commanded to be made unless he had dominion over them that is unless he were Lord over them before they were made Rom. iv he calleth things that are not as things that are therefore he hath authority as a Lord over things that are not as much as over things that are The fair conclusion of it is the actual relation of the Creatures to his dominion began in time but their subjection to his will and power is for ever therefore God is the Lord from all eternity Whatsoever distinction may be put between these names yet when we praise God let us do as Zachary doth joyn them both together when we confess him let us do so likewise as Jonas did I am an Hebrew who worship the Lord God that made heaven and earth When we say our Belief let us do the same even as the Nicene Fathers did before us I believe in one God and in one Lord Jesus Christ And if you please your selves to distinguish accurately upon such Titles because St. Paul hath said that there be Gods many and Lords many let us distinguish between them and this supreme one the Lord God of Israel who is blessed for ever more Christ says the Scripture calleth them Gods to whom the word of God came Joh. x. 34. That Scripture is Psal lxxxii 6. I have said ye are Gods and ye are all the children of the most high From thence and from my Text you may state a profitable difference 1. Dixi I have said ye are Gods he hath said it and that made them so unless he had Godded them they had had no such pre-eminence What they have it is by entitling and nuncupation 2. Dixi Dii estis there are many of those Gods not only every Prince and Ruler chalengeth it by his Crown but every Christian hath his interest in it by adoption of filiation So I cited it from the mouth of our Saviour before the Scripture hath said they are Gods to whom the Word of God came 3. Estis ye are for a while ye are and after a while ye shall go from hence and be no more seen ye shall die like men but the true God abideth for ever 4. These heathen Semi-gods these that carry that badge upon earth shall not only die like men but like sinful men for it follows in the Psalm that when they fall God shall arise to judge the earth after they have judged they shall be judged upon it hereafter how they have judged But O man thou must not reply against the God of heaven his judgments are indisputable 5. The ever blessed God is praised in every thing that pertains unto him he is praised in all places of his dominion he is praised in all his works He hath done all things well say the people of Christ but among the actions of the best men Sunt bona sunt quaedam mediocria sunt mala plura Among some good there is much evil among some flourishing sprigs of praise there are divers dead boughs of frailty 6. These Nuncupative Gods preside over Civil Governments each of them is a golden head over his own Political body but Christ only is head of the whole Church from whence the whole body increaseth with the increase of God he alone is the Lord. And it is likewise upon some remarkable appropriation that the Psalmist says the Lord is his name he bears it certainly with many notorious marks of difference from all the Lordlings in the world First The dominion of man is joyned with some servitude in the Master for he that stands in need is a servant to his own necessities and the Master stands in need of the drudgery of the labouring man as much or more perhaps than that drudge stands in need of the wages of the Master But all our service is of no use or benefit to the King of heaven I said unto the Lord thou art my God my goods are nothing unto thee Psal xvi and therefore says St. Austin God did not make the world from all eternity to shew that he did not want the help of his Creature Secondly All things serve the Lord above nothing is hidden from the Scepter of his dominion but man in the highest Office upon earth is confined to a small scantling of authority he can command the body of his Vassal but not his soul He cannot command his Grass to grow or his Trees to bear or his Cattel to encrease or the weather to be seasonable But as the people said in admiration of the Miracles of the Son of God Who is this that commandeth the Winds and Seas and they obey him Thirdly All the Lordship upon earth is subalternate and dependant from a greater command Masters do that which is just unto your Servants knowing that you also have a Master in heaven Col. iv There is but one Lord and none but he that is responsive to no other the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Our Saviour though an unscrutable Abyssus of humility assumed that unto himself Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am Joh. xiii 13. Such a Lord to whom all the Sons of men do bow and obey Such a Lord that though he were Davids Son yet David in spirit calleth him Lord The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstoole Lord of all things by the Essence of his Godhead Lord of all things in his Manhood by the Hypostatical Union but by special interest Lord of all those whom he redeemed with his most precious bloud Lord God of Israel in which numbers as soon as ever he believed Thomas concluded himself saying My Lord and my God As we have the Humanity of Christ expressed in the two subsequent actions so we have as surely his Divinity set forth in these Titles the Lord God of Israel But that God that filleth the heaven of heavens and that Lord who hath stretcht out the line of his power over the whole earth he is Canton'd in this Text to a little Region of the earth but a Molehill in respect of the extent of his Majestie the Lord God of Israel It was not with Zachary the Priest in this elegant Canto as it useth to be with other Poets who out of affectation do strain their Poetry to make honourable mention of their own Country where there was neither cause nor merit But this holy Prophet had sufficient warrant from the Spirit which cannot err to nominate him the Patron of this people rather than of any other the God of Israel and that for two reasons Propter notitiam verbi propter promissiones seminis benedicti First The Oracles of the Scriptures were committed to them and God was not truly worshipped any where but in the Synagogues of the Hebrews and therefore says the Psalmist Notus Deus in Israele God is well known in Israel there they knew him that he was to be adored that he
since he was tempted of Satan Lord let me not fight alone lest my foes prevail against me Thus tentation begets fear and fear begets prayer and prayer calls for succour and heavenly succour will assist us to be conquerours Gregory incloseth it in his meditation Vnde pertimescit homo enerviter cadere inde accipit fortiter stare that tentation which makes a just man distrust he shall fall affordeth him occasion to set his feet upon a sure place Cast not your selves therefore into tentation Brethren but when you are in them endure them with joy and courage as it is said of the Machabees that they fought with chearfulness the battels of Israel so go on with alacrity against those innumerable evils that take hold upon you The just man triumphs with David against the powers of darkness as if he saw them already made subject unto him they are cast down and faln but we are risen and stand upright Pelopidas being environed with an Ambush alas says his Lieutenant we are faln into the hands of our enemies And why not rather our enemies faln into our hands says Pelopidas So let not the name of Satan and tentation be dreadful unto you he hath more cause to fear he shall be repulsed than you have reason to fear he shall prevail since Christ hath blunted his weapons in this conflict The Fathers call that verse the Saints Jubilee after their trial with the evil one Psal lxvi 12. We went through fire and water but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place And therefore I bequeath St. Pauls exultation to your use Thanks be to God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Fourthly Christ was tempted to give us an example how to encounter with the roaring Lion and to win the Mastery As a young Learner will observe diligently every ward and thrust that an experienced Gladiator makes so the Holy Ghost hath set down for our advertisement every passage how Christ did turn and wind the delusions of the Serpent These things had need to be scanned beloved we had need to be cunning at our fence for if the Devil sought our overthrow in Christ how much more will he do it in our selves If these things were done to the green wood what will be done to the dry But mark how the man of Gods right hand chased away the enemy mark how he demeaned himself from first to last and you are fortified with the best president that ever the world afforded Ut cujus munimur auxilio ejus erudiremur exemplo says Leo he looks upon our conflicts from heaven and helps the weaker side both by the presence of his grace and by the president of his example Observe him that we might instance in all his ways retiring into a desart from the contagion of the world observe him fasting observe him drawing his shafts out of the quiver of the holy Scripture to maintain his cause and say this is the true Charm to make the evil Serpent break as Daniel in the Apocryphal story choakt the Dragon with lumps of strong confection Christ himself could not receive increase of the Spirit either by being baptized or by being tempted for he had the fulness not of sufficiency but of abundancy before without measure but it was for the proficiency of his members that were under him And therefore the Schoolmen have a disceptation since Christ was much greater than the Angels and did far excel them in grace why he should be tempted of the Devil For we do not read that any of the Angels confirmed in grace were ever tempted One of them answers Quia Angelus non habet membra sub se quomodo Christus habet Christ is head of a body and hath members under him to give erudition unto by his example and so have not the elect Angels Wherefore if the Children of Israel lookt up by faith upon the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness that they might be healed when they were wounded how much more should we look attentively upon Christs Tentation in the Wilderness that we may not be wounded of the Serpent The Fathers in their piety say it is easier to avoid ten sins that compass us round about and have not yet taken hold of us than to recover our selves sound again from any one sin that we have committed It is the Angelical part of Christianity to take out this Lesson Prevent us O Lord from evil in all our doings There is a great deal of the old man and his ragged lining in the best repentance You may learn repentance from Christs Gospel but not from Christ himself but innocency and clearness of life and to be impregnable against tentations not Verbum Christi but Christus Verbum not the Word of Christ but Christ the eternal Word makes you cunning in that by his own example He that knows not the experience of many tentations doth not well know himself says St. Austin Nescit se homo nisi in tentatione discat se But he that knows not the experience of Christs combate will not know how to deal with tentation Fifthly Says Bonaventure very acutely he began in the ministry of the Gospel first to refute the false Doctors before he taught his Disciples the truth first to beat down the Synagogue of Satan and then to build the City of God First root up the Tares and bind them in bundles and then dress the Wheat A Bishop must be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince gainsayers Tit. i. 9. Conviction of falshood requires the greater care and diligence and the great Bishop of our souls begins with that How soon were all divinity learnt What little pains would go to Preaching and Exhortation if it were not that Heresies and Falshoods beget us a most laborious drudgery to refute them Innumerable errors are disseminated that they are like Augias his Stable so foul that they are never to be cleansed It held our Saviour forty days in the Wilderness to untie all the knots of Satan and thus we must build up Hierusalem like Nehemiahs builders with the Sword in one hand with the Trowel in the other Having the Sword of the Spirit to cut in twain the snares of the wicked one you shall the sooner build up the walls of Sion Sixthly And then I take off my hand from this Point Let no man say I am cast out from the face of the Lord because he is beset with daily tentations God had one Son that was free from sin but he hath no Son that is free from the incumbrances of Satan If there be no more in it than an outward occasion cast before you to try if you will bite which is Exterior pulsatio as a man that comes not into the house but stands without and knocks at door This is your praise in the highest respect that your vertue is impenetrable As the Lord sent a blast upon Sennacharib and made him return to his
for the Function What you will say was not Christ first published by poor lay Shepherds and afterward preached unto the world by Fisher-men and then his Resurrection testified by Mary Magdalen and other Women why do we debar them of that now which Christ vouchsaf'd them before I answer Relation is one thing Revelation is another to teach a Doctrine is one thing to testifie an act is another if Christ be born if he be risen again to declare this fact and story honest plain dealing Shepherds and silly Women were fittest instruments and most unlikely to deceive but in matters of Revelation yea or in matter of Doctrine it is otherwise Moses was a Shepherd but never undertook to teach Israel until God mark'd him out for the business and inspired him David was a Shepherd but undertook not to teach divine Psalms and instruct the Church until God instructed him The Apostles were Fishermen but never made the Doctors of the world until the Spirit lighted on them And they that can shew either lawful calling or revelation that the Spirit hath pointed them out let them prosper in the work that they undertake otherwise I must say for the instance of these Shepherds in my Text that they were but faithful relators and witnesses of what they had heard and seen but not Ministers of the Gospel of Christ Of their personality thus far now of their plurality that they were Pastores Shepherds in the Plural at least more than one As some Fathers compute the number of the Wisemen that came out of the East that they were three neither more nor less because three gifts were presented to the Child in his Cradle Gold Myrrhe and Frankincense so these audacious Textmen are bold to say that there were three Shepherds to whom the Angel came neither more nor less and what conjecture moves them to this opinion but because that heavenly Carol which was sung this day from above consists of three parts Glory to God Peace on Earth Good will towards men but whether two or whether twenty it is known only to the Holy Ghost This we read and no more Pastores in eadem regione they were Shepherds in the same Countrey It is a point of care indeed very circumspectly observed in the birth of Kings to have witnesses of good credit and report in the place Ne quis falsus pro vero Rege supponatur lest a supposititious Child should be jugled in for the Heir of the Crown So Shepherds were called to come to the place where they should find Mary and the Babe that the testimony of good men without exception might stand firm against all those that should oppose it And what testimony could be more valid and strong in every part let the Jews cavil as they will they which talk of that which is done afar off may easily be mistaken but these came from the nearest parts to Bethlehem even in the same Country 2. Active and experienced men are more dangerous to trust but the Education of Shepherds is without guile or devices 3. Do not tax their report that it was a sleepy apparition or a dream for my Text avoucheth they were watching over their flocks 4. Lest all the credit of the tidings should lean upon one mans voice Pastores many Shepherds and many Tongues would bear record that they saw in the City of David a Saviour which was Christ the Lord. Now began the Vine that is the Church to stretch forth her branches and all the Husbandmen that could be hir'd were called to labour in the Vineyard the time was when one single Dove returned into the Ark. One David sate alone like a Sparrow upon the house top One Elias that was zealous for the Lord wandred solitary by himself in the Wilderness now they did increase into troops and into multitudes Many wise men drew to Bethlehem to adore the Lord many Shepherds to visit him Peter and Andrew Philip and Nathanael James and John were called together the Church brought forth no less than twins at once to shew her fruitfulness a true sign that they belonged to the Land of Canaan when they hang together full and thick like the Grapes of Eschol in their clusters A lesson for them that affect singularity and think they are in tune when they sing discord flat against all the world He that is one by himself is little better than one beside himself and hath no more cause to boast then a Leper had who dwelt alone and was cast out of the Congregation of Israel Esto gutta in imbre grandinis make a drop in a shower that poures down from Heaven Christ accepts not of the testimony of one alone but of many Vni testi ne Catoni quidem standum a shaft divided from the Quiver may be knapt in sunder when it is in the bundel it is not easily broken I have done with their pluralities now I come to the two last circumstances concerning their office and diligence they watcht that 's not all but they watcht over their flocks that is the sum of all There are two sorts of persons noted for finding out Christ more eminently than others the Shepherds before all others after he was born and Mary Magdalen the first of all men and women as far as we read after his Resurrection The Shepherds were vouchsafed their blessing because they watcht by night Vigilaverunt multum a hard task if you consider the time of the year and Mary was so prosperous because she rose very early in the morning to seek her Lord Vigilavit multum It is hard to say whether ever she slept one wink for care and grief since the Passion of our Saviour and God knows who shall be the first that finds him at his second coming in Glory when he shall come also like a thief in the night but whosoever he be this I am sure of Vigilabit multum he must be none of them that sleep in gluttony that are heavy with surfeiting and drunkenness with chambering and wantonness he must watch or be fit to waken to find the Lord. The enemies of our soul are mighty and many in number our temptations steal upon us as closely as they that come to rob in a mist or in the dark of the night David you know chid with Abner because he watcht no better about Saul his Master The thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth you are worthy to die because you have not kept your Master the Lords anointed So shall we be rebuk'd if we do not set watch and guard about our soul we deserve to die because we neglected to sence our soul from the incursion of those evil thoughts that will destroy it Slothfulness and idleness are all one as if you took your ease and slept upon your bed it is Vigilantia somno similima a kind of watching that is no better than if you snorted like a sluggard He that will not waken
perfume the sweetness overcomes our sence Here 's one line for a copy and enough to be taken out at one time Vnto you is born this day c. The Text cannot be divided into equal parts for here is one word among them which not only in this place but wheresoever you find it it is like Saul higher by head and shoulders then all the rest As Painters and Guilders write the names of God in glass or upon the walls with many rays and flaming beams to beautifie it round about so the name of Saviour is the great word in my Text and all that is added beside in other circumstances is a trail of golden beams to beautifie it First then with reverend lips and circumcised ears let us begin with the joyful tidings of a Saviour 2. Here 's our participation of him in his Nature natus he is born and made like unto us 3. It is honourable to be made like us but it is beneficial to be made for us and natus vobis unto you is born a Saviour 4. Is not the use of his Birth superannuated the virtue of it long since expir'd no 't is fresh and new as a man is most active when he begins first to run hodie natus he is born this day 5. Is he not like the King in the Gospel who journeyed into a far Country extra orbem solisque vias quite out of the way in another world no the circumstance of place points his dwelling to be near in civitate David he is born in the City of David 6. Perhaps to make him man is to quite unmake him shall we find him able to subdue our enemies and save us since he hath taken upon him the condition of humane fragility yes the last words speak his excellency and power for he is Christus Dominus such a Saviour as is Christ the Lord for unto you is born this day in the City of David c. The beginning of our days work is from that word which magnifies him that is the word of God above all things for he is a Saviour Time was when the children of Israel had rather Moses should speak unto them than God Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye Exod. xx 19. Now let Israel say let not Moses speak with us nor the Law for then we shall surely die Above all tongues let the Angel speak with us that proclaims a Saviour and we shall surely live If all comfort in the world were forgotten nothing but darkness and weeping and captivity over all the earth yet here 's a word which is enough to turn all that sorrow into gladness yea to turn Hell it self into Heaven This day is born unto you a Saviour it comprehends all other names of Grace and blessing as Manna is said to have all kind of sapors in it to please the taste When you have call'd him the glass in which we see all truth the fountain in which we taste all sweetness the ark in which all precious things are laid up the pearl which is worth all other riches the flower of Jesse which hath the savour of life unto life the bread that satisfieth all hunger the medicine that healeth all sickness the light that dispelleth all darkness when you have run over all these and as many more glorious titles as you can lay on this one word is above them and you may pick them all out of these syllables a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Abraham could endure to live in a strange Land nay he could endure to want his only Son Isaac if God pleas'd Elias could want his bodily sustenance for forty days John Baptist could want the comfort of all society in the Wilderness Peter could leave all he had and want his substance Paul could live in bonds and want his liberty Paphnutius could want his eyes yea the Martyrs for Christs sake could want their lives but they could not be without the redemption of their soul they could not want a Saviour The Prophet Isaiah hath foretold that the heaven and earth should joyn their strength together to make a Saviour Isa xlv 8. Drop down the heavens from above and let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation that 's the effect and the 15. verse speaks of the person O God of Israel the Saviour The heavens must drop down from above and the earth must open and concur beneath the whole universe must be put together the Divine Nature and the Humane tantae molis erat to make a Saviour To confuse the Jews with this place I have read of a learned Scribe of theirs one Rabbi Accados who wrote thus before the coming of Christ that the Messias should come into the world to save men and the Gentiles should call him Jesus or the Saviour of the world Indeed the Gentiles did not only do so after our Saviours ascension into Heaven being taught unto it by the Apostolical preaching but in the time of Idolatry which is very strange Tully says in the 4. Oration against Verres that he saw an Image at Syracuse in Sicily with this Inscription upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour and he admires at the strong significancy of the word Hoc quantum est magnum est ut latine exprimi uno verbo non possit to give salvation or to be a Saviour is such an appellative that all the Latine tongue was not furnished with a word to set it forth But what if their language could have fit it that 's nothing unless the soul do unite it to it self and write it upon the tables of the heart But that the name may not be an empty sound to us as it was to them consider these three things 1. With what honour it was impos'd 2. What excellency it includes 3. What reverence it deserves For the first of these an honour in the imposition of a name will ever stick by the person and the origen hereof came from the chiefest that is above all Phil. ii 9. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name It was ever of old in the right of the Father to give a name unto his child Zachary when he could not speak call'd for writing tables to appoint the name of John the Baptist therefore Christ having no Father on earth his Father gave him a name from Heaven His Father gave it but he did commit it to the trust of an Angel to bring it for the Angel was the first that ever mention'd it to Joseph the husband of Mary in a dream Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Matth. i. 21. God gave it the Angel brought it and men did assign it the eighth day when he was circumcised his name was called Jesus which was so named of the Angel before he was conceived in the Womb. Hereupon Bernard casts in
because he assumed such a frame such a natural body into the unity of his own Person Naturam nostram non solùm creando novit sed etiam assumendo He knows the condition of mans nature not only by Creation but also by Assumption Cyril of Alexandria did foresee an objection might rise from hence and thus prevents it What if the Word had not been made flesh Had not the Word notwithstanding perfectly known all the diseases and infirmities which hapned to that mass of flesh which it self created Yet it is answered that Christ had he never been incarnate had known the very secrets of our hearts and reins only he had not adjoyned this knowledge unto himself after the experimental manner This is the difference only which doth actuate our comfort much the more Scientiae divinae ea notitia quam effert experientia accessit That knowledge which is feeling and experimental was added to the divine omnisciency He knoweth whereof we are made he hath shared our mourning our sorrows and tentations he knows this dunghil metal of ours is full of putrefaction and he pities it To this one alluded ingenuously that Christ did anoint the eyes of the blind man with spittle and clay Joh. ix 6. Vt seipsum excitaret magìs tali spectaculo ad commiserationem That he might behold that object to stir up his commiseration You see by all this I have built upon a sure ground that our Saviour knowing experimentally the conflict of tentations what a mighty Giant this Goliah is that defies the Israel of God and how weak we are to make resistance it takes away the edge of his severity and enables him to plead our pardon before his Father So we our selves ought not be iron Judges unrelenting Censors but to look upon delinquents with a passionate regard and to pass our sentence upon offenders with this dram of moderation at least in our judgments we our selves have been tempted and know how hard it is to resist the devices of the Devil Secondly The first Adam was disgracefully overthrown by the Serpent therefore the second Adam did redeem this disgrace by overthrowing the Serpent in his own Tentations for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. iii. 8. The Scripture accommodates a Parable to make us remember it Luk. xi 22. Satan is the strong man that kept his Palace in peace for he held a Princedom over the Sons of men but a stronger than he came upon him even our Lord and Saviour and overcame him and took away his Armour wherein he trusted and divided his spoiles Dignus vindice nodus a recovery fit for him that had the greatest power in heaven and earth that the Sons of men might sing Songs of triumph not David hath killed his ten thousand but Christ hath subdued that enemy that exalted himself above all that were made after the Image and likeness of God Alexander moved Calisthenes to tell him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how a man might purchase to himself a name to be the most famous of all men Calisthenes gave him a smart answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him kill the most famous of all men I suppose he ment of his enemies and this our great Champion hath done for us by frustrating and retorting all the tentations of Beelzebub the Prince of Devils It was our nature which he so much contemned that made him contemn the Son of God and adventure upon the holiest of all with confidence to get the day all the Posterity of mankind were so baffled in Adam that when Christ walked about in the similitude of man Satan supposed it was but Veni vici Come and conquer This day therefore the reproach was taken away from us when our chief Captain shewed the way that even flesh yet not through the arm of flesh but by the Spirit should be able to subdue our Ghostly enemies Thirdly Not only our former stain and ignominy is repaired because Christ was tempted and overcame but since that time also tentations have not that irresistible force which they had before their malignity is much abated Some ancient Writers especially Origen have puzzled their wits to conjecture what loss the Devil incurs when he is foiled in a tentation One thought that the same Devil could never tempt again like a Captive that yields himself up to the Conquerour and is never suffered to bear Arms again Others had rather say that the same infernal spirit could never turn head against the same Person any more who had once got the Mastery Others thought but themselves knew no reason for it that the Devil once repelled cannot tempt to the same sin any more I wish no man to build his judgment upon such divinations Beelzebub is by interpretation the God of a Fly Chase away Flies and yet the sent which allured them before draws them back again to the corruption which they had suckt before so I take it for an allowed truth that the Devil retires not quite for any repulse but as we see it in men or beasts in any Duel the longer they are beaten the worse they fight So the more we quench the firy darts of the Devil the more we disable his despight and make him impotent If the Tempter could have foreseen that Heroick vertue in Job and in the holy Martyrs he would have recoiled away and not touch'd their person Now every man reaps the fruit and praise of his own labours but the valiant acts and victories of our Saviour are publick advantages for as his Death had a mortifying force against the Old man which is in us and a quickning force toward the New man so his Tentations had a dulling force against the Devil and a strengthening force for us to make our arms break a bow of steel Ideo tentatus est Christus ne vincatur à tentatore Christianus says St. Austin Christ did vanquish the Devil in his own tentations that we might be unvanquishable This is our confidite Joh xvi 33. Be of good chear I have overcome the world Si tu vicisti gaude quid ad nos The Father makes one return a churlish answer rejoyce your self if you have overcome what is that to us Yea Beloved this is our Interest that his skirmishing is our peace and his victory is our triumph O how he hath sanctified tentations and made them wholsom which before were rank poyson Those things which were the baits to draw us to damnation are now become the instruments of our happiness blessed is the man that endureth tentation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life Whosoever perceives his own concupiscence allure him to do evil let him call for a Second to aid him if he be not able himself to endure the brunt I mean for Jesus Christ he will be a party in all those quarrels if you call upon him faithfully ever
to the Members of his body and it was laudible in him to wish some trial that he might encounter the Devil and spoil him of his Kingdom Tentationem exoptare in eo qui succumbere nequit est laudabile say the Schoolmen It was an heroical magnanimity in Christ to wish tentations so might fall upon him because he could not be vanquished And therefore some gather an observation contrary to St. Chrysostom that our Saviour went into the Wilderness and fasted forty days and after was an hungry destinating that the Devil should find him out Obviam procedit Diabolo quem scit non pug naturum nisi lacessitum He went out to dare the Tempter because he knew he would not come on and fight unless he were provok'd yet it is the sounder way to collect that for our instruction when we should examine this Story Christ did not go in a bravado or a challenge to offer himself to be tempted but the Spirit led him as who should say this was not Curtius in foveam a precipitated intrusion Let not man expose himself to temptation Dubia est victoria who knows that carries the badge of Adams frailty in his body whether he shall come off with victory or captivity Happy is that man and the Lord shall bless his integrity who will not come near the suburbs of sin for no man can keep the Commandments unless he be careful to avoid the first invitations of evil and to shun the farthest and remotest impediments of obedience Have you seen little children dare one another which should go deepest into the mire But he is more childish that ventures further and further even to the brim of transgression and bids the Devil catch him if he can I will but look and like says the wanton where the object pleaseth me I keep company with some licentious persons says an easie nature but for no hurt because I would not offend our friendship I will but bend my body in the house of Rimmon when my Master bends his says Naaman I will but peep in to see the fashion of the Mass holding fast the former profession of my faith Beloved I do not like it when a mans conscience takes in these small leaks it is odds you will fill faster and faster and sink to the bottom of iniquity I have read of a Bishop that was performing the Office of Baptism to many that were converted from Gentilism and when a Virgin came near the Font of an extraordinary beauty he desired a substitute to discharge the place for he would not please his eyes no not for a few minutes to look upon such an object as allured his fancy What a careful Christian this was that kept off occasions of sin and would not suffer them before him as David charged his treacherous Son Absalom to keep a distance and not to come near Jerusalem Hannibal that approved Souldier placed himself in a battel where many Darts of the enemy flew round about him and when some commended him that he ventured his person upon the mouth of danger you mistake says Hannibal I am more ashamed of my self this day than ever I was in my life that being the General of the Field I came in peril to be wounded This is well applied to every Souldier that fights under Christs Banner when we are run into tentations it is good and blessed to come off with the least impairment to our innocency But why did you come so near the flame that you were in peril to be scorched Job comforted himself that he had kept his eyes from wandring Jeremy was careful neither to lend upon Usury nor to borrow upon Usury In a word when Tentations fall upon you by Gods permission resist them manfully but if you mean to be led by the Spirit do not wittingly and daringly fall upon tentations This is the sum of the third observation I defer the fourtn to a larger tractate To God the Father c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the VVilderness to be tempted of the Devil THis Text you see will not let me go I have been parting from it twice and still it invites me to stay As the Levite took his farewel at Bethlem sundry times and could not get away Judg. xix And now I have good cause to tarry being led by the leading of the Spirit Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile with him go with him twain says Christ Mat. v. 21. And if the Spirit of God compel us to go with him one Sermon we will go with him twain it cannot be irksom or weary to follow such contemplations But it is fit I should satisfie you where I stick in this verse for the present that I do not proceed how Christ was tempted wherefore he was tempted by whom he was tempted when he was tempted I have rid my hand of these discourses Likewise I have passed thus far how Christ was marshalled into the field by the divine impulsion of the Holy Ghost Here I resume my task into my hands where I left it That which remains for me to survey and for you to exercise your attentions upon is this First Since Christ himself was led by the Spirit when he went forth to fast and pray and to fight against the Devil therefore I will make enquiry how the grace of God doth lead us to eschew evil and to do good And secondly I will bring you along to consider the place whereon our Saviour planted himself to encounter his enemy it was the Wilderness How all men whom God calls to the saving truth by the preaching of the Spirit are led by the Spirit that is governed and directed by his grace is the Doctrine with which I begin in which intricate subject I confess my self to be in a Wilderness before I come to the last part of my Text if ever there were a question which troubled the whole world it is this How the will of man is guided unto Salvation by the supernatural help of God It is run into a Proverb that there are three things almost impossible to be traced The one how a King doth govern his Kingdom the secret reasons of state make the course of his actions so obscure Cor regis inperscrutabile says Solomon The other how grace doth govern the soul And the third how God doth govern the world We are sure divine motions move within us and yet we know not how they move Our Saviour did admonish us it would be a hard matter to understand when he spake of the Holy Ghost who doth regenerate us The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou knowest not whence it comes nor whither it goes What impression a spiritual quality doth or can make upon a spiritual substance Philosophy cannot judge of it but so far as the Scripture opens the mysterie Divinity may examine it and faith must believe it In these labyrinths
his Sons for he provides not for him Secondly Whosoever wants bread let him never aske God for it but fetch it out of the hard stones get it by any stratagem or device let him remember to furnish himself with the slight of his own wits since God hath forgot him These are the upper and the nether Milstone by which Beelzebub grounds despair and worldly sorrow out of one principle and all manner of injustice and wrong dealing out of the other I called them lately the two Tables of the Devils Law unto which it is easie to reduce the most common sins that reign these two I make the parts of my Text which being throughly traversed will be sufficient to take up my discourse and your attention The first of those false rules which the Tempter teacheth is this that we must measure our filiation that God is our Father and tenders us as his Children by this note namely by our portion in this life if we have a full supply of worldly blessings then call him Father if you be pincht with sharp necessity then never call your self his Son a rule fitter for a beast to know his Master by than for a Christian to know his God by A Dog will wait upon him that gives him Crums under his Table the Oxe by this sign knoweth his Owner the Ass though a stupid Creature knows his Masters Crib by the allowance of his Provender But Brethren will you depend upon such a carnal mark to know the Lord and make your selves fit to be compared with the beasts that perish Fides est rerum invisibilium Faith hath an eye upon invisible things it is the evidence of things not seen But the Devil in his Catechism contradicts the Scripture and says Fides est rerum visibilium If you have not a competency of these things which you see why will you believe you shall be partaker of those things which you do not see Thus the Flesh is so partial in its own behalf that unless it have provision it will not suffer the Spirit to say Thou God carest for me and wilt never forsake me There is a passage well wrought into a Fable that shews the true disposition of a natural man Chremes casts off his Son Clitipho for attempting a Marriage without the consent of his Parents the refractary young man knew not how to revenge himself but pretending suspicion before his mother that he was none of her true Child but some exposed Brat or Changeling whom they had fostered for a time Alienus sum subditus volo parentes meos ut commonstres mihi So the Devil would whisper into our ear if God cast us off and gives us not relief and nourishment it is fit we should disavow him for our Father and especially he thought this a good motive among the Jews who had all temporary blessings promised unto them in great abundance That Promise made them so touchy that they quarrelled yea and denied the Lord which had done so great things for them if their desire were not satisfied At Massa and Meribah when they wanted water Is the Lord among us or no Exod. xvii 7. Upon the pressure of their Enemies the Angel could not make Gideon believe at first that the Most High was the Watchman of Israel that overlook'd them If the Lord be with us why then is all this faln upon us Judg. vi 13. In the Psalms of David it were without end to instance how the Prophet expostulates Awake why sleepest thou Why dost thou turn away thy face Why dost thou not see our misery and trouble And at last seeing Gods enemies have the upper-hand of his Servants in these external blessings my feet were well-nigh moved when I saw the ungodly in such prosperity In this common Theme I take it as I light upon it you shall hear my reasons which flatly check Satans rule that there are and have been divers opprest with necessity and want of bread and yet God doth not cease to be their Father and they must retain the consolation that they are his Sons First and before any thing attend to this consideration If every good Christian were satisfied at all times with temporal blessings we should appear to serve God for our own profit that we might lack nothing which concerned this transitory life But Abraham flies his Country and hath not a foot of ground to dwell upon Jacob and the Patriarchs have no food in Canaan unless they go into Egypt for it Peter and John have not a mite of Silver and Gold no not for the use of Charity that the World may see there are some that serve the Lord for pure zeal and not for the wages of Fortune as we call it The Devil in whom it is proper to calumniate vertue he gasht at Job with his Tusk and slighted his integrity as if he were a mercenary friend of God Doth Job serve God for naught His substance is increased in the Land And therefore to confute Satan the Lord put him to the utmost trial and took away almost all he had It is good humility to say unto out Father with the Prodigal Make me as one of thy hired servants that is Put me into thy Family though I be in the lowest rank a door-keepr in thy house as David said Put me to any drudgery and labour but it is not the meaning he would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an hireling one that would do his Father just so much service as he was paid for Of such a one the Orator said Non est amicitia sed utilitatis mercatura So in our Dialect we may say It is not to glorifie God but to merchandise Religion Like that saying 1 Sam. ii 36. Put me into one of the Priests Offices that I may eat a piece of bread It is pity he should eat that would not be a Priest to serve at Gods Altar unless he might eat by his Office St. Thomas the Disciple had not yet taken out the true lesson of faith when he required to put his finger into the print of the nails and to thrust his hand into Christ else he would not believe but they are further off than he that will not believe unless they may finger their gains and thrust their hand into the commodity of the world I and perhaps look for honour to boot bare riches will not content them Many Sons of perdition even in the ancient and pure times of the Church started away to rank Atheism and renounced their Baptism upon discontent that some promotion did not fall upon them Ammianus Marcellinus could sâ—y in his time it would encourage a man to be a Christian if he might be chosen Bishop of Rome and so flow with wealth and dignity Gratis poenitet esse bonum O base earthly mind that would be an Infidel unless he might be a rich believer Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts says Solomon But he that loves God for his
make us his instruments to defile the holy Temple Gods glory is put to the greatest scandal and reproach And this is brought to pass so many ways that it is plain to see there hath been a most witty complotter in the treachery 1. When any Prelate is so puft up that he thinks himself too great to be a door-keeper in Gods house but will be higher than all the Church and seâ— on the top of the Pinacle who sitting in the Temple of God exalts himself above all that is called God 2. The Temple is defiled by setting up Idols in the Courts of our heavenly King even in the midst of thee O thou Sanctuary of the Lord. 3. By offering up unclean Sacrifice either false Doctrine or impious Prayers or superstitious Worship or corrupted Sacraments 4. When men set their foot within the sacred Tabernacle with carnal thoughts with worldly imaginations with no zeal or attention 5. To bring any prophane work any secular business within those walls which are consecrated to the name of the Lord. This is that Camel which the Jewish Priests did swallow when they strained at a Gnat. For they told our Saviour that he brake the Sabbath he did not keep the Law but they themselves did licence and allow the prophanation of the Temple by bringing Merchandize into it selling of Sheep and Oxen and changing money and you know how Christ revenged it even with anger and indignation I must borrow time to tell you how Christ did bestir himself in the reformation of that abuse more than in any thing else throughout all the Gospel For first he corrected that fault twice over in the second of St. Johns Gospel in the beginning of his Ministry and Mat. xxi toward the end of his life anon before he suffered You see what an obstinate evil it was which would not be redressed for one admonition 2. When he came to Jerusalem there were many other faults flagrant crimes wherewith the place abounded yet the first thing he reformed was the abuse of the Temple 3. He would not tolerate the least prophanation wink at no fault for he would not permit that any should carry so much as a Vessel through the Temple Mar. xi 16. 4. He reformed this trespass not only by preaching and quoating Scripture against it but by a scourge and by violence by word and deed And surely if words will not serve God will bring blows to maintain the reverence of his house that it be not contemned What a dissolute carriage it is to see a man step into a Church and neither veil his head nor bend his knee nor lift up his hands or eyes to heaven Who dwels there I pray you that you are so familiar in the house Could you be more saucy in a Tavern or in a Theater This is no other but the very gate of heaven says Jacob when he had but a vision of God and his Angels Brethren renounce the Devil let him not alienate your reverence from that place which God hath specially appointed for the saving of your soul Holiness becometh thine house for ever O holy blessed and glorious Trinity AMEN THE ELEVENTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 6. And saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down For it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone IT is altogether unknown to man when a sin comes merely from the suggestion of his own heart and when it comes from the tentation of the Devil But in one case eminently above many others it is most likely that there is some hellish provocation when out of good principles and religious grounds our heart is quite turned out of the way to rebell against the Lord. Ely the High Priest had a tender fatherly affection Who could turn this wholsom water into poyson to make him wink at the vices and dissoluteness of his Sons but Satan David was a thankful Prince and loved to remember how God had multiplied his favours upon him yet upon this stock grew that evil fruit to number the people Why the Text says Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel King Josias was an enemy to the Heathen that knew not God and he that deludes good motions made him so irreconcilable that he would fight against Pharaoh Necho to his own destruction and harkened not to the word which came from the mouth of God Certainly the hand of Joab was in this and in all such fallacies where a good fountain is made to send forth sweet waters and bitter as to sin because grace abounds to neglect publick Prayer because faith comes by hearing to cark and care too much for the world because a man would provide for his Posterity And this master-wit of Hell laid this bait to make our Saviour swallow it in this present tentation For Christ being demanded to make bread of stones he replies that he was confident in his Fathers Promises Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Are you so confident Thinks the Tempter and upon this confidence I will thrust you on Have you appeal'd to Cesar And to Cesaer you shall go It is true that you say God is very gracious and will not destitute you in any want or danger you have answered very well therefore cast your self down from this Pinacle and be confident still God will look to it that you shall be supported This is the very train discovered and made as clear unto you as the light of the Sun In the former tentation he would drive Christ to unlawful means if that take not because he trusts in God then trust in him still and refrain from the use of things lawful so St. Austin distinguisheth that his first fallacy was Deum defuturum ubi promisit that God would not help where he had promised to assist and the second fallacy which now I am to handle is Deum adfuturum ubi non promisit that God would help where he had not promised to assist Where many things are to be found out in one verse they must be divided severally and in this order I take it to be expedient 1. Here is Satans demand Cast thy self down 2. Upon what supposition he demands it Why if thou be the Son of God 3. Upon what authority authority enough for it is written 4. Upon what assistance why the best in the world whether it is the supreme or the instrumental The supremeis God He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and the instrumental are the most glorious powerful and excellent creatures in all the world the whole Host of Angels in their hands they shall bear thee lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone These are such particulars as the wisdom of the Spirit hath left us
these did foully err and hold that a man being conscious to himself of some sin that was worthy death might put himself to death that it was an act of justice yea and a Martyrdom and upon this ground whether shouId I say more foolish or more impious they Canonized Judas for a Martyr But St. Austin shews that their Argument jars against two common principles Nemo potest esse judex reus It is incompetible that the same man should be both the guilty person and the Judge 2. Nocentem hominem privata potestate occidere non licet It is murder for any private man not authorized by a lawful Magistrate to execute death upon a Malefactor Judam execramur quamvis sceleratum hominem occidit Judas was a Malefactor and could not kill a worse man than himself yet that sin alone without the rest was damnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slaying of himself Remember the Commandment Thou shalt not kill Whom not Neither your self nor your neighbour for you have no more power to hurt your self than another the body is Gods and the Temple of the Holy Ghost And who gave you leave to pluck down a Temple Nature inclines a man to the conservation of himself and what a detestable thing it is to violate the chief Maxime of Nature Which is this in St. Pauls words No man hates his own flesh but loves and cherisheth it No man indeed but he that makes hast to be no man that he might the sooner be a Devil The Heathen went thus far that a man is put into this world as a Souldier is put into some File or some place of the Watch from that station he must not stir till his General calls him Et majori supplicio afficiendus est desertor vitae quà m desertor militia And is not he more worthy of punishment that leaves the place where God did put him before he was summoned than he that comes off from the Watch before the General calls him If the love of your soul the dreadful expectation of Hell-fire will make you decline a sin take heed of this for Gods sake above all others All other sins when they are committed have yet some leasure to beg mercy and at what time soever a sinner c. but how can the Lord put such a sin out of his remembrance where it is impossible there should be time to repent Vt laqueo respiratio it a prohibetur desperatione spiritus sanctus as Bedae said of Judas they stop their own breath and with that desperate act exclude the Holy Ghost from inspiring any sanctified cogitation into them What can befal a man in this world to defie Heaven and Earth at once And to die the death of the damned without redemption Bethink your selves judiciously it cannot be want torture or calamity for though these be very sharp especially to those that are impatient yet they are not so smartful as the stinging of a Bee nor the biting of a Flea compared with the Lake of Brimstone into which they irrecoverably send their own soul that let out of the body with their own violent hand Nor should it irke a man to stay Gods leasure till he be dissolved for any reproach or ignominy that he hath incurred for so your former dishonour is not forgotten but ten times more divulged and increased See how publick shame which followed such desperate persons after their death did work with some of Miletum as Plutarch reports it Many of the Milesian Virgins through the perswasions of some Diabolical Philosophers hanged themselves To stop this unnatural fury when no reason would revoke them the Magistrates made a Law that the bodies of all such should be left naked in the open Market-place for ten days and the fear of that worldly shame did for ever after rectifie those who were living that they held their hands from violence But what other impulsive cause can be named Can the remorse of sins past breed such a destructive melancholy in any mans disposition God forbid This is to cast Mountains upon Mountains and to make all worse Sins are not covered by heaping one upon another but blessed is the man whose unrighteousness is forgiven and whose sin is covered There is another life given to expiate your iniquities and not your own even the bloud of Christ Repent you seriously and be merciful unto your self and then God will be merciful unto you Yet Achitophel with all his politick reach could not make use of these plain notions but confounded himself partly with the guiltiness of his rebellion partly with the fear of his reputation For it is very likely he shuffled his Game thus If Absalon overcome King David Hushai hath given the better counsel and so I shall live in disgrace If David prevail which is very likely he will take away my life because of the pernicious Plots which I have laid against him See how this witty Wretch could forget that David was a merciful Prince and did not execute one of his enemies in cold bloud But God lets the wits of the wisest turn addle who meditate to be Authors of their own ruine and to cast themselves down from a Pinacle upon the Devils suggestion But God keeps all those from this sin whom he means to have converted and be saved The Jaylor took out his Sword and was ready to have faln upon it but Paul cried out at the instant Do thy self no hurt and soon after he was baptized and believed he and his house Paul may loath this world and desire to be dissolved but he must wait the Lords leisure and not hasten his dissolution It was the blessing of the Lord upon mankind Increase and multiply To replenish the world is a Benediction to take one of Gods Servants away unless by the hand of justice and that the Magistrate doth in the person of God is a Malediction What spirit was in the Tridentine Fathers to make the second book of Machabees Canonical Wherein Razias is commended in most fluent phrases that killed himself I know St. Austin says Razii mors narratur non laudatur it is but a narration of the fact not an Encomium Let any child read Chap. xiv toward the end of it and judge if he be not extolled for it with most artificial commendation The same Father is more Orthodox in another place that pious reason is to be preferred before examples Quae tantò dig niora sunt imitatione quantò excellentiora pietate which are no further worthy of imitation than they excel in Piety And again I may say Why did the Roman Martyrology Canonize the Virgins of Aquileia Who drowned themselves to avoid certain barbarous Ravishers For as Aquinas treats upon the fact 1. Fornication were a less sin than violent murder 2. If they had not refused that carnal sin as much as they could yet Repentance might have wash'd away the spot of that crime in the other act of unnatural
exercise the works of Charity to cure the sick to heal the impotent The Donatists penn'd up the Church of Christ within the limits of Affrica for in the Song of Solomon God says to the Spouse mystically Vbi pascis Vbi cubas sub meridie Cant. i. 7. Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon As if the true Church therefore were limited to those Southern parts or Meridian Is it not as wonderful to fetch the Cardinalitian dignity of the Church of Rome from this Text 1 Sam. ii 8. Domini sunt cardines terrae The Pillars of the earth are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them Or Adoration of Images from this Text that Jacob worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff Heb. xi 21. And is not a Lay Presbytery screwed in to govern the Church instead of the most ancient Hierarchy of Bishops from this quite mistaken Citation 1 Tim. v. 17. Let the Presbytery the Elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the Word and Doctrine I will not put my self to the task to go any further in this reckoning for all Schisms and Heresies and almost all sins will shroud under the Patronage of the Word of God Yet such is the pureness of that Fountain that it is not pudled though dirty Swine do wallow in it nay though the Devil himself run headlong into it as he did into the Sea Here he tumbles about in this Psalm to cast dirt upon it yet the Psalm is no whit less sacred and venerable than it was before Et malè quod recitas incipit esse tuum as he did use it most blasphemously it was not Scripture but rather Magick and Incantation For first according to St. Hierom the Psalm pertains not to Christ but to his Members they have the promise that they shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty and the Arrians who did mainly contend against the Orthodox that David made the Hymn upon Christ and not upon pious men do but follow the Exposition of the Devil But of this hereafter 2. He did quite abuse the meaning of the Prophet The Angels are appointed by God to keep the faithful in safety against their enemies but the promise extends not to him that will throw himself into danger and be his own greatest enemy 3. He curtalled the holy Scripture and left out these most emphatical words In omnibus viis tuis that God shall keep thee in all thy ways Surely he was ashamed to mention these words for it can be none of a mans ways to cast himself down from a Pinacle of the Temple Diaboli est truncare autoritates this is a devillish craft which God abhors to lop off somewhat of the Scripture that the remainder may do hurt If any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophesie God shall take away his part out of the book of life God is most highly abused when his sayings are mangled and misreported How much more when a whole Commandment and of principal consequence against worshipping of Images is omitted in many Missals I know not upon what pretence of brevity Even among men 't is taken for the sign of a most contumelious affection to report one Sentence or one Comma of a mans speech without the supplement of all Circumstances As Serapion served Severianus If thou diest a good Christian says Severianus and not an arrant Reneigo Christ was never made man Serapion brings him to his answer for this Heresie that he maintained Christ was never made man Thus the Devil had what he pleased and made use of what he lust in the Psalm and so like a broken glass it was for no service Fourthly says St. Ambrose why did he not go on to the end of the Psalm at least why did he not take in the very next verse Psal xci 13. Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet Quare siles super Aspidem Basiliscum nisi quia tu es Leo Basiliscus Satan is the Lion and the Adder whom not only Christ but every good member of his flock should tred under his feet these were his own names therefore he durst not recite them And yet the time was I can tell you when the Devil made as good use of that verse as he did of the precedent verse when he tempted Christ it seems he loves to be tempting with this Psalm but thus it was Pope Alexander the third persecuted the Emperour Frederick Barbarossa by Arms and Excommunications till he brought him upon his knees and lower than his knees in all servile and base submission and Alexander setting his foot upon the Emperours neck a scorn which Alexander the Great never put upon Darius insulted over him with that verse which next follows the Devils quotation in my Text Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder and shalt trample the Dragon under thy feet Nothing makes worse corruption than that which is best of all wnen it is marred and spoyled and nothing makes worse sense than the Oracles of God when they are perverted And as Samson having his Locks cut off wherein consisted the spirit of Fortitude was weak as another man so the Scripture mutilated and mangled having not the native and wholsom interpretation wherein the efficacy of the Spirit consists is of no force or validity The Devil himself was not afraid of the name of Jesus when it was not rightly used Acts xix The holy Incense was to be offered up in the Lords Censors so the Scripture hath a right savour in it when it is offered up with the meaning of the Holy Ghost Delaiah brought a false Prophesie to Nehemiah to hide himself from his enemies in the Temple but Nehemiah would not hear him Chap. vi 10. 'T is a grace of God which every one of us should beg often upon our knees that he would open the true meaning of the Scripture unto us Who hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth that we may not distort those good Lessons to our perdition and by our own ill digestion convert the most sincere milk of the Word into the rankest poyson These two cautions shall be the conjunct uses of this Point First that ignorant men be not removed from the truth by misconceiving such doubtful places of Scripture which are fittest to be argued by them that sit in Moses Chair It is a laudable conjecture of a modern Author that the Devil knew our Saviour was not brought up in the Schools of knowledge all the Jews could descant upon it Whence hath this man learning Is not this the Carpenters Son And therefore he mis-scited the Scripture unto Christ as unto an illiterate person that could not discover him Every man is not an Apollos mighty in the Scripture some
utterance ALL the joy which we celebrate for the famous acts of Christ is irksom to the Devil and the particular Solemnities which we keep are grievous to those that shut their eyes against the truth Upon the yearly day of our Saviours Nativity the Jew is sad and displeas'd because he believes not that he that was born of Mary a pure Virgin was the Son of God and the Messias whom their Fathers lookt for that should sit upon the Throne of David for evermore Upon the high Feast of his Resurrection the Sadducee gnasheth with his teeth because he denieth that the dead can be raised to life So upon this triumphant Feast wherein we abound with comfort for the sending of the Holy Ghost the Pelagian is malecontented who is an enemy to the efficacy of Grace and the more cause we have to maintain the dignity of it and to be throughly disciplin'd what the Holy Ghost hath wrought for our Soul because the Church is miserably soured of late in all places with the leaven of Pelagius Again as all the parts of our Saviours Mediatorship were several degrees to advance our Salvation and like the several steps of Jacobs Ladder to bring us nearer and nearer to Heaven so in this comparison the sending of the Holy Ghost is the loftiest degree and as it were the top of the spire which is next neighbour to the Kingdom of Glory for as man in his first creation had but an incomplete being till the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so man in his reparation was but incompletely restored till Christ did send the Comforter to infuse into him the breath of sanctification This day therefore is the concluding Feast of all the great days wherein we rememorate the noble works of our Lord and to go further this Text is the upshot of all the blessings that were conferred upon the Church in this happy day Christ took our nature upon him that he might die for our sins he suffered and was crucified that he might reconcile all such to his Father as would repent and believe repentance and faith to please God cannot enter into the heart of the natural man by his own abilities a power from Heaven must be the means to bring that about which is so repugnant to our corrupt nature Traverse over the mystery of our Redemption and you shall find that the work is at a stand till supernal grace poured in do draw it forward as Physicians say that spiritus est ultimum alimenti the last concoction and the most refined part of our nourishment is that which makes the spirits so the donation of the Holy Spirit is the accomplishment and final resolution of all the benefits which we partake in Christ And the last payment collated by that precious liberality to enrich the Church for ever is here in my Text nay indeed it was but a preparation before the talent of grace was not tendred till now That which was set forth in figure in the former verses is here exhibited in real substance Before a rushing wind made a noise here was the very thing imparted which was shadowed by the wind before certain firy tongues made a glittering that sat upon their head now their own tongues became most fluent and voluble with wonderful eloquence In brief to the exact building up of the Church two things were requir'd which are not wanting but abound in this verse First that the Lord should speak unto the Heart Secondly that he should speak unto the Ear by an invisible word and by a visible He spake invisibly to the Heart when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost he spake visibly to the Ear when his Ministers began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Nay more to gather a Society together whose Labours should be dispread over all the world it was expedient that the Lord should confer both ordinary and extraordinary Gifts upon them His ordinary Blessing and indeed nothing is blest without it is some quantity of Sanctification his extraordinary Blessing is twofold to send such as are not lightly sprinkled but filled with the Spirit and to speak with divers Tongues that their sound may go forth into all the World Yet again to shew the Amplitude of Gods allowance to his Primitive Church he makes a double provision first for every Disciple as he is one Member of this Body and so all and every one of them were filled with the Holy Ghost and then he provides for all the Members of his Body junctim in one union and communion they began c. so that here 's the inward and the outward blessing the ordinary and the extraordinary the particular and the universal The inward ordinary and particular blessing is this that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost If you look for the provision with which the Primitive Church was stored look for it in this Chapter and you will find out upon judicious survey that there are three things which make it plenteous with all manner of store Pastores Verbum and Spiritus First certain Pastors allotted to the sacred Function to guide the souls of the People 2. the Word of life which is put into their mouth to be preacht unto all Nations 3. The Spirit of grace accompanying the Word to make it fruitful and prolificous in the hearts of them that hear it and obey it That some were ordeined Pastors and Bishops to teach and rule the Church that 's clear the Apostles met together in Jerusalem with one accord as Christ had appointed and the Cloven Tongues which came from Heaven sat upon each of them that was their Commission to take their Bishoprick upon them that the Word was delivered unto them which they should preach and Elocution to impart that Word to every Kingdom and Language that 's as clear Eight times in this one Chapter St. Peter quotes the Scripture of the old Testament and with divers tongues according to the capacity of all the Nations and Languages that were met together and that the Holy Ghost was infused with much abundance at the same time that 's as clear and pregnant as the rest 't is twice gone over in my Text both in the beginning and in the end they were filled with the Holy Ghost and the Spirit gave them utterance A Church without lawful Pastors is but a Synagogue of Schismatiques a Pastor without a Tongue is but an Idol Shepherd or a dumb Dog a Tongue without the power of the Spirit is but sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal As St. Paul said of the three grand Theological Virtues Now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity so I say of these necessary parts that constitute the Church the Ministry the Word and the Spirit but the chiefest and most excellent of these is the Spirit In some strange manner God may have a Church without a consecrated Priesthood as when Adam and
the Spirit of grace and strive to put off the incomprehensible work of God with a jest These men are full of new Wine So that as soon as God sent firy Tongues from heaven upon his Apostles the Devil likewise raised up firy Tongues from Hell and put them in the mouth of his Apostles Envy and despitefulness cares not what reproach it puts upon good men though there be neither sense nor probability to make it credible That is right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word which is here used to vent any thing against the credit of holy persons whether it be right or wrong It was impossible they should perswade it in any one that they were overtaken with new Wine for there is no such liquor to be had in May not till September at the soonest But slanders use to rove at random And new wine say the Greeks will sooner intoxicate than old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what sign was there to make the objection credible that the Apostles were drunken Did their tongues falter Were their eyes red Was the Gesture foolish I know no man but Carthusian who goes about to invent a sign which should put the Jews into that unlikely suspicion that as the face of Steven when he was full of the Holy Ghost did shine with brightness so the countenances of the Disciples had a splendour and ruddiness in them with the fire of the tongues which sate upon their heads which made the rash Gazers conceive that they were inflamed with drink As the countenances of many that are most sober being red with the heat of the Liver make the uncharitable surmise that they are intemperate so I remember a story that Cassius Bishop of Narnia was despised by King Toteila because he was high coloured whereas Cassius was most abstemious but high coloured by natural infirmity Another thing concurred that it was the Feast day of Pentecost wherein the Jews were wont to rejoyce yet it was not their wont to solemnize the day with Feasting till the morning Sacrifice was offered up and that time was not yet come Therefore St. Peter answers That these men were not drunken for it was but the third hour of the day They that are scandalous in the sin of drunkenness use not to be gone so soon They that are drunken are drunken in the night says St. Paul that is most usual Although some do spend the whole night in quaffing untill the morning In lucem semper Acerra bibit Some prevent the rising of the Sun and are scarce sober one hour of the day whose souls lie under the Prophets woe Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink Isa v. 11. But Peter did not strive to make an invincible refutation of their slander because their scurrility was so improbable and ridiculous and a defence which is over-anxious makes a good cause suspicious Had the accusation been true it had deserved a scorn as Noah was derided when he was drunken The drunkard makes himself an Ape for Boys to sport with his brutishness a natural fool is not such an object for derision and laughter So that passively it is true what Solomon says Wine is a mocker Prov. xx 1. It exposeth it self to the flouting of vain persons here and shall reap the scorn of God hereafter But says St. Cyril the wickedness of man shall turn to the praise of God and this slander of the Jews shall expound some Prophesies of Scripture and the mystery of the Holy Ghost It is granted says the Father the Apostles on this day were full of new Wine Novum verè erat illud vinum novi Testamenti gratia that is it is the grace of the New Testament which makes glad the heart of man Inebriabuntur pinguedine domus â—uae the Vulgar Latine keeps that word Psal xxxvi 8. we read They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures And again Cant. v. 1. I have drunk my wine with my milk meaning both the comfort and the nourishment of the Gospel O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved To this pertains another Psalm of David xxv 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oyl my Cup runneth over Here is the oyl of the Spirit here is the Table of the Lord here is the Cup of Christs bloud an overflowing Cup sufficient to save a thousand worlds This Cup is that which ravisheth our Souls and carries up our Spirit to Heaven to partake of the body and bloud of Christ when we come to his holy Table this is Sobria ebrietas non madens vino sed ardens Deo This is a sober drunkenness an inflammation not with Wine but with the love of the Lord Jesus Happy were these Apostles that were drunken with drinking of him who says I am the Vine and ye are the branches But here is the difference between the meaning of these Scoffers and the meaning of those that make it an heavenly mystery he that is drunken with Wine looks like an incarnate Devil he that is drunken with the Spirit looks like an incarnate Angel I will stay a little while more not very long to shew how the mighty gifts poured out upon the Apostles on this day was a spiritual drunkenness First excess of Wine procures forgetfulness of things past so the Mission of the Holy Ghost made them that were converted to Christ forget the Ceremonial Law of Moses saving that little that was tolerated for a time to satisfie the weakness of the Jews it was laid aside as if it were quite dead and out of remembrance Thus St. Paul doth as it were make his Shears to pass between the Old and the New Law forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before Phil. iii. 13. Upon that accident that there wanted Wine at the Marriage in Cana the Gloss says Vetus legis vinum defecerat in nuptiis Ecclesiae none of the Wine of the Law remained at the Marriage of the Christian Church it was tilted and spent Secondly He that is giddy with wine makes no distinction of persons knows not his Friends from his Foes So he that is full of the Spirit renounceth all friendship affinity parentage in respect of the engagements of holiness and Religion Per calcatum perge patrem If thy Mother hold out her Breasts to entice thee from God if thy Father stop thy way shut thine eyes against the one tread upon the other make no respect of persons in that cause It is the praise and a most magnificent one which Moses gives to Levi Deut. xxxiii 9. Who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children Thus the mighty working of God works an extasie in his Servants that they care not for
a little extemporary acquaintance and no more with that to which they say Amen Next let every man preach that challengeth he hath the gift sorrily God knows and then he knows that Preaching will come to nothing as well as Prayer Beware that you let not our great Adversary subvert all Piety and Religion by these encroachments bad men may mock holy Ordinances but God is not mocked Fear the Lord reverence his ways receive the blessings of the Spirit with thanksgiving and praise rule the Tongue to glorifie him that made it to set forth his honour that gives it utterance AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE CORONATION PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and he glad in it THE words which I have selected to preach upon are part of a Psalm which excels both in the Letter and in the Spirit rich in the litteral sense copious in the spiritual the Kingdom of David set forth magnificently in the one the Kingdom of Christ glorified in the other Sometimes the ditty of the Song points directly at the Throne of David and sometimes at Christs Triumphs over his Death and his victorious Resurrection I cannot choose between them both but think of the Country of Mesopotamia the fruitful Garden of the world girt about with waters the Rivers did flow in and out in all quarters of the Land and the Land was much more pleasant for the windings and intricate Maeanders of the Rivers So this Hymn hath a most delightful alternation in it skipping often from Christ to David and from David to Christ with sundry melodious changes as if it purposed to make the Reader lose himself if he did not curiously note the Narration There hath been much ado among Expositors whether the Psalm should concern them both or only one of them choose you which you will Some refer it all to David and to the rejoycing of the People in his behalf that they saw him happily inaugurated King of Israel after he had been long kept back by the House of Saul and many other potent Enemies The Jewish Rabbins make no other construction of it and they follow the Chaldee Paraphrast who doth thus read the 22. verse of this Psalm the Builders did reject the youngest of the Sons of Jessai and would not let him reign over them but he hath deserved to be received for their Prince and Governor therefore we will keep holy day and rejoyce Thus Vatablus and Isidore Clarius and many others of this latter Age have dived no further than into the superficies of this Scripture that is into so much and no more than concerned the Monarchy of David But they did not see into the bottom that lookt no further for the Antient Fathers of the Church not one but all have discover'd so manifest a Prophesie concerning our Saviour that nothing can be clearer It is a general rule that David in most of his Psalms had more regard to Christ than to Himself in this more eminently than ordinary so that the New Testament is full of the application Pick out the 22. verse The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner according to three several Gospels our Saviour demonstrates that himself was the Stone which the Scribes and Pharisees refused but God had exalted him to be the Head of the Church both ih Heaven and Earth St. Peter proves as much in the audience of many thousands of the Jews and none of them did contradict him Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified this is the Stone which is set at naught of you Builders which is become the head of the corner ver 26. of this Psalm Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord I doubt not but all the loyal hearts of Juda and Jerusalem did congratulate David in those words when he entred into the Royal City but all the Multitude of the People applied them to the Advent of the Messias Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Matth. xxi 9. And indeed St. Hierom says that the Jews in their Liturgy of old were wont to read this Psalm in their Synagogues for the Messias sake and did put it among those Prayers in which they did heartily desire the coming of Christ the Lord Nay says Cajetan the 17. verse can become the mouth of no mortal man but it is the voice of the immortal Son of God to say I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Therefore those Authors that had the most judicious Palat have acknowledged that sometimes Davids matters are brought into this Psalm and sometimes Christs nay sometimes both of them in one verse as in my Text. The begining of the Psalm says St. Chysostom was a Celebration for the setting on the Crown upon the head of the King of Israel but ex improviso mutavit argumentum in a sudden extasie the Prophet changeth his argument and speaks of Christ nay says Euthymius if a man will be acquainted with the stile of the Propets let him remember that this is their custom intercidere solent sermones in rem aliam transire ne adversarii manus injiciant they use to break off abruptly and fall from one thing to another lest if the Enemies of the Truth did understand them they would make away those holy Writings to the irrecoverable loss of the Church of Christ This was necessary to be premised that you might know what to look for out of my Text namely David's Day in the Letter and Christ's Day in the Spirit In the Case of David no man doubts what day is pointed at surely it is the day of his Inauguration when after much resistance made by his Enemies at last he did enjoy the Scepter of all Israel quietly and peaceably and there was an Holy-day instituted to remember it with sacred Solemnity The Lord had made that Day happy unto David and the People did celebrate it in a joyful and religious manner I need not to tell you how proper that construction of my Text is to this Day wherein God hath settled our Anointed Sovereign over all the Kingdoms of his Father and I trust you profess your due thankfulness to God for his most pious and religious Reign and that we have great cause to rejoyce and be glad in it But which is that among all the days of Christ which God did make more transcendently than the rest there 's a little scruple in that point I find one or two refer it to the day of his Nativity but their reasons are weak and they are no considerable number to be followed St. Hierom and St. Austin are in the right I think for they apply it to the whole time of the Gospel wherein the terrors of the Law are broken and all things are most sweet and pleasant to penitent Believers Behold now is the acceptable Time now is the
rage the People tumult the Kings and Rulers of the Earth take counsel God is despised and beset round as it were with the Bulls of Basan How shall this strong conspiracy be broken Why in the fourth verse the Lord laughs and hath them in derision Do you make a question how all these shall be oppressed Non est res difficilis aut laboriosa ludendo facturus est quoties libuerit says Calvin It is no hard matter to bring to pass the Lord will do it at leisure nay as it were with sport and pastime The wicked can look for no other but to be put to shame hereafter and lightly esteemed For as they that honour God are called Oves à dextra Sheep on the right hand oves propter fructum naturae mansuetudinem Sheep for that they yield fruit to the Shepherd and because of the innocency and patience of their nature So the despisers have their Name Haedi à sinistrâ Goats on the left hand Quia salaces per praecipitia incedunt says Origen Because of their petulancy and that they walk in slippery places ready to break their necks Finally says St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is not mocked that is not without retorting scorn for scorn for they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed Now from all contempt of his glory from all contempt of his Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us AMEN A SERMON Preached upon the Gowry Conspiracy BEFORE KING JAMES PSAL. xli 9. Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me THere is one way says Plutarch in Demetrius to make the whole world the better one course to be taken to put shame into all mens faces that they dare not sin It is but thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to suffer the acts of evil men to pass unregistred let their names be known and their deeds set forth in black colours that they who could find pleasure in a sinful life may be discouraged by an infamous memory Cum de malo Principe posteri tacent manifestum est eadem facere praesentem says Pliny It holds not only in Princes but in the manners of all men When we dare not speak of the vices of other men it is a sign they are rise among ourselves Can we then pass over this high and unsufferable wrong done to an innocent person in my Text Such a complaint as can hardly be match'd in all the Scripture For say that one friend hath parted from another as Demas lest St. Paul or that Ziba being trusted did fail Mephibosheth or that Jobs acquaintance whom he fed with his Morsels did shun him in the days of his sorrow yet for all these crimes to meet in one man disloyalty against friendship treachery against trust ingratitude against daily benefits this is strange quod nulla posteritas probet sed nulla taceat fit to be blazon'd that for infamies sake the most prostigate may fear to do the like This is my Scope there is the Center where I will fix the foot of my Compass and whatsoever I do add more is the Circle drawn about it In the days of King Davids persecution you would think the Text were sit for none but him Expositors indeed are not all of one mind to say who it is that is pointed out for this disloyal enemy Perchance his ungracious Son Absolon an untimely Usurper perchance Joab the Captain of his Host trusted with the command of all his Forces and yet complotting with Adonijah to supplant Solomon against the Fathers affection But most likely and you shall hear at this time of no other it was the great States-man Achitophel admitted into the secrets of his bosome and rewarded with the best honours of his Court even he his own familiar friend in whom he trusted which did eat of his bread did lift up his heel against him In the days of our Saviours humiliation the Text doth so fit his turn and that St. John saw in the thirteenth of his Gospel and did so apply it that at the first blush you will say it doth directly serve to express his pittiful case and the wickedness of Judas who did betray his Master Judas that followed him when he had no where to lay his head and could a friend do more Judas that dispensed his Alms to the poor surely the greatest trust that could be laid upon any servant by so charitable a Lord Judas his guest at all times and more especially a partaker of his Last Supper take him with all these titles and yet did he lift up his heel against his Master One interpretation more of this Text is revealed in this our Age. And it is verified in application to none so fitly as to our most renowned Soveraign in the happy and successful deliverance which God gave unto him this day against his enemies his Companion in recreations his confederate in counsels of the same unanimity of Religion that had broke the same bread at the Communion Table did rise up against the Lords Anointed But he that lifted up his heel was supplanted himself and cast down praised be God for evermore You see here are three examples of Traitors so notorious that we who live may almost be ashamed of Mankind and there are three examples of them who suffered so innocently that we may be proud there were men so good to endure it Wherefore I will draw my discourse into such a method that neither Achitophel may be forgotten that wronged King David nor Judas omitted that betrayed his Master nor those wicked Imps let alone in silence whom this day bath made notorious to Generations Achitophels treachery hath the precedency in time and therefore it shall be handled in the first part in whom you shall see three things 1. How odious it is to violate friendship yea mine own familiar friend 2. How hateful it is to wrong the trust reposed in us My friend in whom I trusted 3. How impious it is to forget the benefits we have received to spurn against him that seeds us He that ate of my bread hath lift up his heel against me Judas his Apostacy is the second part of my Text and in him let Hereticks discern how grievous it is to wound their Saviour whom they have served and let our Runnagates to Rome and Rhemes consider what a lamentable backsliding it is to leave the sincere Altar whereon they have eaten the body of Christ and drank his bloud I would our own Island had not brought forth such men as make up the third part of my Text in whose desperate attempt you shall see how the best alive are not only like to spill their good turns upon barren sands but also to lose their life their country their liberty even where they had cause to look for nothing but due homage and fidelity An first attend unto Davids complaint c. Yea mine own
familiar friend no vertue wins affection to it sooner than humility and behold we have it here in the lowest degree for David doth not reach out his Scepter to keep his Servant at a distance but draws him near unto his breast and calls him the friend of David The Shepherds in Sophocles complained of their Sheep that although they held their Sheephooks over them as if they did command yet in truth they did but wait upon the Flocks and were their servants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So if we do truly examine it it is the misery of all greatness they that sit in the highest place as our Governours do perform more good offices for our use than if they were our servants yet for the maintenance of Authority and to keep Inferiours in awe of their power they seldom stoop so low as David doth Yea mine own familiar friend A tyrannous insultation over servants is out of practice for the most part in our Kingdom let it be censured at large among them whose insolency deserves it their scourgings and tortures did but breed this Proverb amongst the Romans So many Servants so many enemies An id Dominis parum est quod Deo satis est Is not that sufficient for man which will content God If obedience and good endeavour doth suffice the Lord shall man be unsatisfied with his Servants diligence Servi sunt Imò humiles amici non ministeriis sed moribus estimandi says Seneca Look not upon our families as upon men under the yoke but as upon friends that profess lowliness respecting rather the good disposition of their mind than the condition of their place So David moderated his Court rather like a Society than a Kingdom that as Plutarch said of the Syracusians being besieged every man was more sollicitous for the safety of their Captain Dion than for their own escape so in Davids affliction the whole Court mourned rather for his misery than their own only the pernicious head of Achitophel revolted being his familiar friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Sophocles a faithless friend is the so a rest bile that can be toucht Methinks as Jonathan laid aside his bow and arrows approaching to embrace David so the name of friend should disarm the heart of man that no instrument of malice should be left to give offence It is like Gods Rainbow in the clouds a sure token of reconcilement and preservation it is the uniting of more souls in one like the Rod of Moses and the Rod of the Egyptians which were united into one Rod Exod. 7. that as Joseph said of Pharaohs dreams the dreams are two but the interpretation is but one so among friends the hearts are two yet there is but one joy one desire and but one affection between them both O what an accursed crime it is to cancel such a Bond much more to falsifie and corrupt it more unnatural than to divide one living Child into two dead parts like the uncompassionate Harlot St. Basil did so cleave to the familiarity of holy Nazianzen whom he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or his necessary friend that he thought not his knowledg solid or his study profitable or the day-light to be clear without him Zenophon was so enflamed with the love of Proxenus dear to him as his own soul that he changed his bookish life and entred into a dangerous war as he confesseth that he might follow him as the shadow did the body Perfect Lawgivers says Aristotle have had more careful regard to settle friendship in their polities than to settle justice for there is a recompence and satisfaction for any fault that infringeth justice put it is past our value and exceeds all estimation how to salve up an injury which abuseth friendship besides there is prevention in all points of justice that an innocent may sustein no hurt but the wounds of a false friend how is it possible to avoid them such an Achitophel is like hot iron taken out of the fire which neither gloes nor shines but burns more violently than the flame that threatens We have a Test to try gold says Euripides a Touchstone to betray deceit in counterfeit mettals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to know the mischief of a dissemblers heart there 's no mark or character to discern it Moreover every man hath a share in his whole friend in all his estate and faculties but every single man hath but his part in that Common-wealth whereof he is a Citizen then reason within your selves can he that wrongs a friend who is all and every whit his own be true to that Kingdom wherein he hath but a share and moiety As the Poet warn'd the Sparrow not to build a nest in Medaeas Statue for she spar'd not to kill her own young ones and could the little birds who were but Inmates expect succour from her so believe him not that he will be just to others who was unjust to his other self Let him be rooted out let him be cut off like unprofitable Ivy that undermines the building upon which it creeps It is a solid reason in School Divinity why Devils cannot inflict a corporal torture upon the Sons of men without some especial commission for the fact because since immaterial spirits are always about our paths and as near unto us as our garment unto our flesh although they cannot be discerned it might tend to our unavoidable destruction if inability did not check their malice It were well for us if a false friend had not more advantage against our life and safety than the Devil his access unto us is as free as Satans his mischievous intentions as little discerned here is the difference the Devil can hurt you but by fits but a fair-tongu'd Hypocrite at all times As David kill'd Goliah with no rugged stone but with a smooth peble out of the brook and when the Army of the Philistins could not prevail the embracements of Dalilah confounded Sampson It is not the Majesty of Eglon that can save him if Ehud come with ave rex and courteous salutations Abner is but a dead man if Joab encroach with ah my brother and embrace him Pope Sixtus Quintus second to no man to make an Orator for the Devil was much mistaken in the Consistory when extolling the Parricidious Frier who slew Henry the Third of France made it a wonder that so mean a person in the form of a Petitioner should pass all the Kings Guard and without resistance execute that execrable treason Quite otherwise say I had he come armed and reviled the King and professed defiance then it had been strange if the Guard had not cut him short and defended their Soveraign but in the habit of an humble Subject that bowed unto his King in the form of a Beads-man that came praying in the shape of a supplicant that sued for justice was this such a wonder that so Vile a Fox should strike the stroke nay David knew that evil could
your poor Lambs pine for want of milk how shall the great shepherd Christ Jesus afford you the comfort of one drop of water O the sobs of Orphans the cursings of Clients the tears of abused Virgins the bleatings of your Flocks the revealing of secrets Arcanique fides prodiga perlucidior vitro and this Psalm of David against Achitophel his false Counsellor will ring over heaven and cause judgment to fall down upon such who lifted up their heel against them that trusted too much to their slippery infidelity Yea mine own familiar c. Now the third complaint is sorest he that did eat of my bread Magnificavit dolum did exalt mischief against me It hath been said in scorn of the Epicure that the palate of his mouth was more sensible than his heart it is well that somewhat would please him But Achitophel had neither feeling of Davids true love in his heart nor any taste of his benefits in his mouth friendship and food were both lost upon him Comedebat panes and yet he is his enemy As in the overflowings of Nilus the corn fields are the better and the fatter for it but Serpents and Vermine grow out of the fruitfulness So the overflowing of benefits begets nothing in an ill disposition but Worms and Cankers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Bazil Not a Cur so fierce but will fawn upon you and lick your hands if you feed him Birds are not so wild but by giving a little meat unto them in time they may be brought to pick up crums at your Table what a brutish thing is ingratitude that the beasts may be won with that which would not win Achitophel Nay there are such says the Father that you lose them when you bestow kindness upon them and envy will repine that you have ability to supply their wants Jupiter hospitibus num te dare jura loquuntur c. The Table of hospitality was ever accounted a sacred thing And St. Austin thinks that Christ did reveal himself to Cleophas and the other Disciple in breaking of bread rather than in any other sign because they offered him part of their own entertainment at Emmaus And Salt was a Symbol of friendship among the Heathen because feeding at the same board was an uniter of affections and amity The Greek Proverb makes it the basest kind of love to have the relish of a Parasite in a mans mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to love no longer than we are fed But here is a canker worm that devours the sap of the tree that feeds him like unnurtured beggars served plentifully at rich mens doors and yet take advantage how they may break in and rob the house where they were relieved You may as soon reduce the babling of a mad man to reason as to take any measure of this vice of ingratitude Can you search the depth of that which hath no bottom It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sive or Colender which contains nothing that you pour into it It is gone like the wind which passeth by our ear and you shall hear of it no more Take the great instance from him whose case was most pitiful Why was our Saviour put to death For envy Why was he envied For his good Works What good Works had he done He fed the hungry and this bountiful Lord hath Gall and Vinegar presented to him He raised the dead divers of their own Nation and yet the giver of life is put to death Devils were cast out of another and the cleanser of the house is defiled vvith spittle Can any reason be given for this We may say indeed as one did to our own shame that there are a sort of men Divites aliorum jacturis immortales funeribus such as are rich by other mens losses and immortal by other mens funerals but what reason can we yield for that none at all It is a sin without a bottom and therefore it hath the greater affinity with Hell and damnation I have thought it one of the Devils principal projects that since the story of the Athenian and Roman Commonwealths were the most likely to be turned over and perused you shall not pass the Annals of five years but some memorable example of ingratitude will cross your way In Athens it was malum epidemicum their all deserving Miltiades Cimon Aristides Themistocles discarded disgraced imprisoned a City full of severe Laws against ingratitude Sed moribus suis quam legibus uti maluerunt full of opposite practice to the Laws In the Roman Polity Camillus Africanus Scipio Manlius many more either dethroned from dignity deprived of life or banisht their Country wherefore Africanus spat in their face again when dying in exile he did appoint this Epitaph for his Tomb Ingrata Patria ne ossa quidem mea habes he did not bequeath so much as his bones to his ingrateful Country These are the Devils Land-marks to guide after Ages by such disloyal presidents we want not history then to pattern this vice by example but if you ask for reason as I said before it is deeper than the Sea and you cannot sound the bottom Unless this may give a little satisfaction to the curious that the flower of vertue hath been always untimely cropt in Popular Government when the multitude are more prone to darken glorious deeds with envy than to make them famous by reward And I could never find in my reading that a deserving person found a due recompence in any State but by the bounty of a Monarch And therefore it is a thousand pities that our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Kings and Princes that appoint prizes to them that best behave themselves in the Combate that they should light upon ungrateful Courtiers like Davids undermining Achitophel his familiar friend that eat of his breads c. I hope the truly noble and magnificent mind will say to this Non nova mî rerum facies inopinave surgit that he full well knew and foresaw he must lose many good turns when he bestowed them among men Est tanti ut gratum invenias experiri vel ingratos says Seneca One thankful man is so precious a jewel if you find him out that it will quit cost to try twenty that are unthankful Shall a good man lose the employment of his bounty because evil men have forgot the retribution of gratitude God forbid Shew me an Usurer that hath broke up trade for being cast behind by one bankrupt Shew me a Seafaring man that leaves to traffick for one losing voyage Post malam segetem serendum You cannot shew the man that will hold his hand from the seed hereafter because one crop did not answer expectation Nay I had rather preach that there was never more than one covetous Judas in the Church who loved thirty pieces of silver better than a thousand blessings of his gracious Lord. I had rather perswade you there was never more than one projecting Achitophel who would contrive
subtilties against David who advanced him to the highest honour of his counsel I will say that there is no mouth but doth bless him that feeds it no needy soul but doth pray for him that relieves it rather than discourage the liberal Benefactors weaken the hands of them whose hearts are enlarged to help the poor with their plenteousness Again the truly charitable delights in his own good deed because it is given and bestowed not because it is returned The glory of the Roman Commonwealth says M. Antony in Plutarch appears not by the rich tributes they receive but by the chargeable succours which they afford to their distressed Confederates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly If you shut up your compassion against all men because a few unthankful have put up your kindness in the dark taking no notice of your hand that gave it you commit not only rigour but great injustice to punish more than have offended As for him that rewards evil for good leave him to God to receive his judgment Serpents can bear poison to envenom others which doth not harm themselves but the venom of the malicious shall be his own bane The Viper dropt into the fire which hung upon St. Pauls hand Acts xxviii as if it had taken punishment of it own self Quod nihil ad se attinens corpus attigisset because it light upon a body which it should not have assaulted but Achitophel not so conscionable as this Viper whom it irkt to have toucht the Saint of God broke his own neck for madness because he could not supplant David When Scevola ran his Weapon at King Porsenna but missed his mark the good King intreated him so courteously that he made his enemy to say Ego fortunae non succenseo quòd à bono viro aberraverim I am not angry at Fortune which turn'd away my Sword from so good a man But this Politician in my Text had not the grace to rejoyce and be glad that his Lord and King did escape his pernicious stratagem but ambitious of nothing but to seem wise disposeth his house in a prudent order and hangs himself And because I cannot leave such a miscreant in a better place here ends my treatise of Achitophel of Davids complaint and the first part of this exercise Yea mine c. And as Achitophel left himself hanging between heaven and earth for all men to gaze upon so likewise hath Judas in the second part of the Text. I am now come from the complotting Statesman to the Apostaticall Churchman from him that dealt perfidiously with David to him that was the traitor against Davids Lord The Lord said unto my Lord Psal cx Corruptio optimi est pessima That which is sweetest when it is corrupted is most unsavoury and by how much an Apostle of Christ was an office of more sanctity and faith than a Counsellour of King David by so much the corruption of Judas is more soul than the corruption of Achitophel To be called the Friend of his Creator to be trusted by him who was the wisdom of the Father to eat of the Paschal Lamb with him who was the Lamb of God and yet to be the man that did ensnare his life methinks the Devil did not enter into Judas but Judas was more likely to enter and possess the Devil Of every branch let me speak a little as I did in the former complaint Yea mine own familiar friend Origen was so astonied to see Judas have this honourable compellation that he would make us believe in his 35. Hom. upon St. Matthew that no good man is so called in the Scripture Friend how camest thou hither not having a wedding garment he was bad to him that grudg'd that he received but one peny in the Parable Friend I do thee no wrong take that which is thine own and depart he was stark naught But Origen did not remember that Abraham was called the friend of God or that the Lord talked with Moses as one doth with his Friend or that John Baptist was called the Friend of the Bridegroom for the honour of these Saints be it spoken it is strange that Judas should be stiled his own familiar friend But such reasons as I have pickt up I will briefly lay down before you 1. Judas did bear himself as the friend of Christ like a false dissembler I will instance only in that profane kiss a sign unto those that should lead him bound unto Caiaphas Why did not the Traitor say him whom you shall see chiding and reproving me him that spits upon me and accurseth me no he trusted too much to the lenity and gentleness of his Lord therefore him whom you see me kiss hold him fast St. Chrysostome knows not which he should blame most whether the High Priests for sending their Servants with swords and staves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet muster for Priests to make says the Father I would the High Priest of Italy would mark it or whether Judas that came to betray his Master with a kiss If thou wert not ashamed of the fact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is it possible thou shouldst not be ashamed to give thy accomplices such a token But out of that mouth which had bargained for the wages of iniquity nothing could come from those lips but a sign of mischief O let no false Brother be encouraged that the Son of God did not detest the kiss of an hypocrite Non ut simulare nos doceat sed ne proditionem fugere videatur It was not to embrace a false friend but he would not thrust him back lest he should seem to decline and avoid his Passion Would you not think but as Elisha put life into the Shunamites Child by laying mouth to mouth so Judas much more might have received life by laying his mouth to our Saviours Had it not been probable that since the woman was cured of her bloudy issue by touching the Hem of his Garment much more Judas should be cured of a bloudy heart by this royal favour No beloved they are not the lips that kiss him nor the womb that bare him nor the paps that gave him suck that make any one happy but a heart without guile and love unfained Small comfort it is to Judas that upon this outward sign of courtesie he is called his own familiar friend Secondly Judas doth pass current with this mighty name because Christ did use him as a friend Bad as he was the Spirit of God is not ashamed to call him one of the Twelve Ne tam exiguus numerus esset sine malo says St. Austin that we may see how corrupt the world is since in so small a flock there is a Wolf in sheeps cloathing The time will give me leave to make but one instance of our Saviours good offices unto Judas and that is the washing of his feet Nay Lorinus tells it as a received tradition of the Church that among all the Disciples Judas was
residue the Lord will give victory to his chosen people But as Cyrus in Xenophon speaks of the manner of the Median hunting beasts in Gardens that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hunt beasts that were bound so to follow these turncoat Fugitives which have sheltred themselves in Cloisters and are sworn to do us mischief it were vincta venari to pursue that which was entangled therefore I leave them with Judas and this brand upon both their foreheads concluding the second part of my Text c. I am now descended in the third place to the stratagem of this day and am faln upon the haters of my Lord the King A King who is an uniter of Kingdoms into one body as David was of Judah and Israel none more zealous no not David himself for the prosperity of Jerusalem and the magnificence of the holy Temple Under Christ not only the Supreme Head but under Christ the most careful Watchman of our Churches and as Christ did tenderly affect his Apostles above all other men so the Successors of the Apostles the Reverend and most holy Bishops of our Church have found not the smallest place in the love of our gracious Soveraign Surely above all men if the Clergy be not careful to set forth the honour of this day with great joy and solemnity it is their ignorance or their negligence Ignorance is the very annihilating of a Scholar negligence the foulest fault in a Labourer Had these furious Sword-men that laid their weapons to his throat sound an austere Master nay a Tyrant they must have born with it and not touch the man that bears the character of the Lords Anointed But his Peers are verè parâ—s welcom as his equals his familiar friends Had they been out of the lists of counsel not acquainted with secret affairs what should they do but be thankful for the peace which they enjoy without trouble and pray for that Government which fills them with plenteousness without their labour but they were familiars in whom he trusted adventuring his Royal Person not only under their roof but under their locks and custody Lastly had his bounty no way flown into their Coffers and whose bounty among all the Kings of the earth hath replenished more yet their bodies are secure by the protection of his Laws their souls secure by his maintenance of true Religion their goods secure by his Courts of Justice and yet his own c. Did eat of his bread that is true But to feed upon the Kings hospitality is a curtesie every day common to thousands that visit the Court But for a mighty Monarch to grace his Subjects Table with his Royal Presence and to eat of his bread this is not the felicity of every one Pauci quos aequus amavit Jupiter it is a respect of high honour where it lights and the glory of an illustrious Family And out of doubt that mind must be very sordid and avaricious that esteems it not the more noble grace to make their service find acceptation that they may expend somewhat rather than receive somewhat of a mighty Potentate I can spare no more time to publish the black sin of the Authors of this treachery It was Dionysius his saying to Plato that if he should dismiss him and give him leave to depart for Greece Plato would make him the common talk of Athens Do not think O King says Plato that we have so little care of learned conference that we would chuse you for our discourse So I hope beloved that our hearts are so full charged with thankfulness to God for this days deliverance that in twenty years and more we have no leisure as yet to think of the Malefactors Let this day be spent and many days following only in Prayer and Supplication and Thanksgiving to that God who hath given victory to his Anointed and will do to his Seed for evermore Nay let me add one thing coronidis vice and I have quite done we have found this verse to tax Achitophel to condemn Judas and lastly to lie at their door who perished deservedly this day in their own fury Bonaventure hath yet smelt out another enemy and such a one as none more familiar none more intimate to any of us all Is not this fair warning beloved And will you know who it is O man it is thy self He that prays to God to bless him from his enimies is afraid of malice indeed it is a dreadful thing He that prays to God to bless him from his friends is afraid of treachery and indeed no mischief less avoidable But let me pray to God to bless me from my self no enemie so full of flattery so like to prevail so cunning in tentation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Civil War which wastes the inward parts it is the carnal man against the spiritual Self-love is every mans disease Why You are your own familiar friend Confession of sins can hardly be extorted from us Why We trust to our selves too much Gluttony and Riot are within our Walls Why We feed our selves and are our own carvers From our enemies defend us O Christ from Forain Invasion from Domestical Conspiracy from the malice of Satan and from the corruption of this vile Flesh the body of death which we carry about Good Lord deliver us AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE Fifth of November AMOS ix 2. Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them WE have two sorts of Holy-days and Festivals to call Assemblies together into the Church of God Some in honour of the Saints who are our friends that their Piety may redound to our imitation Some occasioned by the malice of our enemies to sing praises for our preservation both are useful if we advise aright And who knows whether King David was instructed better from Hushai his Friend or from Shemei that reviled him He that would be safe says Plutarch and walk sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must either have true Friends or bitter enemies And as God would have it the Church hath plenty of both sorts Saints of honour in heaven spiteful men to undermine it upon earth darkness beneath to complot treachery light above to reveal it There is both manus fodiens an hand digging into Hell against us and manus educens the eternal hand that fashioned all things on our side to take them out Beloved here are two chief instructions from two main ways to inform our faith blessed is every one that hath duly prepared one heart to receive them Which that we may the better do I pray observe what a lofty Hyperbole the whole verse doth consist of threatning the ungodly that they shall neither have advantage by Heaven nor Hell Though they dig c. They that go about to cast away themselves are not in their way except they wander And that you may know how sinners straggle whithersoever they go mark what several interpretations the words do bear Hugo the
hand justice and vengeance and above head he that walked on the tops of the Mulberry trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God a mechanick and workman of our salvation The first part of the Text the Beast is like a place profaned but excussit he shook it off is like a Sanctuary And as the Rooms of the Temple were one within another and the inmost was the best so I may proceed in the degrees of this preservation Bare deliverance is but Atrium misericordiae the outward Porch of Solomon the Prince of peace but then we go on to the confusion of our enemies to excussit as unto the Altar whereon the beasts were slain but the holy of holies and the very Oracle of mercy is to escape the breaking of a bone with our Saviour not to lose the lap of our Garment with Saul or with our Apostle to feel no harm Upon these three let us divide St. Ambrose his Hymn Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath and meditate with St. Austin Quid non misericorditer à Deo hominibus praestatur a quo etiam tribulatio est beneficium Wherein is not our God a merciful Father if our chastisement be our glory if with St. Paul we shake beasts into the fire and feel no harm I must not separate the bark from the tree the bark is the danger of the Apostle and the first part of my Text and there want not causes to wonder at the strangeness of the enemy For though Adam gave names unto the Creatures and Noah lent them a place of rest to be saved from the waters yet the beasts are at enmity with Paul Alas our Warfare is not honourable but bellum servile Zimri riseth up against his Master We no longer Gods Servants the Creatures no longer ours And what Creature is it but a Serpent Hast thou found me out O mine enemy Yes from the Garden of trees wherin Eve was tempted to a handful of sticks which St. Paul gathered here and every where upon an old quarrel we are sure to find the Serpent an adversary While we live Wisdom is our glory and so the Serpent is wise When we die Resurrection is our glory and you know the Serpent renews his youth When we are buried our Tomb is our glory and even there say Philosophers Serpents are begotten of the marrow of our bones But if any venom be more hateful than other it is the Vipers it was company fit for none in the Roman Laws but murderers of Fathers and Mothers because says Aristotle when the brood is great and the Viper every day brings forth but one at once the latter of the brood eat through the womb of the Dam to be born the sooner Well to suffer these things it was no news to Paul and why should it seem strange to us All his Pilgrimage in this world was either fighting with men at Ephesus after the manner of beasts or with beasts in my Text after the manner of men As Cato being vanquished by Caesar and flying into Africa was troubled with noisom Vermine Pro Caesare pugnant dipsades peragunt civilia bella Cerastae That the Snakes fought out the Civil Wars on Caesars side So the Vipers take part with the Pharisees against St. Paul those Pharisees whom our Saviour called in his Gospel Generations of Vipers Pythagoras compared our life to the combats of the Olympick Games and so did our Apostle both met in the Comparison but not in the Application to the Olympick Games says Pythagoras some men come to wrestle some to make merry with their friends but for his part he was among those who did but gaze upon the Wrestlers O no says St. Paul only God and Angels are the lookers on that do not sweat and fight to win the mastery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Plato in Phaedon which is all one with that of St. Paul Nos spectaculum facti sumus we are all combatants and made a spectacle for the eyes of heaven As Pelopidas said in Plutarch Tantum duces in bello laudantur qui sunt sinc cicatrice non milites A scar was a comly sight in an ordinary Souldier but not in a General So it agrees well with the blessed souls to be in peace but for us to be in warfare And happy are they thrice happy who make the bitterness of this life but a gaine of Wrestling and though a severe sport yet but a sport and recreation A most reverend Bishop of our own Church the first who saw some reformation of Religion altered the ancient Arms of his Family from three Cranes to three Pelicans his righteous soul divining before his Martyrdom that he should feed the Church with his bloud as a loving Pelican and so contentedly he died making his Coat of honour an Emblem of persecution If we will be any thing if we will be born at all it must be in tears and to be honestly born is to be a Son and not a bastard that is to be chastened and not neglected And to be nobly born is to give Arms such as Constantine and Theodosius did in their Military Ensigns the mourning Cross of Christ Quis enarrabit generationem Will you know how a Christian is begotten St. Matthew makes a Pedigree and fourteen Generations reach to King David David is zeal and devotion The next fourteen Generations reach to Captivity and the waters of Babilon and after Captivity the next fourteen Generations reach to Christ our Lord. It was a dastard mind not befitting Augustus of all things else to desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might steal out of the world and not feel the least gripe of a disease it did rather become the beastly Epicurus who when he felt his sickness desperate drowned his stomach with immoderate Wine and so knew not what it was to dye but went drunk to Hell If we Christians were only anointed with oyl Oleo laetitiae supra socios with the oyl of gladness above our fellows Satan might speak home to our shame Doth Job serve God for nought But we are first anointed with the Baptism of water unto the death of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Nazianzen We are dipt like Iron into the water that our edge may be setled against all injuries And we are ready to be anointed with bloud every day is the eighth day with us to be wounded and circumcised Nay if it be our destiny to be anointed with Pitch and Tar In morem nocturni luminis to waste away like a Taper welcom glory Or if it be our danger to be lick'd with the poysonous tongue of the Viper Son of man says Ezekiel be not afraid though thorns and briers be with thee nay though thou live among Scorpions For who would not venture with such a Charm as this is against any Serpent Excussit ho shook off the beast into the fire it is the second part of my Text and St. Pauls deliverance The Apostle indeed did shake his
Sacrilegious It is unadvised Martinism and nothing else that frowns against the sumptuousness of the Church Build up an Ark a Gods name out of the spoils of Egypt we are not warned to destroy with Achan O let him perish alone in his iniquity This shall serve to be spoken for the first part of my Text the iniquity which betrayed Achan unto the vengeance of God which iniquity consisted of scandal against all the Host of Israel disobedience against Joshuah covetousness against his own foul the subject of the punishment follows And first if we dare look upon our own death and are not afraid to see our own bloud spilt homo periit I must tell you man perished in iniquity Do you call to mind what Mordecai said to Esther Think not that thou shalt escape in the Kings house there is no sanctuary in earth but that all must die or all men must be changed says St. Paul For as it was written upon Hectors Tomb Non Hector illic Troja sed tumulo jacet so we may endite upon the Grave of Adam homo periit here lies Man and his Posterity Surely if the Jews returning from Captivity could not chuse but shed tears to see the building of the Second Temple having remembred the glory of the First So who can look upon mankind in the state of misery without pity and compassion that can remember him in the days of peace and innocency Should we consider what variety and new delights Adam and Eve had before them to meditate upon the beauty of their own original righteousness the Tree of the Garden wherein all the beasts of the Forrest do move Heaven and Earth spick and span new to look upon and we may say as Epaminondas did concerning a worthy Captain that died in the Camp at Leuctra Quomodo vacavit huic in tantis negotiis mori How could this man spare any leisure to sin and die A strange misfortune Adam was set to dress the Garden of Eden and proved the first weed thereof in his own person wherefore Joseph of Arimathea built his Tomb like a birds nest in his Garden in remembrance that a trespass committed in a Garden was the first occasion of Tombs and Epitaphs and is it not usual to this day to cast up our Graves after the similitude of beds in Gardens In the state of innocency our meditation should have been only concerning the immortality of the Soul and Body but now we are constrained to study this Lesson as much as any for our healths sake homo periit how Man comes to die and read learned Lectures upon our own Carkases and Anatomies And it is not in vain that we place the heavy remembrance of an Anatomy before our Almanacks as if we were to prefix that Memorandum for a Diary before every day of the year homo periit that our flesh is come unto corruption and that our days are consumed in vanity Yet the fear of common calamity is most often forgot in every mans private security To tell you that man is come to destruction it is but a name and a sound and a second notion and seems to be nothing to us in particular We sit in our glory among Gods threatnings like King Solomon in his Throne among dead Lions which could not bite us But point out at Achan or Saul or any sinner set apart for the view of the World and it will work upon us Mark it if it be not true for who ever put on sackcloth or cast ashes upon his head for St. Peters Prophecy that all the World and the works thereof should be burnt with fire and the Elements melt away with heat But if Jonas denounce fire against one City and say Nineveh shall be destroyed then Nineveh will prevent those ashes which her Enemies would bring upon her and fulfil Jonah's Prophesy in the ashes of repentance O come not to view Gods Judgments as vain people do to the execution of some Malefactor that know who it is must suffer and that they shall stand by and fare no worse but to behold it but look upon Gods threatnings as upon some curious Picture which in thy fancy seems to look upon thee only and have such a touch of conscience at iste periit that man perished as King Belshazzar had in his Feast of wine when Gods hand wrote upon the Wall he perswaded himself that index digitus the finger pointed at no other but himself alone Now let us go one step lower to Pilates Ecce homo behold the man Behold Achan the Son of Zerah that man perished not alone in his iniquity Achan that had out-lived the corruption of his young years and was grown in age able to go to warfare to have many Children to know how to steal from God and dissemble with Joshua doth his hoary head go down with peace into the Grave King David reprieved Shemei his bitter Enemy unto the Reign of King Solomon Solomon reprieved him till his fault was almost out of mind Quem saepe casus transit aliquando invenit did his head go down with peace into the Grave Like the Web of Penelope all that hath been wrought in the year may be ravelled out in a night Crescant says God to the Tares Matt. xiii nay let them grow and sprout up and then cut them down and cast them dry into the fire Secondly He that was spared among all the dangers of the Wilderness is consumed in the City He that could escape the Pilgrimage of fourty years is doom'd to die in Canaan He that was not devoured in the fire of Taberah is burnt in the Valley of Achor As Aristotle speaks of Homers Poetry when he set up Walls for Troy in one Book and pluckt them down in another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 murum Peoeta quem finxit delevit So God can deal with us set us up or pluck us down but we are less than Walls They that walk in the night preserve the flame of their Torch or Candle from winds and Casualties abroad which notwithstanding they put out when they return to their home So Achan that walked over the Sea when the Bridg was under water and liv'd among Scorpions and was not consumed in the Sedition of Dathan nor slain in the Battels of Moab yet in portu naufragium the Vessel is not cast away in the Ocean Sea but in the Haven and his light is put out at home in the long expected Canaan Thus Judgment follows Judgment as Antigonus said when he spoiled Asia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alexander cut down the rich ears of Corn and he pluckt up the Stubble after him so the Armies of rebellious Sinners had been mown down in the Wilderness Achan and some few more were pluckt up like Stubble when Judgment seemed to pass them over Note this thirdly in Achans person mischief did light upon him not in the hunger and thirst of the Wilderness not in his poverty but having compiled much riches
gave you Sons and Daughters you give Obsides Domino Hostages unto God and if you rebel as Nathan said to David because thou hast made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child that is born unto thee shall surely die The Fathers sins are visited unto the third and fourth Generation while the Grandsire full of fourscore years of sin stays awhile behind like the rotten root of evil and sees the tender branches cut away because the root was bad and corrupted Thus is the brief sum of the second part of my Text man perished in iniquity Corporeorum incorporeorum horison says Synesius the noble Image of God Secondly That man Achan a branch of the Olive tree even Israel which God had planted But an evil branch is evil though the stock were a Cedar of Libanus Non debent gloriari sarmenta quia non sunt spinarum ligna sed vitis says St. Austin Is it any glory for the dead branches to boast they were Vine branches and not Heythorn since they are cut off and cast away Lastly Non solus periit he fell down like the Tower of Siloam and brain'd all that were about him I have but one short part to dispatch Periit his execution how that man Perished c. To search much into Achans punishment were not the way to be more learned but more tormented And he that is Ingeniosus in suppliciis exquisite in describing the ruine of any man his invention smells of tyranny Briefly thus Every man in the rank of a Subject lives under the authority of three Commanders 1. Under the Conscience of his own heart 2. Under the Laws of his King 3. Under the Commandments of God Triplici nodo triplex cuneus every knot hath a wedge to drive into it And if we displease either God or the King or our own Conscience vengeance meets us on every side Conscientia parit vermem Magistratus mortem Deus Gehennam Conscience hath a worm in store nay a Cockatrice to sting us the Magistrate bears a Sword to divide us but especially it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God In an evil conscience we die unto all joy and comfort In our trespass against the Laws of man we die unto men In breaking the Statutes of God we die unto heaven surely he deserved not to die but one death that offended three All sin is mortal yet among sins some are still-born and make no noise in the world Some are crying sins that have a voice and a voice like the Edomites that cryed against Jerusalem Down with it down with it unto the ground Like the Jews that cried Crucifie him crucifie him and doubled the files of their iniquities Like the men of Ephesus that for two hours space made a noise Great is Diana of the Ephesians When sinners do double thus God finds out more deaths than one to punish them as if judgment had ransack'd the body to find two or three souls and would not leave to destroy all the brood of the Viper Abimelech a cruel murtherer of seventy brethren was crush'd under a Mill-stone and slain with his own Servants Sword it is pity he died not seventy times It was Sauls destiny first to die by the Arrows of the Bow and then to fall upon his own Sword It was Absolons destiny to be hang'd by the head in the Oak tree and be thrust through the heart with the Darts of Joab It was Judas his destiny to cast himself from the Gallows and to be broken in pieces upon the ground And lastly it was Achans destiny to be stoned with stones and then burnt with fire Thus that man perished c. It is very likely if this notorious rich sinner had lived his Tomb should have been as costly to lie over his dead corps as his Babylonish Garment was sumptuous to cover his living body But now there is not so much honour left him for his burial as earth to earth all is turned to ashes that the winds may blow him back again out of Canaan into Egypt from whence he brougt his iniquity A fair Tomb I confess cannot prove that I died a good man but that I died a wealthy Yet some honour is to be shewed to our dead corps because a dead body is nearer to the Resurrection than a living The Egyptians embalming the dead and the Odours and Spices which the Jews were wont to bestow do condemn those uncivil Funerals which some report of Geneva and Amsterdam that bury their dead in ditches and dunghils It makes Jesuits scoff at our Religion Scis ut haeretici colant parentes sulcant coemiteria sic colunt parentes Michael the Archangel fought about the body of Moses and Prudentius played the Poet very well touching Eulalia a Virgin Martyrs body cast abroad in a frosty night to the injury of the air and before morning it was overspread with icycles like a crystal Tomb. Pallioli vice linteoli ipsa elementa jubente Deo exequias Tibi virgo ferunt And certainly there was some such thing or St. Austin would not report it that divers Miracles as healing the sick and converting unbelievers have been wrought by Gods providence at the Tombs of the Martyrs to honour their death and memory But Achan was denied this happiness and though he had two deaths yet he had not one Tomb to be buried in Only an heap of stones were cast upon him for an infamy that as Varro said Monumentum quasi monimentum a Monument for admonition that we fear God and rebel not like Achan that perished fearfully c. The Papists will not leave Achan thus and remove him from Joshuahs hands and the Valley of Achor where he suffered into Purgatory But by what proof or warrant or Enditement Expect an Exposition fit for the nimble brains of the Colledge of Jesuits Achan was stoned with stones and then he died Afterward he and all he had were burnt with fire viz. Opera ejus accensa sunt in Purgatorio he and his works were burnt in Purgatory A likely matter since Joshuah was commanded to burn him and not the Devil Do you think Columbus that found out the fourth part of the world could have found out this third place to receive souls in which is neither Heaven nor Hell The Devil is much beholding to his Advocates that have made him not only Prince of darkness but that which God never made him Prince of Purgatory Some perchance will go a thought further and pronounce a fearful sentence that this man was wiped for ever out of the book of the living That is periit at the height the Lord bless us from it But St. Chrysostom was more mild and charitable As the digging of the earth says the Father and the plowing of it may seem but churlish usage yet that is the way to make it fruitful Ita magis erat Achani salutare supplicium quam aliis impunitas So Achan might go sooner to
Dives Table Moses did fast upon Mount Sinai when he talked with God but in the Valley beneath the people sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play Elias did not drink for forty days at length he did pray for rain and had drink from heaven But Luxury corrupts the Air and breeds sterility Tot curiis decuriis ructantibus acescit coelum says Tertullian by an excellent Hyperbole Daniel by his slender food of pulse and water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Basil taught the Lions to hunger and want their prey all night when he was cast into their Den. Therefore foul shame it was for the Pharisees says the same Father to look sowerly and sickly when they wanted their repast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why did they not rejoyce rather for the healthfulness of their soul Wherefore when thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face says our Saviour You would think by this that a Fast were the celebration of some Bridal He was no Benefactor in Greece that did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mend their diet No Emperour for the people of Rome that did not enter into his Kingdom with a Congiary or Banquet But the Saints of God will not let us know when or what day they went to heaven without a Fast before it Let not this Doctrine give occasion to the Wealthy of this Kingdom to lessen their Magnificence and pinch their Table Charitable house-keeping hath been always the honour of this Realm and a blessing destined for the poor But whatsoever your eye beholds when you set before you plenteous provision will you think as the Epicure of Rome did that the Table is furnished for your own throat and boast that Lucullus sups with Lucullus No Beloved look upon it as the Father of a Family whose eyes wait upon your benevolence look upon it as the Steward of the poor whose mouths shall bless God that hath enlarged your heart to do good unto them And be not like the larded Epicure that eateth like Behemoth Job xl 16 whose force is in the navel of his belly What unfitness is in such a corps for speculation of knowledge What dulness to Prayer and Devotion Had we not need of a long Lent between our Shroving and our Easter And besides the sin of the gurmundizing Glutton I must not spare to tell you that there is luxuria in modico a riotous diet which longs after nothing but dainties and delicates As to be wanton stomacht after Mandrakes with Rachel to long after the fruits of Pontus and Asia with Lucullus To affect strange Cookery of France and Italy Why should you make more of your corruptible bodies than our Saviour did of his glorified body Ecquid habetis filioli Children have you any thing to eat Do but observe the prohibition of meats in the old Law neither herbs nor roots nor any homely food were forbidden but the curiosity of some delicious flesh was denied to the children of Israel They had their Quails indeed in the Wilderness when they lusted and they that fasted three days in the Desart with our Saviour had nothing but two fishes and five barly loaves among two thousand Chuse you with whether of these you would make your Table They with the Quails had the curse of God and these had the blessing of our Saviour It is a mystery methinks that Father Jacob sent away his Honey and Spices Nuts and Almonds for a Present unto Joseph to buy him coarser food I mean the Corn of Egypt Nos oleris coma nos siliqua foeta legumine paverit innocuis Epulis says the sweet Prudentius In Ethnick Rome a Senator was charged to keep so mean a Table by the Law called Centussis that a Mess of Friers now adays would rise an hungry from it Ignorance it is wilful ignorance that hath made the world so riotous both in Gluttony and Drunkenness because forsooth these are such sins as are not forbidden in the Ten Commandments Not to trouble you with many conjectures why God did so I will give you this answer for your utmost satisfaction Nothing is forbidden in the Ten Commandments Nisi directè deordinet hominem ad Deum aut ad proximum says Hales except it be a transgression directly against God or our Neighbour Gluttony and drunkenness are principally inordinate passions not against God and our Neighbour but against our own body But doth this diminish the guilt of these sins No Beloved but rather they do many ways dispose a man to disorder himself both to God and his Neighbour God is often blasphemed bloud spilt lust provoked the Lords day violated the Magistrate disobeyed and next to the pronity of original sin intemperance of meats and drinks is the fuel of all sins Wherefore be a Rechabite or the next to a Rechabite in surfeit and immoderation to drink no Wine There is but one thing remains to dispatch our exercise for this time I have made a large discourse how Fasting and Temperance are the third Encomium or praise of the Rechabites Indeed David doth wish it above all curses to the enemies of the Lord that their Table may be made a snare But for mensa laqueus that a prodigal Table is a snare to a good conscience it is no strange thing What say you to inedia laqueus To fast and subdue the body is made a greater snare as the Devil hath contrived it among our Romish Adversaries I knew the Devil could tempt an innocent to offend with eating but would you think he could take advantage upon an empty stomach Would you think that Lent and a few Ember Weeks should be called Lutrum peccatorum A satisfaction for sin To cross this error that it was not abstinence from meats and drinks simply taken which did commend us unto God therefore as we lost the knowledge of God by Gluttony and eating Gen. iii. So the Second Adam was known to his Disciples and Cleophas thrice after his Resurrection as they were at meat to shew that the Table of sobriety was sanctified in the Lord. Wherefore let the boast of the proud Pharisee I fast twice a week be made a Collect in the Roman Prayer-book We are tied to say grace unto God when we receive our meat but these men expect most impiously that God should say grace and give them thanks for fasting especially if it were a Vow as this was of the Rechabites Nunquam bibemus for ever we will drink no wine It is a blessed conspiracy when sundry souls confederate themselves together to serve the Lord. Glad was Davids heart to have company to go to the Altar I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord. Indeed the Spouse of Christ is not one stick of Juniper or a single lump of Frankincense though never so sweet but Fasciculus Myrrhae a bundle of Myrrh Cant. i. Faith in unity it is the glory of Christianity I know not
non in domo sed in viâ nascitur Our Saviour himself was born but in an Inn as if he took up his lodging for a night in this world and were but a Passenger They that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine aris focisque without an hearth to kindle a fire says Aristotle of all men they were the most poor and wretched That is no good Divinity says St. Austin writing concerning the tears of Judah by the waters of Babylon Mirum hoc esset si aliquò duci poterant ubi Deus eorum non esset If they that were hurried into Babylon could be carried away where God was not with them then and not till then their translation were a misery But as the Israelites removed from one journey to another according as the Pillar of smoke did remove by day and the Pillar of fire by night so I tell you of such men in my Text that turned their station every where as Gods Glory and his Worship did direct them Whether it be affliction or whether it be fear to give offence when we are in a strange Land sure I am somewhat is in it that makes such men most careful of their Religious Conversation Deborah found the Kenites those sojourners most ready to pursue that Tyrant Sisera Jehu could find no man to cleave unto him against the Idolatry of Baal but even this Jonadab the Founder of this order of the Rechabites who renounce all Mansion dwelling and vow for ever to live in Tents And as Abigail said to David Let thine Handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord the King So Jonadab puts his Children in a way to think themselves not worthy of Cities and Possessions among the Royal Nation whom God had chosen but Shepherds they must be and underlings to tend the Flocks of the Servants of the Lord. Foelix illud saeculum fuit ante architectonas says one Fair buildings and curious houses had they been unreared the Kitchins had not been plied so much to provide Banqueting and Luxury It was a scoff cast upon the Rhodians that they built as if they would live three Ages and they fed as if they would die in three days As if their fair Palaces moved them to make Feasts and their Feasts were occasions to make them surfeit and to sleep out their days in a Lethargy You shall not wag your heads another day at these mens Tenements and cry woe unto the houses that were built by Extortion The stone out of the Wall and the Beam of the Roof cannot condemn the Master You shall not censure them as Seneca did his own Country-men the Romans Vnicuique suum si restituerent ad casas reducerentur If every Nation whom they have robb'd and spoiled had their own they would have nothing left them but that which they began with their Shepherds Cottages And when you have erected such a place that you may set your name upon it says the Psalmist yet what have you done but pay'd Tribute where ye needed not says Plutarch Quare homines in auratis lectis dormiant c. Why should men put themselves to such cost to pay for their sleep when if they will chuse the open fields with Vriah or chuse a Tent with the Rechabites it will cost them little or nothing Nay some are so curious that they will not only have their houses for their lives but set up Tombs for their dead Carkasses before they die Nay they dare endite Hic jacet upon their Monument when they are yet alive when God knows whether their dust shall be scattered into all the quarters of the earth This that hath been spoken may serve to let you know how plausible it did seem to Jonadab to institute such a Vow because his Brethren were strangers in the Land of Jury And secondly it was well considered because their fortune might turn worse and worse they might be greater strangers For who is he that had not heard the threatning of the Babylonish Captivity Nay There are Psalms of Thanksgiving for their joyful return in the Prophet David Did not Solomons heart misgive him in this matter Observe but one passage in his heavenly Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings ix 46. If they carry us away captive into the Land of the enemies far or near and thy people repent then hear our supplication in heaven and maintain our cause The time drew so near that Jeremy and many Prophets spoke of it as if the Calamity were already begun in the borders of the Country Now when Captivity did ring in their ears who would only live as if one day would be every day and never provide for the Evening sorrow which might fall upon them Who would not exercise his mind to know what it was to lose Who would not cast away his burden against the flight of persecution So did the Rechabites For when the Chaldaeans should sweep away the people as an Ox licketh the grass they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Wain could carry them their Tent and their Family Tectumque laremque armaque it was but a progress to pass over Euphrates but great was the sorrow of all the Tribes leaving their Houses and Vineyards it made Jeremy endite a book of Lamentation Noah left all he had unto the world seven days before the Floud began and what got they who thought him foolish and themselves happy to divide the spoils Lot forsook his house and the Sodomites did not enjoy it an hour who succeeded him A good Christian is indifferent to be cast into any mould by the hand of God He that is prepared to die but one kind of death is not yet fit to be a Martyr And he that is prepared to live but one kind of life is not yet fit to be a Confessor for the name of Christ A good Actor says Synesius can represent either Creon or Telephus and all is one in his skil to play the Prince or the Bondslave Hence ariseth all the misery of mankind says Athenagoras in Plutarch Quod quippiam nobis inexpectato accidit That something befals us which we did not expect nor were provided for it Foolish men who love nothing but their present life are like bad roots that grow sullen if you remove them from the earth that feeds them There is no life to Shemei if he may not run at random and rail and backbite in every corner As good it were to hang him out of the way as to confine him to one City though it were Jerusalem Such as can look no further into the world than that they may retire to their own home if need be are comprized under the Emblem of the Snail that goes a very little space from her Shell with this word Si pluit ingrediar a dash of rain drives them back again Your constant setled man is made for every fortune that is cast upon him his Emblem is Corpus quadratum