indeed all our Religion is rather Vidimus a Contemplation then Venimus a Motion or stirring to doe ought But when we do it we must be allowed leisure Ever Veniemus never Venimus Ever comming never come We love to make no very great haste To other things perhapps Not to Adorare the Place of the worship of GOD. Why should we CHRIST is no wild catt What talke you of twelve dayes And it be fortie dayes hence ye shall be sure to finde His Mother and Him She cannot be churched till then What needes such haste The truth is we conceipt Him and His Birth but slenderly and our haste is even thereafter But if we be at that point we must be out of this Venimus they like enough to leave us behind Bâ—st get us a new Christ-masse in September we are not like to comâ— to CHRIST at this Feast Enough for venimus 4. Their Enquiry Vbi est But what is Venimus without Invenimus And when they came they hit not on Him at first No more must we thinke as soone as ever we be come to finde Him strâ—ight They are faigne to come to their Vbi est We must now looke backe to that For though it stand before in the Verse here is the right place of it They saw before they came and came before they asked Asked before they found and found before they worshipped Betweene Venimus their comming and Adorare their worshipping there is the true place of Dicentes Vbi est Where first we note a double use of their Dicentes these Wise men had 1 As to manifest what they knew Natus est that He is borne so to confesse and aske what they knew not the Place Where We to have the like 2 Secondly set downe this That to finde where He is we must learne of these to aske Where He is Which we full little set our selves to do If we stumble on Him so it is But for any asking we trouble not our selves but sit still as we say and let Nature Worke And so let Grace too and so for us it shall I wote well it is said in a place of Esai He was found à non quaerentibus of some that sought Him not Esa 65.1 never asked Vbi est But it is no good holding by that place It was their good hap that so did But trust not to it it is not every bodies case that It is better advise you shall read in the Psalme Haec est generatio quaerentium Psal. 20.6 There is a Generation of them that seeke Him Of which these were And of that Generation let us be Regularly there is no Promise of Invenietis but to quaerite of Finding but to such as seek It is not safe to presume to find Him otherwise I thought there had been small use now of vbi est Yet there is Except we hold the ubiquitie That CHRIST is ubi non any where But He is not so CHRIST hath His ubi His proper Place where He is to be found And if you misse of that you misse of Him And well may we misse saith CHRIST Himselfe there are so many will take upon them to tell us Where And tells us of so many vbis Ecce hîc Mat. 24.23 Look you Heer He is Ecce illîc Nay then there In deserto in the desert Nay In penetralibus in such a privie Conventicle you shall- be sure of Him And yet He saith He Himselfe in none of them all There is then yet place for ubi est I speake not of His Naturall body but of His Mysticall That is CHRIST too How shall we then do Where shall we get this Where resolved Where these did They said it to many and oft but gat no answere till they had got togither a Convocation of Scribes and they resolved them of CHRIST's ubi For they in the East were nothing so wise or well seen as we in in the West are now growen We need call no Scribes togither and get them tell us Where Every Artisan hath a whole Synode of Scribes in his braine and can tell Where CHRIST is better then any learned man of them all Yet these were Wise men Best learne where they did And how did the Scribes resolve it them Out of Mica As before to the starr they joyne Balaam's Prophecie So now againe to His Orietur that such a one shall be borne they had putt Mica's et tu Bethlehem the Place of His Birth Still helping and giing light as it were to the Light of Heaven by a more cleer light the Light of the Sanctuarie Thus then to doe And to doe it our selves and not seeke CHRIST per alium Set others about it as Herod did these and sit still our selves For so we may hap never find Him no more then He did And now we have found Where what then It is neither in seeking nor finding 5. Their End Adorare Eum. Venimus nor Invenimus the End of all the Cause of all is in the last words Adorare Eum to Worshipp Him That is all in all And without it all our seeing comming seeking and finding is to no purpose The Scribes they could tell and did tell Where He was but were never the neerer for it For they worshipped Him not For this End to seeke Him This is acknowledged Herod in effect said as much He would know where He were faigne and if they will bring him word where he will come too and worshipp Him Ver. 1â— that he will None of that worshipp If he find Him his Worshipping will prove Worrying As did appeare by a sort of seely poore Lambes that he worryed when he could not have his will on CHRIST Thus he at His Birth And at His death the other Herod He sought Him too but it was that he and his Soldiers might make them-selves sport with Him Such seeking there is otherwhile Luc. 23.11 And such worshipping As they in the Iudgment Hall worshipped Him with Ave Rex and then gave Him a bobb blind-fold The Worlds worship of Him for the most part Ioh. 19.3 But we may be bold to say Herod was a foxe These meane as they say Luc. 13.32 To worshipp Him they come and worship Him they will Will they so Be they well advised what they promise before they know whither they shall find Him in a worshippfull taking or no For full little know they Where and and in what case they shall find Him What if in a stable layd there in a manger and the rest suitable to it in as poor and pitifull a plight as ever was any More like to be abhorred then adored of such Persons Will they be as good as their word trow Will they not step back at the sight repent themselves of their iourney and wish themselves at home againe But so find Him and so finding Him worshipp Him for all that If they will verily then Great is their Faith This the
mans uncertaintie which hangeth upon the favour of a Prince which is many times wavering and uncertaine I know not whether I shall make you understand it because of the want of examples in our time by meanes of the mild and blessed governement that we live in For a practise it hath been and many Records do our Chronicles affoord in the daies of some Princes of this Realme when a man was growen to wealth to picke holes and make quarrells against him and so seaze his goods into the Prince's hand to use wealthy Citizens as spunges to roule them up and downe in moisture till they be full and then to wring all out of them againe GOD wot an easy matter it is if a Prince stand so minded to find matter of disgrace against a subject of some wealth and then he might fare never a whit the better for his wealth for fine and forfeiture whereof rather then any fault els the businesse it selfe was made against him We cannot tell what this meaneth we may thanke the gracious government we live under so that I thinke I do scarse speake so that I am understood But such a thing there is such an uncertaintie belonging to riches whither we conceive it or no. 2. Againe if the times which we live in happen to prove unquiet and troublesome then againe comes another uncertaintie For the daies being evill and dangerous a man can have joy and indeed no certaintie neither of riches For if there fall an invasion or garboile into the State by forren or Civill warre then if ever is Iob's simile verified Iob. 8.14 that Riches are like a Cobwebb that which a man shall be weaving all his life long with great adoe and much travaile ther comes me a souldier a barbarous souldier with his broome and in the turning of a hand sweeps it cleane away How many in our neighbour countries during their miserie have tasted this uncertaintie How many have gone to bed rich and risen poore men in the morning Great troubles are looked for and great troubles there must be and will be doubtlesse The world now knoweth his Master's will and doth it not it must therefore certainely be beaten with many stripes with many more then the ignorant world was And therefore this word of this world in this Text we may with an Emphasis pronounce and say Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in the uncertaintie of riches There are but three things in riches 1 The possessing 2 the enjoying 3 and last the coâ—â—eighing of them Little assurance is there in the two former and what shall we say of the conveighance If our pompe cannot descend with us well yet if we were certaine to whom we should leave them somewhat it were for the certainty of them These considerations oft had in mind would loosen both our assurance in and our liking of them What for the conveighance do we not see daily that men make heritages but GOD makes heires that many sonnes rost not that their fathers gott in hunting that they that have been in chiefe accompt for their wealth their sonnes should be driven even to flatter the poore and have nothing in their hands no not bread that Iob. 20.10 never snow in the Sunne melted faster then doe some mens riches as soone as they be gone These things are in the eyes of the whole world O Beloved these are the judgements of GOD. Deceive not your selves with vaine words say not in your hearts this is the way of the world some must gett and some must lose No no it is not thâ— way of the world it is the way of GOD's judgement For to the reason of man nothing can be alledged but that considering the infinite number of infinite rich men in this place the posteritie of them these many yeares should by this time have filled the whole land were it much bigger then it is with their progenie even with diverse both Worshipfull and Honourable Families from them descended and it is well knowen it is otherwise that there is scarse a handfull in comparison This is not the way of the world for we see diverse Houses of diverse lines remaine to this day in continuance of the same wealth and worship which they had five hundred yeares since It is not therefore the way of the world say not it is so but it is a heavy judgement from the Lord. And these uncertainties namely this last came upon some of them for their wicked and deceitfull getting of them upon some of them for their proud and riotous abusing them upon some of them for their wretched and covetous reteining them And except ye now heare this the Lord's Charge looke unto it howsoever you wrastle out with the uncertainties your selves assuredly this last uncertaintie remaineth for your children The Lord's hand is not shortened I shall never get out of this point Esay 59.1 if I breake not from it There are but three fruits of all your getting 1 the tenure 2 the fruition 3 the parting with See whither the Lord hath not laid one uncertaintie on them all 1 Vncertaintie in their tarrying with us and uncertaintie in our tarrying with them 2 Vncertaintie of enjoying by reason of the danger of the time 3 Vncertaintie of our leaving them by reason of the danger of our children's scattering The estate in them the enjoying of them the departing with them all being uncertaine so many uncertainties might not Saint Paul truly say the uncertaintie of riches There is yet one behind worse then them all I will add no more but that and that is that our riches and our worship they shall leave us because they be uncertaine but the pride of our minds and the vaine trust in them them we shall be certaine of they shall not leave us And this is grave jugum a heavie miserie upon mankind The Goods the Lordships the Offices that they gott them they shall leave heere the sinne that they committ in getting and enjoying them they shall not leave behind them for their hearts but that shall cleave fast unto them This is a certaintie you will say it is indeed a certaintie of sinne but therefore an uncertaintie of the soule so doth Iob reckon it amongst the uncertainties of riches For Iob. 27.8 what hope haâ—h the hypocrite when he hath heaped up riches if GOD take away his soule where is his hope or his trust then Never will they shew themselves in their own kind to be a staffe of reed as then Esay 36.6 both deceiving them with leane on them and besides going into their soules and piercing them For very sure it is many of that calling die in great uncertainty this way wishing they had never seene that wealth which they have seen that so they might not see that sinne which they then see Yea some of them I speake it of mine owne knowledge abroad wish they had never come further
Desire II. The Acts of Abraham 1. His Desire exultavitut Glad and faign Vt that he might see that is he desired he longed much to see it Gaudere vt and vellem vt expound one another This day then is dies desiderij or desiderabilis To be desired even of Abraham and if of him of all Of the Cause first Why and then of the Manner How he desired it The Cause why should Abraham so desire to see this day 1 The cause of it two thousand yeares and more after his dayes were at an end and he in his grave what was it to him how was he concerned in it We say Omnia bonum appetunt what good had he by it We say againe Indigentia desiderij parens what need had he of it that he should so desire it Yes Christs Birth he needed he had good by and consequently His Birth day Ye remember Iob's EASTER that in all his heavinesse this was specs in sinu his only comfort and ioy That well yet his Redeemer should rise againe one day Iob. 19. ◠The ioy of Iobs EASTER the same is the ioy of Abraham's Christmasse Even that a day should come wherein his Redeemer should come into the world For Abraham's case was not such but that a Redeemer he stood in need of One he stood in need of and one he had you may read it totidem verbis Esay 29.22 Thus saith He that redeemes ABRAHAM That party Him he needed and Him he desired And desired His day for His sake Diem for Meum the Day for Him that was borne on the day Will ye heare it from his own mouth Thus he setteth down his own case Gen. 18. that very time when he had this day first shewed him the first glimpse of it Thus complaines he there of his need complaining implies his desire Et ecce ego pulvis cinis And lo I am but dust and ashes Dust is plain it refers us to Pulvis es in pulverem He was that Gen. 18.27 Gen. 3.19 by nature by his very creation But why ashes how come they in Ashes he was not made of That is not naturall That sure refers to somwhat els Ashes we know come of fire without it they are not made ever presuppose a fire precedent So that besides death to resolve Him into dust he saw a fire to turne Him into ashes He saw it in his vision Gen. 15. when the sun was downe it was night and a great feare or Horror fell upon Him Gen. 15.17 he saw Clibanū fumantem a fiery furnace Blame him not if after such a night he desired to see day and this day dies contra noctem a day to visit him from on high after so fearfulll a night as this But this was but a vision of the night But when all daies nights should be at an end he saw Luk. 1.78 there was yet a day to succeed that day which Enoch taught the world wherin the Lord should come with thousands of his Saints to execute iudgement upon sinners Iud. 14.15 Which day it seemes Abraham took notice of For speaking to God in the same Ch. he calleth Him by this title Iudge of the world Of which day a visible signe he had before his eyes waking in the consuming of the five Cities immediately after No mervaile then Gen. 18.25 though he desired dies contra diem a day that should quit him of the fear of that day Inasmuch then as dust he was ashes he was to be dust by creation ashes by condemnation and both these he confesseth himself lyable unto He needed one as to restore the ruines of the first so to prevent the danger of the second Being in need he desired desiring he was glad to heare of but more glad would be to see that day that should bring him into the world And ô when shall that day be And sure the sun must go down with us too what fear we shall then be in or whither we shall see the furnace I know not but sure I am that ioyfull it will be then to have a comfortable sight and apprehension of the benefit beginning of this day When the world shall bid us good-night then as S. Austin expresseth it videre in nocte saeculi diem CHRISTI This for the Cause why Abraham himself should desire this Vt to see this day 2 The Manner of it Why but for this day Abraham had been but ashes of the furnace Which sheweth it is a benefit to see this day And as a benefit desired by him and as a benefit and no small benefit vouchsafed him the sight of this day Now for his Manner how how greatly he desired it We may take measure of the greatnesse of the day by the greatnesse of his Desire It was no day of small things for Exultavit vt is no small desire there is vigour there is both passion and action in it The nature of the word exultavit is He did even fetch a Spring for ioy that he should see it And it is not exilijt neither but exultavit And that is a frequentative and so he did it more then once To give a spring and not once but often this was much if al be wel considered For one to do it one in yeares fast upon an hundred as Abraham then was for such a one to do it it was very much 1. Much. First that he should not containe his affection not keepe it in but out it must even breake forth into an externall act into a bodily gesture that all that stood by must see him do it 2. Into a bodily gesture I say But then againe that into such a bodily gesture a gesture on this fashion It must needs be he was greatly yea strangely affected with it that it made him forget his gravitie and put a kind of indecorum upon his age at those yeares to fall on springing All men will easily know that such as he was stayed discreet grave men will never be so exceding moved as to be brought to fetch a spring but upon some verie exceeding great occasion 3. Thirdly to do all this but onely in desire and nothing but desire is yet more strange then the rest In the fruition to ioy is kindly but in the desire altogether vnusuall Exultavit cum videret may well be understood Exultavit ut videret not so well For desire of it selfe is a restlesse thing vnquiet and complaining but a very affliction of the soule It makes men yea the very creature it selfe saith the Apostle ingemiscere which is farr Rom. 8.22 from exultare to grone for griefe not to spring for Ioy Sad rather then glad in that they want their desire Iudge then how great a good is the good of this Day that not in the enioying but even in the desiring and that against the nature of desire did put old father Abraham into this passion
Him borne in all glorious manner But being thus borne with this Signe if now we doe it 1. Pet. 2.19.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speake in S. Peters phrase this hath thanks and praise with GOD And so Hoc erit Signum Fourthly without regard of them or of us I say that even in regard of Himselfe Hoc erit Signum Would there be a proportion betweene the Signe and the Signatum There is so This holds good proportion with the ensuing course of his life and death And all considered it is even Signum adaequatum We may well beginne with CHRIST in the Cratch We must end with CHRIST on the Crosse. The Cratch is a Signe of the Crosse. They that write de re rusticâ describe the forme of making a Cratch Crosse-wise The Scandal of the Cratch is a good preparative to the Scandal of the Crosse. To be swadled thus as a Child doth that offend What then when ye shall see Him pinion'd and bound as a Malefactor To lye in a manger is that so much how then when ye shall see Him hang on the Crosse But so primo ne discrepetimum that His beginning and His end may suit well and not disagree Sic oportuit Christum nasci Thus ought CHRIST to be borne and this behoved to be His Signe But then to remove this Scandal I say fiftly That the lesse glorious the more glorious the lesse glorious His Signe the more glorious He. And even in this respect of His glorie He was to be borne vnder this Signe Had he come in the power and great glorie we spake of what great matter had it been for Him then to have done things powerfull and glorious But comming in this sort these same panni and praesepe were an evident Signe of the power of His might in nothing so manifest as in this that from so poore a beginning He was hable to advance so glorious a worke It was much Exod. 2.3 from a babe floting in the flaggs of Nilus in a basket of bulrushes MOSES to gather himselfe a people even the Nation and Kingdome of the Iewes and to deliver His Law It was infinitely much more from this babe heer lying in the Cratch to worke the bringing in of the Gentiles and the turning about of the whole world and to publish His Gospell the power of GOD to salvation Heerein is power from His Cratch to doe this There to lay Him and there lying to make so many nations come and adore Him as since He hath That if ever in His humilitie His judgement were exalted Act. 8.33 2. Cor. 12.9 1. Cor. 1.25 if His power were ever made perfect in weakenesse if ever He shewed that infirmum Dei fortius est hominibus GOD at the weakest is stronger then men in all their strength Hoc erit Signum in this Signe it was .. A signe cum externa rejicit quòd sibi sufficit in that He casts from him all outward signes and meanes that He is of himselfe all sufficient nullo indiget nisi se and needs no power but His owne His Cratch and He will bring this work to passe His gloria in excelsis will be hoc ipso excelsior His glorie on high so much the higher for this Ever But now more then ever And in all His signes but in this more glorious then in any nay then in all of them And so Hoc erit signum this shall be the Signe shall be and should be both But I waive all these and say sixtly Make of the Signe what ye will It skills not what it be never so meane In the nature of a Signe there is nothing but it may be such All is in the thing signified So it carrie us to a rich Signatum and worth the finding what makes it a matter how meane the Signe be We are sent to a Crib Not to an empty Crib CHRIST is in it Be the Signe never so simple the Signatum it carries us to makes amends Any Signe with such a Signatum And I know not the man so squemish but if in His stable and vnder His manger there were a treasure hid and he were sure of it but thither he would and pluck up the planks and digg and rake for it and be never a whit offended with the homelinesse of the place If then CHRIST be a treasure as in Him are all the treasures of the wisedome and bounty of God what skills it Colos. 2.3 what be His Signe With this with any other CHRIST is worth the finding Though the Cratch be not worth the going to CHRIST is worth the going for He is not worthy of CHRIST that will not go any whither to find CHRIST Lastly I would faine know why should the shepheards why should any be ashamed of this Signe the Angells are not Non erubescit quis quod praedicat No man proclaimes or preaches of that makes a Hymne of that he is ashamed of And indeed why should the Angells be ashamed to report it seeing CHRISTVS non est confusus CHRIST is not a shamed to weare it And if He be not so to be found never let us be so to find Him I conclude then They that will have a SAVIOVR without such a Signe best stay for the Iewe's MESSIAS or get them for their Signe to some body els The Angell hath none The Gospell knowes none but this We must take CHRIST as we find Him Cratch and all The invention of the cratch and the invention of CHRIST fall both upon one Feast this day both No severing of them All which I trust by this shew plainely the Signe was well assigned by the Angell and so I hope we will not let the shepheards go alone but goe along with them too for companie to find CHRIST in hoc Signo by this Signe But the cratch is gone many yeares agoe What is our Signe now Why what was this Signe a signe of There needs no streining at all of humilitie cleere Signum humile Signum humilis Not alwaies so not with us where the highest minds will vse the lowest signes but with CHRIST with such in whom is the mind of CHRIST there is no odds at all Ye may strike a tally betweene the Signe and the Signatum Humilitie then We shall find Him by that Signe where we find Humilitie and not faile and where that is not be sure we shall never find Him This day it is not possible to keep of of this theme we cannot but we must fall upon it it is so woven into every Text there is no avoyding it But of all into the Signe most of all Such a Signe of such Humilitie as never was Mat. 12.38 Signes are taken for wonders Master we would faine see a Signe that is a miracle And in this sense it is a Signe to wonder at Indeed every word heer is a wonder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an infant Verbum infans the Word without a word the
turne into a serpent and sting them Yea if need so require sting them to death by the power secular For Nachah is leading and the sound remaining Nacah is smiting and a necessarie use of both The one for thy people like sheepe who will be led the other for the strange children like goates who will not stirre a foot further then they be forced And this is the iâ—terest But now againe when they be brought thus farre to be like sheepe they are but liâ—â— sheepe though that is a wâ—ake and unwise cattell farre unable to guide themsâ—lâ—es Which sheweth them their need of good government and though they be the pâ—oâ—le of GOD yet that Moses and Aaron be not superfluous For a feeble poore beaâ—t we all know a sheepe is of little or no strength for resistance in the wâ—rld and therefore in danger to be preyed on by every Woolfe And as of liâ—tle strenâ—â—â— so of little reach None so easily straieth of it selfe None is so easily lâ—d awrie by others 〈…〉 2â— 2â— Everie strange whistle maketh the sheepe Everie Ecce hîc mâ—keth the pâ—oâ—le cast up their heads as if some great matter were in hand These two dâ—fâ—cts do mainly enforce the necessitie of a Leader For they that want sight as blind-men and they that want strength as little children stirre not without great perill except they have one to lead them And both these wants are in sheepâ— and in the people too If then they be sicut Oves like sheepe What is both their wisedome Sure to be in the uniâ—ie of a flocke and what is their strâ—ngth Truly to be under the conduct of â— Shâ—pheard In these two is their safetie For if either they single themselves and stâ—aâ— from the folâ— or if they be a fold and yet want a shepheard none more miseâ—aâ—â—e thâ—n they And indeed in the HOLY GHOST 's phrase it is the ordinarie nâ—te â—f a private mans miserie 〈…〉 to be Tanquam ovis erratica as a stray sheepe frâ—m the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9 36. and of the miserie of every Estate politique to be Tanquam grex abâ—â—ue Paâ—â—oâ—e as a fâ—ocke without a Shepheard Therefore guiding they need both the 〈…〉 uâ—itie Bandâ— to reduce them from straying 〈◊〉 1â— 7 and the staffe of order Beautie to leaâ— them so reduced And would GOD they would see their owne feeblenessâ— anâ— shallownesse and learne to acknowledge the absolute necessitie of this benefit 〈…〉 Oves Ducti sumuâ— sicut Oves in all dutie recâ—iving it in all humility praying for the continuance of it that GOD breake not the fold and smite not the Shepheard for the flockes unthaâ—kfâ—lnesse By the hands of Moses and Aaron This part of the verse that is behind The fourth Part. Per manus MOSIS AARONIS and conteineth the Meanes by whom GOD conveigheth this benefit to His people had had no use but might well have been left out and the verse ended at populum tuum if Author alienae potentiae perdit suam had been GOD 's rule For He needed no meanes but immediatly from Himselfe sine manibus could have conveighed it without any hands save those that made us that is His almighty power but without any arme or hand of flesh without Moses or Aaron without men or Angells He was hable Himselfe to have ledd us And a principio fuit sic For a time He did so Of Himselfe immediately and of His owne absolute sovereigntie held He court in the beginning and proceeded against Adam Eve Cain the old world and there was none joyned in commission with Him He onely was our King of old saith the Psalmist and for a space the justice that was done on earth He did it Himselfe Psal. 74 12. And as He held court before all so will He also hold one after all Veniet Veniet qui malè judicata rejudicabit dies There will come a day there is a day comming wherein all evill judged eases shal be judged over againe To which all appeales lye even from the daies of affliction in this world as sometimes they be to the day of judgement in the world to come This estate of guiding being wholy invested in Him there being but one GOD and one Guide He would not keepe it unto Himselfe alone as He might but it pleased Him to send Moses His servant and Aaron whom He had chosen Psal. 105.26 to associate them to Himselfe in the Commission of leading and to make hominem homini Deum One man a Guide and God to another And those whom He thus honoreth 1 First the Prophet calleth God's hands Per manum by whom He leadeth us 2 and secondly telleth us who they be MOSES and AARON God's hands they be For that by them He reacheth unto us Duxisti and in it Religion and counseile and justice and victorie and whatsoever els is good He sendeth His word to Moses first and by him as it were Psal. 103.7 through his hand His statutes and ordinances unto all Israël And not good things only but if they so deserve sometimes evill also For as if they be vertuous such as Moses and Aaron they be the good hand of God for our benefit such as was upon Ezra so if they be evill such as Balaac and Balaam they be the heavie hand of GOD for our chastisement such as was upon Iob. But the hand of GOD they be both And a certaine resemblance there is betweene this government and the hand For as we see the hand it selfe parted into diverse fingers and those againe into sundry joints for the more convenient and speedy service thereof so is the estate of government for ease and expedition branched into the middle Offices and they againe as fingers into others under them But the very meanest of them all is a joint of some finger of this hand of GOD. Nazianzen speaking of Rulers as of the Images of GOD compareth the highest to pictures drawne cleane through even to the feet the middle sort to halfe pictures drawn but to the girdle the meanest to the lesser sort of pictures drawn but to the necke or shoulders But all in some degree carie the Image of GOD. Out of which terme of the hands of GOD the people first are taught their dutie so to esteeme of them as of GOD 's owne hands That as GOD ruleth them by the hands of Moses and Aaron that is by their ministerie so Moses and Aaron rule them by the hands of God that is by His authoritie It is His name they weare it is His seate they sitt in it is the rod of God that is in Mose's and Aaron's hands If we fall downe before them it is He that is honored if we rise up against them it is He that is injuried and that Peccavi in coelum in te must be our confession Luc. 15.27 against heaven and them but first against heaven and God himselfe when we commit any
CHRIST was the utter making it void So Iudgement was entred and an Act made CHRIST should be restored to life And because He came not for Himself but for us and in our name and stead did represent us and so we virtually in Him by His restoring we also were restored By the rule si Primitae tota conspersio sic as the First fruicts go Rom. 11.16 so goeth the whole lumpe as the Roote the branches And thus we have gotten life againe of mankind by passing this Act of Restitution whereby we have hope to be restored to life But life is a terme of latitude and admitteth a broad difference which it behooveth us much that we know Two lives there be In the holy Tongue the word which signifieth life is of the duall number to shew us there is a dualitie of lives that two there be and that we to have an eye to both It will helpe us to understand our Text. For all restored to life All to one not all to both The Apostle doth after at the 44 Verse expressly name them both 1 One a Naturall life or life by the living soule The other â— a Spirituall life or life by the quickening Spirit Of these two Adam at the time of his fall had the first of a living soule was seised of it and of him all mankind Christ and we all receive that life But the other the Spirituall which is the life cheifly to be accompted of that he then had not not actually Onely a possibilitie he had if he had held him in obedience and walked with GOD to have been translated to that other life For cleer it is the life which Angells now live with GOD and which we have hope and promise to live with Him Luc. 20.36 after our restoring when we shall be aequall to the Angells that life Adam at the time of his fall was not possessed of Now Adam by his fall fell from both forfeited both estates Not onely that he had in reversion by not fullfilling the conditions but even that he had in esse too For even on that also did Death seise after Et mortuus est CHRIST in his restitution to all the sonnes of Adam to all our whole nature restoreth the former therefore all have interest all shall partake that life What Adam actually had we shall actually have we shall all be restored To repaire our nature He came and repaire it He did all is given againe really that in Adam really we lost touching Nature So that by his fall no detriment at all that way The other the second that He restoreth too but not promiscuè as the former to all Why for Adam was never seised of it performed not that whereunto the possibilitie was annexed and so had in it but a defeicible estate But then by His speciall grace by a second peculiar act He hath enabled us to atteine the second estate also which Adam had onely a reversion of and lost by breaking of the condition whereto it was limited And so to this second restored so many as to vse the Apostle's words in the next verse are in Him that is so many as are not only of that masse or lump whereof Adam was the first fruits for they are interessed in the former onely but that are besides of the nova conspersio whereof CHRIST is the Primitiae a Ioh. 1.12 They that beleeve in Him saith Saint Iohn them He hath enabled b Ioh. 20.17 to them He hath given power to become the sonnes of GOD to whom therefore He saith this day rising Vado ad Patrem vestrum In which respect the Apostle calleth Him c Rom. 8.29 Primogenitum inter multos fratres Or to make the comparison even to those that are to speake but as d Esay 8. â—â— Esay speaketh of them His children Behold I and the the children GOD hath given me The terme He vseth Himselfe to them after His resurrection and calleth them Children And they as His familie take denomination of Him Christians of CHRIST Of these two lives the first we need take no thought for It shall be of all the vnjust as well as the iust The life of the living soule shall be to all restored All our thought is to be for the later how to have our part in that supernaturall life for that is indeed to be restored to life For the former though it carie the name of life yet it may well be disputed and is Whether it be rather a death then a life or a life then a death A life it is and not a life for it hath no living thing in it A death it is and not a death for it is an immortall death But most certaine it is call it life if you will they that shall live that life shall wish for death rather then it and this is the miserie not have their wish for death shall flie from them Out of this double life and double restoring there grow two Resurrections in the world to come set downe by our SAVIOVR in expresse termes Ioh. 5. â—9 Though both be to life yet 1 that is called condemnation to judgement and 2 this onely Heb. 11.35 to life Of these the Apostle calleth one the better resurrection the better beyond all comparison To atteine this then we bend all our endeavours that seeing the other will come of it selfe without taking any thought for it at all we may make sure of this To compasse that then we must be in CHRIST So it is in the next verse To all but to every one in order CHRIST first the first fruits and then they that be in Him Now He is in us by our flesh and we in Him by His Spirit and it standeth with good reason they that be restored to life should be restored to the Spirit For the Spirit is the cause of all life but specially of the Spirituall life which we seeke for His Spirit then we must possesse our selves of and we must doe that heere for it is but one and the same Spirit that raiseth our soules heere from the death of Sinne Rom. 8.11 and the same that shall raise our bodies there from the dust of death Of which Spirit there is first fruits to reteine the words of the Text and a fullnesse But the fullnesse in this life we shall never atteine Our highest degree heer is but to be of the number whereof he was that said Et nos habentes primitias Spiritus Rom. 8 23. These first fruits we first receive in our Baptisme which is to us Tit. 3.5 our Laver of regeneration and of our renewing by the holy Spirit where we are made and consecrate Primitiae Heb. 12.1 But as we need be restored to life so I doubt had we need to be restored to the Spirit too We are at many losses of it by this sinne that cleaveth so faâ—t to us I doubt it is with us as
Heb. 11.9 2 Cor 5 1. as of a tent or booth spread for a day and taken downe at night Even like Ionas's gourd for all the world fresh in the morning and starke withered yer evening But of the life to come as of a ground-worke never to remove it selfe or we from it but to abide therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the prison or the palace for evermore We shall not therefore lose but lay up in store not for others but for our selves Not for a few daies now but for heereafter Not a tent to be taken downe but a foundation never to be removed Of all the words in the Text not one was meet for the teeth of the Rhemists save this onely heere you have a perillous note close in the margent Good workes are a foundation A foundation very true who denies it but whither a foundation in our graces as CHRIST is without us that is the point The ground whereon every building is raised is termed fundamentum The lowest part of the building immediately lying on it is so termed too In the first sense CHRIST is said to be the onely foundation 1. Cor. 3.11 Yet the Apostles because they are the lowest row of stones Eph. 2.20 Col. 1.23 are said to be foundations in the second So among the graces within us faith is properly in the first sense said to be the foundation yet in the second do we not denie Eph. 3.18 but as the Apostle calleth them as the lowest row next to Faith Charitie and the workes of charitie may be called foundations too Albeit the margent might well have beene spared at this place for the note is heere all out of place For being so great Schoolemen as they would seeme they must needs know It is not the drift of the Apostle heere in calling them a foundation to carry our considerations into the matter of justifying but onely to presse his former reason of uncertaintie there by a contrarie weight of certaine stabilitie heere and so their note comes in like Magnificat at Matins Thus reasoneth Saint Paul This world is uncertaine of a sandy nature you may reare upon it but it is so bad a soile as whatsoever you raise will never be well settled and therefore ever tottering and when the raine and the wind and the waves beat against it Mat. 7.26 it commeth downe on your heads Therefore to make choise of a faster soile build upon GOD 's ground not upon the world's ground for Chrys. in locum Hom. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome there all is firme there you may build and be sure fall the raine upon the top of it blow the wind against the side of it rise the waves against the foot of it it stands irremovable Wherein the Apostle saith Chrysostome doth teach a very goodly and excellent art how to make of our fugitive riches a trusty and fast friend how to make Gold of our Quicksilver and of the uncertaintie of riches a sure and certaine ground-worke Assurance and securitie are two things we know that rich men many times buy deare heere they may be had not for thus much or thus long but for as much as you list and as long as aeternitie is long that never shall have end The meaning is that if you lay out or lay on that you have on these earthly things the plott which the world would faine commend unto you with this life or at the furthest with this world they shall be shaken in peeces and come to nought and you possibly in the houre of death but most certainely in the day of judgement shall shake when the world your ground-worke shakes and be in trembling feare and perplexed agonie touching the estate of your soule knowing there is nothing comming to you but the fruit of this world which is ruine or the fruit of the flesh which is corruption But if you shall have grace to make choise of GOD 's plot which He hath heere leveled for you to raise upon O quanto dignum pretio that will be worth all the world in that day the perfect certaintie sound knowledge and pretious assurance you shall then have whereby you shall be assured to be received because you are sure you are CHRIST 's because you are sure you have true faith because you are sure you have framed it up into good workes And so shall they be a foundation to you-ward by making evident the assurance of salvation not naturâ to God-ward in bringing forth the essence of your salvation Looke you how excellent a ground-worke heere is not for a cotage whereon you may raise your frame to so notable a height as standing on it you may lay hand on and lay hold of eternall life O that you would minde once these high things that you would be in this sense high-minded Saint Paul's meaning is to take nothing from you but give you a better to requite it by farre He would have you part with part of your wealth to do good he will lay you up for it treasure in heaven for your owne use He would have you forsake the world's sand and uncertaintie wherein you cannot trust but therefore he markes you out a plott out of the rock whereto you may trust He would not have you high-minded in consideration or comparison of ought on this earth but he would have your mindes truely exalted to reach up heavenly things higher then the earth And last instead of this world the lusts and riches thereof to match that if you will lay hold of it he holdeth out aeternall life and the glorie thereof To take a short prospect into aeternall life Life it selfe first you know is such a thing as were it to be sold would be staple ware if it stood where hold might be laid on it some would thrust their shoulders out of joint but they would reach it It was a great truth out of a great lier's mouth Skinne and all And I meane not aeternall Iob 2.4 but this life and therefore some readings have to lay hold of true life as if in this were little truth Indeed Saint Augustine saith it is nothing but a disease We say of dangerous sicknesses he hath the plague he is in a consumption sure he will die and yet it failes diverse die not whereas saith he of life it selfe it may be said and never failes He lives therefore he will certainly die Well yet this life such as it is yet we love it and loth we are to end it and if it be in hazard by the Law what running riding posâ—â—â—g suing bribing and if all will not serve breaking prison is there for it Or if it be in danger of disease what adoe is there kept what ill-savoured druggs taken what scarifying cutting searing and when all comes to all it is but a few yeares more added and when they are done we are where we should have been
so Christ willeth not to sweare at all by any creature Though indeed we hold in Divinitie that Iurare of and by it selfe considered is an act forbidden no lesse then Occîdere And that as it is an absolute countermand Non occîdes and yet the Magistrate by due course of Iustice executing a malefactor is commended So is it likewise Non iurabÃs and yet being as we terme it vestitum debitis circumstantijs Laudabuntur omnes qui iurant per Eum as King David saith Psal. 63 ult Lastly there is also a barr in the word Iurare For God in his Law ever putting it passively that is rather thou shalt be sworne or called to an oath then thou shalt sweare actively our Saviour Christ heere utterly condemneth the active voluntarie swearing of men of their own heads which was indeed never permitted howsoever the Pharisees glossed the matter If the maâ—ter were true and so it were by Iehova So that an oath is lawfull but with this condition limited that the Partie doe therein habere se passivè come to it not of his owne accord but pressed as Saint Augustine well saith vel autoritate deferentÃs vel duritie non credentÃs as to the lifting of a burden as to the entring of a bond Num. 30.3 Thou shalt sweare The Lord liveth I. Limitation The Lord livetâ— or as Moses saith Deut. 6.13 by God's Name Which clause first doth limit by what we are to sweare and doth exclude 1 Swearing by those which are no Godds Ier. 5.7 Either Idolls forbidden in the Law Exod. 23.13 Ios. 23.7 Either to sweare by them alone Amos 8. ult Or to joine God and them togither Zeph 1.5 Or creatures which our Saviour Christ forbiddeth Mat. 5.34 And sure as to sweare by them is derogatorie to our selves seeing thereby we make them our betters for that every one that sweareth sweareth by a greater then himselfe Heb. 6.16 So it is highly injurious to the Maiestie of God seeing to sweare by a creature is to ascribe unto it power to see and know all things and to doe vengance on periurie Which in Divinitie to thinke or say is manifest blasphemie Howbeit yet the Fathers well weighing that speech of Saint Paul 1. Corinth 15. â—1 where he speaketh on this wise By our reioicing which we have in Christ Iesus our Lord c wherin his oath is not immediatly by the Name of God but by a secondarie thing issuing from it have thought it not absolutely necessarie that in every oath the Name of God should be expresly mentioned but sufficient if reductivè It is ruled in Divinitie that such things as presently are reduced to God will beare an oath In which respect to sweare by the Holy Gospell considering our reioicing will beare an oath and that in the Gospell our matter of reioicing is principally conteined hath in the Primitive Church been holden lawfull As in the Councill of Constantinople 6 Act. 13. Especially seeing there is no direct contestation used but rather by way of oppignoration Engaging unto God our Salvation Faith Reioicing part in His Gospell and promises the Contents c if we utter an untruth II. Thâ— Manner or second limitation Secondly the forme and manner of swearing Which is of three sorts 1. Either by contestation as heer The Lord liveth Before God Gal. 1.2 Or God knoweth it is so 2. Cor. 11.11 God is my witnesse 1. Thes. 2.5 .. 2. Or by a more earnest asseveration As sure as God liveth Iud. 8.19 3. Or by detestation and execration as in other places and that againe is of two sorts 1. By imprecation of evill God be my Iudge Gen. 31.53 God behold it and rebuke it 1. Chro. 12.17 God doe so and so unto me 1. Sam. 14.44 I call God a record against my soule 2. Cor. 4.23 2. Or by oppignoration or engaging of some good which we would not lose as Our reioicing in Christ 1. Cor. 15.3 Our Salvation God's help c. Both are oft and may be joined togither if it be thought meete God Ãs my witnesse that thus it is and GOD be my Iudge if thus it be not Wherein as in prayer when all meanes faile we acknowledge that GOD can help as well without as with second causes So we confesse that He can discover our truth and falshood and can punish the same by waies and meanes to Him knowen though no creature in the world beside know the thing or can take hold of us Thou shalt sweare In Truth Iudgement Iustice. The three Enclosures and companions of a Christian oath are In Truth against Falshood the matter In Iudgement against Lightnesse the matter and manner both In Iustice against Vnlawfulnesse the end 1. In truth In truth Ye shall not sweare by my name falsly Levit. 19.12 Which vice forbidden we call periurie Each action we say is to light super debitam materiam The due and owne matter of swearing is a Truth If it fall or light super indebitam materiam as falshood it proveth a sinne At all times are we bound to speake truth to our neighbour Eph. 4.5 But because men are naturally given to have their mouth fraught with vanitie Psal. 144.8 in solemne matters to be sure to bring the truth from us GOD is set before us If then when we confesse the truth we give glorie to GOD Ios. 7.21 So if when GOD being set before us we testifie an untruth it is exceeding contumelious to him it is to make him one that knoweth not all things or that can be deceived or that if he know cannot doe any harme or which is worst which will willingly be used to bolster out our lyes Peierare est dicere deo Descende de Coelo assere mecum mendacium hoc 1Of Promise In an oath of Promise we are to sweare in Truth He that sweareth an oath and by it bindeth his soule with a bond shall not violate his word but doe according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth Num. 30.3 Reades autem Domino Iuramenta Matt â— 33 Yea by the very light of nature Pharao willeth Ioseph goe and bury thy Father seeing he made thee sweare to do so Against which oath men are two waies faulty 1. If at the swearing they purpose not as David saith Ps. 119.106 I have sworne and am utterly purposed Such is the nature of an oath 2. If they then purpose but after a dammage being likely to ensue they disappoint their former oath Psa. 15.15 Touching which we see that when Iosua and the Israëlites had sworne to the men of Gibeon though that oath cost them foure great and faire Cities which should otherwise have come to their possession they would not breake though As contrariewise Zedekias having given his oath of Allegiance to the King of Babylon 2. Chro. 36.9 when he regarded it not but rose against him notwithstanding GOD sendeth him word he shall never prosper for so doing Ezek. 17.12 And to say truth there is