not sustaine vs while we are Away with these weake diffidences and if wee bee Christians trust God with his owne Psal 37.34 Wait thou on the Lord and keepe his wayes and he shall exalt thee He will make all things new And shall all things be made new and our hearts bee old Shall nothing but our soules be out of the fashion Surely beloued none but new hearts are for the new heauens Except we be borne anew we enter not into life All other things shall in the very instant receiue their renouation onely our hearts must bee made new before hand or else they shall neuer be renewed to their glory S. Peter when he had told vs of looking for new heauens and new earth infers this vse vpon it Wherefore beloued seeing yee looke for such things 2 Pet. 3.14 be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse Behold the new heauens require pure and spotlesse inhabitants As euer therefore we looke to haue our part in this blessed renouation let vs cast off all our euill and corrupt affections put off the old man with his works and now with the new yeere put on the new labour for a new heart begin a new life That which S. Iohn sayes here that God will say and doe in our entrance to glorification Behold I make all things new 2 Cor. 5.17 out of Esa 43. Saint Paul saith he hath done it already in our regeneration Old things are passed away all things are become new What meanes this but that our regeneration must make way for our glorification and that our glory must but perfect our regeneration and God supposes this is done when there are meanes to doe it Why doe we then still in spight of the Gospell retaine our old corruptions and thinke to goe to the wedding feast in our old clothes if some of vs do not rather as the vulgar reads that Iudg. 10 6. Addere nona veteribus adde new sinnes to our old new oathes new fashions of pride new complements of drunkennesse new deuices of filthinesse new tricks of Machiauelisme these are our nouelties which fetch downe from God new iudgements vpon vs to the tingling of the eares of all hearers and for which Topheth was prepared of old If God haue no better newes for vs we shall neuer enioy the new heauen with him For Gods sake therefore and for our soules sake let vs be wiser and renew our couenant with God and seeing this is a day of gifts let my New-yeeres-gift to you be this holy aduice from God which may make you happy for euer Let your New-yeeres-gift to God be your hearts the best part of your selues the center of your selues to which all our actions are circumferences and if they bee such a present as we haue reason to feare God will not accept because they are sinfull yet if they be humbled if penitent we know he will receiue them Psal 51. A contrite and a broken heart O God thou wilt not despise And if we cannot giue him our hearts yet giue him our desires and he will take our vnworthy hearts from vs I will take the stony hearts out of their bodies Ezec. 11.19 and he will graciously returne an happy New-yeeres-gift to vs Ezec. 11.14 I will put a new spirit within their bowels and will giue them an heart of flesh He will create a cleane heart and renew a right spirit within vs so as he will make a new heauen for vs he will make vs new for this heauen hee will make his Tabernacle in vs that hee may make ours with him Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men c. The superstitious Listrians cryed out amazed that Gods were come downe to them in the likenesse of men but we Christians know that it is no rare thing for God to come and dwell with men Yea are the Temples of the liuing God 2 Cor. 6.16 and I will dwell among them and walke there The faithfull heart of man is the Tabernacle of God But because though God bee euer with vs wee are not alwaies so with him yea whiles wee are at home in the bodie we are absent from the Lord as S. Paul complaines therefore will God vouchsafe vs a neerer cohabitation that shall not be capable of any interposition of any absence Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men But besides this Tabernacle of flesh time was when God dwelt in a materiall visible house with men Hee had his Tabernacle first which was a mouing Temple and then his Temple 2 Chron. 7.16 which was a fixed Tabernacle both of them had one measure both one name But as one said vpon that Eze. 42. Mensus est similitudinem domus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that both the Tabernacle and Temple were similitudes of Gods house rather than the house it selfe so say I that they were intended for notable resemblances both of the holy Church of God vpon earth and of the glorious Sanctuarie of heauen This is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God 1 Pet. 2.5 which word signifieth both a Temple Ezra 4.1 and a Palace Dan. 1.4 because he dwels where he is worshipped and he is magnificent in both It is the materiall Tabernacle which is alluded to the immateriall which is promised A Tabernacle that goes a thousand times more beyond the glittering Temple of Salomon than Salomons Temple went beyond the Tabernacle of Moses Neither let it trouble any man that the name of a Tabernacle implies flitting and vncertaintie For as the Temple howsoeuer it were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a house of Ages yet lasted not either the first I meane or second vnto 500. yeeres so this house though God call it a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 16.9 yet he makes it an euerlasting habitation for he tels vs that both age and death are gone before it come downe to men But why rather doth the Tabernacle of God descend to men than men ascend to it Whether this be in respect of Iohns vision to whom the new Ierusalem seemed to descend from heauen descendit as one saith innotescendo and therefore it is resembled by all the riches of this inferiour world gold precious stones pearle or whether heauen is therefore said to descend to vs because it meets vs in the aire 1 Thess 4.16 when Christ Iesus attended with innumerable Angels shall descend to fetch his elect or whether this phrase be vsed for a greater expression of loue and mercy since it is more for Prince to come to vs than for vs to goe to his Court. Certainly God meanes only in this to set forth that perpetuall and reciprocall conuersation which hee will haue with men They shall dwell with God God shall dwell with them Our glory begins euer in grace God doth dwell with all those in grace with whom hee will dwell in glory Euery Christian carries in his
thee to pardon Let Bernard now to conclude shut vp this Stage Not to sinne saith hee is Gods iustice but the iustice of man is the pardon of God To be imputed therefore and to be inherent differ no lesse than God and man Trent and Heauen Wherefore let our Romanists confesse that which both Scriptures and Fathers and all their modester Doctors haue both thought and reported to bee the common voyce of the former Church in all times and we are agreed Otherwise What fellowship hath God with Belial light with darknesse SECTION VIII Concerning Free-will BOrdering vpon this is the point of Free-will To let passe all lighter quarrels of the nature of our will let vs enquire of the power of it and that not in naturall humane or morall things Heere is all peace and silence saue that the words iangle with themselues and when the matter is agreed vpon who would not contemne words as Augustine saith well but in spirituall and diuine matters we do will indeed Aug. de ordine 2. wee will freely neither can wee otherwise will any thing who denies it Aliud est velle aliud velle bonum Bern. Heere is no Physicall determination no violence but to will that which is good or to will well we cannot Wee doe freely beleeue for faith is an act of the will yea and wee doe co-operate with grace neither are wee heerein like to sencelesse stone as Austen truely speakes But whence is all this Is it of our selues or of God Is it of grace or which the Councell of Arausica condemned by the power of nature This must bee our question Both sides like well that speech of Saint Augustine To will freely is the worke of nature to will well of grace to will ill of corruption but when wee come to the poynt the Doctors of Trent are not more subtile than the Iesuits inconstant It is yet good and safe which Bellarmine cites from his Ruardus A good worke as it is a worke Bell. l. 6. de Grat. c. 15. p. 10. is from Free-will as it is good from grace as both a worke and good both from Free-will and grace But that is exceeding ingenuous and truely Euangelicall which the same Bellarmine affirmes against some Semipelagian Catholickes Lib. 6. de gratia c. 4. in titulo In those things which pertain to piety and saluation that mans will can do nothing without the help of Gods grace It is the voyce of Iacob if the Cardinall would hold him there cursed be he that should oppose him I goe on to hope and read and see what stuffe I meete with Lib. 6. c. 15. resp ad Secund. soon after in the same Booke That our conuersation is in the power of Free-will because it may bee alwayes conuerted when it will and yet further That before all grace we haue Free-will euen in the workes of pietie and supernaturall things Before all grace L. sexto de Grat. c. vlt. sent prima better recognitions Now then God doth not preuent vs Aug. de cor Grat. nolentem praeuenit vt velit volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit as Austin saith of old that wee might will but wee preuent God because wee will But left this should seeme too grosse this liberty is tyed vp and is altogether in the same state as the facultie of seeing when a sensible species is absent wee can freely see while the obiect is absent wee can freely will in the absence of grace Let Bellarmine now tell me are we any whit more free to euill than hee faines vs to good Did euer Pelagius dote thus much Wee can will euill but yet vnlesse it be determined vnder some false semblance by the verdict of our practiall iudgement wee will it not But if wee should yeeld him thus much What helpe is this that God giues vs To preuent inspire excite and helpe is of God to incline the will is of our selues How are we not now more beholden to our selues than to God What is this but that Pelagian conceit so oft condemned by Augustine so to separate Free-will from grace as if without it we could doe Aug. Epist 46. 47. Petr. Chrysoâ— ser 114 Christus quicquid suâ—rum virtutum est resert ad gloriam patris homo cuâ—us suum nihil est sibi vendicare quod per Christum resurrexit elaborat Leuiores quasque titillationes superare Bellarm. Scot. 2. d. 28. Dur. ibid. qu. 4. Sessio 6. c. 5. Can. 4. Citat Bell. ibid. Xiphilin Tiber. De grat lib. ar c. 16. Hier. ad Ctesiphoni Ephes 2. Coloss 3. Psal 51. or thinke any thing answerable to the will of God That wee are able by the power of our will to auoid sins that we can ouercome the slighter motions of temptation as Bellarm. speaks that wee can keepe Gods Commandements as Scotus and Durandus that wee can reiect or receiue the inspiration of the Spirit as the Tridentine Fathers that wee can dispose our selues to the receiuing of grace as Thomas and Suarez that wee doe naturally co-operate with grace and make our conuersion effectuall as Tapperus what is it else but to steale glory from God that wee may pranke vp this carion nature of ours Yet it was modestly done of Tyberius who of those many buildings which hee repayred and perfected challenged not one to himselfe but gaue them still the names of those men by whom they were begun to be built But these men challenge the whole house when as they haue not laid so much as one Tyle vpon the roofe Farre bee this shamefull sacriledge from vs when that truely iealous God challenges to himselfe to worke in vs both the will and the deed yea that wee can will to beleeue is his worke as Austen rightly speakes See then hee doth not excite but worke in vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee works in vs both that which is first to will and that which is last to worke Hierome sayes worthily To will and to runne is mine but without Gods continuall helpe it will not bee mine Without me you can doe nothing saith Christ no not thinke any thing saith Paul Alas what can wee doe who are not lame but dead in sinnes By the influence of Gods Spirit therefore a new life must be created in vs that was not and not the former life excited which was according to that of the Psalmist Create in me a cleane heart and not stirre vp that cleane one I haue Neither indeed is there as yet any place for this Ezek 11.36 The first heart must bee taken out another must bee put in I will take away their stony heart and giue them a heart of flesh saith God by the mouth of Ezechiel Hee will giue it but thou sayest perhaps into their brests which haue predisposed and prepared themselues for the gift Yea contrarily to those that doe not a little resist him The wisedome of the flesh is
fire vnquenchable Whether Infidels beleeue these things or no we know them so shall they but too late What remaines but that we applaud our selues in this happinesse and walke on cheerily in this heauenly profession acknowledging that God could not do more for vs and that we cannot doe enough for him Let others boast as your Ladiship might with others of ancient and Noble Houses large patrimonies or dowries honorable commands others of famous names high and enuied honours or the fauours of the greatest others of valour or beauty or some perhaps of eminent learning and wit it shall be our pride that we are Christians To my Lady HONORIA HAY. EP. IV. Discoursing of the necessitie of Baptisme and the estate of those which necessarily want it MADAM MEthinks children are like teeth troublesome both in the breeding and losing and oftentimes painfull while they stand yet such as wee neither would nor can well be without I goe not about to comfort you thus late for your losse I rather congratulate your wise moderation and Christian care of these first spirituall priuiledges desiring onely to satisfie you in what you heard as a witnesse not in what you needed as a mother Children are the blessings of Parents and Baptisme is the blessing of children and parents wherein there is not onely vse but necessitie necessitie not in respect so much of the end as of the precept God hath enioyned it to the comfort of parents and behoofe of children which therefore as it may not be superstitiously hastened so not negligently deferred That the contempt of baptisme damneth is past all doubt but that the constrained absence thereof should send infants to hell is a cruell rashnesse It is not their sinne to die early death is a punishment not an offence an effect of sinne not a cause of torment they want nothing but time which they could not command Because they could not liue a while longer that therefore they should die euerlastingly is the hard sentence of a bloody religion I am onely sorie that so harsh an opinion should bee graced with the name of a Father so reuerend so diuine whose sentence yet let no man plead by halues He who held it vnpossible for a childe to be saued vnlesse the baptismall water were powred on his face held it also as vnpossible for the same Infant vnlesse the sacramentall bread were receiued into his mouth There is the same ground for both the same error in both a weaknesse fit for forgetfulnesse see yet how ignorant or ill-meaning posterity could single out one halfe of the opinion for truth and condemne the other of falshood In spight of whom one part shall easily conuince the other yea without all force since both cannot stand both will fall together for company The same mouth which said Vnlesse yee be borne againe of water and the Holy Ghost said also Except yee eat the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drinke his blood an equall necessitie of both And lest any should plead different interpretations the same S. Austin auerres this later opinion also concerning the necessary communicating of children to haue been once the common iudgement of the Church of Rome A sentence so displeasing that you shall finde the memory of it noted vvith a blacke coale and wip't out in that infamous bill of Expurgations Had the ancient Church held this desperate sequele what strange and yet wilfull crueltie had it beene in them to deferre baptisme a whole yeare long till Easter or that Sunday which hath his name I thinke from the white robes of the baptised Yea what an aduenture vvas it in some to adiourne it till their age with Constantine if being vnsure of their life they had been sure the preuention of death would haue inferred damnation Looke vnto that legall Sacrament of circumcision which contrary to the fancies of our Anabaptists directly answers this Euangelicall Before the eight day they could not be circumcised before the eight day they might die If dying the seuenth day they were necessarily condemned either the want of a day is a sinne or God sometimes condemneth not for sinne Neither of them possible neither according with the iustice of the Law-giuer Or if from this parallel you please to looke either to reason or example the case is cleere Reason no man that hath faith can be condemned for Christ dwels in our hearts by faith and hee in whom Christ dwels cannot be a reprobate Now it is possible a man may haue a sauing faith before baptisme Abraham first beleeued to iustification then after receiued the signe of circumcision as a seale of the righteousnes of that faith which he had when he was vncircumcised Therefore some dying before their baptisme may yea must be saued Neither was Abrahams case singular he was the Father of all them also which beleeue not being circumcised these as they are his Sonnes in faith so in righteousnesse so in saluation vncircumcision cannot hinder where faith admitteth These following his steps of beliefe before the Sacrament shall doubtlesse rest in his bosome without the Sacrament without it as fatally absent not as willingly neglected It is not the water but the faith not the putting away the filth of the flesh saith S. Peter but the stipulation of a good conscience for who takes Baptisme without a full faith saith Hierom takes the water takes not the spirit Whence is this so great vertue of the water that it should touch the body and cleanse the heart saith Austin vnlesse by the power of the word not spoken but beleeued Thou seest water saith Ambrose euery water heales not that water onely heales which hath the grace of God annexed And if there bee any grace in the water saith Basil it is not of the nature of the water but of the presence of the Spirit Baptisme is indeed as Saint Ambrose stiles it the pawne and image of our resurrection yea as Basil the power of God to resurrection but as Ignatius expounds this phrase aright beleeuing in his death we are by baptisme made partakers of his resurrection Baptisme therefore without faith cannot saue a man and by faith doth saue him and faith without baptisme where it cannot bee had not where it may be had and is contemned may saue him That spirit which workes by meanes will not be tyed to meanes Examples Cast your eyes vpon that good thiefe good in his death though in his life abominable he was neuer washed in Iordan yet is receiued into Paradise his soule was foule with rapines and iniustice yea bloody with murders and yet being scoured onely with the blood of his Sauior not with water of baptisme it is presented glorious to God I say nothing of the soules of Traian and Falconella meere heathens liuing and dying without Christ without baptisme which yet their honest Legend reports to be deliuered from hell transported to heauen not so much as scorched in Purgatory The one by the prayers of Gregory
he was leprous neither doe I see Elisha come forth to him and receiue him with such outward courtesies as might be fit for an honourable stranger for in those rich cloathes the Prophet saw an Aramite and perhaps some tincture of the late-shed blood of Israel Rather that he might make a perfect triall of the humility of that man whom he meanes to gratifie and honour after some short attendance at his doore he sends his seruant with a message to that Peere who could not but thinke the meanest of his retinue a better man then Gehezies Master What could the Prophet haue done other to the Lacquay of Naamans man Hee that would be a meet subiect of mercy must bee thoroughly abased in his owne conceit and must be willingly pliable to all the conditions of his humiliation Yet had the message caried in it either respect to the person or probabilitie of effect it could not haue beene vnwelcome but now it sounded of nothing but sullennesse and vnlikelihood Goe and wash in Iordan seuen times and thy flesh shall come againe to thee and thou shalt bee cleane What wise man could take this for any other then a meere scorne and mockery Goe wash Alas What can water doe It can cleanse from filthinesse not from leprosie And why in Iordan What differs that from other streames and why iust seuen times What vertue is either in that channell or in that number Naaman can no more put off nature then leprosie In what a chafe did hee fling away from the Prophets doore and sayes Am I comne thus far to fetch a flout from an Israelite Is this the issue both of my iourney and the Letters of my King Could this Prophet find no man to play vpon but Naaman Had he meant seriously why did he thinke himselfe too good to come forth vnto me Why did he not touch me with his hand and blesse me with his prayers and cure mee with his blessing Is my misery fit for his derision If water could doe it what needed I to come so farre for this remedy Haue I not oft done thus in vaine Haue wee not better streames at home then any Israel can afford Are not Abana and Pharphar Riuers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel Folly and pride striue for place in a naturall heart and it is hard to say whether is more predominant Folly in measuring the â—ower of Gods ordinances by the rule of humane discourse and ordinary eâ—ent pride in a scornfull valuation of the institutions of GOD in comparison of our owne deuices Abana and Pharphar two for one Riuers not waters of Damascus a stately City and incomparable Are they not Who dares deny it Better not as good then the waters not the riuers all the waters Iordan and all the rest of Israel a beggerly Region to Damascus No where shall wee find a truer patterne of the disposition of Nature how she is altogether led by sense and reason how she fondly iudges of all obiects by the appearance how shee acquaints her selfe only with the common rode of Gods proceedings how she stickes to her owne principles how she misconstrues the intentions of God how shee ouer-conceits her owne how she disdaines the meane conditions of others how she vpbraids her opposites with the proud comparison of her owne priuiledges Nature is neuer but like her selfe No maruell if carnall minds despise the foolishnesse of preaching the simplicity of Sacraments the homelinesse of ceremonies the seeming inefficacy of censures These men looke vpon Iordan with Syrian eyes One drop of whose water set apart by diuine ordination hath more vertue then all the streames of Abana and Pharphar It is a good matter for a man to be attended with wise and faithfull followers Many a one hath had better counsell from his heeles then from his elbowes Naamans seruants were his best friends they came to him and spake to him and said My Father If the Prophet had bid thee doe some great thing wouldst thou not haue done it How much rather then when hee saith to thee Wash and bee cleane These men were seruants not of the humour but of the profit of their master Some seruile spirits would haue cared onely to sooth vp not to benefit their Gouernour and would haue encouraged his rage by their owne Sir will you take this at the hand of a base fellow Was euer man thus flouted Will you let him carie it away thus Is any harmlesse anger sufficient reuenge for such an insolence Giue vs leaue at least to pull him out by the eares and force him to doe that by violence which hee would not doe out of good manners Let our fingers teach this saucy Prophet what it is to offer an affront to a Prince of Syria But these men loued more their masters health then his passion and had rather therefore to aduise then flatter to draw him to good then follow him to euill Since it was a Prophet from whom he receiued this prescription they perswade him not to despise it intimating there could be no fault in the sleightnesse of the receit so long as there was no defect of power in the commander that the vertue of the cure should be in his obedience not in the nature of the remedy They perswade and preuaile Next to the Prophet Naaman may thanke his seruants that hee is not a Leper He goes downe vpon their intreaty and dips seuen times in Iordan his flesh riseth his leprosie vanisheth Not the vniust fury and techinesse of the patient shall crosse the cure lest whiles God is seuere the Prophet should be discredited Long enough might Naaman haue washed there in vaine if Elisha had not sent him Many a Leper hath bathed in that streame and hath come forth no lesse impure It is the word the ordinance of the Almighty which puts efficacy into those meanes which of themselues are both impotent and improbable What can our Font doe to the washing away of sinne If Gods institution shall put vertue into our Iordan it shall scoure off the spirituall leprosies of our hearts and shall more cure the soule then clense the face How ioyfull is Naaman to see this change of his skinne this renouation of his flesh of his life Neuer did his heart find such warmth of inward gladnesse as in this streame Vpon the sight of his recouery he doth not poste home to the Court or to his family to call for witnesses for partners of his ioy but thankfully returnes to the Prophet by whose meanes he receiued this mercy He comes backe with more contentment then he departed with rage Now will the man of God bee seene of that recouered Syrian whom he would not see leprous His presence shall bee yeelded to the gratulation which was not yeelded to the suit Purposely did Elisha forbeare before that he might share no part of the praise of this worke with his Maker that God might be so much more magnified as
that path there is no death and attending thereon Pr. 20.6 Pr. 12.2 all Blessings are vpon the head of the righteous Wouldst thou haue fauour A good man getteth fauour of the Lord. Ioy The righteous shall sing and reioyce and surely to a man that is good in his sight Pr. 29.6 Ec. 2.26 God giueth wisdome and knowledge and ioy so that the light of the righteous reioyceth but the candle of the wicked shall bee put out Preseruation and deliuerance Lo Pr. 13.9 Pr. 10.25 Pr. 10.29 Pr. 10.30 Pr. 11.4 Pr. 12.13 Pr. 11.8 Pr. 13.6 Pr. 15.6 Pr. 14.11 Pr. 10.27 Pr. 12.7 Ec. 8.12 Pr. 10.24 Pr. 29.18 the righteous is an euerlasting foundation for the way of the Lord is strength to the vpright man so as the righteous shall neuer be remoued and if he be in trouble Riches auaile not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse deliuereth from death so the righteous shall come out of aduersitie and escape out of trouble and the wicked shall come in his stead thus euery way Righteousnesse preserueth the vpright in heart Prosperity and wealth The house of the righteous shall haue much treasure and his tabernacle shall flourish Long life The feare of the Lord increaseth the daies and not onely himselfe but his house shall stand And though a sinner doe euill an hundred times and God prolong his daies yet know I that it shall be well to them that feare the Lord and doe reuerence before him And lastly whatsoeuer good God will grant the desire of the righteous and he that keepeth the Law is blessed §. 7. In the estate of wickednesse our good things are accursed Wealth Life Fame Deuotions Prayers Sacrifices Euill inflicted of Losse Paine Affliction Death Damnation Pr. 10.2 Pr. 10.3 COntrarily there is perfect misery in wickednesse Looke on all that might seeme good in this estate Wealth The treasures of the wicked profit nothing the Lord will not famish the soule of the righteous but he either casteth away the substance of the wicked Pr. 13.25 so that the belly of the wicked shall want or else employeth it to the good of his for the wicked shall be a ransome for the iust Pr. 21.18 Ec. 2.26 and to the sinner God giueth paine to gather and to heape to giue to him that is good before God The wicked man may bee rich Pr. 15.6 Pr. 10.27 Pr. 10.25 Pr. 12.7 Pr. 2.22 Ec. 8.13 but how The reuenues of the wicked is trouble Life The yeeres of the wicked shall be diminished As the whirl-wind passeth so is the wicked no more for God ouerthroweth the wicked and they are not Whatsoeuer therefore their hope be the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rotted out It shall not be well to the wicked neither shall he prolong his daies hee shall be like to a shadow because he feared not God Pr. 14.11 Pr. 10.7 yea the very house of the wicked shall be destroyed Fame Whereas the memoriall of the iust shall be blessed the name of the wicked shall rot yea looke vpon his best endeuours Pr. 15.29 Pr. 28.9 his Prayers The Lord is farre off from the wicked but heareth the prayer of the righteous farre off from accepting For Hee that turneth away his eare from hearing the Law Pr. 15.8 euen his prayer shall be abominable His sacrifice though well intended as all the rest of his waies is no better than abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with a wicked minde Pr. 15.9 Pr. 21.27 Pr. 12.26 Pr. 10.18 Pr. 13.9 Pr. 11.18 Pr. 26.10 Pr. 13.21 Pr. 5.22 Pr. 10.6 Pr. 29.6 Pr. 11.5 Pr. 13.6 Pr. 33.3 Pr. 11.31 Pr. 10.24 Pr. 5.23 And as no good so much euill whether of losse The way of the wicked will deceiue them their hope shall perish especially when they die their candle shall be put out their workes shall proue deceitfull Or of paine for the Excellent that formed all things rewardeth the foole and the transgressor and he hath appointed that Affliction should follow sinners Follow yea ouertake them His owne iniquity shall take the wicked himselfe and couer his mouth and hee shall be holden with the cords of his owne sinne euen in the transgression of the euill man is his snare so the wicked shall fall in his owne wickednesse for of it owne selfe iniquity ouerthroweth the sinner But besides that the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked though hand ioyne in hand he shall not be vnpunished behold the righteous shall be paid vpon earth how much more the wicked and the sinner That then which the wicked man feareth shall come vpon him both Death Hee shall die for default of instruction Pr. 11.19 Pr. 1◠32 Pr. 15.11 Pr. 12.2 Pr. 10.29 Pr. 19.29 and that by his owne hands for by following euill he seekes his owne death and after that damnation The wicked shall bee cast away for his malice Hell and destruction are before the Lord and a man of wicked imaginations will hee condemned so both in life in death after it nothing but Terrour shall be for the workers of iniquity where contrarily The feare of the Lord leadeth to life and hee that is filled therewith shall contiue and shall not be visited with euill SALOMONS ETHICKS THE SECOND BOOKE PRVDENCE §. 1. Of Vertue Wherein it consisteth Whereby it is ruled and directed VErtue consists in the meane vice in the extremes Pr. 4.26 Pr. 4.27 Let thy waies be ordered aright Turne not to the right hand nor to the left but remoue thy foot from euill The rule whereof it Gods Law Pr. 6.23 Pr. 30.5 Pr. 4.20 Pr. 4.21 Pr. 4.22 for the commandement is a Lanterne and instruction a light and euery word of God is pure My sonne hearken to my words incline thine eare to my sayings let them not depart from thine eyes but keepe them in the midst of thine heart For they are life vnto those that finde them and health vnto all their flesh Pr. 7.2 Pr. 7.3 Keepe my Commandements and thou shalt liue and mine instruction as the apple of thine eye Binde them vpon thy fingers and write them vpon the Table of thine heart All vertue is either Prudence Iustice Temperance Fortitude 1. Of Prudence which comprehends Wisdome Prouidence Discretion §. 2. Of wisdome the Description Effects It procures Knowledge Safety from sinne from iudgement Good direction for actions for words Wealth Honour Life THe prudent man is he whose eyes are in his head to see all things and to fore-see Ec. 2.14 Ec. 10.2 Pr. 8.12 Pr. 14.8 Pr. 9.12 Pr. 3.13 and whose heart is at his right hand to doe all dexterously and with iudgement Wisdome dwells with Prudence and findeth forth knowledge and counsels And to describe it The wisdome of the Prudent is to vnderstand his way his owne If thou be wise thou shalt be wise
thou art euen taken with the words of thine owne mouth Doe this now my sonne Pr. 27.13 Pr. 6.4 Pr. 6.5 seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbour not hauing taken a pledge for thy suretiship goe and humble thy selfe and sollicit thy friends Giue no sleepe to thine eies nor slumber to thine eie-lids Deliuer thy selfe as a Doe from the hand of the Hunter and as a bird from the hand of the Fowler and take it for a sure rule Pr. 11.15 He that hateth suretiship is sure SALOMONS OECONOMICKS OR GOVERNMENT OF THE FAMILIE 1. HVSBAND WIFE 2. PARENT CHILDE 3. MASTER SERVANT By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. SALOMONS OECONOMICKS OR FAMILY §. 1. The head of the Family in whom is required Wisdome Stayednesse Thrift THE man is the head and guide of the family In whom wisdome is good with an inheritance Ec. 7.13 Pr. 24.3 for Through wisedome an house is builded and established which directs him to doe all things in due orders first to prepare his worke without Pr. 24.27 and then after to build his house and therewith stayednesse For Pr. as a bird that wandreth from her nest so is a man that wandreth from his owne place and which is the chiefe slay of his estate thriftinesse for Hee that troubleth his owne house by excesse shall inherit the wind Pr. 11.19 and the foole shall bee seruant to the wise in heart for which purpose he shall finde that The house of the righteous shall haue much treasure while the reuenues of the wicked is but trouble Pr. 15.6 or if not much yet Better is a little with the feare of the Lord than great treasure Pr. 15.16 and trouble therewith Howsoeuer therefore let him be content with his estate Let the Lambes bee sufficient for his cloathing and let the Goats be the price of his field Pr. 27.16 Pr. 27.27 Let the milke of his Goats be sufficient for his food for the food of his family and the sustenance of his maides and if he haue much reuenue let him looke for much expence For Ec. 5.10 When goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good commeth to the owners thereof but the beholding thereof with their eyes THE HVSBAND §. 2. Who must beare himselfe Wisely Chastly Quietly and cheerefully HE that findeth a wife findeth a good thing and receiueth fauour of the Lord Pr. 18.22 Who must therefore behaue himselfe 1. wisely as the guide of her youth Pr. 2.17 Pr. 12.4 Pr. 5.15 as the Head to which she is a Crowne 2. Chastly Drinke the water of thine owne Cisterne and the riuers out of the middest of thine owne Well The matrimoniall loue must be pure and cleere not muddy and troubled Let thy fountaines flow forth Pr. 5.16 and the riuers of waters in the streets the sweet and comfortable fruits of blessed mariage in plentifull issue But let them be thine alone and not the strangers with thee Pr. 5.17 This loue abides no partners for this were to giue thine honour vnto others Pr. 5.9 Pr. 5.10 and thy strength to the cruell so should the stranger be filled with thy strength and as the substance will be with the affections thy labours should bee in the house of a stranger Pr. 5.11 and thou shalt mourne which is the best successe hereof at thine end when thou hast consumed besides thy goods thy flesh and thy body Pr. 5.12 Pr. 5.14 and say How haue I hated instruction and mine heart despâ—sed correction I was almost plunged into all euill of sinne and torments and that which is most shamefull in the middest of the assembly in the face of the world Let therefore that thine owne Fountaine be blessed Pr. 5.18 Pr. 5.19 and reioyce with the wife of thy youth Let her be as the louing Hinde and pleasant Roe let her brests satisfie thee at all times and erre thou in her loue continually For why shouldest thou delight my sonne in a strange woman Pr. 5.20 Pr. 5.21 or whether in affection or act embrace the bosome of a stranger For the waies of man are before the eies of the Lord and he pondereth all his paths and if thy godlesnesse regard not that Pr. 6.25 Pr. 6.26 Pr. 6.26 Pr. 6.27 Pr. 6.28 Pr. 6.29 yet for thine owne sake Desire not her beauty in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids for because of the whorish woman a man is brought to a morsell of broad yea to the very huskes and more then that a Woman will hunt for the precious life of a man Thou sayest thou canst escape this actuall defilement Can a man take fire in his bosome and his clothes not be burnt Or can a man goe vpon coles and his feet not be burnt So hee that goeth in to his neighbours wife shall not be innocent whosoeuer toucheth her This sinne is farre more odious than theft For men doe not despise a Theefe when he stealeth to satisfie his soule Pr. 6.30 Pr. 6.31 Pr. 6.32 Pr. 6.33 because hee is hungry But if he be found he shall restore seuen-fold or he shall giue all the substance of his house and it is accepted But he that commits adultery with a woman is mad hee that would destroy his owne soule let him doe it For he shall finde a wound and dishonour and his reproach shall neuer be put away Neither is the danger lesse than the shame Pr. 6.34 For iealousie is the rage of a man therefore the wronged husband will not spare in the day of vengeance Pr. 6.35 Pr. 9.17 Hee cannot beare the sight of any ransome neither will hee consent to remit it though thou multiply thy gifts And though stolne waters be sweet and hid bread be pleasant to our corrupt taste yet the adulterer knowes not that the dead are there Pr. 9.18 Pr. 2.18 19. Pr. 5.3 Pr. 5.4 Pr. 5.5 Pr. 23 27. Pr. 22.14 Pr. 15.17 Pr. 17.1 Pr. 19.11 and that her ghests are in the deepes of hell that her house tendeth to death And howsoeuer her lips drop as an hony-combe and her mouth is more soft than oile yet the end of her is bitter as wormewood and sharpe as a two-edged sword her feet goe downe to death and her steps take hold of hell yea the mouth of the strange woman is a deepe pit and he with whom the Lord is angry shall fall into it 3. Quietly and louingly for Better is a dinner of greene herbes where loue is than a stalled Oxe and hatred therewith Yea Better is a dry morsell if peace be with it than an house full of sacrifices with strife And if hee finde sometime cause of blame The discretion of a man deferreth his anger and his glory is to passe by an offence and onely Hee that couereth a
nature veniall and not worthy of death more that our originall sinne is but the want of our first iustice no guilt of our first fathers offence no inherent ill disposition and that by Baptismall water is taken away what euer hath the nature of sinne that a meere man let mee not wrong Saint Peters successor in so tearming him hath power to remit both punishment and sinne past and future that many haue suffered more then their sinnes haue required that the sufferings of the Saints added to Christs passions make vp the treasure of the Church that spirituall Exchequer whereof their Bishop must keepe the key and make his friends In all these the gaine of Nature who sees not is Gods losse all her brauery is stolne from aboue besides those other direct derogations from him that his Scriptures are not sufficient that their originall fountaines are corrupted and the streames runne clearer that there is a multitude if a finite number of Mediators Turne your eyes now to vs and see contrarily how we abase Nature how wee knead her in the dust spoiling her of her proud rags loading her with reproaches and giuing glory to him that sayes he will not giue it to another whiles we teach that we neither haue good nor can doe good of our selues that we are not sicke or fettered but dead in our sinne that we cannot moue to good more then we are moued that our best actions are faulty our satisfactions debts our deserts damnation that all our merit is his mercy that saues vs that euery of our sinnes is deadly euery of our natures originally depraued and corrupted that no water can entirely wash away the filthinesse of our concupiscence that none but the blood of him that was God can cleanse vs that all our possible sufferings are below our offences that Gods written Word is all-sufficient to informe vs to make vs both wise and perfect that Christs mediation is more then sufficient to saue vs his sufferings to redeeme vs his obedience to inrich vs. You haue seene how Papistry makes Nature proud now see how it makes her lawlesse and wanton while it teacheth yet this one not so vniuersally that Christ dyed effectually for all that in true contrition an expresse purpose of new life is not necessarie that wicked men are true members of the Church that a lewd mis-creant or infidell in the businesse of the Altar partakes of the true body and blood of Christ yea which a shame to tell a brute creature that men may saue the labour of searching for that it is both easie and safe with that Catholike Collier to beleeue with the Church at a venture more then so that deuotion is the seed of ignorance that there is infallabilitie annexed to a particular place and person that the bare act of the Sacraments confers grace without faith that the meere signe of the Crosse made by a Iew or Infidell is of force to driue away Diuels that the sacrifice of the Masse in the very worke wrought auailes to obtaine pardon of our sinnes not in our life onely but when we lye frying in purgatory that we need not pray in faith to be heard or in vnderstanding that almes giuen merit heauen dispose to iustification satisfie God for sinne that abstinence from some meats and drinkes is meritorious that Indulgences may be granted to dispense vvith all the penance of sinnes afterward to bee committed that these by a liuing man may be applyed to the dead that one man may deliuer anothers soule out of his purging torments and therefore that hee who vvants not either money or friends need not feare the smart of his sinnes O religion sweet to the wealthy to the needy desperate who will now care henceforth how sound his deuotions be how lewd his life how hainous his sinnes that knowes these refuges On the contrary we curbe Nature we restraine we discourage we threaten her teaching her not to rest in implicit faiths or generall intensions or external actions of piety or presumptuous dispensations of men but to striue vnto sincere faith without which we haue no part in Christ in his Church no benefit by Sacraments prayers fastings beneficences to set the heart on worke in all our deuotions without which the hand and tongue are but hypocrites to set the hands on worke in good actions without which the presuming heart is but an hypocrite to expect no pardon for sinne before we commit it and from Christ alone when wee haue committed it and to repent before we expect it to hope for no chaffering no ransome of our soules from below no contrary change of estate after dissolution that life is the time of mercy death of retribution Now let me appeale to your soule and to the iudgement of all the vvorld whether of these two religions is framed to the humour of Nature yea let mee but know vvhat action Popery requires of any of her followers which a meere Naturalist hath not done cannot doe See how I haue chosen to beat them with that rod wherewith they thinke we haue so often smarted for what cauill hath beene more ordinary against vs then this of ease and liberty yea licence giuen and taken by our religion together with the vpbraidings of their owne strict and rigorous austerenesse Where are our penall workes our fastings scourges haire-cloth weary pilgrimages blushing confessions solemne vowes of willing beggery and perpetuall continencie To doe them right we yeeld in all the hard workes of will-worship they goe beyond vs but lest they should insult in the victory not so much as the Priests of Baal went beyond them I see their whips shew me their kniues Where did euer zealous Romanist lance and carue his flesh in deuotion The Baalites did it and yet neuer the wiser neuer the holier Either therefore this zeale in workes of their owne deuising makes them not better then we or it makes the Baalites better then they let them take their choise Alas these difficulties are but a colour to auoid greater No no to worke out stubborne wils to subiection to draw this vntoward flesh to a sincere cheerefulnesse in Gods seruice to reach vnto a sound beliefe in the Lord Iesus to pray with a true heart without distraction without distrust without mis-conceit to keepe the heart in continuall awe of God These are the hard tasks of a Christian worthy of our sweat worthy of our reioycing all which that Babylonish religion shifteth off with a carelesse fashionablenesse as if it had not to doe with the soule Giue vs obedience let them take sacrifice Doe you yet looke for more euidence looke into particulars and satisfie your selfe in Gods decision as Optatus aduised of old Since the goods of our father are in question whither should we goe but to his Will and Testament My soule beare the danger of this bold assertion If we erre wee erre with Christ and his Apostles In a word against all staggering our Sauiours rule
of their Teachers be taught to say Let my death be to the remission of all my sinnes and then that he should haue giuen him a boule of mixt wine with a graine of Frankincense to bereaue him both of reason and paine I durst be confident in this latter the rather for that S. Marke calls this draught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Myrrh-wine mingled as is like with other ingredients And Montanus agrees with me in the end Ad stuporem mentis alienationem A fashion which Galatine obserues out of the Sannedrim to bee grounded vpon Prou. 31.6 Giue strong drinke to him that is ready to perish I leaue it modestly in the middest let the learneder iudge Whatsoeuer it were he would not die till he had complained of thirst and in his thirst tasted it Neither would he haue thirsted for or tasted any but this bitter draught that the Scripture might be fulfilled They gaue mee vineger to drinke And loe now Consummatum est All is finished If there be any Iew amongst you that like one of Iohns vnseasonable Disciples shall aske Art thou he or shall we looke for another hee hath his answer Yee men of Israel why stand you gazing and gaping for another Messias In this alone all the Prophesies are finished and of him alone all was prophesied that was finished Pauls old rule holds still To the Iewes a stumbling blocke and that more ancient curse of Dauid Let their table bee made a snare And Steuens two brands sticke still in the flesh of these wretched men One in their necke stiffe-necked the other in their heart vncircumcised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one Obstinacie the other Vnbeleefe stiffe necks indeed that will not stoope and relent with the yoke of sixteene hundred yeeres iudgement and seruilitie vncircumcised hearts the filme of whose vnbeleefe would not be cut off with so infinite conuictions Oh mad and miserable Nation let them shew vs one prophesie that is not fulfilled let them shew vs one other in whom all the prophesies can be fulfilled and we will mix pittie with our hate If they cannot and yet resist their doome is past Those mine enemies that would not haue me to reigne ouer them bring them hither and slay them before me So let thine enemies perish O Lord. But what goe I so far Euen amongst vs to our shame this riotous age hath bred a monstrous generation I pray God I be not now in some of your bosomes Aug ad Hit Dâ—m volunt Iudaei esse Christiani nec Iudae sunt nec Christiani that heare me this day compounded much like to the Turkish religion of one part Christian another Iew a third worldling a fourth Atheist a Christians face a Iewes heart a worldlings life and therefore Atheous in the whole that acknowledge a God and know him not that professe a Christ but doubt of him yea beleeue him not The foole hath said in his heart There is no Christ What shall I say of these men They are worse than deuils that yeelding spirit could say Iesus I know and these miscreants are still in the old tune of that tempting deuill Situ es filius Dei If thou bee the Christ Oh God that after so cleare a Gospell so many miraculous confirmations so many thousand martyrdomes so many glorious victories of truth so many open confessions of Angels men deuils friends enemies such conspirations of heauen and earth such vniuersall contestations of all Ages and people there should be left any sparke of this damnable infidelitie in the false hearts of men Behold then yee despisers and wonder and vanish away Whom haue all the Prophets foretold or what haue the prophesies of so many hundreds yea thousands of yeeres foresaid that is not with this word finished who could foretell these things but the Spirit of God who could accomplish them but the Sonne of God Hee spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets saith Zacharie he hath spoken and he hath done one true God in both none other spirit could foresay these things should be done none other power could doe these things thus fore-shewed this word therefore can fit none but the mouth of God our Sauiour It is finished Wee know whom wee haue beleeued Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Let him that loues not the Lord Iesus be accursed to the death Thus the prophesies are finished Of the legall obseruations with more breuitie Christ is the end of the Law What Law Ceremoniall Morall Of the Morall it was kept perfectly by himselfe satisfied fully for vs Of the Ceremoniall it was referred to him obserued of him fulfilled in him abolisht by him There were nothing more easie than to shew you how all those Iewish Ceremonies lookt at Christ how Circumcision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Passeouer the Tabernacle both outer and inner the Temple the Lauer both the Altars the Tables of Shew-bread the Candlesticks the Vaile the Holy of Holies the Arke the Propitiatorie the pot of Manna Aarons Rod the High Priest his Order Line his Habits his Inaugurations his Washings his Anointings his Sprinklings Offerings the sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what-euer Iewish Rite had their vertue from Christ relation to him and their end in him This was then their last gaspe for now straight they died with Christ now the vaile of the Temple rent As Austen well notes out of Matthewes order Ex quo apparet tunc scissiam esse cum Cirillus emisit spiritam It tore then when Christs last breath passed That conceit of Theophilact is wittie that as the Iewes were wont to rend their garments when they heard blasphemie so the Temple not enduring these execrable blasphemies against the Sonne of God tore his vaile in peeces But this is not all the vaile rent is the obligation of the rituall Law canceled the way into the heauenly Sanctuarie opened the shadow giuing roome to the substance in a word it doth that which Christ saith Consummatum est Euen now then the law of Ceremonies died It had a long and solemne buriall Ceremoniae ficut defancta corpora necessariorum efficijs deducenda erant ad sepulturaÌ„ non simulatè sed religiose nec descrenda continuò Augustin Ego è contrario loquaâ— reclamante mundo libâ—râ voce pronunciem ceremonas Iudaeorum perniciâ—saâ— essâ— mortiferas quicunque eas obsâ—ruauâ—râ—t siue ex Iudaeis siuâ— ex Gentibus in barathrum diaboli deuolutum Hier. Quisque is nunc ea celebrare voluerit tanquam sopitos cineres erucus non erit pius c. as Augustine saith well perhaps figured in Moses who died not lingeringly but was thirty dayes mourned for what meanes the Church of Rome to digge them vp now rotten in their graues and that not as they had beeene buried but sowen with a plenteous increase yea with the inuerted vsurie of too many of you Citizens ten for one It is a graue and deepe
the one hand a poore conscionable Christian drouping vnder the remorse for his sinne austerely checking his wanton appetite and curbing his rebellious desires wearing out his daies in a rough penitentiall seuerity cooling his infrequent pleasures with sighs and sawcing them with teares on the other hand ruffling Gallants made all of pleasure and Iouiall delights bathing themselues in a sea of all sensuall satieties denying their pampered nature nothing vnder heauen not wine in bowles not strange flesh and beastly dalliance not vnnaturall titillations not violent filthinesse that feast without feare and drinke without measure and sweare without feeling and liue without God their bodies are vigorous their coffers full their state prosperous their hearts cheerefull O how thou blessest such men Lo these thou saist these are the dearlings of heauen and earth Sic ô ficiuvat vinere Whiles those other sullen mopish creatures are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 off-scouring and recrements of the world Thou foole giue me thy hand let mee lead thee with Dauid into the sanctuary of God Now what seest thou The end the end of these men is not peace Surely ô God thou hast set them in slippery places and castest them downe into desolation how suddenly are they perished and horribly consumed Woe is mee they doe but dance a Galliard ouer the mouth of hell that seemes now couered ouer with the greene sods of pleasure The higher they leape the more desperate is their lighting Oh wofull wofull condition of those godlesse men yea those Epicurean Pockets whose belly is their God whose heauen is their pleasure whose cursed iollity is but a feeding vp to an eternall slaughter the day is comming wherein euery minute of their sinfull vnsatisfying ioyes shall be answered with a thousand thousand millions of yeeres frying in that vnquenchable fire And when those damned Ghosts shall forth of their incessant flames see the glorious remuneration of the penitent and pensiue soules which they haue despised they shall then gnash and yell out that late recantation Wee fooles thought their life madnesse and their end without honour now they are counted among the children of God and the portion is among the Saints our amongst Deuils Iudge not therefore according to appearance Should we iudge according to appearance all would be Gold that glistereth all drosse that glistereth not Hypocrites haue neuer shewed more faire than some Saints foule Saul weepes Ahab walkes softly Tobias and Sanballat will bee building Gods walles Herod heares Iohn gladly Balaam prophesies Christ Iudas preaches him Satan confesses him When euen an Abraham dissembles a Dauid clokes adultery with murder a Salomon giues at least a toleration to idolatry a Peter forsweares his Master brieffly the prime disciple is a Satan Satan an Angell of light For you How gladly are we deceiued in thinking you all such as you seeme None but the Court of Heauen hath a fairer face Prayers Sermons Sacraments geniculation silence attention reuerence applause knees eyes eares mouthes full of God Oh that ye were thus alwaies Oh that this were your worst side But if wee follow you from the Church and finde cursing and bitternesse vnder your tongues licentious disorder in your liues bribery and oppression in your hands If God looke into the windowes of your hearts and finde there be intus vapina we cannot iudge you by the appearance or if we could What comfort were it to you to haue deceiued our charity with the appearance of Saints when the righteous Iudge shall giue you your portion with Hypocrites What euer wee doe he will be sure not to iudge according to the appearance If appearance should bee the rule false religion should be true true false Quaedam falsa probabiliora quibusdam veris is the old word Some falshoods are more likely than some truths Natiue beauty scornes Art Truth is as a matron Error a curtizan The matron cares onely to concile loue by a graue and gracefull modesty the curtizan with philtres and farding Wee haue no hierarchy mounted aboue Kings no pompous ostentation of magnificence no garish processions no gaudy altars no fine images clad with Taffates in summer with veluets in winter no flourishes of vniuersality no rumors of miracles no sumptuous canonizations wee haue nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sincerity of Scriptures simplicity of Sacraments decency of rare ceremonies Christ crucified We are gone if yee goe by appearance Gone alas who can but blush and weepe and bleed to see that Christian soules should after such beames of knowledge suffer themselues to bee thus palpably cozened with the gilded slips of error that after so many yeeres pious gouernment of such an incomparable succession of religious Princes authority should haue cause to complaine of our defection Deare Christians I must be sharpe are we children or fooles that wee should bee better pleased with the glittering tinsel of a painted baby from a Pedlers shop than with the secretly-rich and inualuable Iewell of diuine Truth Haue we thus learned Christ Is this the fruit of so cleere a Gospell of so blessed scepters For Gods sake bee wise and honest and yee cannot be Apostates Shortly for it were easie to bee endlesse If appearance might bee the rule good should bee euill euill good there is no vertue that cannot bee counterfetted no vice that cannot bee blanched wee should haue no such friend as our enemy a flatterer no such enemie as our friend that reproues vs. It were a wonder if yee great ones should not haue some such burs hanging vpon your sleeues As soone shall corne grow without chaffe as greatnesse shall bee free from adulation These seruile spirits shall sooth vp all your purposes and magnifie all your actions and applaud your words and adore your persons Sin what yee will they will not checke you Proiect what you will they will not thwart you say what ye will they will not faile to second you bee what yee will they will not faile to admire you Oh how these men are all for you all yours all you They loue you as the Rauens doe your eyes How deare was Sisera to Iael when she smoothed him vp and gaue him milke in a lordly dish Samson to Dalilah when she lulled him in her lap Christ to Iudas when he kissed him See how he loued him would some foole haue said that had iudged by appearance In the meane time an honest plaine dealing friend is like those sauces which a man praises with teares in his eyes like a chesnut which pricks the fingers but pleases our taste or like some wholsome medicinall potion than distastes and purges vs perhaps makes vs sicke that it may heale vs. Oh let the righteous smite mee for that is a benefit let him reproue mee and it shall bee a precious oyle that shall not breake my head Breake it no it shall heale it when it is mortally wounded by my owne sinne by others assentation Oh how happy were it if we could loue
no leisure to sinne The idle hath neither leisure nor power to auoide sinne Exercise is not more wholsome for the bodie than for the Soule the remission whereof breeds matter of disease in bothe The water that hath beene heated soonest freezeth the most actilie spirit soonest tyreth with slackning The Earth stande still and is all dregges the Heauens euer moue and are pure We haue no reason to complaine of the assiduitie of worke the toyle of action is answered by the benefit If wee did lesse we should suffer more Satan like an idle companion if hee finde vs busie flyes backe and sees it no time to entertayne vaine purposes with vs We cannot please him better than by casting away our worke to hold that with him wee cannot yeeld so farre and be guiltlesse Euen Dauids eyes haue no sooner the sleepe rubbed â—ut of them than they roue to wanton prospects Hee walkes vpon his roofe and sees Bathsheba washing her selfe inquires after her sends for her sollicits her to vncleanenesse The same spirit that shut vp his eyes in on vnseasonable sleepe opens them vpon an intising obiect whiles sinne hath such a Solliciter it cannot want either meanes or opportunitie I cannot thinke Bathsheba could bee so immodest as to wash her selfe openly especially from her naturall vncleannesse Lust is quick-sighted Dauid hath espied her where shee could espye no beholder His eyes recoyle vpon his heart and haue smitten him with sinfull desire There can be no safetie to that Soule where the senses are let loose Hee can neuer keepe his couenant with God that makes not a couenant with his eyes It is an idle presumption to thinke the outward man may bee free whiles the inward is safe He is more than a man whose heart is not led by his eyes hee is no regenerate man whose eyes are not restrained by his heart Oh Bathsheba how wert thou washed from thine vncleannesse when thou yeeldedst to goe into an adulterous bed neuer wert thou so foule as now when thou wert new washed The worst of Nature is cleanlinesse to the best of sinne thou hadst beene cleane if thou hadst not washed yet for thee I know how to plead infirmitie of sexe and the importunitie of a King But what shall I say for thee O thou royall Prophet and Propheticall King of Israel where shall I finde ought to extenuate that crime for which God himselfe hath noted thee Did not thine holy Profession teach thee to abhorre such a sinne more than death Was not thy Iustice woont to punish this sinne with no lesse than death Did not thy very calling call thee to a protection and preseruation of Iustice of Chastitie in thy subiects Didst thou want store of Wiues of thine owne wert thou restrayned from taking more Was there no beautie in Israel but in a Subiects Marriage-bed Wert thou ouercome by the vehement sollicitations of an Adulteresse Wert thou not the Tempter the Prosecutor of this vncleanenesse I should accuse thee deeply if thou hadst not accused thy selfe Nothing wanted to greaten thy sinne or our wonder and feare O God whither doe wee goe if thou stay vs not Who euer amongst the millions of thy Seruants could finde himselfe furnished with stronger preseruatiues against sinne Against whom could such a sinne finde lesse pretence of preuayling Oh keepe thou vs that presumptuous sinnes preuayle not ouer vs So only shall wee bee free from great offences The Suites of Kings are Imperatiue Ambition did now proue a Bawd to Lust Bathsheba yeeldeth to offend God to dishonour her Husband to clog and wound her owne Soule to abuse her bodie Dishonestie growes bold when it is countenanced with greatnesse Eminent persons had need be carefull of their demaunds they sinne by authoritie that are solicited by the mightie Had Bathsheba beene mindfull of her Matrimoniall fidelitie perhaps Dauid had beene soone checked in his inordinate desire her facilitie furthers the sinne The first motioner of euill is most faultie but as in quarrels so in offences the second blow which is the consent makes the fray Good Ioseph was moued to folly by his great and beautifull Mistris this fire fell vpon wet Tinder and therefore soone went out Sinne is not acted alone if but one partie be wise both escape It is no excuse to say I was tempted though by the great though by the holy and learned Almost all sinners are misse-led by that transformed Angell of light The action is that wee must regard not the person Let the mouer bee neuer so glorious if he stirre vs to euill he must be entertained with defiance The God that knowes how to rayse good out of euill blesses an adulterous copulation with that increase which he denyes to the chast imbracements of honest Wedlocke Bathsheba hath conceiued by Dauid and now at once conceiues a sorrow and care how to smother the shame of her Conception He that did the fact must hide it Oh Dauid where is thy Repentance Where is thy tendernesse and compunction of heart Where are those holy Meditations which had woont to take vp thy Soule Alas in steed of clearing thy sinne thou labourest to cloke it and spendest those thoughts in the concealing of thy wickednesse which thou shouldest rather haue bestowed in preuenting it The best of Gods Children may not onely bee drenched in the waues of sinne but lye in them for the time and perhaps sinke twice to the bottome what Hypocrite could haue done worse than studie how to couer the face of his sinne from the eyes of men whiles hee regarded not the sting of sinne in his Soule As there are some Acts wherein the Hypocrite is a Saint so there are some wherein the greatest Saint vpon Earth may bee an Hypocrite Saul did thus goe about to colour his sinne and is cursed The Vessels of Mercie and Wrath are not euer distinguishable by their actions Hee makes the difference that will haue mercie on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth It is rare and hard to commit a single sinne Dauid hath abused the Wife of Vriah now hee would abuse his person in causing him to father a false seede That worthy Hittite is sent for from the Wars and now after some cunning and farre fetcht Questions is dismissed to his house not without a present of fauour Dauid could not but imagine that the beautie of his Bathsheba must needs bee attractiue enough to an Husband whom long absence in Warres had with-held all that while from so pleasing a Bed neyther could hee thinke that since that face and those brests had power to allure himselfe to an vnlawfull lust it could be possible that Vriah should not bee inuited by them to an allowed and warrantable fruition That Dauids heart might now the rather strike him in comparing the chaste resolutions of his Seruant with his owne light incontinence good Vriah sleepes at the doore of the Kings Palace making choice of a stonie Pillow vnder the Canopie of Heauen rather
Fruitlesse is the wonder that endeth not in faith No light is sufficient where the eyes are held through vnbeliefe or preiudice The Doctors were not more amazed to heare so profound a childhood than the parents of Christ were to see him among the Doctors the ioy of finding him did striue with the astonishment of finding him thus And now not Ioseph he knew how little right he had to that diuine Sonne but Mary breakes forth into a louing expostulation Sonne why hast thou dealt so with vs that she might not seeme to take vpon her as an imperious Mother it is like she reserued this question till she had him alone wherein she meant rather to expresse griefe than correption Onely herein the blessed Virgin offended that her inconsideration did not suppose as it was that some higher respects than could be due to flesh and bloud called away the Sonne of God from her that was the daughter of man She that was but else mother of humanity should not haue thought that the businesse of God must for her sake be neglected We are all partiall to our selues naturally and prone to the regard of our owne rights questionlesse this gracious Saint would not for all the world haue willingly preferd her owne attendance to that of her God through heedlesnesses she doth so her sonne and Sauiour is her monitor out of his diuine loue reforming her naturall How is it that yee sought mee Knew yee not that I must goe about my Fathers businesse Immediately before the blessed Virgin had said Thy father and I sought thee with heauy hearts Wherein both according to the supposition of the world she called Ioseph the Father of Christ and according to the fashion of a dutifull wife she names her Ioseph before her selfe She well knew that Ioseph had nothing but a name in this businesse she knew how God had dignified her beyond him yet she sayes Thy father and I sought thee The Sonne of God stands not vpon contradiction to his mother but leading her thoughts from his supposed father to his true from earth to heauen he answers Knew yee not that I must goe about my Fathers businesses It was honor enough to her that he had vouchsafed to take flesh of her It was his eternall honour that hee was God of God the euerlasting Sonne of the heauenly Father good reason therefore was it that the respects to flesh should giue place to the God of Spirits How well contented was holy Mary with so iust an answer how doth she now againe in her heart renew her answer to the Angels Behold the seruant of the Lord be it according to thy word Wee are all the Sonnes of God in another kinde Nature and the world thinkes wee should attend them we are not worthy to say we haue a Father in heauen if we cannot steale away from these earthly distractions and imploy our-selues in the seruices of our God Christs Baptisme IOhn did euery way forenâ—e Christ not so much in the time of his Birth as in his office neither was there more vnlikenesse in their disposition and carriage that similitude in their function both did preach and baptize only Iohn baptized by himself our Sauiour by his Disciples our Sauiour wrought miracles by himselfe by his Disciples Iohn wrought none by either Wherein Christ meant to shew himselfe a Lord and Iohn a seruant and Iohn meant to approue himself a true seruant to him whose harbinger he was hee that leapt in the wombe of his mother when his Sauiour then newly conceiued came in presence bestird himselfe when he was brought forth into the light of the Church to the honor and seruice of his Sauiour hee did the same before Christ which Christ charged his Disciples to doe after him Preach and Baptize The Gospell ran alwayes in one tenor and was neuer but like it selfe So it became the Word of him in whom there is no shadow by turning and whose Word it is I am Iehoua I change not It was fit that he which had the Prophets the starre the Angels to foretell his comming into the world should haue his Vsher to goe before him when he would notifie himselfe to the world Iohn was the Voyce of a Cryer Christ was the Word of his Father it was fit this Voyce should make a noyse to the world ere the Word of the Father should speake to it Iohns note was still Repentance The Axe to the root the Fan to the floore the Chaffe to the fire as his raiment was rough so was his tongue and if his foode were wilde Hony his speech was stinging Locusts Thus must the way be made for Christ in euery heart Plausibility is no fit preface to regeneration if the heart of man had continued vpright God might haue beene intertained without contradiction but now violence must be offered to our corruption ere we can haue roome for grace if the great Way-maker doe not cast downe hills and raise vp valleys in the bosomes of men there is no passage for Christ neuer will Christ come into that soule where the Herald of repentance hath not beene before him That Sauiour of ouâ—s who from eternity lay hid in the Counsaile of God who in the fulnes of time so came that hee lay hid in the wombe of his mother for the space of forty weekes after he was come thought fit to lye hid in Nazareth for the space of thirty yeeres now at last begins to shew himselfe to the world and comes from Galile to Iordan He that was God alwayes and mought haue bin perfect man in an instant would by degrees rise to the perfection both of his Manhood and execution of his mediator-ship to teach vs the necessity of leasure in spirituall proceedings that many Suns and successions of seasons and meanes must be stayed for ere we can attaine our maturity and that when we are ripe for the imployments of God we should no lesse willingly leaue our obscurity than we took the benefit of it for our preparation He that was formerly circumcised would now bee baptized what is Baptisme but an Euangelicall circumcision What was circumcision but a legall baptisme One both supplyed and succeeded the other yet the Author of both will vndergoe both He would be circumcised to sanctifie his Church that was and baptized to sanctifie his Church that should be that so in both Testaments he might open a way into heauen There was in him neither filthinesse nor foreskin of corruption that should need either knife or water He came not to be a Sauiour for himselfe but for vs we are all vncleannesse and vncircumcision he would therefore haue that done to his most pure body which should be of force to cleare our impure soules thus making himselfe sinne for vs that we might be made the righteousnes of God in him His baptisme giues vertue to ours His last action or rather passion was his baptizing with bloud his first was his baptization with water
therefore thou thoughtest good to fast as by the reason of these precedents might be without preiudice of thine humanitie which if it should haue pleased thee to support as thou couldest without meanes thy very power might haue opened the mouth of cauils against the veritie of thine humane nature That thou mightest therefore well approue that there was no difference betwixt thee and vs but sinne thou that couldst haue fasted without hunger and liued without meat wouldst both feed and fast and hunger Who can bee discouraged with the scantinesse of friends or bodily prouisions when hee sees his Sauiour thus long destitute of all earthly comforts both of Societie and sustenance Oh the policie and malice of that olde Serpent when hee sees Christ bewray some infirmitie of nature in being hungry then hee layes sorest at him by temptations His eye was neuer off from our Sauiour all the time of his sequestration and now that hee thinkes he espyes any one part to lye open hee driues at it with all his might We haue to doe with an Aduersary no lesse vigilant than malicious who will bee sure to watch all opportunities of our mischiefe and where hee sees any aduantage of weaknesse will not neglect it How should wee stand vpon our guard for preuention that both wee many not giue him occasions of our hurt nor take hurt by those we haue giuen When our Sauiour was hungrie Satan tempts him in matter of food not then of wealth or glorie He well knowes both what baits to fish withall and when and how to lay them How safe and happie shall we be if we shall bend our greatest care where we discerne the most danger In euery temptation there is an appearance of good whether of the bodie of minde or estate The first is the lust of the flesh in any carnall desire the second the pride of heart and life the third the lust of the eyes To all these the first Adam is tempted and in all miscarryed the second Adam is tempted to them all and ouercommeth The first man was tempted to carnall appetite by the forbidden fruite to pride by the suggestion of being as God To couetousnesse in the ambitious desire of knowing good and euill Satan hauing found all the motions so successfull with the first Adam in his innocent estate will now tread the same steppes in his temptations of the second The stones must be made bread there is the motion to a carnall appetite The guard and attendance of Angels must bee presumed on there is a motion to pride The Kingdomes of the Earth and glory of them must be offered there to couetousnesse and ambition Sathan could not but haue heard God say This is my welbeloued sonne hee had heard the Message and the Caroll of the Angels he saw the Starre and the iourney and Offerings of the Sages hee could not but take notice of the gratulations of Zachary Simeon Anna hee well knew the Predictions of the Prophets yet now that hee saw Christ â—sâ—ting with hunger as not comprehending how infirmities could consist with a God-head hee can say If thou bee the Sonne of God Had not Sathan knowne that the Sonne of God was to come into the World he had neuer said If thou be the Sonne of God His very supposition conuinces him The ground of his temptation answers itselfe If therefore Christ seemed to bee a meere man because after fortie dayes hee was hungry why was hee not confessed more than a man in that for fortie dayes hee hungred not The motiue of the temptation is worse than the motion If thou bee the Sonne of God Sathan could not choose another suggestion of so great importance All the worke of our Redemption of our Saluation depends vpon this one Truth Christ is the Sonne of God How should hee else haue ransomed the World how should hee haue done how should hee haue suffered that which was satisfactory to his Fathers wrath How should his actions or passion bin valuable to the sinnes of all the World What maruell is it if wee that are sonnes by Adoption bee assaulted with the doubts of our interest in God when the naturall Sonne the Sonne of his Essence is thus tempted Since all our comfort consists in this point heere must needes bee laid the chiefe battery and heere must bee placed our strongest defence To turne stones into bread had bin no more faultie in it selfe than to turne Water into Wine But to doe this in a distrust of his Fathers Prouidence to abuse his power and libertie in doing it to worke a miracle of Sathans choice had beene disagreeable to the Sonne of God There is nothing more ordinary with our spirituall enemie than by occasion of want to moue vs to vnwarrantable courses Thou art poore steale Thou canst not rise by honest meanes vse indirect How easie had it beene for our Sauiour to haue confounded Sathan by the power of his God-head But hee rather chuses to vanquish him by the Sword of the Spirit that hee might teach vs how to resist and ouercome the powers of darknesse If hee had subdued Sathan by the Almighty power of the Deitie wee might haue had what to wonder at not what to imitate now hee vseth that weapon which may be familiar vnto vs that hee may teach our weaknesse how to bee victorious Nothing in Heauen or Earth can beate the forces of Hell but the Word of God How carefully should wee furnish our selues with this powerfull munition how should our hearts and mouthes bee full of it Teach mee O Lord the way of thy Statutes O take not from mee the words of Truth Let them bee my Songs in the house of my pilgrimage So shall I make answere to my Blasphemers What needed Christ to haue answered Sathan at all if it had not beene to teach vs that temptations must not haue their way but must be answered by resistance and resisted by the Word I doe not heare our Sauiour auerre himselfe to be a God against the blasphemous insinuation of Sathan neyther doe I see him working this miraculous Conuersion to proue himselfe the Sonne of God but most wisely hee takes away the ground of the temptation Sathan had taken it for granted that man cannot bee sustayned without bread and therefore inferres the necessitie of making bread of stones Our Sauiour shewes him from an infallible Word that hee had mislayed his suggestion That man liues not by vsuall food only but by euery word that proceedeth from the mouth of God Hee can either sustaine without bread as hee did Moses and Elias or with a miraculous bread as the Israelites with Manna or send ordinary meanes miraculously as food to his Prophet by the Rauens or miraculously multiply ordinary meanes as the Meale and Oyle to the Sareptan Widdow All things are sustayned by his Almighty Word Indeed wee liue by food but not by any vertue that is without God without the incurrence of whose Prouidence bread would
mother neither words nor teares can suffice to discouer it Yet more had she beene ayded by the counsell and supportation of a louing yoke-fellow this burden might haue seemed lesse intolerable A good husband may make amends for the losse of a sonne had the root beene left to her intire she might better haue spared the branch now both are cut vp all the stay of her life is gone and shee seemes abandoned to a perfect misery And now when shee gaue herselfe vp for a forlorne mourner past all capacity of redresse the God of comfort meets her pities her relieues her Here was no solicitor but his owne compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a seruant the Ruler for a sonne Iairus for a daughter the neighbours for the Paralyticke here hee seekes vp the patient and offers the cure vnrequested Whiles wee haue to doe with the Father of mercies our afflictions are the most powerfull suitors No teares no prayers can moue him so much as his owne commiseration Oh God none of our secret sorrowes can be either hid from thine eyes or kept from thine heart and when wee are past all our hopes all possibilities of helpe then art thou neerest to vs for deliuerance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercy The heart had compassion the mouth said Weepe not the feet went to the Beere the hand touched the coffin the power of the Deity raised the dead What the heart felt was secret to it selfe the tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weepe not Alas what are words to so strong and iust passions To bid her not to weepe that had lost her onely sonne was to perswade her to be miserable and not feele it to feele and not regard it to regard and yet to smother it Concealement doth not remedy but aggrauate sorrow That with the counsell of not weeping therefore she might see cause of not weeping his hand seconds his tongue He arrests the Coffin and frees the Prisoner Yongman I say vnto thee arise The Lord of life and death speakes with command No finite power could haue said so without presumption or with successe That is the voice that shall one day call vp our vanished bodies from those elements into which they are resolued and raise them out of their dust Neither sea nor death nor hell can offer to detaine their dead when he charges them to be deliuered Incredulous nature what doest thou shrinke at the possibility of a resurrection when the God of nature vndertakes it It is no more hard for that almighty Word which gaue being vnto all things to say Let them be repaired then Let them be made I doe not see our Sauiour stretching himselfe vpon the dead corps as Elias and Elisha vpon the sonnes of the Sunamite and Sareptan nor kneeling downe and praying by the Beere as Peter did to Dorcas but I heare him so speaking to the dead as if he were aliue and so speaking to the dead that by the word hee makes him aliue I say vnto thee arise Death hath no power to bid that man lye still whom the Sonne of God bids Arise Immediately he that was dead sate vp So at the sound of the last trumpet by the power of the same voice we shall arise out of the dust and stand vp glorious this mortall shall put on immortalitie this corruptible incorruption This body shall not be buried but sowne and at our day shall therefore spring vp with a plentifull increase of glory How comfortlesse how desperate should be our lying downe if it were not for this assurance of rising And now behold lest our weake faith should stagger at the assent to so great a difficulty he hath already by what hee hath done giuen vs tasts of what he will doe The power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a million a world no power can raise one but that which is infinite and that which is infinite admits of no limitation Vnder the old Testament God raised one by Elias another by Elisha liuing a third by Elisha dead By the hand of the Mediator of the New Testament hee raised here the sonne of the Widow the daughter of Iairus Lazarus and in attendance of his owne resurrection he made a gaole-deliuery of holy prisoners at Ierusalem Hee raises the daughter of Iairus from her bed this widowes sonne from his Coffin Lazarus from his graue the dead Saints of Ierusalem from their rottennesse that it might appeare no degree of death can hinder the efficacie of his ouer-ruling command Hee that keepes the keyes of death cannot onely make way for himselfe through the common Hall and outer-roomes but through the inwardest and most reserued closets of darknesse Me thinkes I see this yong man who was thus miraculously awaked from his deadly sleepe wiping and rubbing those eies that had beene shut vp in death and descending from the Beere wrapping his winding sheet about his loines cast himselfe down in a passionate thankfulnesse at the feet of his Almightie restorer adoring that diuine power which had commanded his soule back again to her forsaken lodging though I heare not what he said yet I dare say they were words of praise wonder which his returned soule first vttered It was the mother whom our Sauior pitied in this act not the sonne who now forced from his quiet rest must twice passe through the gates of death As for her sake therefore he was raised so to her hands was he deliuered that she might acknowledge that soule giuen to her not to the possessor Who cannot feele the amazement and extasie of ioy that was in this reuiued mother when her son now salutes her from out of another world And both receiues and giues gratulations of of his new life How suddenly were all the teares of that mournfull traine dried vp with a ioyfull astonishment How soone is that funerall banquet turned into a new Birth-day feast What striuing was here to salute the late carkasse of their returned neighbour What awfull and admiring lookes were cast vpon that Lord of life who seeming homely was approued omnipotent How gladly did euery tongue celebrate both the worke and the author A great Prophet is raised vp amongst vs and God hath visited his people A Prophet was the highest name they could finde for him whom they saw like themselues in shape aboue themselues in power They were not yet acquainted with God manifested in the flesh This miracle might well haue assured them of more then a Prophet but he that raised the dead man from the Beere would not suddenly raise these dead hearts from the graue of Infidelitie they shall see reason enough to know that the Prophet who was raised vp to them was the God that now visited them and at last should doe as much for them as hee had done for the yong man raise them from death to life from dust to glory The
Priesthood of the new Law is Leui refined Mal. 3.3 Et purgabit filios Leui which Hierome not vnlikely interprets of the Ministerie of the Gospell They are the sonnes of Leui which signifies Copulation quia homines cum Deo copulant but of Leui purged and purged as gold As much difference betweene them as betwixt gold in the Ore and in the wedge Hence is double honour challenged to the Euangelicall Ministerie yea and giuen Yee receiued me saith S. Paul as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus Gal. 4.14 Hence the Angell of himselfe to IOHN I am thy fellow-seruant Woe bee to them therefore which spet in the faces of those whom God hath honoured It is Gods second charge this of his Prophets His first is Touch not mine Anointed his second Hurt not my Prophets And if one disgracefull word spoken but by rude children to a Prophet of the old Testament cost so many throats God be mercifull to those dangerous and deadly affronts that haue beene and are daily offered to the Prophets of the new What can wee say but with the women of Tekoah Serua-ô-rex Wee blesse God that wee may bemoane our selues to the tender and indulgent eares of a gracious Soueraigne sensible of these spirituall wrongs who yet we know may well answer vs with Iacobs question An loco Dei ego sum It grieues mee to thinke and say of our selues that for a great part of this Perditio tua ex te Woe to those corrupted sonnes of Heli which through their insufficiencie and vnconscionablenesse haue powred contempt on their owne faces That proud fugitiue Campian could say Ministris illorum nihil vilius c. As falsly as spightfully Let heauen and earth witnesse whether any Nation in the world can afford so learned so glorious a Clergie But yet among so many pots of the Temple it is no maruell if some bee drie for want of liquor others rustie for want of vse others full of liquor without meat others so full of meat that they want liquor Let the Lords anointed whose example and incouragements haue raised euen this diuine learning to this excellent perfection by his gracious countenance dispell contempt from the professours of it and by his effectuall endeuours remoue the causes of this contempt But as euerie Christian vnder the Gospell is a Priest and Prophet let the people bee these pots or the offerings of the people That shall bee in respect of the frequence or fragrance according to the double acception of that particle of comparison Camisrachim as the bowles for number or qualitie For the frequence A few seething pots serued the sacrifice but bowles they vsed many what for the vse of the Altar of incense what for the receiuing of the bloud of the sacrifice Salomon made too of gold Now then saith God in the dayes of the Gospell there shall be such store of oblations to God that the number of the pots shall equalize the number of the bowles of the Altar not vnlike because of the following words Euerie pot in Ierusalem shall be faine to be imployed to the sacrifices This frequence then is either of the officers or offerings persons or acts For the persons they were few in comparison vnder the Law All Palestine which comprehends all their officers except some few Proselytes was but as Ierome which was a Lieger there reckons it an 160. miles long from Dan to Beersheba and 46. miles broad from Ioppa to Bethleem Now the partition wall is broken downe all Nations vnder heauen yeeld franke offerers to the Altar of God There was no offering then but at Ierusalem now Ierusalem is euerie where So much therefore as the world is wider than Iudea so much as Christendome is larger than the walls of the Temple so many more officers hath the Gospell than the Law And it were well if there were as many as they seeme If but as many as all the world ouer offer their presence to Gods seruice on Gods day leaue those that spend it in the stewâ—â—s and Tauernes to him whom they serue were true offerers how rich would the Altar be and the Temple how glorious But alas if God will be serued with mouthes full of oathes curses bitternesse with heads full of wine with eyes full of lust with hands full of bloud with backs full of pride with panches full of gluttonie with soules and liues full of horrible sinnes he may haue offerers as many as men else as Esay relicta est in vrbe solituda a few pots will hold our sacrifices and what is this but through our wilfull disobedience to crosse him which hath said that in this day the pots of the Temple shall be as the bowles of the Altar The act or commoditie is offerings whether outward or inward The outward fulfilled in those large endowments of the Church by our deuout and bountifull predecessors What liberall reuenues rich maintenances were then put into mort-maine the dead hand of the Church Lawes were faine to restraine the bountie of those contributions the grounds whereof I examine not in stead of MOSES his proclamation Nequis facito deinceps opus ad oblationem Sanctuarij satis enim est adeoque superest Exod. 26.6 Then mons Domini mons pinguis but now the Church may crie with the Prophet My leannesse my leannesse For shame why should sacrilege croud in with religion why should our better knowledge finde vs lesse conscionable O iniurious zeale of those men which thinke the Church cannot bee holy enough vnlesse shee begge It hath beene said of old That Religion bred wealth and the daughter eat vp the mother I know not if the daughter deuoured the mother I am sure these men would deuoure both daughter and mother Men of vast gorâ—es and insatiable Our Sauiour cried out against the Scribes and Pharisies yet the deuoured but widowes houses poore low cottages but these gulfes of men whole Churches and yet the sepulchers of their throats are open for more I can tell them of a mouth that is wider than theirs and that is the Prophets Os inferni Therefore Hell hath inlarged it selfe and hath opened his mouth without measure and their glorie and their pompe and he that reioyceth in it shall descend into it Esa 5.14 In the meane time Oh that our SAMSON would pull this honie of the Church out of the iawes of these Lions or if the cunning conueyances of sacrilege haue made that impossible since it lies not now intire in the combes but is let downe and digested by these raueners let him whose glorie it is not to be Pater patriae onely but Pater Ecclesiae prouide that those few pots we haue may still seethe and that if nothing will be added nothing can be recouered yet nothing may be purloyned from the Altars of God But these outward offerings were but the types of the inward what cares God for the bloud or flesh of bullocks rams goats Non delectaris sacrificio vt
dem holocaustum non vis saith Dauid what then The sacrifice of God is a contrite spirit a broken heart Our humiliation is sacrificium poenitentiae our new obedience is sacrificium iustitiae our thankfull commemorations are sacrificium laudis These are the oblations which as they shall bee frequent vnder the Gospell so most fragrant vnto God and this is that last and perhaps most proper sense wherein the flesh-pots of the sacrifices erunt sicut aromata shall bee as perfumes in the bowles of incense A liuely sacrifice is well matcht with holy and acceptable When Noah sacrificed to God after the Deluge it is said God smelt a sauour of rest alluding to his name but now the sacrifices wee offer are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sauour of sweetnesse so that the same sauour that Christs oblation had Ephes 5.2 the same haue our offerings Philip. 4.18 Gods children out of the conscience of their owne weaknesses are easily discouraged in the valuation of their owne obedience As therefore they can say of their persons with Mephibosheth What is thy seruant so of their seruices as Philip said of the fiue loaues two fishes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas what are these But they and their offerings cannot be so base to themselues as they are pretious to God There is no sense that giues so liuely a refreshing to the spirits as that of smelling no smell can yeeld so true and feeling delight to the sense as the offerings of our penitence obedience praise send vp into the nostrils of the Almightie Hence as the Church can say of Christ He is as a bundle of myrrh lying betweene her breasts so he againe of her in that heauenly Epithalamion Thy plants are as an Orchard of Pomegranates with sweet fruits as cypres spicknard saffron calamus and cinamon with all the trees of incense myrrh and aloes with all the chiefe spices Cant. 4.13 Let this therefore comfort vs against our imperfections If we be pots of the Lords house those faint streames that we send vp shall be as sweet as the best incense of the bowles of the Altar and God saies to vs as to Cornelius Thy praiers and thine almes are come vp Act. 10. And how are they come vp Like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and incense and with all the chiefe spices Cant. 3.6 I say if we bee pots of the Lords house for if we be Aegyptian flesh-pots that reeke of the strong-smelling onions and garlike of our owne corruptions If we be Ezechiels bloudy pots whose scumme or as the vulgar whose rust is in them Ezec. 24. If we boile with lust if with reuenge if with ambition I can say no other of vs than the sonnes of the Prophets said of theirs Mors in olla Death is in the pot a double death of body and soule It is a true speech of Origen Peccatum est putidi odoris No carion is so noisome Alas what sauours are sent vp to God from those that would seeme not onely pots of the Temple but bowles of the Altar How vnsauourie is the pride prophanenesse riotousnesse oppression beastlinesse of our times It were happy if the Court were free and as it receiues more sweet influences of fauour than all other places so that it returned backe more fragrant obedience that as it is said of Maries spicknard wherewith she anointed Christ that the whole house was filled with the sauour of the ointment Ioh. 12.3 so the whole world might be full of the pleasant perfumes of vertuous example that might arise from hence But alas the painted faces and mannishnesse and monstrous disguisednesse of the one sex the factious hollownesse prodigall garishnesse wanton pampering excesse in our respect to our selues defects in our respects to God in the other argue too well that too many of vs sauour more like the golden sockets of the holy lights than the bowles of the Altar God cannot abide these ill sents The fiue Cities of the Plaines sent vp such poisonous vapours to God that he sent them downe brimstone againe with their fire That which hell is described by is sent downe from Heauen because that such hellish exhalations ascend from them to heauen How should the sinnes of Sodome not expect the iudgements of Sodome Well might the Iewes feare because they would not be seruiceable caldrons vnto God that therefore they should be the flesh and their Citie the caldron Ezec. 11.3 Well may we feare it who haue had so sensible proofes as of the fauours so of the iudgements of God and happy shall it be for vs if we can so feare that our feare may preuent euils Let these pots of ours therefore send vp sweet fumes of contrition righteousnesse thanksgiuing into the nostrils of God and the smoke of his displeasure wherewith coales of eternall fire are kindled against his enemies shall not come forth of his nostrils against vs He shall smell a sauour of rest from vs we a sauour of peace and life from him which God for his mercy sake and for his Sonne Christs sake vouchsafe to grant vs. To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost one glorious God be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer AMEN FJNJS A FARE WELL SERMON PREACHT TO THE FAMILIE OF PRINCE HENRY VPON THE DAY OF THEIR DISSOLVTION AT S. IAMES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. A FAREWELL SERMON REVEL 21.3 And I heard a great voyce from heauen saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall bee their God with them And God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine for the first things are passed And he that sate vpon the throne said Behold I make all things new IT is no wonder if this place as it is for the present the Well-head of sorrow to all Christendome haue sent forth abundance of waters of teares And perhaps you may expect that as the trumpets of our late heauy funerall solemnity sounded basest and dolefullest at the last so my speech being the last publike breath of this sad dissoluing Family should bee most passionately sorrowfull And surely I could easily obtaine of my selfe out of the bitternesse of my soule to spend my selfe in lamentations and to breake vp this assembly in the violent expressions of that griefe wherewith our hearts are already broken but I well consider that we shall carry sorrow enough home with vs in my silence and that it is both more hard and more necessarie for vs to be led forth to the waters of comfort And because our occasions of griefe are such as no earthly tongue can releeue vs nor no earthly obiect A voyce from heauen shall doe it and a voyce