not know what thy right-hand doth there 's no losse in that Some talents are best improved by being laid up A treasure that is hid is safer from theeves Steal we therefore benefits upon men as Joseph did the money into the sacks And as he made a gain of the 〈◊〉 and bought AEgypt so may we of the poor we relieve and buy heaven Luke 46. 9. Rom. 2. 10. Verse 4. Thy father that seeth in secret And best accepteth of secret service Cant. 2. 14. O thou that art in the clefts of the rocks let me see thy face let me hear thy voice c. He is all 〈◊〉 he searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins those most abstruse and remotest parts of the body seats of lust And as he is himself a Spirit so he loveth to be served like himself in Spirit and in truth He sets his eyes upon such as the word here signifieth he looketh wishtly fixedly steddily he seeth thorow and thorow our secret services not to finde faults in them for so he may soon do not a few but those he winks at where the heart is upright but to reward them as a liberall pay-master rich to all that 〈◊〉 upon him or do him any other businesse Who is there even 〈◊〉 you that shuts the door for nought that kindleth fire upon mine altar 〈◊〉 nought Mal. 1. 10. that gives a cup of cold water and hath not his reward David would not serve God on free cost but was he not paid for his pains and had his cost in again with 〈◊〉 ere the Sunne went down Let him but resolve to 〈◊〉 his sins and God or ere he can do it forgiveth him the iniquity of his sinne that in it that did most gall and grieve him 〈◊〉 him but purpose to build God a house God promiseth thereupon for his good intentions to build David an house for ever So little is there lost by any thing that is done or suffered for God He sends a way his servants that do his work many times and the world never the 〈◊〉 as Boaz did Ruth with their bosome full of blessings as David did 〈◊〉 with a royall 〈◊〉 as Solomon did the Queen of Sheba with all the desire of her heart as Caleb did his daughter Achsah with upper and nether springs or as once he did Moses from the Mount with 〈◊〉 face shining He shone bright but knew not of it yea he 〈◊〉 his glorified face with a vail and had more glory by his 〈◊〉 then by his face How farre are those spirits from this which care only to be seen And sleighting Gods secret approbation 〈◊〉 only to 〈◊〉 others eyes with admiration not caring for unknown riches Our Saviour besides the vail of his humanity saies See you tell no man It s enough for him that he can 〈◊〉 to his father I have 〈◊〉 thee on earth I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do His work he accounts 〈◊〉 gift 〈◊〉 wages he looks for in another world vers 5. He was content his treasures of wisdome should be hid Colos. 2. 3. And shall we fret our selves when our pittances of piety and charity are not admired 〈◊〉 it not enough for us that we shall appear with him in glory and then be rewarded openly Shall reward thee openly I but when at the resurrection of the just Luk. 14. 14. at that great assize and generall Assembly he will make honourable mention in the hearing of Angels and men of all the good deeds of his children How they have fed the hungry clothed the naked c. that which they had utterly forgotten not so much as once mentioning their misdoings Matth. 25. Yea he shall take them to heaven with him where the poor mens hands have built him a house afore hand and they shall receive him into everlasting habitations But what shall he do in the me an while Feed on faith as some read that text Psal. 37. 3. 〈◊〉 upon reversions 〈◊〉 but while the grasse grows the 〈◊〉 starves But so cannot a mercifull man for he shall have 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. 7. Such a mercy as rejoyceth against judgement Yea he that can tender mercy to God may challenge 〈◊〉 from God by vertue of his promise as David doth Preserve 〈◊〉 ô God for I am mercifull Psal. 86. 2. 〈◊〉 he shall obtain 1. In his soul which shall be like a watered garden fresh and flourishing For the liberall soul 〈◊〉 be made fat Prov. 〈◊〉 25. and he that watereth shall be watered himself The spirits of wealth distilled in good works comfort the conscience 2. So they do the body too when sick and languishing Psal. 41. 2 3. Mercy is the best cordiall a pillow of repose a 〈◊〉 remedy For if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry thy health shall spring forth speedily Isa. 58. 3. For his name the liberall are renowned in the earth as Abraham that free-hearted house-keeper or peny-father and Obadiah that hid and fed the Prophets by fifty in a cave Zacheus and Cornelius Gaius and Onesiphorus how precious are their names How sweet their remembrance Who honours not the memoriall of Mary for her Spikenard and of Dorcas for her coats and garments Whereas the vile person shall no more be called liberall in Christs Kingdom nor Nabal Nadib the churl bountifull 4. For his estate The most gainfull art is 〈◊〉 giving saith Chrysostome The poor mans bosom and the Orphans mouth are the surest chest saith another Whatsoever we scatter to the poor we gather for our selves saith a third What we give to the poor we lend to the Lord who accounts himself both 〈◊〉 and ingaged thereby Prov. 19. 17. Neither will he fail to blesse the liberall mans stock and store Deut. 15. 10. so that his righteousnesse and his riches together shall endure for ever Psal. 〈◊〉 2. 3. 5 Lastly His seed shall be mighty upon earth vers 21. The son of such a tenant that paid his rent duly shall not be 〈◊〉 out of his farm Psal 37. 26. And that Proverb is proved false by common experience Happy is that sonne whose father goeth to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 il-gotten goods usually come to nothing the third heir seldome enjoyeth them unlesse it be here and there one that by repentance breaketh off and healeth his fathers sinne by mercifulnesse to the poor that the property may be altered and so his 〈◊〉 lengthned Oh therefore that rich men would be rich in good 〈◊〉 ready to distribute willing to 〈◊〉 which was a peece of praise used to be ascribed to the ancient Kings of AEgypt This this were the way To lay up for themselves a sure 〈◊〉 yea to lay fast hold on eternall life when those that with-hold their very crums 〈◊〉 not obtain a drop with Dives whom to vex and upbraid Lazarus was laid in the bosome of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 5. And when thou praiest A duty of
George Carpenter who was burnt at Munchen in Bavaria Verse 26. For what is a man profited If there could saith a reverend Divine be such a bargain made that he might have the whole world for the sale of his soul he should for all that be a looser by it For he might notwithstanding be a bankrupt a beggar begging in vain though but for a drop of cold water to cool his tongue Is it nothing then to loose an immortall soul to purchase an everliving death The losse of the soul is in this verse set forth to be 1. Incomparable 2. Irreparable If therefore to loose the life for money be a 〈◊〉 what then the soul What wise man would fetch gold out of a fiery crucible hazard himself to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a few waterish pleasures give his soul to the devil as some Popes did for the short enjoyment of the Papall dignity What was this but to win Venice and then to be hanged at the gates thereof as the Proverb is In great fires men look first to their jewels then to their lumber fo should these see first to their 〈◊〉 to secure them and then take care of the outward man The souldier cares not how his buckler speeds so his body be kept thereby from deadly thrusts The Pope perswading Maximilian King of Bohemia afterwards Emperour to be a good Catholike with many promises of profits and 〈◊〉 was answered by the King that he thanked his Holinesse but that his souls health was more dear to him then all the things in the world Which answer they said in Rome was a Lutheran form of speech and signified an alienation from the obedience of that Sea and they began to discourse what would happen after the old Emperours death Or what shall a man give in exchange He would give any thing in the world yea 10000 worlds if he had them to be delivered But out of hell there 's no redemption Hath the extortioner pilled or the robber spoiled thy goods By labour and leisure thou maist recover thy self again But the soul once lost is irrecoverable Which when the guilty soul at death thinks of oh what a dreadfull shreek gives it to see it self lanching into an infinite Ocean of scalding lead and must swim naked in it for ever How doth it trembling warble out that dolefull ditty of dying Adrian the Emperour 〈◊〉 vagula blandula Hospes comesque corporis Qua nunc abibis in loca Horridula sordida tristia 〈◊〉 ut soles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 27. In the glory of his father with his Angels Great will be the glory of the man Christ Jesus at his second coming He shall come riding on the clouds not that he needs them but to shew his soveraignty environed with flaming fire mounted on a stately throne attended by an innumerable company of Angels for they shall all come with him not one of them left in heaven who shall minister unto him in this great work irresistibly justly speedily Rev. 15. 6. Christ himself shining in the midst of them with such an exuberancy and excesse of glory as that the Sun shall seem but a snuff to him This glory howsoever it is here called the glory of the father because he is the fountain as of the Deity so of the divine glory wherewith Christ is crowned Phil. 2. 9. 1 Tim. 3. 16. yet is it his own glory as he is one with the Father and the holy Ghost and so it is called Mat. 25. 31. Joh. 17. 5. Now if Israel so shouted for joy of Solomons coronation and in the day of 〈◊〉 espousals that the earth rang again If the Grecians so cried out 〈◊〉 Soter to Flaminius the Roman Generall when he had set them at liberty that the very birds 〈◊〉 at the noise fell down to the earth Oh how great shall be the Saints joy to see Christ the King in his beauty and bravery at the last judgment Verse 28. Which shall not taste of death The Saints do but taste of death only they do no more but sip of that bitter cup which for tasting of that forbidden fruit in the Garden they should have been swilling and swallowing down for ever Till they see the Son of man c. This verse is to be referred to the transfiguration recorded in the next Chapter where some of them had the happines to see Christ in his kingdom that is in his 〈◊〉 glory whereof they had a glimpse CHAP. XVII Verse 1. And after six 〈◊〉 LUke saith about eight daies after It comes all to one For Matthew puts exclusively those daies only that went between and were finished but Luke puts the two utmost daies also 〈◊〉 the reckoning Jesus 〈◊〉 Peter James and John So Matth. 9. when he raised the damosell he took with him these three only haply as best beloved because bold 〈◊〉 more zealous then the rest or the better to fit them for further triall great feelings oft precede great afflictions Howsoever it is no small favour of God to make us witnesses of his great works and so let us take it As all Israel might see Moses go toward the Rock of Rephidim None but the Elders might see him strike it That God 〈◊〉 his Sonne before us that he fetcheth the true water of life out of the Rock in our sight is an high prerogative And no lesse surely that we are 〈◊〉 transported in prayer carried out of the body in divine meditation and lost in the endlesse maze of spirituall ravishments that we returne from the publike ordinances as Moses did from the mount with our faces shining that we are transfigured and transformed into the same image from glory to glory and that the Angell of the covenant doth wondrously during the time of the sacrifice whiles Manoah and his wife look on c. These are speciall priviledges communicated to none but the communion of Saints And bringeth them up into 〈◊〉 high mountain The name of this mountain no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by common consent it was mount Tabor which Josephus calleth 〈◊〉 whereof Hierom writeth copiously and elegantly in his commentary upon the fifth of Hosea Our Saviour when he had some speciall work to do went usually up into a mountain to teach us to soar a 〈◊〉 in great performances especially and to be heavenly-minded taking a 〈◊〉 or two ever and anon with Christ in mount Tabor treading upon the Moon with the Church Rev. 12. 1. having our feet at least where other mens heads are on things on earth Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise delighting our selves in high flying as Eagles never merry till gotten into the aire or on the top of trees with the lesser birds Zacheus could not see Christ till he had climbed the figtree Nor can we see the Consolation of Israel till elevated in divine contemplation till gotten up into Gods holy hill The people tasted not Mannah till they had left
58. 10 11. Or if he be sick the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing he will make all his bed in his sicknes As he did for that faithfull and 〈◊〉 Preacher of Gods Word while he lived M. 〈◊〉 Whately Pastour of Banbury whom for honours sake I here name the most 〈◊〉 Minister to the poor I thinke saith a learned Gentleman that knew him thorowly in England of his means He abounded in works of mercy saith another grave Divine that wrote his life he set apart and expended for the space of many years for good uses the tenth part of his yearly commings in both out of his temporall and 〈◊〉 means of maintenance A rare example And God was not behinde hand with him for in his sicknesse he could comfort himself with that precious promise Psal. 41. 1 3. Blessed is he that considereth the poor Qui praeoccupat vocem petituri saith Austin that prevents the poor mans cry as he did for he devised liberall things seeking out to finde objects of his mercy and not staying many times till they were offered Therefore by liberall things 〈◊〉 stood as God had promised his estate as himself often testified prospered the better after he took that course above-mentioned For in the next place not getting but giving is the way to wealth as the 〈◊〉 found it whose barrell had no bottome and as Solomon 〈◊〉 it Eccles. 11. 1. The mercy of God crowneth our beneficence with the blessing of store 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be exalted with honour and thou 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 Say not then How shall our own doe hereafter Is not mercy as sure a grain as vanity Is God like to break Is not your Creatour your Creditour Hath not he undertaken for you and yours How sped Mephibosheth and Chimham for the kindenesse their fathers shewed to distressed David Were they not plentifully provided for And did not the Kenites that were born many ages after 〈◊〉 's death receive life from his dust and favour from his hospitality 1 Sam. 15. 6. Verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart That wash their 〈◊〉 from wickednesse that they may be saved Jer. 4. 14. Not their hands only with Pilate but their inwards as there How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee These however the world censure them for every fool hath a bolt to shoot at that purity which yet they 〈◊〉 and pray for are the Lords darlings that purifie themselves in some truth of resemblance as God is pure Pura Deus mens est purâ vult mente vocari Et puras jussit pondus habere preces He will take up in a poor but it must be a pure heart in a 〈◊〉 but it must be a cleanly house in a low but not in a 〈◊〉 lodging Gods Spirit loves to lie clean Now the heart of man is the most unclean and loathsome thing in the world a den of dragons a dungeon of darknesse a stie and stable of all foul lusts cage of unclean and ravenous birds The Embassadours of the Councel of Constance being sent to Pope Benedict the 〈◊〉 when he laying his hand upon his heart said Hic est Arca 〈◊〉 Here is Noahs Ark they tartly and truly replied In Noahs Ark were few men but many beasts intimating that there were seven abominations in that heart wherein he would have them to believe were lodg'd all the laws of right and religion This is true of every mothers childe of us The naturall heart is 〈◊〉 throne he filleth it from corner to corner Act 5. 3. he sits abrood upon it and hatcheth all noisome and loathsome lusts Ephes. 2. 2. There as in the sea is that Leviathan and there are creeping things innumerable crawling bugs and baggage vermine Now as many as shall see God to their comfort must cleanse 〈◊〉 from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and perfect 〈◊〉 sse in the fear of God This is the mighty work of the holy Spirit which therefore we 〈◊〉 pray and strive for beseeching God to break the heavens and come down yea to break open the prison doors of our hearts by his Spirit and to cleanse this 〈◊〉 stable He comes as a mighty rushing winde and blows away those litters of lusts as once the East-winde of God did all the locusts of AEgypt into the red Sea And this done he blows upon Gods garden the heart and causeth the spices thereof so to flow forth that Christ saith I am come into my garden my sister my spouse I have gathered my myrrhe with my spice Cant. 5. 1. For they shall see God Here in a measure and as they are able hereafter in all fullnesse and perfection they shall see as they are seen Here as in a glasse 〈◊〉 or as an old man thorow spectacles but there face to face Happier herein then Solomons servants for a greater then Solomon is here A good man is like a good Angel ever beholding the face of God He looketh upon them with singular complacency and they upon him to their infinite 〈◊〉 He seeth no iniquity in them they no indignation in him He looketh upon them in the face of Christ And although no man hath seen God at any time yet God who commanded the light to shine out of darkenesse hath shined in our hearts saith the Apostle to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Pure glasse or crystall hath light comming thorow not so stone iron or other grosser bodies In like sort the pure in heart see God he shines thorow them And as the pearl by the beams of the Sun becomes bright and radiant as the Sun it self so we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord 〈◊〉 transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. Verse 9. Blessed are the peace-makers There are that like Salamanders live alwaies in the fire and like Trouts love to swim against the stream that with Phocion thinke it a goodly thing to dissent from others and like Sampsons foxes or Solomons fool carry about and cast abroad fire-brands as if the world were made of nothing but discords as Democritus imagined But as St John speaketh in another case these are not of the Father but of the world He maketh great reckoning of a meek and quiet 〈◊〉 because it is like to his own minde which is never stirred nor moved but remaineth still the same to all eternity He loves those that keep the staffe of binders unbroken Zech. 11. 7 14. that hold the unity of the spirit and advance the bond of peace among others as much as may be The wicked are apt as dogs to enter tear and woorry one another and although there be not a disagreement in hell being but the place of retribution and not of action yet on earth
who preferred his part in Paris before his part in Paradise Doe not sound a trumpet before thee As the Pharisees did under a shew of assembling the poor to take doal but indeed to notifie 〈◊〉 liberality If they had been truly liberall they had made no 〈◊〉 of it Those vessels yeeld most sound that have least liquor As the 〈◊〉 doe From whom as the Saints differ in 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 should in practice We should have nothing 〈◊〉 with them no more then a chaste matron desires to have with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 27. The spouse desireth to know where Christ feedeth that she may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him for why should I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one that turneth aside or that is covered and veiled which was the habit of harlots Gen. 38. 15 15 why should I be reputed a light houswife whilest I turn aside by the flocks of thy 〈◊〉 she would shun and be shie of all appearance of dishonesty so should we of hypocrisie Those Christians of Corinth are much condemned by the Apostle that carried themselves so carnally that a man could hardly discern them from other men That they 〈◊〉 have glory of men As Iehu Come see what a 〈◊〉 I have for the Lord of hosts Is thine heart upright as 〈◊〉 c. A gracious heart is not a blab of his tongue but rests and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the conscience of a secret goodnes Not 〈◊〉 the hypocrite the 〈◊〉 the stage-player for so the word hypocrite properly signifieth such as though little better then rogues yet sometimes represent the persons of Princes and carry themselves with other faces then their own that they may have glory of men that they may get a 〈◊〉 And here with agree all the former expressions whatsoever these men doe is meerly theatricall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hypocriticall histrionicall They sound a trumpet as is usuall on stages they doe their devoir in the Synagogues publike assemblies and streets as stage-players act in open places and by drums and outcries get as much company together as they can And as they can act to the life those whom they personate yea out-strip them in outward actions so doe hypocrites the true Christian. Doth the Publican fix his eyes on the ground those hypocrites in Isaiah will hang down their heads like bullrushes Doth Timothy weaken his constitution with abstinence the false Pharisee will not only weaken his constitution but wither his complexion with fasting Doth Zacheus give half of that he hath to the poor the pretender to piety and charity will bestow all his goods to feed the poor and besides give his body to be burned as Servetus did at Geneva Anno 1555. And all for a name for a little glory among men which is but a breath and yet not able to blow so much as one cold blast upon hypocrites when they shall be cast into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when God 〈◊〉 wash off their varnish 〈◊〉 rivers of brimstone No naturall face hath so clear a 〈◊〉 and red as the painted No rush is 〈◊〉 green and 〈◊〉 as the bullrush He is curious to a miracle that can finde a knot in it yet within is nothing but a uselesse and spongy pith Over fair shews are a just argument of unsoundnesse Verily I say unto you q. d. You would little thinke it and themselves will hardly beleeve it for they are an impudent kinde of people and will not soon be said But I assevere and assure you of it in the word of Amen the faithfull and true witnes Rev. 3 14. all the words of whose mouth are in righteousnesse there is nothing froward or perverse in them Prov. 8. 8. that this is the very truth and time will prove it so 〈◊〉 that have fed on hemlock are so stupified thereby that they lye for dead and feel not till half their hides be hileded off then they rise and run away with a 〈◊〉 noise So 〈◊〉 They have their reward Paid them down upon the nail in ready money and have given their acquittance They take up all their wages afore the years-end they receive it now and leave none till hereafter It s all they are ever like to have and let them make them merry with it Egregiam verò laudem spolia ampla refertis A poor reward God wot but 't is that they would have 'T is their own reward not Gods saith S. Hierom. As Judas went to his own place a place of his own providing so these have their own reward much good may it doe them Here they have their consolation with Dives Let them look for no further reward in the day of refreshing if they do they are like to be disappointed 〈◊〉 the Judge To themselves they bore fruit Hos. 10. 1. and shall therefore be turned off as empty vines ib. when the faithfull Spouse that laies up her fruit for Christ Cant. 7. ult shall hear Thou art like a green firre-tree from me is thy fruit found And albeit in her works of charity in 〈◊〉 and without hope of reward from men he may seem to cast her bread upon the waters down the river as we say or on the sea to feed fishes yet after many daies he shall be sure to finde it That labour of love cannot be lost that we resolve to cast away as the world accounts it upon Christ. Verse 3. But thou when thou dost thine alms The godly Christian must walk in a divers way to a world of wicked people as Noah did really reproving their darknesse by his 〈◊〉 their pride by his 〈◊〉 their vain-glory by his 〈◊〉 their ostentation by his 〈◊〉 devotion not only planet-like keeping a constant counter motion to the corrupt manners of the most but also shining forth fair with a singularity of heavenly light spirituall goodnesse and Gods sincerer 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 mid night of 〈◊〉 impiety Let not thy left-hand know c. A proverbiall speech q. d. 〈◊〉 thy self as much as may be cast away the vain affectation of humane 〈◊〉 Let not thy left-hand if it had so much skill understand what thou givest and to whom how much how oft at what time c. God sets down every circumstance in his book of remembrance as our Saviour that true Arch-deacon as well as Arch-shepherd sate and viewed the estate minde and gift of every one that cast money into the treasury and as he took 〈◊〉 observation of those that came to hear him how farre they had come how long they had been there how little opportunity they had of providing for themselves and how soon they might faint if sent away empty c. In pugillaribus suis omnia notat I know thy work and thy 〈◊〉 saith Christ to that Church so to us I know thine alms and thy privacy Many give much and are little noted or noticed It matters not saith our Saviour though thy left-hand should
before we aske as he did David Psal. 32. He prevents us with many mercies we never sought him for that our praises may exceed our prayers I am found of them that sought me not saith God but yet in the same place it is said I am sought of them that asked not for me Importing that we never seek to him for grace till effectually called by his grace Howbeit no sooner is any truly called but he presently prayeth Say not then if God know our needs what need we open them to him The truth is we doe it not to inform him of that he knows not or to stir up mercy in him who is all bowels and perfectly pitieth us but 1. Hereby we acknowledge him as a childe doth his father when he runs to him for food 2. We run that course of getting good things that he hath prescribed us Jer. 29. 11 12. Which Moses and Elias knew and therefore the former turned Gods predictions the later his promises into prayers 3. Hereby we prepare our selves holily to enjoy the things we crave for prayer both sanctifieth the creature and encreaseth our love and thankfullnesse Psal. 116 1. 4. Prayer prepareth us either to go without that we beg if God see fit as David when he prayed for the childes life and was fitted thereby to bear the losse of it or else to part with that we have got by prayer for the glory of God the giver of it Those that make their requests known to God with thanksgiving shall have at least the peace of God that passeth all understanding to guard their hearts and mindes in Christ Iesus They shall have strength in their souls the joy of the Lord shall be their strength the glory of the Lord shall be their rereward In their marching in the wildernesse at the fourth Alarm arose the standard of Dan Asher and Nepthali these were the rereward of the Lords host and to these were committed the care of gathering together the lame feeble and sick and to look that nothing was left behinde Unto this the Prophet Isaiah seems in that text to allude and so doth David Psal. 27. 10. When my father and mother forsake me the Lord will gather me And this comfortable assurance was the fruit of his prayer Verse 9. After this manner therefore pray ye Forms of wholesome words are profitable A set form of prayer is held fittest for the publike and for such weak Christians as are not yet able to expresse their own desires in their own words The utterance of wisdom is given to some Christians only 1 Cor. 12. 8. yet are all to strive unto it that the testimony of Christ may be confirmed in them 1 Cor. 1. 5 6. God will take that at first that afterwards will not be accepted If words be wanting pray that God that commands thee to take words and come before him to vouchsafe thee those words wherewith thou mayest come before him Speak as the poor man doth supplications so did the prodigall Forecast also with him what thou wilt say Praemeditate of the matter disposing it in due order as one would doe that is to speak to a Prince God is a great King Mal. 1. 23. Some thinke we must never pray but upon the sudden and extraordinary instinct and motion of the spirit This is a fancy and those that practise it cannot but fall into idle repetitions and be confused going forward and backward like hounds at a losse saith a good Divine and having unadvisedly begun to speak they know not how wisely to make an end This to prevent premeditate and propound to thy self fit heads of prayer gather catalogues of thy sinnes and duties by the decalogue observe the daily straits of mortall condition consider Gods mercies your own infirmities troubles from Satan pressures from the world crosses on all hands c. And as you cannot want matter so neither words of prayer The Spirit will assist and God will accept if there be but an honest heart and lawfull petitions And albeit we cannot vary them as some can our Saviour in his agony used the self-same words thrice together in prayer and so may we when there is the same matter and occasion He also had a set form of giving thanks at meat which the two Disciples at Emaus hearing knew him by it A form then may be used we see when it is gathered out of the holy Scriptures and agreeable thereunto Neither is the spirit limited hereby for the largenesse of the heart stands not so much in the multitude and variety of expressions as in the extent of the affection Besides if forms were unlawfull then neither might we sing Psalms nor join in prayer with others nor use the forms prescribed by God Our Father which art in Heaven Tertullian calls this prayer a breviary of the Gospel and compend of saving doctrin It is framed in form of the decalogue the three former Petitions respecting God the three later our selves and others Every word therein hath its weight Our there 's our charity Father there 's our faith In heaven there 's our hope Father is taken sometimes personally as in that of our Saviour My father is greater then I sometimes essentially for the Whole Deity so here Now that God is in Heaven is a notion that heathens also have by nature and do therefore in distresse lift up eyes and hands thither-ward And lest man should not look upward God hath given to his eyes peculiar nerves to pull them up towards his habitation that he might direct his prayer unto him and look up Psal. 5. 3. that he might feelingly say with David Whom have I in heaven but thee Unto thee lift I up mine eyes ô thou that dwellest in the heavens Behold as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their Masters c. Psal 123 1 2. It is reported of 〈◊〉 that he preached so powerfully that he seemed to thunder and prayed so earnestly that he seemed to carry his hearers with him up into heaven Hallowed be thy Name 1. Honoured be thy Majesty According to thy Name O God so is thy praise Psal. 48. 10. Now Gods Name is holy and reverend Psal. 111. 9. Great and terrible Psal. 99. 3. Wonderfull and worthy Psal. 8. 1. Jam. 2. 7. High and honourable Isa. 12. 4. Dreadfull among the Heathen Mal. 1. 14. and exalted above all praise 〈◊〉 9. 5. His glory is as himself eternally infinite and so abideth not capable of our addition or detraction The Sun would shine though all the world were blinde or did wilfully shut their eyes Howbeit to try how we prize his glory and how industrious we will be to promote it God lets us know that he accounts himself as it were to receive a new being by those inward conceptions of his glory and by those outward honours we do him when we lift up his Name
Hear none but him and such as come in his name and word Haec vox hunc audite summam authoritatem arrogat Christo saith Erasmus At nunc videmus passim dormitari ad Christi doctrinam 〈◊〉 crassam acrudem concionis auribus inculcari quid dixerit Scotus quid Thomas quid Durandus c. But what said S. Augustine when Manicheus contesting 〈◊〉 him for audience said Hear me Hear me Nay said that Father Nec egotu nec tume sed ambo audiamus Apostolum c. Neither heare thou me 〈◊〉 I thee but let us both hear Christ. Cyril saith that in a synod at Ephesus upon an high throne in the Temple there lay sanctum Evangelium to shew that Christ was both 〈◊〉 and President there He is Rabbenu Doctor 〈◊〉 Padre Cerephino c. And if Popish Votaries so observe there Governours that if they command them a voyage to China or Peru they presently set forward to argue or debate upon their Superiours Mandates they hold presumption to disobey them sacriledge how much more should we give this honour audience and obedience to Christ the Wisdom and Word of God Verse 6. They fell on their face As amazed and amated with that stupendious voice that came from the excellent glory as St Peter phraseth it 2 Pet. 1. 17. So Moses and Elias hid their faces when God spake unto them as not able to bear his brightnesse 〈◊〉 entred into their bones The very Angels cover their faces before him with two of their wings as with a double scarfe or as one claps his hands upon his face when it lightneth and flasheth suddenly upon him What a mercy is it then to us that we are taught by men like our selves that we have this treasure in earthen vessels this pearl of price in a leathern purse Here lay the three Disciples and had not Christ mercifully touched them and raised them there they had lain for dead Verse 7. 〈◊〉 came and touched them Christ therefore kills his that he may quicken them casts them down that he may revive and raise them in the opportunity of time Hos. 6. 1. 2. 1 Pet. 5. 6. not so the devil that destroyer that hath not his names for nought Apollyon Abaddon Verse 8. Save 〈◊〉 alone To teach them that Moses and Elias the Law and Prophets vail bonnet to Christ that there is but one Mediateur 〈◊〉 the Man Christ Jesus that there is sufficient in him to 〈◊〉 the soul to comfort the 〈◊〉 Verse 9. Tell the vision to no man Tacitus we say is a good 〈◊〉 Taciturnity we are sure is in some cases a great vertue an high commendation Consus the God of Counsel had his Temple in Rome under coverture saith Servius ut ostenderet 〈◊〉 debere esse tectum There is a time to be silent saith Solamon Q. 〈◊〉 Motto was Video Taceo I see and say nothing A fit Motto for a maid In earth the first in Heaven the second Maid as one Poet calleth 〈◊〉 Ministers should know when and to whom and in what order to set forth Gods truths to time a word with a learned tongue as Esay hath it to set a word upon its wheels as Solomon to circumstantiate it so as the people can hear can bear as our Saviour did This is surely an high point of heavenly husbandry As it is also in all sorts of Christians to be sober in prayer 1 Pet. 4. 7. that is as one saith to keep Gods counsel not to be proud or boast of successe or speak of the secret sweetnesse of Gods love without calling it is to conceal the familiarity of God in secret Verse 10. Why then say the Scribes c. Christ had answered them this question once afore but they were unsatisfied by any thing he could say because strongly possest with the conceit of an earthly Kingdom But the occasion of the question might be this Our Saviour had forbidden them to tell any man the vision Hence they might thus debate it Forasmuch as Elias must first come so the Scribes teach and they have a text for it Mal. 4. 5 and now he is come as we have seen in the Mount why 〈◊〉 thou Lord forbid us to tell it abroad sith this might be an effectuall argument with the Jews to move them to acknowledge thee for the true Messias To this our Saviour answereth Verse 11. And restore all things viz. In Malachies sense i.e. not simply absolutely perfectly for the royalty of restoring all things so was reserved for Christ alone Acts 3. 21. but comparatively to the state of the old Church So those renowned Reformers Luther Farellus c. abroad Cranmer Cromwell c. here at home freed the Churches from many burdens and bondages did for their time worthily in Ephrata and are therefore famous in Bethlehem But as ejusdem non est invenire 〈◊〉 it is a praise proper to Christ only to be Alpha and Omega 〈◊〉 and Finisher of that he sets about those brave men left many abuses and disorders in the Church unrectified unreformed which either they did not see or could not help But now as more light is diffused so great thoughts of heart yea and great hopes are conceived that God will finish the work and cut it short in 〈◊〉 that he will cut off the names of the Idols out of the land and they shall be no more remembred yea that he will cause the false Prophets and with them the unclean spirit to passe out of the land We shall reade Neh. 8. 17 18. of a feast of Tabernacles so well kept by the Jewes newly come out of captivity with dwelling in booths and reading every day out of the Law c. as had not been done in many hundred years before no not 〈◊〉 the raign of David and Solomon Verse 12. 〈◊〉 I say unto you that Elias is come 〈◊〉 that is likely to come however the Papist as it were to thwart Christ by depraving that Prophesie in the Revelation touching the two witnesses which they say are Henoch and Elias will needs perswade 〈◊〉 and others that Elias the Thisbite must come ere Antichrist be revealed Their arguments I recite not their Authour is Papias who 〈◊〉 devised and divulged this fable Now Papias that ancient Millenary scholar to St Iohn was a man much respected for opinion of his 〈◊〉 and learning but yet homo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eusebius not much opprest with wit But had he been never so absolute otherwise he was surely out in this And herein we may truly say of him as the Papists fasly 〈◊〉 of another Berengarius cum esset multùm peritus muliùm erravit But if Patias or any other Ancient or modern Writer should have said so much against the Popish dotages as this man hath done for them Bellarmine likely would have answered as in like case he did to 〈◊〉 Tertullian Eusebius and Luther I answer They are all arrant
the Jewes he affected not this habit more then another out of pride and vain-glory to be looked at and admired by the vulgar This they thought a goodly businesse Verse 41. And beheld He still sits and seeth the condition gift and mind of every almes-giver And weighs all not by the worth of the gift but by the will of the Giver Lycurgus enjoyned the Lacedaemonians to offer small sacrifices For God said He respecteth more the internall devotion then the externall oblation How the people cast mony Gr. Brasse the worst was thought good enough for God and his poor Something men will do but as little as they can Verse 42. Two mites A mite is valued of our mony to be three parts of one c. Verse 43. This poore Widow Women are noted in the Parable of the lost Groat to be fond of mony Widowes especially and poore Widowes make much of that little they have as their life so it is called here verse 44. even all her life that is her livelyhood All this she cast in it being rather to and for the service of God then to the poore She resolves as a Widow indeed to trust wholly in God CHAP. XIII Verse 1. What manner of stones c. HUge stones and so cunningly cimented and as it were inoculated the one into the other that a man would have thought and sworn almost that they had been all but one entire stone Josephus writeth of these stones that they were fifteen cubits long twelve high and eight broad Verse 2. There shall not be left one stone c. There 's no trusting therefore to Forts and strong-holds no though they be munitions of rocks as Esay speaketh The Jebusites that jeared David and his forces were thrown out of their Sion Babylon that bore her selfe bold upon her twenty yeers provision laid in for a siege and upon her high Towers and thick walls was surprised by Cyrus So was this goodly Temple by 〈◊〉 who left onely three towers of this stately edifice unrazed to declare unto posterity the strength of the place and valour of the vanquisher But sixty five years after AElius 〈◊〉 inflicting on the rebelling Jewes a wonderfull flaughter subverted those remainders and sprinkled salt upon the foundation Verse 4. Shall be fulfilled Or have an end that is be destroyed as vers 2. Which yet these Apostles held not destroyable till the worlds destruction as appears 〈◊〉 24. Verse 5. And Jesus answering them c. Not directly to their question but far better to their edification This was 〈◊〉 with our Saviour Verse 7. The end shall not be yet Neither of the world nor of the Temple Verse 8. The beginning of sorrowes The sorrowes and throwes of child-birth which are nothing so bad at first as in the birth Verse 10. Among all nations i. e. Among other nations then the Jewes Verse 11. Neither 〈◊〉 ye 〈◊〉 Conne not your answers as boyes use to doe their Orations and School-exercises which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto Beza thinks our Saviour here 〈◊〉 Verse 14. The abomination of desolution The Romane forces therefore most abominable to God and his Angels because they desolated the pleasant land and abolished the true worship of God See Revel 17. 4 5. Where it ought not viz. In respect of the Romanes who did it onely out of ambition and covetousnesse See Esay 10. 7. Verse 19. For in those dayes shall be affliction Gr. Those dayes shall be affliction as if the very time were nothing else but 〈◊〉 it self See the Notes on Mat. 24. 21. Verse 20. Except the 〈◊〉 had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not in respect of the divine decree but 1. of the long miseries that the people had deserved 2. of the enemies rage that would have exceeded See 〈◊〉 1. 13. Verse 28. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree We should not rest content with a naturall 〈◊〉 of the creatures as bruits doe but pick some spirituall matter out of every sensible object Thus 〈◊〉 Master 〈◊〉 when the Sun shined on his face now lying on his death bed fell into a sweet meditation of the glory of God and his approaching joy Verse 30. Till all these things be done Begun they were in the destruction of Jerusalem carried on by the enemies rage against the Church and to be ended with the last age of the Church which begins at the coming of Christ in the flesh Verse 34. The porter to watch That the rest did their work Verse 35. When the Master cometh But come he will to judgement as sure as that hee hath destroyed Jerusalem This is a pledge of the other Verse 37. Watch What Serbidius Scevola was wont to say of the Civill Law holds more true of the divine Law Jus civile scriptum est vigilantibus non dormitantibus The Law was written for those that observe to obey it CHAP. XIV Verse 1. After two dayes TWo dayes after the former discourse This Sun of righteousnesse shone most amiably toward his going down Verse 2. Not on the feast-day And yet they did it on the feast-day as loth to lose the opportunity then offered them by Judas the traytor But God had a speciall hand in it that by the circumstance of time Christ might appeare to be the true Passeover He was crucified on the very true day of that Feast Verse 3. Of spikenard very precious Or pure right sincere not sophisticate or adulterate so Theophylact interprets it But 〈◊〉 saith it was spikenard of Opis a Town not farre from Babylon whence the most precious odours and oyntments were 〈◊〉 into other parts Verse 5. Three hundred pence That is fifty-two French pounds and more as Budaeus computes it Shee spared for no cost They murmured against her But Judas began So dangerous a thing it is to converse with hypocrites One rotten sheep may 〈◊〉 the rest Uvaque conspectâ livorem ducit ab una Great danger there is if not of infection yet of defection Peter by his halting compelled others to doe so too Gal. 2. Verse 14. The guest-chamber In a private house for the whole City was then turned into a great Inne for the receipt of strangers that came up to the Feast Verse 21. Good were it for that man For his own particular for otherwise in respect of the glory of Gods justice in that mans righteous condemnation good it was that he was born Verse 25. I will drink no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not not not 〈◊〉 So Heb. 13. 5. I will not not not forsake thoe Our Saviour here seemeth to allude to that grace-cup as they call it after which they might not eat any thing more till the day following Verse 31. I will not deny thee The Syriack addeth Mari that is Domine mi. And this he affirmed magis ex abundanti So did Pendleton the Apostate when hee said to Sanders the Martyr with greatest vehemency I
her selfe Obscurum qua id fecerit ex causa It s hard to say wherefore she did this saith a learned Interpreter but likely out of modesty and that she may make no shew till she were sure as also that the miracle might appear the greater Verse 25. Thus hath the Lord She saw that all her prayers that she had haply forgot were not lost but laid up with God who now sends in the blessing that she had despaired of The Lord oft doth things for his people that they look not for Isaith 64. and stayes so long that when he comes he finds not Faith Luke 18. 8. Verse 26. Unto a City of Galilee God and his Angels can find out his hidden ones Psal. 83. 3. in what corner of the country soever Verse 27. Espoused to a man 1 The better to free her from suspition of fornication 2 That she might have one to provide for her when she was with Child 3 That the mystery of God manifested in the flesh might come to light by little and little Verse 28. Haile thou that art highly favoured A salutation and not a prayer as Papists pervert and abuse it And when the Ave-Mary-Bell rings which is at Sun-rising Noon and Sun-setting all men in what place soever house field street or market do presently kneel down and send up their united devotions to heaven by an Ave-Maria Also where one fasteth on Friday which they count our Lords day many fast on Saturday which they count our Ladies day Verse 29. She was troubled at his saying Affect not the vain praises of men saith one The blessed Virgin was troubled when truly praised of an Angel They shall be praised of Angels in heaven who have eschewed the praises of men on earth What manner of salutation Cujus esset saith one Interpreter voluit enim probare spiritum Qualis quanta saith another Id est quam honorifica magnifica ac proinde supra sortem suam pofita What an honourable salutation it was and more then she could acknowledge Verse 30. Feare not Mary We are not fit to hear till quit of carnall affections and passions The eare which tastes words as the mouth doth meat when filled with choller or other ill humours can relish no comfort Verse 31. Shalt call his name Jesus See the Note on Matt. 1. 21. If it were such a mercy to Israel that God raised up of their Sonnes for Prophets and of their young men for Nazarites Amos 2. 11. What was it to Mary and in her to all mankind that she should be mother to the Arch-prophet to that famous Nazarite Verse 32. Sonne of the highest Answerable to the Hebrew Elion whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sunne cujus antiquissima veneratio saith Beza whom the ancients deifie Verse 33. And of his Kingdom there shall be no end St. Paul saith indeed that he shall at the end of the world deliver up the Kingdome to God the Father not that his Kingdom shall then cease but that form of administration only that he now useth in the collecting and conserving of his Church Verse 34. How shall this be This is a speech not of unbeleif but of wonderment as desiring also to be better informed Verse 35. The power of the highest shall over-shadow thee As once he did the confused Chaos in the Creation This very expression was a great confirmation to the Virgins faith and may well serve for a caution to us not to be over-curious in searching into this secret Verse 36. Who was called barren It is observed that the barren women so called in both Testaments had the best Children as Sarah Rebecca Rachel Elizabeth c. because long held off and much humbled Some also have observed that the New Testament affords more store of good women then the Old Verse 37. For with God c. We never doubt of Gods will but we do in some measure doubt of his power See them both running paralell Job 42. 2. Verse 38. Behold the handmaid of the Lord Not Mall Gods maid as a black-mouthed Blatero hath blasphemed in print that the Puritans rudely call her Verse 39. Into the hill-country Of Juda southward of Jerusalem into the City of Hebron Josh. 21. 9. Verse 40. Saluted Elizabeth To whom she could not rest till she had imparted the good newes and both given and received some spirituall gift for mutuall confirmation and comfort Rom. 1. 11 12 Greif growes greater by concealing joy by expression Only the meeting of Saints in heaven can parallell the meeting of these two couzens Verse 41. The babe leapt in her womb Such comfort there is in the presence of Christ though but in the womb as it made John to spring What then shall it be in heaven think we Verse 42. Blessed art thou among women So is Jael the wife of Heber said to be Judg. 5. 24. who yet perhaps was hardly so good a woman as Deborah that called her so But it was no small confirmation to the blessed Virgin to hear the same words from Elizabeth that she heard before from the Angell And blessed is the fruit c. Or because blessed is the fruit of thy womb therefore blessed art thou c. Verse 43. That the mother of my Lord c. That the Lord himself should come amongst us as he did in the flesh and doth still by his Spirit Oh what a mercy Verse 44 Leaped in my womb More like a suckling at the the breast as the word signifieth then an Embryo in the womb The Spirit then worketh even in unborn babes that are elect some kind of saving knowledge of Christ answerable to faith in those that are grown up Verse 45. Blessed 〈◊〉 she Mary beleeved so did not 〈◊〉 though a man a Priest aged learned eminent and the message to him of more appearing possibility This Elizabeth here seems to have an eye to Beleeved that there shall be c. The same may be said of every beleiver It is true also in cases ordinary A perswasion that God will help and keep us will indeed help and keep us Marke 9. 23. Verse 46. And Mary said See the benefit of good 〈◊〉 and how one Christian kindleth another As Iron sharpneth iron so 〈◊〉 the face of a man his freind Doth magnifie the Lord Makes roome for him enlargeth her thoughts of him throwes wide open the everlasting doors that the King of glory may come in in State My spirit rejoyceth Tripudiat danceth a galliard which seemeth to come from the Greek word here used danceth Levaltoes in God or for God my Saviour as the matter and ground of my joy Verse 48. The low estate Vilitatem the 〈◊〉 and abject 〈◊〉 Cóntra Mariae 〈◊〉 quae 〈◊〉 Papicolae Here 's no mention of merit All generations shall call me blessed How much more should we with one mind and one mouth blesse God the Father of our Lord