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A50081 Microcosmography, or, Speculum mundi being a glasse for worldlings, a sermon preached at the funeral of the right worshipfull Spencer Lucy, Esq. at Charlecote, August 11, 1649 / by Christopher Massey. Massey, Christopher, b. 1618? 1650 (1650) Wing M1030; ESTC R28813 17,093 29

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Microcosmography OR SPECVLVM MVNDI BEING A GLASSE FOR WORLDLINGS A SERMON Preached at the funerall of the Right Worshipfull SPENCER LUCY Esq at Charlecote August 11. 1649. By Christopher Massey Master of Arts of Gonv. and Caius Colledge Cambridge LONDON Printed by RICHARD COTES Anno Dom. 1650. To the Right Worshipfull Robert Lucy Esq my most honoured PATRON I Am very sensible of the unfledgednesse of this Lapwing that runnes about so confidently Bee pleased therefore instead of its shell to let it have the shadow of such a wing the glory of such a name as yours is affixt to it but let it goe as a Decoy to bring in souls For truly some have been pleased to esteeme these pieces of Glasse which I broke at your Royall seat Charlcote at an higher rate than to bee onely throwne out to choake Hens or patcht together only to catch Larks But whether it be custome or the importunitie of some that heard it that hath got it from me it wil now undeceive those that heard it not T is a Sea but so calme and cleare that he that can stoope with the Country wench to see his foul face in fair water may find in himselfe both what to wash off and what with Narcissus to fall in Love withall Sir I am weary of catching shadowes and embracing clouds and will now entirely devote my self to prayer for you and your noble familie that that great God whose Throne is indeed a Mercie-seat to all that sincerely addresse themselves to it in the name of the Mediator wil preserve to you your inheritance in Canaan and Heaven and so I humbly subscribe to be ever Your obliged Servant and faithfull Chaplaine Christopher Massey Microcosmography OR SPECVLVMMVNDI Being a Glasse for Wordlings A SERMON preached at the Funerall of the Right Worshipfull SPENCER LUCY Esq REV. 4.6 Before the throne was a sea of Glasse like Crystall IF I did intend to word it only as the use is now a dayes the use and principall even in Doctrines and Uses I might easily stile the seven Bishops and Churches in the three precedent Chapters St Iohns Reformed Churches his Heptarchy his Patriarchy this the rather for though in his two latter Epistles he is an Elder yet in his first a father and lest hee should bee mistaken for a Lay-Elder in this Apocalyps a Divine So like his embleme the soaring Eagle though perhaps not so clearly from ver 7. he not only gazes on the worlds light himselfe but beares his Eaglets on his wings to teach them with undazeled eye to fixe on Alpha and Omega an ever rising never setting sun But now in this fourth Chapter he begins to discover in aenigmaticall Idea's of Gods decrees the future militant Churches mournings to the worlds end Vers 2 3. A throne not empty but the Jasper Sardine Emerald stone the Eternall Trinity on it vers 4. Four and twenty Elders enthron'd i. e. the triumphant Church Jewish Gentile in their lawfull Representative twice twelve Founders Patriarchs Apostles vers 5. God writes contra gentes lightnings thundrings c. black lines vers 6. A sea i. e. the world in which his militant Church is tost that I say not shipwrackt Rejoice yee faithfull for though vers 6. your pressures great yet ver 3. the great God is your judge and your avenger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you are before his throne I intended no other division for my discourse before this honourable presence but that of soul and body but the Scripture is so brief in this matter speaking but one word or two of the greatest persons Funerall that I am forced to present you with these particulars 1. A show a spectacle the world 2. A Spectator God both their actings under three severall disguises The world 1. A sea tumultuous Yet 2. 't is glasse quickly broken Yet 3. like crystall shining clear But again although 1. Like crystall bright Yet 2. 't is glasse brittle 3. A Sea brinish God as on a throne intimating in respect of himself 1. His judgment 2. Majesty 3. Eternall rest In respect of the world 1. His power 2. Presence 3. Essence See the pretty knack the thing they call the world 'T is 1. a sea Why do we immerse our selves in it Air is mans element 2. Glasse Why build on it Earth is mans pavement 3. Crystall its congealed Atoms yeeld nothing but coldnesses hardnesses Fire love is a Christians element Else See 1. the power of God in judgement to condemne thee Or 2. the Majesty of his presence to shame thee Or 3. the eternall rest and happinesse of his essence to allure thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that goe down to the sea in ships Psal 107.23 they behold the great Gods works and wonders we are shipt for an houre and though it be dangerous travelling at sea yet the right spirit of our righteous Saviour with his gentle breathings his effectuall gales will harbour us in quiet for lambs may wade here where elephants drown'd The comfort is ver 1. the doore which the lambs well know is open Sweet Jesu we know no doore but thee How shall mans beetle-cy'd body nay eaglecy'd soule pierce into heaven but through thee Lord open before it be too late for fooles to enter First the world is the sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Ribera Bullinger Pererius Paraeus here so Scripture the best Expositor Mat. 13.47 Christs Kingdome is like a net cast into the sea where the Ship is the Church the Sea the World the Net the Word the Fishermen Ministers Fish the Men of the world 'T was good fishing when mutus ut piscis was in date our fish will catch the fishermen So the Church of England the Catholicke Churches best Expositor in her forme of Baptisme may so passe the waves of this troublesome world And he that rests not in her judgement sink or swim at his own perill bee it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world 's a sea and then needs must it bee dangerous where the Prince of the Air throwes downe his blustring stormes those shortned dayes Mat. 24.22 will ere long leave him to his eternall night where sinne in stead of sand to ballast us is quicksands to bury us Honour bubbles Passion froth Company waves crowding on one another Misery the ebbe Successes the tide a stream however Trowts beare up against it against which no striving Our teares as soone as borne prognosticate its brinishnesse Our life being teares for misery at the best for sin 'T is a sea see this 1. in its rage Psalm 93. 98. the flouds have voices and hands so like the wicked world cry down with it and put forth sacrilegious hands to pull in the poore ship the Church or under pretence of having it to the dock pare it and patch it till it have as little of the ancient ship in it as that of the Athenians Christiani tollantur has been the voague of all ages decimentur let them bee
Hony-falls on the Dead Sea as little fruit as notice of them The beams of his Spirit fall as on a Sea of glasse rebounded in his face and like glasse only ductile in the fire the Lord can do no good on this world till he bring it into the fire The water that he manifested his anger in to the old world or the water that he shows his mercy in to the present Baptism or the Baptism of tears no good Nay not culinary ordinary fires he must drop downe the Element or Mat. 24.27 come like lightning so swift so sodain so consuming yet though never so hard it is but b●●tle 'T is a sad truth what many melancholly people have fancyed that we are glasse not that Christian Religion is only a fit of fancy or melancholy O there are such transcendent enjoyings in God such joyings in the exercise of the habits of grace and vertue beyond the dreamed musick of Aristotles eleaven morall Crystall spheares which make the proudest calmest smiles this world affords madnesse but because this great treasure this soul presevre is in gallipots or course green glasses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4.7 earthen shells Alas that wee so admire the shell that we feed not on the meat Alas that weso gaze on the glasse that we regard not the face that it represents Alas that with the filly Indians we so are taken up with this glasse that the Merchant Rev. 3.18 that sells gold grace has no custome though the price of his gold be only to take it while he offers it and put it to use This Sea is a false glasse like those false glasses that are contrived so as to represent all faces much unlike the naturall Such was that mirrour of Smyrna which show'd such mutability in the face that a fair one might show ugly and an uggly one fair Think now what a poor portion thou leavest thy child though never so fair an estate a cupboard of glasses a shelfe of gallipots All worldly estates and conditions are glassie How glassie that Sea of Rome that once was marble How brittle Jacobs stone though it will prove marble Glassie even the keys of our Church though one should have esteemed them more durable then Iron Glassie our Bishop Seas though pure Venice break ere hold poyson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh then let us go down to the Glassemans house as Ier. 18. you shall not only see mans spirit imprisoned in a glasse but sayes St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 3. ult if you will see God in this dark time of our earthly pilgrimage you must see him in a glasse not that you should beleeve the eternall Spirit is imprisoned in a glasse too as some black Artists or rather cheating Hocuspocusses seem to promise you but twice he calls you to see him in a glasse that you might not only as men see him in the creature but as Christian men in the Word as for his creatures the more clear they are the more lively they represent him yet see again the more clear they are the more glassie and brittle they are so that as it is no wonder to see man the nobler piece of Gods creature broken much lesse need we strange to see the noblest of men make such hast to their unripe fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet stay the world 's not the worse for being so glassie if so slippery so brittle 't will teach us not to stand on it not to rely on it Nor is the little world the worse Oh it will make us very carefull that we do not fall into sin with preparation into the grave unprepared Nay nay ever since I knew Psal 51. that Gods Gospel-Sacrifice was a broken heart I can't think but that we are the better for being so easily broken Rome only can show the man however Tiberius is reported to have put him to death that makes glasse flexile or an heart that is only attrite by the turn of a key contrite Lord give us breaking hearts Which though 1. in their nature they be not feysable with good though 2. in their effects they be dangerous not being well broken Yet 3. by the power of thy Word and Spirit they may become malleable and consequently an acceptable reasonable sacrifice to thee Thirdly this Sea is like Crystall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where if I may beg leave to speak with the Vulgar as the use is with those that interpret Gen. 1.16 and such like places of Scripture I shall not need to quearee after its lapidificall principle but say with Scaliger 't is a white pellucid stone concreted of ice or with the Etymologer t is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 water hardned by extream cold And so here again discovers 1. The worlds and worldings temper cold and congealed by nature and so buryed in earth that heaven can't thaw it Pharaohs temper a crystallized heart The furnace that melts glasse findes this a Salamander Yea 2. Appears white clear and clean you shall see his inside so clear his outside so clean that you will find it a very hard province to write slut in a Pharisees cup very hard by the eye to discern his sowre leaven from the Saints lump but you may easily smell him out for Matth. 23.27 they are but whited Sepulchers And 3. There 's the mischief on 't they are transparent to Gods eyes thence their stincking rottennesse within though they can gull and cheat mans eyes yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are pellucid as clear as Crystall to the all searching eyes of the great God Oh then 1. Do not brag thy Crystall-eyes but Leahs eyes tender still dropping still running with crystall tears Brag not the ranting the crystallized heart no crosse no losse mollifie it no Balm no anointings of Gods Spirit supple it Consider this ye that have forgotten God Psal 50.22 Alas remember God is a Lyon as well as a Lambe lest hee tear you to pieces and all your forces can't deliver you if he can't hew his passage through your mountains with intreating tears he will do it with vinegar Pray that he will change this stone-heart for a flesh-heart Ezek. 36.26 that he would send forth his crystall as the Lxx. read Psal 147.17 like morsels all in pieces 2. Boast not thy clearness of knowledge such a light as Lucians men in the Moon have and a thing they call the Spirit which they ever hold forth as the only Gorgon to stun reason withall Alas how dim sighted how dark in this world we are glad the quickest to use spectacles 1 Cor. 13.12 and then see but riddles too even then when thou com'st face to face thou 'lt hide thine eyes with the highest Seraphims Esa 6.2 and for all that so much talkt of glasse of the creatures or matutine knowledge of Angels thou wilt finde thy selfe unable to fashion Gods depths to comprehend an incomprehensible essence God as in himself though thou dost certainly find inconceivable
〈◊〉 devotion should be dryed up or not grow he used to water it with clouds of tears surely of tears from Heaven and now how is it possible for malice not to give way for me to speak what was said of once-wicked St. Augustine A son of so many tears can't perish Yet because our love to man is the Index of our love to God oft oft did he beg of the Lord that he might live to do that good which either he had hitherto omitted or his estate not permitted Weep Charlcote weep you sister towns weep Hampton thy annuall commings in must have gone only to make thy poors goings out and comings in to bless the Lord for him Weepe Highcleere thy barren hill knows what it is to have him to water thee How oft did he send secretly to enquire what poore were at his gates And then how oft send meat and money secretly whereby the hungry soule might be satisfied And now Elias-like he cries take away my'life yet flies the Iezebel that would have taken it because he would not that death should take it till the Lord that gave it was willing to receive it insomuch that when he went to Bath he said plainly he went to Bath to dye so he bathes himself in those minerall waters and dyes So having bathed himselfe in the bloud of Christ he lives and to say all Had not the malignancy of conjunctions above and divisions below had not the goodness of God and the wickedness of man in all this stage been predominant that lending his clock wheels and this weights his dayes had not been so short his houre so soon This is the grassiness this the glassiness of all humane things On this ground it was that Ptolomee raised that glassie tombe to Great Alexander yet me thinks I may complain with St. August Sivitrei essemus c. If we were glass we should not be so easily broken A glass may be kept from breaking some hundreds ●ears but at threescore and ten begins mans fall Alas he has made a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and must dy he has a dying principle within him a spark of naturall heat which being outed we are but ashes Oh when we only dress our selves by our own glass and not by the Gospel Iam. 1.23 25. consider only how green how spacious our Sea is and not how deep how dangerous how shining our Crystall and not how transparent how hard our glass is and not how brittle our Sun knows no Eclipse no set But when in the free Law of Christ we take our dimensions our Sea is Glass our Glass is ashes our Crystall is Ice In earth we are dust in the Water a buble in the Air a vapour in the Fire smoak in the Light a shadow Well since we are no better but a shadow Psal 102.11 Oh then follow you the gre at Sun of Heaven the truth for though all men are said to be lyars yet men of high degree Psal 62.9 are in the Abstract a lye And such a viall of bloud such a weak glass of nature is this which it hath pleased God should at last come thus broken home Most honoured Sir pardon me and give me leave to speak one word to you you succenturiate him I see many mourners followers of this Herse with tears that are not here 1. Poor hungry bowells they are the Lord treasury cast in thither your mites at least your superfluities they are Christian Sacrifices He that slights Bullocks and Rams accepts a peece of bread he that slights rivers of Oil disdains not a cup of cold water 2. Orphans widows those hope to have you a Father to them these an husband they are the test of your Religion Iam. 1. ult despise not the sighings of these poor destitute and helpless that sit alone on the house tops 3. Vertues divine morall all mourners as the times go and beg some countenance from you and from this honorable presence So he that can raise bodies will raise your Estate he that can curse and ravell and crumble an estate will bless will increase yours And then here needs no tears to embalm this Corps no sheet to shrowd him we shall all wind him up in a white clean memory and for his humane frailties let this black coffin and that dark vault lock them up for ever Nay then weep not Charlcote let not Charlcote bee made an Hadadrimmon Weep not his countrey he hath added to it a loyall name Let it bewail her Absalons that dy in Paricide c. when she shall see those tame ridden mules leave them dangling like those harpes Psal 137.2 in the trees it need not lament her innocent dead children But I have been too long I fear conversing in this lower world let us now addresse our selves to the upper Mereifull Lord we now come to dip our buckets in thee the only boundless only bottomless Ocean of Mercy Oh let every one according to the severall measure and capacity of the vessels wee bring draw life grace glory out of thee Though in Adam thou hast made us all mortall yet in Christ through the death of Christ hast revived us and when thou drankest that cup of trembling for us didst swallow down death and all and brokest open the prison gates of the grave so that wee are all prisoners of hope raise us here from sin to grace that thou maist hereafter raise us from the grave to glory that here and ever all glory power majesty may be ascribed to thee the only true God c. FINIS