desire rather to leave their children great then good that are more ambitious to have their sons Lords on earth then Kings in Heaven Yet I commend thee Salome that thy first plot was to have thy sons Disciples of Christ then after to prefer them to the best places of that attendance It is the true method of Divine prudence O God first to make our children happy with the honour of thy service and then to endeavour their meet advancement upon earth The mother is but put upon this suit by her sons their heart was in her lips They were not so mortified by their continual conversation with Christ hearing his Heavenly doctrine seeing his Divine carriage but that their mindes were yet roving after temporal Honours Pride is the inmost coat which we put off last and which we put on first Who can wonder to see some sparks of weak and worldly desires in their holiest teachers when the blessed Apostles were not free from some ambitious thoughts whiles they sate at the feet yea in the bosome of their Saviour The near kindred this woman could challenge of Christ might seem to give her just colour of more familiarity yet now that she comes upon a suit she submits her self to the lowest gesture of suppliants We need not be taught that it is fit for petitioners to the Great to present their humble supplications upon their knees O Saviour if this woman so nearly allied to thee according to the flesh coming but upon a temporal occasion to thee being as then compassed about with humane infirmities adored thee ere she durst sue to thee what reverence is enough for us that come to thee upon spiritual suits sitting now in the height of Heavenly Glory and Majesty Say then thou wife of Zebedee what is it that thou cravest of thine omnipotent kinsman A certain thing Speak out woman what is this certain thing that thou cravest How poor and weak is this supplicatory anticipation to him that knew thy thoughts ere thou utteredst them ere thou entertainedst them We are all in this tune every one would have something such perhaps as we are ashamed to utter The Proud man would have a certain thing Honour in the world the Covetous would have a certain thing too Wealth and abundance the Malicious would have a certain thing Revenge on his enemies the Epicure would have Pleasure and Long life the Barren Children the Wanton Beauty Each one would be humored in his own desire though in variety yea contradiction to other though in opposition not more to God's will then our own good How this suit sticks in her teeth and dare not freely come forth because it is guilty of its own faultinesse What a difference there is betwixt the prayers of Faith and the motions of Self-love and infidelity Those come forth with boldnesse as knowing their own welcome and being well assured both of their warrant and acceptation these stand blushing at the door not daring to appear like to some baffled suit conscious to its own unworthinesse and just repulse Our inordinate desires are worthy of a check when we know that our requests are holy we cannot come with too much confidence to the throne of Grace He that knew all their thoughts afar off yet as if he had been a stranger to their purposes asks What wouldest thou Our infirmities do then best shame us when they are fetcht out of our own mouths Like as our Prayers also serve not to acquaint God with our wants but to make us the more capable of his mercies The suit is drawn from her now she must speak Grant that these my two sons may sit one on thy right hand the other on thy left in thy Kingdome It is hard to say whether out of more pride or ignorance It was as received as erroneous a conceit among the very Disciples of Christ that he should raise up a Temporal Kingdom over the now-tributary and beslaved people of Israel The Romans were now their masters their fancy was that their Messias should shake off this yoke and reduce them to their former Liberty So grounded was this opinion that the two Disciples in their walk to Emmaus could say We trusted it had been he that should have delivered Israel and when after his Resurrection he was walking up mount Olivet towards Heaven his very Apostles could ask him if he would now restore that long-exspected Kingdome How should we mitigate our censures of our Christian brethren if either they mistake or know not some secondary truths of Religion when the domestick Attendants of Christ who heard him every day till the very point of his Ascension misapprehended the chief cause of his coming into the world and the state of his Kingdome If our Charity may not bear with small faults what doe we under his name that conniv'd at greater Truth is as the Sun bright in it self yet there are many close corners into which it never shined O God if thou open our hearts we shall take in those beams till thou doe so teach us to attend patiently for our selves charitably for others These Fishermen had so much Courtship to know that the right hand and the left of any Prince were the chief places of Honour Our Saviour had said that his twelve Followers should sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel This good woman would have her two sons next to his person the prime Peers of his Kingdome Every one is apt to wish the best to his own Worldly Honour is neither worth our suit nor unworthy our acceptance Yea Salome had thy mind been in Heaven hadst thou intended this desired preeminence of that celestial state of Glory yet I know not how to justifie thine ambition Wouldst thou have thy sons preferred to the Father of the faithfull to the blessed Mother of thy Saviour That very wish were presumptuous For me O God my ambition shall goe so high as to be a Saint in Heaven and to live as holily on earth as the best but for precedency of Heavenly honour I do not I dare not affect it It is enough for me if I may lift up my head amongst the heels of thy Blessed Ones The mother asks the sons have the answer She was but their tongue they shall be her eares God ever imputes the acts to the first mover rather then to the instrument It was a sore check Ye know not what ye ask In our ordinary communication to speak idly is sin but in our suits to Christ to be so inconsiderate as not to understand our own petitions must needs be a foul offence As Faith is the ground of our Prayers so Knowledge is the ground of our Faith If we come with indigested requests we prophane that Name we invoke To convince their unfitness for Glory they are sent to their impotency in Suffering Are ye able to drink of the cup whereof I shall drink and to be baptized with the Baptisme wherewith
a Saint Oh let this day if we have so long deferr'd it be the day of the renovation of the purification of our Souls And let us begin with a sound humiliation and true sorrow for our former and present wickednesses It hath been an old I say not how true note that hath been went to be set on this day that if it be clear and sun-shinie it portends an bard weather to come if cloudy and louring a milde and gentle season insuing Let me apply this to a spiritual use and assure every hearer that if we overcast this day with the clouds of our sorrow and the rain of our penitent tears we shall find a sweet and hopeful season all our life after Oh let us renew our Covenants with God that we will now be renewed in our Minds The comfort and gain of this change shall be our own whiles the honour of it is Gods and the Gospels for this gracious change shall be followed with a glorious Onwards this onely shall give us true peace of Conscience onely upon this shall the Prince of this world find nothing in us How should he when we are changed from our selves And when we shall come to the last change of all things even when the Heavens and Elements shall be on a flame and shall melt about our ears the Conscience of this change shall lift up our heads with joy and shall give our renewed Souls an happy entry into that new Heaven Or when we shall come to our own last change in the dissolution of these earthly Tabernacles it shall bless our Souls with the assurance of unchangeable happiness and shall bid our renewed bodies lie down in peace and in a sweet exspectation of being changed to the likeness of the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ and of an eternal participation of his infinite glory Whereto he who ordained us graciously bring us even for the merits of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ the Just To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Praise Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen THE FALL of PRIDE Out of PROVERBS 29. vers 23. By Jos. HALL PROV 29. vers 23. A mans Pride shall bring him low but Honour shall uphold the humble in spirit THat which was the ordinary Apophthegm of a greater then Solomon He that exalteth himself shall be brought low but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted which our Saviour used thrice in terminis oft in sense is here the Aphorism of wise Solomon Neither is it ill guessed by learned Mercerus that our Saviour in that speech of his alludes hither I need not tell you how great how wise Solomon was The Great are wont to be most haunted with pride the Wise can best see the danger of that Pride which haunts the great Great and wise Solomon therefore makes it one of his chief common-places the crying down of Pride a Vice not more general then dangerous as that which his witty Imitator can tell us is initium omnis peccati the beginning of all sin Now Pride can never be so much spighted as by honouring her contemned rival Humility Nothing could so much vex that insolent Agagite as to be made a Lacky to a despised Jew Besides her own portion therefore which is Ruine Solomon torments her with the advancement of her abased Opposite My Text then is like unto Shushan in the streets whereof Honour is proclaimed to an humble Mordecai in the Palace whereof is erected an engine of death to a proud Haman A mans Pride shall bring him low but Honour shall uphold the humble The Propositions are Antithetical wherein Pride is opposed to Humility Honour to Ruine Hear I beseech you how wise Solomon hath learn'd of his Father David to sing of Mercy and Judgement Judgement to the Proud Mercy to the Humble both together with one breath The Judgement to the Proud is their humbling the Mercy to the Humble is their raising to Honour It is the noted course of God to work still by contraries as indeed this is the just praise of Omnipotence to fetch light out of darkness life out of death order out of confusion Heaven out of Hell honour out of humility humiliation out of pride according to that of the sacred Way-maker of Christ Every hill shall be cast down every valley raised But in this particular above all other he delights to cross and abase the Proud to advance the Humble as blessed Mary in her Magnificat to pull down the mighty from their seat and to exalt the humble and meek For God hath a special quarrel to the Proud as those that do more nearly contest with his Majesty and scramble with him for his Glory He knows the Proud afarre off and hath a special favour in store for the Humble as those that are vessels most capable of his Mercy because they are empty This in common we descend to the several parts The Judgement begins first as that which is fit to make way for Mercy Therein there are two strains one is the Sin the other is the Punishment The Sin is a mans Pride A mans not for the distinction of one Sex from another but First for the comprehension of both Sexes under one The Woman was first proud and it sticks by her ever since She is none of the daughters of Eve that inherits not her childs-part in this sin Neither is this Feminine Pride less odious less dangerous Rather the weakness of the Sex gives power and advantage to the vice as the fagot-stick will sooner take fire then the log Secondly for the intimation of the reflex action of Pride A mans Pride therefore is the Pride of himself Indeed the whole endeavour study care of the proud man is the hoising of himself yea this Himself is the adequate subject of all sinful desires What doth the Covetous labour but to inrich himself the Voluptuous but to delight himself the Proud but to exalt himself whether in contempt of others or in competition with God himself For Pride hath a double cast of her eye downwards to other men in scorn upwards to God in a rivalty To men first as the proud Pharisee I am not as others nor as this Publican He thinks he is made of better clay then the common lump it is others happiness to serve him He magnifies every act that fals from him as that proud Nebuchadnezzar Is not this great Babel that I have built yea his own very excretions are sweet and fragrant whiles the perfumes of others are ranck and ill-sented To God secondly For whereas Piety makes God our Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the beginning to which we ascribe all the end whereto we referre all the Proud man makes himself his own Alpha thanks himself for all makes himself his own Omega seeks himself in all begins at himself ends at himself Which must needs be so much more odious to God as it conforms us
miserabilior affectata miserior Forced bondage is more worthy of pity affected bondage is more miserable And if God's hand touch him never so little can his Gold bribe a disease can his bags keep his head from aking or the Gout from his joynts or doth his loathing stomack make a difference betwixt an earthen and silver dish O vain desires and impotent contentments of men who place happiness in that which doth not onely not save them from evils but help to make them miserable Behold their wealth feeds them with famine recreates them with toil chears them with cares blesses them with torments and yet they say Bonum est esse hîc How are their sleeps broken with cares how are their hearts broken with losses Either Riches have wings which in the clipping or pulling flye away and take them to Heaven or else their Souls have wings Stulte hac nocte Thou fool this night and fly from their riches to Hell Non Dominus sed colonus saith Seneca Not the Lord but the farmer So that here are both perishing riches and a perishing Soul Uncertainty of riches as S. Paul to his Timothy and certainty of misery And yet these vain men say Bonum est esse hîc The man of Honour that I may use Bernard's phrase that hath Assuerus his proclamation made before him which knows he is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain great man as Simon affected but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man which Demosthenes was proud of that sees all heads bare and all knees bent to him that findes himself out of the reach of envy on the pitch of admiration saies Bonum est esse hîc Alas how little thinks he of that which that good man said to his Eugenius Non est quòd blandiatur celsitudo ubi solicitudo major what care we for the fawning of that greatness which is attended with more care King Henry the seventh's Embleme in all his buildings in the windows was still a Crown in a bush of Thorns I know not with what historical allusion but sure I think to imply that great places are not free from great cares Saul knew what he did when he hid himself among the stuff No man knoweth the weight of a Scepter but he that swaieth it As for subordinate greatness it hath so much less worth as it hath more dependance How many sleepless nights and restless days and busie shifts doth their ambition cost them that affect eminence Certainly no men are so worthy of pity as they whose height thinks all other worthy of contempt High places are slippery and as it is easie to fall so the ruine is deep and the recovery difficult Altiorem locum sortitus es non tutiorem sublimiorem sed non sccuriorem saith Bernard Thou hast got an higher place but not a safer a loftier but not more secure Aulae culmen lubricum The slippery ridge of the Court was the old title of Honour David's curse was fiat via eorum tenebrae lubricum Let their way be made dark and slippery What difference is there betwixt his curse and the happiness of the Ambitious but this That the way of the one is dark and slippery the way of the other lightsome and slippery that dark that they may fall this light that they may see and be seen to fall Please your selves then ye great ones and let others please you in the admiration of your height But if your goodness do not answer your greatness Sera querela est quoniam elevans allisisti me It is a late complaint Thou hast lift me up to cast me down Your ambition hath but set you up a scaffold that your misery might be more notorious And yet these clients of Honour say Bonum est esse hîc The pampered Glutton when he seeth his table spread with full bowls with costly dishes and curious sawces the dainties of all three elements says Bonum est esse hîc And yet eating hath a satiety and satiety a weariness his heart is never more empty of contentment then when his stomack is fullest of Delicates When he is empty he is not well till he be filled when he is full he is not well till he have got a stomack Et momentanea blandimenta gulae stercoris fine condemnat saith Hierome And condemns all the momentany pleasures of his maw to the dunghill And when he sits at his feasts of marrow and fat things as the Prophet speaks his table according to the Psalmists imprecation is made his snare a true snare every way His Soul is caught in it with excess his estate with penury his Body with diseases Neither doth he more plainly tear his meat in pieces with his teeth then he doth himself and yet this vain man saies Bonum est esse hîc The petulant Wanton thinks it the onely happiness that he may have his full scope to filthy dalliance Little would he so doe if he could see his Strumpet as she is her eyes the eyes of a Cockatrice her hairs snakes her painted face the visor of a fury her heart snares her hands bands and her end wormwood consumption of the flesh destruction of the Soul and the flames of lust ending in the flames of Hell Since therefore neither Pleasures nor Honour not Wealth can yield any true contentment to their best favourites let us not be so unwise as to speak of this vale of misery as Peter did of the hill of Tabor Bonum est esse hîc And if the best of earth cannot doe it why will ye seek it in the worst How dare any of you great one seek to purchase contentment with Oppression Sacriledge Bribery out-facing innocence and truth with power damning your own Souls for but the humoring of a few miserable days Filii hominum usquequo gravi corde ad quid diligitis vanitatem quaeritis mendacium O ye sons of men how long c. But that which moved Peter's desire though with imperfection shews what will perfect our desire and felicity for if a glimpse of this Heavenly glory did so ravish this worthy Disciple that he thought it happiness enough to stand by and gaze upon it how shall we be affected with the contemplation yea fruition of the Divine Presence Here was but Tabor there is Heaven here were but two Saints there many millions of Saints and Angels here was Christ transfigured there he sits at the right hand of Majesty here was a representation there a gift and possession of Blessedness Oh that we could now forget the world and fixing our eyes upon this better Tabor say Bonum est esse hîc Alas this life of ours if it were not short yet it is miserable and if it were not miserable yet it is short Tell me ye that have the greatest command on earth whether this vile world have ever afforded you any sincere contentation The world is your servant if it were your Parasite yet could it make you heartily
more glorifie thy infinite mercy in suffering It is not out of any compassion of thy misery or care of thine ease that Simon of Cyrene is forced to be the porter of thy Crosse it was out of their own eagernesse of thy dispatch thy feeble paces were too slow for their purpose their thirst after thy blood made them impatient of delay If thou have wearily strugled with the burden of thy shame all along the streets of Jerusalem when thou com'st once past the gates an helper shall be deputed to thee the expedition of thy death was more sweet to them then the pain of a lingring passage What thou saidst to Judas they say to the Executioner What thou doest doe quickly Whiles thou yet livest they cannot be quiet they cannot be safe to hasten thine end they lighten thy carriage Hadst thou done this out of choice which thou didst out of constraint how I should have envied thee O Simon of Cyrene as too happy in the honour to be the first man that bore that Crosse of thy Saviour wherein millions of blessed Martyrs have since that time been ambitious to succeed thee Thus to bear thy Crosse for thee O Saviour was more then to bear a crown from thee Could I be worthy to be thus graced by thee I should pity all other glories Whiles thou thus passest O dear Jesu the streets and waies resound not all with one note If the malicious Jews and cruell Souldiers insulted upon thee and either haled or railed thee on with a bitter violence thy faithfull Followers were no lesse loud in their moans and ejulations neither would they indure that the noise of their cries and lamentations should be drowned with the clamour of those reproches but especially thy Blessed Mother and those other zealous associates of her own Sex were most passionate in their wailings And why should I think that all that devout multitude which so lately cried Hosanna in the streets did not also bear their part in these publick condolings Though it had not concerned thy self O Saviour thine ears had been still more open to the voice of grief then of malice and so thy lips also are open to the one shut to the other Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children Who would not have thought O Saviour that thou shouldst have been wholly taken up with thine own sorrows The expectation of so bitter a Death had been enough to have overwhelmed any Soul but thine yet even now can thy gracious eye finde time to look beyond thine own miseries at theirs and to pity them who insensible of their own insuing condition mourned for thine now present They see thine extremity thou foreseest theirs they powre out their sorrow upon thee thou divertest it upon themselves We silly creatures walk blindefolded in this vale of tears and little know what evil is towards us only what we feel we know and whiles we feel nothing can finde leisure to bestow our commiseration on those who need it perhaps lesse then our selves Even now O Saviour when thou wert within the view of thy Calvary thou canst foresee and pity the vastation of thy Jerusalem and givest a sad Prophecy of the imminent destruction of that City which lately had cost thee tears and now shall cost thee blood It is not all the indign cruelty of men that can rob thee of thy Mercy Jerusalem could not want Malefactors though Barabbas was dismissed That all this execution might seem to be done out of the zeal of Justice two capital offenders adjudged to their Gibbet shall accompany thee O Saviour both to thy death and in it They are led manicled after thee as lesse criminous no stripes had disabled them from bearing their own Crosses Long agoe was this unmeet society foretold by thine Evangelical Seer He was taken from prison and from judgment He was cut out of the land of the living He made his grave with the Wicked O blessed Jesu it had been disparagement enough to thee to be forted with the best of men since there is much sin in the perfectest and there could be no sin in thee but to be matched with the scum of mankinde whom vengeance would not let to live is such an indignity as confounds my thoughts Surely there is no Angel in Heaven but would have been proud to attend thee and what could the earth afford worthy of thy train yet malice hath suited thee with company next to Hell that their viciousnesse might reflect upon thee and their Sin might stain thine Innocence Ye are deceived O ye fond Judges This is the way to grace your dying malefactors this is not the way to disgrace him whose guiltlesnesse and perfection triumph'd over your injustice his presence was able to make your Thieves happy their presence could no more blemish him then your own Thus guarded thus attended thus accompanied art thou Blessed Jesu led to that loathsome and infamous hill which now thy last blood shall make Sacred now thou settest thy foot upon that rising ground which shalt prevent thine Olivet whence thy Soul shall first ascend into thy Glory There whiles thou art addressing thy self for thy last Act thou art presented with that bitter and farewell-potion wherewith dying Malefactors were wont to have their senses stupified that they might not feel the torments of their execution It was but the common mercy of men to alleviate the death of Offenders since the intent of their last doom is not so much pain as dissolution That draught O Saviour was not more welcome to the guilty then hatefull unto thee In the vigor of all thine inward and outward senses thou wouldst incounter the most violent assaults of death and scornedst to abate the least touch of thy quickest apprehension Thou well knewest that the work thou wentest about would require the use of all thy powers it was not thine ease that thou soughtest but our Redemption neither meantest thou to yield to thy last enemy but to resist and to overcome him which that thou mightest doe the more gloriously thou challengedst him to doe his worst and in the mean time wouldst not disfurnish thy self of any of thy powerfull faculties This greatest combat that ever was shall be fought on even hand neither wouldst thou steal that Victory which thou now atchievedst over Death and Hell Thou didst but touch at this cup it is a far bitterer then this that thou art now drinking up to the dregs thou refusedst that which was offered thee by men but that which was mixed by thine eternal Father though mere Gall and Wormwood thou didst drink up to the last drop And therein O Blessed Jesu lies all our health and salvation I know not whether I do more suffer in thy pain or joy in the issue of thy Suffering Now even now O Saviour art thou entring into those dreadfull lists and now art thou grapling with thy last enemy as if thou hadst not
and felicity if his absence could be grievous his return shall be happy and glorious Even so Lord Jesus come quickly In the mean while it is not Heaven that can keep thee from me it is not earth that can keep me from thee Raise thou up my Soul to a life of Faith with thee let me ever injoy thy conversation whiles I exspect thy return A SERMON OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING For the wonderful Mitigation of the late Mortalitie Preached before His Majestie upon His gracious Command at His Court of Whitehall Jan. 29. 1625. and upon the same Command published by JOS. HALL Dean of Worcester Psal 68. vers 19 20. Blessed be the Lord who loadeth us daily with benefits even the God of our Salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death YEa blessed be the Lord who hath added this unto the load of his other Mercies to his unworthy servant that the same Tongue which was called not long since to chatter out our Publick Mournings in the Solemn Fast of this place is now imployed in a Song of Praise and the same Hand which was here lifted up for Supplication is now lift up in Thanksgiving Ye that then accompanied me with your tears and sighs accompany me now I beseech you in this happy change of note and time with your joyful Smiles and Acclamations to the GOD that hath wrought it It is not more natural for the Sun when it looks upon a moist and wellfermented earth to cause Vapors to ascend thence then it is for Greatness and Goodness when they both meet together upon an honest heart to draw up holy desires of gratulation The worth of the Agent doth it not alone without a â—it disposition in the Subject Let the Sun cast his strongest beams upon a flint a pumice he fetches out no stream Even so the Greatness and Goodness of the Almighty beating upon a dry and hard heart prevailes nothing Here all three are happily met In God infinite Greatness infinite Goodness such Greatness that he is attended with thousand thousands of Angels a Guard fit for the King of Heaven such Goodness that he receives Gifts even for the rebellious In David a Gracious heart that in a sweet sense of the great Goodness of his God breaths out this Divine Epiphonema Blessed be the Lord who loadeth us daily with benefits even the God of our Salvation c. Wherein methinks the sweet Singer of Israel seems to raise his note to the emulation of the Quire of Heaven in the melody of their Allelujahs yea let me say now that he sings above in that Blessed Consort of glorious Spirits his Ditty cannot be better then this that he sung here upon earth and wherein we are about to bear our parts at this time Prepare I beseech you both your eares for David's Song and your hearts and tongues for your own And first in this Angelical strain your thoughts cannot but observe without me the Descant and the Ground The Descant of Gratulation Blessed be the Lord wherein is both Applause and Excitation an Applause given to God's Goodness and an Excitation of others to give that Applause The Ground is a threefold respect Of what God is in himself God and Lord Of what God is and doth to us which loadeth us daily with benefits Of what he is both in himself and to us The God of our Salvation which last like to some rich Stone is set off with a dark foyl To God the Lord belong the issues from death So in the first for his own sake in the second for our sakes in the third for his own and ours as God as Lord as a Benefactor as a Saviour and Deliverer Blessed be the Lord. It is not hard to observe that David's Allelujahs are more then his Hosannas his thanks more then his suits Oft-times doth he praise God when be begs nothing seldome ever doth he beg that favour for which he doth not raise up his Soul to an anticipation of Thanks neither is this any other then the universal under-song of all his Heavenly Ditties Blessed be the Lord. Praised as our former Translation hath it is too low Honour is more then Praise Blessing is more then Honour Neither is it for nothing that from this word Barac to bless is derived Berec the knee which is bowed in blessing and the cryer before Joseph proclaimed Abrech calling for the honour of the knee from all beholders Gen. 41. 43. Every slight trivial acknowledgement of worth is a Praise Blessing is in a higher strain of gratitude that carries the whole sway of the heart with it in a kinde of Divine rapture Praise is in matter of complement Blessing of Devotion The Apostle's Rule is that the less is blessed of the greater Abraham of the King of Salem The Prophets charge is that the greater should be blessed of the less yea the greatest of the least God of man This agrees well Blessing is an act that will bear reciprocation God blesseth man and man blesseth God God blesseth man imperatively man blesseth God optatively God blesseth man in the acts of Mercy man blesseth God in the notions in the expressions of thanks God blesses man when he makes him good and happy man blesseth God when he confesseth how good how gracious how glorious he is so as the blessing is wholly taken up in agnition in celebration in the one we acknowledge the Bounty of God to us in the other we magnifie him vocally really for that Bounty Oh see then what high account God makes of the affections and actions of his poor silly earth-creeping creatures that he gives us in them power to bless himself and takes it as an honour to be blessed of us David wonders that God should so vouchsafe to bless man how much more must we needs wonder at the mercy of God that will vouchsafe to be blessed by man a worm an atome a nothing Yet both S. James tels us that with the tongue we bless God and the Psalmist calls for it here as a service of dear acceptation Blessed be the Lord. Even we men live not Cameleon-like with the aire of thanks nor feed ere the fatter with praises how much less our Maker O God we know well that whatsoever men or Angels doe or doe not thou canst not but be infinitely Blessed in thy self before ever any creature was thou didst equally injoy thy blessed Self from all Eternity what can this worthless loose filme of flesh either adde to or detract from thine Infiniteness Yet thou that humblest thy self to behold the things that are done in Heaven and earth humblest thy self also to accept the weak breath of our Praises that are sent up to thee from earth to Heaven How should this incourage the vows the endeavours of our hearty thankfulness to see them graciously taken Would men take up with good words with good desires and quit our bonds
subduction thus Save thy self from a froward generation The last and utmost of all dangers is Confusion That charge of God by Moses is but just Numb 16. 26. Depart I pray you from the tents of these men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye perish in all their sins Lo the very station the very touch is mortal Indeed what reason is there to hope or to plead for an immunity if we share in the work why should we not take part of the wages The wages of sin is death If the Stork be taken damage faisant with the Cranes she is enwrapped in the same net and cannot complain to be surprized Qui cum lupis est cum lupis ululet as he said He that is with wolves let him howl with wolves If we be fratres in malo brethren in evil we must look to be involved in the same curse Be not deceived Honourable and beloved here is no exemption of Greatness nay contrarily Eminence of place aggravates both the sin and the judgement When Ezra heard that the hand of the Princes and Rulers had been chief in that great offence then he rent his cloaths and tore his hair Ezra 9. 3. Certainly this case is dangerous and fearful wheresoever it lights Hardly are those sins redressed that are taken up by the Great Easily are those sins diffused that are warranted by great Examples The great Lights of Heaven the most conspicuous Planets if they be eclipsed all the Almanacks of all Nations write of it whereas the small Stars of the Galaxy are not heeded All the Country runs to a Beacon on fire no body regards to see a Shrub flaming in a valley Know then that your sins are so much greater as your selves are and all the comfort that I can give you without your true repentance is That mighty men shall be mightily tormented Of all other men therefore be ye most careful to keep your selves untainted with the common sins and to renew your covenant with God No man cares for a spot upon a plain russet riding-suit but we are curious of a rich robe every mote there is an eye-sore Oh be ye careful to preserve your Honour from all the foul blemishes of corruption as those that know Vertue hath a greater share in Nobility then Blood Imitate in this the great frame of the Creation which still the more it is removed from the dregs of this earth the purer it is Oh save ye your selves from this untoward Generation so shall ye help to save your Nation from the imminent Judgements of our just God so shall ye save your Souls in the day of the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinite God be all Honour and Glory ascribed now and for ever Amen THE HYPOCRITE Set forth in A SERMON at the Court February 28. 1629. Being the third Sunday in LENT By Jos. Exon. To my ever most worthily Honour'd Lord the Earl of NORWICH My most Honoured Lord I Might not but tell the world that this Sermon which was mine in the Pulpit is Yours in the Press Your Lordship's will which shall never be other then a command to me fetches it forth into the Light before the fellows Let me be branded with the Title of it if I can think it worthy of the publick view in comparison of many accurate pieces of others which I see content themselves daily to die in the ear Howsoever if it may doe good I shall bless your Lordship for helping to advance my gain Your Noble and sincere true-heartedness to your God your King your Countrey your Friend is so well known that it can be no disparagement to your Lordship to patronize this Hypocrite whose very inscription might cast a blur upon some guilty reputation Goe on still most noble Lord to be a great Example of Vertue and Fidelity to an hollow and untrusty Age. You shall not want either the Acclamations or Prayers of Your Lordships ever devoted in all true Duty and Observance Jos. Exon. THE HYPOCRITE 2 Tim. 3. 5. Having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof IT is an unperfect Clause you see but a perfect Description of an Hypocrite and that an Hypocrite of our own times the last which are so much the worse by how much they partake more of the craft and diseases of age The Prophets were the Seers of the Old Testament the Apostles were the Seers of the New those saw Christ's day and rejoyced these foresaw the reign of Antichrist and complained These very times were as present to S. Paul as to us our Sense doth not see them so clearly as his Revelation I am with you in the Spirit saith he to his absent Colossians rejoycing and beholding your order he doth as good as say to them I am with you in the Spirit lamenting and beholding your misdemeanours By these Divine Opticks he sees our formal Piety real Wickedness both which make up the complete Hypocrisie in my Text Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof I doubt not but some will be ready to set this sacred Prognostication to another Meridian And indeed we know a Generation that loves themselves too well much more then Peace and Truth so covetous that they would catch all the world in S. Peter's net proud boasters of their own merits perfections supererogations it would be long though easie to follow all We know where too many Treasons are hatched we know who in the height of minde exalts himself above all that is called God we know where pleasure hath the most delicate and debauch'd Clients we know where Devotion is professedly formal and lives impure and surely were we clearly innocent of these crimes I should be the first that would cast this stone at Rome But now that we share with them in these sins there is no reason we should be sejoyned in the Censure Take it among ye therefore ye Hypocrites of all professions for it is your own Ye have a form of Godliness denying the power thereof What is an Hypocrite but a Player the Zani of Religion as ye heard lately A Player acts that he is not so do ye act good and are wicked Here is a semblance of good a form of Godliness here is a real evil a denial of the power of Godliness There is nothing so good as Godliness yea there is nothing good but it nothing makes Godliness to be good or to be Godliness but the power of it for it is not if it work not and it works not if not powerfully Now the denial of good must needs be evil and so much more evil as the good which is denied is more good and therefore the denial of the power of Godliness must needs be as ill as the form or shew of Godliness would seem good and as the power of Godliness is good This is therefore the perfect Hypocrisie of fashionable Christians they have the form they deny the
as the great Emperour could say I have been all things and am never the better Have ye Great ones all the incurvations of the knee the kisses of the hand the styles of Honour yea the flatteries of Heralds let Gods hand touch you but a little with a spotted Fever or girds of the Colick or belking pains of the Gout or stoppings of the bladder alas what ease is it to you that you are laid in a Silken bed that a potion is brought you on the knee in a Golden cup that the Chirurgion can say he hath taken from you Noble blood As Esau said of his birth-right ye shall say mutat is mutandis of all these ceremonies of Honour What are these to me when I am ready to dye for pain Is it Beauty What is that or wherein consists it Wherein but in mere opinion The Aethiopians think it consists in perfect Blackness we Europeans in white and red and the wisest say That is fair that pleaseth And what Face is it that pleaseth all Even in the worst some eyes see features that please in the best some others see lines they like not And if any Beauty could have all voices what were this but a wast and worthless approbation Grant it to be in the greatest exquisiteness what is it but a Blossome in May or a Flower in August or an Apple in Autumn soon faln soon withered Should any of you glorious Dames be seized upon with the nasty pustles of the small Pox alas what pits do those leave behind them to bury your Beauties in Or if but some languishing Quartan should arrest you how is the delicate skin turn'd tawnie How doth an unwelcome Dropsie wherein that disease too often ends bag up the eyes and mis-shape the face and body with unpleasing and unkindly tumors In short when all is done after all our cost and care what is the best hide but saccus stercorum as Bernard speaks which if we do not finde noisome others shall Well may I therefore ask with Ecclesiasticus Quid superbit terra cinis Why is this earth and ashes proud though it were as free from sin as it is from perfection But now when wickedness is added to vanity and we are more abominable by sin then weak by nature how should we be utterly ashamed to look up to Heaven to look upon our own faces Surely therefore whensoever you see a Proud man say there is a Fool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the heathen Menander could say so for if he were not a mere stranger in himself he could be no other then confounded in himself We see our own outward filthiness in those loathsome excretions which the purest nature puts forth but if we could as well see our inward Spiritual beastliness we could not but be swallowed up of our confusion It falls out with men in this case as with some old foul and wrinkled dames that are soothed up by their Parasites in an admiration of their Beauty to whom no glass is allowed but the picturers that flatters them with a smooth fair and young image Let such a one come casually to the view of a Glass she falls out first with that mirrour and cries out of the false representation but after when upon stricter examination she finds the fault in her self she becomes as much out of love with her self as ever her flatterers seemed to be enamour'd of her It is no otherwise with us We easily run away with the conceit of our Spiritual Beauty of our innocent Integrity every thing feeds us in our over-weening opinion Let the Glass of the Law be brought once and set before us we shall then see the shameful wrinkles and foul morphews of our Souls and shall say with the Prophet We lye down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God Jer. 3. 25. Thus if we be humbled in spirit◠we shall be raised unto true Honour even such Honour as have all his Saints To the participation whereof that God who hath ordained graciously bring us for the sake of Jesus Christ the Righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinite God be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen CHRIST AND CAESAR A SERMON preached at Hampton-Court By Jos. HALL Joh. 19. 15. The chief Priests answered We have no King but Caesar THere cannot be a more loyal speech as it may be used One Sun is enough for Heaven one King for earth But as it is used there cannot be a worse For in so few words these Jews flatter Caesar reject Christ oppose Christ to Caesar First pretending they were Caesar's subjects secondly professing they were not Christs subjects thirdly arguing that they could not be Christ's subjects because they were Caesar's The first by way of affirmation Caesar is our King the second by way of negation No King but Caesar the third by way of implication Christ is not our King because Caesar is The first was a truth Caesar was indeed now their King but against their wils Conquest had made his name unwelcome They say true then and yet they flatter Wonder not at this a man may flatter yea lye in speaking truth when his heart believes not the title that his tongue gives So it was with these Jews they call'd him King whom they malign'd as an Usurper For they feeding themselves with the conceit of being God's free people wherein Judas Gaulonites and Sadducus the Pharisee had soothed them hated him as an enemy whom they were forced to fear as their King holding it no better then a sinful vassalage to stoop unto an Heathen scepter Ye know the question moved upon the Tribute-money Matth. 22. 17. Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar Lo they say not Is it needful but Is it lawful The Herodians were a Faction that had never moved this question unless the Pharisees and their scrupulous clients had denied it They make it a difficulty not of purse but of conscience Licetne Is it lawful Yet here Regem habemus Caesarem Caesar is our King They liked well enough to have a King yea hereupon they were so ready to swagger with God and his Samuel They had learn'd of Nature and experience the best form of Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but they would have had him of their own As God said of the great Prophet so they are glad to hear him say of their King De numero fratrum tuorum From among thy brethren Propriety is in nothing more pleasing then in matter of Government It is a joy to think we have a King of our own our own blood our own Religion according to the motto of our Princes Ich Dicn Otherwise next to Anarchy is Heterarchy neither do we find much difference betwixt having no head at all and having another mans head on our shoulders The Bees love to have a King but one that is of their own hive If an Hornet
thou suffer the world to be deluded with these foul and pernicious impostures how long shall thy Church groan under the heavie yoke of their sinful impositions O thou that art the great Shepherd look down and visit thy wandring flock and at last let loose those silly sheep of thine that are fast intangled in the briars of Antichristian exaction And we why do not we as heartily labour to reclaim them as they to withdraw us why should they burn with zeal whiles we freeze with indifferency Oh let us spend our selves in prayers in tears in perswasions in unweariable endevours for the happy conversion of those ignorant mis-guided souls who having not our knowledge yet shame our affections Of Indignation lastly as on the one side at those practical revolters that having begun in the spirit will needs end in the flesh that having made a shew of godliness deny the power of it in their lives returning with that impure beast to their own vomit so on the other at those speculative relapsers that have out of policy or guiltiness abandoned a known and received truth Pity is for those silly creatures that could never be blessed with Divine Reason and upright formes but for a Gryllus that was once a man to quit his humanity and to be in love with four feet what stomack can but rise at so affected a transformation The Cameleon is for a time beautiful with all pleasing varieties of colours in the end no skin is more nasty Wo is me the swept house is repossessed with seven Devils This recidivation is desperate although indeed there would not be a revolt without an inward unsoundness Do ye see an apple fall untimely from the tree view it ye shall finde it worm-eaten else it had held Avolent quantum volent paleoe istae levis fidei as that Father said Let this light chaffe flie whither it will it shews it to be but chaffe God's heap shall be so much the purer and in the mean time what do they make themselves fit for but the fire What shall we say to these absurd changes Our fore-fathers thought themselves in Heaven when first the bright beams of the Gospel brake forth in their eyes and shall we like those fond subterraneous people that Rubruquis speaks of curse those glorious beams of the Sun now risen up to us and lay our eares close to the ground that we may not hear the harmony of that motion Our Fathers blessed themselves in this Angelical Manna and shall our mouths hang towards the onions and garlick of Aegypt Revertimini filii aversantes Return ye backsliding children return to the fountains of living waters which ye have exchanged for your broken cisternes Recordamini priorum as Esay speaks 46. 9. But if their will do lie still in their way it were happy for them if authority would deal with them as confident riders do with a startling horse spur them up and bring them back to the block they leap'd from But if still their obstinacy will needs in spight of contrary endeavours feoffe them in the style of filii desertores it is a fearfull word that God speaks to them Vae eis quoniam vagantur à me Wo to them for they have wandered from me Ose 7. 13. Now the God of Heaven reclaim them confirm us save both them and us in the day of the Lord Jesus to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinite God be given all Praise Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen St. PAUL'S COMBAT THE SECOND PART 1 Cor. 15. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I Have carried you into S. Paul's Theatre at Ephesus I have shew'd you his Beasts you must now see his Fight It was his charge to Timothy that he should be an example know then that what he bids he practises It is an exemplary combat which S. Paul fought and that wherein we must follow him as Teachers as Christians Here he saies I have fought afterwards in imitation of him that saw his own works and approved them he saies I have fought a good fight doubtless as with principalities and powers elsewhere so even with these beasts at Ephesus Let it please you to see first the person of the combatant then secondly the manner of the fight In the former ye may not look at S. Paul as a common souldier but as a selected Champion of God not merely as Paul but as an Apostle as a publick person as the spiritual Leader of God's people so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have fought with beasts There is no trained man in the whole troup of God but must have his bout with the beasts of the Time Vita hominis militia super terram we are here in a militant Church As we have all received our press-money in Baptisme so we must every one according to our ingagement maintain this fight against the world But if a man be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul singled out to a publick calling now he must think himself made for combats because for victories for Bellum durius contra victores as Gregory speaketh It was the charge of the Apostle that a Bishop should be no striker and Clericus percussor is an old brand of irregularity But if in this kind he strike not I must say of him as S. Paul to Ananias God shall smite thee thou whited wall All his whole life must be spent in these blows he must be as Jeremy speaks of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of strife and contention there is no beast comes in his way but he must have a fling at him When Gregory Nazianzen speaks of Basil designed to the Bishoprick of Caesarea If any man saith he pretend his weakness non athletem sed doctorem creabitis But in this spiritual sense if he be a Doctor in the Chair he must be a Champion in the Theatre No S. Martin may plead here I am Christs Souldier I may not fight yea therefore must he fight because he is Christs Souldier Whosoever then would be a fit combatant for God to enter into these lists against the beasts of the world must be a S. Paul in proportion so must he be a follower of him as he is of Christ Will it please you to see him first qualified then armed Qualified first with Holiness Skill Courage Holiness For he must be a man of God and as the Apostle charges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 irreprehensible otherwise he is a beast himself and had need of some body to bait him Wo be to those Champions of God that take upon them to wield the sword of the Spirit with unclean hands That divine weapon is not so fit to wound any as their own Souls Ex ore tuo serve nequam Let me say truly It were an happy and hopeful thing that even our external and secular Wars should be managed with pure and innocent hands I shall tell you that which perhaps few of you have either
and Binnius fall foul upon it with a facilè inducimur c. we are easily induced to believe it to be a lie Their ground is that it is destitute of all testimony of Antiquity and besides that it doth directly cross the report of Beda who tels us that our English together with the Gospel received that use of Images from their Apostle Augustine and therefore needed not any new Vision for the entertainment thereof Let us enquire then a little into the words of Beda At illi but they Augustine and his fellows non daemoniaca c. came armed not with the power of Devils but of God bearing a silver Cross for their Standard and the Image of our Lord and Saviour painted in a Table and singing Letanies both for the Salvation of themselves and of them whom they came to convert Thus he This shews indeed that Augustine and his fellows brought Images into England unknown here before a point worthy of good observation but how little this proves the allowed Worship of them will easily appear to any Reader if he consider that Gregory the first and Great was he that sent this Augustine into England whose judgement concerning Images is clearly published by himself to all the world in his fore-cited Epistle absolutely condemning their Adoration Augustine should have been an ill Apostle if he had herein gone contrary to the will of him that sent him if withal he shall consider that within the very same Century of years the Clergy of England by Bede's Scholar sent this publick declaration of their earnest disavowing both of the doctrine and practice of Image-worship Sect. 2. Image-worship against Scripture AS for Scripture we need not to goe further then the very Second Commandement the charge whereof is so inevitable that it is very ordinarily doubtless in the guiltiness of an apparent check left out in the devotional Books to the people Others since they cannot raze it out would fain limit it to the Jews pretending that this precept against the worship of Images was onely Temporal and Ceremonial and such as ought not to be in force under the Times of the Gospel Wherein they recal to my thoughts that which Epiphanius the son of Carpocrates answered when his Lust was checked with the command of Non concupisces True said he that is to be understood of the Heathen whose Wives and Sisters we may not indeed lust after Some more modest spirit are ashamed of that shift and fly to the distinction of Idols and Images a distinction without a difference of their making not of Gods of whom we never learned other then that as every Idol is an Image of something so every Image worshipped turns Idol the Language differs not the thing it self To be sure God takes order for both Ye shall make you no Idol nor graven Image neither rear you up any standing image neither shall you sct up any image of stone in your Land to bow down to it Yea as their own Vulgar turns it Non facies tibi c. statuam Thou shalt not set thee up a Statue which God hateth The Book of God is full of his indignation against this practice We may well shut up all with that curse in Mount Geresim Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image an abomination unto the Lord the work of the hands of the craftsman and putteth it in a secret place And all the people shall say Amen Surely their Durandus after he hath cited divers Scriptures against Idols as Exod. 20. Levit. 26. Deut. 4. Numb 25 c. at last concludes Ex his similibus c. By these and the like authorities is condemned the too much use of Images Now because many eyes are bleared with a pretence of worshipping these not as Gods but as resemblances of God's friends let any indifferent man but read the Epistle of Jeremy Baruch 6. canonical to them though not to us and compare the estate and usage of those ancient Idols with the present Images of the Romane Church and if he do not find them fully parallel'd let him condemn our quarrel of injustice But we must needs think them hard driven for Scripture when they run for shelter under that Text which professedly taxeth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in illicitis idolorum cultibus saith S. Peter in unlawfull Idolatries speaking of the Gentiles Therefore saith Valentia there is a lawfull worship of Idols As if that were an Epithet of favour which is intended to aggravation So he that should call Satan an unclean Devil should imply that some Devil is not unclean or deceivable lusts some lusts deceitlesse or hatefull wickedness some wickedness not hatefull The man had forgot that the Apostle spake of the heathenish Idolatrie wherein himself cannot plead any colour of lawfulnesse May this therefore befriend them to call Idolatrie abominable the Scripture is theirs neither can they look for any other countenance from those Sacred monuments Sect. 3. Against Reason WHat need we seek any other Reason of God's prohibition then his will and yet God himself hath given abundant reason of his prohibition of Images erected to himself To whom will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him Ye saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spake to you in Horcb It is an high injury to the infinite and Spiritual nature of God to be resembled by bodily shapes And for the worship of Images erected to himself or his creature I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another nor my praise to molten images The holy jealousie of the Almighty will not abide any of his honour divided with his creature and whatever worship more then mere humane is imparted to the creature sets it in rivaltie with our Maker The man is better then his picture and if religious worship will not be allowed to the Person of man or Angel how much lesse to his Image Not to man Saint Peter forbids it not to Angel himself forbids it What a madnesse then is it for a living man to stoop unto a dead stock unlesse as that Cynick had wont to speak unto statues to use himself to repulses This curtesie was too shamefull in the Pagans of old how much more intolerable in Christians And as for that last shift of this unlawfull devotion that they worship not the Image but by it the Person represented Haec à Paganis afferri solebat This saith Cassander out of the evidence of Arnobius Lactantius to whom he might have added Saint Augustine was the very evasion of the old Heathen Nec valebat tunc illa ratio Neither would this colour then serve how can it hope now to passe and finde allowance The Doctrine therefore and Practice of Image-worship as late as erroneous is justly rejected by us who
them that dwell therein Perhaps there wanted not some Sacriledge in the Demolishers In all the carriage of these businesses there was a just hand that knew how to make an wholsome and profitable use of mutuall sins Full little did the Builders or the in-dwellers think that this costly and warm fabrick should so soon end violently in a desolate rubbish It is not for us to be high-minded but to fear No Roof is so high no Wall so strong as that Sin cannot level it with the Dust Were any pile so close that it could keep out aire yet it could not keep out Judgement where Sin hath been fore-admitted In vain shall we promise stability to those Houses which we have made witnesses of and accessaries to our shamefull uncleannesses The firmnesse of any Building is not so much in the matter as in the owner Happy is that Cottage that hath an honest Master and wo be to that Palace that is viciously inhabited LXXVII Upon the discharging of a Peece GOod Lord how witty men are to kill one another What fine devices they have found out to murder afar off to slay many at once and so to fetch off lives that whiles a whole Lane is made of Carkasses with one blow no body knows who hurt him And what honour do we place in slaughter Those armes wherein we pride our selves are such as which we or our Ancestors have purchased with blood the monuments of our Glory are the spoils of a subdu'd and slain enemy Where contrarily all the titles of God sound of Mercy and gracious respects to Man God the Father is the Maker and Preserver of men God the Son is the Saviour of Mankind God the Holy Ghost styles himself the Comforter Alas whose image do we bear in this disposition but his whose true title is the Destroier It is easie to take away the life it is not easie to give it Give me the man that can devise how to save Troups of men from killing his name shall have room in my Calender There is more true Honour in a Civick Garland for the preserving of one Subject then in a Lawrell for the victory of many Enemies O God there are enough that bend their thoughts to undoe what thou hast made enable thou me to bestow my endeavours in reprieving or rescuing that which might otherwise perish O thou who art our common Saviour make thou me both ambitious and able to help to save some other besides my self LXXVIII Upon the tolling of a passing-Bell HOw dolefull and heavy is this summons of Death This sound is not for our eares but for our hearts it calls us not onely to our Prayers but to our preparation to our prayers for the departing Soul to our preparation for our own departing We have never so much need of Prayers as in our last Combat then is our great Adversary most eager then are we the weakest then Nature is so over-laboured that it gives us not leisure to make use of gracious motions There is no preparation so necessary â—s for this Confâ—ict all our Life is little enough to make ready for our last hour What am I better then my Neighbours How oft hath this Bell reported to me the farewell of many more strong and vigorous bodies then my own of many more chearfull and lively spirits And now what doth it but call me to the thought of my parting Here is no abiding for me I must away too O thou that art the God of comfort help thy poor Servant that is now struggling with his last enemy His sad Friends stand gazing upon him and weeping over him but they cannot succour him needs must they leave him to doe this great work alone none but thou to whom belong the issues of death canst relieve his distressed and over-matched Soul And for me let no man die without me as I die daily so teach me to die once acquaint me beforehand with that Messenger which I must trust to Oh teach me so to number my dayes that I may apply my heart to true wisdome LXXIX Upon a Defamation dispersed WEre I the first or the best that ever was slandered perhaps it would be somewhat difficult to command my self patience Grief is wont to be abated either by partners or precedents the want whereof dejects us beyond measure as men singled out for patterns of misery Now whiles I finde this the common condition of all that ever have been reputed vertuous why am I troubled with the whisperings of false tongues O God the Devil slandered thee in Paradise O Saviour men slandered thee on earth more then men or Devils can reproach me Thou art the best as thou art the best that ever was smitten by a lying and venomous tongue It is too much favour that is done me by malicious lips that they conform me to thy Sufferings I could not be so happy if they were not so spightfull O thou glorious pattern of reproached Innocence if I may not die for thee yet let me thus bleed with thee LXXX Upon a ring of Bels. WHiles every Bell keeps due time and order what a sweet and harmonious sound they make all the neighbour Villages are cheared with that common Musick But when once they jarre and check each other either jangling together or striking preposterously how harsh and unpleasing is that noise So that as we testifie our publick rejoycing by an orderly and wel-tuned peal so when we would signifie that the town is on fire we ring confusedly It is thus in Church and Commonwealth when every one knows and keeps their due ranks there is a melodious consort of Peace and contentment but when distances and proportions of respects are not mutually observed when either States or persons will be clashing with each other the discord is grievous and extremely prejudiciall such confusion either notifieth a fire already kindled or portendeth it Popular States may ring the changes with safety but the Monarchicall Government requires a constant and regular course of the set degrees of rule and inferiority which cannot be violated without a sensible discontentment and danger For me I do so love the Peace of the Church and State that I cannot but with the charitable Apostle say Would to God they were cut off that trouble them and shall ever wish either no jarres or no clappers LXXXI Upon the sight of a full Table at a Feast WHat great Variety is here of Flesh of Fish of both of either as if both Nature and Art did strive to pamper us Yet methinks enough is better then all this Excesse is but a burden as to the Provider so to the Guest It pities and grieves me to think what toile what charge hath gone to the gathering of all these Dainties together what pain so many poor creatures have been put to in dying for a needlesse Sacrifice to the Belly what a Penance must be done by every Accumbent in sitting out the passage through all these dishes