his bloud f Ephes 2.14 For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken downe the middle wall of partition betweene us Through him we have an accesse by one Spirit unto the Father ver 18. Now therefore we are no more strangers and forreiners ver 19. but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God g Ephes 3.6 Fellow heires and of the same body and partakers of God his promise in Christ by the Gospell Now as there is one shepheard so but one sheepfold and for this very cause Christ is called Lapis angularis the corner stone because the Gentiles and Jewes like two sides of a wall joyne in him and are built up to make a holy Temple unto the Lord which is his visible Church Neither are the Gentiles onely admitted into the terrestriall Jerusalem and Church militant but also into the celestiall and Church triumphant For so we reade that after there h Apoc 7.4.9 were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel Loe a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lambe cloathed with white robes and palmes in their hands Before Christ came into the flesh there was as it were a small wicket open in heaven for the Gentiles at which some few entered one by one as Jethro and Job and Melchizedeck and the King of Nineveh and the Queene of the South and some other but since the death resurrection and ascension of our Lord wee reade of a i Apoc. 4.1 great doore opened in heaven at which great multitudes may enter together Even from the beginning of Christs comming into the flesh the Gentiles went in equipage with the Jewes For when the Angell preached the incarnation of Christ to the Jewes a new Starre preached it to the heathen Sages that all men might know according to Simeon his prophesie that k Luke 2.32 he was no lesse a light to lighten the Gentiles than the glory of his people Israel For this cause we may conceive it was that he was borne in an Inne not in a private house and baptized in the river Jordan not in a peculiar font and suffered without the walls of the City to make it manifest unto us that the benefit of his incarnation baptisme death and passion is not impropriated to any sort of people nor inclosed within the pale of Palestine but like the beames of the Sunne diffused through the whole world Thus farre we all teach universall grace that is the grace and favour of God offered unto all by the preaching of the Gospell not the grace they call sufficient conferred upon all since Adam's fall This secret belongeth unto God to whom he will make this offer of grace effectuall but that which he hath revealed belongeth to us and our children that l Tit. 2.11 12 13. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and wordly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The m 2. Tim. 2.19 foundation of God remaineth firme having this seal God knoweth who are his not we We therefore who are dispensers of the mysteries of salvation must be open handed unto all and indifferently tender unto them the pretious pearle which the rich Merchant man sold all that he had to buy First because it is Christs expresse command that we should doe so Goe saith Christ preach to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Or as we finde his words related by Saint Marke n Marke 16.15 Goe yee into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but he that beleeveth not shall be damned 2 Next Because the Elect could not be called by us who cannot discerne them from the reprobate if we preached not the Gospell to all without exception Howsoever therefore our preaching to the reprobate doth them little good proving no better unto them than a savour of death unto death yet our labour is not in vaine in the Lord because in every assembly we may piously hope there may be some if not many of the Elect to whom the Word will prove a savour of life unto life 3. Lastly By thus propounding conditions of peace and a desire of reconciliation on Gods part through Christ unto all the reprobate are debarred of that excuse which otherwise they might use viz. that they would have embraced Christ if he had beene offered unto them and have walked in the light of the Gospel if it had shined upon them Tullie speaketh of a Panchrestum medicamentum a remedy for all diseases and Plinie of Panaches a salve for every sore Such a catholike medicine such an universall salve is the death and passion of Christ not only sufficient for all but also soveraigne and effectuall unto all but then this potion must be taken this salve must be applied Obser 2 And so I fall upon my second note that though the promises of the Gospel are generall without exception yet they are not absolute without condition The hidden Manna and the white stone and the new name are promised to every one that is so qualified The promises of the Gospel are generall that none should dispaire but yet conditionall that none should presume Eternall life by the ministery of the Gospel is offered unto all but upon condition of faith o John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting Pardon and remission of sinnes is promised unto all but upon condition of repentance and new obedience p Ezek. 18.21.22 If the wicked will turne from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keepe all my statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live hee shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shal not be mentioned unto him in his righteousnesse that he hath done he shall live Rest is offered unto all but upon condition of submission to Christs yoake q Mat. 11.29 Take my yoake upon you and learne of me for I am meeke and lowly in heart and you shall finde rest unto your soules Salvation is offered unto all but upon condition of r Mat. 13.13 perseverance he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved An incorruptible crowne is promised unto all but upon condition of faithfulnesse Be Å¿ Apoc. 2.10 thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the crowne of life Fishermen in their draw-nets use both lead and corke lead to pull downe some part of it under water corke to
giving sentences or making decrees The Judges among the Romanes when they acquitted any man cast in a white stone into an urne or pot according to that of the Poet Mos erat antiquis niveis atrisque lapillis His damnare reos illis absolvere culpâ And likewise the Citizens of Rome in choosing their Magistrates wrote his name to whom they gave their voice in a white stone By allusion to which two customes I conceive the Spirit in this place promiseth to every one that shall overcome the lusts of the flesh by the Spirit the assaults of the Devill by faith and the persecutions and troubles of the world by his constancy calculum absolutorium suffragatorium an infallible token of his absolution from death and election to a crowne of life an assurance of present justification and future glorification Thus I take the Quid nominis to bee cleare the greatest controversie is about the Quid rei what that gift or grace is what that signe or token what that proofe or testimony whereby our present estate of grace and future of glory are secured unto us Some ghesse not farre off the truth That it is testimonium renovatae conscientiae the testimony of a renewed conscience For as the eye in a glasse by reflection seeth it selfe looking so the conscience by a reflection upon it selfe knoweth that it knoweth God and beleeveth that it beleeveth in Christ and feeleth that it hath a new feeling sense and life The eye of faith in the regenerate seeth himselfe sealed to the day of redemption and observeth the print of the seale in himselfe and the image of the heavenly which it beareth I shall speake nothing to disparage this testimony of conscience which affordeth to every true beleever singular contentment in life and comfort in death The nearer the voice is the briefer and more certainely wee heare it and therefore wee cannot but distinctly take that deposition for us which conscience speaketh in the eare of the heart And yet wee have a nearer and surer voice to settle our heart in the knowledge of our spirituall estate the testimony of Gods Spirit which is nearer and more inward to our soules than our soules to our bodies and the witnesse thereof may be as great or a greater joy to us than if God had sent an Angell to us as hee did to Daniel to shew unto us that wee were beloved of him or an Archangel as hee did to the Virgin k Luke 1.28 Mary to salute us Haile thou that art highly favoured of God If any demand as shee did not out of any doubt but out of a desire of farther information quomodo that is how doth the Spirit testifie to our spirits that we are the sonnes of God To speake nothing of elevations of Spirit and raptures and speciall revelations which are not now so frequent and so certaine as in former ages I answer The Spirit testifieth this unto us two manner of wayes by Motions or Words Effects or Deeds By words so are the expresse words of Saint l Prolog card vert 1. Dicuntur tibi verba quaedam arcana intrinsecus ut dubitare non possis quin juxta te fit Cyprian As when lightning breaketh the cloud and the suddaine splendour thereof doth not so much enlighten as dazle the eyes so sometimes thou art touched with I know not what motion and feelest thy selfe to bee touched and yet seest not him that toucheth thee there are inwardly spoken unto thee certaine secret words so as thou canst not doubt that hee is neare thee even within thee who doth solicite thee yet doth hee not let thee see him as hee is These secret words Saint m Serm. 1. in annunc Hoc est testimonium quod perhibet Spiritus sanctus dimissa sunt tibi peccata tua Bernard uttereth This is the testimony or record which the Spirit beareth unto thee Thy sinnes are forgiven thee I take it the meaning of the words of these Fathers is not that the holy Ghost doth sound these formall words in our bodily eares but that as God once n 1 Kin. 19.12 spake in a still small voice so in it still hee speaketh to the faithfull by the Spirit verbis mentalibus by mentall words or notions by which hee continually inciteth us to good restraines us from evill forewarneth us of danger and comforteth us in trouble And whilest wee listen to these notions or rather motions of the spirit within us wee heare this testimony often and distinctly But when wee give eare to the motions of the evill Spirit and entertaine him and delight in his society and thereby grieve and despite the Spirit of grace hee being thus grieved by us speaketh no more words of comfort in us but withdrawes his gracious presence and leaveth us in horrour of conscience and darknesse of minde In this time of spirituall desertion wee thinke wee have lost this white stone though indeed wee have not lost it but it is hid from us for a while for afterwards wee shall finde it having first felt the Spirit moving upon the waters of our penitent teares and in our powring out our soules before God assisting us with sighes and groanes that cannot be expressed then after we renewing our covenant with him our sins are blowne away like a thicke mist and light from heaven breaketh in againe upon us and with this light assurance and with assurance peace and with peace joy in the holy Ghost Yea but a weake Christian may yet demand How may I bee assured that my stone is not a counterfeit that my gold is not alchymy that my pearle is not glasse that my Edenis not a fooles Paradise that this testimony in my soule is not a suggestion of Sathan to tempt mee to presumption and thereby drowne mee in perdition The Spirit of God commanding mee to o 1 Joh. 4.1 Beleeve not every spirit but try the spirit whether they are of God Try the Spirits whether they are of God or no implyeth that there are Spirits which are not of God how then may I certainly know that this motion within mee is from the good and not rather from the evill Spirit By this if it accord with the word and the testimony of thine own conscience but if it vary from either thou hast just cause to suspect it If any Spirit shall tell thee that thou art lockt in the armes of Gods mercy and canst not fall from him though thou huggest some vice in thy bosome and lettest loose the reines to some evill concupiscence give that Spirit the lye because it accordeth not with the word of God testifying expressely that p Eph. 5.5 no whoremonger nor uncleane person nor covetous man which it an Idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdome of God and of Christ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Againe if any Spirit tell thee that thou art rich in spirituall graces and
hand and giveth them a stay in the next clause onely use not liberty for an occasion unto the flesh Lest any presumptuous sinner should lay hold on the hornes of the Altar and claspe about that gracious promise i Tit. 2.11 The grace of God that bringeth salvation unto all men hath appeared he beateth off their fingers in the next verse teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts wee should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world In like manner lest any should * 2 Pet. 3.16 wrest the former verse of this Prophet as they doe the other Scriptures to the building forts of presumption but to the apparent ruine of their owne soules the Prophet forcibly withstandeth them in the words of my text But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse c. The life of a Christian is not unfitly compared to a long and dangerous sea voyage the sea is this present world the barkes are our bodies the sailers our soules the pylot our faith the card Gods Word the rudder constancie the anker hope the maine mast the crosse of Christ the strong cables our violent affections the sailes our desires and the holy Spirit the good winde which filleth the sailes and driveth the barke and marriners to the faire k Act. 27.8 haven which is heaven Now in our way which lyeth through many temptations and tribulations there are two dangerous rockes the one on the right hand the other on the left the rock on the right hand to be avoided is presumption the rock on the left threatning shipwracke is despaire betweene which we are to steere our ship by feare on the one side and hope on the other To hold us in a solicitous feare that we touch not upon presumption let us have alwayes in the eye of our minde 1 The glorious and most omnipotent majesty of God 2 His all-seeing providence 3 His impartiall justice 4 His severe threatnings against sinne 5 The dreadfull punishments hee inflicteth upon sinners 6 The heinousnesse of the sin of presumption which turneth Gods grace into wantonnesse 7 The difficulty of recovery after relapses 8 The uncertainty of Gods offer of grace after the frequent refusall thereof To keepe us in hope that wee dash not upon the rocke of despaire on the contrary side let us set before our troubled and affrighted consciences these grounds of comfort 1 The infinitenesse of Gods mercy 2 The price and value of Christs blood 3 The efficacy of his intercession 4 The vertue of the Sacraments 5 The universality and certainty of Gods promises to the penitent 6 The joy of God and Angels for the conversion of a sinner 7 The communion of Saints who all pray for the comfort of afflicted consciences and the ease of all that are heavie laden with their sinnes 8 The examples of mercy shewed to most grievous sinners Upon these grounds the contrite penitent may build strong forts of comfort after this manner My sins though they be more in number than the heires of my head yet they are finite whereas Gods mercy is every way infinite if my debt bee as a thousand my Saviours merits are as infinite millions And not onely Gods mercy but his justice also pleads for my pardon for it is against justice that the same debt should be twice paid to require a full ransome from my Redeemer and expect it from my selfe I l â— Joh. 1.9 confesse my sinnes and therefore I know he is faithfull and just to forgive mee my sinnes and cleanse mee from all my unrighteousnesse One drop of the blood of the Sonne of God was a sufficient price for the ransome of many worlds and shall not such store of it spinning from his temples dropping from his hands gushing out of his side and trickling from all parts of his body both in the garden and in the High Priests Hall satisfie for one poore soule that preferreth his love even before heaven it selfe All my sinnes are either originall or actuall the guilt of originall is taken away in baptisme and as often as I have received the blessed Sacrament a generall pardon was tendred unto mee for all my other sinnes and the seale delivered into my hands What though God will not heare the prayers of such a sinner as I am yet he will heare the prayers of Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for my sinnes I acknowledge to my hearts griefe and sorrow that neither faith nor hope nor any other divine vertue beareth any sensible fruit in mee for the present yet the seed of my regeneration remaineth in mee And as the blind man knew that his sight began to be restored to him even by the defect he found in it when he thought he m Mark 8.24 saw men walke like trees so even by this I know that I am not utterly destitute of grace because I feele and unfainedly bewaile the want of it If there were no heavenly treasure in mee Satan would not so often and so furiously assault mee for theeves besiege not much lesse breake open those houses where they are perswaded nothing is to be found The greater my sorrow is for my sinne and my spirituall desertion the greater is my hope for the spirit maketh intercession for the sonnes of God n Rom. 8.26 with groaning which cannot be expressed None were cured by the brazen Serpent which before had not beene stung by the fiery neither doth Christ promise ease unto any but to those that feele themselves heavie burdened But to confine my meditations to the letter of my text Before ye heard Repent you of your sinnes and you shall surely live God pawneth his life for it therefore despaire not how grievous soever your sinnes be But now I am to tell you plainly if you repent you of your repentance and turne from righteousnesse to sinne and end your dayes in that state you shall surely die eternally therefore presume not how compleate soever your former righteousnesse seeme to have beene In these two verses are implyed a double conversion 1 From evill to good 2 From good to evill To turne from evill is good from good is evill the former is repentance upon which I spent my last discourse the later is relapse or apostacie against which I am now to bend all my forces But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity c. in the transgression which he hath transgressed and in the sinne which he hath sinned in them hee shall surely die The contents of this verse are like the Prophet Jeremies figges of which wee read that the bad were exceeding bad for in the antecedent or fore-part we have apostacie that totall and in the hinder part or consequent death and that finall The words divide themselves into first a supposition When or if the righteous forsake secondly an inference his former righteousnesse shall not be remembred c. The supposition is dangerous the
CLAVIS MYSTICA A KEY OPENING DIVERS DIFFICULT AND MYSTERIOUS TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE HANDLED IN SEVENTY SERMONS preached at solemn and most celebrious Assemblies upon speciall occasions in ENGLAND and FRANCE By DANIEL FEATLEY D.D. PROV 2.4 Seeke knowledge as silver and search after understanding as for hid treasures Chrysost in Gen. orat 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senec. Ep. 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti AVSPICANTE DEO LONDON Printed by R.Y. for Nicolas Bourne at the South entrance of the royall Exchange An. Dom. 1636. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIE CHARLES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE AND IRELAND DEFENDER OF THE FAITH Most gracious and dread Soveraigne I Would not presume to present these crude conceptions and expressions to your Highnesse if I had not offered them before to an higher Majestie in whose Courts with how much the more feare and trembling I delivered them so much the greater hope I conceive of your Majesties gracious acceptance The Texts of Scriptures here expounded are all select and most of them mysticall in the declaration whereof if my observations second not your Majesties thoughts yet I perswade my selfe they will occasion more divine raptures in your royall heart The Crocodiles which besiege the bankes of Nilus and way-lay those that travell into Egypt a Caussinus parab hist l. 8. c. 31. Compertum est Crocodilum improbissimum animal si penna Ibidis defricetur adeò obtorpescere debilitari ut immobilis reddatur if they be rubbed or but pricked with the quill of the Ibis are so weakened and stupified thereby that they cannot stirre and in like manner experience teacheth that the presentest remedies against those venemous Serpents which infest the Church of Christ whether Heretickes or Schismatickes are the pens of Orthodoxe Writers For that which is spoken commeth but to a few that are within hearing and stayeth not by them but that which is written and much more that which is printed presenteth it selfe to the view of all and is alwaies ready at hand and as it receiveth so it maketh an impression Which consideration among others induced mee to give way to the desires of some friends for the bringing of these illustrations of darker places of Scripture to light especially because therein the proper Heresies of these times are encountred and the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England maintained by the Oracles of God and the joynt testimony of prime Antiquity In this Worke I owne nothing but the labour of many moneths nay rather yeeres in culling choice of flowers out of many hundreds of gardens and platting them into a garland for Christ his Spouse From which I humbly beseech Almighty God that your Majestie and all that touch any leafe thereof may smell a savour of life unto life The price and worth in all things maketh not the dedication but in some the dedication maketh the price Plin. praef nat hist Multa in pretio habentur quia sacris dicata And if there appeare in these unpolished lines any lustre it is no other than that they receive from the beames of your Majesties eye if your Majestie vouchsafe a glaunce thereof on them for which as we are all otherwise most bound I shall ever fixe my eyes and devotions on Heaven and uncessantly pray for the continuance and encrease of your Majesties temporall and assurance of eternall happinesse Your Majesties most loyally and humbly devoted Subject DANIEL FEATLEY ⧠THE TABLE The bruised Reed page 1. A Sermon preached before his Grace and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth TEXT Matthew 12. 20. ex Esa 42.3 A bruised reed shall he not breake and smoaking flaxe shall he not quench till he send forth judgement unto victory Or as we reade in Esay He shall bring forth judgement unto truth The smoaking Flaxe page 12. A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace the Lord Bishop of London and other his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall December 5. 1618. Matthew 12.20 And smoaking flaxe shall he not quench The still Voice page 28. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Novemb. 20. 1619. Matthew 12.19 He shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streets The Lambe turned Lion page 41. A Sermon preached in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth December 6. 1619. before his Majesties high Commissioners there assembled Matthew 12.20 Till he send forth judgement unto victory The Traitours Guerdon page 53. A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracie before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. 1618. Psal 63. Vers 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lies shall be stopped The Lord Protectour of Princes page 69. A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon August 5. 1620. Psal 21.1 The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Or as we reade in the Bishops Bible The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation Pandora her boxe or Origo omnium malorum pa. 80. A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe The Characters of heavenly wisedome page 93. A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall at Lambeth Psalme 2.10 Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth The Judges charge page 105. A Sermon preached at the Readers feast in Lincolnes Inne Psalme 2.10 Be instructed or learned ye Judges of the earth The Apostolick Bishop page 122. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Lord Bishop of Bristoll before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the great Seale and divers other Lords spirituall and temporall and other persons of eminent quality in Lambeth Chappell March 23. 1622. John 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive yee the holy Ghost The faithfull Shepherd page 131. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of three Bishops viz. of Oxford Bristoll and Chester in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth May 9. An. Dom. 1619. 1 Peter 5.2 3 4. 2. Feed the flocke of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a
accessary to the death of the Lord of life And not only those that committed high treason against the sacred person of the Lords Annointed and imbrued their hands and stained their consciences with that bloud which cleanseth us from all sinne 1 John 1.7 but also Nero and Domitian and Trajan and Antoninus and Severus and Maximinus and Decius and Valerianus and Dioclesianus and Maxentius and all other Emperours that employed their swords and Simon Magus and Cerinthus and Arrius and Nestorius and Manes and all other obstinate arch-Heretickes who employed their pens against him none have hitherto escaped the heavie judgement of God who have bid battell to the Christian Faith and have wilfully and of set malice given the Spouse of Christ the least wound or skarre either by a gash with their sword or a scratch with their pen. Bee wise now therefore O yee Kings Psal 2.10 11 12. bee instructed yee Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest hee bee angry and yee perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Some Interpreters by Judgement understand the spirituall government of Christ which is managed in his Church with excellent wisedome and judgement and by Victory the prevalent power of grace in the faithfull wherby they are victorious in all temptations in such sort that though Sathan labour with all his might to blow out a poore sparke yet hee shall not be able to quench it and that the smallest degree of faith like a grain of mustard seed is stronger than the gates of hell and is able to remove mountaines of doubts and oppositions cast up by Sathan and our rebellious hearts between God and us And from hence they inforce the Apostles exhortation to all the souldiers of Christ to be strong in the Lord Ephes 6.10 and in the power of his might not to looke who are their enemies but who is our Captaine not what they threaten but what hee promiseth who hath taken upon him as to conquer for us so to conquer in us These are sweet and comfortable notes but as I conceive without the rule of this Text for questionlesse the Donec or Untill is not superfluous or to no purpose but hath reference to some future time when Christs mild proceedings shall be at a period and he shall take another course with his enemies such as I have before described in the particular judgement of the Jewish Nation and the generall judgement of the whole World But if Judgement and Victory bee taken in their sense there needed no untill to bee added For Christ even from the beginning of his preaching when he strived not nor cryed nor brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe sent forth judgment unto victory according unto their interpretation that is wisely governed his Church and gave victory to the faithfull in their conflicts with sinne and Sathan That therefore the members of this sentence bee not co-incident and that the donec or untill may have his full force I conceive agreeably to the exposition of the ancient and the prime of the later Interpreters that in this clause Till hee bring forth judgement unto victory the Prophet determineth the limits of the time of grace Whosoever commeth In between the first and second comming of Christ shall be received into favour but after the gates of mercy shall bee locked up Yet our gracious Ahasuerus reacheth out his golden Scepter to all that have a hand of faith to lay hold on it but then he shall take his Iron mace or rod in his hand to bruise his enemies and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell I must sing therefore with holy David of Mercy and Judgement mercy in this life and judgement in the life to come mercy during the day of grace but judgement at the day of the Worlds doom For although sometimes God meets with the Reprobate in this life yet that judgement which they feele here may bee accounted mercy in comparison of that which shall be executed upon them hereafter without all mitigation of favour release of torments or limitation of time Now the vials drop on them but then they shall bee poured all out upon them Wherefore let us all like the bruised reed fall downe to the earth and humble our selves under the mighty hand of God Let us like smoaking flaxe send forth bitter fumes of sighes for our sinnes assuring our selves that now whilst the day of grace lasteth hee will not breake the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flaxe but if we neglect this time of grace and deferre our repentance till he send forth judgement unto victory we shall smoake for it Cogitemus fratres de tempore in tempore ne pereamus cum tempore Let us thinke of time in time lest we perish with time Let us imagine that we now saw the Angel standing upon the sea Apoc. 10 5 6. and upon the earth and lifting up his hand to heaven and swearing by him that liveth for ever who created heaven and the earth and the sea and the things that are therein that there should be time no longer Jonas 2.8 O let us not forsake our owne mercy but to day if wee will heare his voice harden not our hearts but mollifie them by laying them asoake in teares Let us breake off our sinnes suddenly by repentance and our iniquities by almes-deeds Now is the seed-time let us now therefore sow the seeds of faith hope mercy meeknesse temperance patience and all other divine Vertues and we shall reape a plentifull harvest in heaven Cypr. ad Dom. Hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur hic saluti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur Galat. 6.8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but hee that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Which God of his infinite mercy grant that we may all do in heaven through the merits of his Sonne by the grace of the holy Spirit to whom c. THE TRAITORS GUERDON A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracy before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. Anno Dom. 1618. THE FIFTH SERMON PSAL. 63. VER 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lyes shall be stopped Most REVEREND Right Honr. Right Wor sh c. WEe are at this present assembled with religious Rites and sacred Ceremonies to celebrate the unfortunately fortunate Nones of August which are noted in red letters in the Romane Calendar as
their sight in those darke roomes which they lost when they were suddenly brought forth into the open ayre by the over bright reflection of the Sunne beames from a wall new white-limed Which I speake not to detract from dignity or obscure glory or disparage nobility or dishonour worldly preferments or honours in them whose merits have been their raisers For these honourable titles and dignities are the lustre of eminent quality the garland of true vertue the crowne of worldly happinesse and to the lowly high favours of the Almighty The marke I aime at is to give some content to them whose places are inferiour to their vertues and advice also to those whom God hath or shall raise to great places and high preferments Let the former consider that there can be no obscurity where the Sunne shineth that he is truly honourable not alwayes whom the Prince putteth in high places but he upon whom God lifteth the light of his countenance that it is sufficient that hee seeth their good parts from whom they expect their reward that the more retired their life is the lesse exposed to envie and more free from danger that the fewer suters or clients they have to them the more liberty they have to be clients to God the lesse troubles they have about their temporall estate the better they may looke to their spirituall and secure their eternall lastly that the lesse they are trusted with the easier their account shall be at the great audit On the other side let those who have degrees accumulated and honours and preferments heaped upon them seeke rather to diminish their accounts than to increase their receipts and pray to God daily for lesse of his goods and more of his grace that they may make a better account at the last day and then receive a Kingdome in Heaven for a Stewardship on earth Beloved brethren you see your calling you are Stewards not Lords thinke upon it seriously that you may be every day you shall be one day called to a strict account for all that you have or enjoy This was the first point of speciall consideration I recommended to you from the nature of our office which is here called a Stewardship The second was that wee are not Gods Treasurers but his Stewards and that our imployment is not to gather up and keep but to expend and distribute our Masters monies for the maintenance and reliefe of his poore servants according to their severall necessities And looke whatsoever we lay out in this kinde shall be allowed upon our accounts and put upon our Masters score who acknowledgeth it to bee his owne debt o Mat. 10.42 Whatsoever you doe unto any of these little ones you doe it unto mee You clothe mee in the naked you feed mee in the hungry you relieve mee in the distressed you visit mee in the imprisoned you ransome mee in the captive you cure mee in the wounded you heale my pierced hands and feet with the oyle which you poure into their wounds Thrice happy Stewards wee if wee can so handle the matter that we may bring our Master indebted to us for the interest of his owne mony For he p Prov. 19.15 who giveth to the poore lendeth to the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay it him againe So exceeding bountifull is he that he giveth us aboundantly to pay our fellow-servants and payeth us double for giving it them After our Saviour had healed the man with a q Marke 3 5. withered hand to shew that it was whole he commanded him to stretch it forth in like manner if wee desire to shew and make a sensible proofe that the sinewes of our faith are not shrunke that the hands of our charity are not withered we must stretch them out and reach our almes to the poore which we will be more willing and ready to doe if we reflect often upon our office shadowed out under this Parable which is to bee Stewards not Treasurers of Gods manifold blessings Secondly if wee consider that wee lay out nothing of our owne but of our Masters purse And thirdly that whatsoever we lay out for him upon earth we lay up for our selves heaven according to that rule of Saint r Leo ser quod Thesaurum coâ—dit in coelo qui Christum pascit in paupere manus pauperis gaâ—aphylatium Christi Leo Hee layeth up treasure in heaven who feedeth Christ in the poore the poore mans hand is Christs boxe This branch of our duties which is to be alwayes fruitfull in good workes extendeth farther than the expending of monies or good usage of the blessings of this life For all the members of our body and faculties of our foule and graces of the spirit are paâ—â— of our Masters goods and must bee imployed in his service and occupied for his profit Besides all these wee are accountable to him for our time which wee may not wastefully and prodigally lavish out in sports and pastimes but so thriftily expend upon the necessary workes of our calling that we may save a good part to consecrate it to exercises of piety and devotion whereby wee may multiply the talent of grace committed unto us There is no covetousnesse commendable but of time of which yet most men and women are most prodigall Å¿ Senec. ep 1. Quem mihi dabis qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat qui diem aestimet c. spenders Any jewell that is lost may be found yea though it bee cast in the sea as Polycraâ—es his ring was which a fish in his mouth brought backe into his Kitchin Yea the treasure of grace and pearle of the word which the rich Merchant sold all that hee had to buy yea God himselfe after we have lost him may bee found if we seeke him in time onely lost time can never be recovered Wherefore that wee may not lose any moment of the time allotted which is so precious but put it to the best use for the increase of our talent of knowledge I passe from the Stewardship of the things of this life to the account we are to give of this Stewardship In which that we may more readily and safely proceed first I will set up a great light secondly remove some rubs out of the way The light shall bee a cleare confirmation of the truth of the point out of the Scriptures which are most evident and expresse both for the unavoidable necessity and strict severity of the last judgement Wee professe in our Creed that Christ who now sitteth at the right hand of his Father in heaven shall from thence come to judge the quicke and the dead and wee have sure ground in Scripture to build this article upon For t Acts 10 42. there wee reade that Christ is ordained of God to bee Judge of the quicke and the dead and that u Rom. 14.10 we shall all stand before his judgement seat nay that wee x 2 Cor. 5.10
mistaking of any other man should not take off the edge of our desires to gaine an invaluable jewell but whet our diligence the more to observe more accurately the notes of difference betweene the true and counterfeit stone upon which I shall touch anon after I have convinced our Romish sceptickes by evidence from the nature of faith the profession of Gods Saints the testimony of the Spirit and undeniable signes and effects that all that are called by the word effectually have this white stone in my text given unto them whereby they are assured of their present estate of grace and future of glory Doct. 1 The faith of Gods e Tit. 1.1 Elect is not a bare assent to supernaturall verities revealed in Scripture which may bee in a Reprobate and is in the f Jam. 2.19 Devils themselves Thou beleevest there is one God thou doest well the Devils also beleeve and tremble but a divine grace whereby being fully assured of Gods favour to us wee trust him with our soules and wholly rely on him for salvation through the merits of his sonne The sure promises of the Gospell are like a strong cable let downe to a man in a deepe pit or dungeon on which hee doth not onely lay hand by faith but hangeth and resteth himselfe upon it and thereby is drawne out of darkenesse to see and possesse the inheritance of the Saints in light To beleeve the communion of Saints is not onely to bee perswaded that there is a communion of Saints in the world remission of sinnes in the Church resurrection of the flesh at the last day and life everlasting in heaven but to bee assured by faith that wee have an interest in this communion benefit by this remission and shall partake the glory of this resurrection and the happinesse of life everlasting They who had beene stung by fiery serpents and were healed by looking upon the brazen serpent did not onely beleeve that it had cured many but that it would cure them Here the Logicians rule holdeth Medicina curat Socratem non hominem physicke is not given to mans nature to cure the species but to every man in individuo to heale his person and to every sicke soule that applieth unto it selfe the promises of the Gospell Christ saith g Mat. 9.22.29 Bee it unto thee as thou beleevest thy faith hath made thee whole goe in peace Hereupon Saint h Fides dicit aeternabona reposita sunt spes dicit mihi teposita sunt charitas dicit ego curro post ea Bernard bringeth in the three divine graces Faith Hope and Charity singing as it were a catch and taking the word one from another Faith beginneth saying everlasting treasures are layd up in heaven Hope followeth saying they are layd up for mee Charity concludeth I will seeke after them And verily no man by a generall Romish credulity but by a speciall faith in Christ can say with Job My redeemer with David My salvation with the Spouse My beloved with the blessed Virgin My Saviour with Thomas My Lord and my God much lesse can hee warrant these possessives with a scio i Job 19.25.26.27 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him stand up at the last day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my selfe And k Psal 45.11.12 I know that thou favourest me thou upholdest mee in my integrity and fettest me before thy face for ever And l Rom. 8.28 Wee know that all things worke for the best to them that love God We know that when m 2 Cor. 5.1 our earthly tabernacle is dissolved wee shall have an eternall in the heavens n 1 Joh. 2.5 Wee know that wee are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Opinion and science a conjecturall hope and an assured beliefe as much differ as a shaken reed and a well growne oake which no winde can stirre To know any thing saith o L. 1 posterior c. 2. Scire est causam rei cognoscere quod illius causa sit quod res illa aliter se habere non posset Aristotle is to know the cause and that this cause is the cause of such an effect and that the thing it selfe cannot bee otherwise than wee conceive of it in which regard the Greeke Etymologist deriveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because opinion waggeth and inclineth the mind by probabilities on both sides but science fasteneth it and maketh it stand unmoveable With these texts of scripture attributing knowledge of salvation to all beleevers our Trent Merchants are manifestly gravelled and sticke in the mud yet they endevour to boye up their sunke vessell by a distinction of a double knowledge 1 By common faith 2 By speciall revelation They yeeld that some who have been admitted to Gods privie Councell by speciall revelation have been assured of their crowne of glory but they will by no meanes grant that beleevers can attain to this certainty by their common faith yet such is the clearnesse of the texts above alledged for the point in question that they easily like the beames of the sunne breake through this popish mist For Job speaketh not of any speciall secret revealed unto him but of the common article of all our faith concerning the resurrection of the flesh I know that my Redeemer liveth and hee shall stand up and I shall see him with these eyes And what David speaketh of his knowledge of Gods favour and stedfast beliefe of his future happinesse p Ad Monim l. 1. â—ustus ex fide vivens fiducialiter dicit credo videre bona domini in terra viventium Fulgentius applyeth to every beleever The just man living by faith speaketh confidently I beleeve that I shall see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living And S. John ascribeth this knowledge not to any singular revelation but to charity the common effect of faith We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren whereupon S. q Tract 5. in ep Joh. Nemo interroget hominem redeat ad cor suum si ibi invenerit charitatem securus sit quia transiit à morte ad vitam Austin giveth this sage advice Let no man enquire of man let him have recourse to his owne heart if he find there charity let him rest assured that he is passed from death to life And S. Paul joyneth all the faithfull with him saying We know that all things worke for the best to them that love God and There is layd up a crown of righteousnesse which the righteous Judge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but to all them also that love his appearing In like manner Saint r Ep. ex regist l. 6. Hac fulti certitudine de ejusdem redemptoris nostri misericordiá nihil ambigere
blessed Virgin the babe a Luke 1.41 sprang in the wombe of Elizabeth so I doubt not but that at the reading of this text in your eares the fruits of your devotion which are your religious thoughts and zealous affections leap and spring for joy in the wombe of your soule for now is the accepted time the time of grace now is the day of salvation the day of our Lords Incarnation As the golden tongued Father spake of a Martyr Martyrem dixisse laudâsse est to name a man a Martyr is to commend him sufficiently so it may be said of this text to rehearse it is to apply it I need not fit it to the time for the time falleth upon this time and the day upon this day now if ever is this Now in season If any time in all the yeere be more acceptable than other it is the holy time we now celebrate now is the accepted time on Gods part by accepting us to favour now is the day of salvation by exhibiting to us a Saviour in our flesh let us make it so on our parts also by accepting the grace offered unto us and by laying hands on our Saviour by faith and embracing him by love and by joy dilating our hearts to entertain him with all his glorious attendants a troupe of heavenly Souldiers singing b Luke 2.14 Glory be to God on high on earth peace and good will towards men c Esay 49.13 Sing O heavens and be joyfull O earth and breake forth into shouting O ye mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon the afflicted Keepe this holy day above others because chosen by God to manifest himselfe in the flesh bid by an Angell and by him furnished both with a lesson and with an Anthem also Well might the Angell as on this day sing glory in excelsis Deo c. for on this day the Son of God out of his good will towards men became man and thereby set peace on earth and brought infinite glory to God in the highest heavens Well may this be called by the Apostle d Gal. 4.4 The fulnesse of time or a time of fulnesse which filled heaven with glory the earth with blessings of peace and men with graces flowing from Gods good will The heavens which till this time were as clasped boxes now not able longer to containe in them the soveraigne balsamum of wounded mankind burst open and he whose name is e Cant. 1.3 an ointment poured forth was plentifully shed upon the earth to revive the decayed spirits and heale the festered sores of wounded mankind Lift up then your heavie lookes and heavier hearts yee that are in the midst of danger and in the sight nay within the claspes of eternall death you have a Saviour borne to rescue you Cheare up your drouping and fainting spirits all ye that feele the smart and anguish of a bruised conscience and broken heart to you Christ is borne to annoint your wounds bruises and sores Exult and triumph ye gally slaves of Satan and captives of Hell fast bound with the chaine of your sinnes to you a Redeemer is borne to ransome you from spirituall thraldome Two reasons are assigned why festivities are religiously to be kept 1. The speciall benefits of God conferred upon his Church at such times which by the anniversary celebration of the dayes are refreshed in our memories and visibly declared to all succeeding ages 2 The expresse command of God which adjoyned to the former reason maketh the exercises of devotion performed at these solemnities duties of obedience It cannot be denied that in this latter consideration those feasts which are set downe in the booke of God have some prerogative above those that are found wrtiten onely in the Calendar of the Church But in the former respect no day may challenge a precedencie of this no not the Sabbath it selfe which the more to honour him whose birth we now celebrate resigned both his name place and rites to the f Athanas hom de semenie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords day and if we impartially compare them the worke wrought on this day was farre more difficult and the benefit received upon it greater than that to the memory whereof the Sabbath was at the first dedicated It was a greater miracle that God should be made a creature than that he should make all creatures and the redemption of the world so farre exceeds the creation as the means by which it was wrought were more difficult and the time larger the one was finished in sixe dayes by the commandement of God the other not in lesse than foure and thirty yeeres by the obedience of Christ the one was but a word with God the breath of his mouth gave life to all creatures the other cost him much labour sweat and bloud and what comparison is there betweene an earthly and an heavenly Paradise Nay if wee will judge by the event the benefit of our creation had beene none without our redemption For by it we received an immortall spirit with excellent faculties as it were sharpe and strong weapons wherewith wee mortally wounded our selves and had everlastingly laid weltring in our own blood had not our Saviour healed our wounds by his wounds and death and raised us up againe by the power of his resurrection To which point Saint Austine speaking feelingly saith Si natus non fuisset bonum fuisset si homo natus non fuisset If hee had not beene borne it had beene good for man never to have beene borne if this accepted time had not come all men had beene rejected if this day of salvation had not appeared wee had all perished in the night of eternall perdition Behold now is the accepted time In this Scripture as in a Dyall wee may observe 1 The Index 2 The Circles Certaine Behold Different 1 The larger 2 The narrower The accepted time The day of salvation To man in generall it is an accepted time to every beleever in particular it is a day of salvation Lynx cum cessat intueri cessat recordari Because we are like the Lynx which mindeth nothing no longer than her eye is upon it the Spirit every where calleth upon us to looke or behold Behold not alwayes or at any time but now not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not time simply but season the flower of time not barely accepted but according to the originall well accepted or most acceptable not the day of helpe or grace but a day of salvation As in the bodies which consist of similar parts the forme of the whole and the forme of every part is all one for example the whole ocean is but water and yet every drop thereof is water the whole land is but earth and yet every clod thereof is earth the
in Here I might take occasion to congratulate our Churches of great Britaine which alone among all the Reformed have preserved from sacriledge ransacking holy things under pretence of zeale against Idolatry some remaines of Ecclesiasticall preferments and sacred ornaments as it were borders of gold But the time and your expectation call mee from the explication of this Scripture to make some application thereof to this present exercise Whereto I would presently addresse my selfe if I were not arrested by a new action repetundarum commenced justly against those who before mee have repeated in this place It is alledged against them that they have turned recensere into censere or censuram ferre rehearsing into censuring and contraction of Sermons into detraction from the Preachers This is utterly a fault and I hold it most necessary at this time and in this place to reprove it that the plaster may be applyed where the wound hath been given It is no better than in stead of wine to offer to Christ on this Crosse the sharpest vinegar after which if any thirst here I thinke fit to send him packing on Martial the Poet his errand Vaticana bibas si delectaris aceto non facit ad stomachum nostra lagena tuum Can a fountaine out of the same place send forth bitter * Jam. 3.11 waters and sweet can a man with the same breath blesse God and scandalize his Ministers glorifie him and disgrace their brethren If any Rehearser hereafter shall turne Satyrist and take delight in spilling much wit and reading in this kinde I desire him seriously to consider that as y Ausonius in epig. Autorem feriunt tela retorta suum Achyllas was hurt in the eye by the rebound of that very stone which hee inhumanely coited at a skull so that they cannot cast any contumelious aspersion in this kind upon their brethren in the Ministery but that it will rebound backe upon themselves and wound them in the eye of their discretion to say no more For even they who most applaud their pregnancy or rather luxuriancy of wit secretly condemne their want of judgement as Tully did his who wonderfully pleased himselfe in that Paronomasie Videte patres conscripti ne circumscripti videamini whereby he offended all the Senate Ego verò non tanti fecissem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would not have set so much by a figure or cadency of sentence as for it to fall out with the Councell of State z Lib. 6. instit Orator Nimium risus pretium est si probitatis impendio constat Quintilian gravely schooles such telling them that â—e buyeth a witty conceit or jest at too deare a rate who pawneth his honesty for it Much more he who pawneth Christian charity for it The Ministers of the Gospel who are stiled a Rev. 1.20 angels in holy Scripture ought to resemble the Cherubims in the Arke which cast a gracious aspect one upon the other and Rehearsers should be like the golden snuffers of the Temple not like extinguishers of baser metall they ought to take away the superfluity and cleere the light of their brethrens labours not put it out as some have done of late and left a loathsome savour behind them or to make use of the similitude which I find in my Text they should be like studs of silver in borders of gold receive and give a mutuall lustre one to the other Thus having given a law to my selfe as well as others I proceed to speak of the worthy Speakers whose resounding eccho the redoubled command of authority hath made mee at this present who like the Romane b Cic. divinat in Ver. Quemvis ut mallem eorum qui possunt quà m me me ut mallem quam neminem Orator in his divination in Verrem had rather that any should have undertaken this taske than my selfe my selfe rather than none If as the Proverbe is tria sunt omnia so it might be said truly quatuor sunt omnia I should not doubt but to fit the foure Speakers whose remembrancer I must be with a similitude running upon foure feet But it is far otherwise there are few quaternians in nature and these have been laid out for and anticipated long agoe Besides as c Nat. hist l. 28. c. 8. Camelion salutaris est parturientibus si sit domi si verò inferatur pernitiosissimus Pliny writeth of the flesh of a Camelion that it is very wholesome for women in labour if the Camelion were bred in the country but very unwholsome if it be brought from forraine parts so it may be truely said of allusions and applications If they are home borne as it were and taken from things neere at hand they are in request but if they be farre fetched they lose their grace Howsoever they who never meane to touch this heavie burthen so much as with a little finger should forbeare to censure those who in these later yeeres are to furnish this exercise yea though we send farre for our provision in this kind sith our just apology may be that Pliny and Solinus their markets have bin fore-stalled and there is nothing to be had neere at hand The foure Postes have long agoe rode their foure stages The foure parts of the World have been traversed The foure rivers of Paradise have been drawne dry The foure winds have breathed out their last gaspe The foure rich Merchants have sold their commodities The foure Embassadours have delivered their embassages What shall I adde more Heaven it selfe hath been ransacked and from thence foure Angels have been called down to sound the foure last Trumps Nay Hell it selfe hath been raked for similitudes and from thence Proteus was conjured up to turne himselfe into foure shapes This as I conceive occasioned my immediate predecessour with whose praises the Crosse yet rings to chime the Rehearsers knell with foure Bells in this place where there was never yet any one hung Nothing remaineth for mee who am to fish for allusions after all these but to make use of the words of my Text according to the seventies Translation faciamus similitudines to set forth a new Pliny and forge new similitudes of things that never were nor will be But see as Apelles when hee had often tryed to paint the d Plin. nat hist l. 32. Apelles cum spumam pingere vellet saepiùs frustrà expertus esset iratus arti spongram impegit in viso loco tabulae illa reposuit ablatos colores qualiter cura optabat fecitque in picturâ fortuna naturam foming of a horse and could never come neere it at last in a rage flung his spunge carelesly upon his worke and chance expressed that which art could not so after much labour taken in devising an embleme and pourtraying a lively draught of these foure Speakers at last unsatisfied with any I threw downe my pensill upon my worke and behold quod ars non potuit casus expressit I
Cedars stately built and richly furnished with all the rarities which nature or art affoords Why were Jewels and precious Stones and rich metals created but for mans use And what better use can be made of them than to shew forth the glorie of God and the splendour and magnificence of his Vicegerents on earth Certainely they were never made to maintaine the luxurie of private men which is now growne to that excesse especially at Court that the Embassadours of forreine Princes speake as loud of it abroad as the poore cry and wring for it at home Where shall we finde a Paula deserving the commendation which St. q In Epitaph Paul Non in marmora sed lapides vivos Jerome giveth her for laying out her money not upon marble or free-stone but upon those living stones which she knew one day should be turned into gemmes and laid in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem Doth not the liberality of most of the wealthy of this age resemble their heart which is hard cold and stony The greatest expence they are at is in building houses of Cedar for themselves by which they are better knowne than their houses by them As the world so the Proverb is turned upside downe it stood thus Non domus Dominum sed Dominus domum but now it is thus overturned Non Dominus domum sed domus Dominum the house gets no credit by the owner but the owner if he have any by the house Ye will thinke when ye come into many of them that ye are fallen into an Egyptian Temple most glorious without but within nothing to be seen but the picture of a Jack an Ape or a Cat or some such contemptible creature as that superstitious Nation worshipped I sharpen my stile the more against this abuse of our age because it is well knowne that the superfluous expence upon the Sepulchres of the dead and the erecting of houses of Cedars for the living farre above I will not say the wealth but above the ranke and worth of those that dwell in them is the cause why the Arke of the Lord lieth yet in many places under the curtaines nay not so well but under the open aire without cover or roofe to keepe out raine and weather If that which hath beene luxuriously cast away in building houses of pleasure and ambitiously if not superstitiously consumed in erecting Statues Obelisques Tombes or Monuments for the dead had beene employed in rearing up houses for Prophets and erecting Temples to the living God the Prophets of God should not need to complaine as now they are constrained against the men of this age in the words of the Prophet Haggai c. 1. ver 4. Yee dwell in sieled houses and the house of the Lord lieth waste or in the like in my text Behold now ye dwell in houses of Cedars and The Arke of the Lord within the Curtaines Before the Sunne rise you see no light but through mists and vapours and shadowes on the earth even so before the Sunne of righteousnesse Christ Jesus arose in the Firmament of his Church there was no light of the Gospell to be seene but through mists and obscure shadowes so the Å¿ Heb. 8.5 10.1 Apostle termeth the types and figures of the old Law among which the Tabernacle and in it the Arke and therein especially the Tables Rod and Pots of Manna shadowed the state of the Christian Church and presented to the eye of faith the principall meanes of salvation under the Gospell which are three 1 The preaching of the Word summarily contained in the two Tables 2 The Sacrament of Christs body and bloud figured by the Manna 3 The exercise of Ecclesiasticall discipline lively set forth by the budding of Aarons rod. As for Baptisme which is the Sacrament of entrance into the Church the type thereof was set at the entrie into the Tabernacle where stood a great Laver in which those that came to worship God after they had put off their clothes bathed themselves as we Christians put off the old man and wash away the corruption of originall sinne in the Font of Baptisme before we are admitted as members into the Christian Church whereunto three sorts of men belong 1 Some that are to be called 2 Others that are already called into it 3 Such as are called out of it into Heaven 1 The first are in the state of nature 2 The second in the state of grace 3 The third in the state of glorie Answerable whereunto God commandeth three spaces or partitions to be made 1 Atrium the outward Court for the people 2 Sanctum the holy place for the ordinarie Priests 3 Sanctum sanctorum the most holy place for the High-Priest to enter once a yeere and shew himselfe to God for the people Which are similitudes of true things For as by the outward Court the Priest went into the holy place and from the holy place into the most holy so from the state of nature the children of God are brought into the state of grace and from the state of grace into the state of glorie If any question these mysticall expositions for the first I referre them to St. t Apoc. 11.2 John who saith expressely that the Court was given to the Gentiles and was not therefore to be mete with a golden reed for the second to St. u 1 Pet. 2.9 Peter who calleth all Christians Priests for whom the holy place was appointed for the third to St. * Heb. 9.24 Paul who openeth the vaile of that figure and sheweth how Christ our High-Priest after his death entered into the holy of holies and there appeared before God for us To these observations of the Tabernacle may be added many the like resemblances betweene the Arke and the Church In the fore-front of the Tabernacle there was the Altar of burnt-offerings and a place of refuge for malefactors who if they could take hold of the hornes of the Altar were safe Christs Crosse is this Altar the hornes whereof whosoever take hold by faith be they never so great malefactors escape Gods vengeance In the Sanctuarie was the mercy seat towards which the Cherubims faces looked to teach us that the Angels of x 1 Pet. 1.12 heaven desire to looke into the mysteries of the Gospell The dimensions of the Arke were small and the limits of the militant Church in comparison of the malignant are narrow The outside of the Arke was covered with skins but the inside was overlaid with gold in like manner the Church hath for the most part no great outward appearance pompe or splendour but yet is alwayes most y Psal 45 13. glorious within The arke when it was taken by the Philistims conquered Dagon and cast him downe on his face even so the Church of Christ when shee is in captivitie and greatest weakenesse in the eye of the world getteth the better of her enemies and is so farre from being diminished by persecution that
uttered but it may by ignorance be depraved no action of vertue can be so exactly performed but it may through malice be mis-construed It is not more proper to God to bring light out of darknesse peace out of trouble joy out of sorrow and out of sinne the greatest of all evils to extract much good by governing and disposing it to the declaration of his mercy and justice than it is naturall to the Divell and his impes out of the light of truth to endeavour to draw darknesse of errour and out of the best speeches and actions to straine and force out somewhat to maintaine and nourish their corrupt humours and bosome sinnes And what marvell sith even in Paradise amidst the sweetest flowers and wholsomest herbes and plants a Serpent could live and find there something to feed upon Paradise was the seat of mans happinesse the garden of pleasure the soyle of the tree of life seated in the cleerest ayre watered and environed with sweetest rivers enamelled with pleasantest flowers set by God himselfe with the choicest plants and yet was it not free from the serpent which turned the juices of those soveraign and medicinall simples into poyson Aristotle writeth of the Cantharides that they are killed with the sent of the a Arist de mirabil aus cult sweetest and most fragrant oyntments and it is morally verified in those gracelesse hearers to whom the Word which is the b 2. Cor. 2.16 sweet smelling savour of God to life becommeth a savour of death Such hearers the blessed Apostle Saint Paul sharply censureth in this chapter Occas who when hee preached to them salvation by the free grace of Christ hence concluded free liberty of sinne when to the comfort of all that are heavie laden with the burden of sinne he set abroach that heavenly doctrine where sinne abounded there grace superabounded they subsumed Let us therefore continue in sinne that grace may more abound whereas indeed they should have inferred the cleane contrary conclusion thus Grace hath abounded much more to us therefore wee of all men should not continue in sinne because God offereth us so good meanes to escape out of it The dew of heaven hath fallen plentifully upon us therefore wee ought to be most fruitfull in good workes not only because God hath better enabled us to doe them but also in a duty of thankfulnesse wee are to offer him our best service who hath enriched us with the treasures of his grace Therefore to beat them and in them all carnall Gospellers from the former hold St. Paul in this chapter planteth ordnance of many most forcible arguments drawne from three principall heads Analys 1. Christ and his benefits 2. Themselves and their former condition 3. The comparison between a sinfull and a holy course of life and their contrary effects 1 From Christ and his benefits after this manner The effect of grace is to mortifie sinne how then can they who have received a greater measure of grace by the merit of Christs death and buriall continue in sinne How can they that are dead to sinne live therein Whereas they urged grace for liberty of sinne the Apostle from grace enforceth sanctity of life whereas they alledged their redemption for their exemption from all service Saint Paul strongly concludes from so great a benefit a greater tye and obligation to serve the Lord their Redeemer whereas they built a fort of sin with the wood of Christs crosse he maketh an engine of the same wood to overthrow it by grace we are united to Christ and planted in him therefore we must live the life of the root bring forth the fruit of the c Ver. 5. Ver. 6. spirit If we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death wee shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth wee should not serve sinne c. 2 From themselves and their former condition thus When yee were free from righteousnesse yee were servants unto sinne now therefore being freed from sinne yee ought to be servants unto righteousnesse As yee d Ver. 18 19. yeelded your members servants of uncleannesse and iniquity unto iniquity so now yeeld your members servants of righteousnesse unto holinesse c. 3 From the comparison between the state of sin and grace thus When you were in the state of sinne you had no profit at all of your workes and you were confounded with shame for them and by them were brought to the very brink of death Coharent but now being in the state of grace you reap fruit here in holinesse the fruit of peace and joy and hereafter you shall reap the fruit of everlasting life and glory Thus you see the scope of the Apostle the occasion and coherence of the words which carry this sense Tell mee Exposit Gen. yee unsettled and unstable Christians who have been delivered from the thraldome of sinne and Satan and have given your names unto Christ and your members as servants unto righteousnesse why goe yee about to enthrall your selves anew to your ghostly enemies or make your selves vassals to your fleshly lusts Observe yee not the heavie judgements of God lighting daily upon presumptuous sinners See yee not before your eyes continuall spectacles of Gods justice and marke yee not in them the fearfull ends of those courses which now yee begin to take againe after yee had long left them Beleeve yee not the words of God e Rom. 2 9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth for hee will f Psal 68.21 wound the hairy scalpe of every one that goeth on in his wickednesse Or if you turne away your eyes from beholding the vialls of wrath daily powred upon sinners and stop your eares that yee may not heare the dreadfull threats which God thundereth out in his Law against such backsliders and relapsers as yee are yet can yee stifle your owne hearts griefe can yee forget the wofull plight into which your former courses brought you when free from righteousnesse yee let loose the reines to all licentiousnesse that yee might worke wickednesse even with greedinesse yee glutted your selves with earthly vanities and tooke a surfeit of sinfull pleasures What gaine did yee not then greedily gape after what preferment did yee not ambitiously seek into what mire of impurity did not yee plunge your selves No sinfull pleasure but yee tooke your fill of no dish of Satan which yee left untouched yet speake the truth between God and your owne conscience what true delight or solid contentment tooke yee in those things I know yee are ashamed to speake of it and I will not wound modest eares to relate it and ought yee not much more to be ashamed to returne with the dogge to his former vomit and with the sow to her wallowing in the mire Your soules have been cleansed by
praeparare inposterum bona justis quibus non fruerentur injusti malâ—â—mpiis quibus non cruciabuntur justi ista verò temporalia bona mala utrisque voluit esse communia ut nec bona câ—â—â—â—ius appetantur quae mali quoque habere cernuntur nec mala turpiùs evitentur quibus boni plerunque afâ—iciuntur Austine It pleased divine providence to prepare hereafter good things for the righteous wherein the wicked shall not partake with them and evills for the wicked wherewith the righteous shall never bee troubled but as for these temporall good things and evill hee would have them in some sort common to both that neither the blessings of this life should be too greedily desired in which wicked men have a share neither crosses and afflictions too fearfully avoided which we see fall often to the lot of the righteous In summe neither prosperity nor adversity nor affluence of earthly blessings nor afflictions are infallible demonstrations of Gods love nor certaine and inseparable notes of Christs Church Afflictions may be though usually they are not in them that feare God judgements of wrath and temporall blessings may be though usually in most men they are not tokens of Gods love Therefore let us not set our heart and affections upon worldly goods because they are often the portions of the wicked neither yet let us set our hearts wholly against them because they may fall to the lot of the righteous and do when they may further and not hinder their eternall salvation Let us not desire the greatest preferments of this world with Gods hatred nor refuse the greatest crosses with his love Let us not repine at the temporall felicity of the wicked which endeth in eternall misery nor be dismayed at the temporall infelicity of the godly because it endeth in everlasting felicity Let prosperity commend our charity and temperance and adversity our courage and patience Let us doe for Christ in the one and suffer for him in the other and in both estates admire his provident justice and for both sanctified unto us praise his gracious goodnesse Cui c. THE OYLE OF THYME THE XLIX SERMON REV. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. PLutarch in his Treatise of the a Plut. de anim tranquil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. tranquility of the mind writeth that though Thyme be a most dry and bitter herbe yet that not only the Apothecaries draw an wholsome oyle out of it but also that the Bees extract from thence sweet hony This dry and bitter herb is affliction to the taste of most men yet out of it we have drawne both a wholsome oyle to cure a wounded conscience and hony also to delight the spirituall taste Oyle out of the nature of afflictions which are chastenings and hony out of the cause Gods love As many as I love I rebuke and chasten In this Text the parts answer the number of the words the arguments the parts the comforts the arguments as I have declared heretofore yet they all with much adoe draw our assent to this conclusion That we are not to rise up at nor to faint under Gods correcting hand For the doctrine of enduring affliction is durus sermo quis potest ferre a hard speech who can endure it Albeit we know that God hath the chiefe stroake therein and all his dearest children have part with us yet we grudge at them though we are taught even by God himselfe that they are effects of his love and causes of our good yet we are dismayed at them So bladder-like is the soule of man that being filled with earthly vanities though but wind it groweth great and swelleth in pride but if it be pricked with the least pin or smallest needle of piercing griefe it presently shriveleth to nothing Afflictions are pillulae lucis pills made on purpose to cleare the eye-sight prescribed by a most tender and skilfull Physician gilt over with the names of chastenings and fatherly corrections and sugered with the love of God yet they will not downe nay it is well if it be not so ill with many of us that we returne him bitter words for his bitter pills and storme against him who hereby bringeth to us the quiet fruit of righteousnesse insani adversus antidotum quo fani esse possimus growing mad against the remedy of our madnesse For are we not come to that passe Ut nec morbos nec remedia ferre possimus that we can neither endure our pain nor abide the cure b Rom. 5.3 Tribulation saith the Apostle bringeth patience It should doe so indeed and through the power of grace it doth so in perfect Christians but the contrary is verified in the greater part of men Tribulation bringeth impatience not of it selfe but according to the disposition of the patient as wholsome potions given to generate good bloud in a fowle stomach turne to choler In this case the Physicians prescribe purges Purges are to bee given according to the nature of the humour to be purged and therefore the cure of the malady begins at the knowledge of the cause which in this will be found to be the reliques of originall corruption nourished by the ill dyet of the soule immoderately glutting her selfe with sensuall delights and much increased by false opinions To begin with the sinke of originall sinne sending up noisome fumes and vapours which distemper the inward man Of other things as peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost we easlier speake than conceive them and easlier conceive them what they may be in others than sensibly apprehend them in our selves but wee feele rather than understand and understand better than wee can expresse this hereditary disease and habituall depravation of our whole nature It is that corrupt humour or malignant quality drawne from the loynes of our first parents which tainteth our bloud surpriseth our vitall faculties stoppeth or much hindereth the motions of Gods Spirit and the operations of this grace in us so that wee neither can doe nor suffer the will of God without regret and reluctancy It is the prima materia of all diseases the tinder of naturall lusts easily set on fire with hell it disposeth us to all evill and breedeth in us an aversnesse from all good it is not subject to the c Rom. 7.23 Law of God neither can it be it rebelleth against the law of our mind and enthralleth us to sin and Sathan and even after we are freed from the dominion of sinne so fettereth our feet that we cannot with any expedition run the wayes of Gods commandements Though the prosperous gales of Gods Spirit drive us toward the haven where we would be yet the main tide of our corruption runneth so strong the contrary way that we much float and saile but flowly Saint Peter no doubt after our Saviour acquainted him with the kind of death whereby he was to glorifie God
her husband on the sudden loseth him which I call God to witnesse saith x Orig. in Cant. Conspicit Sponsa Sponsum qui conspectus statim abscessit frequenter hoc in toto carmine facit quod nisi quis patiatur non potest intelligere saepe Deus est testis Sponsum mihi adventate conspexi mecum esse subitò recedentem invenire non potui Origen I my selfe have sensible experience in my meditations upon this book And who of us in his private devotions findeth not the like Sometimes in our divine conceptions contemplations and prayers we are as it were on float sometimes on the sudden at an ebbe sometimes wee are carried with full saile sometimes we sticke as it were in the haven The use we are to make hereof is when we heare the gales of the Spirit rise to hoise up our sailes to listen to the sound when we first heare it because it will be soon blown over to cherish the sparkes of grace because if they be not cherished they will soone dye There came a sound Death entred in at the windowes that is the eyes saith Origen but life at the eares z Gal. 1.8 For the just shall live by faith and faith commeth by hearing The sound is not without the wind for the Spirit ordinarily accompanieth the preaching of the Word neither is the wind without the sound Away then with Anabaptisticall Enthustiasts try the spirits whether they be of God or no by the Word of God To the y Esay 8.20 Law and to the testimony saith the Prophet Esay If they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them And if we saith the Apostle or an Angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than what ye have received that is saith St. * Aug. contr lit Petil. l. 3. c. 6. Praeterquam quod in Scripturis legalibus Evangelicis accepistis Anathema sit Austine than what is contained in the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings let him be accursed From heaven This circumstance affordeth us a threefold doctrine 1. That the Spirit hath a dependance on the Son and proceedeth from him for the Spirit descended not till after the Son ascended who both commanded his Disciples to stay at Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father which yee have a Act. 1.4 heard saith he from mee and promised after his departure to send the b John 15.26 When the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Act. 1.5 Yee shall be baptized with the holy Ghost not many dayes hence spirit and accordingly sent him ten dayes after his ascension with the sound of a mighty wind in the likenesse of fiery cloven tongues 2. That the Gospel is of divine authority As the Law came from heaven so the Gospel and so long as we preach Gods word ye still heare sonum de coelo a sound from heaven Thus c Lactan. instit l. 3. c. 30. Ecce vox de coelo veritatem docens sole ipso clarius lumen ostendens Lactantius concludes in the end of his third booke of divine institutions How long shall we stay saith he till Socrates will know any thing or Anaxagoras find light in darknesse or Democritus draw up the truth from the bottome of a deep Well or Empedocles enlarge the narrow pathes of his senses or Arcesilas and Carneades according to their sceptick doctrine see feele or perceive any thing Behold a voice from heaven teaching us the truth and discovering unto us a light brighter than the sunne 3. That the doctrine of the Gospel is not earthly but of a heavenly nature that it teacheth us to frame our lives to a heavenly conversation that it mortifieth our fleshly lusts stifleth ambitious desires raiseth our mind from the earth and maketh us heavenly in our thoughts heavenly in our affections heavenly in our hopes and desires For albeit there are excellent morall and politicke precepts in it directing us to manage our earthly affaires yet the maine scope and principall end thereof is to bring the Kingdome of heaven unto us by grace and us into it by glory This a meer sound cannot doe therefore it is added As of a rushing mighty wind This blast or wind is a sacred symbole of the Spirit and there is such a manifold resemblance between them that the same word in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine spiritus signifieth both what so like as wind to the Spirit 1. As the wind bloweth where it d John 3.8 listeth so the Spirit inspireth whom he pleaseth 2. As wee feele the wind and heare it yet see it not so wee heare of the Spirit in the word and feele him in our hearts yet see him not 3. As breath commeth from the heat of our bowells so the third person as the Schooles determine proceedeth from the heat of love in the Father and the Son 4. As the wind purgeth the floore and cleanseth the aire so the Spirit purifieth the heart 5. As in a hot summers day nothing so refresheth a traveller as a coole blast of wind so in the heat of persecutions and heart burning sorrow of afflictions nothing so refresheth the soule as the comfort of the Spirit who is therefore stiled Paracletus the Comforter 6. As the wind in an instant blowes downe the strongest towers and highest trees so the Spirit overthrowes the strongest holds of Sathan and humbleth the haughtiest spirit 7. As the wind blowing upon a garden carrieth a sweet smell to all parts whither it goeth so the Spirit bloweth upon and openeth the flowers of Paradise and diffuseth the savour of life unto life through the whole Church 8. As the wind driveth the ship through the waves of the sea carrieth it to land so the gales of Gods Spirit carrie us through the troublesome waves of this world and bring us into the haven where wee would bee Cui cum Patre Filio sit laus c. THE MYSTERIE OF THE FIERY CLOVEN TONGUES THE LXV SERMON ACTS 2.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them AMong the golden rules of a Cael. Rodig lib. antiq lect Nunquam de Deo sine lumine loquendum Pythagoras so much admired by antiquity this was one that we ought not to speake of God without light the meaning of which precept was not that we ought not to pray to God or speake of him in the night or the darke but that the nature of God is dark to us and that we may not presume to speak thereof without some divine light from heaven Nothing may be confidently or safely spoken of him which hath not been spoken by him In which regard b Salv. de gubern lib. 1. Tanta est Majestatis sacrae tam tremenda reverentia ut non solùm illa quae
in their mouths and they cannot freely powre out their soules into the bosome of their Redeemer but they looke not into the cause of it they have not got a stocke of heavenly knowledge and sanctified formes of words their hearts are not filled with the holy spirit for were they full they would easily vent themselves They cannot freely bring forth because they have laid up nothing in the treasurie of their hearts To Peter and the rest of the Apostles As those that were wounded with the darts of Achilles could no otherwise bee cured than by his salves and plaisters so the Jewes who were wounded by S. Peters sharp reprehension could be by no other meanes cured than by his owne salves and receipts which he prescribeth afterwards Here our o Lorin comment in Act. c. 2. Aliàs notatum est quoties Petri cum aliis Apostolis mentio fit Petrum primo loco poni tanquam ducem ideoque nunc Judaei omnes ad illum se convertunt in c. 1. v. 13. Facit ad Petri primatum non mediocriter quod tum Lucas in isto capite sicut in Evangelio texens Apostolorum catalogum ut etiam Matthaeus Marcus primum ante omnes nominant adversaries who will not let the least tittle fall to the ground that may serve any way to advance the title and dignity of the Bishop of Rome will have us take speciall notice that here and elsewhere Peter is named before the rest of the Apostles and that yee may know that all is fish that comes to Peters net Bellarmine will tell you that the Popes monarchy is proclaimed in those words in the Acts Rise up Peter kill and eat Acts 11.7 I know not with what perspective the Cardinall readeth the Scriptures but sure I am hee seeth more in this vision than any of the ancient or later Commentators ever discerned yet Baronius seeth more than he Those were healed saith hee who came but within the shadow of Peter Acts 5.15 They brought forth the sicke into the streets and laid them on beds or couches that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might over-shadow them The same vertue is given to the shadow of Peter which is given to his body that we might know that such store of grace was given to Peter that God would have the same gifts derived to his successours who represent his person Thus as yee see the Papists as men in danger of drowning catch at every rotten stake to support their faith in the Popes supremacy Lorinus catcheth at the placing of a word Bellarmine at a mysticall apparition and p Baron ad an 34. p. 303. Eadem virtus umbrae corporis Petri tradita quae corpori ut cognoscamus tantam gratiarū copiā Petro collatam ut eadem dona in successoribus qui referunt personam Petri propagari Deus voluerit Baronius at a shadow What serveth this shadow to illustrate or confirme the Popes or Peters supremacie It pleased God for the manifestation of his power and the performance of Christs promise to his disciples that they in his name should worke greater miracles than some of those that he had done to heale the sick by Pauls handkerchiefes and Peters shadow Ergo Peter was chiefe of all the Apostles and the Pope the Monarch of the visible Church Neither is there any clearer evidence in that vision which S. Peter saw of a sheet let downe from heaven in which there were foure-footed beasts of the earth and wilde beasts and creeping things and fowles of the aire And hee heard a voyce saying unto him Arise Peter slay and eat At manducare est capitis saith the Cardinall but it is the head that eateth the Pope therefore is the head Hee should better have concluded the Popes are the teeth for S. Peter himselfe made no other interpretation of this vision than that the Gentiles whose hearts God had purified by faith were not to bee accounted uncleane and therefore he alledgeth this apparition in his apologie for going unto the uncircumcised and eating with them As little maketh the setting of Peters name before the rest for his authority over them For here was a speciall reason why the Jewes directed their speech to Peter in the first place because it was he who charged them so deepe he put them in this perplexity and therefore to him they addressed themselves for counsell and comfort Elsewhere where there is not the like occasion others are named before him as q Gal. 2.9 James Cephas and John who seemed pillars James and ſ Marke 16.7 Tell the disciples and Peter Andrew and the r John 4.2 the citie of Andrew and Peter Disciples Here I demand of Lorinus doth the naming of Andrew before Peter or of James or the Disciples prove that any of these were superiours to Peter If they were what becomes of Peters supremacie If they were not what maketh the naming him before them for it Without all question if the setting of Peter after the rest of the Apostles Disciples in the texts above alledged maketh not against the setting him here before them maketh not for his supremacy Men and brethren what shall we doe Seneca saith Levis dolor est qui consilium capit It is a light griefe which admitteth of consultation but wee may say more truly Sanus dolor est qui consilium capit It is an healthfull malady and an happie griefe which drives us to our spirituall Physitian and exciteth us to a carefull use of the meanes of salvation S. t 2 Cor. 7.9 11. Paul rejoyced at this symptome in his patients at Corinth Now I rejoyce not that yee were made sorrie but that yee sorrowed to repentance for behold this selfe same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulnesse it wrought in you c. What shall we doe to satisfie the Father for the death of his Sonne to ease our burthened consciences to wash away the guilt of the effusion of innocent bloud Behold here the effects of soule-ravishing eloquence attention compunction and a sollicitous enquiry after the meanes of everlasting salvation or if yee like better of an allegoricall partition see here 1. The weapon wherewith they were wounded the Word preached when they heard c. 2. The wound which was a pricke at the heart 3. The cure not words but deeds they said what shall we doe Here yee have a patterne both of a faithfull teacher and religious hearers a faithfull teacher tickleth not the eares but pricketh the heart his words are not like bodkins to curle the haire but like goads and nailes that pricke the heart though the goads goe not so deepe that pierce but the skin the nailes goe farther for they are driven to the very heart of the auditors up to the head The religious hearer when he is reproved for his sin spurneth not at the Minister of God but receiving the words with meeknesse communeth with his owne