For as long as any thing which we desire is unattained we rest not Let us not here take Rest for Idleness They are Idle whom the painfulness of action causeth to avoid those Labors whereunto both God and Nature bindeth them they Rest which either cease from their work when they have brought it unto perfection of else give over a meaner labor because a worthier and better is to be undertaken God hath created nothing to be idle or ill employed As therefore Man doth consist of different and distinct parts every part endued with manifold abilities which all have their several ends and actions thereunto referred so there is in this great variety of duties which belong to men that dependency and other by means whereof the lower sustaining always the more excellent and the higher perfecting the more base they are in their times and seasons continued with most exquisite correspondence Labors of bodily and daily toyl purchase freedom for actions of Religious Joy which benefit these actions requite with the gift of desired Rest A thing most natural and fit to accompany the solemn Festival duties of honor which are done to God For if those principal works of God the memory whereof we use to celebrate at such times be but certain tastes and â—â—says as it were of that final benefit wherein our perfect felicity and bliss lieth folded up seeing that the presence of the one doth direct our cogitations thoughts and desires towards the other it giveth surely a kinde of life and addeth inwardly no small delight to those so comfortable expectations when the very outward countenance of that we presently do representeth after a sort that also whereunto we tend as Festival Rest doth that Celestial estate whereof the very Heathens themselves which had not the means whereby to apprehend much did notwithstanding imagine that it needs must consist in Rest and have therefore taught that above the highest moveable sphere there is nothing which feeleth alteration motion or change but all things immutable unsubject to passion blest with eternal continuance in a life of the highest perfection and of that compleat abundant sufficiency within it self which no possibility of want maim or defect can touch Besides whereas ordinary labors are both in themselves painful and base in comparison of Festival Services done to God doth not the natural difference between them shew that the one as it were by way of submission and homage should surrender themselves to the other wherewith they can neither easily concur because painfulness and joy are opposite nor decently because while the minde hath just occasion to make her abode in the House of Gladness the Weed of ordinary toyl and travel becometh her not Wherefore even Nature hath taught the Heathens and God the Jews and Christ us first that Festival Solemnities are a part of the publick exercise of Religion secondly that Praise Liberality and Rest are as Natural Elements whereof Solemnities consist But these things the Heathens converted to the honor of their false gods And as they failed in the end it self so neither could they discern rightly what form and measure Religion therein should observe Whereupon when the Israelites impiously followed so corrupt example they are in every degree noted to have done amiss their Hymns of Songs of Praise were Idolatry their Bounty Excess and their Rest wantonness Therefore the Law of God which appointed them days of Solemnity taught them likewise in what manner the same should be celebrated According to the pattern of which Institution David establishing the state of Religion ordained Praise to be given unto God in the Sabbaths Moneths and appointed Times as their custom had been always before the Lord. Now besides the times which God himself in the Law of Moses particularly specified there were through the Wisdom of the Church certain other devised by occasion of like occurents to those whereupon the former had risen as namely that which Mordecai and Esther did first celebrate in memory of the Lords most wonderful protection when Haman had laid his inevitable Plot to mans thinking for the utter extirpation of the Jews even in one day This they call the Feast of Lots because Haman had cast their life and their death as it were upon the hazard of a Lot To this may be added that other also of Dedication mentioned in the Tenth of St. Iohns Gospel the institution whereof is declared in the History of the Maccabees But for as much as their Law by the coming of Christ is changed and we thereunto no way bound St. Paul although it were not his purpose to favor invectives against the special Sanctification of days and times to the Service of God and to the honor of Jesus Christ doth notwithstanding bend his forces against that opinion which imposed on the Gentiles the Yoke of Jewish Legal observations as if the whole World ought for ever and that upon pain of condemnation to keep and observe the same Such as in this perswasion hallowed those Jewish Sabbaths the Apostle sharply reproveth saying Ye observe days and moneths and times and years I am in fear of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain Howbeit so far off was Tertullian from imagining how any man could possibly hereupon call in question such days as the Church of Christ doth observe that the observation of these days he useth for an Argument whereby to prove it could not be the Apostles intent and meaning to condemn simply all observing of such times Generally therefore touching Feasts in the Church of Christ they have that profitable use whereof Saint Augustine speaketh By Festival Solemnities and Set-days we dedicate and sanctifie to God the memory of his benefits lest unthankful forgetfulness thereof should creep upon us in course of time And concerning particulars their Sabbath the Church hath changed into our Lords day that is as the one did continually bring to minde the former World finished by Creation so the other might keep us in perpetual remembrance of a far better World begun by him which came to restore all things to make both Heaven and Earth new For which cause they honored the last day we the first in every seven throughout the year The rest of the days and times which we celebrate have relation all unto one head We begin therefore our Ecclesiastical year with the glorious Annuntiation of his Birth by Angelical Embassage There being hereunto added his Blessed Nativity it self the Mystery of his Legal Circumcision the Testification of his true Incarnation by the Purification of her which brought him in the World his Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven the admirable sending down of his Spirit upon his chosen and which consequently ensued the notice of that incomprehensible Trinity thereby given to the Church of God Again for as much as we know that Christ hath not onely been manifested great in himself but great in other his Saints also
hath placed you Bishops to Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased by his own blood Finally that Commandment which unto the same Timothy is by the same Apostle even in the same form and manner afterwards again urged I charge thee in the sight of God and the Lord Iesus Christ which will judge the quick and dead at his appearance and in his Kingdom Preach the Word of God When Timothy was instituted in that Office then was the credit and trust of this duty committed unto his faithful care The Doctrine of the Gospel was then given him As the precious Talent or Treasure of Iesus Christ then received he for performance of this duty The special Gift of the Holy Ghost To keep this Commandment immaculate and blameless Was to teach the Gospel of Christ without mixture of corrupt and unsound Doctrine such as a number even in those times intermingled with the Mysteries of Christian Belief Till the appearance of Christ to keep it so doth not import the time wherein it should be kept but rather the time whereunto the final reward for keeping it was reserved according to that of St. Paul concerning himself I have kept the Faith for the residue there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall in that day render unto me If they that labor in this Harvest should respect but the present fruit of their painful Travel a poor encouragement it were unto them to continue therein all the days of their life But their reward is great in Heaven the Crown of Righteousness which shall be given them in that day is honorable The fruit of their industry then shall they reap with full contentment and satisfaction but not till then Wherein the greatness of their reward is abundantly sufficient to countervail the tediousness of their expectation Wherefore till then they that are in labor must rest in hope O Timothy keep that which is committed unto thy charge that great Commandment which thou hast received keep till the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. In which sense although we judge the Apostles words to have been uttered yet hereunto we do not require them to yield that think any other construction more sound If therefore it be rejected and theirs esteemed more probable which hold That the last words do import perpetual observation of the Apostles Commandment imposed necessarily for ever upon the Militant Church of Christ Let them withal consider That then his Commandment cannot so largely be taken to comprehend whatsoever the Apostle did command Timothy For themselves do not all binde the Church unto some things whereof Timothy received charge as namely unto that Precept concerning the choice of Widows So as they cannot hereby maintain that all things positively commanded concerning the affairs of the Church were commanded for perpetuity And we do not deny that certain things were commanded to be though positive yet perpetual in the Church They should not therefore urge against us places that seem to forbid change but rather such as set down some measure of alteration which measure if we have exceeded then might they therewith charge us justly Whereas now they themselves both granting and also using liberty to change cannot in reason dispute absolutely against all change Christ delivered no inconvenient or unmeet Laws Sundry of ours they hold inconvenient Therefore such Laws they cannot possibly hold to be Christs Being not his they must of necessity grant them added unto his Yet certain of those very Laws so added they themselves do not judge unlawful as they plainly confess both in matter of Prescript Attire and of Rites appertaining to Burial Their own Protestations are that they plead against the inconvenience not the unlawfulness of Popish Apparel and against the inconvenience not the unlawfulness of Ceremonies in Burial Therefore they hold it a thing not unlawful to add to the Laws of Jesus Christ and so consequently they yield That no Law of Christ forbiddeth Addition unto Church Laws The Judgment of Calvin being alledged against them to whom of all men they attribute most whereas his words be plain That for Ceremonies and External Discipline the Church hath power to make Laws The answer which hereunto they make is That indefinitely the speech is true and that so it was meant by him namely That some things belonging unto External Discipline and Ceremonies are in the Power and Arbitrement of the Church but neither was it meant neither is it true generally That all External Discipline and all Ceremonies are left to the Order of the Church in as much as the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord are Ceremonies which yet the Church may not therefore abrogate Again Excommunication is a part of External Discipline which might also be cast away if all External Discipline were Arbitrary and in the choice of the Church By which their answer it doth appear that touching the names of Ceremony and External Discipline they gladly would have us so understood as if we did herein contain a great deal more then we do The fault which we finde with them is That they over-much abridge the Church of her power in these things Whereupon they recharge us as if in these things we gave the Church a liberty which hath no limits or bounds as if all things which the name of Discipline containeth were at the Churches free choice So that we might either have Church Governors and Government or want them either retain or reject Church Censures as we lift They wonder at us as at men which think it so indifferent what the Church doth in Matter of Ceremonies that it may be feared lest we judge the very Sacraments themselves to be held at the Churches pleasure No the name of Ceremonies we do not use in so large a meaning as to bring Sacraments within the compass and reach thereof although things belonging unto the outward form and seemly Administration of them are contained in that name even as we use it For the name of Ceremonies we use as they themselves do when they speak after this sort The Doctrine and Discipline of the Church as the weightiest things ought especially to be looked unto but the Ceremonies also as Mint and Cummin ought not to be neglected Besides in the Matter of External Discipline or Regiment it self we do not deny but there are some things whereto the Church is bound till the Worlds end So as the question is onely how far the bounds of the Churches Liberty do reach We hold that the power which the Church hath lawfully to make Laws and Orders for it self doth extend unto sundry things of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and such other Matters whereto their opinion is That the Churches Authority and Power doth not reach Whereas therefore in Disputing against us about this point they take their compass a great deal wider then the truth of things can afford producing
as dust we may be brought at the length to esteem vilely that Spiritual Blisse Christ in Matth. 6. to correct this evil affection putteth us in minde to lay up treasure for our selves in Heaven The Apostle â— Tim. Chapter 3. misliking the vanity of those Women which attired themselves more costly than beseemed the Heavenly Calling of such as professed the fear of God willeth them to cloath themselves with Shamefastnesse and Modesty and to put on the Apparel of Good works Taliter pigmentata Deum habehitis amatorem saith Tertullian Put on Righteousnesse as a Garment instead of Civit have Faith which may cause a savour of life to issue from you and God shall be enamoured he shall be ravished with your beauty These are the Ornaments and Bracelets and Jewels which inflame the love of Christ and set his heart on fire upon his Spouse We see how he breaketh out in the Canticles at the beholding of this attire How fair art thou and how pleasant art thou O my Love in these pleasures 9. And perhaps St. Iude exhorteth us here not to build our Houses but our selves foreseeing by the Spirit of the Almighty which was with him that there should be men in the last days like to those in the first which should encourage and stir up each other to make Brick and to burn it in the fire to build Houses huge as Cities and Towers as high as Heaven thereby to get them a name upon Earth men that should turn out the poor and the Fatherless and the Widow to build places of rest for Dogs and Swine in their rooms men that should lay Houses of Prayer even with the ground and make them Stables where God's people have worshipped before the Lord. Surely this is a vanity of all vanities and it is much amongst men a special sicknesse of this age What it should mean I know not except God have set them on work to provide fewel against that day when the Lord Jesus shall shew himself from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire What good cometh unto the owners of these things saith Solomon but onely the beholding thereof with their eyes Martha Martha thou busiest thy self about many things One thing is necessary Ye are too busie my Brethren with Timber and Brick they have chosen the better part they have taken a better course that build themselves Ye are the Temples of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and will walk in them and they shall be my People and I will be their God 10. Which of you will gladly remain or abide in a mishapen a ruinous or a broken House And shall we suffer sinne and vanity to drop in at our eyes and at our ears and at every corner of our Bodies and of our Souls knowing that we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which of you receiveth a Guest whom he honoureth or whom he loveth and doth not sweep his Chamber against his coming And shall we suffer the Chambers of our Hearts and Consciences to lye full of vomiting full of filth full of garbidge knowing that Christ hath said I and my Father will come and dwell with you Is it meet for your Oxen to lye in Parlors and your selves to lodge in Cribs Or is it seemly for your selves to dwell in your seiled houses and the House of the Almighty to lye waste whose House ye are yourselves Do not our eys behold how God every day overtaketh the wicked in their Journeys how suddenly they pop down into the Pit how God's judgements for their Crimes come so swiftly upon them that they have not the leisure to cry Alas how their life is cutt off like a thred in a moment how they passe like a shadow how they open their mouths to speak and God taketh them even in the midst of a vain or an idle Word And dare we for all this lye down take our rest eat our meat securely and carelesly in the midst of so great and so many ruines Blessed and praised for ever and ever be his Name who perceiving of how senseless and heavy metal we are made hath instituted in his CHURCH a Spiritual Supper and an Holy Communion to be Celebrated often That we might thereby be occasioned often to examine these Buildings of ours in what case they stand For sith God doth not dwell in Temples which are unclean sith a Shrine cannot be a Sanctuary unto him and this Supper is received as a Seal unto us that we are his House and his Sanctuary that his Christ is as truly united to me and I to him as my arm is united and knit unto my shoulder that he dwelleth in me as verily as the elements of Bread and Wine abide within me which perswasion by receiving these dreadful mysteries we profess our selves to have a due comfort if truly and if in hypocrisie then wo worth us Therefore ere we put forth our hands to take this blessed Sacrament we are charged to examine and to try our hearts whether God be in us of a truth or no and if by Faith and love unfeigned we be found the Temples of the Holy Ghost then to judge whether we have had such regard every one to our building that the Spirit which dwelleth in us hath no way been vexed molested and grieved or if it have as no doubt sometimes it hath by incredulity sometimes by breach of charity sometimes by want of zeal sometimes by spots of life even in the best and most perfect amongst us for who can say his heart is clean O then to fly unto God by unfeigned repentance to fall down before him in the humility of our Souls begging of him whatsoever is needful to repair our decays before we fall into that desolation whereof the Prophet speaketh saying Thy breach is great like the Sea who can heal thee 11. Receiving the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord after this sort you that are Spiritual judge what I speak is not all other Wine like the Water of Merah being compared to the Cup which we bless Is not Manna like to gall and our bread like to Manna Is there not a taste a taste of Christ Jesus in the heart of him that eateth Doth not he which drinketh behold plainly in this Cup that his Soul is bathed in the blood of the Lamb O beloved in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if ye will taste how sweet the Lord is if ye will receive the King of Glory Build your selves 12. Young men I speak this to you for ye are his House because by Faith ye are Conquerors over Satan and have overcome that evil Fathers I speak it also to you ye are his House because ye have known him who is from the beginning Sweet Babes I speak it even to you also ye are his House because your sinnes are forgiven you for his names sake Matrons and Sisters I may not hold it from you ye are also
descend to a more distinct explication of Particulars wherein those Rules have their special efficacy 11. Solemne Duties of Publick Service to be done unto God must have their places set and prepared in such sort as beseemeth actions of that regard Adam even during the space of his small continuance in Paradise had where to present himself before the Lord. Adam's Sons had out of Paradise in like sort whither to bring their Sacrifices The Patriarks used Altars and Mountains and Groves to the self-same purpose In the vast Wilderness when the People of God had themselves no settled Habitation yet a movable Tabernacle they were commanded of God to make The like Charge was given them against the time they should come to settle themselves in the Land which had been promised unto their Fathers Te shall seek that Place which the Lord your God shall chuse When God had chosen Ierusalem and in Ierusalem Mount Moriah there to have his standing Habitation made it was in the chiefest of Davids desires to have performed so good a work His grief was no less that he could not have the honour to builde God a Temple than their anger is at this day who bite asunder their own tongues with very wrath that they have not as yet the Power to pull down the Temples which they never built and to level them with the ground It was no mean thing which he purposed To perform a work so majestical and stately was no small Charge Therefore he incited all men unto bountiful Contribution and procured towards it with all his Power Gold Silver Brass Iron Wood Precious Stones in great abundance Yea moreover Because I have saith David a joy in the House of my God I have of my own Gold and Silver besides all that I have prepared for the House of the Sanctuary given to the House of my God three thousand Talents of Gold even the Gold of Ophir seven thousand Talents of fined Silver After the overthrow of this first House of God a second was instead thereof erected but with so great odds that they went which had seen the former and beheld how much this later came behinde it the beauty whereof notwithstanding was such that even This was also the wonder of the whole World Besides which Temple there were both in other parts of the Land and even in Ierusalem by process of time no small number of Synagogues for men to resort unto Our Saviour himself and after him the Apostles frequented both the one and the other The Church of Christ which was in Ierusalem and held that Profession which had not the Publick allowance and countenance of Authority could not so long use the exercise of Christian Religion but in private only So that as Jews they had access to the Temple and Synagogues where God was served after the Custom of the Law but for that which they did as Christians they were of necessity forced other where to assemble themselves And as God gave increase to his Church they sought out both there and abroad for that purpose not the fittest for so the times would not suffer them to do but the safest places they could In process of time some whileâ— by sufferance some whiles by special leave and favour they began to erect to themselves Oratories not in any sumptuous or stately manner which neither was possible by reason of the poor estate of the Church and had been perilous in regard of the World's envy towards them At length when it pleased God to raise up Kings and Emperours favouring sincerely the Christian Truth that which the Church before either could not or durst not do was with all alacrity performed Temples were in all Places erected No cost was spared nothing judged too dear which that way should be spent The whole World did seem to exult that it had occasion of pouring out Gifts to so blessed a purpose That chearful Devotion which David this way did exceedingly delight to behold and wish that the same in the Jewish People might be perpetual was then in Christian People every where to be seen Their Actions till this day always accustomed to be spoken of with great honour are now called openly into question They and as many as have been followers of their Example in That thing we especially that worship God either in Temples which their hands made or which other men sithence have framed by the like pattern are in that respect charged no less then with the sin of Idolatry Our Churches in the foam of that good spirit which directeth such fiery tongues they term spitefully the Temples of Baal idle Synagogues abominable Styes 12. Wherein the first thing which moveth them thus to cast up their poysons are certain Solemnities usual at the first erection of Churches Now although the same should be blame-worthy yet this Age thanks be to God hath reasonably well for-born to incurr the danger of any such blame It cannot be laid unto many mens charge at this day living either that they have been so curious as to trouble the Bishops with placing the first Stone in the Churches they built or so scrupulous as after the erection of them to make any great ado for their Dedication In which kind notwithstanding as we do neither allow unmeet nor purpose the stiff defence of any unnecessary Custom heretofore received so we know no reason wherefore Churches should be the worse if at the first erecting of them at the making of them publick at the time when they are delivered as it were into God's own possession and when the use whereunto they shall ever serve is established Ceremonies sit to betoken such intents and to accompany such Actions be usual as in the purest times they have been When Constantine had finished an House for the Service of God at Ierusalem the Dedication he judged a matter not unworthy about the solemn performance whereof the greatest part of the Bishops in Christendom should meet together Which thing they did at the Emperors motion each most willingly setting forth that Action to their power some with Orations some with Sermons some with the sacrifice of Prayers unto God for the peace of the World for the Churches safety for the Emperour 's and his Childrens good By Athanasius the like is recorded concerning a Bishop of Alexandria in a work of the like devout magnificence So that whether Emperours or Bishops in those days were Church-founders the solemn Dedication of Churches they thought not to be a work in it self either vain or superstitious Can we judge it a thing seemly for any man to go about the building of an House to the God of Heaven with no other appearance than if his end were to rear up a Kitchen or Parlour for his own use Or when a work of such nature is finished remaineth there nothing but presently to use it and so an
behold It appeareth that when Christ did ascend he then most liberally opened the Kingdom of Heaven to the end that with him and by him all Believers might raign In what estate the Fathers rested which were dead before it is not hereby either one way or other determined All that we can rightly gather is that as touching their souls what degree of joy or happiness soever it pleased God to bestow upon them his Ascension which succeeded procured theirs and theirs concerning the Body must needs be not onely of but after his As therefore Helvidius against whom St. Ierome writeth abused greatly those words of Matthew concerning Ioseph and the Mother of our Saviour Christ He knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born thereby gathering against the honor of the Blessed Virgin that a thing denied with special circumstance doth import an opposite affirmation when once that circumstance is expired After the self-same manner it should be a weak collection if whereas we say That when Christ had overcome the sharpness of death he then opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers a thing in such sort affirmed with circumstance were taken as insinuating an opposite denial before that circumstance be accomplished and consequently that because when the sharpness of death was overcome he then opened Heaven as well to believing Gentiles as Iews Heaven till then was no receptacle to the Souls of either Wherefore be the Spirits of the just and righteous before Christ truly or falsly thought excluded out of Heavenly joy by that which we in the words alledged before do attribute to Christs Ascension there is to no such opinion nor to the favorers thereof any countenance at all given We cannot better interpret the meaning of these words then Pope Leo himself expoundeth them whose Speech concerning our Lords Ascension may serve instead of a Marginal gloss Christs Exaltation is our Promotion and whither the glory of the Head is already gone before thither the Hope of the â—ody also is to follow For at this day we have not onely the possession of Paradise assured unto us but in Christ we have entred the highest of the Heavens His opening the Kingdom of Heaven and his entrance thereinto was not onely to his own use but for the benefit of all Believers 46. Our good or evil estate after death dependeth most upon the quality of our lives Yet somewhat there is why a vertuous minde should rather wish to depart this world with a kinde of treatable dissolution then to be suddenly cut off in a moment rather to be taken then snatched away from the face of the Earth Death is that which all men suffer but not all men with one minde neither all men in one manner For being of necessity a thing common it is through the manifold perswasions dispositions and occasions of men with equal desert both of praise and dispraise shunned by some by others desired So that absolutely we cannot discommend we cannot absolutely approve either willingness to live or forwardness to die And concerning the ways of death albeit the choice thereof be onely in his hands who alone hath power over all flesh and unto whose appointment we ought with patience meekly to submit our selves for to be agents voluntarily in our own destruction is against both God and Nature yet there is no doubt but in so great variety our desires will and may lawfully prefer one kinde before another Is there any man of worth and vertue although not instructed in the School of Christ or ever taught what the soundness of Religion meaneth that had not rather end the days of this transitory life as Cyrus in Xenophon or in Plato Socrates are described then to sink down with them of whom Elihu hath said Momento Moriuntur there is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being But let us which know what it is to die as Absalon or Ananias and Saphira died let us beg of God that when the hour of our rest is come the patterns of our dissolution may be Iacob Moses Iosoua David who leisureably ending their lives in peace prayed for the Mercies of God to come upon their posterity replenished the hearts of the nearest unto them with words of memorable Consolation strengthned in the fear of God gave them wholesome instructions of life and confirmed them in true Religion in sum Taught the World no less vertuously how to die then they had done before how to live To such as judge things according to the sense of natural men and ascend no higher suddenness because it shortneth their grief should in reason be most acceptable That which causeth bitterness in death is the languishing attendance and expectation thereof ere it come And therefore Tyrants use what art they can to increase the slowness of death Quick riddance out of life is often both requested and bestowed as a benefit Commonly therefore it is for vertuous considerations that Wisdom so far prevaileth with men as to make them desirous of slow and deliberate death against the stream of their sensual inclination conâ—ent to endure the longer grief and bodily pain that the Soul may have time to call it self to a just account of all things past by means whereof Repentance is perfected there is wherein to exercise patience the joys of the Kingdom of Heaven have leisure to present themselves the pleasures of sin and this Worlds vanities are censured with uncorrupt judgment Charity is free to make advised choice of the soyl wherein her last Seed may most fruitfully be bestowed the minde is at liberty to have due regard of that disposition of worldly things which it can never afterwards alter and because the nearer we draw unto God the more we are oftentimes enlightned with the shining beams of his glorious presence as being then even almost in sight a leisureable departure may in that case bring forth for the good of such as are present that which shall cause them for ever after from the bottom of their hearts to pray O let us die the death of the righteous and let our last end be like theirs All which benefits and opportunities are by sudden death prevented And besides for as much as death howsoever is a general effect of the wrath of God against sin and the suddenness thereof a thing which hapneth but to few The World in this respect feareth it the more as being subject to doubtful constructions which as no man willingly would incur so they whose happy estate after life is of all mens the most certain should especially wish that no such accident in their death may give uncharitable mindes occasion of rash sinister and suspicious verdicts whereunto they are over-prone So that whether evil men or good be respected whether we regard our selves or others to be preserved from sudden death is a Blessing of God And our Prayer against it importeth a twofold desire first That death when
may be in things that rest and are never moved Besides we may also consider in Rest both that which is past and that which is present and that which is future yea farther even length and shortness in every of these although we never had conceit of Motion But to define without Motion how long or how short such Continuance is were impossible So that herein we must of necessity use the benefit of Years Days Hours Minutes which all grow from Celestial Motion Again for as much as that Motion is Circular whereby we make our Divisions of Time and the Compass of that Circuit such that the Heavens which are therein continually moved and keep in their Motions uniform Celerity must needs touch often the same points they cannot chuse but bring unto us by equal distances frequent returns of the same times Furthermore whereas Time is nothing but the meer quantity of that Continuance which all things have that are not as God is without beginning that which is proper unto all quantities agreeth also to this kinde so that Time doth but measure other things and neither worketh in them any real effect nor is it self ever capable of any And therefore when commonly we use to say That Time doth eat or fret out all things that Time is the wisest thing in the World because it bringeth forth all Knowledge and that nothing is more foolish then Time which never holdeth any thing long but whatsoever one day learneth the same another day forgetteth again that some men see prosperous and happy days and that some mens days are miserable In all these and the like speeches that which is uttered of the Time is not verified of Time it self but agreeth unto those things which are in Time and do by means of so near conjunction either lay their burden upon the back or set their Crown upon the Head of Time Yea the very opportunities which we ascribe to Time do in truth cleave to the things themselves wherewith Time is joyned As for Time it neither causeth things nor opportunities of things although it comprize and contain both All things whatsoever having their time the Works of God have always that time which is seasonablest and fittest for them His Works are some ordinary some more rare all worthy of observation but not all of like necessity to be often remembred they all have their times but they all do not adde the same estimation and glory to the times wherein they are For as God by being every where yet doth not give unto all places one and the same degree of holiness so neither one and the same dignity to all times by working in all For it all either places or times were in respect of God alike wherefore was it said unto Moses by particular designation That very place wherein thou standest is holy ground Why doth the Prophet David chuse out of all the days of the year but one whereof he speaketh by way of principal admiration This is the day the Lord hath made No doubt as Gods extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain places so they are his extraordinary works that have truly and worthily advanced certain times for which cause they ought to be with all men that honor God more holy then other days The Wise man therefore compareth herein not unfitly the times of God with the persons of men If any should ask how it cometh to pass that one day doth excel another seeing the light of all the days in the year proceedeth from one Sun to this he answereth That the knowledge of the Lord hath parted them asunder he hath by them disposed the times and solemn Feasts some he hath chosen out and sanctified some he hath put among the days to number Even as Adam and all other men are of one substance all created of the Earth But the Lord hath divided them by great knowledge and made their ways divers some he hath blessed and exalted some he hath sanctified and appropriated unto himself some he hath cursed humbled and put them out of their dignity So that the cause being natural and necessary for which there should be a difference in days the solemn observation whereof declareth Religious thankfulness towards him whose works of principal reckoning we thereby admire and honor it cometh next to be considered what kindes of duties and services they are wherewith such times should be kept holy 70. The Sanctification of Days and Times is a token of that Thankfulness and a part of that publick honor which we ow to God for admirable benefits whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret Kalender taking thereby our private occasions as we lift our selves to think how much God hath done for all men but the days which are chosen out to serve as publick Memorials of such his Mercies ought to cloathed with those outward Robes of Holiness whereby their difference from other days may be made sensible But because Time in it self as hath been already proved can receive no alteration the hallowing of Festival days must consist in the shape or countenance which we put upon the affairs that are incident into those days This is the day which the Lord hath made saith the Prophet David Let us rejoyce and be glad in it So that generally Offices and Duties of Religious Joy are that wherein the hallowing of Festival times consisteth The most Natural Testimonies of our rejoycing in God are first his Praises set forth with cheerful alacrity of minde Secondly Our comfort and delight expressed by a charitable largeness of somewhat more then common bounty Thirdly Sequestration from ordinary labors the toyls and cares whereof are not meet to be companions of such gladness Festival solemnity therefore is nothing but the due mixture as it were of these three Elements Praise Bounty and Rest. Touching Praise for as much as the Jews who alone knew the way how to magnifie God aright did commonly as appeared by their wicked lives more of custom and for fashion sake execute the services of their Religion then with hearty and true devotion which God especially requireth he therefore protesteth against their Sabbaths and Solemn Days as being therewith much offended Plentiful and liberal expence is required in them that abound party as a sign of their own joy in the goodness of God towards them and partly as a mean whereby to refresh those poor and needy who being especially at these times made partakers of relaxation and joy with others do the more religiously bless God whose great Mercies were a cause thereof and the more contentedly endure the burthen of that hard estate wherein they continue Rest is the end of all Motion and the last perfection of all things that labor Labors in us are journeys and even in them which feel no weariness by any work yet they are but ways whereby to come unto that which bringeth not happiness till it do bring Rest.
a place of continual servile toil could not suddenly be wained and drawn unto contrary offices without some strong impression of terror and also for that there is nothing more needful then to punish with extremity the first transgressions of those Laws that require a more exact observation for many ages to come therefore as the Jews superstitiously addicted to their Sabbaths rest for a long time not without danger to themselves and obloquy to their very Law did afterwards perceive and amend wisely their former Error not doubting that bodily labors are made by accessity venial though otherwise especially on that day rest be more convenient So at all times the voluntary scandalous contempt of that rest from labor wherewith publiclkly God is served we cannot too severely correct and bridle The Emperor Constantine having with over-great facility licenced Sundays labor in Country Villages under that pretence whereof there may justly no doubt sometime consideration be had namely left any thing which God by his providence hath bestowed should miscarry not being taken in due time Leo which afterwards saw that this ground would not bear so general and large indulgence as had been granted doth by a contrary Edict both reverse and severely censure his Predecessors remissness saying We ordain according to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed That on the Sacred day wherein our own integrity was restored all do rest and surcease labor That neither Husband-man nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden works For if the Iews did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shaddow of ours are not we which inhabit the Light and Truth of Grace bound to honor that day which the Lord himself hath honored and hath therein delivered us both from dishonor and from death Are we not bound to keep it singular and inviolble well contenting our selves with so liberal a grant of the rest and not incroaching upon that one day which God hath chosen to his own honor Were it not wretchless neglect of Religion to make that very day common and to think we may do with it as with the rest Imperial Laws which had such care of hallowing especially our Lords day did not omit to provide that other Festival times might be kept with vacation from labor whether they were days appointed on the sudden as extraordinary occasions fell out or days which were celebrated yearly for Politick and Civil considerations or finally such days as Christian Religion hath ordained in Gods Church The joy that setteth aside labor disperseth those things which labor gathereth For gladness doth always rise from a kinde of fruition and happiness which happiness banisheth the cogitation of all want it needeth nothing but onely the bestowing of that it hath in as much as the greatest felicity that felicity hath is to spred and enlarge it self it cometh hereby to pass that the first effect of joyfulness is to rest because it seeketh no more the next because it aboundeth to give The Root of both is the glorious presence of that joy of minde which riseth from the manifold considerations of Gods unspeakable Mercy into which considerations we are led by occasion of Sacred times For how could the Jewish Congregations of old be put in minde by their weekly Sabbaths what the World reaped through his goodness which did of nothing create the World by their yearly Passover what farewel they took of the Land of Egypt by their Pentecost what Ordinances Laws and Statutes their Fathers received at the hands of God by their Feast of Tabernacles with what protection they journeyed from place to place through so many fears and hazards during the tedious time of forty years travel in the Wildeness by their Annual solemnity of Lots how near the whole Seed of Israel was unto utter extirpation when it pleased that Great God which guideth all things in Heaven and Earth so to change the counsels and purposes of men that the same Hand which had signed a Decree in the opinion both of them that granted and of them that procured it irrevocable for the general massacre of Man Woman and Childe became the Buckler of their preservation that no one hair of their heads might be touched The same days which had been set for the pouring out of so much innocent blood were made the days of their execution whose malice had contrived the plot thereof and the self-same persons that should have endured whatsoever violence and rage could offer were employed in the just revenge of cruelty to give unto blood-thirsty men the taste of their own Cup or how can the Church of Christ now endure to be so much called on and preached unto by that which every Dominical day throughout the year that which year by year so many Festival times if not commanded by the Apostles themselves whose care at that time was of greater things yet instituted either by such Universal Authority as no Men or at the least such as we with no reason may despise do as sometime the holy Angels did from Heaven sing Glory be unto God on High Peace on Earth towards Men good Will for this in effect is the very Song that all Christian Feasts do apply as their several occasions require how should the days and times continually thus inculcate what God hath done and we refuse to agnize the benefit of such remembrances that very benefit which caused Moses to acknowledge those Guides of Day and Night the Sun and Moon which enlighten the World not more profitable to nature by giving all things life then they are to the Church of God by occasion of the use they have in regard of the appointed Festival times That which the head of all Philosophers hath said of Women If they be good the half of the Commonwealth is happy wherein they are the same we may fitly apply to times Well to celebrate these Religious and Sacred days is to spend the flower of our time happily They are the splendor and outward dignity of our Religion forcible Witnesses of Ancient Truth provocations to the Exercises of all Piety shaddows of our endless Felicity in Heaven on Earth Everlasting Records and Memorials wherein they which cannot be drawn to hearken unto that we teach may onely by looking upon that we do in a manner read whatsoever we believe 72. The matching of contrary things together is a kinde of illustration to both Having therefore spoken thus much of Festival Days the next that offer themselves to hand are days of Pensive Humiliation and Sorrow Fastings are either of mens own free and voluntary accord as their particular devotion doth move them thereunto or else they are publickly enjoyned in the Church and required at the hands of all men There are which altogether disallow not the former kinde and the latter they greatly commend so that it be upon extraordinary occasions onely and
his absence should bereave them of and secondly of the sundry evils which themselves should be subject unto being once bereaved of so gracious a Master and Patron The one consideration over-whelmed their Souls with heaviness the other with fear Their Lord and Saviour whose words had cast down their hearts raiseth them presently again with chosen sentences of sweet encouragement My dear it is for your own sakes I leave the World I know the affections of your hearts are tender but if your love were directed with that advised and staid judgment which should be in you my speech of leaving the World and going unto my Father would not a little augment your joy Desolate and comfortless I will not leave you in Spirit I am with you to the Worlds end whether I be present or absent nothing shall ever take you out of these hands my going is to take possession of that in your names which is not only for me but also for you prepared where I am you shall be In the mean while my peace I give not as the World giveth give I unto you Let not your hearts be troubled nor fear The former part of which Sentence having otherwhere already been spoken of this unacceptable occasion to open the latter part thereof here I did not look for But so God disposeth the wayes of men Him I heartily beseech that the thing which he hath thus ordered by his Providence may through his gracious goodnesse turn unto your comfort Our Nature for coveteth preservation from things hurtful Hurtful things being present do breed heaviness being future do cause fear Our Saviour to abate the one speaketh thus unto his Disciples Let not your Hearts be troubled and to moderate the other addeth Fear not Grief and heaviness in the presence of sensible Evils cannot but trouble the mindes of men It may therefore seem that Christ required a thing impossible Be not troubled Why how could they choose But we must note this being natural and therefore simply not reproveable is in us good or bad according to the causes for which we are grieved or the measure of our grief It is not my meaning to speak so largely of this affection as to go over all particulars whereby men do one way or other offend in it but to teach it so farr onely as it may cause the very Apostles equals to swerve Our grief and heaviness therefore is reproveable sometime in respect of the cause from whence sometime in regard of the measure whereunto it groweth When Christ the life of the World was led unto cruel death there followed a number of People and Women which Women bewayled much his heavy case It was a natural compassion which caused them where they saw undeserved miseries there to pour forth unrestrained tears Nor was this reproved But in such readiness to lament where they less needed their blindness in not discerning that for which they ought much rather to have mourned this our Saviour a little toucheth putting them in minde that the tears which were wasted for him might better have been spent upon themselves Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me weep for your selves and for your children It is not as the Stoicks have imagined a thing unseemly for a Wise man to be touched with grief of minde but to be sorrowful when we least should and where we should lament there to laugh this argueth our small wisdom Again when the Prophet David confesseth thus of himself I grieved to see the great prosperity of godless men how they flourish and go untoucht Psal. 73. Himself hereby openeth both our common and his peculiar imperfection whom this cause should not have made so pensive To grieve at this is to grieve where we should not because this grief doth rise from Errour We erre when we grieve at wicked mens impunity and prosperity because their Estate being rightly discerned they neither prosper nor go unpunished It may seem a Paradox it is truth That no wicked man's estate is prosperous fortunate or happy For what though they bless themselves and think their happinesse great Have not frantick Persons many times a great opinion of their own wisdome It may be that such as they think themselves others also do account them But what others Surely such as themselves are Truth and Reason discerneth farâ— otherwise of them Unto whom the Jews wish all prosperity unto them the phrase of their speech is to wish Peace Seeing then the name of Peace containeth in it all parts of true happiness when the Prophet saith plainly That the Wicked have no peace how can we think them to have any part of other than vainly imagined Felicity What wise man did ever account Fools happy If Wicked men were wise they would cease to be wicked Their Iniquity therefore proving their Folly how can we stand in doubt of their misery They abound in those things which all men desire A poor happinesse to have good things in possession A man to whom God hath given Riches and Treasures and Honour so that he wanteth nothing for his Soul of all that it desireth but yet God giveth him not the power to eat thereof such a felicity Solomon esteemeth but as a vanity a thing of nothing If such things adde nothing to mens happiness where they are not used surely Wicked men that use them ill the more they have the more wretched Of their Prosperity therefore we see what we are to think Touching their Impunity the same is likewise but supposed They are oftner plagued than we are aware of The pangs they feel are not always written in their forehead Though Wickedness be Sugar in their mouths and Wantonness as Oyl to make them look with chearful Countenance nevertheless if their Hearts were disclosed perhaps their glittering state would not greatly be envied The voyces that have broken out from some of them O that God had given me a heart sensless like the flints in the rocks of stone which as it can taste no pleasure so it feeleth no wo these and the like speeches are surely tokens of the curse which Zophar in the Book of Iob poureth upon the head of the impious man He shall suck the gall of Asps and the Viper's tongue shall slay him If this seem light because it is secret shall we think they go unpunished because no apparent Plague is presently seen upon them The Judgments of God do not always follow crimes as Thunder doth Lightning but sometimes the space of many Ages coming between When the Sun hath shined fair the space of six dayes upon their Tabernacle we know not what Clouds the seventh may bring And when their punishment doth come let them make their account in the greatness of their sufferings to pay the interest of that respite which hath been given them Or if they chance to escape clearly in this World which they seldome do in the Day when the Heavens shall shrivel as a scrowl and the Mountains