King David's Sanctuary OR A SERMON Preached before His MAJESTY the fourth of Febr 1643. at Christ-Church in OXFORD By RICHARD HARWOOD Master of Arts. Psal 108.10 11 12. Who will bring me into the strong city who will lead me into Euom Wilt not thou O God who hast cast us off and wilt not thou O God go forth with our hosts Give us help from troubles for vaine is the help of man OXFORD Printed for H. Hall and W. Webb 1644. TO THE HIGH AND MOST ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES DUKE OF CORNEWALL and Earle of CHESTER SIR BEsides the Honour your Highnesse hath done the Truth by casting so early an eye upon Her though in the plainest dresse You have given a Happy Omen to this Nation that the True Religion which is now trampled under foot by Heresy and Schisme hath yet Messem in Herbâ and is Revirescent in your tender yeares As Theodosius the Emperour after the Apostolicall Faith had beene long buried by the Arians Soc. Eccl. hist l. 5 〈◊〉 6. erected a Church in Constantinople and christened it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection So by your timely Patronage of the Truth You have raised our Hopes into a Confidence that we shall yet see a Resurrection when the Kings Crowne shall rise the Brighter out of these Flames and the Dry bones of Learning and Religion live and stand in Your sight For by commanding this Sermon to the presse Though I must say to Your Highnesse as Tully to Brutus Quamvis Placebam nihil feci quod placeret It being like Martial's Fly of no Worth in it selfe but onely for the Amber and Grace You have cast about it You have already insome part They have made lyes their refuge and under falshood hid themselves Isai 28.15 not onely vindicated the Kings Honour and Your owne Spotlesse Innocency from the Blasphemies of those who have made Lyes a refuge For he that pleaseth to read may here behold the liberty and boldnesse we are still allowed against the Romanists Even in the presence of our King His Posterity and the whole Counsell But also confirmed the Faith of this Kingdome that according to the Vnparallel'd Example of Your Royall Father you will be a Constant Defender of the Protestant Faith you have received from a Religious Education To the glory of God the future Tranquillity of these Kingdomes and your owne Immortall Honour which is the prayer of Your HIGHNESSE Truly devoted but most humble Servant RICHARD HARWOOD King DAVIDS Sanctuary PSAL. 73.25 VVhom have I in Heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee AMong the bookes of Canonicall Scripture there is but one stiled the booke of the Preacher not as if our doctrine should all be confin'd to Ecclesiastes Proloq in Ecclesiast but as Gregory Nyssen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. because it is a choice Tract of Ecclesiasticall policy and no Text more fit for the Preachers study or the Peoples practice then the vanity of the creature the immortality of the creatour For since the soule of man is restlesse unquiet out of its center and the whole world is but a wide circumference since like the needle in the compasse she hath a naturall trembling to the fruition of happinesse and this temporall as Basil truly Basil in Psal 61. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steales along by it as an impetuous streame rowles by the bankes and who can aime steedily at a moving marke The Prophet here is a true Ecelesiastes if he draw you a right line to the immoveable center and direct the quaking soule to its true pole God himselfe For having coasted the whole world in his thoughts for a resting place with Noahs Dove he returnes again into the Arke with this Olive branch in his mouth Non est Mortale quod opto He findes no sanctuary but in heaven no safe repose but in the Almighty Whom have I in Heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee In this verse King David seemes to be placed as Augustus once fancyed himselfe inter suspiria lachrimas betweene sighes and teares yet he looks cheerefully up to Heaven fetching comfort thence in the full assurance of the divine favour And because 't is musicall I shall once more crave leave to follow the allegory please you to observe The Disposition of the parts And Opposition of the notes in both First The Disposition of the parts and those are Acutum and grave High and Low High in a passionate expostulation Whom have I in Heaven but thee O Lord Low in a deliberate resolution There is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee I. In the expostulation you have 3 notes 1. Quem in coelis Whom in Heaven whilest others lay up their treasures on earth in heaven my exchecquer in heaven my treasury 2. Quem praeter te Whom have I there but thee O Lord God alone is a Christians portion he is truely possessed of nothing but the Deity 3. Quis mihi according to the hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is for me who pleades my cause in heaven not any Saint or Angell but thou O Lord thou art my redeemer thou my advocate which makes the question past all question I have none in heaven but thee O Lord. II. The resolution There is none that I desire on Earth besides thee Et tecum non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The negation is Personall no man for his favour Reall no creature for its excellency that I desire with thee the treasures of the earth are but guilded poverty the favour of a Prince but a gratious snare without thee give me thy blessed selfe and what can this earth adde to my happinesse that I may in the next live for ever with thee Lord let me never live in the present world without thee For non est in terris there is nothing on earth that I desire but thee Secondly The Opposition or distinction of the notes in both parts For as Synesius in his panegyricall oration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their discord is a most sweet harmony The opposition appeares 1. In the order of the places In King Davids thoughts Heaven takes praecedency of the earth Whom have I in Heaven that 's his first care then desire on earth followes after 'T is honour enough for this vile earth to wait upon Heaven 2. In the sense of the Verbes Habeo and Desideravi Habeo in Coelis Have in heaven Desideravi in terris only desire on earth Here we tyre our selves with a restles coveteousnesse wandring through the whole creation but finding no satisfaction yet what we crave on earth we are sure to have in heaven there our desires shall be satisfied with fruition and though some vessells may conteine more then other yet every one shall be full no vacuity no want in any 3. In the diversity of the
Magnum mirabile sub tanta majestace When I consider the eternall joyes of that place how heartlesse and dying are the best of earthly pleasures T is a very Turkish heaven that is composed of nothing but your temporall delights Aug. a Christians is above made of pure everlasting blisse But Saint Hierom's Ghost strikes me dumbe in this point who departing in Bethlehem hasted to Hippo where Augustine was Bishop and then studying the joyes of heaven and interrupted his meditations with this question Quid quaeris brevi immittere vasculo totum mare Why doest thou endeavour to contract the Ocean in a thimble or to draw eternity within the narrow limits of time The fading honour of this world 'T is but a popular breath the butt of envy or what is worse too often the stage of treason and revenge in heaven 't is in triumph above the reach of malice or oblivion The Dying life we live here 't is a lampe that must out a shadow that will vanish a grasse that shall wither in heaven 't is lengthened into eternity beyond the threats of mortality or corruption The sinfull company we enjoy in this life 'T is a mixture of virtue and vice gold and drosse wheat and tares in heaven the society of Saints and Angells yea the beatificall vision of God himselfe O King of glory 't is the revelation of thy royall presence that makes heaven to be it selfe as we use to say Ubi imperator ibi Roma Where the King is there is London his presence creates a metropolis of any place which leades your attentions from Quem in coelis to Quem praeter te The second note in the song Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord thou my portion thou my riches Divitiae parentes sunt absurditatis sayes a Father 2 Quem prater te worldly happinesse is the parent of absurdity for what more incongruous then to forsake the glory of the creatour for the vanity of the creature This were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Synesius opinion In epist ad Pylens Plin. l. 12. nat hist to exchange gold for brasse or with those people in Pliny tributum pro umbra to pay tribute for a shadow Alas we creatures need not one another so long long as we are possessed of thee O Lord. Ambros Cui portio Deus est totius possessor est naturae He is Lord of the whole universe that is but possessed of God himselfe And how unsatiable art thou O man whom God cannot satisfye What doth thy religious avarice determine thy desires to name it what thou wilt thinke what thou canst nay thinke once a miracle what thou canst not thinke yet this shalt thou finde in the al-sufficient God Arist in Morral 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies Aristotle by the light of nature the Deity is in all things and all things in it 'T was Saint Cyprians wonder Deum solis nobis that God esteemes us enough for him nobis non sufficere Deum and yet we thinke not God a sufficient boone for us Quid avarius co cui Deus non sufficit cui insunt omnia What so coveteous as he that is not satisfyed with God who is a monopoly of all things 'T is the ambition of every man's coverteousnesse to reach after the greatest and most lasting fortune he can but can your desires compasse a larger inheritance then Immensity can your Lawyer draw you a firmer conveyance or give you a surer tenure then Immutability can you take a lease for a longer tearme of yeares then Aeternity Let Saint Augustine speake Quantum libet sis avarus sufficit tibi Deus be as coveteous as thou can'st yet God is enough for thee He is an immense immutable aeternall inheritance Avaritia terram quaerit adde coelum Avarice carries thy desires uppon the earth but to make thy fortune compleat adde heaven to thy desire Nay wouldst thou have this world and the next too Plus est qui fecit coelum et terram He that made heaven and earth is more then both Who so rich as he whose maker is his Wealth Who so fortunate as he that enjoyes him who enjoyes all things Aug. manuale c. 34. Qui hoc bono fruitur quid illi erit im ò quid non erit he that possesseth this good what will it be nay what will it not be unto him I have here discovered a Mine opened a Treasure to you and certainely in these times of publique necessity it cannot be an unwelcome message Ambros Ser. 8. in Psal 118. In te Deo est ampla possessio In God alone is the most ample possession as the greatest abundance without him is extreame poverty so the most extreame poverty with him is the greatest abundance Omnis mihi copia quae Deus meus non est egestas est sayes Bernard all my wealth which is not my God is downe right penury Dominus pars haereditatis the Lord is the part of my inheritance David esteemes not that an inheritance whereof God is not a part Ps 16. v. 5 Menath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Principall part Heaven it selfe being but a poore fortune without him The Romans were wont to say 't was good looking in a Map ubi nihil alienum videmus if all they beheld in it were their owne I have here drawne you to a Map wherein were there as many Worlds as Epicurus dream't of All 's yours if you make but God your owne O let us advance our thoughts from the creature to the creatour the mine is in heaven 1 Sam. 1.1 the treasure above every Christian should be an Elcanah that is by interpretation a possessour of God else he is no Christian but an Atheist My coveteous heart why doest thou vex thy selfe with restlesse thoughts for this world let them looke after earth that have no right to heaven God is a Christians patrimony and what penury of gold when thou hast the mine What want of water at the spring head can he complaine the lacke of any thing that is possessed of the Lord of all things a bottomlesse coveteousnesse which the Author of all things cannot content My ambitious spirit why doest thou breath after greatnesse and honour If God be not in thy preferments thou art advanced but upon a pinnacle which gives an advantage to thy more ruinous downefall All true honour is derived from heaven there are a Joh. 14.2 many mansions places of honour A b 1. Pet. 5.4 Crowne of glory the ornament of c Revela 7.11 Saints and Angels attendants of honour d Mat. 24.35 Rom. 2. Bene speremus de eo in quo aliquid Des cernimus Calvin A Kingdome the support of honour A Luciferian ambition that is not satisfyed with the glory honour and immortality above But once more My despairing anxious soule why art thou cast downe why disquieted within me Let not thy hope sinke so long as thou seest
the least ray of the Deity Though thou beholdest our King dishonoured our religion martyr'd our fortunes ruined and whatsoever is deare unto us in this world threatned with destruction Nunquid tibi Deum sayes Angustine yet they cannot rob us of our God keepe we our interest in him we have yet a Treasure inexhaustible an Army invincible a Castle impregnable a Treasure an Army a Castle All in our God what would you have if Peace againe he is Deus pacis If more power he is Dominus exercituum Psal 144. v. 10 If Victory It is he that giveth victory to Kings and delivers David his servant from the perill of the sword Peace Power Victory All from our God Aske no more who will shew us any good Psal 4.6 but Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us For he alone can be all these to us who now begs all these for us our partrimony on earth our patron in heaven which brings mee from Quem praeter te to Quis mihi who pleads for mee not any Saint or Angell but thou O Lord thou art my redeemer thou my advocate Whom but thee 3. Quis mihi why Is the new Hierusalem become desolate what use of many mansions if no inhabitants there Or if inhabited why but thee O Lord Can God be solitary among so many regiments of Cherubims and Seraphims or hath David never a friend in that Army of Martyrs to usher his prayers to the Allmighties care were the Court of heaven like a Kings on earth Exam. decret concil Tridentini part 3. loc de Invoc Sanct. 13. many might conclude as the man in Chemnitius hearing a Bishop on this subject Tunc simplicitér actum conclamatum nobiscum or at least despaire of a gratious answer that have no friende at Court But the Almighties care is not confined to a privy chamber he that would speake with God needs not bribe any Saint or Angell to be his Sollicitour a creature so base and servile on earth that the heavens scorne the use of him the finitude of the Kings presence requires an officer of state to state our requests to His Majesty but the ubiquity of God needs not the flattery of a creatures mediation His eare is omnipresent as his essence Itur ad reges per tribunos a tribune or Lord must open the doore for a petition to the King Ambros in Rom. 6.1 ad Deum suffragatore non opus est sed mente devotâ To speake with God we need no other Key but a devout heart this unlocks the heavens and presents the suite to the Kings owne hands Indeed mediation supposes a quarrell for 't is scarce sense to say I will reconcile friends had God and man never fallen our there had beene no use of a Mediator but now we all bend our knees to an offended justice and might despaire of mercy for ever unlesse as Themistocles once to the King of Molossy we present our requests under the protection of the Kings onely sonne Plut. Mor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most prevalent kind of supplication If Manoah offer sacrifice Exod. 25. v. 16 Gen. 27. v. 27 Judg. 13.20 this Angell must open heaven for it If Moses ascend to God he must be covered with this cloud If Jacob would obtaine the blessing He must enter in the garments of this elder brother Eph. 3. v. 12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by him alone our persons have admission into the royall presence of the Allmighty But Quis praeter te is no antheme for the Popes quire who allowes as many mediatours as he hath Canonized Saints Though he fill his Calendar from Tyburne Masters of requests he will have for all necessities Saint Geogre for the field and to open the roule no farther Saint Gregory for the Schooles Yea as great a turne of State or if you will reformation you have in heaven as we now feare on earth Christ is put out of his office and Saint Francis stept into the mediatour-ship the Church of Rome being therein as bold with the King of heaven Anselm I 'de excellentia Virg. Bonavint in Spec. c. 8. Mendoz in 1. lib. Reg. c. 4. n. 11. An. 12. Sect. 1. as some are with our King on earth not onely to counterfeit the Great Seale in the Sacraments but to deny him the choice of his owne officers Nay they have given away halfe the Kingdome that of Mercy to the Virgin Mary so free are they of the divine prerogative allowing God himselfe but the dreadfull tribunall of Justice of purpose to draw all suiters to her Court Ambr. in 1. cap. ad Rom. Aug. l. 8. de civile Dei prolixe A Platonicke superstition that hath too many gray haires upon it to survive to this age of the Gospell for either the Jesuite doth Platonize or Plato did Jesuitize when he first sent abroad his Deos intermedios A sacrilegious religion to rob the very Deity they worship of his honor An impious piety ot degrade our high Preist of that honourable title he hath purchased with his bloud How doe they defloure the memory of the blessed Virgin whilest they force her loyall Spirit into the Throne of God there to dispense those Acts of grace which are in the sole power of the King of Kings 't were too ridiculous to heare Francisco del campo at his thanksgiving that he swam over a river with his armes a Sculler that never before tryed the waters yet made very nimble and kept to the true stroke by the helpe of our Lady When though necessity hath wrought greater miracles a spaniell shall doe more without imploring the Virgins ay de A Pure Virgin she is still for any violence the Church of England ever offered her which hath alwayes given her Due honour but not Adoration 1. Tim. 2. 5◠Habemus legem We have a Salicke law in Scripture that will not allow of any Queene Regent in heaven Christ called her Woman who was his mother that we might not esteeme her a Goddesse who was but a Woman She may desire our salvation but cannot bestow it Wish us well in heaven yet not know much lesse releive our wants on earth Ignorance of our misery is some part of the Saints happinesse As Saint Hierome reads the Epitaph on Nepotians tombe Foelix Nepotianus qui nec videt nec audit haec omnia happy Nepotian who neither seeth nor heareth the sinfull affaires of this world But their own Schoolemen have fancied the Deity Abulensir Durandus Cajetan All transparent and as the bright Opall presents to the eye the various colours of all precious stones so the Saints have a cleare sight of all affaires in the world if they cast but a looke on the divine essence Indeed the whole world is resplendent in the Deity yet by no meanes do we make it a looking-glasse for the Saints curiosity For either their vision is unlimited and
penetrating unto all things or else restrained to Gods pleasure as he shall open or shut the vaile to them If unlimited then the knowledge of a Saint must be as infinite as the divine not a mystery of State not a record written in that great diary of the world the Mind of God from the beginning but must be published to the creatures view All there must be of Gods Cabinet counsell and nothing kept secret in that Kingdome Things past present and future the very thoughts of our hearts the knowledge wherof hath ever yet been Gods peculiar Yea that Arcanum Dei the day of indgement which our Saviour protests no man knowes not the Angells in heaven no not the Sonne of man Every Saint would behold in this Chrystall If their knowledge be confined to his will as he shall please to draw the curteine aside more or lesse to them since the Scripture assures mee not that God hath or will discover my necessities how absurdly must I fall upon my knees to beseech God to reveale that to my Saint which I first prayed my Saint to reveale to God This were to mediate for my Mediatour as Saint Augustine once scoffed at Aplló Libâ—â— decir Dei Interpres Deorum eget interprete the interpreter of the Gods must speake by an interpreter himselfe May we not then be so unwise as to goe from the living fountaine to the broken cisternes for the water of life from the bright sunne to the languid beames for the light of knowledge from our powerfull King to the impotent Subjects for the Crowne of glory We acknowledge no Mediatour but our Redeemer He is not worthy the name of an Intercessour that hath not his garments dyed in bloud Christ alone is the Center where God and man must if ever meere friends and why should we range about the circumference Chemnit exam concil Tâ—id de invoc Sanctor Sarcerius relates how that George Duke of Saxony lying upon his death-bed and the Monks striving who should commend the most propitious Saint to his devotion one of his Nobles told him In publicis negotiis In matters of State your highnesse alwayes used this Proverbe Rect a sine ambagibus progredi Viam esse maximé compendiariam to proceed without deviations was the most compendious method And in a businesse of so high concernement as your eternall felicity will you fetch a compasse to it and not rather goe directly to Christ in whose power are the keyes of life and death can you thinke that he who breathed out his soule on the crosse for us will spare any breath to plead our cause in heaven that he who poured out his precious heart bloud for our redemption will not also poure out hearty prayers for salvation Never doubt of your cause so long as you have such an Advocate a Iesus in heaven With what boldnes may we addresse our selves to the throne of grace when he that is sued unto is easy to be intreated Pater non Judex a Father not a Judge he that petitions for us is gracious to prevaile Filius non peregrinus an onely Sonne not a Stranger Et quando pater a filio Deus avertetur a Christo how can a father deny his sonne Prosper God his Christ when he shall supplicate with strong cryes and teares Heb. 5 7. When all the Saints in heaven shall sit with cheerefull and dry eyes and he alone shew the frailty of a man to move compassion for us Nay when he shall come before him Heb. 12. v. 24 with that Rhetoricall bloud of sprinkling that speakes better things then the bloud of Abell when the wounds he received on earth shall becoÌ„e oratours for us in heaven Quot vulnera tot ora each wound being a mouth to beg mercy for us Saint Ambrose can hold no longer but cryes out O Domine Jesu Amb l. de interpell 4. c. 12. tu portio mea c. O Lord Jesus thou art my portion a bounding to mee in all things whom because I have in heaven I desire nothing else on earth which brings mee from the Expostulation to the pious Resolution the second part of the song There is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Lo chaphasti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None that I desire love trust or delight in All in tha word and because Vnisons all I shall tune them together The procession of the creatures from the Creatour is like a ray shot from the body of the Sun 3. The Resolution which is weakned and spent by extension and hath no way to recover it strength or vigour but by reflexion on the point that first sent it forth even God himselfe In Plato our desires are styled Vela animi the sayles of the minde because in this life the soule is tossed in an unconstant motion she hath no security till she hoist sayle for heaven no haven of peace but in the Deity 'T is a Rabbinicall observation that all the letters in Gods name Ichovah are quiescent preaching unto us that Quies animae Drus. q. heb the soules rest is in God alone For in God there is such a confluence of goodnesse such a quintessence of perfection that the soule of man cannot desire with what it may not be satisfied from the bountie of his fulnesse As Origen said of the Israelites Manna that it answered every mans tast even the most curious courtlike palate so there are such infinite delicacies in the deitie that there cannot rise án appetite in the longing soule that may not be satiated with his plenty Philosophie rankes our desires into those of the Vnderstanding after truth of the Will after virtue and of the Affections after felicitie Now to all these God is a full satisfaction to the intellectuall with his infinite wisdome to the voluntarie with his transcendent goodnesse to the affective with his eternall glory and if the senses can desire Origen saith he is singul a Canâ— â—â— 30 singulis a most pleasing object to every sense Beauty for the eye musick for the eare b Joh. 6.48.53 bread for life for the tast c Cant 1. v. 2 a perfume to delight the smell and d Joh. 20.24 Hom 1. in cant flesh for the incredulous touch but why doe we looke on these objects at the wrong end of the glasse what we call beauty is indeed deity musick felicitie life eternitie sweetnesse perfection perfection essence essence what shall I say Honours riches peace I am too short yet All things how should this enflame our love to God who like another Proteus as I may say converts himselfe into all formes and natures to please the covetous heart of man He that seeks contentment in any created good layes a foundation in the moving ayre for when the figure of the great Empires were represented to Zachary in a vision Zechar. 6. V. 5 the Angel told him isti sunt quatuor venti those are but
patronage of it Heaven you see layes clay me to your first thoughts and at this time 't were the highest sacriledge to bestow them on your private interests What we intend is first not what we pretend but if we make it a pious glosse for our worldly designes wee seeke not heaven but our selves God hath placed it in nature beyond all things that we might place nothing beyond it in our affections Make it we the prologue of our actions and God will make it the Epilogue of our lives the end of this life is life without end here we have it only in expectation but in heaven the full fruition Which presents unto you the next particular the Different sense of the Verbes Habeo and Desideravi Have in heaven only Desire on earth This life is a Christians minority 2. The sense of theverbes He is truely possessed of nothing himselfe but is a ward to the Almighty he never enters upon his Inheritance till he comes to heaven there he hath livery and seisin given him from the hand of God himselfe Come ye blessed of my father Mat. 25. v. 34 Alex. in Strom. receive the Kingdome c. Clemens Alexandrinus calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that lives in the confines of heaven whilst he is in this world he wants but the courteous hand of Death to put him into possession Here the law flatters us with firme conveihances and perpesuities but there is no freehold of any thing here below our surest tenure is in Heaven We contend for the Property of the Subject when nothing on earth can be the Subject of true Property For the Lawyer is mistaken that saith the Clergy man onely is borne to no inheritance when the noblest birth brings forth but a great heire of nothing For how can I truly call him possessour of that which in it selfe hath not the truth of a possession or if it hath the longest here is but the short lease of a mans life when death comes he cuts off the entayle of the fairest hopes your Crownes and Soveraignes you must lay down at the pits brinke your Lordships and manours must be contracted within the narrow compasse of a Grave that 's all the Land you can carry with you As we reade of Abraham All the Heritage he purchased for his posterity was but the Cave of Machpelah a burying place Never let the Dreame of any lasting possession here enter into your breasts If you would be freeholders indeed you must lay up your treasure in heaven there an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fades not away is reserved for us 1. Pet. 1 v. 4. An inheritance so large that foure pradicaments can scarce hold it For Substance Incorruptible for Quality Undefiled Immarciscible for Duration and Coelestiall for Site yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is All reserved for us in surer hands then Orphans estates here on earth which are too often a prey to anothers avarice this is safe in Gods owne keeping till we shall lay downe our non age and lives together And what doe we meane to spend our precious soules on these perishing treasures A Kingdome prepared for Us and we not yet prepared for the Kingdome doe you not heare the world call upon you upbraiding as it were your mistaken confidence in it For what are all these Warres and Tumults but the worlds out-cry to us what are those Defects and Imperfections in the creature but their Broken Language whereby they doe beseech us to depart from them and seeke after our Aeternall patrimony in the Creator For we love not God at all if he hath not All our love Neither Cum nor Praeter must devide it that 's the particular the Diversity of the Praepositions Nothing with nothing besides thee that I desire The originall admits of no variety 3. The Diversity of the praepositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but once in the verse but the accent Revia as Chimki observes distinguishing both parts makes it tuneable in both Yet behold the modesty of Scripture which rather understands the same word then suffers a Tautology much unlike some audacious devotion that hath many petitions in it but not diverse Not to stay though at the grammar of the text To love the creature for the creature is Epicurisme To love the Creator for the creature is Mercenary To love the Creator with the creature is spitituall adultery but to love the Creator for the creator is true charity Uno oculorum said Christ of his Church Thou hast wounded my heart with One of thine eyes True love hath but a single eye Cant. 4.9 or if more the Naturalist sayes there is such a motion of consent betweene them that one will not suffer the other to be disloyall but are both fixed upon one object Cypr. A lascivious glaunce upon the creature had made the Spouse Adulter a Christo In the Schooles Aquinas Daven in ◠col Principale obiectum God is the principall object of humane charity the creatures deserve not our love but in ordine ad illum as we espy some darke lineaments of the Diety in them Indeed we may use the creatures as so many rounds in Iacobs ladder whereby we climbe up to God himselfe and therefore Richardus Victorinus Integer amator Dei L. De gradibus charit quocunque se vertit a perfect lover of God cannot turne about his eye but he sees every creature ready to catechize his love in the meanest created object he calls to minde that increated charity so farre we love the creatures that we may love the Creator the more Fruimur Deo utimur aliis we doe but make use of them to enjoy God Qui diligunt Deum propter aliud Simoniacè diligunt sayes Gerson wittily he that loves God for any thing but himselfe commits Simony in his love Gerson centilogio dec 4. 'T is not the Clergy mans sinne onely though our Country Patrons force us too often to aske the price of our owne patrimony but there is a Lay Simony too when you love God no longer then you can get by him like those people that worshipped Nilus only so long as his rich inundations filled their barnes with corne 'T was Saint Austines argument to such men and may it prevaile with us Ser. 46. de tempore Si dulcis est mundus dulcior est Christus If there be such sweetnesse in the creature which is but a drop as to allure thy desires shall not the transcendent delight in the Creator who is the fountaine command thy affection Could I present the King in the Text with all the delights and treasures in the world nay could I fetch you backe that Beloved peace that is fled from us Nibil dulcescit nisi hoc uno condiatur We should finde no sweetnesse in it unlesse it were seasoned with the Deity Had we kept our God with our former peace we had not beene to seeke it now Were every souldier in our armies multiplyed into a thousand Chrys in Psal 7. v. 3 every Garrison environed with a wall of brasse and Castle of Diamond Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were the whole world on the march for us against the enemy it were an inconsiderable force unlesse God himselfe lead up the Van◠And why should we neglect him any longer without whom are conquered even when we are conquerours Whilest we thinke of recruiting our Armies let us not forget to reruite our affiance in God The Eclipses we have suffered are but the Interpositions of our own carnall confidence The losses we have undergone are but the corrections of our mistrust Take it from the mouth of a King though in a more desperate condition then We God be blessed have ever yet seene yet Jehosaphat in as great a streight as ever Prince was stood up and said O Judah and ye inhabitants of Hierusalem beleeve in the Lord your God so shall ye be established beleeve his Prophets 2. Chron. 20. v. 20. so shall ye yet prosper O our God though we know not what to doe yet our eyes looke up unto thee Let not this Kingdome we beseech thee be made an Aceldama We have beene thy Eden O make us not now a desolate wildernesse but be favourable to Sion build up the walls of Hierusalem For whom have we in Heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon earth that we desire but thee To whom be ascribed of Us Men on earth and Angells above All glory honour power and thanksgiving world without end Amen FINIS
praepositions The hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Calvins Praeter Nothing with nothing besides thee that I desire this is the true Ela the highest streine in the Song Canticordium a song for no other instrument but the heart that 's the Psaltery King David sings to and as Basill observes of the materiall Basill in Psal 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they use to play upon it above not below as in the Harpe and Violl so in this spirituall Psaltery the Heart we shall strike the upper strings the understanding will and affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so our soules may ascend and in every note of the song seeme to rise a degree nearer heaven That 's the first which presents it selfe to your attention Quem in caelis Whom have I in heaven whilst others lay up their treasures on earth In heaven my exchequer in heaven my treasury Christianity is but a kind of religious Astronomy 1. Quem in Cales the contemplation and study of heaven No Geometry or measuring the earth in a Christians Mathematicks unlesse it be that his soule may the more easily take footing into heaven When the Rabbins take Shamajim the word for heaven in peices they find it composed of esch and maijm fire and water not a jot of earth in it The very creation of the Heavens instructing our thoughts should be advanced above the earth Menass Ben Isr 9.30 in gen that hath the lowest place in nature made but to be trampled on Some Principles there be that lay a foundation to every Science Let your conversation be in heaven is the cheifest in Christianity Philip. 3. v. 20 As the Stars move in their severall orbes and the planets in their cycles and epicycles observe a kind of orderly wandring so a Christians sphaere is above in Heaven there he performes all his regular motions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the originall word is let your civill commerce be in heaven For are we not all Merchant adventurers for happinesse Doth not every man desire to deale in that rich commodity and where shall we find it but in the new Hierusalem The Artist hath made it a very long voyage I. h. de sae Bos de Sphaera who curiously calculating the distance from earth to heaven findes it to be five hundred yeares journey but the Christian hath a nearer way to it he can step to heaven in a pious glaunce finish this five hundred yeares journey in a meditation of but an houre long venture almes and prayers and have a returne in a day nay whilst we are but furnishing the Ship for Heaven our faith and affections but on the Shoare not yet launch't into the deepe God many times prevents our desires and sends us in a rich prize of blessings No such gaine as by trading to heaven But not to move the note off its rule when we say our Pater noster though it be almost out of use now adayes our extemporary mouthes prizing more their whining non-sense yet when we say it we tune this note to our selves Our father which art in heaven and why not as well which art on earth but that he would confine our thoughts to that place where all happinesse is confined Earth Why it is the mother of corruption fit for nothing but to make graves of if you dote upon it yea quite change our Liturgy and commit your soules to the ground earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust but with no sure and certaine hope of a resurrection to eternall life In the 6 Chapter of Isaiah the Cherubims cover their feet with a paire of wings Ne terram contingerent Calvin in 6. cap. Isai lest they should once touch the earth and contract any pollution from it Quo admonentur saies Calvin to give us notice that we shall never have any commerce with Angels till we forsake our acquaintance with the world 'T is S. Ambrose upon those words of Mathew Matt. 7.16 do men gather grapes of thornes that the soule and the grape do so correspond in their nature that as the bunches next the earth corrupt whilst those above ripen so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzens phrase is the soule that creepes upon the ground doth rot and putrifie when that which springs upwards is immortall Indeed our primitive soyle is the earth the soule was first planted in a body of clay as a diamond some times may be set in lead yet as Pliny said of Roses that they loose not their virtue by transplantation Lib. 2. nat hist â—â—â—â— but increase it Oderatiores they are more odoriferous and pleasant so did we transplant our soules into heaven they would be more sweet and fragrant whilst now they stinke and smell of the earth But let me not here play the Jesuite with you perswading you to abjure worldly happinesse that our owne tribe might ingrosse it though some deale worse with us whowould reforme the Church into a religious beggar condemning us all to a laborious penury onely to bring her revenues to their owne coffers we equally detest a voluntary mendicant and a golden Idolater Wilfull poverty is a Stoicall dulnesse and the adoration of mammon a most stupid Idolatry MunduÌ„ mundè use we may but not adore the creature command the world as a servant not serve it as a Commander We may looke upon this faire picture as the worke of God not worship it for a God like the foolish Egyptians that were so enamoured with the picture of Bucephalus that they esteemed it a Deity Yet how many Shrines and Altars are erected in mens hearts to this great Idoll the world Most men scarce acknowledge any other God but this golden Calfe to which they performe their servile devotions Herodot lib. 5. Terpsie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Herodotus said of Onefilus his head that it was empty of braine filled only with hony combes so our hearts are void of the thoughts of Heaven replenished only with the vanities of the world Should I mispend time to represent unto you the actions of men I should find them so opposite to heaven Plutarch as if they had consulted with Brutus his Oracle which required him Osculari terram even to kisse and embrace the earth But Heaven is a fairer object for our meditations Did we but cast up an eye to our future hopes how meanly should we esteeme our present fortunes All our happinesse here stands on a rowling stone but if we fixe it in Heaven 't is everlasting and permanent Plutarch Empedocles being asked Câ—r viveret why he desired to live in this miserable world replyed ut coelum aspicerem only to contemplate Heaven When I behold but the Pavement of Heaven stuck with Stars as so many sparkeling Diamonds how despicableis the statelyest palace of the greatest Monarch if the very pavement be so glorious what shall we thinke of those better parts yet unseene Bernard
the 4 windes Winde all and 't is strange me thinks men should repose themselves on the wings of the winde Sure had God intended we should have rested our desires on this world he would have provided a better foundation for it but Mundum fundavit super nibil saies Iob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Super non quid cap. 26. v. 7. hee hath founded the world upon nothing A very tottering foundation ut universus mundus fundaretur super seipsum that the whole world might settle repose it selfe on God alone Riches themselves the worlds great Diana are stiled but the goods of Fortune the hypocrisie of their nature being signified by the false deitie that protects them or if you will accept of the ordinary glosse it is by meere fortune a great chance that riches are good for any thing Were there any substance in them sure the greatest fortune would not be attended with least content but the vanitie of their nature To the largest possessions as to an imperfect tract we must alwayes write Desiderantur nonulla Charles the fifth had for his Motto Ulterius we must borrow the word of him for when we have searched over all the treasures and delights of the world for contentment we must conclude with an Vlterius something further is to be sought for yet there is no non ultrà to our desires Aug. med but the all sufficient God Wherefore in this point let Saint Augustine be your Orator Quaere unum honum in quo sunt omnia bona sufficit Seeke but that one good in which is all good and it is enough Why should we trouble our selves to collect the rayes when we may enjoy the Sun to catch a drop of water when the Ocean 's ours to seeke for the dust and fragments when we may have the whole Diamond never let St Salvians complaint be reversed upon us L. 5. de guber Des. omnia amamus omnia colimus solus Deus in comparatione omnium vilis habetur We love all things we honour all things only God in comparison of all is esteemed vile by us If beauty be the loadstone of love in a creature shal not he draw our love after him De amore Dei c. 3. whose very Being is the perfection of all beauty 'T was St Bernards resolution it is worthy the breast of every Christian Animam meam odio haberem si alibi quà m in Domino c. I should abhorre my owne soule 2. Gen. the distinction of the notes did I find it delight in any thing but the God of Heaven And so I passe to the second generall the distinction of the notes in both parts and therein First the order of the places Heaven takes place of the Earth 2. The order of the places Heaven before the earth Quem in coelis before desideravi in terris It is with you in your conversation as with us in our studies An erroneous method frustrates the best endeavours Many had arrived to greatnesse if their first care had beene goodnesse but if they are crossed in what they would 't is because they would not what they ought In Christianity we have no such figure as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to place the first last Primúm Quaerite First seeke the Kingdome of Heaven and all things else will seeke you Such is the Allmighties liberality that if we desire but the best he will cast us in All things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The morning word Boker is derived of Bicker a Verbe of Inquisition because heaven should be our morning study the sun should not rise so early in the firmament as our thoughts towards Heaven King David dedicated one Psalme to the morning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Al ajeleth hassachar upon the morning starre is the inscription of the twenty second the day no sooner saluted the world but he tooke his leave of it his devotion therein resembling the sunne that creepes every morning from under the earth never ceasing his course till he hath got up to the verticall point of heaven O God my God early willst seeke thee Psal 63. v I. It is never too rath to seeke after happinesse Ber. ser 68. in Cant. Aceeler a quantum potes etiam ipsas anticipa vigilias invenies non praevenies Let thy waking devotion anticipate the very watches find you may not prèvent the vigilant God we cannot seeke him so early as he expects us You have here Vivendi methodus the method of living well The first step you tread must be for Heaven the first line you draw for Eternall life We invert the very order of nature if we prefix the earth in our thoughts for the Almighties first worke was to set up this Great Vault Heaven over our heads e're he created this Little ball the Earth for us to tread on thereby instructing our piety if we would build like Christians to lay our foundation in heaven Had we no other Catechisme but this one sheet of starres above us we might learne where to place our first thoughts by their lustre and sparkling mee thinks they seeme to invile us to that Kingdome which they now adorne I need not acquaint this Assembly how unblest the very Heathens esteemed their publique enterprizes till they had consulted with their oracle The Romans as Tully observes Cie in l. de Aruspice counted it unlawfull to propose any matter to the Senate prinsquam de coelo till their wizards had drawne their observations from the sky The safest policy indeed to take advise of heaven 'T was the ancient emblem of a states-man manus ad gladium oculus ad astra A posture of defence these times should put you all in your hands on your swords your eyes towards heaven If you begin your consultations on your knees you fetch a blessing and commission at once from the Almighties owne hand Sure that worke cannot miscarry that begins in religion Indeed the ambition and malice of some men have made religion put on many faces at this day like those new invented pictures that at a different station represent diverse formes in one place Libertinisme and Atheisme in another Anabaptisme and Brownisme scarce daring at all to shew her Protestant face yet all these pretend to be religion when by their bloudy effects the murders treasons and rebellions they do produce a Pagan would never beleive that Religio tantum potuit suadere malorum How happily hath this Kingdome Acts. 24.14 even in that way which is now called haeresie worshipped the God of our fathers but now we may say of our Religion as Saint Basil of the Aire in a time of dearth Basil hom in Fam. siccitalem that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 growne the more impure because it affects so much purity the more wicked because it would seeme so religious But so pernicious an Abuse of religion should encourage every Noble spirit to a more zealous