dipped only in the waters of Marah but to be plunged in them over head and eares as the ancient manner of baptisme was He who was nailed to the Crosse for us will have us take up our i Mat. 10.38 crosse and follow him He that endured so much to shew his love to us will have us in some sort to answer him in love which as it is a passion so it is tryed rather by passions than by actions in which respect we must not only doe but suffer for his sake that our love may be compleat both in parts and degrees To you it is k Phil. 1.29 given saith Saint Paul not only to beleeve in him but to suffer for his sake For he l 1 Pet. 2.21 suffered for us giving us an example Should he have suffered all for us and as he tooke away all sinne so all suffering from us carrying away all crosses and tribulations with him patience should not have had her worke among other divine vertues and graces and thereby our crowne of glory should have wanted one most faire and rich jewell Wherefore God who is all goodnesse desirous to make us partakers of all the goodnesse which our nature is capable of by the misery of his distressed members giveth matter for our charity and compassion by our continuall temptations matter for faith by conflicts with heretickes and persecuters matter for constancy by the dangers of this life matter for wisedome by our manifold infirmities and frailties matter for humility by chastenings and afflictions matter for patience to worke upon Whether for these or any better reasons best knowne to himselfe it is that our heavenly Father holdeth a heavie hand sometimes over his dearest children certaine it is that few or none of them escape his stroake he chasteneth as many as hee loveth or as wee reade Hebr. 12.6 hee scourgeth every sonne whom hee receiveth therefore all that n 2 Tim. 3.12 will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer affliction Afflictions are in our way to heaven for wee must through many o Acts 14.22 afflictions enter into the Kingdome of God Before wee sing the song of Moses and the servants of God we are to swimme through a sea of burning glasse the sea is this present life swelling with pride wan with envie boyling with wrath deep with fraud and malice foming with luxuriousnesse ebbing and flowing with inconstancy which is here said to be of p Apoc. 15.2 I saw as it were a sea of glasse mingled with fire glasse to signifie the brittle nature thereof and burning to represent the furnace of adversity wherein the godly are still tryed and purified in this world And that we may not thinke that God his rod is for those only who are habes in Christ Jesus let us set before us David and Jeremy the former a man after Gods owne heart the latter a Prophet sanctified from his mothers wombe the former laid his heart a soaking in the brine of afflictions Every q Psal 6.6 night saith hee wash I my bed and water my couch with my teares and r Psal 102.9 I have eaten ashes for bread and teares have been my drinke day and night The other cryeth out in the bitternesse of his soule I am the man that have seen * Lam 3.12 15. affliction in the rod of his indignation Hee hath bent his bow and made mee a marke for his arrowes and hath filled mee with bitternesse and made mee drunke with wormwood Verily Job sipped not of the cup of trembling but tooke such a deep draught that it bereft him in a manner of all sense and put him so far besides himselfe that he curseth the very day of his birth and would have it razed out of the calendar Å¿ Job 3 4 5 6 7. Let that day be darkned let the shadow of death obscure it let it not be joyned to the dayes of the yeer nor let it come within the count of the moneths why dyed I not in my birth why dyed I not when I came out of the wombe Yee heare the loud cryes of Gods children whereby yee perceive they feele oftentimes the smart of their Fathers rod and are
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
and the effects of it no sinne without sorrow What say you then to them that have their conscience q 1 Tim. 4.2 seared as with an hot iron they surely feele no paine What sense have they of the guilt of sinne of Gods wrath who are cast into a reprobate sense I would the case were as rare as the answer unto it is easie and expedite Admit a seared conscience feeleth no paine was not the searing of it thinke you a paine The heart that is like the anvile and now hardened for the purpose felt many a blow and endured many fearfull stroaks before it came to be so Although Mithridates in the end felt little hurt or pain by drinking poyson yet before he brought his body to that temper he never tooke any draught of poyson but it was both painfull and perillous to him A man must needs have many conflicts within him many terrours and unsufferable troubles of minde before he be utterly deprived of all sense by the frequencie and vehemencie of his torments and though those that are cast into a reprobate sense never after come to repentance yet God oftentimes restoreth them to their sense of sorrow and sight of the uglinesse of their sinne and horrour of their punishment that even in this life they might tast of eternall death As he did to Nero when in a fit of desperation he cryed out Have I no friend nor enemy to rid me out of my paine And Julian the Apostata who tare his bowels and flung them into the aire saying Vicisti Galilee Brutus r Plutar. in vit Brut. Iterum me Philippis videbis his malus genius the ghost that haunted him at Rome though for the present it left him yet it met with him againe at Philippi a little before his death So those terrours and consternations of minde which possessed the wicked before their consciences were seared though for many yeares they leave them yet a little before or at the time of their death they returne againe in more violent manner and so they passe from death to death from sorrow to sorrow nay I may say truly from hell to hell But why do I stand so long upon this sorrow which may be without repentance because repentance cannot be without it Compunction doth not alwaies end in godly sorrow but godly ever begins in it This compunction of pricking the heart deepe is like the digging the earth to set the seeds of faith and repentance and all the slippes of the flowers of Paradise or the needles making a hole in the cloth or stuffe the needle fils not up the bracke or rent but the threed or silke but onely it maketh entrance for them So the pricking the heart with the needle of ſ Calv. in Act. Hoc poenitentiae initium est imo ad pietatem ingressus tristitiam ex peccatis nostris concipere ac malorum nostrorum sensu vulnerari quādiù enim securi sunt homines fieri non potest ut seriò animum attendant ad doctrinam sed compunctioni accedere debet promptitudo ad parendum Compuncti fuerunt Cain Judas sed obstitit desperatio quo minùs se Deo subjicerent nam mens horrore occupata nihil aliud quam fugere Deum potest compunction maketh way for the graces of faith and true repentance which make up the rent and mend our lives Beloved if ye are pricked in heart for your sinnes I cannot say it is well with you but if ye have never beene pricked for them I must say it is very ill with you The Philosophers distinguish of a double heate 1 Inward and naturall which preserveth life 2 Outward or ambient which disposeth mist bodies to putrefaction by drawing the other heat t Mercenar l. de Putred cont Erast Putredo est eductio caloris naturalis à calore ambiente out of them In like manner there is a double sorrow for sinne 1 A sorrow arising from an inward cause the consideration of the goodnesse of God and the malignancie of sinne the equity of the law the iniquity of our transgressions and this is a seed of or degree unto repentance unto life 2 A sorrow for sinne arising from an outward cause the expectation of dreadfull punishments for sinne both in this life and the life to come both temporall and eternall and this if it be not asswaged with some hope disposeth a sinner to desperation as wee see in Cain Esau and Judas whose sorrowes were not any way medicinall but penall No meanes to prevent but rather to assure hellish torments being a kind of earnest of them Cain was pricked in heart for the murther of his brother Abel in such sort that hee filled the aire wheresoever he fled with this lamentable cry My u Gen. 4.13 punishment is greater than I can beare Esau would have redeemed his birthright with a large cup of * Heb. 12.17 teares which he sold for a small messe of pottage but his teares were spilt upon the ground not put into the Lords bottle Judas had sorrow enough if that would have helped him for to stifle his hearts griefe hee strangled himselfe and no doubt he long swelled with paine before he burst asunder x Act. 4.18 in the midst and his bowels gushed out Wherefore as the Apostle Saint Paul in another case exhorteth the Thessalonians so let mee exhort you to weepe for your sins but not y 1 Thes 4.13 as those that have no hope Sorrow for your sinfull joyes humble your selves for your pride fast for your luxurie watch for your drowsinesse howle and crie for your crying sinnes yet not as those that are without hope For if the Jewes here who spilt the blood of the Sonne of God were quickned by it how much more shall they that wash Christs wounds and their owne with their teares find in his bloud the balme of Gilead to cure their pricked hearts and wounded consciences But then as the Jewes here they must bee solicitous after the meanes They must enquire of the Apostles or their successours Quid faciemus What shall wee doe if not to undoe what wee have done yet to make some part of amends so much as wee can and which through Gods goodnesse shall so be taken of us that our sinnes shall not be imputed to us And they said What shall wee doe Saint Chrysostome well observeth that they aske not How shall we bee saved but What shall wee doe It is presumptuous folly to enquire of or hope for the end if wee neglect the meanes If a man might goe to heaven with a sigh many a Balaam would be found there for hee fetched a deepe sigh saying Let mee die the death of the righteous If crying The Temple of the Lord or saying Lord Lord almost at every word would without any more adoe make a man free of the heavenly Jerusalem all the Pharisees among the Jewes and hypocrites among Christians should bee denisons
as he he taught blessed are they that mourne and he wept himselfe sanctifying thereby tears and assuring all godly mourners here of comforts hereafter z Gor. in Luc. c. 19. Christus quater flevit 1. in nativitate Sap. 7. Primam vocem nobis similem emisit plorans 2. In Lazari suscitatione Joh. 11. Lacrymatus est Jesus 3. in hac solenni processione flevit super eam 4. in passione Heb. 5. Haec sunt quatuor flumina quae de Paradiso prodierunt Gen. 2. ad totius mundi 1. ablutionem 2. refrigerationem 3. foecundationem 4. potationem Gorrhan observed that Christ shed teares foure times first at his birth next in the raising of Lazarus a third time in his surveigh of Jerusalem and a fourth time on the crosse and these foure saith he are spiritually the foure rivers of Paradise which serve 1. to purge 2. to coole and refresh 3. to water and make fruitfull 4. to quench the thirst of the world of beleevers Notwithstanding I find in the Gospel but two leaves onely wet with our Saviours teares Joh. 11. and here It is likely he cried at his birth after the manner of other children and it is certaine that hee offered up prayers upon the crosse with strong cries yet we reade not of any teares shed by him but here on Mount Olivet and at Lazarus his grave and both teares were teares of compassion and both also funerall teares There he wept for the death of Lazarus and here for the finall period and if I may so speake funerals of Jerusalem to be solemnized with desolation and exceeding great mourning like that of Hadradrimmon in the valley of Megiddo within a few yeeres after his passion It was the manner of the Prophets when they fore-told the calamities that were to fall upon any people or nation to expresse them as well by signes as by words to make a deeper impression in their hearers Ahiah * 1 Kings 11.30 cut Jeroboams cloake Jeremy breaketh his a Jer. 19.10 bottle Ezekiel b Ezek. 5.1 shaveth his beard Agabus c Act. 21.11 bindeth himselfe In like manner Christ prophesying the finall overthrow of the City and Temple representeth the great sorrow mourning and lamentation of the inhabitants of Jerusalem by his owne teares Theodoret yeeldeth another reason Alii flent ex passione Christus ex compassione Others weep saith he out of passion Christ out of compassion Ut ostenderet qualia haberet erga ingrates viscera to shew what bowels hee had toward the ungratefull though they least deserve teares who have no sense at all of their owne misery yet they most of all need them It grieveth mee saith S. d Cypr. de laps Plango quia te non plangis Cyprian that thou grievest not for thy selfe mine eyes are wet because thine are alwaies dry I have little comfort because there is little or no hope of grace in thee Ea fletus majoris causa est cùm rideant qui flere debeant wee have the greater cause to mourne when they laugh who ought to weep Jerusalem was now in a fit of frenzy shee laughed and feasted and revelled even now when shee was neere utter ruine and confusion and this more opened the salt springs in our Saviours eyes hee shed teares the more abundantly by reason of the carnall security obstinacy and senslesse stupidity of the Jewes his Countrimen and especially the inhabitants of Jerusalem who killed the Prophets and stoned them who were sent unto them to fore-warne them of Gods fearefull judgements hanging over their heads I told you before that this was a wet step and many here have slipt For this objection offereth it self to every mans conceit Was not Christ God and consequently omnipotent could not he have prevented their finall overthrow could not hee have given those Jewes beleeving and relenting hearts could he not have converted them all miraculously by a vision from heaven as hee did St. Paul who before that powerfull change wrought in him was as much enraged against the professours of the Gospel as any of these nay more Did not Christ foresee and decree the destruction of Jerusalem how then doth he bemoane it with teares e Calv. harm in evang Sicut è coelo descendit Christus carne humanâ indutus ut divinae salutis testis esset minister vere humanos induit affectus quatenus susceptae functioni intererat quatenus datus erat huic populo minister in salutem pro officii sui ratione illius exitium deploravit Deus erat fateor sed quoties oportuit doctoris officio fungi quievit ac se quodammodo abscondidit deitas Calvin reacheth us a hand to helpe us off of this wet knoll As saith he Christ descended from heaven clad with humane flesh that he might bee a witnesse and minister of divine salvation he truly put upon him also humane affections so far as it was requisite for the discharge of his function therefore as being sent as a minister for the salvation of that people in the faithfull execution of his office hee forewarned them of their danger and bewailed their overthrow which could not but ensue upon their obstinacy and impenitency Hee was God I acknowledge and most certainly fore-saw what would befall the City according to his eternall decree but whilest hee performed the office of a teacher the deity rested as it were and hid it selfe That yee may take faster hold upon this stay which this learned Interpreter reacheth unto you ye are to consider Christ three manner of waies 1. As God 2. As man 3. As Mediatour betweene God and man As God he most justly sentenced that bloody City to utter ruine and desolation as man he could not but bee touched with griefe and sorrow for those heavie judgements which hung over the city and people they taking no course at all to prevent or avert them as Mediatour betwixt God and man he might and ought ex officio both bewaile what hee fore-told and fore-tell what hee now bewailed and that most seriously For pro quibus nunc lachrymas postea effudit sanguinem for hee shed his bloud for those for whom he now shed teares and it was their owne fault that this death was not effectuall to them for their redemption and salvation An all-sufficient remedy was tendered unto them but they would none of it and even this also as it aggravated their sinne and consequently their punishment so it increased their spirituall Physicians griefe and drew more teares from his eyes Utinam Domine ut verbum caro factum est sic cor meum carneum fiat Oh that as the word was made flesh so my heart were made fleshly and tender to receive a deep impression of my brethrens griefe Such a heart was Jeremies which evaporated into these sighes f Jer. 9.1 Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes fountaines of teares that I might weep day and night for the slaine of