of the virgin conceived Christ quicke and accordingly brought him forth alive the wombe of the earth conceived him dead but brought him forth quicke uteri nova forma concepit mortuum parit vivum As we may behold the feature of a mans face either in the countenance it selfe or in a glasse set before it or in a picture drawne by it so wee may contemplate the resurrection either in the prophecies and types of the old law as in glasses or in the hystory of the new as it were in the face it selfe or in our spirituall resurrection from dead workes as in the picture A glasse sheweth the lineaments and proportion of a man but at a distance so wee may see Christ in the predictions visions and figures of the Old Testament as so many glasses but at a distance according to the words of that Seer c Num. 24.17 I shall see him but not neare So Hosea saw him insulting over death and hell and menacing them d Hos 13.14 O death I will bee thy death so Esay saw him risen from the dead and speaking to him sayd e Es 26.19 Thy dead shall live with my body shall they rise awake and sing ye that sit in dust So David in the Spirit saw the day of the resurrection and exceedingly rejoiced at it saying f Psal 16.9 my heart was glad my glory rejoyced my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soule in hell nor suffer thy holy One to see corruption So Adam saw him conquering death and triumphing over him that had the power of death to wit the Divell though more obscurely because at the farthest distance in the promise g Gen. 3.15 it shall breake thy head and thou shalt breake his heele the death and resurrection of Christ are mystically involved As the Poets fabled that Achilles after his Mother Thetis held him by the heele and dipt the rest of his body into the sea could bee hurt in no part but his heele so in a divine sense it may bee said of our Saviour that hee could be wounded by Sathan no where but in his heele that is in the lowest part of his humane nature his flesh This the serpent stung at his death but in his resurrection hee bruised the head thereof The Devill saith h Greg. Nyssen de resurrect ser 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyssen in his sermon upon the resurrection going about to catch was caught for catching at the bait of Christs flesh hee was caught fast himselfe and wounded by the hooke of his divine nature Besides these predictions and promises wee have in the Old Testament the figure of our Lords resurrection in Adam a type in the scape goat a signe or embleme in Jonas and a vision in Ezekiel The figure may bee thus expounded As Adam rose out of his dead sleepe in which Eve was formed out of his ribbe so Christ after his slumber of death on the crosse in which his spouse the Church was formed out of his side as hath beene said awoke againe The type may bee thus exemplified as the scape-goate came neere to death being within the cast of a lot to it and yet avoiding it was presented alive to God to make an attonement so Christ who seemed to have beene conquered by death and swallowed up of the grave lying there three dayes and three nights yet escaped it and was presented on Easter day to his Father alive to make an attonement for all his brethren To the embleme of Jonas Christ himselfe giveth the word or Motto i Mat. 12.40 As Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth After three dayes Jonas came out of the bowels of the whale Christ out of the heart of the earth The vision of Ezekiel is so cleare that he that runneth may see in it a praeludium of the resurrection k Ezek 37.7 8 9 10. The Prophet saw in a valley a number of dry bones moving one to the other and suddenly they were tyed with sinewes and covered with flesh and the winde breathed into them the breath of life and they stood up like an army Wee have viewed the resurrection in the prophecies and figures of the Old Testament as so many severall glasses let us now contemplate it in the history of the New as it were in the face it selfe 1 Early in the morning while it was yet darke the Angel removed the stone that so Mary and the Apostles might looke into the sepulchre and unlesse the angell of the covenant remove the stone from our hearts wee can never looke into Christs sepulchre with an eye of faith nor undoubtedly beleeve the resurrection 2 Peter and John made hast to the sepulchre but they stayed not there Mary abideth there shee therefore seeth a vision of Angels the one standing at the head the other at the feet where Jesus had lyen either to signifie that the Angels of God attend as well on Christs feet the lowest members of his mysticall body as on his head that is the chiefest in the Church or that the angels smell a sweet savour from our workes of charity and therefore the one sate at the head the other at the feete where Mary had annointed our Lord. 3 A third Angell whereof mention is made in the Gospell of Saint l Mar. 16.5 Marke sitting on the right side appeared like a young man to signifie that in the resurrection our age shall bee renewed and our bodies shall bee in their full strenghth and vigor his rayment shined like lightning to represent the clarity and splendour of our bodies that after death shall be made conformable to Christs glorious body 4 Mary Magdalene hath the honour first to see our Saviour and to bee the first Preacher of the resurrection to the everlasting comfort of all true Penitents and as by the woman death came first so the first newes of life from death was brought by a woman 5 Till Christ called Mary by name shee knew him not but supposed him to have beene the Gardiner who indeed is the Planter of the celestiall Paradise neither can we know Christ till by a speciall and particular vocation hee make himselfe knowne to us 6 Christ appeared first to single witnesses as Mary apart and Peter apart and James apart then to double Cleophas and that other disciple afterwards to the eleven Apostles and last of all to more than 500. brethren at once If Maries testimony might bee excepted at because shee was but a woman what can they say to Saint Peter what to Saint James to whom Christ vouchsafed to shew himselfe in particular If they except against them as single witnesses what will they say to Cleophas and Saint Luke two contests of one and the selfe same apparition If their paucity be cavelled at what will they say to the
word of God as it is written which here I must change and say Hearken unto the word of God as it writeth For to the Angel of Thyatira the second Person which is the Word of God thus writeth Write It is a great honour to receive a letter from a noble Personage how much more from the Sonne of God St. d Eâ— 40. Quid est aliud Scripture sacra n â—i quaedam epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad creaturam suam Gregorie excellently amplifieth upon this point in his epistle to Theodorus the Physician If your excellencie saith he were from the Court and should receive a letter from the Emperour you would never be quiet till you had opened it you would never suffer your eyes to sleepe nor your eye lids to slumber nor the temples of your head to take any rest till you had read it over againe and againe Behold the Emperour of heaven the Lord of men and Angels hath sent you a letter for the good of your soule and will you neglect to peruse it Peruse it my son studie it I pray thee meditate upon it day and night Where letters passe one from another there is a kinde of correspondencie and societie and such honour have all Gods Saints they have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne O let us not sleighten such a societie whereby we hold intelligence with heaven let us with all reverence receive and with all diligence peruse and with all carefulnesse answer letters and messages sent from the Sonne of God by returning sighes and prayers backe to heaven and making our selves in the Apostles phrase commendatorie letters written not with inke but with the Spirit Thus saith the Son of God Not by spirituall regeneration as all the children of promise are the sonnes of God but by eternall generation not by grace of adoption but by nature Who hath eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brasse Eyes like a flame of fire piercing through the thickest darknesse feete like brasse to support his Chuch and stamp to pouder whatsoever riseth up against it like fine brasse pure and no way defiled by walking through the midst of the golden candlestickes Wheresoever he walkes he maketh it holy ground Quicquid calcaverit hic rosa fiet There are three sorts of members in holy Scripture attributed to our head Christ Jesus 1 Naturall 2 Mysticall 3 Metaphoricall Naturall hee hath as perfect man Mysticall as head of the Church Metaphoricall as God By these members wee may divide all the learned Commentatours expositions They who follow the naturall or literall construction of the words apply this description to the members of Christs glorified body in Heaven which shine like flaming fire or metall glowing in a furnace But Lyra and Carthusian have an eye to Christ his mysticall eyes viz. Bishops and Pastours who are the over-seers of Christ his flocke resembling fire in the heat of their zeale and light of their knowledge whereby they direct the feet of Christ that is in their understanding his inferiour members on earth likened to fine brasse to set forth the purity of their conversation and described burning in a furnace to expresse their fiery tryall by martyrdome Alcasar by the feet of fine brasse understandeth the Preachers of the Word whom Christ sendeth into all parts to carry the Gospel Those feet which e Esay 52.7 Rom. 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace Esay calleth beautifull Saint John here compareth to the finest brasse which f Beda in Apoc Pedes sunt Christiani in fine seculi qui similes erunt orichalcho quod est aes per ignem plura medicamina perductum ad auri colorem sic illi per acerbissimas persecutiones exercebuntur perducentur ad plenam charitatis fulgorem Beda and Haimo will have to bee copper rendring the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the most resplendent brasse such as was digged out of Mount Libanus but Orichalchum that is copper and thus they worke it to their purpose As brasse the matter of copper by the force of fire and strong waters and powders receiveth the tincture of gold so say they the Christians that shall stand last upon the earth termed in that respect Christs feet shall by many exercises of their patience and fiery tryalls of their faith be purified and refined and changed into precious metall and become golden members of a golden head I doe not utterly reject this interpretation of the mysticall eyes and feet of Christ nor the former of the naturall members of his glorified body because they carry a faire shew and goodly lustre with them yet I more encline to the third opinion which referreth them to the attributes of God For me thinkes I see in the fiery eyes the perfection of Christ his knowledge to which nothing can bee darke or obscure as also his vigilant zeale over his Church and the fiercenesse of his wrath against the enemies thereof Bullenger conceiveth our Saviour to be pourtrayed by the Spirit with eyes like a flame of fire because hee enlighteneth the eyes of the godly but Meyerus because he suddenly consumeth the wicked both the knowne properties of fire for in flaming fire there is both cleare light and intensive heat The light is an embleme of his piercing sight the heat of his burning wrath Where the eye is lightsome and the object exposed to it the eye must needs apprehend it but the Sonne of Gods eyes are most lightsome nay rather light it selfe in which there is no darknesse and g Heb. 4 13. all things lye open and naked before him yea the h Apoc. 2.23 heart and the reines which he searcheth In Courts of humane justice thoughts and intentions and first motions to evill beare no actions because they come not within the walke of mans justice but it will not be so at Christs Tribunall where the secrets of all hearts shall be opened Let no man then hope by power or fraud or bribes to smother the truth or bleare the eyes of the Judge of all flesh For his eyes like flames of fire dispell all darknesse and carry a bright light before them Let not the adulterer watch for the twi-light and when hee hath met with his wanton Dalila carry her into the inmost roomes and locke doore upon doore and then take his fill of love saying The shadow of the night and the privacy of the roome shall conceale mee For though none else be by and all the lights be put out yet he is seen and the Sonne of God is by him with eyes like a flaming fire Let not the Projector pretend the publike good when he intends nothing but to robbe the rich and cheate the poore Let not the cunning Papist under colour of decent ornaments of the Church bring in Images and Idols under colour of commemoration of the deceased bring in invocation of Saints departed under colour
eleven Apostles or to more than five hundred brethren that saw him all at one time nay what to more than five millions of Confessors and Martyrs signing the truth of it with their blood and shewing the power of it as well by the wonders which they wrought in his name as the invincible patience wherewith they endured all sorts of torments and death it selfe for his name I might produce the testimony of Josephus the learned Jew and tell you of Paschasinus his holy Well that fils of his owne accord every Easter day and the annuall rising of certaine bodies of Martyrs in the sands of Egypt and likewise of a Phoenix in the dayes of Tyberius much about the time of our Lords resurrection rising out of her owne ashes m Lactant. in Poem Ipsa sibi proles suus pater suus haeres Nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi Ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia ipsa nec ipsa Eternam vitam mortis adepta bono But because the authours of these relations and observations are not beyond exception I will rather conclude this point with an argument of Saint n De civit Dei l. 22. c. 5. Haec duo incredibilia scil resurrectionem nostri corporis rem â—am incredibilem mundum esse crediturum idem dominus antequam vel unum horuÌ„ fieret ambo futura esse praedixit unum duorum incredibilium jam factum videmus ut quod erat incredibile credeâ—et mundus curid quod reliquum est desperatur Austines to which our owne undoubted experience gives much strength The same Spirit of God saith hee which foretold the resurrection of Christ foretold also that the doctrine thereof should bee publickly professed and believed in the world and the one was altogether as unlikely as the other But the latter wee see in all ages since Christs death and at this day accomplished in the celebration of this feast why then should any man doubt of the former The Apostles saw the head living but not the mysticall body the Catholike Church of all places and ages We have read in the histories of all ages since Christ and at this day see the Catholike Church spread over the whole face of the earth which is Christs body how can wee then but believe the head to bee living which conveigheth life to all the members I have set before you the glasse of the resurrection in the figures of predictions of the Old Testament and the face it selfe in the history of the New may it please you now to cast a glance of your eye upon the Image or picture thereof in our rising from the death of sinne to the life of grace All Christs actions and passions as they are meritorious for us so they are some way exemplary unto us and as none can bee assured of the benefit of Christs birth unlesse hee bee borne againe by water and the Spirit nor of his death unlesse hee bee dead to sinne nor of his buriall unlesse hee have buried his old Adam so neither of his resurrection unlesse hee bee risen from dead workes and continually walketh in newnesse of life See you how the materiall colours in a glasse window when the sun-beames passe through it produce the like colours but lesse materiall and therefore called by the Philosophers intentionales spiritales on the next wall no otherwise doth the corporall resurrection of Christ produce in all true believers a representation thereof in their spirituall which Saint John calleth o Apoc. 20.5 the first resurrection Saint Paul p Heb. 6.1 repentance from dead workes Sinnes especially heinous and grievous proceeding from an evill habit are called dead workes and such sinners dead men because they are deprived of the life of God have no sense of true Religion they see not Gods workes they heare not his Word they savour not the things of God they feele no pricke of conscience they breath not out holy prayers to God nor move towards heaven in their desires but lye rotting in their owne filthinesse and corruption The causes which moved the Jewes so much to abhorre dead corpses ought to be more prevalent with us carefully to shunne and avoid those that are spiritually dead in sinnes and transgressions they were foure 1 Pollution 2 Horrour 3 Stench 4 Haunting with evill spirits 1 Pollution That which touched a dead corpse was by the law uncleane neither can any come nigh these men much lesse embrace them in their bosome without morall pollution and taking infection in their soules from them 2 Horrour Nothing so ghastly as the sight of a dead corpse the representation whereof oft-times in the Theater appalleth not onely the spectatours but also the actours and yet this sight is not so dreadfull to the carnall man as the sight of those that are spiritually dead I speake of foule notorious and scandalous offenders to them that feare God Saint John would not stay in the same bath with Cerinthus and certainely 't is a most fearefull thing to bee under the same roofe with blasphemous heretickes and profane persons who have no feare of God before their eyes 3 Stench The smell of a carkasse is not so offensive to the nostrils as the stench of gluttony drunkennesse and uncleannesse in which wicked men wallow is loathsome to God and all good men 4 Haunting with evil spirits We read in scriptures that the men that were possest of the divel came q Mat. 8.28 out of the tombs and graves and we find by dayly experience the like of these rather carkasses than men that the devill hankereth about them and entereth into their heart as he did into Judas filling them with all wickednesse and uncleannesse After they have exhausted their bodies with incontinency their estate with riotous living and have lost first their conscience and after their credit they fall into the deepest melancholy upon which Sathan works and puts them into desperate courses r Psal 73.19 O how suddenly doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Me thinkes I heare some say wee heard of places haunted by evill spirits in time of popery are there now any such not such as then were solitary houses ruined pallaces or Churches in which fearefull noyses are said to have beene heard and walking spirits to have beene met For at the thunder of the Gospell Sathan fell like lightning from heaven and hath left those his old holds but places of a contrary condition such where is the greatest concourse of people I meane profane Theaters disorderly Tavernes Ale-houses places of gaming and lewdnesse yea prisons also which were intended for the restraint of wickednesse and punishment of vice are made refuges of Malefactors and schooles of all impiety and wickednesse Quis custodes custodiet ipsos As in the hot sands of Africa where wilde beasts of divers sorts meet to drinke strange monsters are begotten which gave occasion to that proverbe Å¿ Eras
graces in ours doe you desire my brethren to be Johns gracious in the eyes of your Redeemer make much of those things for which hee was so much made of love those vertues above others which made him beloved above others decke your soules with those jewels the beauty whereof enamoured the Sonne of righteousnesse which are three especially 1 The Emerauld the embleme of chastity 2 The Ruby the embleme of modesty 3 The Carbuncle the embleme of love Chastity is resembled by the Emerauld which as g Rueus lib. de geminis cap. de smaragd Rueus writeth hath a singular vertue to coole the heat of lust and in this stone was the name of Levi engraven who revenged the wrong done to the chastity of his sister by the h Vid. infr Shechemites Modesty is resembled by the Ruby in whose colour the hue of that vertue appeareth And who cannot see in the glowing fire of the Carbuncle the ardencie of love Saint Jerome attributeth the overflowing measure of Christs love to Saint John to his chastity Saint Chrysostome to his modesty Aquinas to his love of Christ Saint John lived and dyed a Virgin and if wee will beleeve the Ancients the cleerenesse of his complexion answered the purity of his conversation and beauty of body and minde met here in one The beauty of the body is faire and brittle like chrystall glasse but if the gift of spirituall chastity bee incident to it like the beames of the sunne it is most lovely in the eyes of God and man Eriphile was so taken with the sparkling of an orient jewell exhibited to her that for it she sold her loyalty to her husband a farre more pretious jewell Take heed Beloved lest for favour of great ones or worldly honour or earthly treasure you put away that jewell which if you once part withall you can never recover againe There can bee nothing more hatefull to him that was borne of a pure Virgin continued a Virgin all his life and now in heaven is attended by Virgins i Apoc. 14.4 These are they which were not defiled with women for they are Virgins these are they which follow the Lambe whithersoever he goeth than to make his members the members of an harlot Wee have had the glympse of the Emerauld let us now view the Ruby Saint Johns modesty who though hee might glory truely if any in the spirit For he had seene with his eyes and heard with his eares and handled with his hands the Word of life hee was an eye-witnesse of Christs transfiguration one of the three k Gal. 2.9 pillars mentioned by Saint Paul he was a Prophet an Evangelist and an Apostle and in greater grace with his Lord and Master than any of the rest yet hee will bee knowne of no more than that hee was a Disciple hee concealeth his very name The modest opinion of our knowledge is better than knowledge and humility in excellency excelleth excellency it selfe That stone is most resplendent which is set off with a darke foyle modesty is the darke foyle which giveth lustre to all vertues How many saith Seneca had attained to wisedome if they had not thought so and therefore given over all search after it how many had proved men of rare and singular parts if they had not knowne them too soone themselves Moses face shined but he knew not of it the blessed of the Father at the day of judgement shall heare of their good workes but they shall not acknowledge them but answere saying l Mat. 25.38.39 Lord when saw we thee hungry or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sicke or in prison and ministred unto thee If wee take no knowledge of our good parts God will acknowledge them but if like Narcissus wee know and admire our owne beauty this very knowledge will metamorphize us and make us seeme deformed in the eyes of God and man Wee have viewed the Ruby let us now cast a glaunce on the Carbuncle the third precious stone Saint Johns love to Christ The maine scope of his Gospel is Christs love to us and the argument of his Epistles our love one to another As he is stiled the beloved so he might well be called the loving Disciple as hee was one of the first that came to Christ so hee was the last that left him hee was never from his side I had almost sayd out of his bosome Out of confidence of his loyall affection to his Lord when neither Peter nor any of the rest durst hee was bold to enquire of our Saviour m Joh. 13 25. who is it that shall betray thee Hee followeth Christ to the high Priests hall to the judgement seat and to the crosse where our Lord commended his n Joh. 19.26 Woman behold thy sonne Ver. 27 Then sayd hee to the Disciple behold thy Mother Mother to him and him to his Mother and his soule to his Father Love is the load-stone of love that love that drew Saint Johns heart to Christ drew Christs to him If thou desire above all things that Christ should love thee love him above all things love him with all thy heart whose heart was pierced for thee love him with all thy soule whose soule was made an offering for thee love him with all thy strength who for thee lost not onely his strength but life also Yea but you may say how can wee now shew our love to Christ he is in heaven and our bounty cannot reach so high wee have him not here to offer gold myrrhe or frankincense as the wise men did or minister to him of our substance as some religious women did or breake a boxe of precious oyntment and poure it on his head as Mary did or feast him as Simon did or wrap his corps in fine linnen as Joseph did wee have not his mother with us to keepe cherish or comfort her as Saint John did yet wee have his Spouse his Word his Sacraments his Disciples his mysticall members and if out of sincere love to him wee honour his Spouse the Church wee frequent his house the Temple wee delight in his Word the Scriptures wee come reverently and devoutly to his board the Communion Table wee give countenance and maintenance to his Meniall servants the Ministers of the Gospell and relieve his afflicted members the poore and oppressed among us wee shall bee as Johns to him gracious in his eyes Disciples nay which is more beloved Disciples yea so beloved that to our endlesse rest and comfort wee shall lye in his bosome not on earth but in heaven Which hee grant unto us who o Apoc. 1.5.6 loved us and washed our sinnes in his blood and made us Kings to command and Priests to offer our dearest affections unto him To whom c. THE ACCEPTED TIME OR THE YEERE OF GRACE THE XXXI SERMON 2 COR. 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time Behold now is the day of salvation AS at the Salutation of the
in a dangerous warre with Croesus worketh upon this advantage rebels against Cyrus and maketh himselfe an absolute Prince But within a few dayes Cyrus having got the conquest of Croesus turnes his forces against this rebell taketh him his wife and children prisoners yet upon his submission above his hope and expectation both giveth him his life and his crown and putteth him in a better state than ever hee was Whereupon that proud captivated and humble restored Prince acknowledging his treachery and folly said O how doth the wisdome of heaven over-shadow the providence of mortall men how little are we aware of what may betide us how glassy are our scepters how brittle our estate The other day when I made full account to have made my selfe a free absolute Monarch I lost both liberty and crowne and this day when I gave my selfe for gone and looked every houre to have had my head strucke off I have gained both pardon liberty and my crowne better settled than ever before Such examples are so frequent not onely in the sacred Annals of the Church but also in profane stories that a Philosopher being asked what God did in the world answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l Hesiod l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he abaseth noble things and ennobleth base hee turneth Scepters into Mattockes and Mattocks into Scepters hee maketh hovels of palaces and palaces of hovels pulleth downe high things and raiseth up low agreeably to the words of the Prophet Esay m Esa 40.4 Every valley shall bee exalted and every hill brought low Whence notwithstanding we are not to inferre That God is more the God of the vales than of the hills or that hee better esteemeth the low cottage of the beggar than the high turrets of Princes hee taketh no pleasure in the fall of any much lesse of his deare children It is not their broken estate but their contrite heart not their poverty in goods but in spirit not their lownesse of condition but their lowlinesse of minde which hee approveth and rewardeth giving honour to that vertue which ascribeth all honour to him The Apostle saith not because Christ was humbled and put to so cruell and shamefull a death therefore God highly exalted him but because hee humbled himselfe Which reason of the Apostle may bee confirmed or at least illustrated by other paralle'd texts of Scripture n Pro. 29 23. The pride of a man shall bring him low but the humble spirit shall enjoy glory o Pro. 18.12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty but before glory goeth lowlinesse p Job 22.29 When others are cast downe thou shalt say I am lifted up and God shall save the humble and q Luk. 1.52 Hee hath put downe the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the lowly and meeke Yea to honour and exalt them hee humbleth himselfe and r Esa 57 15. commeth downe to dwell with them for thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones When a Prince rideth in progresse how much are they graced at whose house hee lieth but for a night how far greater honour is done to the humble soul with whom God lodgeth not for a night or abideth for a few dayes but continually dwelleth what can there bee wanting where God is in whom are all things how will he furnish his house how will he set forth his rooms how gloriously will hee beautifie and decke his closet and cabinet I know not how God can raise the dwelling of the humble soule higher who by his dwelling in it hath made it equall to the highest heaven I dwell saith hee in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit There is no more difference betweene the seat of the blessed above the heavens and the caves of the poorest servants of God under the earth than between two royall palaces the one higher the other lower built but both equally honoured with the Court lying at them In the weighing of gold the light ſ Horat. car l. 1 Attollunt vacuum plus nimiò verticem pieces rise up but the weighty beare downe the scale and surely they are but light who are lifted up in a selfe-conceit but they who have true worth and weight in them are depressed in themselves and beare downe towards the earth Looke wee to the wisest of all the Philosophers hee was the modestest for his profession was Hoc scio quod nihil scio This I know that I know nothing Looke wee to the learnedest of all the Greeke Fathers Origen hee was the most ingenuous for his confession was Ignorantiam meam non ignoro I am not ignorant of mine owne ignorance Looke wee to the most judicious and industrious of all the Latine Saint t Aug. epist ad Hieron Austine he was the humblest for even in his heat of contention with Jerome hee acknowledgeth him his better Hieronymus Presbyter Augustino Episcopo major est though the dignity of a Bishop exceed that of a Priest yet Priest Jerome is a better or a greater man than Bishop Austine Looke wee to the best of Kings David hee was the freest from pride u Psal 131.1 2 Lord saith hee I am not high-minded I have no proud lookes I doe not exercise my selfe in great matters or in things too high for mee surely I have behaved and quieted my selfe as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child Look wee to the noblest of all the * Theodosius Romane Emperours his Motto was Malo membrum esse Ecclesiae quà m caput Imperii I account it a greater honour to bee a member of the Church than the head of the Empire Looke wee to him that was not inferiour to the chiefe Apostles surnamed Paulus as some of the Ancient ghesse quasi paululus because hee was least in his owne eyes not worthy to bee called an Apostle as himselfe freely * 1 Cor. 15.9 Eph. 3.8 confesseth Look we to the mirrour of all perfection Christ Jesus in whom are all the treasures of wisedome and grace he setteth out humility as his chiefest jewell x Mat. 11.29 Learn of mee saith he that I am meeke and humble in heart The raine falleth from the hils and settleth in the vales and Gods blessings in like manner if they fall upon the high-minded and proud yet they stay not with them but passe and slide from them downe to the meeke and humble where hee commandeth them to rest The reason is evident why the humblest men are best for grace alone maketh good and a greater measure thereof better now y Jam. 4.6 God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and to
affect the judicious eare which expresse more by expressing lesse the sentence being broken off in the midst to shew the force of violent passion which bereaveth us on the sudden both of sense and speech The Musicians also in their way tickle the eare by a like grace in musicke to that figure in speech by unexpected stops and rests making a kinde of Aposiopesis and harmonicall Ellipsis Surely as the broken joynts and maimed limbes of men uncovered much move us to compassion so the imperfect and maimed members of sentences uttered in anger or griefe are aptest both to signifie and to move passion Such is that broken speech of b 2 King 13.14 Joash the King concerning Elisha over whose face hee wept and said O my father my father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof And that of c Psal 6.3 David My soule is sore troubled but thou O Lord how long And the like of our d Luke 19.42 Saviour If thou hast knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace And semblable thereunto is this in my text Shikethka Jisrael perdidit te or perditio tua it hath undone thee or thy ruine O Israel For those words ex te which we finde in many latine copies are added by the Translator to fill up the breach in the sentence in the Hebrew there is a verball Ellipsis or defect which expresseth a reall Ellipsis or utter failing of Israels strength and a figurative Ellipsis and seeming deficiency in God himselfe through a deepe taking to heart of Israels now most deplorate estate e Virg Aen. 2. ruit Ilium ingens Gloria Dardanidum The Crowne of Israel is fallen from his head and all his honour lyeth in the dust Israel after many grievous strokes and wounds received now bleeds at the heart and is a breathing out his last gaspe and the God of Israel by a Sympathy of griefe seemeth to lie speechlesse For his words faulter thy destruction Israel or it hath destroyed thee Israel is destroyed who hath destroyed Israel or why is Israel destroyed why is the cause and author of Israels woe concealed and the sentence left abrupt and imperfect f Tertul. adver Hermog c. 22. Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Tertullian speaking of the perfection of Scripture saith I adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures in another sense yet true I may use the contrary attribute and say I adore the deficiencies and seeming vacuities in Scripture sentences where the roome left for words is anticipated by passion and filled up with sighs and grones Will you have the cause why God expresseth not the cause of Israels plagues Because he would not adde unto them Had he filled up the bracke in the contexture of the sentence it must have bin with these or the like words by the consent of Interpreters It is thy stubborne heart O Israel and thy open rebellion against mee it is thy stoning my Prophets and killing my messengers sent early and late unto thee it is thy spirituall fornication and Idolatrous worship of Jeroboams golden calfes that hath heretofore brought all thy miserie upon thee and now hath wrought thy finall overthrow But alas this had beene to mingle judgement with wormewood to kill them with a word whom he meant to smite with a sword It is enough for a Judge to pronounce the dreadfull sentence of death it is too much then to fall foule upon the prisoner with amplifications and bitter invectives Howbeit whether for these or better reasons best knowne to himselfe God doth not here particularly set down the author or cause of Israels woe yet in the other member of the sentence but in mee is thy helpe removing the cause from himselfe and professing that there had beene helpe in him for them but for some barre he giveth them to understand in generall what it was hee forbare to speake but they could not but conceive and wee must gather out this Scripture for our instruction that the cause of Israels overthrow and the ruine of all other Kingdomes is in their sinnes and from themselves As in musicke though each string hath a different sound by it selfe yet many of them strucke together make but one chord so the last translation which I follow and all the former which I have read though they much differ in words yet they accord in the sense by mee now delivered For whether wee reade as some doe Rex tuus thy King or as others Vitulus tuus thy calfe or as Calvin Aliquid praeter me something besides me hath destroyed thee or as St. Jerome doth Perditio tua ex te thy destruction is from thy selfe or as the Kings Translators render the Hebrew thou hast destroyed thy selfe the sentence is all one thy mischiefe is from thy selfe but all thy hope of help is from thy God Julian gave for his armes in his Scutchion an Eagle strucke through the heart with a flight shaft feathered out of her owne wing with this Motto propriis configimur alis our death flies to us with our owne feathers and our wings pierce us to the heart To apply this patterne to my text and leave the print thereof upon it to imprint the doctrine thereof deeper in your memories The Eagle strucke dead is the Church and Common-wealth of Israel the arrow is the swift judgement of God the feathers shed out of her owne wings which carried the arrow so swift and drave the head of it in so deepe are Israels sinnes It is a lamentable thing to heare of the ruine and utter overthrow of any Kingdome how much more of the downefall of Israel Gods chosen people his chiefe treasure his only joy But that Israel should be Israels overthrow that Israel should be felo de se and accessarie to his owne death and utter confusion this must needs pricke the quickest veine in our hearts And these are the three points which by the assistance of Gods spirit I am first to cleare to your understanding and after to presse upon your religious affections 1. The accident to the subject Destruction 2. The subject of this accident Israel 3. The cause of this accident in this subject Thou or thy sinnes thou by thy sinnes hast destroyed thy selfe O Israel First of the privative accident destruction Destruction is opposed to construction as corruption to generation and as that is the death and dissolution of all naturall bodies so this of all artificiall I except not such as are purposely made to preserve corpses from corruption and putrefaction as coffins of lead and sepulchres of Marble For these also in time corrupt and moulter away Sunt ipsis quo que fata sepulchris Nay we may make this strong line of the Poet a little stronger ver 14. and say truly sunt ipsis quo que fatis fata death it selfe hath his dying day for my Prophet in this chapter threatneth g O death I will be
in Lambeth Chappell A.D. 1622. March 23. THE TENTH SERMON JOHN 20.22 And when hee had said this hee breathed on them and saith unto them receive yee the holy Ghost Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Reverend Right Worshipfull c. A Diamond is not cut but by the point of a Diamond nor the sunne-beame discerned but by the light of the beame nor the understanding faculty of the soule apprehended but by the faculty of understanding nor can the receiving of the holy Ghost bee conceived or delivered without receiving in some a Aug tract 16. in Joh. Adsit ipse spiritus ut sic eloqui possimus degree that holiest Spirit b Ciâ— de mat Qui eloquentiam laudat debet illam ipsam adhibere quam lâ—â—dat Hee that will blazon the armes of the Queen of affections Eloquence must borrow her own pencill and colours nor may any undertake to expound this text and declare the power of this gift here mentioned but by the gift of this power Wherefore as in the interpretation of other inspired Scriptures wee are humbly to intreat the assistance of the Inspirer so more especially in the explication and application of this which is not onely effectivè à spiritu but also objectivè de spiritu not onely indited and penned as all other by the spirit but also of the spirit This of all other is a most mysterious text which being rightly understood and pressed home will not only remove the weaker fence betweene us and the Greeke Church touching the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Sonne but also beat downe and demolish the strong and high partition wall betweene the reformed and the Romane Church built upon S. Peters supremacy For if Christ therefore used the Ceremony of breathing upon his Apostles with this forme of words Receive yee the Holy Ghost as it were of set purpose visibly to represent the proceeding of the holy Spirit from himselfe why should not the Greeke Church acknowledge with us the eternall emanation of the holy Ghost from the Sonne as well as the Father and acknowledging it joyne with us in the fellowship of the same spirit Our difference and contestation with the Church of Rome in point of S. Peters primacy is far greater I confesse For the head of all controversies between us and them is the controversie concerning the head of the Church Yet even this how involved soever they make it may be resolved by this text alone For if Christ sent all his Apostles as his Father sent him if he breathed indifferently upon all if he gave his spirit and with it full power of remittting and retaining sinnes to them all then is there no ground here for S. Peters jurisdiction over the rest much lesse the Popes and if none here none elsewhere as the sequell will shew For howsoever Cajetan and Hart and some few Papists by jingling Saint Peters c Mat. 16.19 Keyes and distinguishing of a key 1 Of knowledge 2 Of power and this 1 Of order 2 Of jurisdiction and that 1 In foro exteriori the outward court 2 Foro interiori the inward court of conscience goe about to confound the harmony of the Evangelists who set all the same tune but to a different key yet this is confessed on all sides by the Fathers Hilary Jerome Austine Anselme and by the Schoole-men Lumbard Aquinas Allensis and Scotus alledged by Cardinall d Bellar. de Rom. pont l. 1. c. 12. Bellarmine that what Christ promised to Peter e Mat. 16. he performed and made good to him here but here the whole f Hieronymus adver Lucifer Cuncti claves accipiunt super omnes ex aequô ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur bunch of keyes is offered to all the Apostles and all of them receive them all are joyned with S. Peter as well in the mission as my Father sent mee so I send you as in the Commission Lastly as this text containes a soveraigne Antidote against the infection of later heresies so also against the poyson of the more ancient and farther spread impieties of Arrius and Macedonius whereof the one denyed the divinity and eternity of the Sonne the other of the holy Ghost both whose damnable assertions are confuted by consequence from this text For if Christ by breathing giveth the holy Ghost and by giving the holy Ghost power of remitting sinne then must Christ needs bee God for who but God can give or send a divine person The holy Ghost also from hence is proved to be God for who can g Mar. 2.7 or Esay 43.25 forgive sinnes but God alone So much is our faith indebted to this Scripture yet our calling is much more for what can bee spoken more honourably of the sacred function of Bishops and Priests than that the investiture and admittance into it is the receiving of the holy Ghost * Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura regula caeterorum The first action in every kind of this nature is a president to all the rest as all the furniture of the Ceremoniall law was made according to the first patterne in the Mount such is this consecration in my text the originall and patterne of all other wherein these particulars invite your religious attention 1 The person consecrating Christ the chiefe Bishop of our soules 2 The persons consecrated The Apostles the prime Pastours of the Church 3 The holy action it selfe set forth 1 With a mysterious rite he breathed on them 2 A sanctified forme of words receive ye the holy Ghost 1 First for the person consecrating All Bishops are consecrated by him originally to whom they are consecrated all Priests are ordained by him to whom they are ordained Priests the power which they are to employ for him they receive from him to whom h Matth. 28.18 all power is given both in heaven and in earth By vertue of which deed of gift he maketh i Matth. 10.2 choice of his ministers and hee sendeth them with authority k Jâ—h 20.21 as my Father sent me so I send you And hee furnisheth them with gifts saying receive yee the holy Ghost and enableth them with a double power of order to l Matth. 28.19 Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 11.24 This do in the remembrance of me preach and administer both the sacraments and of jurisdiction also Matth. 18.18 Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bee bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And that this sacred order is to continue in the Church and this spirituall power in this order even till Christ resigneth up his keyes and kingdome to God his Father S. Paul assureth us Eph. 4.10.11.12 Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some
eâ—antutique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis Cyprian makes an inference from these words for which the Popes have looked awry upon him ever since The inference is this Christ after his resurrection gave all his Apostles equall power saying as my father sent me so I send you receive ye the holy Ghost whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted Here lest any addicted to the Papacy might thrust upon the Martyrs words this meaning that Christ gave all the Apostles equall authority among themselves but not equall to Peter their head he addeth the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was admitted into an equall fellowship both of honour and power Marke I beseech you the Martyr speakes here not of a priviledge or singularitie but a society consortio not a superiority but a parity pari and this parity both in honour honoris and of power also potestatis where there is a parity in honour there can be no preheminencie where there is a parity in power there can be no supremacy Where then will our Adversaries fasten Upon those words of Christ u Mat. 16.18 Thou art Peter and upon this rocke will I build my Church St. Austin beats them off this hold expounding the rocke of Christ not of Peter thus Upon me I x August in haec verba Super me aedificabo te non super te aedificabo me will build thee not me upon thee Yet if we should leave it them the building upon Peter or laying him in the foundation of the Church will no more make him the supreme head of the Church than the rest of the Apostles for we read of y Apoc. 21.14 And the wall of the Citie had 12. foundations and in them the names of the 12. Apostles of the Lambe twelve foundations upon which the heavenly Jerusalem is built on which the names of the twelve Apostles were engraven and of more also now therefore saith he ye are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and z Eâ—hes 2. â—0 Of more Prophets From whence Saint a Jer adver Lucifer Super omnes ex aequo Ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur Jerome inferreth that the strength of the Church is solidly founded and equally built upon all the Apostles Will they fasten upon the promise made to Peter Mat. 16.19 whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven these words might carry some shew of a priviledge granted to S. Peter if S. Matthew and the other Apostles were not joyned in Patent with him z Mat. 18.18 whatsoever yee shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and * Joh. 20.23 whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them The last refuge to which our adversaries flye is that text a Joh. 21.15 Feede my lambs feede my sheep Which charge of our Saviours makes nothing for Peters supremacy Peter himselfe being Interpreter for what Christ gives him he gives all Elders in charge b Pet. 5.2 Feed the flocke of God which is among you If feede my sheepe make Peter an oecumenicall Pastor then feede the flocke of Christ spoken in like manner to all Elders makes them oecumenicall Pastors If the word pasce when it is spoken to Peter signifies rule as a Monarch then pascite feede yee spoken by S. Peter to Elders must likewise bee interpreted rule yee over the Flocke of God and Church of Christ as Monarchs For as c Cic. orat pro Cecinna Nunquam obtinebis ubi tu volueris verba interdicti valere oportere ubi tu nolueris non oportere Tully spake to Ebutius so may I say to Bellarmine you shall never perswade any man of understanding that words must signifie what you will have them and conclude nothing but what you will inferre from them that the word pasce or feede when it serveth your purpose must be taken for to beare rule over the whole Church and when it serveth not then it must signifie nothing but teach as every Pastor doth Had the Apostles so understood the words of our Saviour to Saint Peter Upon this rocke will I build my house and To thee I will give the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven as the Church of Rome at this day doth viz. I will appoint thee Head of all the Apostles and visible Monarch of the Church and infallible Judge of all controversies they would never have contended as they did afterwards d Luk. 20.24 which of them should bee counted greatest they would never have taken upon them to send him e Act. 8.14 Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John with John It is not the manner of Subjects to send their Soveraignes in Embassages or messages much lesse joyne any other of their Subjects in equall commission with them as the Apostles doe John with Peter Had the Church in the Apostles time understood that our Saviour by that charge Pasce oves meas Feed my sheep made Peter universall Pastor of the whole world and by his prayer for him that his Faith might not faile priviledged him from all possibility of errour they would have rested upon his resolution in the first f Act. 15.11 Synode Saint James would never have presumed to speake after him in the great point which was then in controversie nor have added a distinct Head or Canon of his owne That the Gentiles should abstaine from pollution of Idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from bloud The Apostolicall letter should have beene indorsed not as it was The Apostles and Elders and Brethren but Peter Christs Vicar and Monarch of the Church and the Apostles his Counsellours or after the like manner Had Saint Paul beleeved Saint Peter to be Head of the Church he would never have g Gal. 2.11 withstood him to the face as hee did at Antioch much lesse have stood upon even tearmes with him as he doth saying h 2 Cor. 12.11 In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles and i Gal. 2.6 they who seemed to be pillars added nothing to mee and ver 7. the Gospell of the uncircumcision was committed to mee as the Gospell of the circumcision was to Peter If any mans eyes are so dazeled with the lustre of the Popes triple Crowne that hee cannot see Pauls equality to Peter in the letter of the text yet hee cannot but see it in the Fathers Commentaries k Ambros in comment 2 Cor. 12. Hoc dicit quia non est minor neque in praedicatione neque in signis faciendis nec dignitate sed tempore Chry. in 2 Cor. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle speaketh on this wise saith Saint Ambrose that or because he is not
inferiour to the chiefe Apostles neither in preaching nor in working miracles nor in dignity but in time Saint Chrysostome acutely observeth that the Apostle redoubleth his forces and not content with that hee had said before in 2 Cor. 11.5 I suppose I was not a whit behinde the very chiefest Apostles he addeth in the Chapter following with more confidence and authority In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles though I be nothing What not inferiour to Saint Peter no not Saint Peter for so it followeth in Saint Chrysostome he sheweth himselfe to be equall in dignity to the rest and he m Chrys in Gal. 2. v. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compareth himselfe not to other of the Apostles but to the chiefe shewing that he was of equall ranke with him See saith n Occumen in Gal. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumenius how he equalizeth himselfe to Peter or sets himselfe upon even ground with him These were Fathers of the Greeke Church what will our adversaries say if o Leo serm de laud. Petri Pauli De quorum meritis virtutibus quae omnem superāt dicendi facultatem nihil diversum sentire debemus nihil discretum quos electio pares labor similes mors fecit aequales Leo Bishop of Rome who extolled Peter above the skies and admitteth him after a sort into the fellowship of the individuall Trinity yet maketh Saint Paul his match saying Let no man cast a golden apple of contention betweene these glorious instruments of Christs Gospell Peter and Paul of whose merits and vertues which exceed all faculties of speech or can never bee sufficiently commended wee ought to thinke nothing divers or put no difference at all in any respect betweene them whose calling to the Apostleship made them equall and their travell in their office like and their martyrdome parallel Saint Paul then in Leo his judgement may goe everywhere hand in hand with Peter and in very deed hee hath the hand of him in the Popes seale which putteth Bellarmine to much trouble and great feare lest Saint Paul should bee taken to bee the better man of the two because in the Popes seale which confirmeth all his Buls and unerring Decrees ex cathedra Saint Paul hath the right hand and Saint Peter the left But hee may set his heart at rest for no Protestant goeth about to set Saint Peter below Saint Paul or any other Apostle all that wee contend for among the Apostles is but for a parity a parity there may bee in the Apostolicall power and function and yet Peter have some preheminency in respect of his yeeres or gifts such a primacy may be granted him without any power or jurisdiction over the rest some power hee might have over the rest and bee a kinde of President in the Apostles Colledge yet not Christs Vicar generall or Head of the whole Church Head hee might bee of the Church in some sense yet his Headship as his Apostleship dye with him and not descend upon his successors descend it might upon his successors to wit upon his undoubted successors in Antiochia not be appropriated to his questionable successors at Rome lastly it might be after a sort entayled to his successors at Rome yet with a qualification to all his lawfull successors not to usurpers to men as Linus not to women as Pope Joane to Catholickes as Saint Gregory and Damasus and all the Popes for 300. yeeres not Heretickes as Liberius and Honorius and many of the latter to such as entred canonically as Cornelius and Stephanus and the ancient Popes generally not such as thrust themselves into that See and purchased the Papacy either by art Magicke as Sylvester the second or by an imposture as Hildebrand or simony and faction as almost all since Lastly upon Apostolicall men in life and doctrine not apostaticall or apotacticall as those fifty Popes reckoned by Genebrard his Holinesses Chronicler one after another By all which particulars seriously considered Urban his supremacy derived from Saint Peter appeareth to be a rope of sand or a castle of Table-men piled one upon another without any thing to hold them together which fall allasunder with a fillep or an old ruinous paire of staires the ground-cell or foot whereof viz. Peters superiority to the rest of the Apostles is not sure and all the consequences deduced from thence like staires built upon it are all rotten and therefore I will stand no longer upon them but leape into my third and last part The manner of the Apostles consecration and first of the mysterious rite Hee breathed The truth and substance Christ himselfe who put an end to all legall shadowes commanding all to worship God in Spirit and truth ordained notwithstanding mysterious rites in the Sacraments of the new Testament and used visible and significant gestures in his miraculous cures he gave sight to the blinde not without touching the eye and hearing to the deafe not without thrusting his finger into the eare and speech to the dumb not without wetting the tongue he fetched not Lazarus breath back againe without fetching a deepe sigh nor inspired his Disciples with the holy Ghost without breathing upon them Gestures p Cic. de orat l. 3. Gestus est sermo quidam corporis in religious actions are as significant and more moving than words Decent Ceremonies in the substantiall worship of God are like shadowing in a picture which if it bee too much as we see in the Church of Rome it darkeneth the picture and obscureth the face of devotion but if convenient and in fit places it giveth grace and beauty to it Superstition may be and is as properly in such who put Religion in not using as in those who put Religion in using things in their owne nature meerely indifferent Christian liberty is indifferently abridged by both these errours about things indifferent And as a man may be proud even of the hatred of pride and contempt of greatnesse so he may be superstitious in a causlesse feare and heady declining of that which seemes but is not superstitious Which is the case of some refined Reformers as they would bee thought who according to their name of Precisians ungues ad vivum resecant pare the nailes of pretended Romish rites in our Church so neere that they make her fingers bleede For feare of monuments of Idolatry all ornaments of the Church if they might have their will should be taken away for feare of praying for the dead they will not allow any prayer to be said for the living at the buriall of the dead for feare of bread-worship they will not kneele at the Communion for feare of invocating the Saints deceased they will not brooke any speech of the deceased in a funerall Sermon for feare of making matrimony a Sacrament they will have it no sacred rite but a meere civill joyning the parties contracted in the congregation not by the hand of the
of sinnes is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit and by a metonymie termed the Holy Ghost Barradius bringeth us an answer out of the schooles that z Barrad in harmon Evang. remission of sinnes is a worke of Gods goodnesse and mercy now workes of goodnesse are peculiarly attributed to the holy Spirit who proceedeth as they determine from the will of the Father and the Sonne whose object is goodnesse as workes of wisedome are attributed to the Sonne because hee is the word proceeding by way of generation from the understanding of his Father This reason may goe for currant in their way neither have I any purpose at this time to crosse it but to haste to the period of this discourse in which that I may better discover the path of truth in stead of many little lights which others have brought I will set up one great taper made of the sweetest of their waxe The Holy Ghost is sometimes taken for the person of the Comforter which sealeth Gods chosen to salvation sometimes for the gifts effects or operations of the Holy Ghost as it were the prints of his scale left in the soule these are principally three 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall power or authority 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue or ghostly ability to worke wonders and speake with divers languages 1 Is common to all them that are sanctified 2 Is peculiar to Christs Ministers 3 Restrayned to the Apostles themselves and some few others of their immediate successors z Joh. 3.5 Exceâ—t a man be borne of the water and of the spirit 1 Regenerating grace is termed the holyGhost 2 Spirituall order or ministeriall power is called the Spirit or holy Ghost in this place and Luk. 4.18 Esay 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospell c. 3 Miraculous vertue is called the holy Ghost Act. 2.4 And they were filled with the holy Ghost and spake with divers tongues 1 The Spirit of grace and regeneration the Apostles received at their first calling 2 The Spirit of ecclesiasticall government they received at this time c. 3 The Spirit of powerfull and extraordinary operation they received in the day of Pentecost 1 In their mindes by infallible inspiration 2 In their tongues by multiplicity of languages 3 In their hands by miraculous cures Receive then the Holy Ghost is 1 A ghostly function to ordaine Pastors and sanctifie congregations to God 2 Spirituall gifts to execute and discharge that function 3 Spirituall power or jurisdiction to countenance and support both your function and gifts Thus have I opened the treasury of this Scripture out of which I now offer to your religious thoughts and affections these ensuing observations And first in generall I commend to the fervour of your zeale and devotion the excessive heat of Christs love which absumed and spent him all for us flesh and spirit His flesh he offereth us in the Sacrament of his Supper his spirit hee conferreth in the sacred rite of consecration His body hee gave by those words Take eate this is my body his spirit hee gave by these Receive ye the holy Ghost a gift unestimable a treasure unvaluable for it was this spirit which quickned us when wee were dead in trespasses and sinnes it is this spirit which fetcheth us againe when wee swoune in despaire it is this spirit that refresheth and cooleth us in the extreme heat of all persecutions afflictions sorrowes and diseases to it we owe 1 Light in our mindes 2 Warmth in our desires 3 Temper in our affections 4 Grace in our wils 5 Peace in our consciences 6 Joy in our hearts and unspeakeable comfort in life and death This is the winde which bloweth a Cant. 4.16 Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits upon the Spouse her garden that the spices thereof might flow out This is the breath which formeth the words in the cloven tongues this is the breath which bloweth and openeth all the flowers of Paradise This is the blast which diffuseth the savour of life through the whole Church This is the gale which carryeth us through all the troublesome waves of this world and bringeth us safe to the haven where we would be And as the Spouse of Christ which is his mysticall body is infinitely indebted to her head for this gift of the spirit whereby holy congregations are furnished with Pastors and they with gifts and the ministery of the Gospell continually propagated so wee above all nations in the world at this day are most bound to extoll and magnifie his goodnesse towards us herein among whom in a manner alone this holy seed of the Church remaineth unmixed and uncorrupt not onely as propagated but propagating also not children onely but Fathers Apostolicall doctrine other reformed Churches maintaine but doe they retaine also Apostolicall discipline laying of hands they have on Ministers and Pastors but consecration of Archbishops and Bishops they have not And because they want consecrated Bishops to ordaine Pastors their very ordination is not according to ancient order Because they want spirituall Fathers in Christ to beget children in their ministery their Ministers by the adversary are accounted no better than filii populi whereas will they nill they even in regard of our Hierarchy the most frontlesse Papists must confesse the children begot by our reverend Fathers in the ministery of the Gospell to be as legitimate as their owne For albeit they put the hereticke upon us as the Arrians did upon the Catholike Fathers calling them Athanasians c. yet this no way disableth either the consecration of our Bishops nor the ordination of our Priests not onely because we have proved the dogge lyeth at their doores and that they are a kinde of mungrils of divers sorts of heretickes but because it is the doctrine of their Church b See Croy in his third conformity Whitaker in fine resp ad demonstrat Sanderi Rivet procem de haeref q. 1. Cath. orthod that the character of order is indeleble and therefore Archbishop Cranmer and other of our Bishops ordained by them if they had afterwards as Papists most falsly suppose fallen into heresie could not lose their faculty of consecration and ordination The consecration of Catholicke Bishops by Arrians and baptisme of faithfull Christians children by Donatists though heretickes is made good as well by the decrees of ancient as later Councels determining that Sacraments administred even by heretickes so they observe the rite and forme of words prescribed in holy scripture bee of force and validity Praysed therefore for ever bee the good will of him that dwelt in the bush that the Rod of Aaron still flourisheth among us and planteth and propagateth it selfe like that Indian fig-tree so much admired by all Travellers from the utmost branch whereof issueth a gummy juyce which hangeth
lacernas So if the plea of antiquity should simply bee admitted in point of faith our adversaries undoubtedly would bee cast by it For although they father bastard-treatises upon ancient writers and by an unnaturall and prodigious generation beget Fathers at their pleasure yet they are not able to produce any Record expresse and direct testimony canon of Councell or Ecclesiasticall constitution 1 For their burning lights in the Church at noone day before the decree of Pope y Platin. in Sabin Sabinianus in the yeere of our Lord 605. 2 Nor for Rome z Idem in Bonifac 3. to be the head of all Churches before Pope Boniface the third in the yeere 606. 3 Nor for the invocation of Saints in their publike liturgy before * Andr. ab ofic at 7. Boniface the fift in the yeere 618. 4 Nor for their Latine service thrust upon all Churches before Pope a Osterb ael 7. Wolf ad an 666. Vitalian in the yeere b Apoc. 13.17 666. which is the very number of the name of the beast 5 Nor for the cutting of the Hoste c Osterb ib. into three parts and offering one part for the soules in Purgatory before Pope Sergius in the yeere 688. 6 Nor for setting up images in Churches generally and worshipping them before Pope Adrian the first and the second d Vid. Act. Concil 7. Councell of Nice in the yeere 787. 7 Nor for e Bell. de sanct beat l. 1 c. 8. canonization of Saints departed before Leo the third about the yeere 800. 8 Nor for the f Grat. de consecr dist 2. orall manducation of Christs body in the Sacrament before Pope Nicolas the second in the yeere 1053. 9 Nor for the entire number of g Casi consult Bell. l. 2. de es s sacr c 9 24. Lombard omnes inde Theologiseptem sacramentaâ—â— adderunt seven sacraments before Peter Lombard in the yeere 1140. 10 Nor for Indulgences before Eugenius the third in the yeere 1145. 11 Nor for h Act. Concil lâ—â—er transubstantiation of the bread into Christs body before the fourth Councell of Lateran in the yeere 1215. 12 Nor for the elevation of the Hoste that the people might i Andr. ab Osterb aetat 13. adore it before Honorius the third in the yeere 1216. 13 Nor for any k Bell in Chron. p. 109. Jubile before Pope Boniface the eighth in the yeere 1300. 14 Nor for the carrying the Sacrament in procession under a canopy before Pope l Bell. de cult sanct l. 3. c. 15. Urban the fift in the yeere 1262. 15 Nor for the dry and halfe m Concil Constan sess 13. Communion before the Councell at Constance in the yeere 1416. 16 Nor for the suspending the n Act. Concil Florent efficacy of Sacramentall consecration upon the Priests intention before the Councell at Florence in the yeere 1439. 17 Nor for the Popes o Act. Concil Later superiority to generall Councels before the sixth Councell at Lateran under Leo the tenth in the yeere 1517. 18 Nor for the Vulgar Latine p Concil Trid. sess 4. translation to bee held for authenticall and upon no pretended cause whatsoever to bee rejected before the fourth Session of the Councell at Trent in the yeere 1546. 19 Nor for the second booke of the Machabees and the apocryphal additions to Hester and Daniel with the history of Bel and the Dragon which Saint Jerome termeth a fable to bee received for Canonicall Scripture before the said Session in the yeere above named 20 Nor for the twelve new articles which Pope Pius the fourth injoyned all professors to sweare unto before the end of the Conventicle held at Trent in the yeere 1564. Thus by occasion of the occasion of my text the old heresie sprang up in Corinth against the eleventh article of our creede I have cast a bone or two to those of the Synagogue of Rome to gnaw upon who usually creepe into these great assemblies to catch at our doctrine and snarle at Gods Minister and now I wholly addresse my selfe to give the children of the Church their bread made of the first fruits in my text But now The verse immedately going before is to this in hand as a darke foyle to a bright precious stone and thus it setteth it off If in this life only we have hope in Christ then we Apostles the chiefe labourers in the Lords harvest are but as weeds nay no better than the world esteemes us that is very dung and the off-scowring of all things But now through hope in Christs resurrection by vertue thereof we are as fruits yea holy fruits sanctified in the first fruits which is Christ If there be no resurrection from the dead all our hope is dead and withered at the root all our preaching false your faith vaine your justification void the dead in Christ utterly lost But now that Christ is risen from the dead and so risen that hee is become the first fruits of all that sleepe in him our hope is revived our preaching justified your faith confirmed your remission ratified the dead but onely fallen asleepe and our condition most desirable For the greater persecution we suffer for Christs sake the greater reward wee shall receive from him the heavier our crosse is on earth the weightier shall our crowne bee in heaven But the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or but is remarkable for it turneth the streame of the Apostles discourse towards Paradise which before like Jordan was running apace into mare mortuum If no resurrection wee of all men most miserable But because there is a resurrection wee most happy The skie is darkest immediately before the breake of day such was the face of the Church before the rising of the sunne of righteousnesse All the starres save one were overcast or rather darkened In q Alâ—â—art 3. q. ult 〈◊〉 Turrâ—â— l. 1. de ecclesâ—â—â— memory whereof the Church of Rome on Easter Eeve puts out all the lights save one to signifie that faith then remained onely in the blessed virgin in all other as well Apostles as Disciples it was eclipsed for the time The life of their hope dyed with their Master and all the hope of their life was buried in his grave Which when they saw guarded and a great stone rowled to the mouth of it their hearts were as cold as a stone But in the proper season of this now in my text the Angel removed that stone from the sepulchre and this from their heart and sitting upon that made it as Chrysologus speaketh a chaire of celestiall doctrine and out of it preached the first part of my text Christ is risen from the dead upon which the Apostle paraphrasing saith is become the first fruits of them that slept Christ is risen from the dead there is the letter of our Creed and is become the first fruits of them that slept there is as it were the flourishing
Babylon before his comming into the flesh and after his death first under the fury of the Heathen next the cruelty of the Arrian Emperours and since that under the insolency of the Turke in the East and tyranny of Antichrist in the West As hee is termed by the Prophet Esay Vir dolorum a man of sorrowes so we finde her Uxorem lachrymarum a wife of teares as he was crowned with thorns so she lyeth in the briars as he was laid in wait for at his birth so she at her new birth as he fled from Herod into Egypt so she from the Dragon into the wildernesse as he was tempted once so she is alwayes as he bare his crosse to Golgotha so she hath borne hers in all parts and ages of the world Indeed sometimes she hath had lucida intervalla times of lightsomenesse and joy when Kings have been her nursing fathers and Queenes her nursing mothers but for the most part she sitteth in darknesse as a close mourner yet solacing her selfe with c Micah 7.8 Rejoyce not against mee O my enemy When I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be light unto mee hope of better times Hence it is that all the pictures that are drawne of her in Scripture are either taken from a d Apoc. 12.13 child-bearing woman frighted by a Dragon gaping to devoure her babe or a e Lament 1.1 widow making lamentation for her husband or a mother f Matth. 2.18 weeping for her children or a g Psal 39.12 pilgrime passing from country to country or an hermite lodged in the wildernesse as here in my Text. The Saints of God are described in holy Scripture clad in three sutes of apparrell different in colour 1. Blacke 2. Red. 3. White Blacke is their mourning weed Red their military ornament White their wedding garment They mourne in blacke for their sinnes and grievous afflictions They fight in red against their bloudy persecutours They triumph and sit at the marriage feast of the h Apoc. 16.11 And white robes were given to every one of them Lambe in white Two of their sutes they are well knowne by on earth the third is reserved in Gods Wardrob and shall be given them in Heaven The two former may be called their working day apparrell but the last their Holy-day or Sunday For they weare it not but upon their everlasting Sabbath in Heaven Their red and blacke vests doe not so much cover their bodies as discover their state and condition in this world where they alwayes either stand and fight with their bodily and ghostly enemies or sit downe and i Job 7.1 weep for their irrecoverable losses and incurable wounds Their life is a i Job 7.1 continuall warfare upon earth three potent enemies continually bid them battell 1 The World Without 2 The Flesh Within 3 The Divell Both within and without The Divell never ceaseth to suggest wicked thoughts the World to present dangerous baites the Flesh to ingender noysome lusts The Divell mainly assaulteth their faith the World their hope the Flesh their love and they fight with three speciall weapons 1 Temptations 2 Heresies 3 Persecutions Temptations I call all vitious provocations heresies all false doctrines in matter of faith and salvation persecutions all outward afflictions Temptations properly lay at the will heresies at the understanding persecutions at the whole person which though the Church of Christ for the most part in her noble members couragiously endureth and therefore is fitly compared to the Pyrausts which are nourished in the fire and to the Phoenix because she riseth againe out of the ashes of the burnt bodies of Martyrs yet sometimes especially in her weake and more feeble members to escape this fire she flies into some wildernesse or remote or obscure place where God alwayes provideth for her Division And the woman there is the frailtie of her nature fled there is the uncertainty of her state into the wildernesse there is the place of her retirednesse where she is nourished by God there is the staffe of her comfort a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes there is the terme of her obscuritie and the period of all her troubles And the woman c. Though all the prophecies of this booke are darkned with much obscurity yet by illustrating the vision set downe through this whole chapter and hanging it as it were a great light in the most eminent part of it we shall easily discover what divine truth lyeth hid in every corner thereof The holy Apostle and the Evangelist S. John in a divine rapture saw a most faire and glorious woman in travell and an ugly red Dragon with seven heads and ten hornes standing before her with open mouth ready to devoure her child of which she was no sooner delivered but her son was taken up to the Throne of God and she carried with the wings of an Eagle into the Wildernesse the Dragon thus deceived of his prey after which his mouth watered cast out of his mouth water as a floud after her to drowne her Such was the vision marke now I beseech you the interpretation thereof By the woman all that have dived deepe into the profound mysteries of this booke understand the Church whose beautie and glory is k Ver. 1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the Sunne and the Moone under her feet and upon her head a crowne of twelve starres illustrated by the Sunne cloathing her and the Moone supporting her and the Starres crowning her The Sunne either signifieth the knowledge of Gods Word which enlighteneth the Church throughout or Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse who cloathes her with the robes of his righteousnesse Mal. 4 2. and exalteth her to his throne of glory above the Moone on which she standeth and thereby sheweth her contempt of this uncertaine and mutable world ruled by the Moone and subject to as many changes as that planet Thus it seemeth cleere what is meant by the Sunne and Moone but what shall we make of the crowne of twelve starres set upon her head It seemeth to represent either the number of the twelve Patriarkes the Crowne of the Jewish or the twelve Apostles the Crown of the Christian Church The man child which this woman had no sooner brought forth but he was caught up unto God in his Throne Ver. 5. and was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron is undoubtedly our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as by comparing the fift verse of this chapter with Psal 2. v. 9. and Apoc. 2.27 and 19.15 appeareth most evidently As for the Dragon he is so set out in his colours v. 9. that any may know him there he is called the old Serpent the Divell and Satan which deceiveth the whole world The waters which he casteth out of his mouth are multitudes of people which he stirreth up to persecute the Church He is described with
seven heads and ten hornes like to the woman whereby the Roman Empire or Church is meant called Babylon the Mother of fornications and abominations on the earth ver 5. because the Dragon employed the seven heads and ten hornes Apoc. 17 3.5 that is the policie and strength of the Roman State especially to suppresse the true Religion and overthrow the Church Other Kingdomes and States have beene stained with the bloud of Christians but Rome is that Whore of Babylon which hath died her garments scarlet red with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Christ others have licked or tasted thereof but she in regard of her barbarous crueltie in this kind is said to be l Apoc. 17.6 drunke with their bloud The vision thus cleared the meaning of my text and the speciall points of observation in each word therein may easily be discerned The first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the woman figureth unto us the Church her 1 Originall 2 Fruitfulnesse 3 Tendernesse 4 Weakenesse 5 Frailtie 1 First her Originall As the first Adam being cast into a slumber the woman was formed of a rib taken out of his side so when the second Adam fell into a dead sleepe on the Crosse his side was opened and thence issued this woman here in my text Christs dearest Spouse 2 Her fruitfulnesse The honour of women is their childbearing For therefore was Heva called the mother of the living because all save Adam came from her such is the Church a most indulgent and fruitfull mother Heva mater viventium the mother of all that live by faith And as St. m Cypr de unit Eccles Deum non habet patrem qui ecclesiam non habet matrem Cyprian concluded against all the Schismatikes in his time we may resolve against all the Separatists in our daies they cannot have God to their Father who acknowledge not the Church for their Mother 3 Her tendernesse Mulier saith Varro quasi mollior women take their name in latine from tendernesse or softnesse because they are usually of a softer temper than men and much more subject to passions especially of feare griefe love and longing their feare is almost perpetuall their griefe immoderate their love ardent and their longing most vehement such is the temper of the militant Church in feare alwayes weeping continually for her children never out of trouble in one place or other sicke for love of her husband Christ Jesus and ever longing for his second comming 4 Her weakenesse or impotencie Women are the weaker n 1 Pet. 3.7 Giving honour to the wife as to the weaker vessell vessels they have no strength in comparison of men they are able to make small or no resistance and in this also the militant Church resembleth a woman for howsoever she be alwayes strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and albeit for a short time when she had Kings and Princes for her Champions as in the daies of David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah and other Kings of Judah and in the reigne of Constantine Theodosius Martianus Justinian and other Emperours of Rome by the temporall sword she put her enemies to the worst and had a great hand over them yet in other ages as well before Christs incarnation as after she hath bin destitute of the arm of flesh and hath had no other than womens weapons to defend her self viz. prayers and teares These alone St. Ambrose tooke up for his defence against the Arrian Emperour o Amb. ep 33. R gamus Auguste non pugnamus We bow downe before thee we rise not up against thee our dread Lord. For my owne part I can sorrow I can sigh I can weepe by other meanes I neither may nor can resist 5 Her frailtie Women are not only weaker in body than men and lesse able to resist violence but also weaker in mind and lesse able to hold out in temptations and therefore the Divell first set upon the woman as conceiving it a matter of more facilitie to supplant her than the man I would the militant Church were not in this also too like the weaker sexe Faire she is I grant but p Cant. 6.10 faire as the Moone in which there are darke and blacke spots Origen in Cant. homâ— an illa verba Nigâ—a sâ—â— Nigra est sponsa pulchra tamen inter mulicres ita ut habeat aliquid Aethiopici candoris Or as St. Origen noteth pulchra inter mulieres not perfectly faire but faire among women her brightest colours are somewhat stained her graces clouded her beauty Sun-burnt Let the Pelagians and Papists stand never so much upon the perfection of inherent righteousnesse they shall never be able to wash cleane the q Esay 64 6. We are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse is as filthy ragges menstruous cloutes and filthy ragges the Prophet Esay speaketh of St. Austin who was more inward to the servants of God in his time and better acquainted with their thoughts than any Heretikes could be telleth us that if all the Saints from the beginning of the world were together upon earth and should joyne in one prayer it would be this or the like Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Nothing is so easie as to slip whilest wee walke upon a r Apoc 15 2. And I saw as it wâ—re aâ—ea of glasse mingled with fire sea of glasse For this reason it is that our Saviour teacheth us to pray Å¿ Mat. 6.13 lead us not into temptation because there is not any temptation so weake that putteth not our frailtie to the worse and albeit it overcome not our faith yet it maketh our sinewes so shrinke as Jacobs did after hee wrestled with the Angell that by it we are lamed in holy duties All those usuall similitudes whereby the Scripture setteth the Church militant before our eyes shew her frailtie and imbecilitie She is a vine a lilly a dove a flocke of sheepe in the midst of ravening wolves What tree so subject to take hurt as a vine which is so weake that it needeth continuall binding and supporting so tender that if it be prickt deepe it bleedeth to death No flower so soft and without all defence or shelter as a lilly no fowle so harmlesse as the dove that hath no gallat all no cattell so oft in danger as sheep and lambes in the midst of wolves Yet neither the weake vine nor the soft lilly nor the fearefull dove nor the harmelesse sheepe so lively expresseth the infirmitie and danger of the wayfaring or rather warfaring Church as the travelling woman in this vision What more pitifull object or lamentable spectacle can present it selfe to our eyes than a woman great with child scared with a fierie serpent ready to devoure her child and driven to fly away with her heavie burden with which she is scarce able to wag This and worse if
of the Martyrs sepulchres when she had no Churches but caves under ground no wealth but grace no exercises but sufferings no crowne but of martyrdome yet then she thrived best then she spread farthest then she kept her purity in doctrine and conversation then she convinced the Jewes then she converted the Gentiles then shee subdued Kingdomes whence I inferre three corollaries 1 That the Roman Church cannot be the true Church of Christ For the true Church of Christ as she is described in the holy Scriptures hath for long time lien hid beene often obscured and eclipsed by bloudy persecutions but the Roman or Papall Church hath never beene so her advocates plead for her that she hath beene alwayes not onely visible but conspicuous not onely knowne but notorious And among the many plausible arguments of perswasion and deceiveable shewes of reason wherewith they amuse and abuse the world none prevaileth so much with the common sort and unskilfull multitude as the outward pomp and glory of the Papall See For sith most men are led by sense and judge according to outward appearance the Church of Rome which maketh so goodly a shew and hath born so great sway in the world for many ages easily induceth them to beleeve that she is that City whereof the Prophet speaks x Psal 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God What more glorious and glittering to the eie than the Popes triple crowne and the Cardinals hats and their Archbishops Palls and their Bishops miters and crozures their shining images their beautifull pictures their rich hangings their gilt rood lofts their crosses and reliques covered in gold and beset with all sorts of pretious stones These with their brightnesse and resplendency dazle the eyes of the multitude and verily if the Queenes daughters glory were all without and the kingdome of Christ of this world and his Church triumphant upon earth all the knowne Churches in the Christian world must give place to the See of Rome which hath borne up her head when theirs have beene under water hath sate as Queene when they have kneeled as captives hath braved it in purple when they have mourned in sackcloth and ashes But beloved y Rom. 10 17. faith commeth not by sight but by hearing and we are not to search the Church in the map of the world but in the Scriptures of God where we find her a pilgrim in Genesis a bondwoman in Exodus a prisoner in Judges a captive in the book of Kings a widow in the Prophets and here in my text a woman labouring with child flying from a red Dragon into the wildernesse I grant that Christ promiseth her a kingdome but not of this world and peace but it is the peace of God and joy but it is in the Holy Ghost and great glory but it is within z Psal 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within c. 2 That none ought to despise the Churches beyond the seas under the Crosse but according to the command of the blessed Apostle a Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversitie as heing our selves also in the body Their turne of sorrow is now ours may be hereafter God hath begun to them in a cup of trembling it is to be feared it will not passe us but we and all the reformed Churches shall drink of it Our Church in Queene Maries dayes resembled this woman in my text theirs now doth both never a whit the lesse but rather the more the true Churches of Christ because they weare his red livery and beare his Crosse 3 That we ought not to looke for great things in this world but having food and raiment as the woman had here in my text to be therewith contented and as she withdrew her self from the eye of the world so ought we to retire our selves into our closets there to have private conference with God to examine our spirituall estate to make up the breaches in our conscience to poure out our soules in teares of compunction for our sins of compassion for the calamities of our brethren of an ardent desire and longing affection for the second comming of our Lord when he shall put an end as to all sinne and temptation so to all sorrow and feare Amen Even so come Lord Jesu To whom c. THE SAINTS VEST A Sermon preached on All-Saints day at Lincolnes-Inne for Doctor Preston THE XXIV SERMON APOC. 7.14 These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe question which the Elder moved to Saint John in the precedent verse to my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what are these mee thinks I heare some put to mee at this present saying What are these holy ones whose feast yee keep what meane these devotions what doe these festivities intend what speake these solemnities what Saints are they Virgins Confessours or Martyrs whose memory by the anniversary returne of this day you eternize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence came they or rather how came they to bee thus honoured and canonized in our Kalendar My direct answer hereunto is my Text These are they c. and the exemplification thereof shall be my Sermon The palmes they beare are ensignes of their victory the robes they weare are emblemes of their glory the bloud wherein they dyed their robes representeth the object of their faith the white and bright colour of them their joy and the length of them the continuance thereof Yea but these holy ones you may object at least the chiefe of them had their dayes apart the blessed Virgin hers apart and the Innocents apart the Apostles apart and the Evangelists apart how come they now to be repeated why committeth the Church a tautologie in her menologie what needeth this sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or congeries of feasts blending of devotions thrusting all Saints into one day and that a short one in the rubricke It is that men may see by that which we doe what we beleeve in that Article of our Creed the communion of Saints Wee joyne them all in one collect wee remember them all upon one day because they are all united into one body admitted into one society naturalized into one Kingdome made free Denisons of one City and partakers of one a Col. 1.12 inheritance of the Saints in light In a word we keep one feast for them all upon earth because they all keep one everlasting feast in heaven the marriage b Apoc. 19.9 supper of the Lambe The Romanes beside severall Temples dedicated to severall deities had their Pantheon or all-gods temple See wee not in the skie here single starres glistering by themselves there constellations or a concourse of many heavenly lampes joyning their lights do we not heare with exceeding delight in the singing of our Church
heaven for them not to contest but to obtest not to attempt any thing against them but cedendo vincere to conquer them by yeelding But the Generall of the Romane military forces hath quite altered the ancient discipline by turning prayers into threats supplications into excommunications cries into alarums teares into bullets and words into swords and which is to be bewailed with bloudy teares the Garland of red Roses as Saint Cyprian sweetly termeth the Crowne of Martyrdome is put upon their heads not who dye for the faith but who kill not who shed their owne bloud but who draw the bloud not of Infidels but of Christians not of private persons but publike not of subjects but of Soveraignes The detestable oration of Pius made in the Conclave upon the news of the murder of the French King and the damnable Legend of Jaques Clement should not have moved me to have laid so fowle an aspersion upon any Romish Priests or Jesuites if I had not seen with my eyes at Paris the names of Old corne Garnet executed for the Powder Treason inserted into their Catalogue of Martyrs and heard also of certaine English Priests sharply censured for offering to pray for their soules because thereby they made scruple of their crowne of Martyrdome which according to their doctrine dischargeth all that are called unto it from Purgatory flames and giveth them present entrance into heaven O blessed Jesu are these of thy company didst thou make such a profession before Pontius Pilate didst thou teach thy Disciples to save mens soules by murdering their bodies to plant Religion and found thy Church by blowing up Parliaments are these of thy spirit that call not downe fire from heaven but rather call it up from hell to consume a whole Kingdome with a blaze and offer it up as a Holocaust to the Molock at Rome No d Bosquier in Evang. Domin fish will be caught in a bloudy net if they see but a drop spilt upon it they will swimme another way Therefore let all the fishers of men that cast the net of the Gospel into the sea of the world to take up soules looke henceforward that they bloud not their net with cruell persecutions and slaughter of Gods servants In the building of the materiall Temple there was heard no noise of any iron toole to shew that in stirres and broyles there is no building of Gods house As King-fishers breed in a calme sea so the Church exceedingly multiplyeth in the dayes of peace which long may we enjoy under our Solomon who deserveth as well the title of Preserver of the Peace as Defender of the Faith of the Church For what doth he not to take up quarrels and compose differences in all reformed Churches wherein God hath so blessed his zealous endeavours that as he hath hindred the growth of much cockle sowne by Vorstius and Bertius in the Low-countries so hee hath cleane cut off two heads of controversies lately arising one in the place of the other in France the former concerning the imputation of Christs active obedience the latter concerning his immunity from the Law As for his love to his Nathans and infinite desire of repairing the Temple I cannot speake more than you all conceive What then is the cause that so good a worke goeth on so slowly How commeth it to passe that in so many places of this Land the Spouse of Christ lieth sick of a consumption crying pitifully Stay me with flagons and comfort me with apples for I faint I swoune I dye Whose fault is it that many hundreds of soules for whom Christ shed his precious bloud are like to famish perish for the want of the bread of life and there is none to breake it unto them It seemeth strange to mee that in France and other countries where the poore flocke of Christ Jesus is miserably fleeced and fleaed by the Romish Clergy yet they finde meanes to maintaine a Preacher in every congregation and that in divers places of this Kingdome where neither the wild Bore of the forrest digges at the roote of ouâ— Vine nor the wild Beast of the field browseth upon the branches thereof there should not be sufficient allowance no not for an insufficient Curate Elie's zeale was none of the hottest yet he made no reckoning of his private losse in comparison of the publike when he heard the messenger relate the flâ—ght of Israel and the death of his two sonnes Hophni and Phineas he was mentis compos and fate quietly in his chaire but as soone as mention was made of the taking of the Arke hee presently fell downe backward and gave up the Ghost Deare Christians many living Temples of the Holy Ghost have bin lately surprised by Papists yet no man taketh it to heart The Jewes as Josephus reporteth in the siege of Jerusalem though they were constrained themselves to eate Mice Rats and worse Vermine yet alwaies brought faire and fat beasts to the Temple for sacrifices And Livie testifieth that when the Tribunes complained of want of gold in the treasury to offer to Apollo the Mations of Rome plucked off their chaines bracelets and rings and freely offered them to the Priests to supply that defect in the service of their gods I pray God these Painims and Infidels be not brought in at the day of Judgement to condemne many of our great professours who care not how the Temple falls to decay so their houses stand have no regard how God is served so they bee well attended take no thought though the Arke be under the curtaines so they be under a rich canopy or at least a sure roofe who are so farre from offering to God things before abused to pride and luxury that they abuse to pride and luxury things by their religious ancestors offered unto God who with Zeba and Zalmunna having taken the houses of God into their possession lay out the price of bloud the price of soules upon riotous feasting gorgeous apparrell vaine shewes Hawkes Hounds and worse What sinne may be compared to this that turneth those things to maintaine sinne that should convert many unto righteousnesse How is it possible that they should escape Gods vengeance who nourish pride with sacriledge maintaine luxury with murder not of bodies but of soules whom they and their heires starve by keeping back the Ministers maintenance who should feed them with the bread of life What boldnesse is it nay what presumption what contempt of divine majesty what abominable profanenesse and impiety to breake open the doores of the Tabernacle and rifle the Arke of the Covenant and rob God himselfe No marvell therefore if hee have shewed extraordinary judgements upon such felons as he did upon Achan who payed deare for his Babylonish raiment for it cost him all his goods and his e Judg. 7.25 And all Israel stoned him with stones burned him with fire after they had stoned him with stones life too and the life of his sonnes
and daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and all that he had As he did upon Belshazzar who as hee held the plate of the Temple in his hand quaffing and f Dan. 5.5 25. carowsing saw a hand-writing on the wall before him Mene Tekel Upharsin Mene God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finished it Tekel Thou art weighed in the ballance and art found wanting Peres Thy Kingdome is divided and given to the Medes and Persians As he did upon g Act. 5.3 5 10. Ananias and Sapphira who were strucke with sudden death for saving but part of that for themselves which they had before consecrated to God As he did upon Pyrrhus his souldiers h Lact. l. 2. divin instit c. 8. Praefectus Antonu Turullus cum apud Coas everso Aesculapit luco classem fecisset eodem loco à militibus Caesaris interemptus est who after they had robbed the Temple of Proserpina and sailed away joyfully with the rich prize were driven backe againe with a violent tempest and suffered shipwracke at the shore in sight of the Temple which they spoyled The Mariners were all cast away and nothing was saved but the gold and silver which they stole out of the Temple As hee did upon Herods servants who entring into the Temple of Jerusalem and opening the sepulchre of David to filch away the great masse of treasure that was laid up there were all burnt with a fire that suddenly brake out of the chest or coffin in which the Kings bones were enclosed As he did upon i D. Andrewes conc ad Cler. Laqueos monstro vel in ipsâ gentium historiâ Cambysen qui sacrum Hamonis sibi exitio fuisse sentit Brennum qui Delphicum Crassum qui Hierosolomitanum c. Leo Copronimus who entering into a Church endowed by Constantine the great with a precious crowne of gold beset with Carbuncles had no sooner taken the crowne out of the place and put it upon his sacrilegious head but there arose a Carbuncle in his temples of which hee dyed as the Historians of that age report verifying the Proverbe of Syracides Quo quis peccat eo punietur a Carbuncle was his sinne and a Carbuncle was his end Capus sacrilegio pollutum Carbunculo aduritur To make towards the shore and leaving this salt discourse to give you a taste of sweet water in the haven As I have made it good unto you by many arguments and instances that nothing is worse taken than by sacriledge from God so nothing is better given than by pious bounty unto God Obed-Edom found it in his house the widow of Sarepta in her cruce the Samaritane in her childe David in his race and Mary Magdalen in her soule And here that observation of k Nat. hist l. 1. Multa in pretio habita sunt tantummodo quod templis dicata Pliny taketh place Many things have been highly esteemed onely for this reason because they have been dedicated to Gods service The giving of any thing to God addeth worth to the gift We offer things to great personages because they are rare and precious on the contrary things are precious and sacred because they are given to God not onely the giver but the gift also gaineth by being given unto God The cruce that ministred nourishment to the Prophet became an everlasting spring of oyle the water that cleansed the sacrifices after the Angel troubled it received a medicinall vertue to cure all diseases the Manna that was kept in a golden pot in the Arke never corrupted the boxe of oyntment which Mary brake upon our Saviours head yeeldeth yet a fragrant smell in the Church l Plin. nat hist l. 12. c. 14. Cum Leonidas diceret Alexandro isto modo cùm deviceris thuriferas gentes supplicato ille Arabiâ potitus thure onustam navem misit ei ex hortatus ut largè deos adoraret Alexander the Great by burning frankincense frankly and liberally in the service of God gained by conquest the Kingdome of Arabia where all sweet trees grow Davids vow of building God an house and desire to performe it though he accomplished not his desire yet so endeared him to God that he and his sons after him to many generations fared the better for it How much more shall the performance of so noble a worke obtaine of God the performance of his gracious promise to build their houses and establish their private estates who out of love of his ordinance and zeale of his worship contribute liberally to the maintenance of his service and beautifying of his Sanctuary Who would not willingly fill his hand to God who filleth all things living with plenteousnesse Who would not willingly by pious bounty bind the Lord of the whole world in an obligation to him who is so good a pay-master that hee will make allowance for a cup of cold m Mat. 10.42 water given to a Prophet and keep a register of two mites that are cast into his treasury Howbeit I must enforme you from the Apostle that God dwelleth not in n Acts 17.24 Temples made with hands but in the hearts and mindes of the faithfull who as living stones being built upon the corner-stone Christ Jesus by faith and coupled fast together by unity and Christian charity rise up by elevated desires and affections to a holy and spirituall temple of the living God and this spirituall and inward temple farre surpasseth in the beauty of holinesse the outward or materiall For that is holy only by denomination and relation this by inhesion and infusion of the graces of sanctification that is adorned with lights and tapers this with the Word of God that with rich vestments and ornaments this with heavenly habits and divine vertues that when it is once built needs only to be repaired and when it is sufficiently repaired needs no more cost or labour to bee bestowed upon it for a good space this needeth continually to be built repaired enlarged and adorned for to build it in the ignorant to repaire it in the relapsed to enlarge it in the proficient and beautifie and adorne it in those that are perfect is the end of our mission and tenour of our commission and in a word the whole duty of the man of God Wherefore I beseech you beloved brethren suffer your selves to be hewne and fitted for this building and set in order by the line of Gods Word Now that stones orderly set may make a sure building three things are requisite 1. Ut inhaereant fundamento 2. Cohaereant inter se 3. Adhaereant tecto First that they be built upon a firme foundation Secondly that they sticke and hold fast together Thirdly that they joyne unto and bear up the roofe First you must be built and lye upon a sure foundation no other sure o 1 Cor. 3.11 foundation can be laid than that which is already laid even Christ Jesus cleave fast to him relye