hands of their Bishops so they did to Baal God and our Superiours haue had euer one and the same outward gesture Though here Paulus in vita Ambros not the Agent is so much regarded as the Action if your Ordinary would haue suffered you to haue done this peece of Idolatry you had neuer separated But the true God Bel and Dragon of England is the humane-Diuine-Seruice-Booke Let vs see what ashes or lumpes of pitch this Daniel brings We worship God in and by it as Papists doe by their Images Indeed we worship God in and by prayers contained in it Why should we not Tell me why is it more Idolatry for a man to worship God in and by a prayer read or got by heart than by a prayer conceiued I vtter both they are both mine if the heart speake them both feelingly and deuoutly where lies the Idoll In a conceiued prayer is it not possible for a mans thought to stray from his tongue in a prayer learned by heart or read is it not possible for the heart to ioyne with the tongue If I pray therefore in spirit and heartily vtter my desires to God whether in mine owne words or borrowed and so made mine what is the offence But say you if the Lord Iesus in his Testament haue not commanded any such Booke it is accursed and abominable But say I if the Lord Iesus hath not any where forbidden such a Booke it is not accursed nor abominable Shew vs the place where that we may know it with you Nay but I must shew you where the Apostles vsed any such Seruice booke shew you mee where the Apostles baptized in a Basin or where they receiued women to the Lords table for your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. Passag twixt Caluin and Smith Egyptij vbi lautè epulati sunt post coeâ—â—a â—d sâ—cuint Socrâ— 5. c. 22. will not serue shew me that the Bible was distinguisht into Chapters and Verses in the Apostles time shew me that they euer celebrated the Sacrament of the Supper at any other time than euening as your Anabaptists now doe shew mee that they vsed one prayer before their Sermons alwaies another after that they preached euer vpon a Text where they preached ouer a Table or lastly shew mee where the Apostles vsed that prayer which you made before your last prophecie and a thousand such circumstances What an idle plea is this from the Apostolike times Platin. initio And if I should tell you that Saint Peter celebrated with the Lords Prayer you will not beleeue it yet you know the Historie But let the Reader know that your quarrel is not against the matter but against the Booke not as they are prayers but as stinted or prescribed Wherein all the world besides your selues are Idolaters Behold all Churches that were or are are partners with vs in this crime Oh idolatrous Geneua and all French Scottish Danish Dutch Churches All which both haue their set Prayers with vs and approue them Caluin Epist ad Protest Angl. Epist 87. Quod ad formulam c. As concerning a forme of Prayers and Rites Ecclesiasticall saith Reuerend Caluin I doe greatly allow that it should be set and certaine from which it should not be lawfull for Pastors in their function to depart Iudge now of the spirit of these bold Controlers that dare thus condemne all Gods Churches through the world as idolatrous But since you call for Apostolike examples did not the Apostle Paul vse one set forme of apprecations of benedictions What were these but lesser Praiers The quantity varies not the kinde Will you haue yet ancienter precedents The Priest was appointed of old to vse a set forme vnder the Law Num. 6.23 so the people Deu. 26.3 4 5 c. 15. Both of them a stinted Psalme for the Sabbath Psal 92. Answ to the Minist Counterpoys 327. What saith your Doctor to these Because the Lord saith he gaue formes of Prayers and Psalmes therefore the Prelates may Can we think that Ieroboam had so slender a reason for his calues Marke good Reader the shifts of these men This Answerer cals for Examples and will abide no stinting of Prayers because we shew no patterns from Scripture We doe shew patterns from Scripture and now their Doctor saith God appointed it to them of old must wee therefore doe it So whether we bring examples or none wee are condemned But Master Doctor whom I beseech you should we follow but God in his owne seruices If God haue not appointed it you cry out vpon inuentions if God haue appointed it you cry Wee may not follow it shew then where God euer inioyned an ordinary seruice to himselfe that was not ceremoniall as this plainly is not which should not bee a direction for vs But if stinting our prayers bee a fault for as yet you meddle not with our blasphemous Collects it is well that the Lords prayer it selfe beareth vs companie Counterpoys and is no small part of our Idolatrie Which though it were giuen principally as a rule to our prayers yet since the matter is so heauenly and most wisely framed to the necessitie of all Christian hearts Omnibus arietibus gregis id est Aposiolis suis dedit morem orandi Dimitte nobis c. Aug. epist 89. to deny that it may be vsed intirely in our Sauiours words is no better than a fanaticall curiousnesse yeeld one and all for if the matter bee more diuine yet the stint is no lesse faultie This is not the least part of our patchery except you vnrip this the rest you cannot But might not God be purely and perfectly worshipped without it Tell me might not God be purely and perfectly worshipped without Churches without houses without garments yea without hands or feet In a word could not God be purely worshipped if you were not Yet would you not seeme a superfluous creature speake in your selfe Might not God bee intirely worshipped with pure and holy worship though there were no other Bookes in the World but the Scripture If yea as who can denie it that knowes what the worship of God meaneth What then doe the Fathers and Doctors and learned Interpreters To the fire with all those curious Arts and Volumes as your Predecessors called them Yea let me put you in minde that God was purely and perfectly worshipped by the Apostolicke Church before euer the New Testament was written See therefore the idlenesse of your proofes God may be serued without a prescription of Prayer but if all Reformed Churches in Christendome erre not better with it The Word of God is perfect and admits no addition cursed were we if we should adde ought to it cursed were that which should be added But cursed be they that take ought from it and dare say Ye shall not pray thus Our Father c. Doe wee offer to make our Prayers Canonicall doe we obtrude them as parts of Gods Word Why cauill
top-saile another to the maine a third to the plummet a fourth to the anchor as hee sees the need of their course and weather requires and doth no lesse by his tongue than all the Marriners with their hands On the Bench he is another from himselfe at home now all priuate respects of bloud alliance amity are forgotten and if his owne Sonne come vnder tryall hee knowes him not Pity which in all others is wont to be the best praise of humanity and the fruit of Christian loue is by him throwne ouer the barre for corruption as for Fauour the false Aduocate of the gracious he allowes him not to appeare in the Court there only causes are heard speake not persons Eloquence is then only not discouraged when she serues for a Client of truth meere narrations are allowed in this Oratory not Proems not excursions not Glosses Truth must strip her selfe and come in naked to his barre without false bodies or colors without disguises A bride in his Closet or a letter on the Bench or the whispering and winks of a great neighbour are answered with an angry and couragious repulse Displeasure Reuenge Recompence stand on both sides the Bench but he scornes to turne his eye towards them looking onely right forward at Equity which stands full before him His sentence is euer deliberate and guided with ripe wisdome yet his hand is slower than his tongue but when he is vrged by occasion either to doome or execution he shewes how much he hateth mercifull iniustice neither can his resolution or act be reuersed with partiall importunitie His forehead is rugged and seuere able to discountenance villany yet his words are more awfull than his brow and his hand than his words I know not whether he be more feared or loued both affections are so sweetly contempered in all hearts The good feare him louingly the middle sort loue him fearefully and only the wicked man feares him slauishly without loue He hates to pay priuate wrongs with the aduantage of his Office and if euer he be partiall it is to his enemy He is not more sage in his gowne than valorous in armes and increaseth in the rigour of discipline as the times in danger His sword hath neither rusted for want of vse nor surfetteth of bloud but after many threats is vnsheathed as the dreadfull instrument of diuine reuenge He is the Guard of good lawes the Refuge of innocency the Comet of the guilty the Pay-master of good deserts the Champion of iustice the Patron of peace the Tutor of the Church the Father of his Countrey and as it were another God vpon earth Of the Penitent HE hath a wounded heart and a sad face yet not so much for feare as for vnkindnesse The wrong of his sinne troubles him more than the danger None but he is the better for his sorrow neither is any passion more hurtfull to others than this is gainfull to him The more he seekes to hide his griefe the lesse it will bee hid Euery man may reade it not onely in his eyes but in his bones Whiles hee is in charity with all others he is so falne out with himselfe that none but God can reconcile him He hath sued himselfe in all Courts accuseth arraigneth sentenceth punisheth himselfe vnpartially and sooner may finde mercy at any hand than at his owne He onely hath pulled off the faire vizor of sinne so as that appeares not but masked vnto others is seene of him barefac'd and bewraies that fearefull vglinesse which none can conceiue but he that hath viewed it Hee hath lookt into the depth of the bottomlesse pit and hath seene his owne offence tormented in others and the same brands shaken at him He hath seene the change of faces in that euill one as a tempter as a tormenter and hath heard the noise of a conscience and is so frighted with all these that he can neuer haue rest till he haue runne out of himselfe to God in whose face at first hee findes rigour but afterwards sweetnesse in his bosome He bleeds first from the hand that heales him The Law of God hath made worke for mercy which he hath no sooner apprehended than he forgets his wounds and looks carelesly vpon all these terrors of guiltinesse When he casts his eye backe vpon himselfe he wonders where he was and how he came there and grants that if there were not some witchcraft in sinne he could not haue beene so sottishly gracelesse And now in the issue Satan findes not without indignation and repentance that hee hath done him a good turne in tempting him For he had neuer beene so good if he had not sinned he had neuer fought with such courage if he had not seene his bloud and beene ashamed of his foile Now hee is seene and felt in the front of the spirituall battell and can teach others how to fight and incourage them in fighting His heart was neuer more taken vp with the pleasure of sinne than now with care of auoiding it The very sight of that cup wherein such a fulsome potion was brought him turnes his stomacke the first offers of sinne make him tremble more now than he did before at the iudgements of his sinne neither dares he so much as looke towards Sodom All the powers and craft of hell cannot fetch him in for a customer to euill his infirmity may yeeld once his resolution neuer There is none of his senses or parts which hee hath not within couenants for their good behauiour which they cannot euer breake with impunity The wrongs of his sinne he repaies to men with recompence as hating it should be said he owes any thing to his offence to God what in him lies with sighs teares vowes and endeuours of amendment No heart is more waxen to the impressions of forgiuenesse neither are his hands more open to receiue than to giue pardon All the iniuries which are offered to him are swallowed vp in his wrongs to his Maker and Redeemer neither can hee call for the arrerages of his farthings when he lookes vpon the millions forgiuen him he feeles not what he suffers from men when he thinks of what hee hath done and should haue suffered He is a thankfull Herauld of the mercies of his God which if all the world heare not from his mouth it is no fault of his Neither did hee so burne with the euill fires of concupiscence as now with the holy flames of zeale to that glory which hee hath blemished and his eies are full of moisture as his heart of heat The gates of heauen are not so knockt at by any suter whether for frequence or importunitie You shall finde his cheekes furrowed his knees hard his lips sealed vp saue when he must accuse himselfe or glorifie God his eies humbly deiected and sometimes you shall take him breaking off a sigh in the midst as one that would steale an humiliation vnknowne and would be offended with any part that should not
palmes chrisme garments roses swords water salt the Pontificall solemnities of your great Master and whateuer your new mother hath besides plausible before he should see ought in all these worthy of any other entertainment then contempt Who can but disdaine that these things should procure any wise proselyte Cannot your owne memory recount those truly religious spirits which hauing fought Rome as resolued Papists haue left the world as holy Martyrs dying for the detestation of that which they came to adore Whence this They heard and magnified that which they now saw and abhorred Their fire of zeale brought them to the flames of Martyrdome Their innocent hopes promised them Religion they found nothing but a pretence promised deuotion and behold idolatry they saw hated suffered and now raigne whiles you wilfully and vnbidden will lose your soule where others meant to lose and haue found it Your zeale dies where theirs began to liue you like to liue where they would but dye They shall comfort vs for you they shall once stand vp against you While they would rather die in the heat of that fire then liue in the darknesse of their errors you rather die in the Egyptian darknesse of errors then liue in the pleasant light of Truth yea I feare rather in another fire then this Light Alas what shall we looke for of you Too late repentance or obstinate error Both miserable A Spira or a Staphylus Your friends your selfe shall wish you rather vnborne then either O thou which art the great Shepheard great in power great in mercy which leauest the ninety and nine to reduce one fetch home if thy will bee this thy forlorne charge fetch him home driue him home to thy Fold though by shame though by death Let him once recouer thy Church thou him it is enough Our common Mother I know not whether more pities your losse or disdaines thus to be robb'd of a son not for the need of you but her owne piety her owne loue For how many troops of better informed soules hath she euery day returning into her lap now breathing from their late Antichristianisme and embracing her knees vpon their owne She laments you not for that shee feares shee shall misse you but for that shee knowes you shall want her See you her teares and doe but pitty your selfe as much as she you And from your Mother Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge to descend to your Nurse Is this the fruit of such education Was not your youth spent in a society of such comely order strict gouernment wise lawes religious care it was ours yet let me praise it to your shame as may iustly challenge after all bragges either RHEMES or DOVVAY or if your Iesuits haue any other denne more cleanly and more worthy of ostentation And could you come out fresh and vnseasoned from the middest of those salt waues Could all those heauenly showres fall beside you while you like a Gedeons fleece want moisture Shall none of those diuine principles which your youth seem'd to drinke in check you in your new errors Alas how vnlike are you to your selfe to your name Iacob wrestled with an Angell and preuailed you grapple but with a Iesuit and yeeld Iacob supplanted his brother and Esau hath supplanted you Iacob changed his name for a better by a valiant resistance you by your cowardly yeelding haue lost your owne Iacob stroue with God for a blessing I feare to say it you against him for a curse for no common measure of hatred or ordinary opposition can serue a reuolter Either you must be desperately violent or suspected The mighty One of Israel for hee can doe it raise you falne returne you wandred and giue you grace at last to shame the Deuill to forsake your stepmother to acknowledge your true Parent to satisfie the world to saue your owne soule If otherwise I will say of you as Ieremy of his Israelites if not rather with more indignation My soule shall weepe in secret for your reuolt and mine eyes shall drop downe teares because one of the Lords flocke is caried away captiue To my Lord and Patrone the Lord DENNY Baron of Waltham EPIST. II. Of the contempt of the World MY Lord my tongue my pen my heart are all your seruants when you cannot heare me through distāce you must see me in my Letters You are now in the Senate of the Kingdome or in the concourse of the city or perhaps though more rarely in the royall face of the Court. All of them places fit for your place From all these let me call off your minde to her home aboue and in the midst of businesse shew you rest If I may not rather commend then admonish and before-hand confesse my counsell superfluous because your holy forwardnesse hath preuented it You can afford these but halfe of your selfe The better part is better bestowed Your soule is still retired and reserued You haue learned to vouchsafe these worldly things vse without affection and know to distinguish wisely betwixt a Stoicall dulnesse and a Christian contempt and haue long made the world not your God but your slaue And in truth that I may loose my selfe into a bold and free discourse what other respect is it worthy of I would adore it on my face if I could see any Maiesty that might command veneration Perhaps it loues me not so much as to shew me his best I haue sought it enough and haue seene what others haue doated on and wondred at their madnesse So may I looke to see better things aboue as I neuer could see ought here but vanitie and vilenesse What is fame but smoake and mettall but drosse and pleasure but a pill in suger Let some Gallants condemne this as the voice of a Melancholike Scholler I speake that which they shall feele and shall confesse Though I neuer was so I haue seen some as happy as the world could make them and yet I neuer saw any more discontented Their life hath bin neither longer nor sweeter nor their heart lighter nor their meales heartier nor their nights quieter nor their cares fewer nor their complaints Yea we haue knowne some that haue lost their mirth when they haue found wealth and at once haue ceased to be merry and poore All these earthly delights if they were sound yet how short they are and if they could bee long yet how vnsound If they were sound they are but as a good day betweene two agues or a sunne-shine betwixt two tempest And if they were long their honie is exceeded by their gall This ground beares none but maples hollow and fruitlesse or like the banks of the dead Sea a faire apple which vnder a red side containes nothing but dust Euery flower in this garden either pricks or smels ill If it be sweet it hath thornes and if it haue no thornes it annoyes vs with an ill sent Goe then ye wise idolatrous Parasites and erect shrines and offer sacrifices
What do you vnder these colours if you regard the fauour of that whose amitie is enmitie with God What care you for the censure of him whom you should both scorne and vanquish Did euer wise Christians did euer your Master allow either this manhood or this feare Was there euer any thing more strictly more fearfully forbidden of him then reuenge in the challenge then in the answer paiment of euill and murder in both It is pitie that euer the water of Baptisme was spilt vpon his face that cares more to discontent the world then to wrong God He saith Vengeance is mine and you steale it from him in a glorious theft hazarding your soule more then your body You are weary of your selfe while you thrust one part vpon the sword of an enemie the other on Gods Yet perhaps I haue yeelded too much Let goe Christians The wiser world of men and who else are worth respect will not passe this odious verdict vpon your refusall valiant men haue reiected challenges with their honours vntainted Augustus when he receiued a defiance and braue appointment of combat from Antonie could answer him That if Antonie were weary of liuing there vvere vvayese now besides to death And that Scythian King returned no other reply to Iohn the Emperor of Constantinople And Metellus challenged by Sertorius durst answer scornefully vvith his pen not vvith his sword That it vvas not for a Captaine to dye a souldiers death Was it not dishonorable for these wise and noble Heathens to turne off these desperate offers What law hath made it so with vs Shall I seriously tell you Nothing but the meere opinion of some humorous Gallants that haue more heart then braine confirmed by a more idle custome Worthly grounds whereon to spend both life and soule vvhereon to neglect God himselfe posteritie Goe now and take vp that sword of vvhose sharpnesse you haue boasted and hasten to the field vvhether you die or kill you haue murdered If you suruiue you are haunted vvith the conscience of blood if you die with the torments and if neither of these yet it is murder that you vvould haue killed See whether the fame of a braue fight can yeeld you a counteruailable redresse of these mischiefes how much more happily valiant had it been to master your selfe to feare sinne more then shame to contemne the world to pardon a wrong to preferre true Christianitie before idle manhood to liue and doe vvell To Mr MAT. MILWARD EP. III. A discourse of the pleasure of study and contemplation with the varieties of schollar-like imployments not without incitation of others thereunto and a censure of their neglect I Can wonder at nothing more then how a man can be idle but of all other a Scholar in so many improuements of reason in such sweetnesse of knowledge in such variety of studies in such importunity of thoughts Other Artizans do but practise we still learne others runne still in the same gyre to vvearinesse to satietie our choice is infinite other labours require recreations our very labour recreates our sports wee can neuer want either somewhat to doe or somewhat that we would do How numberlesse are those volumes vvhich men haue vvritten of Arts of Tongues How endlesse is that volume which God hath written of the vvorld wherein euery creature is a Letter euery day a new Page vvho can be weary of either of these To finde wit in Poetry in Philosophy profoundnesse in Mathematicks acutenesse in History wonder of euents in Oratory sweet eloquence in Diuinity supernaturall light and holy deuotion as so many rich metals in their proper mynes whom would it not rauish with delight After all these let vs but open our eyes we cannot looke beside a lesson in this vniuersall Booke of our Maker worth our study worth â—aking out What creature hath not his miracle vvhat euent doth not challenge his obseruation And if vveary of foraine imployment we list to looke home into our selues there wee finde a more priuate world of thoughts which set vs on vvorke anew more busily not lesse profitably now our silence is vocall our solitarinesse popular and we are shut vp to doe good vnto many And if once we be cloyed with our owne company the doore of conference is open here interchange of discourse besides pleasure benefits vs and he is a weake companion from whom we returne not wiser I could enuy if I could beleeue that Anachoret vvho secluded from the vvorld and pent vp in his voluntary prison-wals denied that hee thought the day long vvhiles yet hee vvanted learning to vary his thoughts Not to be cloyed with the same conceit is difficult aboue humane strength but to a man so furnished vvith all sorts of knowledge that according to his dispositions he can change his studies I should wonder that euer the Sunne should seeme to pase slowly How many busie tongues chase away good houres in pleasant chat and complaine of the haste of night What ingenuous minde can be sooner weary of talking vvith learned Authors the most harmelesse and sweetest of companions What an heauen liues a Scholar in that at once in one close roome can dayly conuerse vvith all the glorious Martyrs and Fathers that can single out at pleasure either sententious Tertullian or graue Cyprian or resolute Hierome or flowing Chrysostome or diuine Ambrose or deuout Bernard or vvho alone is all these heauenly Augustine and talke vvith them and heare their wise and holy counsels verdicts resolutions yea to rise higher with courtly Esay with learned Paul with all their fellow-Prophets Apostles yet more like another Moses with God himselfe in them both Let the vvorld contemne vs while we haue these delights we cannot enuy them wee cannot wish our selues other then wee are Besides the way to all other contentments is troublesome the onely recompence is in the end To delue in the mynes to scorch in the fire for the getting for the fining of gold is a slauish toyle the comfort is in the wedge to the owner not the labourers where our very search of knowledge is delightsome Study it selfe is our life from which vve would not be barred for a world How much sweeter then is the fruit of study the conscience of knowledge In comparison whereof the soule that hath once tasted it easily contemnes all humane comforts Goe now yee worldlings and insult ouer our palenesse our needinesse our neglect Ye could not bee so iocund if you vvere not ignorant if you did not vvant knowledge you could not ouer-looke him that hath it For me I am so farre from emulating you that I professe I had as leiue be a brute beast as an ignorant rich man How is it then that those Gallants vvhich haue priuiledge of blood and birth and better education do so scornfully turne off these most manly reasonable noble exercises of scholarship An hawke becomes their fist better then a booke No dogge but is a better companion Any thing or
God wee did not finde it a sure rule that as it is in this little world the older it growes the more diseased the more couetous we are all too much the true sonnes of our great grandmother and haue each of vs an Eues sweet tooth in our heads we would be more than we are and euery man would be either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either the man or some-body If a number of your consciences were ript O yee that would be Christian Gentlemen Lawyers Citizens what doe we thinke would be found in your mawes Here the deuoured patrimonie of poore Orphans there the commons of whole Towneships here the impropriate goods of the Church there piles of vsury here bribes and vnlawfull fees there the raw and indigested gobbets of Simonie yea would God I might not say but I must say it with feare with sorrow euen of our sacred and diuine profession that which our Sauiour of his Twelue Yee are cleane but not all The multitude of our vnregarded Charges and soules dying and starued for want of spirituall prouision while they giue vs bodily would condemne my silence for too partiall In all conditions of men for particulars are subiect to enuy and exception the daughters of the horse-leech had neuer such a fruitfull generation They cry still Giue Giue not giue alone that is the bread of sufficiency but giue giue that is more than enough But what is more than enough What is but enough What is not too little for the insatiable gulfe of humane desires Euery man would ingrosse the whole world to himselfe and with that ambitious conqueror feares â—t will be too little and how few Agurs are there that pray against too much From hence 〈◊〉 that ye Courtiers grate vpon poore Trades with hard Monopolies Hence ye Merchants load them with deepe and vnreasonable prices and make them pay deare for dayes Hence ye great men wring the poore spunges of the Commonalty into your priuate purses for the maintenance of pride and excesse Hence ye cormorant Corne-mongers hatch vp a dearth in the time of plenty God sends graine but many times the Deuill sends garners The earth hath beene no niggard in yeelding but you haue beene lauish in transporting and close in concealing Neuer talke of our extreme frosts we see Gods hand and kisse the rod but if your hearts your charity were not more frozen than euer the earth was meane House-keepers should not need to beg nor the meanest to starue for want of bread Hence lastly our loud oppressions of all sorts cry to heauen and are answered with threats yea with variety of vengeances Take this with thee yet O thou worldling which hast the greedy-worme vnder thy tongue with Esaies dogs and neuer hast enough Thou shalt meet with two things as vnsatiable as thy selfe the Graue and Hell and thou whom all the world could not satisfie there be two things whereof thou shalt haue enough Enough would in the graue enough fire in hell I loue not to end with a iudgement and as it were to let my Sunne set in a cloud We are all Christians we should know the world what it is how vaine how transitorie how worthlesse We know where there are better things which we professe our selues made for and aspiring to Let vs vse the world like it selfe and leaue this importunate wooing of it to Heathens and Infidels that know no other heauen no other God Or if you like that counsell better Be couetous Be ambitious Couet spirituall gifts 1 Cor. 14.1 Neuer thinke you haue grace enough desire more seeke for more this alone is worthy your affections worthy your cares Be still poore in this that you may be rich be rich that you may bee full bee full that you may bee glorious Bee ambitious of fauour of honour of a kingdome of Gods fauour of the honour of Saints of the Kingdome of glory whither he that bought it for vs and redeemed vs to it in his good time safely and happily bring vs. To that blessed Sauiour of ours together with the Father and his good Spirit the God of all the world our Father Redeemer and Comforter be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer Amen FJNJS THE PASSION SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLS CROSSE ON GOOD-FRIDAY Aprill 14. 1609. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE ONELY HONOR AND GLORY OF GOD MY DEARE AND BLESSED SAVIOVR WHICH HATH DONE AND SVFFERED ALL THESE THINGS FOR MY SOVLE HIS WEAKE AND VNWORTHY SERVANT HVMBLY DESIRES TO CONSECRATE HIMSELFE AND HIS POORE LABOVRS BESEECHING HIM TO ACCEPT AND BLESSE THEM TO THE PVBLIKE GOOD AND TO THE PRAISE OF HIS OWNE GLORIOVS NAME TO THE READER I Desire not to make any Apologie for the Edition of this my Sermon It is motiue enough that herein I affect a more publike and more induring good Spirituall nicenesse is the next degree to vnfaithfulnesse This point cannot bee too much vrged either by the tongue or Presse Religion and our soules depend vpon it yet are our thoughts too much beside it The Church of Rome so fixes her selfe in her adoration vpon the Crosse of Christ as if she forgat his glory Many of vs so conceiue of him glorious that wee neglect the meditation of his Crosse the way to his glory and ours If wee would proceed aright wee must passe from his Golgotha to the mount of Oliues and from thence to Heauen and there seeke and settle our rest According to my weake abilitie I haue led this way in my speech beseeching my Readers to follow mee with their hearts that wee may ouertake him which is entred into the true Sanctuary euen the highest Heauens to appeare now in the sight of GOD for vs. THE PASSION SERMON IOH. 19. VER 30. When Iesus therefore had receiued the Vineger he said It is finished and bowing the head he gaue vp the ghost THE bitter and yet victorious passion of the Sonne of God Right Honourable and beloued Christians as it was the strangest thing that euer befell the earth so is both of most soueraigne vse and lookes for the most frequent and carefull meditation It is one of those things which was once done that it might bee thought of for euer Euery day therefore must bee the Good-Friday of a Christian who with that great Doctor of the Gentiles must desire to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified There is no branch or circumstance in this wonderfull businesse which yeelds not infinite matter of discourse According to the solemnitie of this time and place I haue chosen to commend vnto your Christian attention our Sauiours Farewell to Nature for his reuiuing was aboue it in his last word in his last act His last word It is finished his last act He gaue vp the Ghost That which hee said hee did If there bee any theame
owe him all grudge him any thing Away with the mention of outward things all the bloud in our bodies is due to him all the prayers and well-wishes of our soules are due to him How solemnly festiuall should this day be to vs and to our posterities for euer How cheerefully for our peace our religion our deliuerance should wee take vp that acclamation with the people of Rome vsed in the Coronation of Charles the great Carolo Iacobo a Deo coronata Fris l. 5. c. 31. magno pacifico Britannorum Imperatori vita victoria To Charles Iames crowned of God the great and peaceable Emperor of Britaine Life and victory and let God and his people say Amen These were great things indeed that God did for Israel great that he hath done for vs great for the present not certaine for the future They had not no more haue we the blessings of God by entaile or by lease Only at the good will of the Lord and that is during our good behauiour Sin is a forfeiture of all fauours If you doe wickedly you shall perish It was not for nothing that the same word in the originall signifies both sin and punishment These two are inseparable There is nothing but a little priority in time betweene them The Angels did wickedly they perisht by their fall from heauen The old world did wickedly they perisht by waters from heauen The Sodomites did wickedly the perisht by fire from heauen Corah and his company did wickedly they perisht by the earth The Egyptians did wickedly they perisht by the Sea The Canaanites did wickedly they perisht by the sword of Israel The Israelites did wickedly they perisht by pestilence serpents Philistims What should I run my selfe out of breath in this endlesse course of examples There was neuer sin but it had a punishment either in the actor or in the Redeemer There was neuer punishment but was for sinne Heauen should haue no quarrell against vs Hell could haue no power ouer vs but for our sinnes Those are they that haue plagued vs Those are they that threaten vs. But what shall be the iudgement Perishing To whom To you and your King He doth not say If your King doe wickedly you shall perish as sometimes he hath done nor If your King doe wickedly he shall perish although Kings are neither priueleged from sinnes nor from iudgements nor if you doe wickedly you only shall perish but If ye doe wickedly ye and your King shall perish So neere a relation is there betwixt the King and Subiect the sin of the one reacheth to the iudgment of the other and the iudgment of the one is the smart of both The King is the Head the Commons the stomacke if the head be sick the stomacke is affected Dauid sins the people die If the stomacke be sicke the head complaines For the transgression of the people are many Princes What could haue snatcht from our head that sweet Prince of fresh bleeding memory that might iustly haue challenged Othoes name Otho 3. Fris 6. 26. Mirabilia mundi now in the prime of all the worlds expectation but our traiterous wickednesses His Christian modesty vpon his deathbed could charge himselfe no no I haue sins enow of my own to do this But this very accusation did cleere him burden vs. O glorious Prince they are our sins that are guilty of thy death our losse We haue done wickedly thou perishedst A harsh word for thy glorified condition But such a perishing as is incident to Saints for there is a Perire de medio as well as a Perire à facie a perishing from the earth as wel as a perishing froÌ„ God It was a ioiful perishing to thee our sins haue aduaÌ„taged thy soule which is partly therefore happy because we were vnworthy of thee but they haue robbed vs of our happines in thee Oh our treacherous sins that haue offered this violence to that sweet hopeful sacred person And doe they not yet still conspire against him that is yet dearer to vs the root of these godly branches the breath of our nostrils the anointed of God Brethren let me speak it coÌ„fidently As euery sin is a traitor to a mans owne soule so euery wicked man is a traitor to his King yea euery of his crying sins is a false-harted rebel that hides powder pocket dags for the precious life of his Soueraign Any states-man may learn this euen of Machiauel himselfe which I confesse when I read I thought of the Deuill confessing Christ That the giuing of God his due Ossâ—ruanza del culto diuinae cagione della grandezza delle Cofiil dispregio diqâ—a c. Discor l. 1. c. 11. Euagr. l. 3. c. 41. is the cause of the greatnesse of any State and contrarily the neglect of his seruice the cause of ruine and if any prophane Zosimus shall doubt of this point I would but turne him to Euagrius his discourse to this purpose where he shall finde instances of enow particulars What-euer politicke Philosophers haue distinguisht betwixt bonus vir and ciuis I say that as a good man cannot be an ill subiect so a lewd man can no more be a good subiect than euill can be good Let him sooth and sweare what he will his sinnes are so many treasons against the Prince and State for Ruine is from iniquitie saith Ezechiel Alas Ezech. 7.19 what safetie can we be in when such miscreants lurke in our houses iet in our streets when the Country City Court is so full of these spirituall conspiracies Ye that are Magistrates not for Gods sake only but for your Kings sake whose Deputies ye are as he is Gods not for religion only but for very policie as you tender the deare life of our gratious Soueraigne as you regard the sweet peace of this State and Kingdome the welfare of this Church yea as you loue your owne life peace welfare rouze vp your spirits awaken your Christian courage and set your selues heartily against the traitorly sinnes of these times which threaten the bane of all these Cleanse ye these Augean stables of our drunken Tauernes of our prophane Stages and of those blinde Vaults of professed filthinesse Whose steps goe downe to the chambers of death yea to the deepe of hell Pro. 27.7.9.18 And ye my holy brethren the messengers of God if there be any sonnes of Thunder amongst you if euer you ratled from heauen the terrible iudgements of God against sinners now doe it for contrary to the naturall the deepe winter of iniquitie is most seasonable for this spirituall thunder Be heard aboue be seene beneath Out-face sin out-preach it out-liue it Wee are starres in the right hand of God Reu. 8.11 let vs be like any starres saue the Moone that hath blots in her face or the starre Worme-wood whose fall made bitter waters or Saint Iudes planets that wander in irregularities Iude 13. Cum imperio docetur
say that our Nation haue yeelded some in all these faculties which need not stoope vnto the proudest fortainer ours haue no fault but one that they are our owne and what hath their Countrey offended if their Art offend not It is an humorous giddinesse to measure the goodnes of any thing by the distance of miles and where there is equality of worth to neglect the neerest I flander our Nation if it be not sicke of this disease in the course of all Sciences And if neerenesse and presence be the cause of our dislike why doe we not hate our selues which are euer in our owne bosome Why loe we not hate this fastidious curiosity which is too close to vs Perhaps perfection in these qualities is thinner sowne amongst vs than some other-where so as our Iland for want of worke and encouragement affoords no such multitude of masters but how can we complaine of rarenesse since if our age yeeld vs but one excellent in each kinde it is more than we are willing to vse and if the fault were not in our selues one candle might light a thousand To instance in the best The Horse is a noble creature which as it is the strength and pride of France so winnes the hearts and heeles of that Nation The generality of their skill is nothing to a stranger each priuate mans cunning rests in himselfe it is onely the Teacher whose ability may concerne vs. And whereas there is a double kinde of menage as I haue heard one for seruice the other for pleasure in the first our Masters thinke they cannot yeeld vnto the best in the latter if they grant themselues exceeded how many men haue taught their dogge the same tricks with no lesse contentment In both we haue the written directions of their greatest Artists who for the perpetuity of their owne honour failed not to say their best And if these dead Masters suffice not we haue had we may haue the best of their liuing The conscience of a mans excellency will abide no limits but spurs him forth to winne admiration abroad and if therewithall hee can finde aduancement of profit how willingly doth he change his home We haue had experience of this in higher professions much more of these vnder foot One obscure towne of Holland in our memory had by this meanes drawne together at once the greatest lights of Europe and made it selfe then no lesse renowned for Professors than it is now infamous for Schisme Feare of enuy forbids me to name those amongst vs which haue honoured this Iland in the choice of their abode Where Art is encouraged it will soone rise high and goe farre and not suffer a channell of the Sea to stay it from the presence of a more bountifull patronage SECT XIV BVT let vs grant these faculties so fixed vpon any Nation that all our water must necessarily bee fetcht at their Well and adde vnto these a few waste complements and mimicall courtesies which must needs bee put into the match of our ordinarie trauell and now let vs set downe and see what we paid for this stock count our winnings What must our compleat Traueller stake downe for this goodly furniture of his Gentrie If not losse danger danger of the best part if not all a double danger of corruption of religion and deprauation of manners both capitall And can we thinke these endowments so precious that they should be worth fetching vpon such an hazard Will any man not desperate run into an infected house to rifle for a rich suit Will any man put his finger into a fiery crucible to pull out gold It is wittily taken of Chrysostome when our Sauiour said Ne exeatis in eremum that he sayes not Go forth into the desart and see but beleeue not but giues an absolute prohibition of going forth at all that they might be out of the danger of misbeleefe Tush idle and melancholicke feares say some of our Gallants wherefore serues discretion but to seuer good from ill How easily may a wise man pull a Rose and not pricke his hand How freely may he dip in this streame and not be drowned Little doe these peremptorie resoluers know either the insinuatiue power of euill or the treacherie of their own heart in receiuing it or the importunitie of deceiuers in obtruding it They are the worse for their trauell and perceiue it not An egge couered with salt as our Philosophers teach vs hath the meat of it consumed whiles the shell is whole many a one receiues poyson and knowes not when he tooke it No man proues extremely euill on the sudden Through many insensible declinations doe we fall from vertue and at the first are so gently seazed by vice that we cannot beleeue our accusers It is mischiefe enough if they can bee drawne to a lesse dislike of ill which now by long acquaintance is growne so familiar to their eyes that they cannot thinke it so loathsome as at the first view The societie of wilfull Idolaters will now downe with them not without case and good meanings begin to bee allowed for the clokes of grosse superstition From thence they grow to a fauourable construction of the mis-opinions of the aduerse part and can complaine of the wrongfull aggrauations of some contentious spirits and from thence yet lower to an indifferent conceit of some more politike positions and practises of the Romanists Neither is there their rest Hereupon ensues an allowance of some of their doctrines that are more plausible and lesse important and withall a censure of vs that are gone too far from Rome Now the mariage of Ecclesiasticall persons begins to mislike them the daily and frequent consignation with the crosse is not to no purpose The retired life of the religious abandoning the world forsooth sauours of much mortification and Confession giues no small ease and contentment to the soule And now by degrees Popery begins to be no ill religion If there cannot be a false fire of mis-deuotion kindled in them it is enough if they can be cooled in their loue of truth which how commonly it fals out amongst vs I had rather experience should speake than my selfe Some there are that by a spirituall Antiperistasis haue growne hotter in their zeale by being encompassed with the outward cold of irreligion and error who as they owe not this grace to themselues so are they more for wonder than imitation If Daniel found a guard in the Lions den shall another put himselfe thither for shelter And if Peter walk't vpon the pauement of the water did the rest of the Disciples step forth and follow him That valiant Champion of Christ since we are fallen vpon his name who durst draw his sword vpon a whole troupe after all his protestations of his inseparablenesse from his Master was yet infected with the aire of the High Priests Hall and whiles he but warmed himselfe at that fire cooled in his respect to his Sauiour Although perhaps this
cogitation working as it commonly doth remissely causeth not any sudden alteration in our Traueller but as we say of Comets and Eclipses hath his effect when the cause is forgotten Neither is there any one more apparant ground of that lukewarme indifferency which is fallen vpon our times than the ill vse of our wandrings for our Trauellers being the middle ranke of men and therefore either followers of the great or commanders of the meaner sort cannot want conuenience of diffusing this temper of ease vnto both SECT XV. ALl this mischiefe is yet hid with a formall profession so as euery eye cannot finde it in others it dares boldly breake forth to an open reuolt How many in our memory whiles with Dinah they haue gone forth to gaze haue lost their spirituall chastity and therewith both the Church and themselues How many like vnto the brooke Cedron run from Hierusalem thorow the vale of Iehosaphat and end their course in the dead sea Robert Pointz in his preface to the testimonies for the reall presence 2 Chron. 24. A popish writer of our Nation as himselfe thought not vnlearned complaining of the obstinacy of vs hereticks despaires of preuailing because he findes it to be long agoe fore-prophecied of vs in the Booke of the Chronicles At illi Protestantes audire noluerunt It is well that Protestants were yet heard of in the old Testament as well as Iesuites whose name one of their owne by good hap hath found Num. 26.24 Like as Erasmus found Friers in S. Pauls time inter falsos Fratres Socrat. in Iosuam l. 1. c. 2. q. 19. Gretser contra Lerneum c. 1. 2. Vere aiquidam haereticus Iesuitas in sacris literis repertri But it were better if this mans word were as true as it is idle Some of ours haue heard to their cost whose losse ioyned with the griefe of the Church and dishonour of the Gospel we haue sufficiently lamented How many haue wee knowne stroken with these Aspes which haue died sleeping And in truth whosoeuer shall consider this open freedome of the meanes of seducement must needs wonder that we haue lost no more especially if he be acquainted with those two maine helps of our Aduersaries importunity and plausibility Neuer any Pharisee was so eager to make a Proselyte as our late factors of Rome and if they be so hot set vpon this seruice as to compasse sea and land to winne one of vs shall we be so mad as to passe both their sea and land to cast our selues into the mouth of danger No man setteth foot vpon their coast which may not presently sing with the Psalmist They come about mee like Bees It fares with them as with those which are infected with the pestilence who they say are carried with an itching desire of tainting others When they haue all done this they haue gained that if Satan were not more busie and vehement than they they could gaine nothing But in the meane time there is nothing wherein I wish we would emulate them but in this heat of diligence and violent ambition of winning Pyrrhus did not more enuy the valour of those old Romane souldiers which he read in their wounds and dead faces than we doe the busie audacitie of these new The world could not stand before vs if our Truth might be but as hotly followed as their falshood Oh that our God whose cause we maintaine would enkindle our hearts with the fire of holy zeale but so much as Satan hath inflamed theirs with the fire of fury and faction Oh that he would shake vs out of this dull ease and quicken ourslacke spirits vnto his owne worke Arise O North and come O South and blow vpon our garden that the spices thereof may flow forth These suters will take no deniall but are ready as the fashion was to doe with rich matches to carry away mens soules whether they will or no. Wee see the proofe of their importunity at home No bulwarke of lawes no barres of iustice though made of three trees can keepe our rebanished fugitiues from returning from intermedling How haue their actions said in the hearing of the world that since heauen will not heare them they will try what hell can doe And if they dare bee so busie in our owne homes where they would seeme somewhat awed with the danger of iustice what thinke we will they not dare to doe in their owne territories where they haue not free scope onely but assistance but incouragement Neuer generation was so forward as the Iesuiticall for captation of wils amongst their owne or of soules amongst strangers What state is not haunted with these ill spirits yea what house yea what soule Not a Princes Councell-Table not a Ladies chamber can be free from their shamelesse insinuations It was not for nothing that their great Patron Philip the second King of Spaine called them Clerices negotiadores and that Marcus Antonius Columna Generall of the Nauy to Pius Quintuâ— in the battell of Lepanto and Viceroy of Sicile could say to Father Don Alonso a famous Iesuite affecting to be of the counsell of his conscience Voi altri padri di Ihesu hauete la mente al ciclo le mani al mondo l'anima al diauolo SECT XVI YEt were there the lesse perill of their vehemence if it were only rude and boysterous as in some other sects that so as it is in Canon shot it might be more easily shund than resisted but here the skill of doing mischiefe contends with the power their mis-zealous passions hide themselues in a pleasing sweetnesse and they are more beholden to policy than strength What Gentleman of any note can crosse our Seas whose name is not landed in their books before hand in preuention of his person whom now arriued if they finde vntractable through too much preiudice they labour first to temper with the plausible conuersation of some smooth Catholike of his owne Nation the name of his Countrey is warrant enough for his insinuation Not a word yet may be spoken of Religion as if that were no part of the errand So haue we seene an Hawke cast off at an Hernshaw to looke and flie a quite other way after many carelesse and ouerly fetches to towre vp vnto the prey intended There is nothing wherein this faire companion shall not apply himselfe to his welcome Countryman At last when he hath possest himselfe of the heart of his new acquaintance got himselfe the reputation of a sweet ingenuity and delightfull sociablenesse he findes opportunities to bestow some witty scoffes vpon those parts of our religion which lie most open to aduantage And now it is time to inuite him after other rarities to see the Monastery of our English Benedictines or if elsewhere those English Colleges which the deuout beneficence of our well-meaning neighbours with no other intention than some couetous Farmers lay saltcats in their doue-coats haue bountifully erected There it is a wondes
wicked tumults Yet this is the man whom Bellarmine will iustifie by seuen and twenty Authors and C.E. can adde two more to the heape yea in those very things for which he condemned himselfe Reader if one of his euill spirits should haue stept into Peters chaire doe yee thinke he could haue wanted Proctors But how good an account we were like to haue of seuen and twenty Authors if it would require the cost to examine them appeares in that l l Lamb. Schefnab Hist rerum German Lambertus Schafnaburgensis which is cited for the man that magnifies the miracles of this Gregory sayes not one such word of him but speakes indeed the like of one Anno Archbishop of Coleine who liued and dyed in the time of Gregory As for Gregories miracles Benno the Cardinall tels vs what they were that he raised Deuils familiarly that he shaked sparkes of fire out of his sleeue by his Magicke A tricke that well beseemed an Hellebrand who set all the world on fire by his wicked impetuosity We will not enuy Rome this Saint let them enioy him let them celebrate him and cry downe Henry the Emperor and all that opposed him Still may such as these bee the Tutelar gods of that holy Citie For vs it is comfort enough to vs that our mariages had such a persecutor That the Churches did hereupon ring of him for Antichrist Auentine is my Author Refut p. 306. vsque ad 309. Pro concione c. in their Sermons saith he they did curse Hildebrand they cryed out on him as a man transported with hatred and ambition Antichristum esse praedicant Antichristi negotium agitat They declared him to be Antichrist They said that vnder the colourable title of Christ he did the seruice of Antichrist That he sits in Babylon in the Temple of God and is aduanced aboue all that is called God So he And little better is that which his m m Lamb. Schefnab lib. de Rebus German Schafnaburgensis so much extolled by C. E. recordeth Aduersus hoc decretum infremuit tot a factio Clericorum c. Against this Decree saith hee all the whole faction of Clergy-men fretted and mutined accusing him as an Heretike and a man of peruerse opinion who forgetting the word of Christ which said All men cannot receiue this did by a violent exaction compell men to liue in the fashion of Angels To which if I should adde the sentence of the Synod of Wormes and that of Brixia my Reader would easily see that it is not the applause of some deuoted Pen that can free him from these foule imputations of deserued infamie That vntruth then cleared another belike hangs vpon the score My Refuter charges me with falshood in saying Refut p. 307. That Gregory the seuenth was deposed by the French and German Bishops Only the Germans hee saith were Actors in that Tragedy But if not at Wormes yet let him tell me what was done at Brixia and by whom Quamobrem Italiae Germaniae Galliae Pontifices c. Wherfore saith Auentinus the Bishops of Italy Germany and France the seuenth of the Kalends of Iuly met at Brixia in Bauaria and sentenced Hildebrand to haue spoken and done against Christian piety c. and condemned him of heresie impiety Refut p. 310 311 sacriledge c. And that my Refuter may find himselfe answered at once to the last of his Cauils wherein hee pleads that this deposition was not so much as pretended for the inhibition of these mariages but for other causes let him see the Copy of the iudgement passed against him in the said councell wherein after the accusation of his Simoniacal climing into the Chaire the vice which he pretended most to persecute in others his forceable possession The vertues of C. E's Saint his heresie his machinations against the Emperour his peruerting of the Lawes both of God and Men his false doctrines sacriledges periuries lyes murders by him suborned commended his tyranny his setting of discord betwixt Brethren Friends Cousins It followes Inter coniuges diuortia facit suauis homo sacerdotes qui vxores habent legitimos sacrificos esse pernegat interim tamen scortatores adulteros incestuosos aris ad mouet c. He causes diuorces betwixt Man and Wife The fine man denies those Priests which haue lawfull Wiues to be Priests at all in the meane time hee admits to the Altar whore-mongers adulterers incestuous persons c. Nos ergo We therefore by the authority of Almighty God pronounce him deposed from his Popedome Thus Auentine specifies the Decree which alone without Commentary without inforcement answers all the friuolous exceptions of my wordy Aduersary So as now to returne his Epilogue he hath sent backe my ten pretended lyes Refut p. 316. with the vnreasonable and inuerted vsury of well-neere an hundred Pauperis est numerare SECT IX FRom foraine parts I returne at last to our owne so I feare hath C. E. done long since lurking somewhere in England for no good These Fugitiues loue not home more then their home hath cause to hate them His cauils of the wondrous contradiction betwixt my Margin and my Text Refut p. 317. are too childish to bee honored with an answer My Text was The bickerings of our English Clergy with their Dunstans about this time are memorable My Margin cites Henry of Huntingdon affirming Anselme to be the first that forbad mariage Betwixt these two saith my Refuter was an hundred yeares difference I grant it But had my words been thus if my Detector were not disposed to seeke a knot in a Rush he had easily noted that in a generall suruay of all Ages the phrase About that time admits much latitude and will easily stretch without any straine to one whole Century of yeares Had the Quotation been as he pleadeth this answer were sufficient But my words need no such reconciliation I stand to the censure and disclaime the mercy of any Reader For that citation of Anselme hath plaine reference to the following words Our Histories testifie how late how repiningly our Clergie stooped vnder this yoke it is for this that my Margin points to Henry Huntingdon and Fabian reporting Anselme the first man that prohibited these mariages What contradiction now can his acutenesse detect in these two The English Clergie had bickerings with their Dunstans and stooped late and repiningly to this yoke vnder Anselme See Reader and admire the equall Truth and Logicke of a Catholique Priest and iudge how well he bestoweth his Pages SECT X. Refut p. 318. IT is true Dunstan was the man who first with his other * * Oswal and Ethelwold two Cousins and partners in canonization opposed any appendance of the maried Clergy He wrought it with good King Edgar by dreames and visions and miracles Hee who when the Deuill came to tempt him to lust a a Gul. Malmesb. Jt. Legend c. caught him by
happy It is the third Heauen alone where thou O blessed Trinity enioyest thy selfe and thy glorified spirits enioy thee It is the manifestation of thy glorious presence that makes Heauen to be it selfe This is the priuiledge of thy Children that they here seeing thee which art inuisible by the eye of faith haue already begunne that heauen which the perfect sight of thee shall make perfect aboue Let my soule then let these heauens alone till it may see as it is seen That wee may descend to this lowest and meanest Region of Heauen wherewith our senses are more acquainted What maruels doe euer â—â—ere meet with vs There are thy Clouds thy bottles of raine Vessels as thinne as 〈◊〉 liquor which is contained in them there they hang and moue though weighty with their burden How they are vpheld and why they fall here and now we know not and wonder These thou makest one while as some Aerie Seas to hold water another while as some Aerie Furnaces whence thou scatterest thy sudden fires vnto all the parts of the Earth astonishing the World with the fearfull noyse of that eruption out of the midst of water thou fetchest fire and hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours another while as some steele-glasses wherein the Sunne lookes and shewes his face in the variety of those colours which he hath not There are thy streames of light blazing and falling Starres fires darred vp and downe in many formes hollow openings and as it were Gulfes in the skie bright circles about the Moone and other Planets Snowes Haile In all which it is enough to admire thine hand though we cannot search out thine action There are thy subtill Windes which we heare and feele yet neither can see their substance nor know their causes whence and whither they passe and what they are thou knowest There are thy Fowles of all shapes colours notes natures whilst I compare these with the inhabitants of that other heauen I finde those Starres and spirits like one another These Meteors and fowles in as many varieties as there are seuerall creatures Why is this Is it because Man for whose sake these are made delights in change thou in constancie Or is it that in these thou mayest shew thine owne skill and their imperfection There is no variety in that which is perfect because there is but one perfection and so much shall we grow nearer to perfectnesse by how much wee draw nearer to vnity and vniformitie From thence if wee goe downe to the great deepe the Wombe of moisture the Well of fountaines the great Pond of the world wee know not whether to wonder at the Element it selfe or the ghests which it containes How doth that sea of thine roare and fome and swell as if it would swallow vp the earth Thou stayest the rage of it by an insensible violence and by a naturall miracle confinest his wanes vvhy it moues and why it stayes it is to vs equally wonderfull what liuing Mountaines such are thy Whales rowle vp and downe in those fearfull billowes for greatnesse of number hugenesse of quantitie strangenesse of shapes varietie of fashions neither aire nor earth can compare vvith the vvaters I say nothing of thy hid treasures which thy vvisedome hath reposed in the bowels of the earth and sea How secretly and how basely are they laid vp secretly that we might not seeke them basely that vve might not ouer-esteeme them I need not digge so low as these metals mineries quarries vvhich yeeld riches enough of obseruation to the soule How many millions of vvonders doth the very face of the earth offer me Which of these Herbs Flowres Trees Leaues Seeds Fruits is there what Beast what Worme vvherein we may not see the footsteps of a Deity Wherein wee may not reade infinitenesse of power of skill and must be forced to confesse that hee vvhich made the Angels and Starres of heauen made also the vermine on the earth O God the heart of man is too strait to admire enough euen that vvhich he treads vpon What shall wee say to thee the Maker of all these O Lord how vvonderfull are thy vvorkes in all the world In wisedome hast thou made them all And in all these thou spakest and they were done Thy vvill is thy word and thy word is thy deed Our tongue and hand and heart are different all are one in thee which are simply one and infinite Here needed no helpes no instruments whâ—t could be present with the Eternall what needed or vvhat could be added to the infinite Thine hand is not shortned thy word is still equally effectuall say thou the word and my soule shall be made new againe say thou the word and my body shall be repaired from his dust For all things obey thee O Lord why doe I not yeeld to the word of thy councell since I must yeeld as all thy creatures to the word of thy command Of Man BVT O God what a little Lord hast thou made ouer this great World The least corne of sand is not so small to the whole Earth as Man is to the Heauen vvhen I see the Heauens the Sunne Moone and Starres O God what is man who would thinke thou shouldst make all these Creatures for one and that one vvell neere the least of all Yet none but he can see what thou hast done none but he can admire and adore thee in what he seeth how had he need to do nothing but this since he alone must do it Certainly the price and vertue of things consist not in the quantity one diamond is more worth then many Qâ—arries of stone one Loadstone hath more vertue then Mountaines of earth It is lawfull for vs to praise thee in our selues All thy creation hath not more wonder in it then one of vs other Creatures thou madest by a simple command Man not without a diuine consultation others at once Man thou didst first forme then inspire others in seuerall shapes like to none but themselues Man after thine owne Image others with qualities fit for seruice Man for dominion Man had his name from thee They had their names from Man How should we be consecrated to thee aboue all others since thou hast bestowed more cost on vs then others What shall I admire first Thy prouidence in the time of our Creation Or thy power and wisedom in the act First thou madest the great house of the World and furnishedst it then thou broughtest in thy Tenant to possesse it The bare vvalls had been too good for vs but thy loue vvas aboue our desert Thou that madest ready the Earth for vs before we were hast by the same mercy prepared a place in heauen for vs whiles wee are on earth The stage was first fully prepared then was Man brought forth thither as an Actor or Spectator that he might neither be idle nor discontent behold thou hadst addressed an earth for vse an Heauen for contemplation after thou hadst drawne
soone and easily multiply a thousand sins neuer Man had so many children so that when there were men enow to store the earth there were as many sins as would reach vp to heauen wherevpon the waters came downe from heauen and swelled vp to heauen againe If there had not been so deepe a Deluge of sin there had been none of the waters Frō whence then was this superfluity of iniquity Whence but from the vnequall yoke with Infidels These mariages did not beget men so much as wickednesse from hence religious husbands both lost their piety and gained a rebellious and godlesse generation That which was the first occasion of sin was the occasion of the increase of sinne A woman seduced Adam women betray these sonnes of God the beauty of the Apple betrayed the woman the beauty of these women betrayed this holy seed Eue saw and lusted so did they this also was a forbidden fruit they lusted tasted sinned died the most sins begin at the eyes by them commonly Satan creeps into the heart that soule can neuer be in safety that hath not couenanted with his eyes God needed not haue giuen these men any warning of his iudgement they gaue him no warning of their sinnes no respite yet that God might approue his mercies to the very wicked he giues them an hundred and twenty yeers respite of repenting how loth is God to strike that threats so long He that delights in reuenge surprises his aduersarie whereas he that giues long warnings desires to be preuented if we were not wilfull we should neuer smart Neither doth he giue them time onely but a faithfull teacher It is an happy thing when he that teacheth others is righteous Noahs hand taught them as much as he tongue His businesse in building the Arke was a reall sermon to the world wherein at once were taught mercy and life to the beleeuer and to the rebellious destruction Me thinks I see those monstrous sonnes of Lamech comming to Noah and asking him what he meanes by that strange worke whether he meane to saile vpon the drie land To whom when he reports Gods purpose and his they goe away laughing at his idlenesse and tell one another in sport that too much holinesse hath made him mad yet cannot they all flout Noah out of his faith hee preaches and builds and finishes Doubtlesse more hands went to this worke then his many a one wrought vpon the Arke which yet was not saued in the Arke Our outward Workes cannot saue vs without our Faith we may helpe to saue others and perish our selues what a wonder of mercy is this that I here see One poore Family called out of a World and as it were eight graines of corne fanned from a whole barnefull of chaffe one Hypocrite was saued with the rest for Noahs sake not one righteous man was swept away for company For these few was the Earth preserued still vnder the Waters and all kinds of Creatures vpon the Waters which else had beene all destroyed Still the World stands for their sakes for whom it was preserued Else fire should consume that which could not be clensed by water This difference is strange I see the sauagest of all creatures Lyons Tygres Beares by an instinct from God come to seeke the Arke as we see swine fore-seeing a storm runne home crying for shelter men I see not Reason once debauched is worse then brutishnesse God hath vse euen of these fierce and cruell beasts and glory by them euen they being created for man must liue by him though to his punishment how gently do they offer submit themselues to their Preseruer renewing that obeysance to this Repairer of the World which they before sin yeelded to him that first stored the World Hee that shut them into the Arke when they were entred shut their mouthes also while they did enter The Lyons fawne vpon Noah and Daniel What heart cannot the Maker of them mollifie The vncleane beasts God would haue to liue the cleane to multiply and therefore he sends to Noah seuen of the cleane of the vncleane two Hee knew the one would annoy Man with their multitude the other would inrich him Those things are worthy of most respect which are of most vse But why seuen Surely that God that created seuen dayes in the Weeke and made one for himselfe did here preserue of seuen cleane beasts one for him selfe for sacrifice He giues vs six for one in earthly things that in spirituall we should be all for him Now the day is come all the ghests are entred the Arke is shut and the windows of Heauen opened I doubt not but many of those scoffers when they saw the violence of the Waues descending and ascending according to Noahs prediction came wading middle-deepe vnto the Arke and importunately craued that admittance which they once denyed But now as they formerly reiected God so are they iustly reiected of God Ere vengeance begin repentance is seasonable but if iudgement be once gone out we cry too late While the Gospell solicites vs the doores of the Arke are open if we neglect the time of grace in vaine shall wee seeke it with teares God holds it no mercy to pity the obstinate Others more bold than they hope to ouerrunne the iudgement and climbling vp to the high Mountaines looke downe vpon the Waters with more hope than feare and now when they see their Hills becomne Ilands they climbe vp into the tallest Trees there with palenesse and horror at once looke for death and studie to auoyde it whom the waues ouer-take at last halfe dead with famine and halfe with feare Loe now from the tops of the Mountaines they descry the Arke floting vpon the waters and behold with enuie that which before they beheld with scorne In vaine doth he fly whom God pursues There is no way to fly from his iudgements but to flie to his mercy by repenting The Faith of the righteous cannot be so much derided as their successe is magnified How securely doth Noah ride out this vproare of Heauen Earth and Waters He heares the powring downe of the raine aboue his head the shrieking of Men and roaring and bellowing of Beasts on both sides him the raging and threats of the waues vnder him hee saw the miserable shifts of the distressed vnbeleeuers and in the meane time sits quietly in his dry Cabbin neither feeling nor fearing euill he knew that he which owed the waters would steere him that he who shut him in would preserue him How happy a thing is Faith what a quiet safety what an heauenly peace doth it worke in the soule in the midst of all the inundations of euill Now when God hath fetcht againe all the life which he had giuen to his vnworthy creatures and reduced the world vnto his first forme wherein waters were ouer the face of the Earth it was time for a renouation of al things to succeed this destruction To haue continued this Delude
faithfull vnlesse I be vnnaturall Or if I must needs bee the Monster of all Parents vvill not Ismael yet be accepted O God where is thy mercy where is thy iustice Hast thou giuen me but one onely sonne and must I now slay him Why did I vvait so long for him Why didst thou giue him me Why didst thou promise mee a blessing in him What vvill the Heathen say when they shall heare of this infamous massacre How can thy Name and my Profession escape a perpetuall blasphemie With what face shall I looke vpon my wife Sarah whose sonne I haue murdered How shall she entertaine the Executioner of Isaac Or who will beleeue that I did this from thee How shall not all the World spet at this holy cruelty and say There goes the man that cut the throat of his owne sonne Yet if he were an vngracious or rebellious child his deserts might giue some colour to this violence but to lay hands on so deare so dutifull so hopefull a sonne is vncapable of all pretences But grant that thou which art the God of Nature mayst either alter or neglect it what shall I say to the truth of thy promises Can thy iustice admit contradictions Can thy decrees be changeable Canst thou promise and disappoint Can these two stand together Isaac shall liue to be the father of Nations and Isaac shall now dye by the hand of his Father when Isaac is once gone where is my seed where is my blessing O God if thy commands and purposes be capable of alteration alter this bloody sentence and let thy first word stand These would haue been the thoughts of a weake heart But God knew that he spake to an Abraham and Abraham knew that he had to doe with a God Faith had taught him not to argue but obey In an holy wilfulnesse he either forgets Nature or despises her he is sure that what God commands is good that what hee promises is infallible and therefore is carelesse of the meanes and trusts to the end In matters of God whosoeuer consults with flesh and blood shall neuer offer vp his Isaac to God there needs no counsellor when wee know God is the Commander here is neither grudging nor deliberating nor delaying His faith would not suffer him so much as to be sorie for that hee must doe Sarah her selfe may not know of Gods charge and her husbands purpose lest her affection should haue ouercome her faith lest her weaknesse now growne importunate should haue said Disobey God and dye That which he must doe he will doe he that hath learned not to regard the life of his sonne had learned not to regard the sorrow of his wife It is too much tendernesse to respect the censures and constructions of others when wee haue a direct word from God The good Patriarch rises early and addresses himselfe to his sad iourney And now must he trauell three whole dayes to this execution and still must Isaac be in his eye whom all this while he seemes to see bleeding vpon the pile of Wood which he caries there is nothing so miserable as to dwell vnder the expectation of a great euill That misery which must be is mitigated with speed and aggrauated with delay All this while if Abraham had repented him hee had leisure to returne There is no small tryall euen in the very time of tryall now vvhen they are come within sight of the chosen Mountaine the seruants are dismissed what a deuotion is this that vvill abide no witnesses he will not suffer two of his owne Vassals to see him doe that which soone after all the world must know he hath done yet is not Abraham afraid of that pietie which the beholders could not see without horror vvithout resistance which no eare could heare of without abomination What stranger could haue endured to see the Father carie the knife and fire instruments of that death which hee had rather suffer then inflict The sonne securely carying that burden which must carie him But if Abrahams heart could haue knowne how to relent that question of his deare innocent and religious sonne had melted it into compassion My Father Behold the fire and the wood but where is the Sacrifice I know not whether that word My Father did not strike Abraham as deepe as the knife of Abraham could strike his sonne yet doth he not so much as thinke O miserable man that may not at once be a Sonne to such a God and Father to such a Sonne Still he persists and conceales and where hee meant not prophesies My sonne God shall prouide a Lambe for the burnt-offering The heauy tidings was loth to come forth It was a death to Abraham to say what he must doe He knowes his owne faith to act this hee knowes not Isaacs to indure it But now when Isaac hath helped to build the Altar whereon he must be consumed he heares not without astonishment the strange command of God the finall will of his Father My sonne thou art the Lambe which God hath prouided for this burnt offering If my bloud would haue excused thee how many thousand times had I rather to giue thee my owne life then take thine Alas I am full of dayes and now of long liued not but in thee Thou mightest haue preserued the life of thy Father and haue comforted his death but the God of vs both hath chosen thee He that gaue thee vnto me miraculously bids me by an vnvsuall meanes returne thee vnto him I need not tell thee that I sacrifice all my worldly ioyes yea and my selfe in thee but God must be obeyed neither art thou too deare for him that cals thee Come on my Sonne restore the life that God hath giuen thee by me offer thy selfe willingly to these flames send vp thy soule cheerefully vnto thy glory and know that God loues thee aboue others since he requires thee alone to be consecrated in sacrifice to himselfe Who cannot imagine with what perplexed mixtures of passions with what changes of countenance what doubts what feares what amazement good Isaac receiued this sudden message from the mouth of his Father how he questioned how hee pleaded But when hee had somewhat digested his thoughts and considered that the Author was God the actor Abraham the action a sacrifice hee now approues himselfe the sonne of Abraham now he encourages the trembling hands of his Father with whom he striues in this praise of forwardnesse and obedience now hee offers his hands and feet to the cords his throat to the knife his body to the Altar and growing ambitious of the sword fire intreats his Father to doe that which he would haue done though he had disswaded him O holy emulation of faith O blessed agreement of the Sacrificer and Oblation Abraham is as ready to take as Isaac to giue hee binds those deare hands which are more straightly bound with the cords of duty and resolution he layes his sacrifice vpon the
had beene too abominable to imagine vnnaturall Continuance and society in euill makes wicked men outrageous and impudent It is not enough for Lot to bee the Witnesse but he must be the Bawd also Bring forth these men that we may know them Behold euen the Sodomites speake modestly though their acts and intents be villanous What a shame is it for those which professe purity of heart to speake filthily The good man craues and pleads the lawes of hospitalitie and when hee sees head-strong purposes of mischiefe chooses rather to bee an ill Father then an ill host His intention was good but his offer was faulty If through his allowance the Sodomites had defiled his daughters it had been his sinne If through violence they had defiled his ghests it had been onely theirs There can be no warrant for vs to sinne lest others should sinne It is for God to preuent sinnes with iudgements it is not for men to preuent a greater sinne with a lesse the best mindes when they are troubled yeeld inconsiderate motions as water that is violently stirred sends vp bubbles God meant better to Lot then to suffer his weake offer to be accepted Those which are bent vpon villany are more exasperated by disswasion as some strong streames when they are resisted by flood-gates swell ouer the bankes Many a one is hardned by the good vvord of God and in stead of receiuing the counsell rages at the messenger When men are growne to that passe that they are no whit better by afflictions and worse with admonitions God findes it time to strike Now Lots ghests begin to shew themselues Angels and first deliuer Lot in Sodom then from Sodom First strike them with blindnesse whom they will after consume vvith fire How little did the Sodomites thinke that vengeance vvas so neere them While they went groping in the streets and cursing those whom they could not find Lot with the Angels is in secure light and sees them miserable and fore-sees them burning It is the vse of God to blind and besot those whom hee meanes to destroy The light which they shall see shall be fierie which shall be the beginning of an euerlasting darknesse and a fire vnquenchable Now they haue done sinning and God begins to iudge Wickednesse hath but a time the punishment of wickednesse is beyond all time The residue of the night was both short and dangerous Yet good Lot though sought for by the Sodomites and newly pull'd into his house by the Angels goes forth of his house to seeke his sonnes in law No good man would bee saued alone faith makes vs charitable with neglect of all perill Hee warnes them like a Prophet and aduises them like a Father but both in vaine hee seemes to them as if he mocked and they doe more then seeme to mock him againe Why should to morrow differ from other dayes Who euer saw it raine fire Or whence should that brimstone come Or if such showres must fall how shall nothing burne but this Valley So to carnall men preaching is foolishnesse deuotion idlenesse the Prophets mad-men Paul a babler These mens incredulitie is as worthy of the fire as the others vncleannesse He that beleeues not is condemned already The messengers of God do not onely hasten Lot but pull him by a gracious violence out of that impure Citie They thirsted at once after vengeance vpon Sodom and Lots safety they knew God could not strike Sodom till Lot were gone out and that Lot could not be safe within those walls Wee are all naturally in Sodom if God did not hale vs out whiles wee linger wee should be condemned with the world If God meet with a very good field hee puls vp the weeds and lets the corne grow if indifferent he lets the corne and weeds grow together if very ill he gathers the few eares of corne and burnes the weeds Oh the large bounty of God which reacheth not to vs onely but to ours God saues Lot for Abrahams sake and Zoar for Lots sake If Sodom had not beene too vvicked it had escaped Were it not for Gods deare children that are intermixed vvith the world it could not stand The wicked owe their liues vnto those few good vvhom they hate and persecute Now at once the Sunne rises vpon Zoar and fire falls downe vpon Sodom Abraham stands vpon the hill and sees the Cities burning It is faire weather with Gods children vvhen it is foulest with the vvicked Those which burned with the fire of lust are now consumed vvith the fire of vengeance They sinned against nature and now against the course of nature fire descends from Heauen and consumes them Lot may not so much as looke at the flame whether for the stâ—y of his passage or the horror of the sight or tryall of his faith or feare of commiseration Small precepts from God are of importance obedience is as well tryed and disobedience as well punished in little as in much His wife doth but turne backe her head whether in curiositie or vnbeliefe or loue and compassion of the place shee is turned into a monument of disobedience vvhat doth it auaile her not to be turned into ashes in Sodom when she is turned into a pillar of Salt in the Plaine He that saued a whole Citie cannot saue his owne Wife God cannot abide small sinnes in those vvhom hee hath obliged If we displease him God can as vvell meet vvith vs out of Sodom Lot now comne into Zoar maruels at the stay of her vvhom hee might not before looke backe to call and soone after returning to seeke her beholds this change with wonder and griefe He finds Salt in stead of flesh a Pillar in stead of a Wife he findes Sodome consumed and her standing and is more amazed vvith this by how much it was both more neere him and lesse expected When God deliuers vs from destruction he doth not secure vs from all afflictions Lot hath lost his Wise his allies his substance and now betakes himselfe to an vncomfortable solitarinesse Yet though he fled from company he could not fly from sinne He who could not be tainted vvith vncleannesse in Sodom is ouertaken with drunkennesse and incest in a Caue Rather then Satan shall not vvant baits his owne daughters will proue Sodomites Those vvhich should haue comforted betrayed him How little are some hearts moued vvith iudgements The ashes of Sodom and the Pillar of Salt vvere not yet out of their eye vvhen they dare thinke of lying with their owne Father They knew that vvhilest Lot vvas sober he could not be vnchaste Drunkennesse is the way to all beastiall affections and acts Wine knowes no difference either of persons or sins No doubt Lot vvas afterwards ashamed of his incestuous Seed and now wished he had come alone out of Sodom yet euen this vnnaturall bed was blessed vvith increase and one of our Sauiours worthy Ancestors sprung after from this line Gods election is not tyed to our
touched of the purest Israelite Here the hem of his garment is touched by the woman that had the flux of blood yea his very face was touched with the lips of Iudas There the very earth vvas prohibited them on which he descended Here his very body and blood is profered to our touch and taste Oh the maruellous kindnesse of our God! How vnthankfull are we if we doe not acknowledge this mercy aboue his ancient people They were his owne yet strangers in comparison of our libertie It is our shame and sinne if in these meanes of intirenesse we be no better acquainted with God then they which in their greatest familiaritie vvere commanded aloofe God was euer wonderfull in his workes and fearfull in his iudgements but hee was neuer so terrible in the execution of his will as now in the promulgation of it Here was nothing but a maiesticall terrour in the eyes in the eares of the Israelites as if God meant to shew them by this how fearfull he could be Here was the lightning darted in their eyes the thunders roaring in their eares the Trumpet of God drowning the thunder claps the voice of God out-speaking the Trumpet of the Angell The Cloud enwrapping the smoake ascending the fire flaming the Mount trembling Moses climbing and quaking palenesse and death in the face of Israel vprore in the elements and all the glory of heauen turned into terrour In the destruction of the first World there were clouds without fire In the destruction of Sodom there was fire raining without clouds but here was fire smoake clouds thunder earthquakes and whatsoeuer might worke more astonishment then euer was in any vengeance inflicted And if the Law vvere thus giuen how shall it be required If such were the Proclamation of Gods Statutes what shall the Sessions bee I see and tremble at the resemblance The Trumpet of the Angell called vnto the one The voice of an Archangell the Trumpet of God shall summon vs to the other To the one Moses that climbed vp that Hill and alone saw it sayes God came with ten thousands of his Saints In the other thousand thousands shall minister to him and ten thousand thousands shal stand before him In the one Mount Sinai onely was on a flame all the World shall be so in the other In the one there was fire smoake thunder and lightning In the other a fiery streame shall issue from him wherewith the heauens shall be dissolued and the Elements shall melt away vvith a noise Oh God how powerfull art thou to inflict vengeance vpon sinners who didst thus forbid sinne and if thou vvert so terrible a Law-giuer vvhat a Iudge shalt thou appeare What shall become of the breakers of so fierie a Law Oh vvhere shall those appeare that are guilty of the transgressing that law vvhose very deliuery vvas little lesse then death If our God should exact his Law but in the same rigour wherein he gaue it sinne could not quite the cost But now the fire vvherein it was deliuered was but terrifying the fire wherein it shall bee required is consuming Happy are those that are from vnder the terrours of that Law which was giuen in fire and in fire shall be required God would haue Israel see that they had not to do with some impotent Commander that is faine to publish his Lawes without noyse in dead paper which can more easily enioyne then punish or descry then execute and therefore before hee giues them a Law he shewes them that he can command Heauen Earth Fire Ayre in reuenge of the breach of the Law That they could not but thinke it deadly to displease such a Law-giuer or violate such dreadfull statutes that they might see all the Elements examples of that obedience which they should yeeld vnto their Maker This fire wherein the Law was giuen is still in it and will neuer out Hence are those terrours which it flashes in euery conscience that hath felt remorse of sinne Euery mans heart is a Sinai and resembles to him both heauen and hell The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law That they might see he could finde out their closest sinnes hee deliuers his Law in the light of fire from out of the smoake That they might see what is due to their sinnes they see fire aboue to represent the fire that should be below them That they might know he could waken their securitie the Thunder and louder voice of GOD speakes to their hearts That they might see what their hearts should doe the Earth quakes vnder them That they might see they could not shift their appearance the Angels call them together Oh royall Law and mighty Law-giuer How could they think of hauing any other God that had such proofes of this How could they think of making any resemblance of him whom they saw could not be seene and whom they saw in not being seene infinite How could they thinke of daring to profane his Name vvhom they heard to name himselfe with that voice Iehoua How could they thinke of standing vvith him for a day whom they saw to command that heauen vvhich makes and measures day How could they thinke of disobeying his Deputies whom they saw so able to reuenge How could they thinke of killing when they were halfe dead with the feare of him that could kill both body and soule How could they think of the flames of lust that saw such fires of vengeance How could they thinke of stealing from others that saw whose the heauen and the earth was to dispose of at his pleasure How could they thinke of speaking falsely that heard God speake in so fearfull a tone How could they thinke of coueting others goods that saw how vveake and vncertaine right they had to their owne Yea to vs vvas this Law so deliuered to vs in them neither had there beene such state in the promulgation of it if God had not intended it for Eternity We men that so feare the breach of humane Lawes for some small mulcts of forfeiture how should vvee feare thee O Lord that canst cast body and soule into hell Of the Golden Calfe IT was not much aboue a moneth since Israel made their couenant with God since they trembled to heare him say Thou shalt haue no other Gods but me since they saw Moses part from them and climbe vp the Hill to God and now they say Make vs Gods we know not what is become of this Moses Oh ye mad Israelites haue ye so soon forgotten that fire and thunder which you heard and saw Is that smoake vanished out of your minde as soone as out of your sight Could your hearts cease to tremble with the earth Can yee in the very sight of Sinai call for other Gods And for Moses was it not for your sakes that he thrust himselfe into the midst of that smoake and fire which ye feared to see afar off Was he not now gone after so many sudden
is Nothing makes a man so good a patriot as Religion Oh the sweet disposition of Moses fit for him that should bee familiar with God! He saw they could be content to be merry and happy without him he would not be happy without them They had professed to haue forgotten him he slacks not to sue for them He that will euer hope for good himselfe must returne good for euill vnto others Yet was it not Israel so much that Moses respected as God in Israel Hee was thrifty and iealous for his Maker and would not haue him lose the glory of his mighty deliuerances nor would abide a pretence for any Egyptian dogge to barke against the powerfull worke of God Wherefore shall the Egyptians say If Israel could haue perished without dishonor to God perhaps his hatred to their Idolatry would haue ouercome his naturall loue and he had let God alone Now so tender is he ouer the name of God that he would rather haue Israel scape with a sin then Gods glory should be blemished in the opinions of men by a iust iudgement He saw that the eyes and tongues of all the world were intent vpon Israel a people so miraculously fetcht from Egypt whom the Sea gaue way to whom heauen fed whom the Rocke watred whom the fire and cloud guarded which heard the audible voice of God Hee knew withall how readie the world would bee to misconstrue and how the Heathens would bee ready to cast imputations of leuity or impotence vpon God and therefore sayes What will the Egyptians say Happy is that man which can make Gods glory the scope of all his actions and desires neither cares for his owne wel-fare nor feares the miseries of others but with respect to God in both If God had not giuen Moses this care of his glory he could not haue had it and now his goodnesse takes it so kindly as if himselfe had receiued a fauour from his creature and for a reward of the grace hee had wrought promises not to doe that which hee threatned But what needs God to care for the speech of the Egyptians men Infidels And if they had beene good yet their censure should haue bin vniust Shall God care for the tongues of men the holy God for the tongues of Infidels The very Israelites now they were from vnder the hands of Egypt cared not for their words and shall the God of Heauen regard that which is not worth the regard of men Their tongues could not walke against God but from himselfe and if it could haue been the worse for him would hee haue permitted it But O God how dainty art thou of thine honour that thou canst not endure the worst of men should haue any colour to taint it What doe wee men stand vpon our iustice and innocence with neglect of all vniust censures when that infinite God whom no censures can reach will not abide that the very Egyptians should falsely taxe his power and mercy Wise men must care not onely to deserue well but to heare well and to wipe off not onely crimes but censures There was neuer so precious a Monument as the Tables written with Gods owne hand If we see but the stone which Iacobs head rested on or on which the foot of Christ did once tread wee looke vpon it with more then ordinarie respect With what eye should wee haue beheld this stone which was hewed and written with the finger of God! Any manu-script scroll written by the hand of a famous man is laid vp amongst our iewels What place then should wee haue giuen to the hand-writing of the Almighty That which hee hath dictated to his seruants the Prophets challenges iust honour from vs how doth that deserue veneration which his owne hand wrote immediately Prophecies and Euangelicall discourses he hath written by others neuer did hee write any thing himselfe but these Tables of the Law neither did he euer speake any thing audibly to whole mankinde but it The hand the stone the Law were all his By how much more precious this Record was by so much was the fault greater of defacing it What King holds it lesse then rebellion to teare his writing and blemish his Seale At the first he ingraued his Image in the table of mans heart Adam blurred the Image but through Gods mercy saued the Tablet Now hee writes his will in the Tables of stone Moses breaks the Tables and defaced the writing if they had been giuen him for himselfe the Author the matter had deserued that as they were written in stone for permanency So they should be kept for euer and as they were euerlasting in vse so they should bee in preseruation Had they been written in clay they could but haue been broken But now they were giuen for all Israel for all mankinde He was but the messenger not the owner Howsoeuer therefore Israel had deserued by breaking this Couenant with God to haue this Monument of Gods Couenant with them broken by the same hand that wrote it yet how durst Moses thus carelesly cast away the Treasure of all the world and by his hands vndoe that which was with such cost and care done by his Creator How durst hee faile the trust of that God whose pledge he receiued with awe and reuerence He that expostulated with God to haue Israel liue and prosper why would he deface the rule of their life in the keeping whereof they should prosper I see that forty dayes talke with God cannot bereaue a man of passionate infirmitie He that was the meekest vpon earth in a sudden indignation abandons that which in cold blood hee would haue held faster then his life He forgets the Law written when hee saw it broken His zeale for God hath transported him from himselfe and his duty to the charge of God Hee more hates the Golden Calfe wherein hee saw ingrauen the Idolatry of Israel then hee honoured the Tables of stone wherein God had ingrauen his Commandements and more longed to deface the Idol then he cared to preserue the Tables Yet that God which so sharply reuenged the breach of one Law vpon the Israelites checks not Moses for breaking both the Tables of the Law The Law of God is spirituall the internall breach of one Law is so hainous that in comparison of it God scarce counts the breaking of the outward Tables a breach of the Law The goodnesse of God winks at the errours of honest zeale and so loues the strength of good affections that it passeth ouer their infirmities How highly God doth esteeme a well gouerned zeale vvhen his mercy crownes it with all the faults The Tables had not offended the Calfe had and Israel in it Moses takes reuenge on both He burnes and stamps the Calfe to powder and giues it Israel to drinke that they might haue it in their guts in stead of their eyes How he hasteth to destroy the Idol wherein they sinned that as an Idoll is nothing so it might
haile-stones that now the Amorites may see both these reuenges come from one hand These bullets of God doe not wound but kill It is no wonder that these fiue Kings flie they may soone runne away from their hope neuer from their horror If they looke behinde there is the sword of Israel which they dare not turne vpon because God had taken their heart from them before their life If they looked vpwards there is the haile shot of God fighting against them out of heauen which they can neither resist nor auoid If they had no enemie but Israel they might hope to runne away from death sith feare is a better footman then desire of reuenge but now whither-soeuer they runne heauen will be about their heads And now all the reason that is left them in this confusion of their thoughts is to wish themselues well dead there is no euasion where God intends a reuenge We men haue deuised to imitate these instruments of death send forth deadly bullets out of a cloud of smoke wherein yet as there is much danger so much vncertaintie but this God that discharges his Ordinance from heauen directs euery shot to an head and can as easily kill as shoot It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God he hath more waies of vengeance then he hath creatures The same heauen that sent forth water to the old world fire to the Sodomites Lightning and Thunder-bolts to the Egyptians sends out hailestones to the Amorites It is a good care how we may not anger God it is a vaine study how we may flie from his iudgements when we haue angered him if we could runne out of the world euen there shall we finde his reuenges farre greater Was it not miracle enough that God did braine their Aduersaries from heauen but that the Sun and Moone must stand still in heauen Is it not enough that the Amorites flie but that the greatest Planets of heauen must stay their own course to witnesse and wonder at the discomfiture For him which gaue them both being and motion to bid them stand still it seemes no difficultie although the rarenesse would deserue admiration but for a man to command the chiefe Starres of heauen by whose influence he liueth as the Centurion would doe his seruant Sunne stay in Gibeon and Moone stand still in Aialon it is more then a wonder It was not Ioshua but his faith that did this not by way of precept but of praier If I may not say that the request of a faithfull man as wee say of the great commands Gods glory was that which Ioshua aimed at he knew that all the world must needs be witnesses of that which the Eye of the world stood still to see Had he respected but the slaughter of the Amorites he knew the Haile-stones could doe that alone the Sunne needed not stand still to direct that cloud to persecute them but the glory of the slaughter was sought by Ioshua that he might send that vp whence those Haile-stones and that victory came All the Earth might see the Sunne and Moone all could not see the Cloud of Haile which because of that heauy burden flew but low That all Nations might know the same hand commands both in Earth in the Clouds in Heauen Ioshua now praies that he which disheartned his enemies vpon earth and smote them from the cloud would stay the Sunne and Moone in Heauen God neuer got himselfe so much honour by one dayes worke amongst the Heathen and when was it more fit then now when fiue Heathen Kings are banded against him The Sun and the Moone were the ordinary gods of the world and who would not but thinke that their standing still but one houre should be the ruine of Nature And now all Nations shall well see that there is an higher then their highest that their gods are but seruants to the god whom themselues should serue at whose pleasure both they and Nature shall stand at once If that God which meant to work this miracle had not raised vp his thoughts to desire it it had beene a blameable presumption which now is a faith worthy of admiration To desire a miracle without cause is a tempting of God O powerfull God that can effect this O power of faith that can obtain it What is there that God cannot doe and what is there which God can doe that faith cannot doe The Altar of the Reubenites REuben and Gad were the first that had an inheritance assigned them yet they must enioy it last So it falls out oft in the heauenly Canaan the first in title are the last in possession They had their lot assigned them beyond Iordan which though it were allotted them in peace must be purchased with their warre that must be done for their brethren which needed not be done for themselues they must yet still fight and fight formost that as they had the first patrimony they might endure the first encounter I doe not heare them say This is our share let vs sit downe and enioy it quietly fight who will for the rest but when they knew their owne portion they leaue wiues and children to take possession and march armed before their brethren till they had conquered all Canaan Whether should we more commend their courage or their charity Others were moued to fight with hope they only with loue they could not win more they might lose themselues yet they will fight both for that they had something and that their brethren might haue Thankfulnesse and loue can doe more with Gods children then desire to merit or necessity No true Israelite can if he might chuse abide to sit still beyond Iordan when all his brethren are in the field Now when all this warre of God was ended and all Canaan is both won and diuided they returne to their owne yet not till they were dismissed by Ioshua all the sweet attractiues of their priuate loue cannot hasten their pace If heauen be neuer so sweet to vs yet may we not runne from this earthen warfare till our great Captaine shall please to discharge vs. If these Reubenites had departed sooner they had been recalled if not as cowards surely as fugitiues now they are sent backe with victory and blessing How safe and happy it is to attend both the call and the dispatch of God! Being returned in peace to their home their first care is not for Trophees nor for houses but for an Altar to God an Altar not for sacrifice which had been abominable but for a memoriall what God they serued The first care of true Israelites must be the safety of Religion the world as it is inferiour in worth so must it be in respect hee neuer knew God aright that can abide any competition with his Maker The rest of the Tribes no sooner heare newes of their new Altar but they gather to Shiloh to fight against them they had scarce breathed from the Canaanitish
Fruitlesse is the wonder that endeth not in faith No light is sufficient where the eyes are held through vnbeliefe or preiudice The Doctors were not more amazed to heare so profound a childhood than the parents of Christ were to see him among the Doctors the ioy of finding him did striue with the astonishment of finding him thus And now not Ioseph he knew how little right he had to that diuine Sonne but Mary breakes forth into a louing expostulation Sonne why hast thou dealt so with vs that she might not seeme to take vpon her as an imperious Mother it is like she reserued this question till she had him alone wherein she meant rather to expresse griefe than correption Onely herein the blessed Virgin offended that her inconsideration did not suppose as it was that some higher respects than could be due to flesh and bloud called away the Sonne of God from her that was the daughter of man She that was but else mother of humanity should not haue thought that the businesse of God must for her sake be neglected We are all partiall to our selues naturally and prone to the regard of our owne rights questionlesse this gracious Saint would not for all the world haue willingly preferd her owne attendance to that of her God through heedlesnesses she doth so her sonne and Sauiour is her monitor out of his diuine loue reforming her naturall How is it that yee sought mee Knew yee not that I must goe about my Fathers businesse Immediately before the blessed Virgin had said Thy father and I sought thee with heauy hearts Wherein both according to the supposition of the world she called Ioseph the Father of Christ and according to the fashion of a dutifull wife she names her Ioseph before her selfe She well knew that Ioseph had nothing but a name in this businesse she knew how God had dignified her beyond him yet she sayes Thy father and I sought thee The Sonne of God stands not vpon contradiction to his mother but leading her thoughts from his supposed father to his true from earth to heauen he answers Knew yee not that I must goe about my Fathers businesses It was honor enough to her that he had vouchsafed to take flesh of her It was his eternall honour that hee was God of God the euerlasting Sonne of the heauenly Father good reason therefore was it that the respects to flesh should giue place to the God of Spirits How well contented was holy Mary with so iust an answer how doth she now againe in her heart renew her answer to the Angels Behold the seruant of the Lord be it according to thy word Wee are all the Sonnes of God in another kinde Nature and the world thinkes wee should attend them we are not worthy to say we haue a Father in heauen if we cannot steale away from these earthly distractions and imploy our-selues in the seruices of our God Christs Baptisme IOhn did euery way forenâ—e Christ not so much in the time of his Birth as in his office neither was there more vnlikenesse in their disposition and carriage that similitude in their function both did preach and baptize only Iohn baptized by himself our Sauiour by his Disciples our Sauiour wrought miracles by himselfe by his Disciples Iohn wrought none by either Wherein Christ meant to shew himselfe a Lord and Iohn a seruant and Iohn meant to approue himself a true seruant to him whose harbinger he was hee that leapt in the wombe of his mother when his Sauiour then newly conceiued came in presence bestird himselfe when he was brought forth into the light of the Church to the honor and seruice of his Sauiour hee did the same before Christ which Christ charged his Disciples to doe after him Preach and Baptize The Gospell ran alwayes in one tenor and was neuer but like it selfe So it became the Word of him in whom there is no shadow by turning and whose Word it is I am Iehoua I change not It was fit that he which had the Prophets the starre the Angels to foretell his comming into the world should haue his Vsher to goe before him when he would notifie himselfe to the world Iohn was the Voyce of a Cryer Christ was the Word of his Father it was fit this Voyce should make a noyse to the world ere the Word of the Father should speake to it Iohns note was still Repentance The Axe to the root the Fan to the floore the Chaffe to the fire as his raiment was rough so was his tongue and if his foode were wilde Hony his speech was stinging Locusts Thus must the way be made for Christ in euery heart Plausibility is no fit preface to regeneration if the heart of man had continued vpright God might haue beene intertained without contradiction but now violence must be offered to our corruption ere we can haue roome for grace if the great Way-maker doe not cast downe hills and raise vp valleys in the bosomes of men there is no passage for Christ neuer will Christ come into that soule where the Herald of repentance hath not beene before him That Sauiour of ouâ—s who from eternity lay hid in the Counsaile of God who in the fulnes of time so came that hee lay hid in the wombe of his mother for the space of forty weekes after he was come thought fit to lye hid in Nazareth for the space of thirty yeeres now at last begins to shew himselfe to the world and comes from Galile to Iordan He that was God alwayes and mought haue bin perfect man in an instant would by degrees rise to the perfection both of his Manhood and execution of his mediator-ship to teach vs the necessity of leasure in spirituall proceedings that many Suns and successions of seasons and meanes must be stayed for ere we can attaine our maturity and that when we are ripe for the imployments of God we should no lesse willingly leaue our obscurity than we took the benefit of it for our preparation He that was formerly circumcised would now bee baptized what is Baptisme but an Euangelicall circumcision What was circumcision but a legall baptisme One both supplyed and succeeded the other yet the Author of both will vndergoe both He would be circumcised to sanctifie his Church that was and baptized to sanctifie his Church that should be that so in both Testaments he might open a way into heauen There was in him neither filthinesse nor foreskin of corruption that should need either knife or water He came not to be a Sauiour for himselfe but for vs we are all vncleannesse and vncircumcision he would therefore haue that done to his most pure body which should be of force to cleare our impure soules thus making himselfe sinne for vs that we might be made the righteousnes of God in him His baptisme giues vertue to ours His last action or rather passion was his baptizing with bloud his first was his baptization with water
both of them wash the world from their sins Yea this latter did not only wash the soules of men but washeth that very water by which we are washed from hence is that made both cleane and holy and can both cleanse and hallow vs And if the very handkerchiefe which touched his Apostles had power of cure how much more that Water which the sacred body of Christ touched Christ comes farre to seeke his baptisme to teach vs for whose sake hee was baptized to wait vpon the ordinances of God and to sue for the fauour of spirituall blessings They are worthlesse commodities that are not worth seeking for it is rarely seene that God is found of any man vnsought for that desire which onely makes vs capable of good things cannot stand with neglect Iohn durst not baptize vnbidden his Master sent him to doe this seruice and behold the Master comes to his seruant to call for the participation of that priuiledge which he himselfe had instituted and enioyned how willingly should wee come to our spirituall Superiours for our part in those mysteries which God hath left in their keeping yea how gladly should we come to that Christ who giues vs these blessings who is giuen to vs in them This seemed too great an honor for the modesty of Iohn to receiue If his mother could say when her blessed cousin the Virgin Mary came to visit her Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me how much more might he say so when the diuine Sonne of that mother came to call for a fauour from him I haue need to be baptized of thee and commest thou to me O holy Baptist if there were not a greater borne of women than thou yet thou couldest not bee borne of a woman and not need to be baptized of thy Sauiour Hee baptized with fire thou with water Little would thy water haue auailed thee without his fire If he had not baptized thee how wert thou sanctified from the wombe There can be no flesh without filthinesse neither thy supernaturall conception nor thy austere life could exempt thee from the need of baptisme Euen those that haue not liued to sinne after the similitude of Adam yet are they so tainted with Adam that vnlesse the second Adam clense them by his baptisme they are hopelesse There is no lesse vse of baptisme vnto all than there holy a man is the more sensible hee is of his vnholinesse No carnall man could haue said I haue neede to be baptized of thee neither can he finde what hee is the better for a little Font-water The sence of our wretchednesse and the valuation of our spirituall helps is the best tryall of our regeneration Our Sauiour doth not deny that either Iohn hath need to be baptized of him or that it is strange that he should come to be baptized of Iohn but he will needs thus farre both honor Iohn and disparage himselfe to be baptized of his Messenger hee that would take flesh of the Virgin cducation from his Parents sustenance from his creatures will take baptisme from Iohn It is the prayse of his mercy that he will stoope so low as to bee beholden to his creatures which from him receiue their being and power both to take and giue Yet not so much respect to Iohn as obedience to his Father drew him to this point of humiliation Thus it behoues vs to fulfill all righteousnes The Counsels Appointments of God are righteousnesse it selfe There needs no other motiue either to the seruant or the Son than the knowledge of those righteous purposes This was enough to leade a faithful man thorow all difficulties and inconueniences neither will it admit of any reply or any demurre Iohn yeeldeth to this honor which his Sauiour puts vpon him in giuing baptisme to the Author of it Hee baptized others to the remission of their sinnes now hee baptizes him by whom they are remitted both to the Baptizer and to others No sooner is Christ baptized than hee comes forth of the water The element is of force but during the vse It turnes common when that is past neither is the water sooner powred on his head than the Heauens are opened and the Holy Ghost descendeth vpon that Head which was baptized The Heauens are neuer shut whiles either of the Sacraments is duly administred and receiued neither doe the Heauens euer thus open without the descent of the Holy Ghost But now that the God of Heauen is baptized they open vnto him which are opened to all the faithfull by him and that Holy Ghost which proceeded from him together with the Father ioynes with the Father in a sensible testimony of him that now the world might see what interest he had in the Heauens in the Father in the holy Spirit and might expect nothing but diuine from the entrance of such a Mediator Christ tempted NO sooner is Christ comne out of the water of Baptisme than he enters into the fire of tentation No sooner is the holy Spirit descended vpon his head in the forme of a Doue than he is led by the Spirit to be tempted No sooner doth God say This is my Sonne than Satan sayes If thou be the Some of GOd It is not in the power either of the gift or seales of Grace to deliuer vs from the assaults of Satan they may haue the force to repell euill suggestions they haue none to preuent them yea the more we are ingaged vnto God by our publike vowes and his pledges of fauour so much more busie and violent is the rage of that euill one to encounter vs We are no sooner stept forth into the field of God than he labours to wrest our weapons out of our hands or to turne them against vs. The voyce from Heauen acknowledged Christ to be the Sonne of God this diuine Testimony did not allay the malice of Satan but exasperate it Now that venomous Serpent swels with inward poison and hastes to assaile him whom God hath hounoured from Heauen O God how should I looke to escape the suggestions of that wicked one when the Sonne of thy loue cannot be free when euen grace it selfe drawes on enmity That enemy that spared not to strike at the Head will he forbeare the weakest and remotest limme Arme thou me therefore with an expectation of that euill I cannot auoid Make thou me as strong as he is malicious Say to my soule also Thou art my Sonne and let Satan doe his worst All the time of our Sauiours obscurity I doe not finde him set vpon Now that he lookes forth to the publike execution of his diuine Office Satan bends his forces against him Our priuacy perhaps may sit downe in peace but neuer man did endeuour a common good without opposition It is a signe that both the worke is holy and the Agent faithfull when we meet with strong affronts We haue reason to be comforted with nothing so much as with
should not import enough since others haue beene honoured by this name in Type he addes for full distinction The Sonne of the most High God The good Syrophenecian and blind Bartemeus could say The Sonne of Dauid It was well to acknowledge the true descent of his pedigree according to the flesh but this infernall spirit lookes aloft and fetcheth his line out of the highest heauens The Sonne of the most high God The famous confession of the prime Apostle which honoured him with a new name to immortalitie was no other then Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God and what other doe I heare from the lips of a fiend None more diuine words could fall from the highest Saint Nothing hinders but that the veriest miscreant on earth yea the foulest Deuill in Hell may speake holily It is no passing of iudgement vpon loose sentences So Peter should haue been cast for a Satan in denying forswearing cursing and the Deuill should haue beene set vp for a Saint in confessing Iesus the Sonne of the most high God Fond hypocrite that pleasest thy selfe in talking well heare this Deuil and when thou canst speake better then he looke to fare better but in the meane time know that a smooth tongue and a foule heart caries away double iudgements Let curious heads dispute whether the Deuill knew Christ to bee God In this I dare beleeue himselfe though in nothing else he knew what hee beleeued what hee beleeued what he confessed Iesus the Sonne of the most high God To the confusion of those semi-Christians that haue either held doubtfully or ignorantly mis-knowne or blasphemously denied what the very Deuils haue professed How little can a bare speculation auaile vs in these cases of Diuinitie So farre this Deuill hath attained to no ease no comfort Knowledge alone doth but puffe vp it is our loue that edifies If there be not a sense of our sure interest in this Iesus a power to apply his merits and obedience we are no wâ—â—t the safer no whit the better onely we are so much the wiser to vnderstand who shall condemne vs. The piece of the clause was spoken like a Saint Iesus the Sonne of the most high God the other piece like a Deuill What haue I to doe with thee If the disclamation were vniuersall the latter words would impugne the former for whiles hee confesses Iesus to be the Sonne of the most high God hee withall confesses his owne ineuitable subiection Wherefore would he beseech if he were not obnoxious He cannot hee dare not say What hast thou to doe with me but What haue I to doe with thee Others indeed I haue vexed thee I feare in respect then of any violence of any personall prouocation What haue I to doe with thee And doest thou aske O thou euill spirit what thou hast to doe with Christ whiles thou vexest a seruant of Christ Hast thou thy name from knowledge and yet so mistakest him whom thou confessest as if nothing could be done to him but what immediately concernes his owne person Heare that great and iust Iudge sentencing vpon his dreadfull Tribunall In as much as thou didst it vnto one of these little ones thou didst it vnto me It is an idle misprision to seuer the sense of an iniury done to any of the members from the head Hee that had humilitie enough to kneele to the Son of God hath boldnesse enough to expostulate Art thou come to torment vs before our time Whether it were that Satan who vseth to enioy the torment of sinners whose musick it is to heare our shrieks and gnashings held it no small piece of his torment to bee restrained in the exercise of his tyrannie Or whether the very presence of Christ were his racke For the guilty spirit proiecteth terrible things and cannot behold the Iudge or the executioner without a renouation of horror Or whether that as himselfe professeth he were now in a fearfull expectation of being commanded downe into the deepe for a further degree of actuall torment which he thus deprecates There are tortures appointed to the very spirituall natures of euill Angels Men that are led by sense haue easily granted the body subiect to torment who yet haue not so readily conceiued this incident to a spirituall substance The holy Ghost hath not thought it fit to acquaint vs with the particular manner of these inuisible acts rather willing that wee should herein feare then enquire but as all matters of faith though they cannot be proued by reason for that they are in an higher sphere yet afford an answer able to stop the mouth of al reason that dares bark against them since truth cannot be opposite to it selfe so this of the sufferings of spirits There is therefore both an intentionall torment incident to spirits and a reall For as in blessednes the good spirits find themselues ioined vnto the chiefe good and herevpon feele a perfect loue of God and vnspeakable ioy in him and rest in themselues so contrarily the euill spirits perceiue themselues eternally excluded from the presence of God and see themselues setled in a wofull darknesse and from the sense of this separation arises an horrour not to be expressed not to be conceiued How many men haue wee knowne to torment themselues with their owne thoughts There needs no other gibbet then that which their troubled spirit hath erected in their owne heart and if some paines begin at the body and from thence afflict the soule in a copartnership of griefe yet others arise immediately from the soule and draw the body into a participation of misery Why may we not therefore conceiue meere and separate spirits capable of such an inward excruciation Besides which I heare the Iudge of men and Angels say Goe yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Deuill and his Angels I heare the Prophet say Tophet is prepared of old If with feare and without curiositie wee may looke vpon those flames Why may we not attribute a spirituall nature to that more then naturall fire In the end of the world the elements shall be dissolued by fire and if the pure quintessentiall matter of the skie and the element of fire it selfe shall be dissolued by fire then that last fire shall be of another nature then that which it consumeth what hinders then but that the omnipotent God hath from eternitie created a fire of another nature proportionable euen to spirituall essences Or why may wee not distinguish of fire as it is it selfe a bodily creature and as it is an instrument of Gods iustice so working not by any materiall vertue or power of it owne but by a certain height of supernaturall efficacie to which it is exalted by the omnipotence of that supreme and righteous Iudge Or lastly why may wee not conceiue that though spirits haue nothing materiall in their nature which that fire should worke vpon yet by the iudgement of the almightie Arbiter of the world iustly
to a liking to a forbearance of his misdeuotion Yea so much the more doth the heart of Asa rise against these puppets for that they were the sinne the shame of his father Did there want thinke we some Courtier of his Fathers retinue to say Sir fauour the memorie of him that begot you you cannot demolish these statues without the dishonour of their Erector Hide your dislike at the least It will bee your glory to lay your finger vpon this blot of your fathers reputation If you list not to allow his act yet winke at it The godly zeale of Asa turnes the deafe eare to these monitors and lets them see that hee doth not more honor a father then hate an Idol No dearenesse of person should take off the edge of our detestation of the sinne Nature is worthy of forgetfulnesse and contempt in opposition to the God of Nature Vpon the same ground as hee remoued the Idols of his father Abijam so for Idols he remoued his Grand-mother Maachah shee would not be remoued from her obscene Idols shee is therefore remoued from the station of her honor That Princesse had aged both in her regency and superstition Vnder her rod was Asa bruought vp and schooled in the rudiments of her Idolatry whom she could not infect she hoped to ouer-awe so as if Asa will not follow her gods yet she presumes that shee may retaine her owne Doubtlesse no meanes were neglected for her reclamation none would preuaile Religious Asa gathers vp himselfe and begins to remember that he is a King though a sonne that she though a mother yet is a subiect that her eminence could not but countenance Idolatry that her greatnesse suppressed religion which hee should in vaine hope to reforme whiles her superstition swayed forgetting therefore the challenges of nature the awe of infancy the custome of reuerence hee strips her of that command which hee saw preiudiciall to his Maker All respects of flesh and blood must be trampled on for God Could that long-setled Idolatry want abettors Questionlesse some or other would say This was the religion of your father Abijam this of your Grand-father Rehoboam this of the latter daies of your wise and great Grand-father Salomon this of your Grand-mother Maachah this of your great Grand-mother Naamah why should it not be yours Why should you suspect either the wisdome or piety or saluation of so many Predecessors Good Asa had learned to contemne prescription against a direct law He had the grace to know it was no measuring truth by so modeme antiquity his eyes scorning to looke so low raise vp themselues to the vncorrupt times of Salomon to Dauid to Samuel to the Iudges to Ioshua to Moses to the Patriarks to Noah to the religious founders of the first world to the first father of mankinde to Paradise to heauen In comparison of these Maachahs God cannot ouerlooke yesterday the ancientest error is but a nouice to Truth And if neuer any example could be pleaded for puritie of religion it is enough that the precept is expresse He knew what God said in Sinai and wrote in the Tables Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image nor any similitude Thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them If all the world had beene an Idolater euer since that word was giuen hee knew how little that precedent could auaile for disobedience Practice must bee corrected by law and not the law yeeld to practice Maachah therefoe goes downe from her seat her Idols from their groue shee to retirednesse they to the fire and from thence to the water Wofull deities that could both burne and drowne Neither did the zeale of Asa more magnifie it selfe in these priuatiue acts of weeding out the corruptions of Religion then in the positiue acts of an holy plantation In the falling of those Idolatrous shrines the Temple of God flourishes That doth he furnish with those sacred treasures which were dedicated by himselfe by the Progenitors Like the true sonne of Dauid hee would not serue God cost-free Rehoboam turned Salomons gold into brasse Asa turnes Rehoboams brasse into gold Some of these vessels it seemes Abijam Asaes father had dedicated to God but after his vow inquired yea with held them Asa like a good sonne payes his fathers debts and his owne It is a good signe of a well-meant deuotion when wee can abide it chargeable as contrarily in the affaires of God a niggardly hand argues a cold and hollow heart All these were noble and excellent acts the extirpation of Sodomie the demolition of Idols the remouall of Maachah the bountious contribution to the Temple but that which giues true life vnto all these is a sound root Asaes heart was perfect with the Lord all his dayes No lesse laudable workes then these haue proceeded from Hypocrisie which whiles they haue caried away applause from men haue lost their thankes with God All Asaes gold was but drosse to his pure intentions But oh what great and many infirmities may consist with vprightnesse What allayes of imperfection will there be found in the most refined soule Foure no small faults are found in true-hearted Asa First the high-places stood still vnremoued What high places There were some dedicated to the worship of false gods these Asa tooke away There were some misdeuoted to the worship of the true God these hee lets stand There was grosse Idolatry in the former there was a weake will-worship in the latter whiles hee opposes impietie hee winkes at mistakings yet euen the varietie of altars was forbidden by an expresse charge from God who had confined his seruice to the Temple With one breath doth God report both these The high-places were not remoued yet neuerthelesse Asaes heart was perfit God will not see weakenesses where he sees truth How pleasing a thing is sinceritie that in fauour thereof the mercy of our iust God digests many an errour Oh God let our hearts goe vpright though our feet slide the fall cannot through thy grace be deadly howeuer it may shame or paine vs. Besides to confront his riuall of Israel Baasha this religious King of Iudah fetches in Benhadad the King of Syria into Gods inheritance vpon too deare a rate the breach of his league the expilation of the Temple All the wealth wherewith Asa had endowed the House of the Lord was little enough to 〈◊〉 an Edomite to betray his fidelitie and to inuade Israel Leagues may bee made with Infidels not at such a price vpon such tearmes There can bee no warrant for a wilfull subornation of perfidiousnesse In these cases of outward things the mercy of God dispenceth with our true necessities not with the affected O Asa where was thy piety whiles thou robbest God to corrupt an Infidell for the daughter of Israelites O Princes where is your pietie whiles yee hire Turkes to the slaughter of Christians to the spoile of Gods Church Yet which was worse Asa doth not onely imploy the