Anthemes first single voices answering one the other and after the whole Quire joyning in one as it were tracing the same musicall steps hath not nature drawne with her pensill a perfect grasse green in the Emrald a skie colour in the Saphir the glowing of fire in the Carbuncle the sanguine complexion in the Ruby and the twinckling of the starres in the Diamond and all these together in the Opall which hath in it the lustre and beautifull colours of all these precious stones c Plin. nat hist l. 37 c 6. In Opale est Carbunculi tenuior ignis Amethysti fulgens purpura Smaragdi virens mare c. incredibili misturâ lucentes Such is this feast of all holy ones it is the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kalendars pandect as it were a constellation not of many but of all the starres in the skie in it as in the Opall shine the beautifull colours and resplendency of all those precious stones which are laid in the d Apoc. 21.19 foundation and shine in the gates and walls of the heavenly Jerusalem Upon it we celebrate the chastity of all Virgins the simplicity of all Innocents the zeale and courage of all Confessours the patience of all Martyrs the holinesse of all Saints Upon this day the Church militant religiously complementeth with the Church triumphant and all Saints on earth keep the feast and expresse the joy and acknowledge the happinesse and celebrate the memory and imbrace the love and set forth the vertues of all Saints in heaven Which are principally three shadowed by the allegory in my Text 1. Patience in tribulation They came out 2. Purity in conversation And washed their garments 3. Faith in Christs death and passion Made them white in c. The better to distinguish them you may if you please terme them three markes 1. A blacke or blewish marke made with the stroake or flaile Tribulation 2. A white made by washing their garments and whiting them 3. A red by dying them in the bloud of the Lambe 1. First of the blacke or blew marke They came out of great tribulation The beloved Apostle and divine Evangelist Saint John who lay in the bosome of our Saviour and pryed into the very secrets of his heart in the time of his exile in Pathmos had a glimpse of his and our country that is above and was there present in spirit at a solemne investiture or installation of many millions of Gods Saints into their state of glory and order of dignity about the Lambe in his celestiall court The rite and ceremony of it was thus The twelve e Ver. 5 6 7 8. Tribes of Israel were called in order and of every Tribe twelve thousand were sealed in the forehead by an Angel keeper of the broad Seale of the living God Ver. 2. After this signature Loe a great multitude which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lambe and they had long white robes put upon them and palmes given them in their hands in token of victory and they marched on in triumph singing with a loud voice Salvation from or to our God that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lambe at which words all the Angels that stood round about the Throne and the Elders and the foure living creatures full of eyes fell before the Throne on their faces and worshipped God saying Amen Praise and glory and wisedome and thankes and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen This glorious representation of the triumphant Church so overcame and tooke away the senses of the ravished Apostle that though he desired nothing more than to learne who they were that he had seen thus honourably installed yet he had not the power to aske the question of any that assisted in the action till one of the Elders rose from his seate to entertaine him and demanded that of him which hee knew the Apostle knew not but most of all desired to know and would have enquired after if his heart had served him viz. who they were and whence they came that were admitted into the order of the white robe in Heaven The answer of which question when the Apostle had modestly put from himselfe to the Elder saying Lord thou knowest the Elder courteously resolveth it and informeth him particularly concerning them saying These are they that are come out of great tribulation c. Thou mightest perhaps have thought that these who are so richly arrayed and highly advanced in Heaven had been some great Monarchs Emperours or Potentates upon earth that had conquered the better part of the world before them paving the way with the bodies and cementing it with the bloud of the slâ—ine and in token thereof bare these palmes of victories in their hands Nothing lesse they are poore miserable forlorne people that are newly come some out of houses of bondage some out of the gallies some out of prisons some out of dungeons some out of mynes some out of dens and caves of the earth all out of great tribulation They who weare now long white robes mourned formerly in blacke they who now beare palmes in their hands carried their crosses in this world they who shout and sing here sighed and mourned under the heavie burdens of manifold afflictions all the dayes of their pilgrimage on earth they whom thou seest the Lambe leading to the f Ver. 17. living fountaines of waters dranke before deep of the waters of Marah and full cups of teares in the extreme heate of bloudy persecutions and in consideration of the great tribulation which they have patiently endured for the love of their Redeemer he bestoweth upon them these glorious robes whited in his own bloud and hee taketh them neere to himselfe that they may stand before him for evermore g Mat. 5 11 12. Blessed thrice blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for great is their reward in heaven The heavier their crosse is the weightier their crowne shall bee their present sorrowes shall free them from all future sorrowes their troubles here shall save them from all trouble hereafter their temporall paines through his merits for whom they suffer shall acquit them from eternall torments and the death of their body through faith in his bloud shall redeeme them from death of body and soule and exempt them from all danger miserie and feare Which priviledges the spirit sealeth unto them in the verses following They h Rev. 7.15.16.17 are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them into living fountaines of waters and God shall wipe away all
CLAVIS MYSTICA A KEY OPENING DIVERS DIFFICULT AND MYSTERIOUS TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE HANDLED IN SEVENTY SERMONS preached at solemn and most celebrious Assemblies upon speciall occasions in ENGLAND and FRANCE By DANIEL FEATLEY D.D. PROV 2.4 Seeke knowledge as silver and search after understanding as for hid treasures Chrysost in Gen. orat 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senec. Ep. 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti AVSPICANTE DEO LONDON Printed by R.Y. for Nicolas Bourne at the South entrance of the royall Exchange An. Dom. 1636. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIE CHARLES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER OF THE FAITH Most gracious and dread Soveraigne I Would not presume to present these crude conceptions and expressions to your Highnesse if I had not offered them before to an higher Majestie in whose Courts with how much the more feare and trembling I delivered them so much the greater hope I conceive of your Majesties gracious acceptance The Texts of Scriptures here expounded are all select and most of them mysticall in the declaration whereof if my observations second not your Majesties thoughts yet I perswade my selfe they will occasion more divine raptures in your royall heart The Crocodiles which besiege the bankes of Nilus and way-lay those that travell into Egypt a Caussinus parab hist l. 8. c. 31. Compertum est Crocodilum improbissimum animal si penna Ibidis defricetur adeò obtorpescere debilitari ut immobilis reddatur if they be rubbed or but pricked with the quill of the Ibis are so weakened and stupified thereby that they cannot stirre and in like manner experience teacheth that the presentest remedies against those venemous Serpents which infest the Church of Christ whether Heretickes or Schismatickes are the pens of Orthodoxe Writers For that which is spoken commeth but to a few that are within hearing and stayeth not by them but that which is written and much more that which is printed presenteth it selfe to the view of all and is alwaies ready at hand and as it receiveth so it maketh an impression Which consideration among others induced mee to give way to the desires of some friends for the bringing of these illustrations of darker places of Scripture to light especially because therein the proper Heresies of these times are encountred and the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England maintained by the Oracles of God and the joynt testimony of prime Antiquity In this Worke I owne nothing but the labour of many moneths nay rather yeeres in culling choice of flowers out of many hundreds of gardens and platting them into a garland for Christ his Spouse From which I humbly beseech Almighty God that your Majestie and all that touch any leafe thereof may smell a savour of life unto life The price and worth in all things maketh not the dedication but in some the dedication maketh the price Plin. praef nat hist Multa in pretio habentur quia sacris dicata And if there appeare in these unpolished lines any lustre it is no other than that they receive from the beames of your Majesties eye if your Majestie vouchsafe a glaunce thereof on them for which as we are all otherwise most bound I shall ever fixe my eyes and devotions on Heaven and uncessantly pray for the continuance and encrease of your Majesties temporall and assurance of eternall happinesse Your Majesties most loyally and humbly devoted Subject DANIEL FEATLEY ⧠THE TABLE The bruised Reed page 1. A Sermon preached before his Grace and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth TEXT Matthew 12. 20. ex Esa 42.3 A bruised reed shall he not breake and smoaking flaxe shall he not quench till he send forth judgement unto victory Or as we reade in Esay He shall bring forth judgement unto truth The smoaking Flaxe page 12. A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace the Lord Bishop of London and other his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 5. 1618. Matthew 12.20 And smoaking flaxe shall he not quench The still Voice page 28. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Novemb. 20. 1619. Matthew 12.19 He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streets The Lambe turned Lion page 41. A Sermon preached in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth December 6. 1619. before his Majesties high Commissioners there assembled Matthew 12.20 Till he send forth judgement unto victory The Traitours Guerdon page 53. A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracie before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. 1618. Psal 63. Vers 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lies shall be stopped The Lord Protectour of Princes page 69. A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon August 5. 1620. Psal 21.1 The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Or as we reade in the Bishops Bible The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation Pandora her boxe or Origo omnium malorum pa. 80. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe The Characters of heavenly wisedome page 93. A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall at Lambeth Psalme 2.10 Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth The Judges charge page 105. A Sermon preached at the Readers feast in Lincolnes Inne Psalme 2.10 Be instructed or learned ye Judges of the earth The Apostolick Bishop page 122. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Lord Bishop of Bristoll before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the great Seale and divers other Lords spirituall and temporall and other persons of eminent quality in Lambeth Chappell March 23. 1622. John 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive yee the holy Ghost The faithfull Shepherd page 131. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of three Bishops viz. of Oxford Bristoll and Chester in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth May 9. An. Dom. 1619. 1 Peter 5.2 3 4. 2. Feed the flocke of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a
of Martyrs spilt upon the ground is like spirituall seed from whence spring up new Martyrs and the graines of corne which fall one by one and die in the earth rise up again in great numbers Persecution serveth the Church in such stead as pruning doth the Vine whereby her branches shoot forth farther and beare more fruit Therefore S. Hierome excellently compareth the militant Church burning still in some part in the heat of persecution and yet flourishing to the bush in Exodus Exod 3.2 out of which Gods glory shined to Moses which burned yet consumed not 3. Wee are to distinguish between corporall and spirituall destruction Though the cane be crushed to peeces yet the aire in the hollow of it is not hurt though the tree be hewen the beame of the Sun shining upon it is not cut or parted in sunder Feare not them saith our Saviour Matth. 10.28 which can kill the body but are not able to kill the soule Could the Philosopher say tundis vasculum Anaxarchi non Anaxarchum Thou beatest the vessel or strikest the coffin of Anaxarchus not Anaxarchus himselfe O Tyrant Shall not a Christian with better reason say to his tormentors Yee breake the boxe ye spill not any of the oyntment ye violate the casket ye touch not the jewell neither have yee so much power as utterly and perpetually to destroy the casket viz. my body for though it be beat to dust and ground to powder yet shall it be set together againe and raised up at the last day Philip. 3.21 and made conformable to Christs glorious body by the power of God whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe 4. And lastly it is not here said simply the bruised reed shall not be broken but shall not be broken by him He shall not breake the bruised reed He shall not breake for hee came not to destroy but to save Luk 9.56 Esay 53.4 Mat. 27.30 And they took a reed and smote him on the head not to burthen but to ease not to lay load upon us but to carry all our sorrowes not to breake the bruised reed but rather to have reeds broken upon him wherewith he was smote a Plin. nat hist l. 11. Icti à scorbionibus nunquam postea à crabronibus vespis apibusve feriuntur Pliny observeth that those that are strucken by Scorpions are ever after priviledged from the stings of Waspes or Bees The beasts that were torne or hurt by any accident might not bee sacrificed or eaten It is more than enough to bee once or singly miserable whereupon he in the Greeke Poet passionately pleades against further molestation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Gods sake disease not a diseased man presse not a dying man with more weight Which because the enemies of David had the hard hearts to doe he most bitterly cursed them Poure out thine indignation upon them Psal 69.24 25 26. and let thy wrathfull anger take hold of them let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and talke to the griefe of those whom thou hast wounded O how grievously doth S. Cyprian complaine against the inhumane cruelty of the persecutors of Christians in his time who laid stripes upon stripes Cypr. epist ad Mart. In servis Dei non torquebantur membra sed vulnera and inflicted wounds upon sores and tortured not so much the members of Gods servants as their bleeding wounds Verily for this cause alone God commanded that the name of * Exod. 17.14 Amaleck should be blotted out from under heaven because they met Israel by the way when they were faint and smote the feeble among them For not to comfort the afflicted not to help a man that is hurt not to seeke to hold life in one that is swouning is inhumanity but contrarily to afflict the afflicted to hurt the wounded to trouble the grieved in spirit Cic. pro Celio sua sponte cadentem maturiùs extinguere vulnere to strike the breath out of a mans body who is giving up the ghost to breake a reed already bruised to insult upon a condemned man to vexe him that is broken in heart and adde sorrow to sorrow Oh this is cruelty upon cruelty farre be it from any Christian to practise it and yet further from his thoughts to cast any such aspersion upon the Father of mercy How should the God of all consolation drive any poore soule to desperation hee that will not breake a bruised reed will he despise a broken heart He that will not quench the smoaking flaxe will he quench his Spirit and tread out the sparkes of his grace in our soules No no his Father sealed to him another commission Esay 61.1 to preach good tidings to the meeke Luk. 4.18 to binde up the broken hearted to set at liberty them that are bruised to give unto them that mourne in Sion beauty for ashes the oyle of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heavinesse And accordingly hee sent by his Prophet a comfortable message to the daughter of Sion Matth. ex Zach. Tell her behold the King commeth unto thee meeke and riding upon an Asse a bruised reed he shall not breake hee did not breake and smoaking flaxe hee shall not quench hee did not quench Was not Peter a bruised reed when hee fell upon the rocke of offence and thrice denied his Master and went out and wept bitterly Was not Paul like smoaking flaxe in the worst sense when he breathed out threats against the Church and sought by all violent meanes to smother the new light of the Gospel yet we all see what a burning and shining lampe Christ hath made of this smoaking flaxe what a noble cane to write the everlasting mercies of God to all posterity he hath made of the other a bruised reed But what speake I of bruised reeds not broken the Jewes that crucified the Lord of life the Roman souldier that pierced his side were liker sharp pointed darts than bruised reeds yet some of these were saved from breaking Such is the vertue of the bloud of our Redeemer that it cleansed their hands that were imbrued in the effusion thereof if they afterward touch it by faith so infinite is the value of his death that it was a satisfaction even for them who were authors of it and saved some of the murtherers of their Saviour as St. a Cypr. epist Vivificatur Christi sanguine etiam qui effudit sanguinem Christi Cyprian most comfortably deduceth out of the second of the Acts They are quickned by Christs bloud who spilt it Well therefore might St. b Bern. Quid tam ad mortem quod non Christi morte sanetur Bernard demand What is so deadly which Christs death cannot heale Comfort then O comfort the fainting spirits and strengthen the feeble knees revive the spirit of the humble
ad rustic Eloquentiae torcularia non verborum pampinis sed sensuum quasi uvarum expressionibus redundarent For in these the presses of eloquence abound with leaves of words and luxuriant stemmes of extravagant wit but in it with spirituall senses and divine sentences as it were the juice and bloud of the ripest grapes of the Vine of Engeddi It is a point of wisedome in man who hath but little to make it goe as farre as he can and so thriftily instill it in his workes as Nature doth her influences in simples a great quantity whereof is often distilled to extract one drop of pure quintessence whereas on the contrary no plant of Paradise no branch of a plant no flower of a branch no leafe of a flower but affordeth great plenty of the water of life more precious than any quintessence that Art can force out of Nature The finers of gold Chrysost tom 5. homil 37. as golden mouth St. Chrysostome teacheth us deale not only with wedges ingots and massie pieces of gold but with the smallest portions thereof And the Apothecaries make singular use in divers confections even of the dust of gold When Alexander the great managed his affaires in Judea those whom he imployed to gather the most precious oyle of a Plin. l. 12. nat hist c. 25. Succus è plaga manat quem Opobalsamum vocant suavitatis eximiae sed tenui gutta Alexandro magnores ibi gerente toto dic aestivo unam concham impleri justum erat Opobalsamum thought a whole Summers day well spent in filling a small shell taking it as it fell drop by drop from the twigge And if a skilfull Jeweller will not grind out a small spot or cloud out of a rich stone though it somewhat dimme the bright lustre thereof because the substance is so precious shall we lose or sleightly passe by any Iota or tittle of the Booke of God which shall out-last the large volumes of the heavens for * Mat. 5.18 heaven earth shall passe away but no one Iota or tittle of the Word of God shall passe The Jewish Rabines say that great mountaines hang upon the smallest Jods in the Bible And St. b Chrys in Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome will not endure a devout Christian to let goe any syllable in the Scripture no nor pricke or point without observation Surely if God so carefully preserve the smallest parcels of Scripture he would have us religiously observe them Else if wee content our selves with a generall handling of the Word of life how shall wee satisfie the Apostles precept of rightly dividing the Word of God * 2. Tim. 2.15 Shew thy self a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of truth The word in the originall is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dichotomizing the Apostle tyeth no man to a precise Ramisticall method yet is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly cutting or dividing the Word of truth which cannot be done if any sensible part be omitted be it but a conjunctive particle as this Till in my Text which standeth like an hinge in the midst of the sentence turning the meaning divers wayes If it hath reference to the death and resurrection of our Saviour as Cajetan Avendanus conceive it hath in which he brought forth judgement unto victory by condemning the world conquering both death hell then the meaning of the whole is this He shall not strive nor cry c. he shall not offer any violence to his enemies by word or deed although he could as easily destroy them as a man may breake a reed already bruised or tread out the smoaking week of a light ready to goe out of it selfe yet he will not use this power but contrariwise carry himselfe most meekly towards them and by his mildnesse and patience both condemn their fury and conquer their obstinacy If it looke farther forward to the destruction of the City and Temple and the overthrow of the whole Jewish Nation as Theophylact and Musculus imagine expounding Till hee bring forth judgement unto victory till he execute judgement upon them that judged him and fully be revenged of them by the sword of the Romans then the meaning of the whole is Hee shall not breake the bruised reed of the Jewish Nation till by the victory of the Romans he shall execute judgement upon that Nation nor shall he quench the smoaking flaxe of the Aaronicall Priesthood till forty veeres after his death the City of Jerusalem shall bee sacked and the Temple burned downe to the ground and by the propagation of the Gospel and prevailing thereof in all places the dimme light of the Ceremoniall Law be quite extinguished But if the word Untill carry us so farre as the last Judgement to which St. Jerome St. Hilary c Guilliand comment in Mat. Qui diebus carnis suae visus est humilis benignus doctor aderit aliquando Jude◠utetur potentiá absolutâ damnavit hostes suos Guilliandus and many other learned Expositors referre it then the whole beareth this tune See you Jesus now in the forme of a servant how humble and meeke he is so farre from killing and subduing his bloud-thirsty enemies by forcible meanes that hee will not strive with them so farre from lifting up his hand against them that hee will not lift up his voice Hee will not cry nor shall his voice bee heard in the streets complaining against them so farre from wounding the spirit Cic. Catil prim Quos ferro vulnerare oportebat nondum voce vulnerat or hurting the bodies of any men that hee will not breake a bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flaxe The time shall come when you shall see this meek Lambe turned into a fierce Lion He who cryed not upon earth shall thunder from heaven He who came now to suffer in meeknesse shall hereafter come in power to conquer Hee who came in humility to bee judged shall come in Majesty to judge both quicke and dead Hee who came by water and bloud by water to wash our sinnes and by bloud to quench the fire of his Fathers wrath shall one day come in flaming fire to render vengeance to all that beleeve not the Gospel He who in all his life never brake a bruised reed a Beza in Mat. c. 12. Tum rebellia corda confringet non jam clemens humilis sed severus majestate verendus shall after his death and resurrection when he commeth to Judgement if not before rule the Nations with a rod of Iron and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell Hee who here never quenched the smoaking flaxe hee shall hereafter put out the greater lights of the world He shall darken the Sunne and turne the Moone into bloud and shake the powers of heaven and foundations of the earth and the hearts of men and behold he commeth with the clouds and all eyes shall see
him Apoc. 1.7 even they that nailed him to the Crosse and pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him Yea and Amen then he shall bring or send forth judgement unto victory He brought forth judgement in his life by preaching the Gospel in his owne person and he sent it forth after his death by the ministery of his Apostles and doth still by propagating the Church but hee bringeth not forth judgement unto victory in the Evangelists phrase because this his judgement is much oppressed the light of his truth smoothered the pure doctrine of the Gospel suppressed the greater part of the Kings of the earth and Potentates of this world refusing to submit their scepter to his Crosse and saying as it is in St. Lukes Gospel Luke 17.14 Wee will not have this man to reigne over us but when the sonne of man shall display his banner in the clouds and the winds shall have breathed out their last gaspes and the sea and the waters shall roare when heaven and earth shall make one great bonefire when the stage of this world shall be removed and all the actors in it shall put off their feigned persons and guises and appeare in their owne likenesse when the man of sinne 2 Thes 2.3 8. that exalteth himselfe above all that is called God shall be fully revealed and after consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and be destroyed by the brightnesse of his comming then he shall suddenly confound the rest of his enemies Atheists Hypocrites Jewes Turkes Idolatrous Gentiles and Heretikes and breake the neckes of all that stubbornly resist him and then the truth shall universally prevaile and victoriously triumph All this variety of descant which you heare is but upon two notes a higher and a lower the humility and the majesty the infirmity and the power the obscurity and the glory the mildnesse and the severity of our Lord and Saviour his humility upon earth his majesty in heaven his infirmities in the dayes of his flesh and his power since hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father the obscurity and privacy of his first comming and solemnity of his second his mildnesse and clemency during the time of grace and mercy and his wrath and severity at the day of Judgement and Vengeance Ecce tibiâ cecinimus vobis Behold out of this Scripture I have piped unto you recording the pleasing notes of our Redeemers mildnesse and mercy who never brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe now I am to mourne unto you sounding out the dolefull notes of his justice and severity which shall one day bring forth judgement unto victory But before I set to the sad tune pricked before mee in the rules of my Text I am to entreat you to listen a while till I shall have declared unto you the harmony of the Prophet Esay and the Evangelist S. Matthew the rather because there seemeth some dissonancy and jarre between them For in Esay we reade Esay 42.3 Hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth that is give sentence according to truth but in St. Matthew He shall send forth judgement unto victory which importeth somewhat more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that the judgement he shall send forth viam inveniet aut faciet shall either finde way or force it take place or make place no man or divell being able to withstand it Besides this discord in their notes there is a sweet straine in the Prophet he shall not faile Verse 4. nor bee discouraged till hee have set judgement on the earth left out in the Evangelist To the first exception the Jesuit Maldonat saith that the Syriack word signifieth both truth and victory and that Saint Matthew wrote not in pure Hebrew but in the Hebrew then currant which was somewhat alloyed and embased with other languages which if it were granted unto him as it is not by those who defend that the Greeke in the New Testament is the originall yet the breach is not fully made up For still the originall Hebrew in Esay and the Greeke in Saint Matthew which hath been ever held authenticall are at odds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifying truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke signifying victory and not truth I grant the truth of Christ is most victorious and hath subdued all the false gods of the Heathen as the Arke laid Dagon on his face and the rod of Aaron devoured all the rods of the Magicians yet truth and victory are not all one A weake Judge may bring forth judgement unto truth yet not unto victory as on the contrary a potent and corrupt Judge may bring forth judgement unto victory yet not unto truth Tully in a bad cause prevailed against Oppianicus by casting dust in the Judges eyes And Aeschines prevailed not against Ctesiphon in a good cause Right is often overcome by might and sometimes by the sleight of a cunning Advocate for the false part To the second objection Beza answereth that these words that hee will not faile nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement on the earth were anciently in St. Matthew but of late through the carelesnesse of some transcriber from whose copy ours were drawne are left out But sith this Verse is wanting in all the copies of Saint Matthew now extant neither can Beza bring good proofe of any one in which this Verse was ever found it is not safe to lay any such imputation upon the first transcribers of St. Matthewes Gospel whereby a gap may be opened to Infidels and Heretickes to cavell at the impeachable authority of the holy Scriptures in the originall languages A safe and easie way to winde out of these perplexed difficulties is to acknowledge that the Evangelist who wrote by the same spirit wherewith the Prophet Esay was inspired tyed nor himselfe precisely to the Prophets words but fitteth the Prophets sense to his owne purpose and what the Prophet delivered in two Verses he contracteth into one For what is hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth and he shall not faint nor be discouraged till hee hath done it but that he shall doe it effectually and powerfully and what is that but he shall send forth judgement unto victory Hee shall send forth Cal. in Mat. 1. Hoc verbum educere quo utitur Propheta significat officium Christi esse Regnum Dei quod tum inclusum erat in angulo Judeae propagare in totum orbem This phrase reacheth forth unto us a twofold observation the first touching the extent the second touching the freedome of this judgement here spoken of By judgement is here meant the Kingdome of Christ which must not bee confined to Jury nor bounded within the pale of Palaestine but hee sent forth that is propagated and spread over the whole world according to the prophecy of the Psalmist a Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send a rod of thy strength out
so wonderfully for nought but that he reserved him for some greater worke and service to his Church as wee see this day There remaineth yet one clause in my text And the mouth of every one that speaketh lies shall bee stopped and answerably an appendix to the narration of the conspiracie of the Gowries for stopping the mouthes of all that shall call in question the truth of that relation Which besides the conscience of his Majesty the deposition of his servants the publicke justice of the Parliament of Scotland the solemne piety and devotion of the Churches of great Brittaine and Ireland was sixteene yeeres after the plotting thereof and eight yeeres after the acting confirmed by the publicke free and voluntarie confession of p Vid. a booke intituled the examination of G. Sprot published with a learned preface to it by G.A. Dr. D. and Dean of Winchester George Sprot arraigned and executed at Edinburgh for it Thus have I fitted each member of this prophecy to the severall parts of the storie of his Majesties deliverance as on this day betweene which there is such good correspondencie that the prophesie seemeth text to the storie and the storie a commentarie on the prophesie Observe I beseech you the harmony of them and let your heart dance with joy at every straine 1. The first is They that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe downe c. This was exemplified and according to the letter accomplished in Alexander Ruthwen who sought the ruine of our David and was himselfe throwne downe the staires and after part of him into the lowest parts of the earth a deepe pit into which his bowels were cast 2. The second is They shall cast him downe by the edge of the sword This was accomplished in the Earle Gowrie whom the Kings servants smote in the study with the edge of the sword that hee died and fell at their feet 3. The third is And they shall be a portion for foxes that is lie unburied for a prey to the fowles of heaven and beasts of the earth this was accomplished in all the Traitors who were according to the Lawes of the kingdome hanged drawne and quartered and their quarters set up upon the most eminent parts of the Citie where the fowles preyed upon them till they dropped downe to the ground and were made an end of by some ravenous beasts 4. The fourth is The King shall rejoyce in God This was literally verified in our King who joyfull after hee was plucked out of the jawes of death gave publicke thankes to God and ascribed the whole glory of his deliverance and victorie over his enemies to his gracious goodnesse and in memorie of this so great a benefit commanded this feast which wee now celebrate to be solemnly kept in all his Dominions yeerely 5. The fifth is And all that sweare by him that is all which worship the true God the God of our Jacob or all that sweare to him that is allegiance to his Majestie shall glorie This as it was accomplished in other congregations so is it in us here present assembled to glorie in the Lord for this wonderfull delivery of their then and now also our Soveraigne 6. The sixt and last is And the mouth of all that speake lies shall bee stopped This was also fulfilled by the meanes of George Sprot who by his pious behaviour and penitent confession at his death and a signe which he promised to shew after his breath should be stopped and accordingly performed after he had hanged a great while clapping his hands above his head stopped the mouth of all such as before spake lies against the truth of the precedent relation To the lively expression whereof I have borrowed as you see Davids princely characters and set the presse placing each letter in his ranke and part in his order What remaineth but that I pray to God by his spirit to stampe them in our hearts and so imprint them in our memories that he that runneth may reade our thankfulnesse to God for this deliverance and confidence in his future protection of our Soveraignes person and love and loyaltie to his Majestie whom God hath so strangely saved from the sword to save the sword from us that in peace and safety he might receive and sway the Scepter of these Kingdomes of great Brittaine and Ireland Which long may hee with much prosperity and honour to the glory of God and propagation of the truth libertie and safetie of the Church and Common-wealth exceeding joy and comfort of all his friends and remarkeable shame and confusion of his implacable enemies So bee it Deo patri c. THE LORD PROTECTOR OF PRINCES OR DEUS ET REX GOD AND THE KING A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon August 5. 1620. THE SIXTH SERMON PSAL. 21.1 The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Or as wee reade in the Bishops Bible The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation THat manifold or to make a new compound to translate a compound in the Originall a Eph. 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multivarious wisedome and goodnesse of God which hath illustrated the firmament with varietie of starres some more some lesse glistering and glorious enamell'd the meadowes with choyce of flowers some more some lesse beautifull and fragrant inriched the sands of the Sea with pearle some more some lesse orient and veines of the earth with metals some more some lesse pretious hath also decked and garnished the Calendar of the Church with variety of Feasts some more some lesse holy and solemn You may observe a kinde of Hierarchy among them some have a preheminence over the rest which we call greater and higher Feasts Among which this day challengeth his place on which we refresh the memorie of his Majesties rescue out of the prophane and impious hands of the Earle Gowry and Alexander Ruthwen A paire of unnaturall brethren brethren in nature and brethren in a most barbarous and unnaturall attempt against their Soveraigne the Lords annointed brethren by bloud and brethren also in bloud who by the just judgement of God cleansed that study with their owne bloud which they would have for ever stained by the effusion there of the Royall bloud of the most innocent Prince that ever sate on that or this Throne whom almighty God seemeth not so much to have preserved from those imminent dangers he then escaped as reserved for these unvaluable blessings we now enjoy by the prorogation of his life enlarging of his Scepter and propagation of his Issue In his life the life of our hope is revived in his Scepter the Scepter of Christ is extended in his stocke the root of Jesse is propagated and shall I hope flourish to the end of the world For this cause the King shall rejoyce c. he shall rejoyce in thee we in
with a head of gold armes of silver bellie and thighes of brasse and legs of Iron yet thou standest upon feet of clay And what is now become of the head of gold which represented the Assyrian and armes of silver which resembled the Persian and the thighes of brasse which set forth the Grecian and the legs of iron which signified the Roman Monarchy Are they not all broken together and become like chaffe of a summers flower dispersed with the winde How proudly doth Sennacherib insult over those Nations whom his Ancestors had destroyed u Esay 37.13 Where is the King of Hamath and the King of Arphad and the King of the Citie Sepharvaim Hena and Ivah Little did he then thinke of a bird from the East Cyrus by name that after a short time should chirpe the like note at the Court of the great King of Ashur Where is the King of Shinar and the King of Babylon and the King of Damascus and the King of Nineveh and the great Monarch of Assyria Whereas he should with Nebuchadnezzar have x Dan. 4.34.35 honoured for these victories him that liveth for ever whose Kingdome is from generation to generation And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the armie of heaven and among the Inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou x Horat. l. 1. car od 34. Valet ima summis mutare insignem attenuat Deus hinc apicem rapax fortuna sustulit hic posuisse gaudet If the state of Kingdomes and Monarchies is so fickle what follie or rather madnesse is it for any private man to dreame of perpetuities and certainties and indefeisable estates As if a man might be safe in a small cabbine under hatches when the whole Ship is drowned under the water or a Spider secure in his web when the whole window is pulled downe or a young bird out of danger in the nest when the whole arme of the tree is torne off All private mens estates are ventered in the bottome of the Common-wealth and all Common-wealthes in the great vessell of the earth which was once swallowed up with a deluge of Water and shall be ere it be long with a deluge of fire A house infected with some kinde of Leprosie by the Law was to be pulled downe and burnt to ashes and when iniquitie shall so abound on the earth that the whole world shall be infected with the Leprosie of monstrous and enormous sins this great house which hath beene long tottered shall be burned and fall downe about our eares And verily if all other signes be accomplished as many of the learned in their commentaries upon the Apocalyps contend I should thinke the world cannot long stand for y Juvenal sat 1. Quando ubâ—rior vitiorum copia quando Major avaritia patuit sinus c Horat. l. 1. car od 35. Eheu cicatricuÌ„ sceleris pudet fratrumque quid nos dura refugimus caetas quid intactum nefasti liquimus Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit Every sinne is growne to the height Atheisme to the height even in men of high calling prophanenesse to the height even on the Lords Sabbaths and in his holy Temple Impuritie and immodestie at the height even daring the consistory Iniquitie at the height possessing the place and seat of justice Drunkennesse at the height reeling at noone-day Idolatrie Heresie and Superstition at the height advancing their followers to the highest preferments in the Church and keeping under pure Religion and the sincere Professours thereof It will be said though plagues fall upon all Egypt yet Goshen shall be free though the whole world be destroyed all Israel shall be saved Israel is Gods first-borne who shall dis-inherit him Israel is the Vine which the right hand of God hath planted who shall root it up Israel is the Signet on his finger who shall plucke it off Nay Israel is the apple of his eye who shall pull it out Let heaven and earth passe away yet Gods covenant with Israel shall stand fast his seed shall endure for ever and his throne shall bee as the Sunne before God If these promises stand good unto Israel this Prophecie of Israels downefall must needs fall to the ground For how can the Kingdome of Jacob and the captivitie of Jacob Israels gathering out of all Nations and Israels scattering abroad into all Nations Israels perpetuall standing and Israels falling and utter subversion stand together To compose this seeming difference betweene Gods promises to Israel and his threats against Israel we must distinguish of divers kindes of promises made to Israel and of divers Israels to which the promises may appertaine Israel sometime signifieth 1. Properly 1. Either the whole posteritie of Jacob 2. Or the ten tribes which were rent from Roboam 2. Figuratively The spiritual kingdome of Christ over the Elect. Againe there is a threefold Israel 1. According to the flesh onely of which the a Rom. 9.6 Rom. 11.25 Apostle speaketh expressely They are not all Israel which are of Israel And obstinacie is come to Israel b 1 Cor. 10.18 Behold Israel after the flesh 2. Israel according to the Spirit onely c Heb. 8.10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes I will put my Law into their mindes and write them in their hearts c. and so all d Rom. 11.26 Israel shal be saved for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sinnes 3. Israel according to the flesh and spirit which may rightly be called the Israel of Israel as Demosthenes termeth Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greece of Greece to Israel in this third sense Christ had a speciall commission I am not sent saith he but to the lost e Math. 10.6 Gâ—â— to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel sheepe of the house of Israel Saint Paul pointeth to this Israel when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in all f Rom. 10.26 Israel shall be saved And Saint John g Apoc. 7 4. There were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel Retaine these distinctions of Israel and put a difference betweene the promises whereof Some are 1. Absolute 2. Conditionall Some are 1. Temporall 2. Spirituall and you shall easily reconcile those texts of Scriptures which seeme to overthrow this prophecie concerning the utter overthrow of the Kingdome of Israel by which we are here to understand the ten Tribes which fell out not long after this Prophecie in the daies of Hosea their last King As for Judah the h Gen. 49.10 Scepter according to Jacobs prophecy departed not from it untill Shilo came but after he came and was rejected of that Nation and the sacred twig of Jesse was nailed to an accursed tree God cut it off root
have no opinion of his wisedome but to know that undoubtedly he knoweth nothing at least as he ought to know Justinian though a great Emperour could not avoid the censure of folly for calling his wife by the name of Sapientia because saith Saint Austin nomen illud augustius est quam ut homini conveniat because the name of wise and much more of wisedome in the abstract is too high a title for any on earth to beare What greater folly then can be imagined in any man or woman to assume wisedome to themselves whose greatest wisedome consisteth in the humble acknowledgement of their follies and manifold oversights Therefore Lactantius wittily comes over the seven wise masters as they are called whom antiquity no lesse observed than Sea-men doe the seven Starres about the North Pole When saith he n Lact. â— 4. divin institâ— 1. Sicaeterâ— omnes praeter ipsos stulti fuerâ—nt ne illi quidem sapientes quâ—aneâ—â— sapiens veâ—e stâ—ltorum judicio esse potest there were but seven wise men in all the world I would faine know in whose judgement they were held so in their owne or the judgement of others if in the judgement of others then of fooles by their owne supposition empaling all wisedome within the breasts of those seven if in their owne judgement they were esteemed the onely wise of that age then must they needs be fooles for no such foole as he who is wise in his owne conceit This consideration induced Socrates to pull downe his crest and renounce the name of a wise man and exchange Sophon into Philosophon the name of Sophister into Philosopher of wise into a lover of wisedome with which title all that succeeded him in his Schoole of wisedome contented themselves When the o Sphinx Philosoph c. 7. Gryphus Milesian Fishermen drew up in their net a massie piece of gold in the forme of a Table or planke there grew a great strife and contention in Law whose that draught should be whether the Fishermens who rented the fishing in that river or the Lords of the soyle and water In the end fearing on all hands lest this Altar of gold should melt away in law charges they deferre the judgement of this controversie to Apollo who by his Oracle answered that it neither appertained to the Fishermen nor to the Lord of the Mannor but ought to bee delivered as a present to the wisest man then living Whereupon this golden Table was first tendered to Thales the Milesian who sendeth it to Bias Bias to Solon Solon in the end to Apollo whom the heathen adored as the God of wisdome By this shoving of the Table from wise man to wise man and in the end fixing it in the Temple of Apollo they all in effect subscribed to the judgement of him who thus concludes his Epistle To p Rom 16.27 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King immortall invisible the onely wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever God onely wise bee glory for ever And questionlesse if wee speake of perfect and absolute wisedome it must bee adored in heaven not sought for on the earth Hee alone knoweth all things who made all things hee comprehendeth them in his science who containeth them in his essence Yet ought we to seeke for the wisedome here meant as for treasure and although wee may not hope in this life to be wise unto perfection yet may we and ought we to know the holy Scriptures which are able to make us q 2 Tim. 3.15 wise unto salvation In these we find a fourefold wisedome mentioned 1. Godly 1. Godly wisedome is piety 2. Worldly 2. Worldly wisedome is policy 3. Fleshly 3. Fleshly wisedome is sensuality 4. Divelish 4. Divelish wisedome is mischievous subtlety 1. Godly wisedome is here meant as the words following make it evident Serve the Lord with feare and reason makes it yet more evident For the Prophet needed not to exhort Princes to worldly wisdome the point of Policie is too well studied by them nor to fleshly wisdome for they mostly take but too much care to fulfill their lusts and maintain their Port and provide for their temporall peace and safetie As for divellish wisedome which makes men wise to doe r Jer. 4.22 evill so holy a Prophet as David was would not so much as have taken it in his lips unlesse peradventure to brand it with the note of perpetuall infamie The wisedome therefore which he here commendeth to Kings is a godly a holy and a heavenly wisedome A wisedome which beginneth in the feare of God and endeth in the salvation of man A wisedome that rebuketh the wisedome of the flesh and despiseth the wisedome of the world and confoundeth the wisedome of the Divell A wisedome that advertiseth us of a life after this life and a death after this death and sheweth us the meanes to attaine the one and avoid the other Morall or civill wisedome is as the eye of the soule but this wisedome the Spirit here preferreth to Kings is the eye of the spirit Ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus where the Philosopher ends there the spirituall Physician begins The highest step of humane wisedome is but the lowest and first of divine As Moses his face shined after he communed with God so all morall and intellectuall vertues after we have communion with Christ and he commeth neere to us by his spirit receive a new lustre from supernaturall grace Prudence or civill wisedome is in the soule as a precious diamond in a ring but spirituall wisedome is like Solis jubar the Sunnes rayes falling upon this Diamond wonderfully beautifying and illustrating it Of this heavenly light at this time by the eye-salve of the Spirit cleering our sight wee will display five beames 1. The first to beginne with our end and to provide for our eternall estate after this life in the first place For here we stay but a while and be our condition what it will be it may be altered there wee must abide by it without any hope of change Here wee slide over the Sea of glasse mentioned in the Å¿ Apoc. 15.2 And I saw as it were a sea of glasse Apocalyps but there we stand immoveable in our stations here we are like wandring starres erraticke in our motions there we are fixed for ever either as starres in heaven to shine in glorie or as brandirons in hell to glowe in flames Therefore undoubtedly the unum necessarium the one thing above all things to be thought upon is what shall become of us after we goe hence and be no more seene The heathen saw the light of this truth at a chincke as it were who being demanded why they built for themselves glorious sepulchres but low and base houses answered because in the one they sojourned but for a short space in the other they dwelt To this Solomon had an eye when hee termeth the grave mans t Eccles 12.5 Man goeth
to his long home and the moâ—rners goe about the streets long home and a greater than Solomon when he informeth his Disciples that in his u Joh 14.2 Fathers house there are many mansions that is standing or abiding places Such are many in heaven built upon precious stones but none on earth here we have onely stands for an houre or boothes for a Faire or bowers for a dance or at the most Innes for a bait x Eccles 3.2 There is a time saith the wise man to bee borne and a time to die what and no time betwixt sometimes none at all as in those that are still-borne if it be any as sometimes it is he makes no reckoning of it but joynes death immediately to our birth as if they were contiguous and our cradles stood in our grave The space betweene our birth and death be it extended to the longest period is but a moment in respect of eternity and yet ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas upon the well or ill employing of this moment dependeth our eternitie I will tell you a strange thing saith y Sen ep ad Lucil. Seneca Many die before they begin to live I can tell you a stranger thing many die before ever they thinke of the true life These howsoever they may carry the name of wise and great States-men yet when it will be too late they shall see their folly farre to exceed that of the simplest Idiot in the world when at the houre of their death finding that they have laid out their whole stocke of wealth and wit in purchasing and furnishing a chamber in a thorough fare and provided themselves no house in the Citie where they are for ever to abide shall cry out in the bitternesse of their soule either with z Carion in Cron. Severus Omnia fui nihil profui I have beene all things and yet have done no good at all or with Adrian a Sphinx Philos O animula vagula blandula hospes comesque corporis quae nunc abibis in loca c. O my pretty soule the pleasant guest and companion of my bodie into what places shalt thou now goe naked cold and trembling or with the afflicters of the righteous b Wisd 5.8 9 10.13 What hath pride profited us or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us All these things are passed away like a shadow and like a post that hasteth by And as a Ship that passeth over the waves of the water which when it is gone by the trace thereof cannot bee found neither the path-way of the keele in the waves Even so wee in like manner as soone as wee were borne began to draw to our end and had no signe of vertue to shew but were consumed in our owne wickednesse I like well of his resolution who said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I hate that wise man whose wisedome reflects not upon himselfe who is no whit bettered by his wisedome Hee cannot bee wise who is not provident hee is not provident who prepares not a place for his soule after shee is dislodged of the bodie Hee is no thriftie man who lavisheth out his time and spendeth his strength in pursuing shadowes when with lesse paine and cost hee might have purchased a substantiall and indefeisable estate hee is no good husband who taketh perpetuall care for his temporall affaires and taketh little or none at any time for his spirituall and eternall who gathereth treasure upon earth where rust and a Matth. 7.19 moth doth corrupt and theeves breake thorough and steale and layeâ—â— up no treasure in heaven where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt and theeves doe not breake thorough and steale who drives a great and rich trade in forraine parts and returnes no money by letters of exchange sent by the hands of the poore to be repaid him upon his return into his country in heaven who travels sea and land to dig into the bowels of the earth yea and sometimes rakes hell also for unrighteous b Luke 16.9 Mammon and when he hath great store of it makes no friends with it that when he failes they may receive him into everlasting habitations 2. The second precept is to informe our selves certainely how we stand in the Court of heaven whether recti in curia or no to know by the reflection of grace in our soules whether Gods countenance shine upon us or there be a cloud betweene it and us For as the c Plin. nat hist l. 9. c. 35. Coeli iis major societas est quam maris inde nubilum trahunt colorem aut pro claritate matutina serenum Margarite or pearle hath such affinity with the skie that if it be bred at the opening of the shell fish in a cleere morning the colour thereof is cleere and the stone most orient but if in a duskie evening or when the heaven is over-cast with clouds the colour thereof is darker and the stone lesse precious so the hidden man of the heart is lightsome and cheerefull when Gods face shines upon him but sad and dejected when heaven lowres upon him Without assurance that we are in the state of grace and reconciled to God in Christ there is no comfort in life and death because no sound joy nor settled peace within Neither is it so easie a matter as some imagine to get this assurance or the knowledge thereof For not onely the sicke patient but also sometimes the skilfull Physician is deceived in the state of our bodie though all ordinary diseases have their certaine symptomes by which they may be knowne even to sense how much more difficult a thing is it certainely to judge of the state of our soule A man may set a good face on it as Tiberius did and brave it out yea and riot also who yet hath such a secret disease which will make an end of him in a few houres Nay a man may take infection or receive some bruise inwardly or spring some veine and yet not know of it till it be too late to cure it in like maner a man that maketh great profession of Religion and carrieth a great appearance of piety and sanctity both at Church and in his owne house feeling no inward gripe of conscience may yet have taken some infection of Heresie or have still in him some poyson of malice or bruise of faction or rupture of schisme or corrupt humours of luxurie and daily decay in grace and be in a spirituall consumption and yet perceive it not I have no commission to ransacke any mans conscience nor to make privie search for concealed Idols or masqued hypocrisie or vailed impudencie or closely conveyed bribery or secretly vented luxurie or statutable usurie or legall simonie or customary sacriledge Onely I will bee bold to say the least breach which any of the above named sinnes make in the conscience is like a small leake in the bottome of a Ship which if it be not
freer from the fumes of bodily meats and the smoake of worldly cares and businesse As for the exceeding in some one day or other in variety of all palate provocations it is a vaine thing for me or any other to speake against it quia venter non habet aures the belly hath no eares especially to heare any thing against it selfe If it had I should have craved a Writ of remove of these Vitellian feasts out of the confines of Lent or made a motion that these surcharges of purse and stomacke might be turned into the Lacedaemonian b Phiditia were sparing meales or frugall seasts so named from ecl 〈◊〉 signifying to spare or be thrifty Phiditia or at least that the superaboundancie in them might not be wasted by luxurie to the hurt of our owne bodies but dispenced by charity to the reliefe of others that devotion might recover that in almes deeds which it loseth in fasting so would our tender and indulgent Mother Christs dearest Spouse the Church vouchsafe these meetings her presence as Mary the Mother of Jesus was present at the Feast in Cana and Christ himselfe would furnish the wine of spirituall joy and gladnesse even at these Feasts though like Saint Paul c 1 Cor. 15.8 borne out of due time But I leave the time and have an eye to the notes pricked in my text which are three 1. Religion enjoyneth learning Be learned 2. Learning becommeth and qualifieth Judges Ye Judges 3. Judges give sentences of and rules for land The earth 1. Divine wisedome excludeth not humane learning Be learned 2. Learning is not onely a comely ornament but a necessary accoustrement of a Judge Ye Judges 3. All Judges on earth are Judges of earth that is consisting of earth or sitting upon the earth The earth The earth is their materia ex qua and circa quam too 1. The matter of which they are made 2. The matter on which they make and give their judgement and sencence O all ye Kings of these Netherlands manum ad Sceptrum oculos ad Astra there is a King above who over-lookes you all and will one day breake your Scepters with his Iron mace O yee Judges of this lower Circle and Circuits manum ad Gladium oculos ad Astra there is a Judge of heaven who will set his tribunall in the clouds and call all you to his bar and your judgements in question before him Be wise now therefore O ye Kings advance his Kingdome in yours be learned ye Judges of the earth declare his judgement by yours Tullie giveth this character of Thacydides that in his writings there are neere as many d Cic. declar orat Numerum verborum numero sententiarum penè consecutus est sentences as words such is the Rhetorike of this parcell of holy writ the parts are answerable to the words the points of doctrine to the parts the uses to the points of doctrine 1 Erudimini there is the charge 2 Judices there is the stile 3 Terrae there is the circuit of the Judges 1 Be learned there is the aime of your study 2 Yee Judges there is the title of your place 3 Of the earth there is the embleme of your frailty These parts hold good correspondence 1 The first with this present exercise 2 The second with this honourable auditory 3 The third with this holy time 1 It is most agreeable at a Reading to treat of learning Be ye learned 2 It is most proper to give the Judges charge before the prime Judges of the kingdome Ye Judges 3 It is most seasonable to frame a discourse of the mould of us all earth and ashes in the time of Lent Of the earth By the law the e Levit. 1.16 And ye shall pluck away the filth thereof with his feathers and cast it besides the Altar by the place of the ashes crop or as it is in the Hebrew the filth of the birds that were sacrificed together with their feathers were to be cast in locum cinerum into the place of ashes Now if ever is the season not only to purge or remove the filth of our lives out of the sight of God but also to cast away the beautifull pompes maskes shewes and all othes vanities of the world which are no better than feathers in locum tinerum where wee ought to mourne for our sinnes in sacke-cloth and ashes pulvis cinis dust and ashes have great affinity with terrae in my text Be learned When f Cic. de orat l. 1. Neque tam molestus mibi fuit Antonius quod jus nostrum civile pervellit quam jucundus quod se id nescire confessus est Antony carped at the study of the civill law withall acknowledging his small sight therein Scaevola a great Lawyer smiling said that he made a kind of amends for his invective against the Law by professing his ignorance therein For it is no disparagement to any science or profession to bee sleighted by such as understand it not A bright beame and great light troubleth and dazeleth and paineth also a weake eye Urit enim fulgore suo Who can blame g Peti Dialectâ—cum criminatur sed cum ad interrogata respondere non possit Petilian the Donatist for complaining of Saint Austins Logicke whereby that ignorant Hereticke was non-plussed and shamed Verily as fast hath no enemy but gluttony chastity but lust frugality but luxurie wisedome but follie humilitie but pride orthodoxe doctrine but heresie so neither knowledge but ignorance Wherefore whatsoever faire glosse of the Scriptures selfe-sufficiency the Brownists and Separatists put upon their secret undermining of our Schooles and Universities and stopping up the Well-springs of good Learning among us their true end is that h Eras adag Inter coecos luscum regnare posse among blinde men they might bee some body who among sharpe-sighted men are no body For the Latine proverbe puts them in some heart viz. that a purblinde man may be a jolly fellow nay by good reason chosen a King among such as are starke blinde Doubtlesse if ever learning were needfull it is now adayes most necessary when men by subtle Sophistry and deceivable eloquence not onely goe about to wrangle us out of our estates but also juggle us out of our Religion Call ye it a reformation is it not rather the deformation of a building to damb up the lights thereof The state of g Aelian de var. hist l. 3. Gravissima 〈◊〉 poeâ—am inflixerunt ut libeâ—os suos non docerent literas Miâ—ylene desiring to be revenged to the uttermost on their Confederates that had revolted from them after they had got the mastery of them laid this as the forest punishment they could devise upon them that none of their children should goe to schoole or be brought up in learning And in a like regard Julians persecution was accounted more grievous than that of Dioclesian though that blasphemous Apostata shed
cause in favour of the defendant and being taxed for it by his friends in private shewing them the coyn he received demanded of them quis possit tot armatis resistere who were able to stand against so many in complete armour Steele armour is bullet or musket proofe but nothing except the feare of God is gold or silver proofe Nothing can keepe a Judge from receiving a reward in private in a colourable cause but the eye of the Almighty who seeth the corrupt Judge in secret and will reward him openly if not in his lower Courts on earth yet in his high Court of Star-chamber in heaven 5 All corruption is not in bribes hee who for hope of advancement or for favour or for any by-respect whatsoever perverteth judgement is not cleere from corruption though his hands be cleane The Judges who absolved the beautifull strumpet Phryne had their hands cleane but their eyes foule The Judges who absolved Murena that by indirect meanes purchased the Consulship of Rome are not taxed for taking any bribe from him yet was their judgment corrupt because that which swayed them in judgment was not the innocency of Murena but his modest carriage together with his sickness then upon him moving them unto compassion An upright Judge must in a morall sense be like Melchisedek without Father or Mother kiffe or kin I meane in justice hee must take no notice of any affinity or consanguinity friendship or favour or any thing else save the merits of the cause to which 6 Hee must give a full hearing for otherwise the Poet will tell him that g Sen. in med Qui aliquid statuit parte inauditá alterá aequum licet statuerit baud aequus est though the sentence he gives may be just yet he cannot be just The eare is not only the sense of discipline or learning as the Philosopher speaketh but of faith also as the Apostle teacheth yea and of truth also and justice Though a Judge need not with Philip stop one of his eares while the accuser is speaking yet ought he alwayes to reserve an eare for the defendant and according to the ancient decree of the Areopagites h Demost orat de coron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heare both parties with like attention and indifferency their full time Albeit our Lord and Saviour knew the hearts of men which no earthly Judge can yet to prescribe a rule to all Judges hee professeth sicut audio sic judico i Joh. 5.30 as I heare so I judge Never any Romane Emperour was so much censured with injustice and folly as k Sueton. in Claud. Claudius Caesar and the reason why hee so oft mistooke was because hee often sentenced causes upon the hearing of one side only and somtimes upon the full hearing of neither But of hearing you heare every day not onely the Preachers at the Assizes but the Counsell on both parts call upon you for it I would you heard as oft of that which I am to touch in the next place without which hearing is to no purpose 7 Expedition If the time had not prevented me I would have long insisted upon the prolonging of suits in all Courts of justice For a man can come into none of them but hee shall heare many crying with him in the Poet Quem das finem Rex magne laborum When shall we leave turning Ixions wheele and rowling Sisyphus stone O that we had an end either way long delayed justice often more wrongeth both parties than injustice either I am not ignorant of the colourable pretence wherewith many excuse these delayes affirming that questions in law are like the heads of Hydra when you cut off one there arise up two in the place of it which if it were so as it argueth a great imperfection in our laws which they who are best able make no more haste to supply than beggars to heale the raw flesh because these gaine by such defects as they by shewing their sores so it no way excuseth the protraction of the ordinary suits disputes and demurres in which there is no more true controversie in point of law than head in a sea-crab 8 Of courage and resolution I shall need to adde nothing to what hath beene spoken because the edge of your sword of justice hath a strong backe the authority of a most religious and righteous Prince under whom you need not feare to doe justice but rather not to execute justice upon the most potent delinquent 9 There remaines nothing but Equity to crowne all your other vertues which differeth but little from moderation above enforced for moderation is equity in the minde as equity is moderation in the sentence Bee not over just saith l Eccl. 7.16 Solomon but moderate thy justice with equity and mitigate it with mercy for summum jus est summa injuria justice without mercy is extreme cruelty and mercy without justice is foolish pity both together make Christian equity Therfore these two vertues resemble Castor and Pollux which if either alone appeare on the mast is ominous but both together promise a prosperous voyage or like the metals which are so termed quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the veynes succeed one the other after the veyne of one metall you fall upon the veyne of another so in scripture you shall finde a sequence of these vertues as in the Prophet Micah m Micah 6.8 Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to doe justly and love mercy and in Zechary n Zech. 7.9 Execute true judgement and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother and in Solomon o Pro. 21.21 Hee that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy findeth life righteousnesse and honour To gather then up at length the scattered links of my discourse to make a golden chaine for your neckes Be instructed O ye Judges of the earth either Judges made of earth earthly men or made Judges of the earth that is controversies about lands tenures and other earthly and temporall causes serve the Lord of heaven in feare and rejoice unto him with trembling bee religious in your devotion moderate in your passions learned in the lawes incorrupt in your courts impartiall in your affections patient in hearing expedite in proceeding resolute in your sentence and righteous in judgement and execution So when the righteous Judge shall set his tribunall in the clouds and the unrighteous Judge as being most contrary to him shall receive the heaviest doome ye that are righteous Judges as being likest to him shall receive a correspondent reward and bee taken from sitting upon benches on earth to be his Assessours on his throne in heaven To whom c. THE APOSTOLICK BISHOP A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the L. B. of Bristow before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seale and divers other Lords Spirituall and Temporall and other persons of eminent quality
ut eorum exposcit officium nomen consulant quaeritur enim quantum reddat episcopatus non quot oves pascuae in eo sint Platina giveth a touch hereof in the life of Pope Goodface the third the first question is after a man is chosen Pope what is the Bishopricke of Rome worth Filthy lucre carrieth such an ill favour with it that the precious oyntment of Aaron cannot take away the smell thereof Covetousnesse is a spot in any coat but a stain in the linnen Ephod what so unfit what so incongruous nay what so opprobrious and scandalous as for those who in scripture are stiled Angels and should like Angels by continuall meditations and divine contemplations behold the face of God in heaven to turne earth-wormes and lye and feed upon very mucke How dare they deliver the holy Sacrament with those hands that have received bribes or are defiled with the price of blood or are foule with telling their use-money Holinesse which of all other most be fitteth our sacred calling in the greeke implyeth a contradiction to earthlinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wee render holy is all one in that language as unearthly If a glasse bee soyled with dust or beâ—â—â—eared with dirt it reflecteth no image at all in like manner if the minde bee soyled with the dust of earthlinesse the image of God cannot appeare in it the fancie of such a man will represent no spirituall forme conceive no divine or heavenly imaginations If wee seeke our owne and not the things that are Jesus Christs the goods not the good of our flocke wee lose the first letter of our name in the Prophet r Ezek. 3.17 Sonne of man I have made thee a watchman Ezekiel and of speculatores become peculatores and are not to be termed praedicatores but praedatores But I will not make this blot bigger by unskilfully going about to take it out 8 Of those that feede Not as Lords and take the over-sight of Gods flocke that is among them not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready minde some carry themselves like Lords over the flocke not as ensamples to their flock they goe in and out before them in a stately and lordly gate Å¿ Concil Carthag 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fumosus seculityphus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in swelling pride not in exemplary humility seeking rather to over-rule them with terrour and violence than rule over them with the spirit of meeknesse These though they are put up to the highest fourme yet have not learned the first lesson in the schoole of Christianity t Matth. 11.29 to be meek and lowly in heart neither understand they that divine graces which are the plants of Paradise are like to the tree in the Poet that bare golden boughes u Virg. Aen. 6. Quae quantum vertice ad auras Aethereas tantum radice in Tartara tendit whose root was just so much beneath the earth as the top was in height above it The higher Gods Saints grow upwards to perfection the deeper they take root downward in humility considering that they have nothing of their owne but sinne and what a foolish and impious sinne of pride is it to bee proud of sinne He that presumes on his owne strength saith holy Austine is conquered before hee fight To repose trust in our selves saith * Bern. serm 20. in vigil nat dom Sibimet ipsi fidere non fidei sed perfidiae est nec confidentiae sed diffidentiae magis in semetipso habere fiduciam Bernard is not of faith but perfidiousnesse neither breeds it true confidence but diffidence To bee proud of knowledge is to bee blinde with light to bee proud of vertue is to poyson himselfe with the Antidote and to be proud of authority is to make his rise his downefall and his ladder his ruine It is the darke foyle that giveth the Diamond its brightest lustre it is the humble and low and obscure conceit of our owne worth that giveth lustre and grace to all our vertues and perfections if we have any Moses glory was the greater because his face shined and he knew not of it Thus have I numbred unto you the severall linkes of the Apostles golden chaine of instructions for Pastors now let us gather them together in a narrow roome 1 Be not such as neede to be fed but are able and willing to feede 2 Feede not your selves but the flocke 3 Feede not the flocke or droves of Antichrist but the flocke of God 4 Feede the flocke of God not out of your charge or without you but the flocke of God which is among you 5 Content not your selves with feeding them onely with the Word and Sacrament but over-looke them also have an eye to their manners 6 Doe this not constrainedly but willingly 7 Not out of private respects but freely 8 Not proudly but humbly not to shew your authority over the flock but to set before them an ensample in your selves of humility meekenesse temperance patience and all other vertues Thus feede the flocke of God that is among you thus rule those whom you feede thus carry yourselves towards those whom you rule thus give good ensample in your carriage and when the chiefe shepheard and Bishop of your soules Christ Jesus shall appeare you shall receive in stead of a Crosier a Scepter of a Miter a Crowne of a Diocesse upon earth a Kingdome in heaven You see I have a large and plentifull field before mee yet I purpose at this time to follow the example of the Apostles x Matth. 12.1 who as they passed through the corne field plucked only an eare or two and rubbed them in their hands To rub the first eare that you may see what graine it yeeldeth To feed saith y l. 1. de Rom. pont c. 15. In scripturis pascere passim accipitur pro regere ut psal 2. reges cos in virgâ ferreâ in Heb. est pasce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apoc. 2.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bellarmine signifieth to rule with princely authority to sway the scepter as a spirituall Prince over Christs flocke and to this purpose hee alledgeth that text in the Apocalyps 2.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee shall feede or rule them with a rod of iron hard feeding for Christs sheepe hee had need to have an Estridge's stomacke that can digest this interpretation here Feed not over-ruling ver 3. that is over-rule them not feeding this is as naturall an interpretation of this scripture as the glosse upon the word statuimus in the Canon law id est abrogamus or statuimus quod non wee enact that is wee abrogate we command that is wee forbid we appoint this that is wee appoint that this shall not bee If this be a right interpretation of this place and the other parallel to it in Saint z Joh. 20.17 John then Saint * Bernard de considerat
Adag Semper Africa aliquid apportat novi c. so in the places of moist meetings monstrous sinnes are begotten monstrous oaths monstrous blasphemies monstrous murders monstrous uncleannesse here Popery is familiarly broacht nay Atheisme freely vented Gods creatures abused his Sabbath profaned the actions of the State censured the watchfull Magigistrates and the zealous Ministers of the Gospell and all that make profession of Religion nick-named jeared and made a parable of reproach here prophane Musicke and impure Songs are played and sung even in time of divine Service here 's no difference of dayes holy or common nay no difference of day or night I had almost sayd nay nor of Sexes If the hands of the religious Magistrates be not strengthened and their zeale stirred up to take some course to abate the incredible number and reforme the unsufferable abuses of these sinks of all impurity especially about the skirts and suburbs of the city we have cause to feare a worse fire than that which lately affrighted us falling in that place where it might bee as a dreadfull beacon to warne both City Borough and Suburbs I meane such a fire as fell upon Sodome and Gomorrha t Caus in Polyhist symb Polycritus writeth of a Lake of troubled water in Sicily quam si quis ingrediatur in latum extenditur into which the deeper a man wadeth the larger it doth extend it selfe Such a lake my discourse is fallen into the water is foule and troubled and the deeper I sinke into it the more it enlargeth it selfe and lest it should overflow the bankes of the allotted time I will suddenly leape out of it into my second part which is Christs prerogative whereby he is become the first fruits of them that slept Wee have surveyed the ground let us now take a sample of the fruits in the spreading whereof abroad I must handle two things 1 The reference 2 The inference 1 The reference is to Leviticus 23.10 When you reape the harvest you shall bring in a sheafe of the first fruits of the harvest unto the Priest ver 7. and he shall wave it And to Exod. 34.22 You shall observe the feast of weeks the feast of the first fruits of wheat harvest Now let us set the truth to the type As the first fruits were reapt in the harvest when the corne was ripe so Christ was cut off by death in his ripe age 2 As the sheafe that was offered was shaken before so there was an u Mat. 28.2 earthquake at Christs lifting out of the grave 3 As the sheafe was offered the morrow after the Sabbath so Christ the first day of the week after the Sabbath was presented alive to his Father at his resurrection Lastly as there was a distance of time between the first fruits which were offered on Easter day those that were offered at the day of Pentecost so there is a distance of time between Christs rising from the dead which was 1600. yeers ago ours which shall be at the last day Thus much for the reference now to the inference which is twofold 1 Christs prerogative in that he is the first fruits 2 The Saints communion with him in that they are of the heape 1 Christs prerogative * Joh. 3.31 Hee that is in heaven is above all for x Mat. 28.18 to him is given all power in heaven and earth and y Phil. 2.9 a name above all names z Eph. 1.22 he is the head of the Church and a Eph. 5.23 Saviour of the body he is the first b Heb. 1 6. begotten of the Father c Mat. 1.25 first borne of his Mother the first d Col. 1.18 Rev. 1.5 begotten of the dead e Col. 1.15 first borne of every creature Therefore as Quiros strongly concludes in every order both of creation and regeneration of nature and grace of things visible and invisible hee hath the preheminence among all let him have the precedency in our love and affections let us not set any thing above him on earth who hath the first place in heaven If hee bee the head of men and Angels let the knees of all in heaven in earth under the earth bow to him if hee bee the bright morning starre let the eye of our faith bee earely upon him if hee bee f Apoc. 22.16 Alpha and Omega the First and the Last let him bee first in our thoughts and last in our memory g Apoc. 1.8 let us begin our prayers in his name and end them in his merits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primâ dicta mihi summâ dicende Camenâ If he be the first fruits Reshith bicorre the first fruits of the first fruits let all the sheaves do homage to him let us sanctifie him in our minds let us offer him the first fruits of our hearts the first fruits of our lips the first fruits of our hands the first fruits of the earth the first fruits of our thoughts the first fruits of our desires the first fruits of our prayers the first fruits of our labours the first fruits of our substance so will he esteem us h Jam. 1.18 the first fruits of his creatures and we shall receive the i Rom. 8.23 first fruits of the spirit here in our regeneration and the whole harvest hereafter in our glorification as our holy brethren that are fallen asleep in soule have received already who rest from their labours and their workes follow them and here you may see them I may say of them as Isaac said of Jacob Gen. 27. The smell of my sonne is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed And behold here as in a corne field Allude to the Hosp tall children in blew coates blew flowers intermingled Here the Preacher read the Catalogue printed of all the poore relieved in the Hospitals of the City which followeth Children kept and maintained at this present at the charges of Christs Hospitall in the said house in divers places of this city and suburbs and with sundry nurses in the country 905 Which is a farre greater number than hath hitherto beene since the foundation The names of all which are registred in the books kept in Christs Hospitall there to bee seene from what parishes and by what meanes they have beene from time to time admitted Children put forth apprentices discharged and dead this yeere 69 There hath beene cured this yeere last past at the charges of Saint Bartholomews Hospitall of souldiers and other diseased people to the number of 832 All which were relieved with money and other necessaries at their departure Buried this yeere after much charges in their sicknesse 121 Remaining under cure at this present at the charge of the said Hospitall 262 There hath beene cured this yeere last past at the charges of Saint Thomas Hospitall of souldiers and other diseased people 731 All which were relieved with money and other necessaries at their
right string 't is worth your hearing Christus primus surrexit in incorruptione the rest before they were raised began at least to corrupt it is sayd of Lazarus expressely that he x Joh. 11.39 stanke but God suffered not his holy One to see corruption they rose in their naturall and corruptible bodies Christ in an incorruptible and as the Apostle calleth it a spirituall body ver 44. 2 That which Cornelius A lapide answereth is considerable that though Christ were not primus tempore the first that rose in time yet that he was primus in intentione Dei the first in Gods intention 3 Aquinas comes yet nearer the matter Christus primus sua virtute resurrexit Christ was the first that rose himselfe by his own power they before Christ were raysed by others If any thing be yet lacking S. Bernard and Beza will supply it alii suscitati sunt mortui sed iterum morituri other dead were raised but dyed againe like drowned men which rise up twice or thrice from under water but sinke againe to the bottome Christus simul resurrexit aeternam beatamque vitam recepit Christ at once rose and obtained an eternall and blessed life y Rom. 6.9 Christ being risen from the dead dieth no more death hath no more power over him Whereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may bee added that others rose as private men Christ as a publike person and the cause of all other mens rising either univocall as of all the Elect who rise as hee did to happy eternity or equivocall as of the reprobates who are raysed to eternall misery They who rose before Christ were either singular types of him or as common sheafes of the heape Christ was the first that ever rose in the nature and quality of the first fruits to sanctifie the whole harvest of the dead in him who are here called Them that slept z Aristot lib. de mirabil auscult Aristotle writeth of certaine serpents in Mesopotamia which doe great mischiefe to strangers but do no hurt at all to the inhabitants such is death it hath power to sting those that are strangers and aliens from the common-wealth of Israel it hurteth not at all the naturall Israelites which are fellow-citizens with the Saints of the houshold of faith Those which are without God in the world and without Christ though within the visible Church have cause to feare death because like the Phalangium in a Strab. l. 2. geog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo it stings them to death in such sort that they dye either laughing or madde that is either making a jest of judgement and hell and the life to come or distracted in some fearefull fit of desparation And as Diogenes when hee felt himselfe falling into a slumber a little before his death said pleasantly * Eras apoph Diog. Frater me mox est traditurus fratri suo one brother is now delivering mee to the other hee meant sleep to death so it is most true of these scoffers at God and all religion dying impenitently that their temporall death delivers them over to eternall death the elder death to the younger but longer liver the first death to the b Ubi mors vivit finis incipit Greg. Morah in Job second but upon those who are in Christ and have part in the first resurrection the second death hath no power and in that regard the first death is not terrible unto them nay so farre is it from being terrible that even lying on their death-beds they insult both upon death and the grave with holy sarcasmes c 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d Graec. liturg The immortall entred into a single combate with death on the crosse and gave death a death wound even by his death and now death is no more death to the godly but a sleep e Mat. 9.24 The damosell is not dead but asleepe our friend Lazarus is f Joh. 11.12 but asleepe Stephen though hee came to his end by a violent meanes yet it is said of him that g Act. 7.60 he fell asleep And I would not have you ignorant brethren saith S. Paul concerning them which are h 1 Thess 4.14 asleep and so in my text they who before were called the dead now after the mention of Christs resurrection are termed Them that slept Which words are not so to bee understood as if their soules slept with their bodies till the day of judgement That is a drowsie heresie out of which Calvin shaketh some in his time whom he calleth by the right name * Soule-all-night-sleepers Psychopamychistas but in three other respects 1 Because they rest from their toylesome labours as those that sleepe wee say are at their ease 2 Because they neither minde nor at all meddle with any affaires of this life either good or bad as those that are fast asleepe i Hom. Il. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the time neither thinke nor often so much as dreame of any thing in the world 3 Because they shall certainely be awaked by the shrill sound of the last Trumpet as those that sleepe at night are awaked againe in the morning by the Weytes your City musicke Do you believe all these things I know you do Why do you then take on in such grievous manner when your friends are taken away from you by corporall death Why doe you make their death-beds swimme with your teares non amisistis sed praemisistis you have not lost them but sent them to bed before you they are but asleepe they shall awake againe they are but as seede sowne in the earth they shall rise out of it againe Bern. in Cant. Occidit me Deus cum succidit Gervasium meum I know that where hearts have bin knit together they cannot be rent asunder without exceeding great pain and unexpressible griefe neither do I find fault with naturall affection much lesse condemne the Christian compassion of those who k Rom. 12.15 weepe with them that weepe It is for a Stoicke or rather a stocke to bee without all sympathy of others sorrow or sense of his owne losse l Cic. pro dom ad Pont. eam animi duritiam sicut corporis quod cum uritur non sentit stuporem potius quam virtutem puto Our Lord and Master reads us another lesson who himselfe m Joh. 11.35 wept for Lazarus and whosoever reades if yet for teares hee be able Davids lamentation for Jonathan Saint Ambroses for Satyrus Nyssens for Saint Basil Nazianzens for Gorgonia Augustines for Nebridius and Bernards for Gervasius will finde that the heat of love is contrary to all other For all other dryeth but this the greater it is in the heart the moister the eyes are Yet love must not exceede proportion nor teares measure n Hieron in epitaph Paulae grandis in
addeth a degree of descent to our Saviours humility and consequently a degree of ascent to his glory For there is nothing more glorious than for highest majesty to humble himselfe in the lowest and lowliest manner The h Plin. in Panegyr Curiad summum fastigium nihil superest is uno modo crescere potest si se submiserit tree that is at the highest pitch can no otherwise grow than downeward 1 If Christ would bee baptized why not in his infancy why in his perfect age would hee stoope to the childrens Font or to speake more properly the spirituall Lazars bath in those dayes when hee was about thirty yeeres of age 2 If in that age hee would be baptized to grace and countenance Johns baptisme why yet did hee not send for John to come to him why did hee take a voyage to John why did hee seeke after and runne to his forerunner Jesus came from Galilee 3 If hee would take such a journey to be baptized having no need of baptisme for himselfe to fulfill all righteousnesse for us why would hee not bee baptized by an i Luk. 2.21 His name was called Jesus which was so named of the Angell before hee was conceived in the wombe Angell who first named him Jesus but by John his servant Was baptized of John 4 If hee would bee baptized by a man the rather to prove his manhood or countenance the ministery of man why gave hee not order for some Font of gold to bee made for him in a princely palace why would hee uncloath himselfe in the open ayre and goe downe into the common river Jordan to bee washed there as an ordinary man Why all this but to exalt his glory by humility and to teach us to stoope low when wee enter in at the gate of Christs schoole In those dayes c. Perfection it selfe in his full age taketh the remedy of our imperfections Jesus receiveth baptisme The way it selfe taketh along and tedious journey Jesus came from Nazareth to Galilee The k Leo ser de Epiph Descendere in se fontem foelix unda miratur fountain of all purity is washed And was baptized The Lord and author of baptisme receiveth his owne badge and cognizance from his servant Of John The boundlesse ocean descendeth into the river In Jordan Well might saith Barradius the heavens bee opened that the Angels might behold this wonderfull sight A strange and wonderfull baptisme indeed in which he that was washed was purer than the Font it selfe in which the person is not sanctified by the Sacrament but the Sacrament by the person A strange and wonderfull baptisme in which he is baptized with water who baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire A strange and wonderfull baptisme in which the person baptized is the Sonne of God and the two witnesses the Father and the holy Spirit A strange and wonderfull baptisme in which not the Church doore but heaven gates were opened and in stead of a Sermon from the mouth of a mortall man there was heard a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased Observe I beseech you in this and other straines of the sweet harmony of the Evangelists how the Bases and Trebles answer one the other how where they depresse our Saviour most in his humanity there they raise him highest in his divinity In the passages of one and the selfe same story where you finde most pregnant proofes of his infirmity and humility as man there you have also most evident demonstration of his majesty and glory as God What greater humility than to lye for many moneths in the dark prison of the Virgins wombe and to bee borne of a poore handmaid this sheweth him to bee a true man yet what greater glory than to bee conceived of the holy Ghost and to have a regiment of heavenly Souldiers to guard him as it were into the world and a quire of Angels to sing at his birth this demonstrateth him to bee God What greater argument of his humility than to bee borne in an Inne lodged in a Stable and laid in a Manger this sheweth him to bee virum dolorum a man in distresse and great necessity yet what greater glory than to bee manifested by a starre and presented by the Heathen Sages with Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe this demonstrateth him to bee God What greater humility than to bee carried up and downe from place to place by Satan and to bee tempted by that foule fiend this sheweth him to bee a man yet what greater glory than to be attended on and ministred unto by l Mat. 4.11 Then the Divell leaveth him and behold Angels came and ministred unto him Angels in the desart this demonstrateth him to bee God What greater humility than to suffer himselfe to bee taken by the high Priests servants armed with swords and staves against him as if hee had beene a Malefactor this sheweth him to bee a man and that of little or no reputation among the Rulers yet what greater glory than with the breath of his mouth to cast downe those that assaulted him and make them fall m John 18.6 As soone as hee had said unto them I am he they went backward and fell to the ground backeward to the ground in such sort that hee might have trampled them under his feete this demonstrateth him to bee God What greater humility than to bee nailed to the crosse and to dye in torments this sheweth him to bee a mortall man yet what greater glory than at his death to eclipse the sunne and obscure the heavens and move the earth and cleave the rockes and rend the vaile of the Temple from the toppe to the bottome and open graves this demonstrateth him to be God In like manner here in my text what greater testimony of humility than to descend into the river and suffer himselfe to bee baptized by John yet what greater glory than at his baptisme to have the heavens opened and the holy Ghost in a visible shape to descend upon him and God the Father from heaven to acknowledge him for his Sonne this demonstrateth him to bee God But to bound my selfe within the eclipticke line of my text where it followeth Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee Nazareth was a little towne or village in Galilee where our Saviour dwelt with his parents for many yeeres and from his aboad there tooke the appellation of Nazarene This his countrey with his person was highly exalted upon the crosse the Trophee of his victory over the world as appeareth by that inscription Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jewes n Hieron de nom Hebr. Drusius ad voces N. T. comment Steph. interp nom Heb. Nazareth signifieth florem or virgultum ejus a flower or a twigge derived from o Buxlorf epit rad Natsar surculus sic dictus quod custodiâ curâ egeat ne à vento dejiciatur aut frangatur Natsar
If they are to account for their owne Stewardship certainly either at the private audit the day of their death or at the publike audit the day of judgement after which they shall be no longer Stewards but either Lords in Heaven or Slaves in Hell Wherefore O Christian whosoever thou art whether thou swayest the scepter or handlest the spade whether thou sittest at the sterne or rowest at the oare whether thou buildest on the roofe or diggest at the foundation make full account of it thou shalt be called to an account for thy worke be not idle therefore nor secure Secondly that for which thou art to account is no place of authority but an office of trust no Lordship but a Stewardship be not proud of it nor unfaithfull in it Thirdly this office of trust is not a Treasurership but a Stewardship be not covetous nor unprofitable Fourthly this Stewardship is not anothers but thine owne be not curious nor censorious Fifthly this thy Stewardship is not perpetuall but for a time it expireth with thy life be not negligent nor fore-slacke thy opportunity of making friends to receive thee into everlasting habitations after thou must relinquish thy office That God is Lord of all his claime unto all is a sufficient evidence to us For hee cannot pretend a false title who is truth it selfe neither can any question his right in any Court who is author of all lawes as hee is maker of all things which are his by a threefold right 1. Of Creation 2. Purchase 3. Possession 1. Of Creation for that which a man maketh is his owne 2. Of Purchase for that which any one purchaseth is his owne 3. Of Possession for that which any one is possessed of time out of minde is his owne By the first of these the Father may claime us as all things else who made all By the second the Sonne who redeemed the world By the third the holy Ghost who inhabiteth us and after a speciall manner possesseth us g Isa 66.1 Heaven is my throne saith God and the earth is my footstoole You see then great reason why God should be compared to a rich man with whom all the rich men in the world may not compare neither in lands nor in cattell nor in mony and treasure Not in lands for the bounds of the earth are his land-markes and the Sunne is his Surveyer Nor in cattell for h Psal 50. every beast of the forrest is his and the cattell upon a thousand hills Not in mony or plate for i Haggai 2. gold is mine and silver is mine saith the Lord. Nor lastly in goods for that golden chaine of the Apostle k 1 Cor. 22.23 All are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods may bee drawne backward by the same linkes thus All are Gods and God is Christs and Christ is ours Yea but it may be argued against this conclusion that God hath small or no demaines in as much as hee holdeth nothing in his owne hands having let out if I may so speake the heaven to Saints and Angels the ayre to Birds and Fowle the water to Fish the earth to Men and Beasts to dwell in it and reap the fruits thereof But the answer is easie for though God make no benefit of any thing to himselfe yet hee keepeth the right and propriety of all things in himselfe and hee must needs keep all things in his hands who clincheth the Heavens with his fist Moreover hee requireth homage of all his creatures which are but his tenants at will or to speake more properly servants to be thrust out of office and state upon the least offence given or dislike taken Which condition is farre worse than the former For a tenant hath some kinde of propriety and interest in that which hee holdeth of his Landlord and if he performe all covenants provisoes and conditions of his lease or agreement with his Lord hee may not without apparent wrong bee suddenly turned out of house and home much lesse may his Lord seize upon all his goods and dispose of them at his pleasure The case standeth farre worse with a Steward who hath nothing he may call his but his office for which hee may be alwayes called to an account and upon it discharged Yet this is the state of the greatest States and Potentates of the world they have no certainty in any thing they possesse or enjoy For which cause Saint l Hom. 2. ad po◠Antioch Omnes usum et fructum habemus dominium nemo Chrysostome findeth great fault with the wills and testaments of great personages in his time by which they bequeath lands lordships and inheritances in their own name and right as if those things were absolutely in their power they usurpe saith hee upon Gods prerogative who hath given unto them the use and profit of the things of this life but not the dominion no nor propriety in strict point of law unlesse a man will account that to be his own for which he is to give an account to another The Steward is no whit the richer because hee hath more to account for but in this regard more solicitous and obnoxious Which observation we may crowne with this corollary That they who seem to have the greatest and best estates in this world are in the worst condition of any if their gifts be not eminent and their care and industry extraordinary to make the best advantage to their Master of the many talents committed to them The reason hereof is easie to ghesse at and was long ago yeelded by Gregory the m Greg. sup Evang dominic Cum augentur dona crescunt rationes donorum great As their means and incomes so their accounts grow For n Luke 12.48 To whom men have committed much of him they will aske the more to whom more is given more shall be required of him To speake nothing of the many imployments and distractions of men in great place which sacrilegiously robbe them of their sacred houres devoted to prayer and meditation and bereave them of themselves I had almost said deprive them of their God and the sweet fellowship of his holy Spirit they must give so much audience to others that they can give but little attendance on God Publike imployments and eminent places in Church and Common-wealth expose those that hold them to the view of all men their good parts whatsoever they have are in sight and their bad too which men are more given to marke quis enim solem ferè intuetur nisi cum deficit when doe men so gaze upon the Sunne as in the eclipse in so much that the very word Marke is commonly taken in the worst sense for some scarre blemish or deformity A small coale raked up in the ashes may live a great while which if it be raked out and blowne soone dyeth and turneth into ashes They that were kept in close prison by Dionysius enjoyed the benefit of
sake shall bee then their gaine every disgrace their honour for every teare they have shed they shall receive a pearle for every blew stripe a saphir for every green wound an emerald for every drop of bloud a ruby to bee set in their crowne of glory Secondly it serveth much for the terrour of the wicked who goe on confidently in their lewd courses and proceed from evill to worse adding drunkennesse to thirst let these know that o Rom. 2.5 they heape wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God and that as the farther backe the axe is fetched the heavier is the stroake so the longer their punishment is deferred the heavier in the end it will fall upon them Let them who feare not to doe wrong but carry their sinne with a high hand bearing themselves upon their wealth or some potent friend at Court know that they shall be brought to Christs barre ore tenus and that none upon earth shall be able to rescue them Let them who lay snares in the darke and looke for their prey in the twi-light and say in their hearts no eye seeth us know that God hath p Apoc. 1.14 eyes like a flaming fire enlightening the darkest corners of the inmost roomes and that hee q Psal 50.21 will reprove them and set their sinnes in order before their eyes and that what they commit in secret and would not for a world that any witnesses should be by shall bee brought to an open examination before men and Angels Thirdly to instruct all so to live that they may not feare to come before the face of God so to cleare their accounts here that they need not to dread their examination there To this use the holy Ghost pointeth r 2 Pet. 4.11 12 14. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought yee to be in all holy conversation how diligent that wee may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse When Alcibiades came to visit Å¿ Eras Apoph Atqui inquit potius quemadmodum rationem non redderes laborares Pericles and found him very busie about his accounts Why saith he doest thou thus trouble thy selfe in seeking to make up thy accounts thou shouldest rather use a meanes to put it off and thinke of a course to free thee from this care and take order that thou shouldest never bee called to an account I doubt not but that many Treasurers and Stewards of great Princes make good use of this advice and by friends and mony so bring it about that they are never brought to an account If wee have any such thought wee deceive our selves there is no dodging with God no delay no not for a moment when hee sendeth his Pursuivant for us from the high Court of Starre-chamber in Heaven as he in Saint Gregories dayes found by woefull experience who being summoned by death approaching to bring in his accounts before they were ready cryed out pitifully Inducias vel ad horam O reprivall but for a day truce but for an houre respite but for a minute but could not obtaine it but was suddenly posted away to the judgement seat of Christ and who of us knoweth whether he shall be the next to whom God will send a messenger to bring him before him to render an account of his Stewardship saying to him in the words of my Text Redde rationem dispensationis tuae Give an account Of thy Stewardship Thy. I know not how it commeth to passe that most men now a dayes are sicke of Saint Peters disease when Christ telleth them of their duty or fore-sheweth them their end they are inquisitive about others saying t John 21.21 What shall this man doe There are divers kindes of Stewards some of powers some of wealth some of knowledge some of the Word and Sacraments Kings dominions and Bishops diocesses and Lords lands and Rich mens mony and Clerkes writings and Merchants trades and Tradesmens shops and Husbandmens ploughes are their Stewardship of which they must give an account and yet few there are that minde their owne account to their Master for that wherewith they are trusted but every man looketh to anothers The Ploughman censureth the Tradesman the Tradesman the Merchant the Merchant the country Gentleman the country Gentleman the Courtier and all the Ministers of God as if to impeach others were to cleare themselves At the audit day they will finde that it will little availe them to say I am no tot quot I am no joyner of house to house or land to land I am no usurer oppressor or extortioner like other men when it will be replyed unto them but thou art like the Pharisee a deep dissembler a counterfeit saint a secret hypocrite a slanderous backbiter a busie-body an uncharitable censurer a streigner of a gnat in others when thy selfe eatest many a flye nay swallowest many a camell u Plut. tract de curiosit Plutarch rightly observeth that they who delight to gad abroad for the most part have smoaky nasty or dankish houses or at least ill rule no content at home so when men range abroad and play the spies and scouts and pry into other mens actions it is a signe that they have a foule house at home and ill rule in their owne conscience Wherefore * Stella in Luc. Observa etiam diligenter quod hic non dicit dominus Redde rationem villicationis alienae vel redde rationem villicationis alterius sed villicationis tuae pro priae enim vitae tuae factorumque tuorum non alienorum redditurus es rationem Deo unusquisque enim redditurus est de propriâ—s factis rationem Stella according to his name Starre well illustrateth this Text Give an account of thy Stewardship not of any other mans Pry not into his life set not his actions upon the racke reade not a lecture upon his manners but meditate and comment upon the booke of thine owne conscience that thou mayest make even reckonings there It is an uncivill part to over-looke other mens papers especially bills of account which no way concerne us yet there are those that take to themselves a liberty to looke into and examine the bookes of other mens conscience not being able to reade a letter in their owne herein resembling the crocodile which seeth nothing in the water which is his chiefest place of aboad yet is very quicke and sharpe sighted on the land out of his owne element to doe mischiefe I will undertake that any man shall have worke enough to cast up his owne accounts if hee looke into every particular for which hee is to reckon every stray thought every idle word every inconsiderate action sudden passion God is not herein like unto many great personages who seldome or never call their Stewards to an account or if they call them they looke over their bookes and bills but sleightly taking the
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
passe judgement whether he be happy or miserable No man knoweth who hath gotten honour or infamy till the race is runne but after the course is finished when the rewards are distributed to every man according to his worke when they that have kept within the wayes of God and held on straight to the price of their high calling receive an incorruptible crowne of glory but they who have turned out of the right way to pursue earthly vanities receive their wages eternall death then all men shall see who was the wiser of the two and tooke the better course then the wicked themselves shall confesse their beastly folly thus rubbing upon their owne sores and fretting their owne wounds as we reade in the booke of Wisedome And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves y Wisd 5.3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. This was he whom we had sometimes in derision and a Proverbe of reproach We fooles accounted his life madnesse and his end to bee without honour How is he numbred among the children of God and his lot is among the Saints Therefore have we erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us and the sun of righteousnesse rose not upon us We wearied our selves in the way of wickednesse and destruction yea we have gone through desarts where there lay no way but as for the way of the Lord we have not knowne it What hath pride profited us or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us All those things are passed away like a shadow and as a Poste that hasted by And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water which when it is gone by the trace thereof cannot bee found neither the path-way of the keele in the waves Where is now our gay and gorgeous apparrell where are our sumptuous hangings our rich cubboard of plate our gold and silver where are our orient pearles our blushing rubies our glowing carbuncles our sparkling diamonds our beautifull damsels our pompous shewes our various delights and pastimes our riotous banquets our effeminate songs our melodious musicke our lascivious dancing our amorous imbracings All these things are vanished like shadowes but our sorrowes come upon us thicke and threefold all our joyes delights and comforts are withered at the root but our terrours hearts griefe and torments grow on us more and more and shall till time shall be no more Application If these piteous complaints and hideous shrikes of the damned in hell move us not I tremble to speake it they shall be one day ours then with anguish of heart and bitternesse of soule we shall sigh and say O that wee had been wise then wee would have understood these things and in time considered of our later end Observ 5 Our later end setteth before us quatuor novissima the foure last things 1. Death most certaine 2. Judgement most strict 3. Hell most dreadfull 4. Paradise most delightfull O Death how bitter is thy remembrance to him that is in the prime of his pleasures and pride of his fortune yet the remembrance of judgement is more bitter than of death of hell than of judgement death in comparison were no death if judgement followed not after and judgement were no judgement or nothing so dreadfull if immediately upon it hell were not opened and hell were not hell if it deprived us not of the pleasures of Paradise for ever O that men were wise to consider in the beginning or at least before it bee too late what their later end shall bee first to dye then to bee brought to judgement and after sentence Application either to be led to the rivers of pleasure springing at the right hand of God for evermore or to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone with the Divell and his angels and all the reprobate and damned the z Apoc. 14.11 smoake of whose torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night Ashes keepe fire alive and the consideration of our end and dissolution which shall be into dust and ashes not onely keepeth alive but also stirreth up the sparkes of Gods grace in us after this manner Why doe I thus torment my selfe with projects cares and designes I shall shortly I know not how soon returne to my earth and then all my * Psal 146.1 thoughts shall perish Why doe I beare my head so high now it shall lye low enough one day Why doe I lay on so much cost on gorgeous apparrell which covereth nothing but dust and dung Why doe I prodigally lavish out my patrimony in exquisite dainties and all kindes of delicious meates which feed nothing but wormes Why dote I upon the fairest beauty flesh and bloud can present to a lascivious eye if it be artificiall it is nothing but paint and powder if naturall nothing but dust and ashes Why doe I send to the uttermost parts of the earth for the rarest stuffes the finest linnen and napery I shall carry nothing of it all away with mee but my winding sheet Lastly why doe I make so great purchases of lands and possessions I shall keep the possession of nothing but the measure of my grave and perhaps bee disturbed in it too as two of the greatest purchasers of land in the world were William the Norman who conquered a great part of this Island and Alexander the great who conquered the greatest part of the knowne world both lay a long time above ground unburied being denied that which the poorest beggar that never had foot of land in all his life hath freely given unto him a hole to lay his head in under ground Verily as nothing can quench the burning slime of Samosaris called a Plin. nat hist l. 2. c. 104. Limum flagrantem quam Maltham vocant◠tetra tantum extingui docuêre experimenta Flagrat mons Chimaera immortali flammâ extinguitur tamen terrâ fimo Maltha nor the flame of the hill Chimaera but onely earth so nothing can extinguish the ever burning desires of the ambitious for honour of the voluptuous for pleasure of the covetous for gaine but onely mold and earth the complements of our grave and remaines of our later end In my discourse of our later end to draw towards an end before the destruction of the holy City and Temple Josephus writeth of a man afflicted in minde that ran about the City crying Wo to the City wo to the Temple wo to the Priests wo to the people and last of all wo to my selfe at which words he was slaine on the walls by a stone out of a sling Let us take away but one letter turning wo in O and his prophesie for the future may be our admonition and the application of this observation for the present O that the world O that this Kingdome in the world O that this City in this Kingdome O that we in this
worse may be is the case of Christs Spouse the true Inheritrix of his Crosse which he bequeathed her at his death having indeed little else to leave her for his soule he was to surrender to God his Father his body Joseph of Arimathea begged of Pilat his cloathes the souldiers parted among them onely his crosse and nailes and crowne of thornes remained to dispose of for his dearest Spouse which she continually beareth about with her and in this vision carried with her into the wildernesse whither she fled to save her life And the woman Fled This picture might have beene taken of the Church as she fled from Pharaoh into the wildernesse or as she fled into Egypt from Herod or as she fled into all parts of the earth in the time of the ten first persecutions from heathen Emperors or in the succeeding ages from the Arrian Emperours and last of all from Antichrist and his instruments in all which her trialls and troubles she gained more than she lost For as Justine Martyr rightly observed t Just apolog Id est persecutio Ecclesiae quod vineae putatio persecution is that to the Church which pruning is to the vine whereby it is made more fruitfull with whom Tertullian accordeth thus jearing at the Gentiles who made full account by their barbarous cruelty to exhaust the whole Church and extinguish the name of Christians u Tert. apolog c. ult Nequicquam tamen proficit exquisita quaeque crudelitas vestra illecebra est magis sectae plures esficimur quoties metimur a vobis semen est sanguis Christianorum What gaine you by your exquisite crueltie and studied torments which you inflict upon us they are no scarre-crowes to fright but rather baites and lures to draw men to our profession we ever grow faster and thicker after we are mowed by you the shedding the bloud of Christians is the sowing the seed of the Gospell And St. Leo x I eoserm 1. in nat Petri Pauli Non minuitur persecutionibus Ecclesia Dei sed augetur magis ager Dominicus segete ditiore vestitur dum grana quae singula cadunt multiplicata nascuntur The Church of God is not diminished by persecutions but increased rather the Lords field is cloathed with a richer crop whilest the seed or graines which fall one by one after they are dead in the earth rise up againe in great numbers Moreover whilest in the chief Cities those who are called by God to depose for his truth win many thousands to the Christian faith other servants of Christ to whom he hath vouchsafed meanes to escape by dispersing themselves into all parts of the world propagate the doctrine of the Gospell and plant new Churches Upon this flight of the woman in my text many of the learned Interpreters take occasion to handle that great case of conscience whether it be lawfull to fly in time of persecution or whether all zealous Christians are not bound to stand to their tackling and strive for the truth even to the effusion of their bloud y Aug. l. 22. de civ Dei c. 7. Pullulatura foecunditis cum in sanguine Martyâ—um seretur y Tert. infug in erscâ—ut Tertullian in his booke professedly written of this subject is altogether against flight grounding his judgement upon the words of our Saviour John 10.11 c. I am the good shepheard the good shepheard giveth his life for the sheepe But he that is an hireling and not the shepheard whose owne the sheep are not seeth the Wolfe comming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth the hireling flyeth because he is an hireling c. And Marke 8.35 38. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of mee and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commeth in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels But Saint Austin and others allow of flight in some case and they bring very good warrant for it Christs expresse command Matth. 10.23 When they persecute you in this city flee into another And Matth. 24.15 16. When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountaines And to the end we should count it no shame to flye in this case they bring noble presidents for it and shew us the footsteps in Scripture of Jacob when he fled from Esau and Moses when hee fled from Pharaoh and Eliah when hee fled from Ahab and Jezabel and David when hee fled from Saul and Joseph and Mary when they fled from Herod They adde also that by this flight of many in time of persecution the Church reapeth a double benefit first hereby many worthy Doctors and eminent Professours reserve themselves for better times next they in their flight scatter the seeds of the Gospel whereby the great Husbandman gathereth a plentifull crop If the Apostles had not been scattered by the persecution of Herod and the primitive Christians by the persecutions of the Heathen Emperours and the true Professours in later times by the persecution of Antichrist many countries in all likelihood had not been sowen with the pure seed of the Word The resolution of this question may be taken from my Text in such a case as the womans was here we may flie that is when there is no safety in staying and God offereth us Eagles wings that is a faire and certaine meanes to escape danger Yea but Christian courage will rise up against this and object Is not Martyrdome a garland of red Roses is not the bloud of Saints the best watering of Gods field can wee shew more love to Christ than to signe the Gospell with our bloud will you perswade Christian souldiers to flye from their colours nay from their crowne God forbid I answer all are not appointed by God to bee Martyrs nor qualified for so noble and eminent service To a Martyr two things are required 1. A speciall calling 2. An extraordinary spirit Even in our Courts of justice a witnes that offereth himself is not accepted he must be brought in by order of law neither will Christ have any depose for him that are not called to it whom he calleth he endueth them with an heroicke spirit and armeth them with faith and patience like armour of proofe into which the fiery darts of the wicked cannot enter Every sincere beleever hath not a spirit of fortitude given him to conquer the violence of fire and dull the edge of the sharpest swords and weary all tortures and torments Moreover God like a provident Husbandman though he send much corne to the Mill to be ground as Ignatius and others that they might be served in as fine manchet at his owne table yet he reserveth alwayes some corne for seed I meane
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
but onely by vertue of the promise of him who here saith To him that overcommeth I will give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will render or repay for it is not so in this warre as in others wherein the souldier who carrieth himselfe valiantly in warre and ventureth his life for his Prince and countrey may challenge his pay of desert because wee beare not our owne armour nor fight by our owne strength nor conquer by our owne valour nor have any colour for our service on earth to pretend to a crowne in heaven In which regard though wee may expect yet not challenge looke for yet not sue for desire yet not require as due the reward here promised b Luk. 12.32 Feare not little flock saith our Saviour for it is your fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome it is not his bargaine to sell you it Albeit the wages of sinne is death and there we may plead merit yet the Apostle teacheth us that eternall life is the gift of God Upon which words Saint c L. de grat lib. arbit c. 9. Cum posset dicere recte dicere stipendium justitiae vita aeterna maluit dicere gratia autem vita aeterna ut hinc intelligeremus non pro meritis nostris Deum nos ad aeternam vitam sed pro sua miseratione vocare unde dicitur in psalmo coronat te in miseratione Austines observation is very remarkeable Whereas the Apostle might have continued his Metaphor and said the wages of righteousnesse is eternall life because eternall life is the reward of righteousnesse as death is of sinne yet hee purposely put the word gift in stead of wages that wee might learne this most wholesome lesson that God hath predestinated and called us to eternall life not for our merits but of his mercy according to those words of the Psalmist He crowneth thee in compassion If there be any merit in S. Bernards judgement it is in denying all merit Sufficit ad meritum scire quod non sufficiant merita And verily had the Church of Rome all faith as her proselytes suppose that she hath all the good works yet her standing upon tearms with God pleading merit would mar all her merit and justly fasten upon her the ill name of Meretrix Babylonica the whore of Babylon For Meretrix saith Calepine à merendo sic dicta est hath her name from meriting When wee have done all that wee can d Luk. 17.10 Christ teacheth us to say wee are unprofitable servants we have done but that which was our duty to doe Nay have wee done so much as wee ought to doe Venerable Bede to checke our pride who are apt to take upon us for the least good work we doe telleth us no quod debuimus facere non fecimus we have not done what was our duty to do and if the best of us have not done what was our duty to doe wee merit nothing at our Masters hands but many stripes Yet the Church of Rome blusheth not to define it as a doctrine of faith in her conventicle at Trent that our e Concil Trid. sess 6. Can. 32. Si quis dixerit hominis justificati bona opera ita esse dona Dei ut non sint etiam bona ipsius justificati merita aut non vere merere augmentum gratiae vitam aeternam anathema sit good workes doe truely merit eternall life In which assertion as Tertullian spake of venemous flowers quot colores tot dolores so many colours so many dolours or mischiefes to man so wee may of the tearmes of this proposition quot verba tot haereses so many words so many heresies for First it is faith which intituleth us to heaven not workes by grace wee are saved f Ephes 2.8.9 through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Fides impetrat quod lex imperat Faith obtaineth that which the Law commandeth Secondly if workes had any share in our justification yet we could not merit by them because as they are ours they are not good as they are good they are not ours but Gods g Phil. 2.13 who worketh in us both the will and the deed it is God which worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure for h 2 Cor. 3.5 we are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God Whence St. i de lib. arbit c. 7. Si bona sunt Dei dona sunt si Dei dona sunt non coronat Deus tanquam merita tua sed tanquam dona sua Austin strongly inferreth against all plea of mans merit If thy works are good they are Gods gifts if they are evill God crowneth them not if therefore God crowneth thy workes he crownes them not as thy merits but as his owne gifts Thirdly the workes that may challenge a reward as due unto them in strict justice must be exactly and perfectly good but such are not ours k 1 Joh. 1.8 For if we say that we have no sinne or that our best works are not some way tainted we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Woe saith St. l Confes l. 13. Vae hominum vitae laudabili si remota misericordia discutias eam Austine to the commendable life of men if thou examine it in rigour without mercy In which passionate straine he seemeth to take the note from m Psal 130.3 David If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who should stand and hee from n Job 9.2.3 Job How should man be just before God if he contend with him he cannot answer one of a thousand Fourthly were our workes free from all aspersion of impurity and suspition of hypocrisie yet could they not merit at Gods hands any thing to whom we owe all that we can or are Dei omne est quod possumus quod sumus The greatest Champion of merit Vasques the Jesuit here yeelds the bucklers because we can give nothing to God which he may not exact of us by the right of his dominion we cannot merit any thing at his hand by way of justice For o Vasques in Thom. disput Non meremur in via justitiae quia pro eo quod alteri redditranquam debitum nihil accipere quis debet ideo servi inâ—tiles dici possumus quod nihil quasi sponte Deo demus sed demus ea quae in re dominii ex praecepto exigere possit no man can demand any thing as his due for meerly discharging his debt no not so much as thankes Luke 17.9 Doth hee thanke that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not Fiftly might our workes taken at the best merit something at Gods hands yet not eternall life For there is no proportion betweene our finite workes and such
ruddy in the hiew of his passion white in his life and ruddy at his death or white in his garland of c Cyp. l. 1. ep 6. Floribus enim nec rosae nec lilia desunt pax acies habet suos flores quibus milites Christi ob gloriam coronantur lilies unspotted Virgins ruddy in his garland of roses victorious Martyrs or lastly as some flourish upon the letter ruddy in all his Disciples save St. John who shed their blood for his name and Gospell and white in the Disciple in my text who alone came to a faire and peaceable end abiding according to the words of our Saviour till hee came unto him by an easie and naturall death For this priviledge Christ gave him above them all that none should have power to lay violent hands on him who lay in his Redeemers arms d Joh. 1.17 The law was given by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ and with grace came in John a name that signifieth grace Wee read of no John in the old Testament but wee finde two in the Gospell the one the forerunner the other the follower of Christ the one in allusion to the Hebrew Etymology of his name may bee called Gratia praeveniens grace prevenient the other Gratia subsequens grace subsequent the one may bee compared to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Morning the other to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Evening starre for Saint John Baptist as the Morning starre ushered in the Sunne our Saviour Saint John the Evangelist as the Evening starre appeared long in the skie shining in the Churches of Asia after the Sunne of righteousnesse Christ Jesus was set at his death This latter John is the Disciple whose feast wee now keepe and memory wee celebrate and graces wee admire and title wee are now to declare As Christ spake of the Baptist e Mat. 11.9 What went yee out to see a Prophet nay I say unto you and more than a Prophet wee may say of this Evangelist what are yee come to heare of a Disciple nay I say unto you and more than a Disciple a Prophet an Evangelist an Apostle f Cic. in Brut. O generosam stirpein tanquam in unam arborem plura germina sic in istam domum multorum insitam et illuminatam virtutem O noble stocke on which many grafts of the plants of Paradise are set In some parts of the skie wee see single starres in others a conjunction or crowne of many starres the other Disciples were like single starres some were Prophets some were Evangelists some Doctors some Apostles but in Saint John as a constellation shine the eminent gifts and callings of many Disciples Saint Luke was an Evangelist but no Apostle Saint Peter was an Apostle but no Evangelist Saint Matthew was an Evangelist and Apostle but no Prophet Saint John was all 1 In his Gospell an Evangelist 2 In his Epistle an Apostle 5 In his Apocalypse a Prophet And in all according to his divine Hieroglyphicke g Rev. 4.7 The fourth beast was like a flying Eagle An Eagle Hee was an Eagle in his Apostolike function h Mat. 24.28 Luk. 17.37 where the body was there was this Eagle still lying at his breast In his Gospell like an Eagle hee soareth higher than the other three beginning with and more expresly delivering the divinity of Christ than any before him Lastly in the Apocalypse like an Eagle with open eye hee looketh full upon the Sunne of righteousnesse and the light of the celestiall Jerusalem whereat all our eyes at this day are dazeled Yet this divine Eagle here flyeth low and in humility toucheth the ground stiling himselfe nothing but a Disciple Obser 2 Wee read in i Exod. 15.27 Exodus They came to Elim where are twelve Wels of water and seventy Palme trees In these twelve Springs of water Saint k Hieron tract de 42. mansionibus Nec dubium quin de Apostolis sermo sit de quorum fontibus derivatae aquae totius mundi siccitatem rigant Juxta has aquas 70. creverunt palmae quas ipsos secundi ordinis intelligimus praeceptores Lucà Evangelistà docente duodecim fuisse Apostolos 70. Discipulos minoris gradus Vid supr Ser. 10. The Apostolike Bishop Jerome conceived that hee saw the face of the twelve Apostles and on the branches of these seventy Palme trees the fruit of the seventy Disciples labour In allusion whereunto most of the Ancients make the Apostles the Parents and patterns of all Bishops and the seventy Disciples of Priests the Bishops they make as it were the springs from whence the Presbyters like the Palme trees receive sap and moisture whereby they grow in the Church and bring forth fruit in the parochiall Cures where they are planted The Bishops they called Pastours and Teachers primi ordinis of the first order or ranke the Presbyters or Priests Praeceptores secundi ordinis teachers as it were in a lower fourm To confound which rankes in the Church and bring a Bishop perforce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 downe to the lower fourm or degree of a Priest is defined sacriledge in the great Councell of Chalcedon Yet Saint John the Apostle here of himselfe descendeth into that lower step or staire assuming to himselfe the name onely of a Disciple 1 In humility 2 In modesty 3 In thankfulnesse to his Master 1 In humility to take all Christians into his ranke hëe giveth himselfe no higher title than was due to the meanest follower of Christ The weightier the piece of gold is the more it presseth downe the scale even so where there is more worth you shall ever find more lowlinesse the empty and light eares pricke up but the full bow to the earth 2 In modesty Saint John was the youngest of the Apostles and in that respect tearmeth himselfe rather a Disciple that is a learner than as hee was indeed a great Master in the Church though hee were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet hee was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 young hee was in yeeres but not in conditions his youth was wiser than others age his dawning was brighter than their noon-tide his blossomes fairer than their fruits his Spring exceeded their Autumne yet like Moses hee saw not the beames of his face which all other beheld Young men doe not so much usually over-value themselves as here Saint John doth under-value himselfe the stile wherewith the Church hath most deservedly graced him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John the Divine but the title which hee taketh to himselfe is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scholar or Disciple 3 In thankfulnesse to his Master he chuseth this title before any other thereby professing that whatsoever knowledge hee had hee suckt it from him on whose brest he lay About the time of our Saviours birth as l De vit Pont. tit Christ narrat Orosius l. 6. c. 21. Augustum Caesarem eodem die
whole stone is but a diamond and yet every carrect thereof in it is diamond the whole wedge is but gold and yet every plate every smallest foyle or raye is gold and as the soule of man is tota in toto tota in qualibet parte corporis is whole in the whole and whole in every part of the body so there is season in the whole text and in every part thereof for there is season and that instant in now there is season and that welcome in accepted time lastly there is season and that most welcome in the day of salvation In the g Esay 49 8. accepted time I will heare thee in the day of salvation I will helpe thee This I will heare thee is as it were the noyse of heavenly musicke afarre off Behold the accepted time this soundeth like musick at our gate but now is the day of salvation this is like musicke at our eares Behold the accepted time the day starre beginneth to appeare Behold the day of salvation the sunne is risen Behold now is that time now is that day the sunne is directly over our heads it is now high noone Behold is as a larum bell of attention now is as a finger of indication or application to a season 1 Indefinite a time of acceptation 2 Definite or singular a day of salvation That for information this for our consolation Behold is as a star or hand in the margent pointing to some excellent matter In the Scripture wee finde foure sorts of Ecce's 1 An Ecce of demonstration as h Joh. 19.5 Behold the man 2 An Ecce of admiration as i Mat. 2.9 Behold the starre 3 An Ecce of affection as k Joh. 1.47 Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guilt 4 An Ecce of excitation or attention as l 1 Cor. 15.51.52 Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleepe but wee shall all bee changed in a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last trumpe The Rabbins write of Davids harp that it sounded of it selfe by the winde onely blowing on it without the touch of any string it were to be wished that our heart strings were like his harp strings and would give a sweet sound by the winde onely of the Spirit blowing on them without any touch of an Ecce of excitation or increpation but so it is that though our soule be full of divine graces like Argo's eyes yet Mercury with his enchanted rod the world with fascinating pleasures or the Syren of our flesh with her effeminate songs closeth them all and wee need an Ecce like the m Act. 12.7 Angels stroke on Peters side to awake us out of our dead sleepe A strange thing it is that our eyes should bee open and wee runne with all speed sometimes before day out of doores to see a May-game or a Masque or a Pageant or a Morrice-dance and yet wee should need to have an Ecce to stirre us up and plucke open as it were our eye-lids to behold the light of heaven and the glory of the celestiall Paradise Wee listen willingly to wanton musick and lascivious songs but must be pulled by the eare to listen to the sacred songs of Sion Beloved did you fasten your attention did you thoroughly consider of what you cannot but heare again againe unlesse with the deafe adder you stopped your eares something would sticke by you all our sermons all our admonitions all our reprehensions all our consolations should not bee like letters written in sand or the tracke of a ship in the sea or of a bird in the ayre or of a serpent upon a stone whereof there remaines no print at all Saint Hierome speaking of an Imperiall law restraining the luxury of the Clergy The law saith he is good but this is not good that the manners of the Clergy were so dissolute that they needed such a coercive law Bonum cauterium sed vae nobis quod indigeamus tali cauterio so it may bee said of these Ecce's or Beholds in Scripture that they are good and of singular use but it is great pitty that wee should need them it is a signe that our spirituall man is very drowsie if not in a dead sleepe that the Spirit calleth so often and so loud upon us sometimes 1 To awake our faith as n Esay 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall hee with childe and shall bring forth a sonne and thou shalt call his name Emanuel 2 To awake our hope as o Apoc. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with mee to give every man as his workes shall bee 3 To awake our love as p 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what love God hath shewen unto in that wee should bee called the sonnes of God 4 To awake our feare as q Apoc. 1.7 Behold hee commeth with the clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall vaile before him 5 To awake our joy as r Luk. 2.10.11 Behold I bring you tidings of exceeding great joy which shall be to all people that to you is borne this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. 6 To awake our thankfulnesse as Å¿ Psal 134.1 Behold now praise the Lord all ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the house of the Lord. 7 To awake our compassion as t Lam. 1.12 Behold if there were ever sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath 8 To awake our diligence and industry in eager and speedy pursuing the meanes of our salvation as here in my text Behold now is the accepted Time Other things are with more ease described than understood but time is easily understood not described or defined so easily there is no rusticke so rude who understandeth not what you meane when you speake of time yet never any Philosopher to this day hath exactly defined or described it Aristotle maketh an essay in his Physickes determining time to be Numerum motus secundum prius posterius The number of motion or motion numbred according to the former or latter parts thereof but he faileth in this his definition For questionlesse time is as well the measure of rest as of motion we sleepe as well in time as we worke in time And as a ship in the Sea whether the passengers lye in their cabbins or walke on the deckes holdeth on her course so whether we sleepe or wake labour or be at our ease the time of our life goeth on When Josuah commanded the Sun to stand still in the heavens all the motions of the celestiall bodies ceased yet was there then time wherein that noble Generall accomplished his victory The Platonicks definition is truer who say that time is eternity limited but yet no way perfect I grant time is as it were a portion or cantle of
eternity yet I deny that this is any good description of time because every description ought to be per notius by something that is more known whereas eternity is farre more obscure than time it selfe all men have a common notion of the one few or none of the other Neither doe they give any better satisfaction who define time by duration For albeit there is a time of duration of every thing and a duration also of time it selfe yet duration is not time duration is the existence of any thing in time not the terme or time it selfe They define time most agreeable to the Scriptures who affirme it to be the continuall fluxe of moments minutes houres dayes weekes moneths yeeres ages from the creation of the world to the dissolution thereof after which the u Apoc. 10.6 Angel sware that time should be no more But I need to speake no more of time at this time because the word in my text is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time but season or as it is here rendered The accepted time The season is that in time which light is in the aire lustre in metals the flower in plants creame in milke quintessence in hearbs the prime and best of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now there being a threefold season 1. Naturall which Husbandmen observe in sowing Gardeners in planting and graffing Mariners in putting to Sea Chirurgians in letting bloud Physicians in purging c. 2. Civill of which the Poet speaketh Mollissima fandi tempora which all humble suppliants observe in preferring petitions to Princes and great Personages 3. Spirituall which all that have a care of their salvation must observe in seeking the Lord while he may be found The Apostle in this place pointeth to this third and his meaning is Behold now presse hard to get into the kingdome of heaven for now the gate is open now labour hard in Gods vineyard for now is the eleventh houre now put up your petitions to the Prince of peace for now is the day of audience now provide your selves of spirituall merchandize for now is the mart now cast your selves into the Bethesda of Christs bloud for now the Angel troubleth the water now get a generall pardon for all your sinnes under the broad seale of the King of heaven for now is a day of sealing When the King commeth saith St. x Chrys in hunc locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome there is no time for sessions or assises but for pardon and favour Behold now the King is come to visit his subjects upon earth and from his first comming to his last the day of grace continueth Behold now is this accepted time He calleth it an accepted time saith St. y Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome because now God accepteth them to favour who a thousand times incurred his displeasure It is called in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a time of good will and favour as Calvin rendereth the words who biddeth us marke the order first a time of grace is promised and after a day of salvation to intimate unto us that salvation floweth from the meere grace and mercy of God We are active in sinne to our owne damnation but meere passive to the first grace we draw on damnation with the cart-ropes of vanity but God draweth us to salvation with the cords of love The speciall point of doctrine to which this ecce or index in my text pointeth is that we ought to take speciall notice of the time of grace beginning at the birth of our Saviour and ending to us at the day of our death and to all men that shall be upon the earth at the consummation of the world As the celestiall spheres are wrapt one in another and the greatest which the Philosophers terme the Primum mobile invelopeth all the rest so the parts of time are enclosed the lesser in the greater houres in dayes dayes in yeeres yeers in ages and ages in the time of the duration of the world To explicate then to the full the time of our Lords birth it will be requisite to treat 1 Of the age of the world 2 Of the yeere of the age 3 Of the day of the yeere in which the true z John 1.9 light that lighteneth every man that commeth into the world first shined on the earth 1 Of the age of the world The Jewes according to an ancient tradition received from the house of Elias make three ages of the world as it were so many stages of time 1 From the creation to the law 2 From the law to the Messias 3 From the comming of the Messias to the end of the world To each of these they allow two thousand yeeres counting thus 1 a Carion in Chron. Duo millia vacuum 2 Duo millia lex 3 Duo millia Messias post mundi deflagratio Saint y Aug. de civit Dei l. 22 c 30. Post hanc tan quam in die septimo requi escet Deus cum eundem septimum diem quod nos erimus in seipso faciet requiescere Austine doubleth these files and maketh reckoning of sixe ages 1 From Adam to the Deluge 2 From the Deluge to Abraham 3 From Abraham to Solomon 4 From Solomon to the captivity 5 From the captivity to Christs birth 6 From Christs birth to the day of judgement after which in the seventh we shall all keepe an eternall Sabbath in heaven By both which computations it appeareth that the birth of our Saviour fell late towards the declining and end of time as b Maxin Taur hom 6 de nativ In fine temporum natus est ille cujus aeternitatem nulla saeculorum tempora comprehendunt Maximus Taurinensis observeth Here the wit of man which like the Sea will still be working though oftentimes foaming out his owne shame curiously enquireth why the desire and joy of all mankind was so long delayed why he was so late born whose birth was of more importance than of all the Potentates Princes Kings Emperours and Monarchs of the whole world Was not Christ the bright morning starre how came it then to passe that he appeared not till the afternoone if not evening of the world Was not he the bridegroome whose * Marriage song Epithalamium Solomon by the spirit of prophesie endited in the booke of Canticles how could hee then heare his dearest Spouse breathe out so many sighes and shed such abundance of teares in so many ages still longing for his comming and crying c Cant. 1.1 Let him come into the flesh and kisse mee with the kisses of his lips Was not hee the good Samaritan which healed the wounded man after Moses the Levite and Aaron the Priest passing by left him as they found him and did him no ease at all how then could this tender hearted Chirurgian suffer wounded mankinde to lie so many ages weltring in his owne bloud and
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
faire to behold and the fruits of their lips sweet to taste 4 In the midst of Paradise was the tree of life in our Church Christ crucified on whom whosoever feedeth by faith shall live for ever So that what Jacob spake of the place where he was may be sayd of our Church This is no other than the house of God For albeit there be many plants in this Garden which the Lord hath not planted many wild branches that need pruning many dead not enlived by Christ many poysonous weeds many flowers faire in shew but of a stinking savour and no marvell for in the Arke there was a Cham in Abrahams house an Ishmael in Jacobs family a Reuben in Davids Court an Absalom in the number of Christs Disciples a Judas nay in heaven a Lucifer Yet sith our Church striveth to pluck up these weeds and unsavourie or unfruitfull plants and desires to be freed of them it may truely be called the Garden of God For as St. i Ad Felician Austine saith The Goats must feed with the sheepe till the chiefe shepheard come Ille nobis imperavit congregationem sibi reservavit separationem ille dabit separare qui nescit errare 2 Touching our Rulers and Governours resemblance to the man Adam whom God appointed Ruler over all the creatures was furnished with gifts agreeable God made greater lights to rule the day and night so should they be great in wisdome and great in goodness that are to enlighten others I am not to flatter you nor to reprove you happy is that Church whose Rulers are so qualified 3 Touching the comparison of Adams placing in Paradise with our calling 1 I note that God was not wooed with friendship nor won with mony nor swayed with affection to place Adam in Paradise but of his own voluntary motion he placed him there Let us tread in the steps of our heavenly Father When k Omph. in vit Clem. Clement the fift Bishop of Rome was importuned by his kindred and offred mony to conferre a benefice upon an unworthy man he answered Nolo obtemperare sanguini sed Deo let us take on us the like resolution For what an uncomely thing is it to set a leaden head upon a golden body to make fooles rulers of wise men 2 I note that Adam did not ambitiously affect this place nor by indirect means sought to winde himselfe into it but God tooke him by the hand and placed him there but now I feare St. Jeromes speech is true of divers Presbyteratus humilitate despectâ festinamus episcopatum auro redimere 3 I note Adam was not created in Paradise but by his maker placed in it Let mee apply this to you the right worshipfull Governours of this Citie You were not born but brought by God to this rule and governement though as clouds you soare aloft yet were you but vapours drawne from the earth it is God that hath lifted up your heads as he raised David from the sheepefold and Joseph from the dungeon Wherefore in acknowledgment of your owne unworthinesse and Gods goodnesse to you say you with l Gen. 32.10 Jacob With my staffe passed I over this Jordan Say you with David m 1 Sam. 18.11 Quis ego sum aut quae est cognatio mea Ascribe the glory of your wealth and honour to God kisse the blessed hand that hath lifted you up and consider with me in the next place why God placed you here 4 Touching Adams dressing and keeping Paradise and your charge St. Ambrose well observeth that though Paradise needed no dressing yet God would have Adam to dresse it that his example might be a law to his posteritie to dresse and keepe the place of their charges It is not enough for you to be good men ye must be good rulers He that hath an office must attend upon his office it is opus oneris as well as opus honoris Yee must not be like antickes in great buildings which seeme to beare much but indeed sustaine nothing neither must ye lay the whole burden upon other mens shoulders sith the key of governement is layd on yours Now in dressing the Garden three duties are especially to be required 1 To cast and modell the Garden into a comely forme Of which I need to speake nothing Your forme of governement may be a president to other Cities of this kingdome strangers have written in praise of it 2 To root up and cast out stinking weeds Among which I would commend two to your speciall care 1 Papisme 2 Puritanisme I deny not but that it belongeth to the speciall care of our Bishops to plucke up these weeds yet as Judas sayd to Simon Helpe thou me in my lot and I will helpe thee in thine so ought both Spirituall and Temporall Governours joyne hands in rooting out these weeds 1 Of Papisme In the dayes of Jehosaphat that good King it is recorded that the high places were not taken away because the people did not set their heart to seeke the God of their Fathers The Papists seeke to their God of Rome the n Distinc 96. Pope as the Canonists stile him not to the God of heaven nor the God of their Fathers Did their Forefathers in the Primitive Church equall traditions with Scripture consecrate oratories to Saints pray in an unknown tongue mutilate the Sacrament adore the wafer and call it their maker did they sell indulgences to free men from Purgatorie Saint Peter taught us to bee subject to o 1 Pet. 2.13 every humane ordinance St. Paul commandeth every p Rom. 13 1. soule to be subject to the higher powers The Primitive Christians in q Tert. ad Sâ—p Tertullians time though they were cruelly persecuted by the heathen Emperours and had power and strength enough to revenge themselves yet they never lifted up their hands against any of those bloudy Tyrants Heare their profession in Tertullian Nos nec Nigriani nec Cassiani sumus we are no Nigrians no Cassians no Rebels no Traitors we fill all your Cities Islands Townes yea your Palace and Senate What were we not able to doe if it were not more agreeable to our Religion to be killed than upon any pretence to kill On the contrarie the Papists teach that it is not onely lawfull but a meritorious act to lay hands upon the Lords annointed if hee favour not their Idolatries and Superstitions witnesse Cardinall Como his instructions to Parry and Sixtus his oration in defence of the Jacobine that murdered Henrie the third Had the Apostles preached this faith to the world should they have converted the world Was this the practice of the Primitive Church Is this Religion to make murder spirituall resolution to eate their God upon a bargaine of bloud Cannot God propagate his truth but by these wicked and damnable meanes Origen writeth that some unskilfull Emperickes dealt with their Patients not to consult with learned Physicians lest by them their ignorance should be
1.5 messengers of Christ 3. The dwelling of Angels is in Heaven and there is or ought to be the a Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven conversation of the Ministers of the Gospel 4. The life of Angels is a continuall b Matth. 18.10 beholding the face of God and what is the life of a good Minister but a continuall contemplation of the divine nature attributes and workes 5. The Angels gather c Mat. 24.31 the Elect from the foure windes and the Ministers of the Gospel gather the Church from all corners of the earth 6. The Angels d Apoc. 16.1 poure out the vialls of the wrath of God upon the earth and the Ministers are appointed to denounce Gods judgements and plagues to the wicked world 7. The Angels e 1 Cor. 15 52. sound Trumpets at the last resurrection and the Ministers of the Gospel at the first 8. When Christ was in an agony f Luke 22.43 there appeared an Angel strengthening him and when Gods children are in greatest extremity God sendeth the Ministers of the Gospel to g Job 33.23 If there bee a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew to man his uprightnesse c. comfort them 9. The Angels carry the soules of them that dye in the Lord into Abrahams bosome Luke 16.22 and the Ministers of the Gospel give them their passe and furnish them with their last viaticum Now if it bee demanded why God so highly advanceth the dignity of the Ministry I answer to advance his glory He lifteth up the silver Trumpets of Sion on high that the sound of his praise may be heard the further As the visible Sunne casteth a more radiant and bright beame upon Pearle and Glasse which reflecteth them againe than upon grosse and obscure bodies that dead the rayes thereof even so the Sunne of righteousnesse casteth the fairest lustre upon that calling which most of all illustrateth his glory To other vocations God calleth us but this calleth us unto God all other lawfull callings are of God but of this God himselfe was and if it bee a great honour to the noblest orders of Knighthood on earth to have Kings and Princes installed into them how can wee thinke too worthily of that sacred order into which the Sonne of God was solemnly invested by his h Psal 110.4 Father I speake nothing to impeach the dignity of any lawfull profession make much of the Physicians of your body yet not more than of the Physicians of your soule yeeld honour and due respect to those that are skilfull in the civill and municipall Lawes yet under-value them not who expound unto you the Lawes of God At least take not pride in disgracing them who are Gods instruments to conveigh grace into your soules grieve not them with your accursed speeches who daily blesse you load them not with slaunders and calumnies who by their absolution and ghostly comfort ease you of the heavie burden of your sinnes goe not about to thrust them out of their temporall estate who labour by their Ministery to procure you an eternall It is not desire of popular applause or a sinister respect to our owne profit but the zeale of Gods glory which extorteth from us these and the like complaints against you For if Religion might bee advanced by our fall and the Gospel gaine by our losses and God get glory by our dis-esteeme we should desire nothing rather than to be accounted the off-scouring of all things on the earth that so wee might shine hereafter like precious stones in the foundation of the celestiall Jerusalem But if the Preachers and the Gospel the Word and Sacraments and the Ministers thereof Religion and Priests the Church and Church-men are so neere allies that the dis-reputation of the one is a great prejudice to the other and the disgrace of the one the despising of the other if the truth wee professe if our Religion if the Gospel if Christ if God suffer in the disgraces that are put upon our calling and the manifold wrongs that are done to it we must adjure you for your owne good and deeply charge you in Gods cause that as you looke to receive any good from him so you take nothing sacrilegiously from the Church as you hope to be saved by the Ministery preserve the dignity and estimation thereof be not cursed Chams in discovering the nakednesse of your ghostly fathers Alexander thought that he could not lay too much cost upon the deske in which Homers Poems lay and we daily see how those who take delight in musicke beautifie and adorn the instrument they play upon with varnish purfle gilt painting and rich lace in like maner if you were so affected as you should be at the hearing of the Word if you were ravished with the sweet straines of the songs of Sion ye would make better reckoning of the Instruments and Organs of the holy Spirit by which God maketh melodie in your hearts yee would not staine with impure breath the silver trumpets of Sion blowne not with winde but with the breath of God himselfe yee would not trample under foot those Canes that yeeld you such store of Sugar or rather of Manna Yee will be apt enough upon these and the like texts to teach us our dutie that we ought as Messengers of God to deliver his message faithfully and as neere as we can in his owne words as Angels to give our selves to divine contemplation and endevour to frame our lives to a heavenly conversation Let it not then be offensive to you to heare your dutie which is as plaine to be read as ours in the stile here attributed to the Pastour of Laodicea the Angell It is that you entertaine your diligent and faithfull Pastours as the i Gal. 4.14 Ye received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus Galathians did St. Paul and as Monica did St. Ambrose tanquam Angelos Dei as the Angels of God receive them as Abraham and Lot did the Angels sent from God unto them defend them according to your power from wrong and make them partakers of the best things wherewith God hath blessed you Angelo to the Angel in the singular number chiefe Pastour or Bishop of the Church All Ministers as I shewed you before may challenge the title of Angels but especially Bishops who watch over other Ministers as Angels over men who are to order the affaires of the Church and governe the Clergie as the Peripatetickes teach that Angels direct and governe the motions of the celestiall spheres therefore Epiphanius and St. Austine and most of the later Interpreters also paraphrase Angelo by Episcopo illic constituto and verily the manner of the superscription and the contents of the letter and the forme of governement settled in all Churches at this time make for this interpretation For supposing more Ministers in London of equall ranke and dignitie as there are who would indorse a
gente Antei cuiusdam in stagnum quoddam regionis ejus duci vestituque in quâ—rcu suspenso … nare abire in desertum transfiguratique in lupos Pliny writeth of certaine people of the family of Anteus in Arcadia who having put off their clothes and swom over a deep standing poole wander in the wildernesse runne among Wolves and are transformed into their shape and after returne backe and doe great mischiefe in their owne countrey I beleeve not that there is any such family in Arcadia but I am sure wee have a sort of men in England who putting off the habit of English men and Scholars crosse the narrow Seas converse with Romish Wolves and degenerate into their nature and after they returne backe into their owne countrey make havocke of Christs flocke Here I cannot but cry aloud with zealous Bullenger t In Apoc. c. 2. Quae quaeso clementia est crudelissimis lupis blandiri ut oves innocentes Christi sanguine redemptas impunè dilâ—nient quae haec patientia sinere vineam Domini ab immanissimis monstris devastati What clemency call you this to suffer the Lords Vineyard to bee spoiled and laid waste by cruell Monsters What mercy to spare the Wolves which spare not Christs sheep redeemed with his precious bloud who plot treason against their naturall Prince scandalize the State and staine with impure breath the gold and silver vessels of the Sanctuary who turne religion into Statisme or rather into Atheisme Let it bee accounted mercy not to execute the rigour of penall Statutes upon silly seduced sheep certainly it is cruelty to spare the Wolves which worry them If any pricked at the heart at the consideration of these things say with the Jewes in the Acts y Acts 2.37 Quid faciemus What shall wee doe Wee have used all diligence to find out these Romish Wolves and those that come within our reach wee smite at the rest we set our strongest Mastives and fray them out of our coasts I answer If this were sincerely done of all hands if some shepheards were not seen by the Wolves before they spie them and thereby lost their voices according to the Proverb Lupi videre priores I say if the shepheards and the dogges bestirred themselves as they should yet the wise man in Livie will tell them All will be to no great purpose till the woods and thickets be cut down to which they flie there hide themselves Nunquam defuturi sunt lupi donec sylvae exscindantur you shall never be rid of these Romish wolves so long as in all quarters of this Kingdome they have so many places of shelter to lurke in I had almost sayd Sanctuaries of defence I am now come home to the point I first thought upon when I was sommoned to speake to this honourable assembly This Sermon was preached during the Parliament whereof many were present consisting of so many noble and worthy members of the high Court of Parliament and therefore here I will land my discourse after I have given you but one memento out of the Psalmist Remember the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem how they sayd Downe with it downe with it even to the ground or rather Up with it up with it to the trembling ayre Blow up King Queene Prince Parliament Clergie Laitie Nobilitie Gentrie Commons Lawes Statutes Charters Records all in a cloud of fire that there remaine not so much as any cinders of them upon the earth lest perhaps the Phoenix might revive out of her owne ashes But praysed be the God of heaven who discovered and defeated that plot of hell our soule is escaped as a bird out of the snare the snare is broken and we are delivered I will close up all with those sweet straines of the hundred forty ninth Psalme O sing unto the Lord a new song let his praise be heard in the great congregation let Israel rejoyce in him that made him and let the children of Sion be joyfull in their King for the Lord hath pleasure in his people and will make the meeke glorious by deliverance let the Saints be joyfull with glory let them rejoyce in their beds let the high Acts of the Lord be in their mouthes and a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the Romish Jezebel and rebuke her proselites to bind her Priests in chaines and her Chemarims with linkes of iron that they may be avenged of them as it is written Such honour have all his Saints To whom c. JEZEBEL SET OUT IN HER COLOURS A Sermon preached in Saint Pauls Church Novemb. 20. Anno 1614. THE XXXIV SERMON REVEL 2.20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eate things sacrificed unto Idols Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IN this letter indited by the Spirit and penned by St. John I observed heretofore 1 Superscription and therein 1 The party from whom with his eminent quality the Sonne of God c. 2 The partie to whom it was sent with the title of his dignity the Angel of Thyatira 2 The contents which are so manifold and of such importance that if I had the tongue of an Angel I could hardly deliver them all in particular I have heretofore presented you with twelve sorts of fruits answerable to the fruits of the tree of life a Apoc. 22. described all growing upon the two former branches of this Scripture and this of my text and yet I have not gathered the halfe It resembleth that wonderfull tree which Pliny saw at b Lib. 17. c. 16. nat hist Arborem vidimus â—uxta Tiburtes Tulias omni genere pomorum onustam alio ramo nucibus alio baccis aliunde vite ficis pyris punicis malorumque generibus Tiburts which bare all kind of delicious and wholesome fruits Seneca his observation is true that c Sen ep 23. ad Lucil. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alâ—o latet vena assidoè plenius responsura fodienti baser metals are found neere the top but the richer lie deep in the earth affording great store of precious oare Such is the Mine I have discovered in this passage of Scripture into which that you may search deeper with more profit and lesse danger I will beare before you a cleere light made of all the expositions of the best learned Scribes in the house of God who to enrich our faith bring forth out of their treasuries new things and old And to the Angel that is the Bishop or chiefe Pastour as heretofore I proved at large unto you In the Old Testament we reade of the ministery of Angels but here we finde Angels of the ministery to whom the Sonne of God himselfe kindly and familiarly writeth Our usuall forme of sommoning your attention is Hearken unto the
of judgement is said to bee as the appearance of a Saphir stone 6. The sixth stone according to the author of the vulgar Latine which all Papists hold for authenticall is Jaspis the Jasper stone but this is an apparent errour for it is confessed on all sides that in all the foure rankes the stones were severall as likewise were the twelve Patriarchs whose names were engraven in them but the Jasper is the last stone in the fourth row in the Hebrew Jasphe Therefore the third stone in the second row cannot be the Jasper What stone then was it in all probability the Diamond as the Seventy and Josephus render it and Aben Ezra and f Jahalom Adamas lapis pretiosus sic dictus quòd pertundit ac confringit omnes alios lapides ut notat Aben Ezra Exod. 28.18 Buxtorfius prove it from the Hebrew etymology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word in the Hebrew signifieth a stone that is stronger than all other and will break them in pieces In this stone was the name of Naphthali written who was so named by g Gen. 30.8 Rachel because shee got the upper hand of her sister With great wrastlings have I wrastled with my sister and I have prevailed and shee called his name Naphthali Moreover wee reade a prophesie in the land of h Esay 9.1 Naphthali that the people which sate in darknesse should see a great light which was i Matth. 4.15 16. fulfilled in our Saviours preaching there now what fitter jewell in the world to prefigure and shew forth this wonderfull great light than the Diamond which is incomparably the brightest of all precious stones Thus I might parallel the twelve stones and the twelve Patriarchs but to avoid saciety and meet with your expectation I leave that taske and observe onely for the present that the names of the twelve Patriarchs which were engraven at large in these jewells shining on the breast-plate of Aaron were engraven againe in a lesser character in the two Onyx stones on his shoulder which is both a warrant for and an embleme of my present work which must be a repetition and contraction of those precious doctrines which before you saw expressed by the foure Preachers in divers methods and stiles as it were in divers rowes with the point of divers Diamonds It is very probable also that the selfe same stones as Saint k Ep. 28. Ezek. 28.13 Jerome observeth deck'd the crowne of the King of Tyre and are laid in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem which may teach us that precious doctrines and observations like so many jewells may be againe and againe presented to your spirituall view Were I to vindicate this exercise from the often repeated cavells against repetitions I would answer them as Martial doth those who carped at him for handling the same subject twice and falling upon like conceits l Mart. epigr. lib. 1. Lascivos leporum cursus lususque leonum Quod major nobis charta minorque gerit Et bis idem facimus nimium si Stella videtur Hoc tibi bis leporem tu quoque pone mihi But to you my beloved and much reverenced brethren I alledge for my apology the example not onely of the Gentiles at m Act. 13.42 Antiochia who besought the Apostles to preach unto them the same words the next Sabbath and of Saint n Philip. 3.1 Paul whom it grieved not to write to the Philippians the same things but also of our Saviour Christ who in his prayer o Mat. 26.44 repeated the third time the same words and John 17. often quavereth upon that sweete close I in them and they in mee and that they may be one as thou and I are one It is p Cic. de orat l. 1. Subacto opus est solo nec novato duntaxat sed iterato not once plowing but the often breaking up of the earth which maketh it fruitfull nor is it the incident but the reflected beame of the Sunne that giveth the greatest heate in which consideration they who have performed this great taske before mee might receive great warmth of comfort because the light of heavenly doctrine incident upon their memories like the beames of the Sunne upon glasse or other polite bodies were reverberated from them per radium reflexum and thereby received greater vertue but now the same cast backe from my fluid and waterish memory per radium refractum cannot but lose much of their light and grace The brighter the colour is the more duskie the shadow must needs be the perfecter the discourse the more imperfect and difficult the epitomie for in all such the thronging the parts is the wronging the whole and contraction can be no better than detraction Had these learned Sermons been like Vines that runne into many superfluous stemmes I might conceive some hope by pruning them to effect that for which Saint Jerome commendeth the Athenian Oratours q Ep. ad Rustic Ut eloquentiae torcularia non verborum pampinis sed sensuum quasi uvarum expressionibus redundarent but these were rather like the rowes of precious stones in my Text. Now concerning such the rule of the Jewellers is If there be any graine cloud or specke in a gemme which cannot bee ground out without sensible abating the stone not to meddle with it because the losse in the matter being so precious cannot be recompenced with any beauty that art can give The first of them for the faire blossomes of eloquence in it and the Authors flourishing stile deserveth the name of terra florida in America The second for the happy plenty of all things in it the name of the fortunatae Insulae Reddit ubi cererem tellus inarata quotannis imputata floret usque vinea Germinat nunquam fallentis termes olivae suamque pulla ficus ornat arborem Or rather of r Nat. hist l. 18. Ubi palmae praegrandi subditur olea huic ficus fico punica illi vitis sub vite seritur frumentum mox legumen deinde olus omnia eodem anno Tocape in Pliny wherein under a faire palme tree you may see an olive under an olive a figge-tree under a figge-tree a vine under a vine corne under corne all maner of wholsome herbes all growing in one yeer so that if as it was demanded of Porus how he would be dealt withall it were of me how I would have an argument handled in a Sermon my answer should be the same with that Indian king Porus Regio more in eo enim insunt omnia Allus ad Nomen sec concionat Angl. King The third I know no better country to compare unto than terra de Labradorâ in the west Indies in regard of the accurate and elaborate composition The fourth may be fitly termed Promontorium bonae spei Cape of good hope not so much in respect of the hopefull parts of the speaker as the subject
for one Starre differeth from another in glory and so shall be the resurrection of the dead 5. Fifthly looke yee yet neerer upon these shining stones and yee shall finde that they will not onely delight and lighten the eyes of your understanding but also heate and enflame your devout affections They are as twelve precious bookes wherein you may reade many excellent lessons printed with indeleble characters You see cleerly here the names of each of the Tribes in severall engraven let your marginall note be God hath from all eternity decreed a certaine number of Elect to bee saved and hee hath written their names in severall in the booke of life 6. Sixthly observe that the names of the Tribes are not written in paper nor carved in wood but engraven in solid and precious stones with the point of a Diamond never to be razed out let your interlineary glosse be None of those whose names are written in the book of life can be stricken out For there is no blotting interlining nor variae lectiones in that booke stars there are but no obeliskes the Elect therefore though they may fall grievously and dangerously yet not totally nor finally Stella cadens non est stella cometa fuit Were you beloved but embossed or enammeled in the ring upon our Saviours finger you were safe enough for no man can plucke any thing out of our Saviours hand but now that you are engraven as signets on our Saviours heart what can be your feare what may be your joy Is it so doth our high Priest set us on his heart and shall not wee set our heart on him shall we esteem any thing too deare for him who esteemeth us so deare unto him Hee who once upon the Crosse shed his heart bloud for us still beareth us upon his heart and esteemeth of us as Cornelia did of her Gracchi and presenteth us as it were in her words to his Father Haec sunt ornamenta mea these be my jewels Doth he make such reckoning of us and is it our desire he should doe so then for the love of our Redeemer let us not so dishonour him as to fill the rowes of his breast-plate with glasse in stead of jewels let us not make him present to his Father either counterfeit stones through our hypocrisie or dusky through earthlinesse and worldly corruption let us rub scowre and brighten the good graces of God in us that they may shine in us we may be such as our Saviour esteemeth us to be that is orient and glorious jewels The summe of all is this Yee have heard of foure rowes of precious stones set in bosses of gold upon Aarons breast-plate and by the foure rowes you understand the foure well ordered methodicall Sermons by me rehearsed by the jewels either the eminent parts of the Preachers or their precious doctrines by the embossments of gold in which these precious gems of divine doctrine were set their texts nothing remaineth but that the breast-plate being made you put it on and as Aaron did beare it on your hearts By wearing bearing it there you shall receive vertue from it and in some sort participate of the nature of these jewels in modesty of the Ruby in chastity of the Emrald in purity of the Onyx in temperance of the Amethyst in ardent love of the Carbuncle in invincible constancy of the Adamant in sacrificing your dearest hearts bloud and affections to Christ in passion for him if you be called thereunto of the Hematite You shall gloriously beautifie the brest-plate of our Aaron who hath put on his glorious apparrell and sacred robes and is entred into the Sanctum Sanctorum in heaven and at this time beareth our names on his breast for a remembrance before God his father and long it shall not be ere he come from thence and all eyes shall t Apoc. 1.7 see him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him then shall he say to us Lift up your heads looke upon my breast reade every one your name engraven in a rich jewell You were faithfull unto death therefore see here now I give you a crowne of life behold in it for every Christian vertue a jewel for every penitent teare Chrystall Pearle for every green blew wound or stripe endured for me an Emrald and a Saphir for every drop of bloud shed for the Gospel a Ruby and an Hematite weare this for my sake and reigne with mee for evermore Cui c. THE DEVOUT SOULES MOTTO A Sermon preached in Saint Peters Church in Lent Anno 1613. THE XXXVI SERMON PSAL. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Right Worshipfull c. THe words which our a Luke 12.49 Saviour spake concerning the issue and successe of his preaching may serve fitly for a preface to my intended discourse upon this Text Ignem veni missurus inter vos quid volo nisi ut accendatur I come to put fire among you or rather in you and what is my desire but that by the blasts and motions of Gods Spirit and the breath of my mouth it may presently bee kindled and burne in your hearts Burne it will not without fuell take heed therefore saith b In opusc Cave ne injicias quod fumum aut foetorem ministret Bonaventure what you cast into this fire to feed the flame for if it be grosse impure and earthy matter the flame will be obscure and the fume unsavoury but if it be refined pure and celestiall the flame will be cleare and the fume a sweet perfume in the nostrils of Almighty God Nadab and c Levit. 10.1 Abihu smoaked themselves for offering strange fire upon Gods Altar but wee are like to burne in unquenchable fire if wee offer not continually the fire I am now to treat of upon the Altar of our hearts and yet it is a strange fire too for it giveth light yet burneth not or rather it burnes yet consumeth not or rather it consumes yet impaires not but dilateth and enlargeth the heart Other fire burnes blacke and marreth the beauty of the body but this contrariwise giveth beauty to the soule for as Saint d Mor. in Job l. 18. Non clarescit anima fulgore aeternae pulchritudinis nisi hic arserit in officinâ charitatis Gregory rightly observeth the soule shineth not with the brightnesse of everlasting beauty that burneth not in the forge of charity With this beauty God is so enamoured that Saint e De dilig Deo Major est in amore Dei qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei Bernards observation is true that he is greatest in favour and in the love of God who draweth most to the love of God If we desire to know saith Saint f Aug. Enchirid ad Laurent c. 117. Austine what a man is wee enquire not what he beleeveth or what he hopeth
begotten Sonne a Priest for ever to sanctifie our persons and purge our sins and tender all our petitions to his Father What sinne so hainous what abomination so grievous for which such a Priest cannot satisfie by the oblation of himselfe What cause so desperate in which such an Advocate if he plead will not prevaile What suit so difficult which such a Mediatour will not carry We may be sure God will not be hard to be intreated of us who himselfe hath appointed us such an Intercessour to whom he can deny nothing Therefore surely if there be any Balme in Gilead it may be found on or gathered from the branches of this text The Lord sware And will not repent Is not this addition needlesse and superfluous Doth God ever repent him of any thing May wee be bold to use any such speech concerning God that he repented or retracted any thing We may the Scripture will beare us out in it which in many places warranteth the phrase as l Gen. 6.6 Then it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth and he was sorrie in his heart and m 1 Sam. 15.35 It repenteth me that I have made Saul King for he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandements and n Psal 106.15 He remembred his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies and o Jer. 18.10 If this Nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their wickednesse I will repent of the plagues that I thought to bring upon them but if they doe evill in my sight I will repent of the good that I thought to doe unto them therefore now amend your wayes and your works and heare the word of the Lord God that the Lord may repent him of the plagues that he hath pronounced against you and p Jon. 3.9 God saw their workes that they turned from their evill wayes and God repented of all the evill that he had said he would do unto them and he did it not All which passages I have entirely related quia de Deo etiam vera dicere periculosum est as the heathen q Hil. de Trin. l. 5. Non potest Deus nisi per Deum intelligi à Deo discendum est quid de Deo intelligendum est Sage wisely observeth It is dangerous to speake even true things of God for we may speake nothing safely of him which is not spoken by him in holy Scriptures And above others the Ministers of the Gospel have a speciall charge given them not onely to looke to their matter but to have a care also retinere sanam formam verborum to keepe unto a wholesome platforme of words and phrases such as all those are which the holy Ghost hath sanctified unto us whereof this is one God repented c. which may be safely uttered if it be rightly understood Certaine it is and a most undoubted truth that the nature of God is free from passion his actions from exception his will from controll his purpose from casualty his sentence from revocation and therefore when God is said in holy Scripture to repent of any good by him promised or actually conferred upon any or any evill inflicted or menaced we are not from thence to inferre that there are any after-thoughts in God but onely some alteration in the things themselves As Parents and Nurses that they may be the better understood of their Infants clip their words or speake in a like tone to them so also our heavenly Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we may the better understand him speaketh to us in our owne language Num. 23.19 God is not a man that hee should lie nor the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall be not doe it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good and expresseth himselfe in such termes as best sort with our conceits and apprehensions When we condemne the courses which we have formerly taken or undoe any thing which we have done our after-thoughts checke our former and we retract our errour and this retraction of our opinions and change in our minde we call repentance which though it be farre from the nature of God yet is it by a figure attributed unto him the more significantly to expresse his infinite hatred and detestation of sin in regard whereof he cast man out of his favour as if he had repented that he had made him he cast Saul out of his throne as if he had repented that he had set him in it as also to represent his compassionate love towards penitent sinners which prevaileth so farre with him that upon the least relenting and humiliation on our parts he reverseth the fearefull sentence he passed upon us as if it repented him that he ever had pronounced it We repeale some act or constitution of ours or cancell some deed because we repent of that which formerly we had done but God is said to repent not because his minde or affection is changed but because his actions are such as when the like are done by men they truely repent Thus St. n L. 9. de Civ Dei Poenitentiae nomen usurpavit effectus non illius turbulentus affectus Austine resolveth the case Some such effects which in men proceed from repentance descried in the Actions of God have occasioned these and the like phrases God repented and was sorrie in his heart Yea but what effects are these Hath he ever reversed any sentence repealed any act nay recalled so much as any word passed from him Is the * 1 Sam. 15.29 strength of Israel as man that he should lie or as the sonne of man that hee should repent Is not hee the o Hâ—b 13.8 same yesterday and to day and for ever Are not all his menaces and promises all his mercies and judgements all his words and workes p 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us Yea and Amen Doubtlesse it shall stand for an unmoveable truth when heaven and earth shall passe away Mal. 3.6 Ego Deus non mutor I am the Lord I change not therefore we are yet in the suds there appeareth no ground to fasten repentance upon God either quoad affectum or quoad effectum But here the q Aquin. par 1. q. 16. art 7. Aliud est mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem Schoolemen reach us a distinction to take hold on whereby we may get out of the mire It is one thing to change the will and another thing to will a change God willeth a change in some things at some times but he never changeth his will Some things God appointeth to continue for ever as the dictates of the law of nature and the Priesthood of Christ some things for a time onely as the Legall Ceremonies and the Aaronicall Priesthood Againe some things he promiseth absolutely as
bring us for his Son Jesus Christ his sake Cui c. THE VINE OF SODOME THE XLI SERMON ROM 6.21 What fruit had yee then in those things c. Right Honourable c. ALL the advised thoughts and purposes of men that are not elevated above the levell of earthly desires to a higher marke than the top of worldly happinesse fall and fasten themselves upon such things as most neerly concerne either life it selfe and the commodities or necessities of life or their credit and reputation among those with whom they live These three life estate estimation are their portion in this life and therefore the maintenance of them their chiefe care The world hath nothing besides these to allure and draw on the love of her darlings for the pleasures that are spring out of these and are either their fruits or their blossomes honour is the pleasure of the ambitious wealth of the covetous and the pride of life of all As for those sensuall delights which now I know not how have engrossed the name of pleasures to themselves they receive their birth from youth the spring of our age their nourishment and maintenance from wealth and prosperity So that the former limits within which I have confined the aime and desires of the naturall man stand sure and immoveable Of all things in this life or rather of this life nothing is so deare and precious as life it selfe for without it neither honour nor riches nor pleasures can bring forth any fruit because they can have no root life oftentimes surviveth them they never survive it Howbeit because a miserable and painfull life is a kind of sensible death and to live and not to be reputed of is in effect to be reputed not to be infamy and obscurity being the death of our name and oblivion the buriall of our best parts hence it commeth to passe that the restlesse desires and endeavours of men for riches and honour especially if they be pricked on forward by covetousnesse and ambition are not much lesse eager and violent than is the striving and strugling for life it selfe The pursuit of these is the highest flight of the naturall man but the regenerate Christian who is of a nobler breed soareth farre higher in his desires and affections the life he pursueth is immortality the riches hee esteemeth of are celestiall graces the honour he aspireth unto is a crowne of glory Now the meanes to attaine the ends of both viz. temporall happinesse and happy eternity the glory of the Kingdomes of the earth and a Kingdome of glory in heaven is one and the selfe same the religious service of the onely true God in whose gift they are for a 1 Tim. 6.6 c. 4.8 godlinesse is great gaine and hath the promises of this life and the life to come therefore by the law of contraries ungodly and sinfull courses must needs bee incommodious and to our greatest losse as having the curses of this life and the life to come Whereby as by many other things else we may perceive the folly and blindnesse of the naturall man who taketh a wrong course to compasse his ends for his way lyeth in the straight pathes of Gods Commandements but he taketh by-pathes laid out by Sathan and treadeth endlesse mazes As the b Eras Apoph Athenians against whom Diogenes whet his cynick tooth in the feasts of Aesculapius even when they sacrificed to health banqueted riotously against health so the worldly wise man by inordinately desiring and craftily pursuing and immoderately affecting the blessings of this life loseth them and his life too for these his desires and pursuits are sinnes and by sinne all the promises and covenants of God which are the onely deeds by which wee hold our estate in the blessings of this life are forfeited Good God how doth the god of this world delude the children of the world whom he perswadeth that the ready way to purchase all the comforts and contentments of this life is to fall downe and worship him and to sell themselves with Ahab to worke wickednesse against God whereas sinne unrepented of not onely depriveth them of all hope of a better life hereafter but of all the joy of a good life here For it consumeth their substance it blasteth all the fruits of their labours it disableth and wasteth their body miserably troubleth their consciences staineth their name and shorteneth the dayes of their life I feare there are too many in the world who have no mind of because no knowledge of spirituall riches and celestiall joyes yet there is no man in his right senses who regardeth not either his estate or his credit or his life here The ambitious man little esteemeth worldly gaine because Chamelion-like hee feedeth upon the ayre and breath of mens commendations Againe the covetous man setteth light by praises and honour because he like the worme feedeth upon the earth The voluptuous man careth not much for honour or wealth because like the Beetle hee feedeth upon the doung of unsavoury pleasures yet there is none of all three but tender their life and therefore none who can be unsensible of the Apostles incision in my Text. Doth any desire the commodities of this life let them flye sin for sin bringeth no fruit at all What fruit c. Doe any desire glory and honour they must eschue sinne for sinne bringeth shame Whereof yee are now ashamed Doe any desire continuance of life they must abhorre sinne for sinne bringeth death the end of these things is death Sinne is altogether sterill and unfruitfull and therefore to be set at nought it is shamefull and therefore to bee loathed it is deadly and therefore to be fled from as from a Serpent Here we have three peculiar adjuncts of sinne sinne is unfruitfull for the time past shamefull for the present and deadly for the time to come the first adjunct the unfruitfulnesse of it is so fruitfull of observations that this houre may be fruitfully spent in gathering them What fruit had yee It was the usuall demand of one of the wisest among the c Cic. in Verr. Romane Judges Cassius surnamed the Severe in all cases of doubt in matter of fact about the person of the delinquent Cui bono who gained by the bargaine on whose side lay the advantage assuring himselfe that no man of understanding would put himselfe into any dishonest or dangerous action without hope of reaping some fruit by it as also that there can be no enterprise so beset with difficulties and dangers which some men for apparent hope of great gaine and profit would not goe thorow with no arguments conclude so necessarily in the opinion of the greater part of men as those that are drawne ab d Demost Olynth 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utili This topick place the Divell made choice of above all other Haec omnia tibi dabo in tempting our Saviour and though this his sharpest dart could not enter into
to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build up A time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance c. In which distribution of time according to the severall affaires of our life all actions and accidents all intents and events all counsels and acts all words and workes all motions and cessations businesses and recreations beginnings and endings inchoations and perfections yea affections also as joy and griefe love and hatred have some part and portion of time laid out for them sinne only is exempted that is never in season As the Apostle spake to Simon b Acts 8.21 Magus Non est tibi pars neque sors it hath neither part nor lot in this partition and yet it intrudeth upon us and usurpeth upon either the whole or the greatest part of our demised time We heare of a time to build and a time to pull downe a time to spare and a time to spend but not in like manner a time to doe good and a time to doe ill a time to live godly and a time to sinne a time well to imploy and a time to mispend neither God nor Nature hath bequeathed any legacie of time to sinne Sinne should have no existence at all and therefore no time no estate and therefore neither terme Sinne is none of Gods creatures nor the issue of nature therefore hath no just claime or title to time the best of Natures temporall goods much lesse to happy eternity which is the purchase of the Sonne of God to the price whereof Nature cannot come neere Moreover sinne mis-spendeth spoyleth maketh havocke of our time abridgeth it and often cutteth it off and therefore deserveth that not a moment of time should be given to it Will you have yet more reasons ye have them in the Text drawne from all the differences of time sin hath been unfruitfull is shamefull and will prove pernicious and deadly therefore no portion or part of time is to be allowed to it against which all times give in evidence The time past brings in against it all sorts of dammages and losses sustained by it What fruit had yee The present time layeth open the shame filthinesse of sinne Whereof yee are now ashamed The future produceth the great and grievous penalties which the sinner by the breach of the eternall Law incurreth The end of those things is death A wise man holdeth intelligence with the time past by memory with the present by prudent circumspection with the time to come by providence by re-calling that which was fore-casting what will be he ordereth that which is and therefore he cannot but be sufficiently advertised of those hainous and grievous imputations laid upon sinne by the Spirit of God in my Text. It is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable good for nothing What fruit had yee It is shamefull and infamous Whereof yee are now ashamed Nay it is pestilent and pernicious For the end of those things is death If this forcible interrogatory of the Apostle so full of spirit of perswasion worke not in us newnesse of life and a detestation of our former sinfull courses we are not only insensible of our profit prodigall of our credit and reputation but also altogether carelesse of our life Nihili est saith the c Plaut in Pers Certè nihili est qui nihil amat quid ei homini opus est vitâ Poet qui nihil amat he is of no account who makes account of nothing Non spirat qui non aspirat he breathes not who gaspeth not after something What then is that ye desire How bestow ye your affections What object hath the command of your thoughts and soveraignty over your wills and desires Is it gaine wealth and affluence of all things flye then sinne for it is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable Is it glory honour and reputation eschue then vice for it bringeth shame and infamy upon you and your posterity Is it long life nay with Melchizedek to have no end of your dayes abandon all wicked courses for they have an end and that end is death and that death hath no end That sinne is unfruitfull not only formaliter but also effectivè not only negatively by bringing forth no fruit but also positively by bringing forth evill corrupt fruit by making the soule of man barren of the fruits of righteousnesse yea and the earth also and trees barren of the fruit which they would otherwise have brought forth to our great joy and comfort hath been the subject of our former discourses spent especially in the proofe of these particulars That sinne eclipseth the light of our understanding disordereth the desires of the will weakneth the faculties of the soule distempereth the organs of our body disturbeth the peace of our conscience choaketh the motions of the spirit in us killeth the fruits of grace inthralleth the soule to the body and the body and soule to Sathan lastly depriveth us of the comfortable fruition of all temporall and the fruition and possessions of all eternall blessings All which laid together will make a weighty argument bearing downe and forcing our assent to this conclusion That sinne is sterill and barren and consequently that every sinner is an unthrift and in the end will prove bank-rupt how gainfull a trade soever hee seeme to drive with Satan for as Christ cursed the figge-tree in the Gospell so God curseth all trees that beare the forbidden fruit of sinne and therefore the Apostle truly tearmeth the works of darknesse unfruitfull saying d Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darknesse but reprove them rather The godly man whose delight is in the law of the Lord is likened e Psal 1.3 4. to a tree planted by the rivers of waters which bringeth forth fruit in due season but the wicked to chaffe which the winde scattereth abroad For although they may sometimes build palaces upon the ruines of the Church and fill their houses with the treasures of wickednesse and their coffers with the Mammon of unrighteousnesse yet in the end they will appeare to bee no gainers no nor savers neither by their trafficke with the Devill For if they gain wealth they lose grace if they gaine glasse they lose pearle if they gaine earth they lose heaven if they gaine an estate for tearme of yeares among sinners they lose an eternall inheritance with the Saints in light if they gaine a small portion of the world they f Mar. 8.36 lose their whole soule and what advantageth it a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule Alas what gained g Josh 7.25 Achan by his Babylonish garment and wedge of gold nothing but a heape of stones wherewith hee was battered in pieces What gained Gehezi h 2 Kin. 5.27 by his great bribe a leprosie that cleaved to him and his posterity after him What gained i Judg. 8.27 Zeba and Zalmunna by
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
last of all by Antichrist and his adherents Yee see by this Epitomy of her story the reason of her complaints n Cant. 1.6 Regard mee not because I am blacke for the sunne hath looked upon mee the sonnes of my mother were angry against mee o Cant. 5.7 The watchmen that went about the City found me they smote mee and wounded mee and tooke away my vaile from me Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sick for love Hereby also you may give a fit motto to those emblemes in holy Scripture A lilly among thornes A dove whose note is mourning A vine spoyled by little foxes and partly rooted out by the wild bore of the forrest A woman great with childe and a fiery dragon pursuing her According to which patternes Saint Jerome frameth his p Rubus ardens est figura ecclesiae quae flammis persecutionum non consumitur sed viret magis Hier. in verb. Exod. 3.2 A bush burning yet not consuming and as fitly Saint Gregory draweth her with Christs crosse in her hand with her challenge there unto Ecclesia haeres crucis The Church is an inheretrix of the crosse And it appeareth by all records hitherto that she hath possessed it and if wee examine the matter well wee shall finde that Christ had nothing else to leave her at his death For goods and lands upon earth hee never had q Mat. 8.20 The foxes saith hee have holes and the birds nests but the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head His soule hee bequeathed to his father his body was begged by Joseph of Arimathea his garments the souldiers tooke for their fee and cast lots upon his vestments onely the crosse together with the nailes and gall and vinegar bestowed upon him at his death hee left her as a Heriot For these withall the appurtenances scourges cryes sighes groanes stripes and wounds hee bequeathed to her by his life time in those words r Joh. 16.33 Mat. 10.17 18. 24.9 10 11. Joh. 16.10 In the world yee shall have troubles they shall persecute you in their Synagogues and scourge you and yee shall bee hated of all men for my names sake insomuch that they that kill you shall thinke they doe God good service Yee shall weepe and mourne but the world shall rejoice Upon which words Å¿ Lib. de spectac c. 28. Vicibus res disposita est lugeamus ergò dum ethnici gaudeÌ„t ut cum lugere coeperint gaudeamus ne paritèr nunc gaudentes cum quoque paritèr lugeamus delicatus es Christiane si in seculo voluptatem concupiscis imò niâ—iâ—is stultus si hoc existimas voluptatem Tertullian inferreth God hath disposed of joyes and sorrowes by turnes let us mourne when worldlings rejoice that when they mourne wee may rejoice Thou art too dainty and choice O Christian if besides the joyes of heaven laid up for thee thou lookest for a liberall portion of delights and pleasures in this world nay thou art too foolish if thou countest there is any true pleasure in such things wherein they place their happinesse I need not presse many texts of Scripture which yeeld this sharp juice as t Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the righteous u 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution * 1 Pet. 4.17 Judgment begins at the house of God this verse alone which I now handle is sufficient to cleare Christs afflicted members from all note of heresie and imputation of reprobates For if afflictions are chastisements of Gods children and tokens of his love I rebuke and chasten as many as I love then are they not necessarily judgements for sinne messengers of wrath much lesse proper markes of heretickes and reprobates The kingdome of heaven is not necessarily annexed to earthly crownes nor is eternall glory any way an appendant to worldly pompe To conclude affluence of temporall blessings is no note of the true because store of afflictions is no note of the false Church Which truth is so apparent that many Papists of note have expresly delivered it in their annotations upon holy Scripture as u Stap. in verb Joh. In mundo pressuras habebitis Stapleton the Rhemists and x Mald. in Mat. 5. Facit solem orire supâ—r bonos malos unde perspicuum est hominum aut nationum prosperos successus nullum signum aut testimonium esse verioris aut purioris religionis Maldonate God causeth his Sunne to rise upon the just and upon the unjust whence saith the Jesuite it is evident that the prosperity of men or nations is no certaine signe or argument of the truth or purity of religion which they professe Howbeit as Praxiteles drew Venus after the picture of Cratina his Mistresse and all the Painters of Thebes after the similitude of Phryne a beautifull strumpet so Bellarmine being to paint and limme Christs Spouse took his notes from his own Mistresse the Romane Phryne the whore of Babylon and mother of fornications Looke upon the picture of that strumpet drawne to the life by Saint John Apoc. 17. and let your eyes bee Judges I saw saith hee a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast vers 3. full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten hornes vers 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and pretious stones and pearles what is this but Bellarmine his note of temporall felicity having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations of which it seemeth the Cardinall dranke deepe when he tooke the pencill in his hand to pourtray the true Church else hee could not be so out in his draught nor so utterly forget not only what others but himselfe also had formerly set downe in this point For in his solution of an objection of Martin Luther who stood in the opposite extreme affirming afflictions to bee an inseparable note of the Church hee confesseth freely that the Church in the beginning and in the end was in great straights and for this purpose to shew that persecutions though they eclipse the glory of the Church yet can never utterly extinguish it hee alledges such remarkable passages out of the ancient Fathers as these y Justin Mart. in apolog Persecution is but the pruning of Christs vine and z Tertul. in Apologet the blood of Martyrs is as seed and * Leo Ser. 1. de Pet. Paul the graines that fall one by one and dye in the earth rise up againe in great numbers If the Church runne into superfluous stemmes without the pruning knife of afflictions if the blood of martyrs turneth into seed to generate new Martyrs if the Church in her nonage had many sore conflicts and shall have greater in her old age certainly abundance ease pleasure and glory which make up temporall felicity are no notes of her for a L. 1. de
swallowed up with desparation the other are ravished with * Jam. 1.2 exceeding joy they are x Rom. 8.37 more than conquerors in all these things through him that loveth them and therefore they more than rejoice y Rom. 5 3 4 5 For they glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto them Upon this answer after much agitation Saint Austine settled his judgement when hee saw much Christian bloud mingled with the heathen in divers parts of Italy spilt by the Gothes z L. 1. c. 8. de Civ D i. Manâ— dissimilitudo pâ—siotum in similitudine pâ—ssionum licet sub tormento non est idem virtus vitium Nam sicut sub uno ignâ— aurum rutilâ—t pâ—lâ—a tumat sub eadem tribulà stipulae comminuuntur frumenta purganâ—ur nec idâ—o oleum cum amnicâ consunditur quia eodem 〈◊〉 pondere â—xprimitur c. Tantum interâ—st non quâ—liâ— sed quâ—lis quoque patiatur Notwithstanding the likenesse of the sufferings of both there remaines yet a great dissimilitude in the sufferers and even in the same torments vertue and vice may bee distinguished in the same fire the gold shineth the chaffe smoaketh under the same flaâ—le the corne is purged the stubble bruised under the same presse the oyle is powred into vessels the foame spilt By all which we see that perpetuall felicity with security is a most fearfull judgement of God and that seasonable afflictions with comforts to sweeten them grace to beare them strength to overcome them wisdome to make use of them are speciall favours of Gods chosen Now the Lord of his infinite mercy who scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth receive us whom he scourgeth he who chasteneth whom he loveth love us whom he chasteneth he who correcteth us for our profit teach us to profit by his corrections sanctifie all crosses and afflictions unto us uphold us in them carry us through them purge us by them and crowne us after them Cui c. THE SWEET SPRING OF THE WATERS OF MARAH THE L. SERMON Apoc. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. SAint a Cyp. de bon patient De patientiâ loquuturus fratres dilectissimi utilitates ejus commoda praedicaturus unde potiùs incipiam quam quod nunc quoque ad audientiam vestram video patientiam esse necessariam ut nec hoc ipsum quod auditis discitis sine patientiâ sacere possitis Ciprian having proposed to his auditory bonum patientiae the good of bearing for his theame reckoneth if I may so speak upon the stocke and maketh his advantage of the very duty and service they were at that time to performe to God in affording to the Minister of his word their religious attention and Christian patience Being to treat of patience saith hee dearly beloved and to recount the sundry commodities that by it accrew to the sanctified soule whence shall I rather take my beginning than from the necessity of this vertue to the holy exercise wee are now at which cannot bee performed as it ought without the concurrence of your patience with the divine assistance and my labour I cannot speake profitably to you in commendation of patience except you heare me with patience Mutato nomine de me Fabula narratur This godly fathers case hath bin yet is mine who am to entreat your patience to treat yet once more of patience in your hearing if the handling often the same argument and pressing the like motives to patience hath seemed wearisom tedious unto you I may hence gather with that father an argument for patience without which ye cannot endure the least affliction no not of the eare But if the repeating and inculcating the like doctrine and arguments were not burdensome unto you I may safely presume upon your patience to seale up my text and perfect my meditations upon so necessary profitable a subject b Sen. ep Nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis discitur We cannot hear too much of that which we can never learne enough Sorrowes and disturbances are very many and worke strongly upon our fraile nature but spirituall medicines of the soules maladies and comforts worke but weakely therefore it is wisedome to take as many of them as we can If they who are subject to swouning and generally all that are carefull of their bodily health will have cordiall waters in readinesse at hand that they may not be to seeke in time of need how much more ought all Christians who are still either in feare or in danger of conflicts with troubles and vexations be provided of store of spirituall comforts the rather because they serve as well to moderate their prosperity as to mitigate their afflictions For the same meditations which some way sweeten the brine of affliction that it be not too salt and quicke sauce the pleasures of prosperity that they be not too sweet and luscious What stronger levers to raise up a drouping soule than these in my Text that afflictions proceed from God in love and fall upon all his dearest children for their good Againe what stronger clubs to beate downe pride and insolencie in all such as abound in earthly comforts and know no end of their wealth and keepe under the minde that it be not too much lifted up with temporall blessings than these inferences from this Scripture that God chasteneth with afflictions and pampers not up with pleasures all such as he beareth a speciall affection unto Therefore may they thus well reason with themselves For all our honour and wealth we are in no better nay perhaps we are in far worse estate than the poorest and miserablest creature upon earth that hath run thorough or is in the midst of all calamities God chasteneth him in love for his amendment but he hath no care of us he lets us run riot in sin that poore wretch hath now his paiment ours is to come we know not how soone he hath his paine here with Lazarus but we take out our pleasures with Dives therefore may it be just with God to change his paine into pleasures but our pleasures into everlasting paines Better weep in Christs schoole than sport at the Divels games better to want all things and to have Gods love than to have all things else and want it If it had not beene better Moses would never have chosen to suffer afflictions with the servants of God c Heb. 11.15 rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season These uses alone if there were no more to be made of this soveraigne parcell of Scripture sufficiently recompence our labour in decocting the spirits and drawing this oyle of comfort out of it but the more we trie and apply
was exalted according to both natures according to his humane by laying down all infirmities of mans nature and assuming to himself all qualities of glory according to his divine by the manifestation of the Godhead in the manhood which before seemed to lie hid But this seemeth not to be so proper an interpretation neither can it be well conceived how that which is highest can be said to be exalted but Christ according to his divine nature is and alwaies was together with the Holy Ghost most high in the glory of God the Father It is true which they affirme that the Deity more manifestly appeared in our Saviour after his resurrection than before the rayes of divine Majesty were more conspicuous in him than before but this commeth not home to the point For this manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature was no exaltation of the divine nature but of the humane As when the beames of the Sunne fall upon glasse the glasse is illustrated thereby not the beame so the manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature of Christ was the glory and exaltation of the manhood not of the Godhead I conclude this point therefore according to the mind of the ancient and most of the later Interpreters that God exalted Christ according to that nature which before was abased even unto the death of the Crosse and that was apparently his humane For according to his divine as he could not be humbled by any so neither be exalted as he could not die so neither be raised from death Having thus parced the words it remaineth that we make construction of the whole which confirmeth to us a principall article of our faith and giveth us thus much to understand concerning the present estate of our Lord and Saviour That because being in the forme of God clothed with majesty and honour adored by Cherubins Seraphins Archangels and Angels he dis-robed himselfe of his glorious attire and put upon him the habit and forme of a servant and in it to satisfie for the sins of the whole world endured all indignities disgraces vexations derisions tortures and torments and for the close of all death it selfe yea that cruell infamous and accursed death of the Crosse therefore God even his Father to whom he thus far obeyed and most humbly submitted himselfe hath accordingly exalted him raising him from the dead carrying him up in triumph into heaven setting him in a throne of Jasper at his right hand investing him with robes of majesty and glory conferring upon him all power and authority and giving him a name above all names and a stile above all earthly stiles King of Kings and Lord of Lords giving charge to all creatures of what rank or degree soever in heaven earth or under the earth to honour him as their King and God in such sort that they never speake or thinke of him without bowing the knee and doing him the greatest reverence and religious respect that is possibly to be expressed In this high mysterie of our faith five specialties are remarkable 1 The cause Wherefore 2 The person advancing God 3 The advancement it selfe exalted 4 The manner highly 5 The person advanced him Begin we with the cause Wherefore That which was elsewhere spoken by our Saviour h Luk. 14.11 He that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted is here spoken of our Saviour hee humbled himselfe to suffer a most accursed death therefore God highly exalted him to a most blessed and glorious life We are too well conceited of our selves gather too much from Gods love and gracious promises to us if we expect that he should bring us by a nearer way and shorter cut to celestiall glory than he did his onely begotten Son who came not easily by his crowne but bought it dearly with a price not which he gave but rather for which hee was given himselfe His conquest over death and hell and the spoyles taken from them were not Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore spoyles got without sweat or blood-shed for he sweat and he bled nay he sweat blood in his striving and struggling for them Wherefore if God humble us by any grievous visitation if by sicknesse poverty disgrace or captivity wee are brought low in the world let us not bee too much dejected therewith we are not fallen nor can fall so low as our Saviour descended of himselfe immediately before his glorious exaltation The lower a former wave carrieth downe the ship the higher the later beareth it up the farther backe the arrow is drawn the farther forward it flyeth Our affections as our actions are altogether preposterous and wrong in the height of prosperity we are usually without feare in the depth of misery without hope Whereas if we weighed all things in an equall ballance and guided our judgement not by sight but by faith not by present probabilities but by antecedent certainties we should find no place more dangerous to build our confidence upon than the ridge of prosperity no ground surer to cast the anchor of our hope upon than the bottome of misery How suddenly was Herod who heard himself called a god and not a man deprived of his kingdome life by worms and no men whereas David who reputed himselfe a worm and no man was made a King over men Moses was taken from feeding sheepe to feed the people of God but on the contrary Nebuchadnezzar from feeding innumerable flockes of people shall I say to feed sheepe nay to be fed as a sheepe and graze among the beasts of the field O what a sudden change was here made in the state of this mighty Monarch How was hee that gloried in his building of great Babel brought to Babel that is confusion he that before dropp'd with sweet ointment feasted all his senses with the pleasures of a King hath the dew of heaven for his oyntment the flowry earth for his carpets the weeds for his sallets the lowing of beasts for his musick and the skie for his star-chamber How great a fall also had the pride of Antiochus who riding furiously in his chariot against Jerusalem was thrown out of it on the ground and with the fall so bruised his members that his flesh rotted and bred wormes in great abundance i 2 Mac. 9.8 9. Hee that a little before thought that hee might command the waves of the sea so proud was he beyond the condition of man and weigh the high mountaines in a ballance was now cast on the ground and carryed in an horse-litter declaring unto all the manifest power of God So that the wormes came out of the bowels of this wicked man in great abundance and while hee was yet alive his flesh fell off with paine and torments and all his army was grieved with the stench The k Xen. Cyr. paed l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. King of Armenia who had beene formerly tributary to Cyrus understanding that that puissant Prince was engaged
in a dangerous warre with Croesus worketh upon this advantage rebels against Cyrus and maketh himselfe an absolute Prince But within a few dayes Cyrus having got the conquest of Croesus turnes his forces against this rebell taketh him his wife and children prisoners yet upon his submission above his hope and expectation both giveth him his life and his crown and putteth him in a better state than ever hee was Whereupon that proud captivated and humble restored Prince acknowledging his treachery and folly said O how doth the wisdome of heaven over-shadow the providence of mortall men how little are we aware of what may betide us how glassy are our scepters how brittle our estate The other day when I made full account to have made my selfe a free absolute Monarch I lost both liberty and crowne and this day when I gave my selfe for gone and looked every houre to have had my head strucke off I have gained both pardon liberty and my crowne better settled than ever before Such examples are so frequent not onely in the sacred Annals of the Church but also in profane stories that a Philosopher being asked what God did in the world answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l Hesiod l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he abaseth noble things and ennobleth base hee turneth Scepters into Mattockes and Mattocks into Scepters hee maketh hovels of palaces and palaces of hovels pulleth downe high things and raiseth up low agreeably to the words of the Prophet Esay m Esa 40.4 Every valley shall bee exalted and every hill brought low Whence notwithstanding we are not to inferre That God is more the God of the vales than of the hills or that hee better esteemeth the low cottage of the beggar than the high turrets of Princes hee taketh no pleasure in the fall of any much lesse of his deare children It is not their broken estate but their contrite heart not their poverty in goods but in spirit not their lownesse of condition but their lowlinesse of minde which hee approveth and rewardeth giving honour to that vertue which ascribeth all honour to him The Apostle saith not because Christ was humbled and put to so cruell and shamefull a death therefore God highly exalted him but because hee humbled himselfe Which reason of the Apostle may bee confirmed or at least illustrated by other paralle'd texts of Scripture n Pro. 29 23. The pride of a man shall bring him low but the humble spirit shall enjoy glory o Pro. 18.12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty but before glory goeth lowlinesse p Job 22.29 When others are cast downe thou shalt say I am lifted up and God shall save the humble and q Luk. 1.52 Hee hath put downe the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the lowly and meeke Yea to honour and exalt them hee humbleth himselfe and r Esa 57 15. commeth downe to dwell with them for thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones When a Prince rideth in progresse how much are they graced at whose house hee lieth but for a night how far greater honour is done to the humble soul with whom God lodgeth not for a night or abideth for a few dayes but continually dwelleth what can there bee wanting where God is in whom are all things how will he furnish his house how will he set forth his rooms how gloriously will hee beautifie and decke his closet and cabinet I know not how God can raise the dwelling of the humble soule higher who by his dwelling in it hath made it equall to the highest heaven I dwell saith hee in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit There is no more difference betweene the seat of the blessed above the heavens and the caves of the poorest servants of God under the earth than between two royall palaces the one higher the other lower built but both equally honoured with the Court lying at them In the weighing of gold the light ſ Horat. car l. 1 Attollunt vacuum plus nimiò verticem pieces rise up but the weighty beare downe the scale and surely they are but light who are lifted up in a selfe-conceit but they who have true worth and weight in them are depressed in themselves and beare downe towards the earth Looke wee to the wisest of all the Philosophers hee was the modestest for his profession was Hoc scio quod nihil scio This I know that I know nothing Looke wee to the learnedest of all the Greeke Fathers Origen hee was the most ingenuous for his confession was Ignorantiam meam non ignoro I am not ignorant of mine owne ignorance Looke wee to the most judicious and industrious of all the Latine Saint t Aug. epist ad Hieron Austine he was the humblest for even in his heat of contention with Jerome hee acknowledgeth him his better Hieronymus Presbyter Augustino Episcopo major est though the dignity of a Bishop exceed that of a Priest yet Priest Jerome is a better or a greater man than Bishop Austine Looke wee to the best of Kings David hee was the freest from pride u Psal 131.1 2 Lord saith hee I am not high-minded I have no proud lookes I doe not exercise my selfe in great matters or in things too high for mee surely I have behaved and quieted my selfe as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child Look wee to the noblest of all the * Theodosius Romane Emperours his Motto was Malo membrum esse Ecclesiae quà m caput Imperii I account it a greater honour to bee a member of the Church than the head of the Empire Looke wee to him that was not inferiour to the chiefe Apostles surnamed Paulus as some of the Ancient ghesse quasi paululus because hee was least in his owne eyes not worthy to bee called an Apostle as himselfe freely * 1 Cor. 15.9 Eph. 3.8 confesseth Look we to the mirrour of all perfection Christ Jesus in whom are all the treasures of wisedome and grace he setteth out humility as his chiefest jewell x Mat. 11.29 Learn of mee saith he that I am meeke and humble in heart The raine falleth from the hils and settleth in the vales and Gods blessings in like manner if they fall upon the high-minded and proud yet they stay not with them but passe and slide from them downe to the meeke and humble where hee commandeth them to rest The reason is evident why the humblest men are best for grace alone maketh good and a greater measure thereof better now y Jam. 4.6 God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and to
hee for whom you suffer seeth what you suffer and that hee is your witnesse who will bee your rewarder and crowner even God himselfe And so I fall upon the next circumstance the person exalting Wherefore God highly exalted him Hee humbled himselfe but God exalted him The fruit which wee are to gather from this branch of my text is like to the former yet there is a difference betweene them the former qualified and pacified the minde from murmuring and discontent at our present estate and calling how low and mean soever it were this keepeth it from aspiring thoughts t Mat. 23.12 and unwarrantable projects and attempts for the raising of our fortunes * Luk. 14.11 and advancing our estate Before the burden of our song was He that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted but now it is He that exalteth himselfe shall be brought low The latter is as true as the former both were uttered with one breath by our Saviour As not hee that commendeth himselfe is to bee commended so neither is hee that exalteth himselfe to bee approved but hee whom God exalteth If any might ever have magnified and exalted himselfe certainly our Lord and Saviour might best who both spake as never man spake and did as never man did and suffered what never man did or could suffer yet hee himselfe professeth u Joh. 8.14 If I honour my selfe mine honour is nothing it is my Father that honoureth mee Hee honoureth and exalteth himselfe who either vainegloriously setteth forth his owne wares blazoneth his owne armes and is the trumpet of his owne praises or hee who ambitiously desireth such dignities and preferments whereof hee is unworthy or useth indirect meanes to compasse those places whereof he might otherwise bee worthy and capable This vitious affection is discried in * Joh. 3.9 Diotrephes noted in the x Luk. 20.46 Pharisees sharply censured in the y Mat. 20.26 Disciples severely punished in Adoniah Seba Absalom and Haman Jacob saw in his vision Angels ascending upon a ladder to heaven what need Angels goe by steps to heaven who being spirits as the Schooles teach can mount thither and backe againe in an instant might it not bee to teach us that Magistrates and Ministers who are both in Scripture stiled Angels are not suddenly to leape or hastily to climbe up to places of preferment but ascend by degrees when God setteth a ladder for them Thistle-down and feathers and vapours and other light and imperfect mist bodies raise themselves from the earth but pretious metall and all perfect mist bodies move not upwards but perforce Trajan if wee may beleeve z Panegeric Trajan Nihil magis à te subjecti animo factum est quà m quod coepisti imperare Pliny was in nothing more over-ruled by Nerva than in taking the rule of the Empire into his hand What violence was used to Saint Austine and Ambrose at their investiture the one wept the other hid himselfe for a while both hung off and drew backe with all their strength How doth Saint * Ep. 7. 26. Durum valdè fuit c. Usque ad terram me superposito onere depressistis Gregory complaine of them that chose him Bishop of Rome What have yee done my friends ye have laid such a burden upon me that presseth me down to the earth in such sort that I cannot lift up my minde to the contemplation of the things that are above Publike charges and eminent places besides the great troubles they bring with them expose them that hold them to great perils and dangers Graviore lapsu Decidunt turres feriuntque summos Fulmina montes The high hills are strucke with thunderbolts the tops of trees blasted with lightnings the pinacles of Temples and fanes of turrets and weathercockes of steeples are frequently blowne downe with the winde and all the storme and violence of weather beateth upon the roofes and tops of houses Qui jacet in terrâ non habet unde cadat The opposition betweene the members of these two verses is very observable Hee humbled himselfe so low therefore God exalted him so high When man humbleth himselfe God exalteth but when man exalteth himselfe God humbleth how much better is it to humble our selves and be exalted by God than to exalt our selves and to be humbled by him As none can raise so high so none can pull downe so low as hee Lucifer who would have exalted himselfe above the starres of heaven was throwne downe below the wormes of the earth contrariwise our Saviour who humbled himselfe beneath the earth even to the gates of hell was raised by God above the highest heavens 1 Pet. 1.5 6. My exhortation therefore unto you is the same with that of the Apostle S. Peter Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt you in due time submit your selves one to another decke your selves inwardly with lowlinesse of minde There is no vertue drawn by the pensill of God in more lively colours Psal 113.6 7. Esay 57.15 Mat. 11.25 Jam. 4.6 10. Psal 113.8 Mat. 5.3 with brighter beames of his favour shining upon them than it for hee that dwelleth in the highest heavens hath respect to the lowest and lowliest hee visiteth them and dwelleth with them hee familiarly converseth with them and revealeth unto them his secrets hee bestoweth on them the treasures of his grace hee raiseth them and advanceth them to a kingdome on earth yea to a kingdome in heaven To which kingdome the Lord exalt us for the merit of Christ Jesus who humbled himselfe and became obedient to death even the death of the crosse wherefore God hath highly exalted him and hath given him a name above all names that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confesse that Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father To whom c. A SUMMONS TO REPENTANCE THE LIV. SERMON EZEK 18.23 Have I any desire at all that the wicked should dye saith the Lord God Right Honourable c. WEE read in our Calendars of some things that come in at one season and goe out at another but sinne is not of that nature it is alwayes comming in but never goeth out till our exit out of this world Therefore nothing is more necessary at any time or more seasonable at all times than the doctrine of repentance wee cannot heare too often of it because a Psal 19.12 none knoweth how oft hee offendeth Such is the weaknesse of our nature and the slipperinesse of our way in b Apoc. 15.2 this sea of glasse whereupon wee walke that wee slip and fall daily and are often maimed and wounded by our falls and unlesse by grace the use of our limbes bee restored unto us and wee raised up by repentance wee lye as a prey for the Devill c 1 Pet. 5.8 who runneth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour Let it then not seem
that any one Divell should get possession of our hearts yet seven nay a legion may be cast out by fasting and prayer God forbid that any of us should be long sicke of any spirituall disease yet those that have been sicke unto death have been restored yea those that have been long dead have been raised God forbid that wee should forsake our heavenly Fathers house and in a strange countrey waste his goods and consume our portion yet after we have run riot and spent all the gifts of nature and goods of this life and lavished out our time the most precious treasure of all yet in the end if we come to our selves and looke homewards our heavenly Father will meet us and kill the fat calfe for uâ— Therefore if wee have grievously provoked Gods justice by presumption let us not more wrong his mercy by despaire but hope even above hope in him whose mercy is over all his workes Against the number and weight of all our sinnes let us lay the infinitenesse of Gods mercy and Christ his merits and the certainty of his promise confirmed by oath As I live I desire not the death of a sinner if hee returne he shall live Oh saith Saint a Bern. in Cant. Quis dabit capiti meo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut praeveniam fletibus fletum stridorem dentium Bernard that mine eyes were springs of teares that by my weeping here I might prevent everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell What pitie is it that we should fret and grieve and disquiet our selves and others for the losse of a Jewell from our eare or a ring from our finger and should take no thought at all for the losse of the Jewels of Gods grace out of our soules We are overwhelmed as it were in a deluge of teares at the death of our friends who yet are alive to God though dead to this world but have we not a thousand times greater reason to open those floodgates of salt waters which nature hath set in our eyes for our selves who are dead to God though alive to the world St. b De laps Si quem de tuis chatis mortalitatis exitu perdidisses ingemisceres dolenter fleres facie incultâ veste mutatâ neglecto capillo vultu nubilo ore dejecto indicia moeroris ostenderes animam tuam miser perdidisti spiritualitèr mortuus es supervivere hic tibi ipse ambulans funus tuum portare caepisti non acritèr plangis non â—ugitèr ingemiscis Cyprian hath a sweet touch on this string If any of thy deare friends were taken away from thee by death thou wouldst sigh thou wouldst sob thou wouldst put on blacks thou wouldst hang doâ—ne thy head thou wouldst dis-figure thy face thou wouldst let thy haire hang carelesly about thine eares thou wouldst wring thy hands thou wouldst knock thy breast thou wouldst throw thy selfe downe upon the ground thou wouldst expresse sorrow in all her gestures and postures O wretched man that thou art thou hast lost thy soule thou art spiritually dead thou survivest thy selfe and carriest a dead corps about thee and dost thou not take on dost thou not fetch a deepe sigh hast thou not a compassionate teare for thy selfe wilt thou not be thy owne mourner especially considering that all thy weeping and howling for thy friend cannot fetch him backe againe or restore him to life whereas thy weeping for thy selfe in this vale of tears and seriously bewailing thy sinnes may and by Gods grace shall revive thy soule and recover all thy spirituall losses and that with advantage Experience teacheth us that the presentest remedie for a man that is stung in any part of his body by a Scorpion is to take the oile of Scorpions and therewith oft to annoint the place sinne is the Scorpion that stingeth our soules even to death if we apply nothing to it yet out of this Scorpion sinne it selfe and the sorrow for it an oile or water may be drawne of penitent teares wherewith if we annoint or wash our soules we shall kill the venome of sinne and allay the swelling of our conscience c Pind. od 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a most soveraigne water which will fetch a sinner againe to the life of grace though never so farre gone It is not Well water springing out of the bowels of the earth nor raine powred out of the clouds of passion but rather like a d Cyp de card Chris op De interioribus fontibus egrediuntur torrentes super omnes delicias lachrymis nectareis anima delectatuâ— non illos imbres procellosae tempestates deponunt ros matutinus est de coelestibus stillans quasi unctio spiritus mentem deliniens post affectio se abluit lachrymis baptizat dew falling from heaven which softeneth and moisteneth the heart and is dried up by the beames of the Sun of righteousnesse Have not I a desire that the wicked should turne from his wayes and live When a subject hath rebelled against his naturall Soveraigne or a servant grievously provoked his master or a sonne behaved himselfe ungraciously towards his father will the Prince sue to his subject or a master to his servant or a father to his sonne for a reconciliation Will not an equall that hath a quarrell with his equall hold it a great disgrace and disparagement to make any meanes that the quarrell may be taken up will he not keepe out at full distance and looke that the partie who as he conceiveth hath wronged him should make first towards him and seeke to him Yet such an affection God beareth to us that though we silly wormes of the earth swell and rise against him yet he seeketh to us he sendeth Embassadours to e 2 Cor. 5.19 20. treat of peace and intreate and beseech us to be reconciled unto God For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God Stand not out my deare brethren resigne the strong holds of your carnall imaginations and affections deliver up your members that they may serve as weapons of righteousnesse and yeeld your selves to his mercy and yee shall live Turne and live Should a prisoner led to execution heare the Judge or Sheriffe call to him and say Turne backe put in sureties for thy good behaviour hereafter and live would he not suddenly leap out of his fetters embrace the condition and thanke the Judge or Sheriffe upon his knees And what think ye if God should send a Prophet to preach a Sermon of repentance to the divels and damned ghosts in hell and say Knock off your bolts shake off your fetters and turne to the Lord and live would not hell be emptied and rid before
the Apostles men Ver. 13. whom a little before they esteemed no better of than drunken beasts 2. Charity Brethren Not aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel not strangers 2. An important question which is a question of 1. Feare What shall we doe to escape the wrath to come for that we have done 2. Care What shall we doe to make some part of amends for our crimson sinne in shedding the bloud of that righteous and holy One 3. Piety What shall we doe that we may reape benefit by his death whom ignorantly we slew with wicked hands Thus have I chalked unto you the way of my present and future discourses upon this Scripture wherein I intreat your attention and devotion to goe along with mee that I and you may first know in the speculative part what wee are to doe and then in the practicke doe what wee know to be necessary for the obtaining the remission of our sins Men. Is there not a Pleonasmus or redundancy in the words Men and Brethren Is not this appellative men rather a burthen than an ornament to the sentence Are there any brethren that are not men Yes if we will beleeve the Legend of Saint Francis for he found a new alliance and brotherhood amongst beasts ordinarily saluting them in this manner when he met them Brother Oxe brother Beare brother Wolfe and it is marvell that the chronicles of his life related not that some of them resaluted him againe by the title of brother Asse for his labour But this is a note beneath Gammoth and a degree below lowlinesse it selfe for humility will admit none to be of her kinred and brotherhood that beare not the image of God our Father The beasts of the field are indeed fellow-creatures with us but they are our juments and servants no way our brethren Was then the word men added to intimate that such is the inhumanity or unmanlinesse of many that a man may meet with many brethren by bloud by alliance by profession by country who yet deserve not the stile of men because brethren without all humanity and so no men without heart or courage and so no men effeminate in their speech habit carriage trim and dresse and so no men Neither can this be the meaning of the words For the Jewes were not now in a Satyricall veine but like men that had been newly let bloud by a deep incision they speake faintly and in an humble manner beseech their Physicians to prescribe what they must doe to recover their health We are therefore to understand that in the originall there is no pleonasme nor bitter sarcasme but an elegancie and an emphasis in our tongue there is but one name for men of the better sort inferiour ranke but in greeke there are two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they differ as much as ayre and earth or christall and glasse or pearle and stone for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth an ordinary man of the vulgar sort but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of parts a man of worth a man of note a man full of humanity pity and compassion and herein they secretly couch an argument to induce the Apostles to take some care of their soules as if they should say Though ye are men of God yet ye are men as we are the divine graces in you bereave you not of humane passions Suffer then not men as you are to be cast away bring not the bloud of this righteous man upon us pity us in this our perplexity pray to God for us advise us what we are to doe stretch a hand of charity to us to plucke us out of the chops of Sathan and flames of hell fire Me thinkes I should passe this note in so Christian an auditory and not stand to prove that we ought to be men not like beasts without reason not like monsters without all bowels without naturall affection and compassion yet were many that call themselves brethren men could they grind the faces of the poore as they doe could they not only tondere but deglubere not only sheare but flea Christs sheep were they men would they use men like beasts would they make themselves beasts and expresse the condition of the worst of beasts by returning with the dogge to their vomit and with the sow to their wallowing in the mire are they men who take greatest delight in drowning their reason and extinguishing that light of understanding in them which maketh them men are they men have they hearts of flesh have they eyes consisting of an aqueous humour who suffer men made after Gods image to pine away before their eyes for want of a crumme of their store a graine of their magazine a drop of their ocean a mite of their treasury a cluster of grapes of their vintage a gleaning of their harvest are they men that never remember the affliction of Joseph that never thinke of the besieged in Rochel of the persecuted in Bohemia and the Palatinate and almost all parts of Germany as good men as themselves and better Christians who endure either the violence of oppression or the shame of infamy or the servitude of captivity or the insolency of tiranny or the griping of famine or the terrours of sundry kinds of death It grieved the Oratour to proclaime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O my friends there is no true friend among you but it much more grieveth those that are to give an account of your soules to be enforced to complaine Men and brethren there are few men or brethren among you but few that deserve the name of men and fewer of Brethren They call the Apostles brethren either in a kind of correspondency of courtesie because the Apostles so stiled them before Men and brethren Ver. 29. let mee freely speake unto you of the Patriarch David or to insinuate themselves into their love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 co-uterini sprigs issuing out of the same root men issuing out of the same wombe 1. Either of flesh as brothers that have the same mother 2. Or of the Church as all that are new borne in it 3. Or of the earth as all men Some who delight more in the sound of words than soundnesse of matter make their cimbals thus tinckle in our eares There are brethren say they of three sorts either by race as all of the same linage or by place as all of the same country or city or by grace as all of the same religion But I like better of St. a Cont. Helvid c. 7. Scriptura divina dicit fratres 1. naturâ 2. gente 3. cognatione 4 affectu quod postremum dividitur in spirituale commune spirituale quo omnes Christiani fratres vocantur commune quo omnes homines ex uno patre nati pari inter se germanitate conjunguntur Jeromes distinction of brethren 1. by nature or bloud 2. by
in the children of his love than the mutuall love of his children one to another n Mat. 23.8 Ye are all brethren love therefore as brethren be pitifull be courteous not rendering evill for evill nor railing for railing but contrariwise o 1 Pet 3.8 9. blessing knowing that yee are thereunto called that yee should inherit a blessing As beames of the same sunne let us meet in the center of light as rivelets of the same spring joyne in the source of grace as sprigs on the same root or twins on the same stalke sticke alwaies together Such was the love of the Saints of God in old time that their hearts were knit one to the other yea which is more All the beleevers had but p Acts 4.32 The multitude of them that beleeved were of one heart of one soule one heart But such love is not now to be found in our bookes much lesse in our conversations we hardly beleeve there can be such love in beleevers we seem not to be of their race wee seem rather to be descended many of us from Coelius who could not be quiet if he were not in quarrells who was angry if he were not provoked to anger whose motto was Dic aliquid ut duo simus Say or doe something that we may be two or from Sylla of whom Valerius Maximus writeth that it was a great question whether he or his malice first expired for he died railing and railed dying or of Eteocles and Polynices who as they warred all their life so after a sort they expressed their discord and dissention after their death for at their funerals the flame of the dead corpses parted asunder when they were burned When the Son of man commeth shall hee find q Luke 18.8 faith on the earth saith our Saviour I feare we may demand rather shall he find charity on the earth All the true family of love may seem to be extinct for the greater part of men as if they had been baptized in the waters of strife from the font to their tomb-stone are in continuall frettings vexings quarrells schisme and faction Turba gravis paci placidaeque inimica quieti But let these Salamanders which live perpetually in the fire of contention take heed lest without speedy repentance they be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone forever If r Mat. 5.9 blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God cursed are all make-bates for they shall be called the children of the wicked one If the fruits of ſ Jam. 3.18 righteousnesse are sowne in peace of them that make peace certainly the fruits of iniquity are sowne in contention by them that stirre up strife and contention If they that sow t Pro. 6.16 19. These sixe things doth the Lord hate yea seven are abomination unto him a false witnesse that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among brethren discord among brethren are an abomination to the Lord they that plant love and set concord are his chiefe delight What u Cic. tusc 1. Optimum non nasci proximum quà m citissimè mori Silenus spake of the life of man The best thing was not to be borne the next to dye as soone as might be may bee fitly applyed to all quarrells and contentions among Christian brethren it is the happiest thing of all that such dissentions never see light the next is if they arise and come into the Christian world that they dye suddenly after their birth at the most let them be but like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 small creatures Aristotle speaketh of whose life exceedeth not a summers day Let not the * Ephes 4.26 sun goe down upon our wrath How can we long be at odds and distance if we consider that we are all brethren by both sides For as we call one God our Father so we acknowledge one Church our Mother wee have all sucked the same breasts the Old and New Testaments we are all bred up in the same schoole the schoole of the crosse we are all fed at the same table the Lords board we are all incorporated into one society the communion of Saints and made joynt-heires with our elder brother Christ Jesus of one Kingdome in Heaven If these and the like considerations cannot knit our hearts together in love which is the bond of perfection the Heathen shall rise up in judgement and condemne us x Mart. epig. lib. 1. Si Lucane tibi vel si tibi Tulle darentur Qualia Ledaei fata Lacones habent c. Martial writeth of two brothers between whom there was never any contention but this who should die one for the other Nobilis haec esset pietatis rixa duobus Quod pro fratre mori vellet uterque prior The speech also of Pollux to Castor his brother is remarkable y Mart. epig. lib. 1. Vive tuo frater tempore vive meo I cannot let passe Antiochus who when he heard that his brother Seleuchus who had been up in armes against him died at Galata commanded all the Court to mourne for him but when afterwards hee was more certainly enformed that he was alive and levied a great army against him he commanded all his Commanders and chiefe Captaines to sacrifice to their gods crown themselves with garlands for joy that his brother was alive But above all z Plut. de fraterno amore Euclid shewed in himselfe the true symptomes of brotherly affection who when his brother in his rage made a rash vow Let me not live if I be not revenged of my brother Euclid turnes the speech the contrary way Nay let me not live if I be not reconciled to my brother let me not live if we be not made as good friends as ever before Shall nature be stronger than grace bonds of flesh tie surer than the bonds of the spirit one tie knit hearts together faster than many The a Cic. offic l. 1. Oratour saith Omnes omnium charitates patria complectitur but we may say more truly Omnes omnium charitates Christus complectitur all bonds of love friendship affinity and consanguinity all neernesse and dearnesse all that can make increase or continue love is in Christ Jesus into whose spirit we are all baptized into whose body we are incorporated who in his love sacrificed himselfe to his Fathers justice for us who giveth his body and bloud to us in this sacrament to nourish Christian love in us For therefore we all eate of one bread that we may be made one bread therefore wee are made partakers of his naturall body that wee may be all made one mysticall body and all quickned with one spirit that spirit which raised up our head Christ Jesus from the dead Cui cum Patre c. THE PERPLEXED SOULES QUAERE A Sermon preached on the third Sunday in Lent THE LXIX SERMON ACTS 2.37 What shall we doe THe words of the
the Arke of the Lord within curtaines Is this decent or fitting that the King should bee better housed than his maker and advancer to his royall throne Yee would expect that hereupon he should have concluded upon building God an house but hee proposeth only the major his owne house the minor the Arke and leaveth the Prophet to inferre the conclusion because in a matter that so neerly concerned the honour and service of God he would not seem to lead the Prophet but rather be led by him from whence we may gather three speciall observations not unworthy our most serious thoughts 1. That in matters immediately appertaining to the service of God and advancement of religion the Prophets of God are to be called and their advice to be asked and taken even by Kings themselves 2. That it is a noble and princely worke to build Temples or Churches 3. That we are to set more by the glory of God than our own ease and safety and rather to desire the erecting of his house than the raising our owne fortunes After we have gathered these there be other which will fall of themselves from the branches of the Text as wee lightly passe over them And it came to passe when the King sate in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies that the King said unto Nathan Behold now c. The circumstance of time challengeth our due consideration in the first place It is not usuall for men sitting at ease and at rest to entertaine godly motions and resolve upon workes of pious bounty Otium pulvinar Satanae rest is oftentimes the Divels cushion but here it was not so but rather a chaire of state for God himselfe to rest in After David had been for a long time pursued by his enemies and driven from place to place as it were powred out of vessell into vessell when he now stood still he settled not upon his lees with Moab but breathed out these sweet and heavenly meditations and vowes Behold now I sit at rest and the Arke of the Lord tosseth and tumbleth from place to place I lye safely under a sure roofe able to beare off wind and weather and the Arke of God hath no better fence than a few curtaines spread over it the walls of my house are hung with rich arrasse and the sides of the Arke are covered but with skins is it fit that it should be so Nathan Speak thou on Gods behalfe who art his Prophet Is the Kings Cabinet more precious than the Lords Arke Shall the King have a palace and God have no house Shall I provide a safer place for my records and evidences than for the records of heaven and the tables of the testimony and the inspired Oracles of God This must not be so I protest it shall not be so I a Psa 132.3 4 5. sweare unto the Lord and vow a vow unto the mighty God of Jacob that I will not henceforth enter into the tabernacle of my house nor come upon my bed I will not suffer my eyes to sleep nor my eye-lids to slumber until I find out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Such holy vowes and religious oathes and protestations many of Gods children make in the depth of their misery but few as here David doth in the height of their prosperity and the midst of their triumphs The zeale of most men lieth in their heart like fire in a flint it must be strucke out with some violence their prayers and fervent meditations like hot spices are then most fragrant when their hearts are bruised in Gods mortar and broken with afflictions and troubles Some such thing befalleth the soule in prosperity as the husbandmen observe in a fat soyle and plentifull yeere Luxuriant b Ovid. l. 1. de art animi rebus plerunque secundis Prosperity breedeth a ranknesse in the desires and a dangerous riot of sinne whereof Moses maketh great complaint in his song But c Deut. 32.15 Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxed fat thou art growne thicke thou art covered with fatnesse then he forsooke God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation and God by the Prophet d Hos 13.6 Hosea According to their pastures so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten mee O how great is our ingratitude when God most remembreth us we most forget him drinking our fill of the rivers of his pleasures and never thinking of the spring devouring greedily the good blessings of God as Swine doe acornes upon the ground never looking up to the tree from whence they fall David was farre from this brutish vice for as soone as God had destroyed his enemies round about him he thought of building a magnificent Temple When other Kings after so good successe and glorious victories obtained in war would have cast away all care or thought of Religion at least for the present to give the more scope to their licentious desires and lusts David confineth himselfe to his closet there recounteth the innumerable benefits God had heaped upon him and studieth how to expresse his gratefulnesse to him in fine he resolveth with himselfe to build a stately palace for the King of heaven and sendeth for the Prophet Nathan to advise with him about it The King said to Nathan the Prophet David a Prophet himselfe conferreth with the Prophet Nathan Saint Peter a prime Apostle is reproved by the Apostle Saint Paul John the elder is instructed by an Elder Whence we learn That Prophets need Prophets advice Apostles need Apostles admonitions Elders need Elders instructions As two tooles whet one the other and two Diamonds point each the other and two Torches mutually light one the other so it pleaseth the wisedome of God to divide the gifts of his Spirit severally among the Pastours of the Church in different kindes and degrees that they might be one bettered by the other In which consideration among many others not lesse important the Founders and Benefactors of Collegiate Churches and Universities have built so many houses for Prophets and Prophets children as you see to live together and by lectures conferences and disputations to whet and sharpen one the other And if one starre one eminent Doctor in the Church give so great a light in the darke of ignorance what a lustre what an ornament must a Colledge of such Doctors an University of such Colledges as it were a conjunction of many starres or rather a heaven of many such conjunctions and constellations uniting their light be If one aromaticall tree send forth such a savour of life as we smell in every particular congregation what shall we judge of a grove of such trees surely it can be no other than the Paradise of God upon earth But because David is not here stiled the Prophet but the King The King said to Nathan the
Prophet I rather gather from these words the great honour which Nathan the Prophet received from David the King than the direction or advice that David the King received from Nathan the Prophet The King said Though Kings are e Bils suprem p. 1. supreme Commanders for the truth yet they are not the supreme or sole directers unto truth for in scruples of conscience and perplexed controversies of Religion they are to require the law from the mouth of the Priest to aske counsell of the Prophets and generally in all matters appertaining to God to heare the Ministers of God declaring to them the will of God out of his Word Symmachus was bold to tell Anastasius the Emperour that as Bishops owe subjection to Gods Sword in Princes hands so Princes owe obedience to Gods Word in Bishops mouthes f Causab de lib. eccles Defer Deo in nobis nos deferemus Deo in te O Emperour heare God speaking by us and wee will feare God ruling by thee The same God who hath put a materiall sword in thy hands to smite malefactors in their body hath put a spirituall sword in our mouth to slay sinne in the soule The Magistrate is the hand of God but the Preacher is his mouth And for this cause all wise and religious Kings have given them their eares and taken some of them into their bosome as David doth here Nathan to receive instruction and direction from them how to sway the royall scepter within the walls of the Church Let it not seeme burthensome unto you my dearest brethren upon so just occasion as is offered mee in my Text to speake somewhat of the honour of that calling which calleth you all to God From whose mouth doe ye heare the glad tidings of salvation From whose hands doe ye receive the seales of grace Who have the oversight and charge of your soules Who are the meanes under God to reconcile God unto you by their prayers and bring you unto God by their powerfull ministerie but your faithfull and painfull Pastours who in performing these holy duties of their calling are termed g Prosp de vit contem l. 1. c 25. Hisunt Ministri verbi Adjutores Dei Oracula Sp. S. coadjutores Dei as it were fellow-labourers with God Per istos Deus placatur populo per istos populus instruitur Deo All other lawfull callings are from God but this was the calling of God himselfe other offices he appointed this he executed others he commends this he discharged When he tooke our flesh upon him and lived upon earth he would not be made a King nor sit as a Judge upon a Nisi prius of inheritance yet performed he the office of a Preacher through his whole life and of a Priest at his death offering himselfe by the eternall Spirit upon the high Altar of the Crosse where he was both h Confes l. 10. c. 42. Pro nobis tibi Victor Victima ideo Victor quia Victima pro nobis tibi Sacerdos Sacrificium ideò Sacerdos quia Sacrificium faciens tibi nos de servis filios Victor and Victima ideo Victor quia Victima as St. Austine playeth sweetly in a rhetoricall key May the civill Magistrates glorie in this that God calleth them gods and may not they that serve at Christs Altar take as great comfort in that God himselfe calleth his Sonne a Priest saying i Psal 110.4 Thou art a Priest for ever Wherefore if the glorious titles wherewith God himselfe graceth the Ministerie of Stewards of his house Dispencers of his mysteries Lights of the world Angels of the Church if the noble presidents in Scripture of Melchizedek King and Priest David King and Prophet Solomon King and Preacher suffice not to redeeme the sacred order from the scandall of profane men and contempt of the world yet methinkes sith the Son of God and King of glorie hath taken upon him the office and executed the function of a Priest all men should entertaine a reverend opinion of the Priesthood of the Gospel and not to use the word Priest as a reproach to man which was one of the three dignities of God himselfe much lesse seeke to disgrace their persons who are Gods Instruments to conveigh grace into their soules What shall I say more Nay what can I say lesse He that honoureth not the name of Christ which signifieth k Luke 4.18 Annointed to preach the Gospel is no Christian he that conceiveth basely or speaketh contumeliously of the sacred order of Priests is worse than an Infidell For the heathen l Ca sar Com. de bello Gal. French and English in Julius Caesars time placed their Priests which they called Druides above their Gentrie yea and most of the Nobilitie appointing the chiefe of them to beare on his breast the Image of Truth engraven in a rich Jewell The m Bodin de repub l. 3. c. 8. Turkes Moores and Arabians have their Priests which they call Mophtae in highest estimation and devolve the most important matters of State and doubts of their law to their definitive sentence and order The Syrians adorne their Priests with a n Philost de vit Apo. Tâ—â—â—nâ— 2. Crowne of gold the Brachmans with a Scepter of gold and Mitre beset with precious stones The Romans stiled their chiefe Flamen Regem sacrorum adoring that name in their Priests which they abhorred in their Princes and Consuls Lastly the Egyptians Athenians o Strab. geog l. 7. Josâ—ph l. 14. c. 15 Sub Dionâ—â—o Archonte principe Sacerdotum Apud quos Lycurgus Legislator Sacerdos erat Apollonis Virgil. â—â—n 3. Râ—x â—dem Anius Phoebique Sacerdos Liv. dec 1. Numa Sacerdos Nymphae Aegeriae Suet. in Aug. Tit. Ovid. â—ast l. 3. Caesaris innumeris quos maluit ille merei Accessit titulis Pontificalis honos Lacedaemonians and almost all the Heathen who either had Kingly Priests or sacrificing Kings shall condemne such Christians at the day of Christ then they shall see of that calling which seemed so vile darke and obscure in their eyes some glistering as Pearles in the gates others sparkling as Diamonds in the foundation and no small number shining as Starres in the arch of the heavenly Jerusalem and amidst them the Sunne of righteousnesse Christ Jesus exercising his royall Priesthood and making intercession to his Father for all those and those onely who honour his Priestly function here upon earth in his Ministers by maintaining and countenancing them and in themselves by sacrificing their dearest affections to him But I list not to dwell on this argument but rather with the Kingly Prophet in his house of Cedars I dwell in an house of Cedars In these words David findeth not fault with the beautifull roofe of his Princely Palace but the meane and vile covering of the Arke it troubled him not that he was so well provided for but that the Arke was so ill Princes may dwell in houses of
and occupation of the Sechemites but of the Hittites 3. Whether Hamor were the father or sonne of Sechem For in Genesis we reade that he was the father of Sechem but in the Acts many translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of Sechem 1. The first doubt may be thus cleared Joseph alone was buried in Sechem and rested there but the other Patriarchs were at the first buried at Sechem but afterwards removed from thence to Ephron and were buried all in Abrahams vault or cave thus Josephus S. Jerome are easily reconciled For though the bones of them all lay in Ephron yet at Sechem there might be some monument of them remaining as empty tombes with some inscription 2. The second difficulty is much more intricate and those who have stroven to get out of it have more intangled themselves and others in it Calvins answer is somewhat too peremptory that there is an errour in all our copies of the New Testament and ought to be corrected and though Beza goe about to excuse the matter by a semblance of some like misnomer in the Gospel yet this his observation unlesse he could produce some ancient copies wherein such mistakes were not to be found openeth a dangerous gap to Infidels and Heretickes who hereby will be apt to take occasion to question the infallible truth of the holy Writ Canus in going about to take out the blot maketh it bigger saying that Saint Luke erred not in relating Saint Stephens speech but that Saint Stephens memory failed him and that through errour or inadvertency hee confounded Jacobs purchase with Abrahams This answer commeth neere to blasphemy for no man doubteth but that Saint Stephen in his speech spake as hee was inspired by the holy Ghost Therefore Lyranus Lorinus and many others think to salve all by putting two names upon the same man whom they will have sometimes to be called Ephron sometimes Hamor but they bring no good proofe out of Scripture for it and though they could make Ephron and Hamor the same man yet they can never make the cave in the land of the Hittites and that in the land of the Sechemites to be one and the same parcell of ground With submission to more learned judgements quia hic Delio opus est natatore I take it that either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendred by joyned to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a comma at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the sense is That the Patriarchs were translated into Sechem by the Sechemites and laid in Abrahams sepulchre which he bought for mony or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be understood and then the meaning will be this That some of the Patriarchs were laid in Abrahams sepulchre some in the field that Jacob bought Thus then according to the originall wee may render this verse And they were carried over into Sechem and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought besides that which Jacob bought of Hamor that is Jacob dyed and our fathers and some of them were bestowed in Sechem in the cave which Jacob bought and some of them in that which Abraham bought 3. The third doubt is easily resolved For Hamor was the father of Sechem as we reade Genes 33.19 neither doth S. Stephen gain-say it for his words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Sechem which should have been translated the father of Sechem as Herodotus in Clio saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Thalia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 15.40 and Saint Mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adrastus of Mydas to wit the father of Mydas Cyrus of Cambyses that is the father of Cambyses Mary of James that is Mary the mother of James The mist being thus dispelled we may cleerly see our way and readily follow the Patriarchs in the funerall procession from Egypt first to Sechem and afterwards to Ephron And they were carried over c. This transportation offereth to our religious thoughts two acts 1. Of Piety 2. Of Charity both significative and mysticall For the carrying the Patriarchs bones from Egypt to Canaan shadoweth our removall after death from Egyptian darknesse to the inheritance of Saints in light and the laying them by the bones of Abraham may represent unto us how the soules of all the faithfull immediately after they were severed from their bodies are carried by Angels into the bosome of Abraham The first I call an act of piety or religion because the Patriarchs before their death by faith gave charge of their bones and their posterity executed their last Will in this point to professe their faith in Gods promise which was to give the land of Canaan to their seed for an inheritance and accordingly by their dead bodies they tooke a kind of reall possession thereof And they As by a Synecdoche the soule is put for the man Anima cujusque is est quisque so by the same figure the corpses of the Patriarchs are called the Patriarchs Poole elegantly called his dead body his depositum Scaliger his relique Saint Paul the tent-maker agreeable to his profession called it an earthly tabernacle And although indeed it bee but the casket which containes in it the precious ring our immortall spirit yet in regard of the union of it to the soule and because it concurreth with the soule to the physicall constitution of a man it may by a figure be called a man Yea but had the Patriarchs no priviledge but must they goe the way of all flesh They must for earth is in their composition and into the earth must be their resolution As the world is a circle so all things in the world in this are like a circle that they end where or as they began The vapours that are drawne up from the earth fall downe againe upon the earth in rain The fire that descended at the first from the region of fire in the g Pickolom Phys hollow of the Moone ascends up thither againe The waters that flow from the sea returne backe to the sea in like manner the soule of man which was infused by God returneth to God that gave it but the body which was made of red earth returneth to dust as it was We need not inquire of Scripture where reason speaketh so plaine nor interrogate reason where sense giveth daily testimony to the truth Every passing bell rings this lesson in our eares Omnis loculus locus est every coffin is a topicke to prove it every grave layes it open to us every speechlesse man on his death-bed cries out to us Memento mori quod tueris eris Were carried over into Sechem The life of man is a double pilgrimage 1. Of the outward man 2. Of the inward man The outward travelleth from the cradle to the coffin the inward from earth to heaven Of all creatures man only is properly a pilgrim on earth because he alone is borne and liveth all his time here out of his own country of all men the Patriarchs
were the greatest pilgrims both in life and death for they spent all their life in wearisome and dangerous peregrinations and after their death their bodies went as it were in pilgrimage and there visited first Sechem and then Machpelah where they tooke up their rest It is the usuall wish and proverbiall speech of men Though I toile and moile here yet I hope one day I shall rest in my grave No man can promise himselfe so much for not only the bodies of men accursed of God have been digged out of their graves to teach us that there is no sanctuary for a wicked person living or dying but even Gods servants have been oftentimes removed out of their earthly beds some in honour to them and others out of malice againâ—â—â—em to dishonour and disgrace them The bodies of Gervasius and Protasius Martyrs were translated from a blind and obscure place in Millaine where they lay to a more celebrious and illustrous Church to doe them the greater honour on the contrary Eusebius writeth that divers Martyrs in France were by the Gentiles plucked out of their graves and burnt to ashes and their ashes cast into the river Roan and the Papists as if they would make it knowne to the world that no Painims or Gentiles should out-do them in wreaking their malice against the professors of the truth both digged up Wickliffes and Peter Martyrs wives and Paulus Fagius their bones after they had been long interred Nec livor post fata quievit The Tombe-stone is said to be the bound of malice and death a supersedeas for envie and all uncharitable proceedings yet blind zeale in persecuting the members of Christ Jesus exceeds these bounds and all termes of common humanity O unheard of cruelty saith the blessed Martyr Saint h Cyp. de laps Saevitum est in plagas jam in servis Dei non torquebantur membra sed vulnera Cyprian Their rage falleth upon the stripes of Gods servants and they now torture not so much their members as their wounds We may goe on further because Popish cruelty hath gone on further and say Saevitum est in cadavera saevitum est in ossa saevitum est in cineres saevitum est in manes the rage and malice of Papists against Protestants is not satisfied with their bloud nor expireth with their life they fall like savage Jackals upon their carkasses they digge up their graves they rifle their coffins they burne their bones they persecute their ghosts and this is their charity which they so much bragge of But I leave them and come to the sepulchre which Abraham bought where the Patriarchs were laid And were laid in the sepulchre Though it little import the soules of Gods Saints in heaven what becommeth of their dead corpse on earth no more than it concerneth a newly elected King when hee hath his Princely robes on him what becomes of his old cast suits of apparrell in which regard Saint i Aug. confes l. 9. c. 11. Nihil longé est à Deo nec timendum mihi ille ne agnoscat in fine saeculi unde resuscitet Monica told her sonne at her death that shee tooke no care where shee was interred yeelding this for a reason It is nothing to mee saith shee whether I lye farre from home or from any Church I am sure nothing is farre from God neither doe I feare but that hee will find mee at the last day and raise up my corpse wheresoever it lies Yet because the bodies of Gods Saints were temples of the holy Ghost and served as instruments in the performance of all duties of piety and charity our piety and charity in some respect extendeth to them piety I say not to worship them for that is idolatrie not to pray to them for that at the best is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will-worship and unwarrantable devotion not to pray for them for that is superstition but to give God thankes for them and to expect their and our joyfull resurrection charity to preserve their good name alive and to bury their dead corpses although I grant with Saint k Lib. 1. de civit Dei c. 12. Omnia ista curatio funeris conditio sepultuâ—ae pompa exequiaâ—um mâ—gis sunâ— solatia vivorum quà m subsidia mortuorum Et c. 13. Si enim paterna vestis annulus tantò charior est posteris quantò erga parentes major est affectus nullo modo spernanda sunt corpora quae utique multo familiarius atque conjunctius quà m quaelibet indumenta gestamus Austine that the care of funeralls and pompe of herses and rites of buriall are rather comforts of the living than helpes of the dead yet with the same Austine I cannot but acknowledge that the bodies of our parents or friends may challenge more affection and respect to them than the apparrell ring or jewell they wore which yet wee make great account of and carefully keep for their sake Doth not Nature her selfe teach us this worke of mercy to the dead Doe not some birds that are loving to man if they spy a dead corpse in the wood cover it over with leaves Doth the young Phenix as l Annal. l. 10. Phoenici cura primo sepeliendi patris sublato myrrhae pondere subit patrium corpus in Solis templum perfert Tacitus writeth as soone as ever it hath life take care of burying the parent carrying his corpse with a quantity of Myrrhe and laying it in the Temple of the Sunne and shall not men endued with reason and understanding doe the like not onely to their parents and friends but even to strangers and their very enemies especially if there bee worth in them Alexander the great opening Cyrus Tombe set a crowne upon his Herse and carefully shut it againe Hannibal gave Marcellus the Romane Consull an honourable buriall put his ashes in a silver pot and crowned it with a crowne of gold and sent it to his sonne to interre it To speake nothing of Cannibals man-eaters and other savages all civill people in the world bury their dead though in a different manner and with severall rites The Jewes washed the Egyptians embalmed the corpse the Romanes burnt them with sweet perfumes and kept the ashes in an urne or pot the Ethiopians curiously paint them and lay them in a glazed coffin the most common and most agreeable to Scripture is interring the corpse Moses alludeth to it m Gen 3.19 Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou returne and Solomon n Eccles 12.7 Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and David o Psal 30.9 What profit is there then in my bloud when I goe downe to the pit shall the dust praise thee or shall it declare thy truth The Greekes for the most part and other Nations also excepting those above named interred their dead and therefore p Plin nat hist l. 2. c. 63. Haec nascentes excipit natos alit novissimè