O Father of mercies wee know that thou canst not deny thy selfe and nothing is more thy selfe then thy mercy which is aboue all thy workes it is it wee want most it is it wee craue most it is it thou doest vse to giue most haue mercy then vpon vs according to the multitudes of thy louing kindnesses of old that forthe dayes wherein wee haue suffered for euill we may now from thy fulnesse receiue grace for grace PSAL. 84 10. One day in thy courts is better then a thousand THe most excellent thing in the world is man and the most excellent thing in man is the soule and the most excellent thing in the soule is religion and the most excellent thing in religion is to seeke God here that wee may see him hereafter in whose most amiable dwellings one day sayth our Prophetâ—… is better then a thousand For by the Courts of God in the iudgement of most and best expositors is here meant either the Church militant which is heauen on earth or the Church tâ—…umphant which is heauen in heauen and the least of time â—…pent in either of them is better then a thousand days or moneths or yeeres or ages elsewhere to wit as may bee supplied by the verse following in the tents of vngodlinesse Concerning the first it is well obserued by Placidus Parmensis and other that this one day is Christs day which Abraham reioyced to see Iobâ—… 8. 56. The day of sulâ—…ation and acceptable time 2. Cor. 6. 2. Wherein all of 〈◊〉 haue receiued from his fulnesse and grace for grace the day which the Lord hath made and all his Saints are glad in it Psal. 118. 24. One houre whereof among the faithfull in the true worship of God is better in respect of profit then a thousand in the market better in respect of pleasure then a thousand in the theater better in respect of honour then a thousand in the palaces of Princes For profit our euidence is cleare 1. Tim. 6. 6. Godlines is great gaine that is gaine of great things as Caietan or greater gaine so Theophilact or the greatest and enough gaine so Caluin as if the Blessed Apostle should haue sayd gaiâ—…e and more then gayne riches and better then riches as when the Scripture would difference the true liuing God from dumbe and dead Idols it calleth a great God and a great King aboue all gods So speaking of godlinesse which is the riches of the soule termes it great riches heauenly riches inâ—…stim able riches vnchangeable riches euerlasting riches For to spend our time well is the best husbandry saith Seneca to giue to the poore the best vsury sayth Augustine to coâ—…et spirituall giftes hereby to winne soules is the best auarice saith Hierome to buy the truth is the best bargaine sayth Solomon to bee rich in good workes is the best opulencie saith Paul 1. Tim. 6. 18. Other gaines are not without their inconueniences and incommodities as hauing in them an emptinesse and neuer enough as Bernard told his brethren nec verâ—… sâ—…t 〈◊〉 vestrâ—… but godlinesse affordeâ—…â—…way contentation either in dâ—…ed or desire In deed as hauing prâ—…mia reposita and prâ—…posita the promises both of the life present and of that which is to come the blessings of the right hand and of the left hand Prouerb 3. 16. The Lyons doe lacke and suffer hunger sayth our Prophet But they that feare the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good The couetous that goe about like roaring Lyons seeking whom they may deuoure by their oppression and cruelty sometime misse their prey yea the more they haue the greater is their hunger and thirst after the thinges of this world The Chronicle reportes of Peirce Gaueston that the more he was inriched the worse was his estate But they who seeke the Lord which is vnto those that serue him all in all things haue their meale so multiplyed in the barrell and oyle in the cruse that they want no manner of thing that is good habent omnia qâ—…ia habent habentem omnia It may bee some good thing is wanting in their estate but happily not good for them it was good for Naaman that he was a leper good for Dauid that hee was in trouble good for Bartimeus that he was blind as a nurse knowes what is best for her infant so God our heauenly Father knowes what is best for vs his children If he giue the subsâ—…iue saluation hee will afford like wise the adâ—…ectiue things necessary for this life Mat. 6 33. Caetera ad jeintur 〈◊〉 If hee giue his Son for vs how shall hee not with him giue vs all things also Rom 8. â—… Howsoeâ—…er godlinesse affordes contentation in respect of the desire because godly men If they haue not estatâ—… according to their minds they wil haue mindes according to their estates hauing nothing and yet possessing all things 2. Cor. 6. 10. The couetous is only poore and the content is only rich omnia famulantur famulanti Deo The seruant of God is Lord of all as Christ sayd If the soâ—…e make you free then are you free indeed so deare Christians If godlinesse make you rich then are yee rich indeed a great deale more rich then they which of their corne and wine and oyle haue full encroase the Pompous Prelate who sayd hee would not loose his part in Paris for his part in Paradise nay Leo the 10. who got so much and in the Holy sea spent so much of S. Peters inheritance that Guicciardine writes in his history Whereas other were Popes no longer then they liued he was sayd to be Pope many yeeres after hee was dead was not so rich as Martine Luther a poore preacher who professeth of himselfe that of all faults hee was euer least subiect to the dirty sin of euil coueting If any then aske the question in the third of Malac 14. what profit is it to serue God answere is made by the father of lies in this truely Iob. 1. 9. doth Iob serue God for nought hath hee not made an hedge about him and about all that he hath on euery side the like may be sayed of euery man which is vpright and feares God is he not rich and his godlines gaine being blessed in his field blessed in his fold blessed in his corne blessed in his cattle loe thus shall the man be blessed that fâ—…areth the Lord On the contrarie sinnes are termed by Saint Paul vnprofitable works of darknes what fruite had ye saith he to the Romans in those things wherof ye are now ashamed he doth answere himselfe in the same place the wages of sin is death bad worke sad wages But our Sauiours question in the 16 of S. Matthew puts this matter out of all question what shall a man gayne though he winne the whole world and loose his owne soule put the whole world
more need his deuotion in frequenting publique prayers his constancy in his studies his studious vigilancy for the publike affaires both of the Church the Common wealth So that hee might with as little Ostentation haue spoken of himselfe as Luther did of himselfe Ego sum oneratissâ—…mus psalterium exigit â—…ntegrum hominem totum eundem Concio ad Populum totum preculae instituti mâ—…i cultus totum negotioâ—…um alienorum occupatio I am burdened more then any man my paines in my Pesthâ—…ls require a whole man My Preaching to the people a whole man My priuate and publique deuotions a whole man common affaires belonging to my place in the Church in the common wealth a whole man So that I may compare his life to such an one as S Augustine wished Eudoxius the Abbot to lead Inter ignem et Aquam Inter Apicem Superbiae et voraginem Desidiae Neither inclining to Pride on the right hand nor idlenesse on the left Wheresoeuer he liued leauing some remarkeable token of his goodnesse Witnesse his mother Camebridge who will still remember him as truely for his learning as Trithemius did for Algerus Vir fuit in sanctis Scripturis jugâ—… studio exercitatus veterum quoque Lectione Diues atque in Secularibus literis magnifice doctus ingenio cautus et disertus eloquio And for his life the like Testimony may be easily procured that there was none in the Vniversity more obseruant of Order Habit â—…xercises both publique and priuate I haue heard it from his owne mouth and hee had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he neuer missed publique Sermon at St. Maries during all the time of his abode there saue twice I am loath to defile mine owne nest Yet I feare Aetas Parentum peior Avis tulit nos nequiores Witnesse likewise the Church in generall for whom willingly hee would haue spent himselfe so that few are left behind but are loosers by his death Heauen only a gainer in whose blessed mansions hee now rests fully satisfied with the melodious harmony of that Supernall Quire Part of which musicke I thinke he heard before he departed this life for the night before he dyed all his discourse was of musicke and being demanded whether he heard any or what musicke he meant his answere was O Gabriel Gabriel Sure the blessed Choristers of Heauen were ready to carry his soule with ioy into his Masters ioy I will conclude with him as S August concerning his deare beloued Nebridius Nunc vivit in sinu Abrahae Boysius meus dulcis amicus meus nam quis alius tali animae Locus My deare friend now rests in Abrahams bosome for sure there is no othe place for so Diuine a soule Thus gentle Reader haue I giuen thee a short suruey of the life of him whom perhaps thou knewest though not in his person yet in his workes If I haue come short of what his desert might iustly challenge as the relation of Salomon did to the Queene of Saba I must craue craue pardon for my weakenesse in this kind it being thanke worthy for him that hath no better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or if I haue shot my few arrowes ouer the marke with Ionathan I shall be well content with S. Augustines censure vpon Tully for his large commendations of Caesar So it may bee with his glosse Dicebat hoc tam Magnus Laudator aut tam Magnus Adulator sed si Laudator talem noverit si autem adulator talem esse debere ostendebat To conclude if this last worke of his finde but that acceptation with thee which vttered Viva Voce it gaue to the auditors or if this Prol s Posthuma haue but some resemblance with his former off-spring that it be not thought altogether Spurious I doubt not but thou wilt bee easily induced together with mee and others that haue bene bettered by the godly example and heauenly labours of this holy man to glorifie the Author of euery good and perfit gift who will not cease to raise vp such excellent instruments for his owne glory and the Churches good To whose blessed Protection I commit thee Euer Resting Thine in what hee may R. P. A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS Sermons on Proper Lessons 1 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on the second Sunday in Aduent ESAY 5. 18. Woe vnto them that draw inquitie with cords of vinitie and sinne as it were with a cartrope Pag. 1 2 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on the first Sunday after Epiphany ESAY 41. 14. Feare not worme Iacob c. 16 3 The first Lesson at Evensong on the fourth Sunday after Epiphanie ESAY 58. 7. Breake thy bread to the hungry 31 4 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on Sepâ—… Sunday 〈◊〉 1. 26. And God said let vs make man in our image after our likenesse 50 5 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on the seventh Sunday after Trinitie 2 SAM 24. 14. Let vs fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man 70 6 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on the thirteenth Sunday after Trinitie 2 KING 19. 36. So Sennacherib King of Ashur departed and went his way and returned and dwelt in Niniue and as he was in the Temple worshipping Nisroch his God Adâ—…amelech and Sharezar his sonnes slew him with the sword 89 7 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on the nineteenth Sunday after Trinitie DAN 13 16. Shadrach Mesech and Abednago answered and said vnto the King c. 106 8 The first Lesson at Morning Prayer on the one and twentieth Sunday after Trinitie ABACVCK 2. 9. Woe be to him that coveteth an evill couetousnesse to his house 121 Other Sermons vpon seuerall Occasions 1 On Rogation Sunday PROV 22 28. Remoue not the ancient bounds which thy Fathers haue made 135 2 At the Sessions ROM 13. 4. He is the Minister of God for thy good 160 3 A Funerall Sermon PSAL. 42. 9. One deepe calleth another 197 4 Before the King at Christchurch PSAL. 84. 10. One day in thy Courts is better then a thousand 211 5 On PSALM 105. 4. Seeke the Lord and his strength seeke his face euermore 228 6 IOHN 8. 6. Iesus stopped downe and with his singer wrote on the ground 254 7 IAMES 5. 16. Confesse your faults one to another 27â—… SERMONS ON Proper Lessons ESAY 5. 18. Woe vnto them that drawe iniquitie with cordes of vanitie and sinne as it were with a Cart rope IN this Text two poynts are to beediscussed especially First the goodnes of God who soundes a woe before he sendes a woe Secondly the wickednesse of man in drawing iniquity Touching the first in holy writ we finde two kinds of woes a woe of Condoling and a woe of Condemning Condoling as Psalm 1â—…0 Woe is mee that I am constrayned to dwell with Misery Mica 7. 1. Woe is mee for I am as the Grape gleaning of the Vintage And in this Prophesie
so little regarding the light of Israel and honour of this our braue victorious nation that they resolued vpon the conclusion of the match not onely to be sonnes of the Pope but also the seruants of a strange people Yet God be thanked England had her Dauids who did not cease night and day to call and cry to the Lord For thy sonnes sake for thy Sions sake let not our insulting enemies a bloody generation drunken with the bloâ—…d of the Saints haue their desires ouer vs For their mercies are full of cruelty But let vs fall into thy handes for thy Iudgements are full of mercy And it is vndoubtedly Gods owne worke who brings light out of darkenesse and can doe whatsoeuer he will and will doe whatsoeuer is best for his people sometime by weake meanes and sometimes by no meanes and sometime by contrary meanes against whom there is no wisedome nor vnderstanding nor counsell That our Dauids prayer is heard our religion established our peace setled good men incouraged our open enemies discomfited and our false friends discouered and worthily deluded To whom I 〈◊〉 now no more but only this If you be good Christians and setled Protestants so remaine If you were once anâ—… 〈◊〉 now fallen returne If you neuer were repâ—… If you neuer will be perish Were it not for the honour of God and glory of his people the cast happily might prooue measurable whether it bee better to bee slayne by the sword in warre or by the pestilence in peace But a good man and a good magistrate especially considering barbarus has segetes That the blasphemous aduersaries of God roare in the middes of the congregations and set vp their banners for tokens breaking into Gods inheritance defiling the holy Temple and making Hierusalem â—…n heap of stones And how they giue the dead bodies of his seruants to be meate vnto the foules of the ayre and the flesh of his Saints vnto the beastes of the land I say the new borne babe in Christ vnderstanding these things easily resolues as Dauid here Let vs fall into the hand of the Lord and not into the hand of man 4. Learned Expositours obserue the wisedome of Dauid in chusing é malis minimum of three mischiefes the lesser Abuleâ—…sis vpon the place notes aptly That God made these 3. punishments inequall in time 7 yeares of famine 3 moneths of warre 3 dayes of pestilence that hee might make them equall in magnitude and so put Dauid into his doubts so well as his dumps The time being equall the plague doubtlesse is more grieuous then warre and warre more grieuous then famine But seuen yeeres famine may bee so bad as three moneths fleeing before cruell enemies and three moneths of bloody warre so bad as three dayes of plague Yet Dauid chose the pestilence for these reasons 1. In the rebellion of Absolon he had â—…ryall of the sword for there fell in that ciuill warre 20. thousand of the people And he had felt 3. yeeres famine for the sinne of Sauls house But he neuer yet had experience of the plague as then Ignoti nulla cupido so nulla formidâ—… 2. The plague is Gods immediat hand his sword 1. Chron. 21. 30. His arrow Psal. 91. 5. The physitians haue termed it fulmen coeleste The thunderbolt of heauen and the canonists Bellum Dei contra homines the warre of God against men Happily you will obiect is there any euill in the city and the Lord hath not done it Amos. 3. 6. It is true that warre and famine are from the Lords hand but herein hee doth vse other instruments as the sword of men in warre and other deuouring creatures in famine and so consequently whereas in the pestilence wee seeke onely to the mercies of God in warre and famine we are to wrestle with the cruelties of men also whose heart saith Esay is to destroy To take the spoyle to tread their enemies downe like the mire in the streetes saith the Lord was a little displeased but they helped forward the affliction Zach. 1. 15. As if he should haue sayd my purpose was only to try you but theirend to destroy you now we beare more then patiently the Lords rod then the hand of man 3. Dauid did chuse that punishment which was most agreeable to his sinne his fault in numbring the people was to try his power and to put his affiance therein and therefore being sorry for his errour he desired the plague that he might not trust any more to the arme of flesh but altogether rely vpon the Lord. For had he chosen warre men of valour would haue resisted and imagined that their sword should haue saued them And if he had chosen famine money-men would haue trusted in their purse making gold their hope and saying to the wedge of gold thou art my confidence Hee that hath siluer may buy bread and hee that hath enough bread need not to starue for hunger but a man infected and afflicted wiâ—…h the plague hath no weapons or meanes to relieue his distressed estate but onely prayers and teares Mysticallâ—… this numbring of the people saith Ruperius vpon the place figures carnall Israelites boasting in the works of the Law for to thinke that a man is iustified by works when as Abraham was iustified by faith is to trust in chariots and horse Lastly Diuines obserue Dauids faith and affiance in the Lord as being assured that all things worke together for the best vnto those that feare him he well vnderstood that God haâ—…h a left hand of Iustice so well as a right hand of mercy But the godly feele each hand gentle both hands of God are right hands vnto them Is there dearth in the land Daniel will thriue with water and pulse so well as other with wine and Iunkets Is there persecution in the Church To suffer death in Christs cause quoth holy Bradford is the high way to heauen on horsbacke Though Esaâ—… bee stronger then Iacob yet the greater shall serue the lesser The number of Gods elect is small the number of reprobate fooles infinite The Church is a little flocke of lambes in the mids of wolues and yet populus maior seruit minori many that are bad serue those few which are good non obsequendo quoth Augustine sed persequendo not by doing good but by doing mischiefe to them and so they turne Goldsmiths of God to make crownes for all such as in his battailes haue fought a good fight If other troubles arise touching our goods or good name Dauids resolution is It is good for me that I haue beene in trouble For affliction holdes men in as hauing little outlets or leasure for idlenesse and luxury Doth sicknesse and of all sicknesse in many respects the most vncomfortable the pestilence come nigh our dwelling Yet let vs not be afrayd for any terrour by night or the arrow that flyeth by day