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A05416
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The bruising of the serpents head A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse September 9. 1621. By Roger Ley Maister of Arts, and minister of Gods word in Shoreditch.
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Ley, Roger, b. 1593 or 4.
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1622
(1622)
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STC 15568; ESTC S103082
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34,316
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56
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THE BRVISING OF THE SERPENTS Head A Sermon Preached at Pauls Crosse September 9. 1621. BY ROGER LEY Maister of Arts and Minister of Gods Word in Shoreditch GEN. 3.15 I will put enmity betweene thee and the Woman and betweene thy seede and her seede it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heele LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop at the Royall Exchange 1622. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Mr. ROBERT DVCIE Alderman of London peace and saluation YOur eare hath beene partaker of that I nowe present to your eye In all things vsually one sense maketh way for the other and the second perfecteth the first for hearing doth render that but farre off which seeing giueth neerer hand A speaker is then happiest in his labour when words are permanent and fixed And that either in the heart and meditation of the hearer when the Spirit and finger of God by zeale and industrious labour printeth them there as so many engrauen letters or when to helpe memory they are exposed to publique view for sounds doe passe in the aire this hath the priuiledge of a constant continuance Sermons deliuered in that audience are principally for the gouernours of this Honourable Cittie Therefore I offer it to you by dedication as I did before in speaking vnto many Many were absent you a present hearer in the time of vacation when your place being Sheriffe required residence Moreouer being for a time a labourer in your Parish as smaller riuers vse not to breake out into seuerall Chanels if one be preserued full I let this come to you among the rest as with a greater confluence Small I terme this gift in respect of the Authour and his sufficience The words eminence which may be seene in plannesse and natiue simplicity is onely worth the reckoning God the great guide of this world hath giuen the smallest starres their influence And the milky circle in Heauen so it is called consisteth of those starres that are scarce discernable they are not for that excluded from the Firmament For although the great Philosopher supposed that circle to be lower and out of the Heauens yet the fictions of vnskilfull antiquity made it the way to Paradise and the caelestiall Court My desire is that the word being forcible in the meanest instrument may moue in the Orbe by this publique passage to direct on earth and yeeld the way to Heauen For this end I hold it better to commit the prosperous successe of it to him aboue that committed the deliuerance to me then to feare the vncertaine censures of a Criticke This being the intent of the Writer I desire the Readers true practise and entertainment may make it good Your vnfained well-willer in all obseruance and due respect ROGER LEY THE BRVISING OF THE Serpents Head At Pauls Crosse September 1621. LVKE 11.21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace 22. But when a stronger then he shall come vpon him and ouercome him he taketh from him all his Armour wherin he trusted and diuideth his spoiles 23. He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth IT is a fault grieuous and yet too common that good things are least esteemed but of all errours the basest is to misconster good actions and to depraue the shining worth of excellencie This as it is the basest so the last shift of men hardened against goodnesse for when the desart of others seemeth to touch and wound their insufficience then they cast blemishes vpon that which was feared to lay some blots vpon their vnworthinesse The story of our Sauiour affords vs an incomparable example He came to his owne and his owne receiued him not He came not among them empty handed without fauours nor led an vnprofitable life but all his workes were witnesses of his loue and all their wants and miseries euident declarers of an incomparable working Hauing now cast out a Deuill which made the people wonder the Pharisees swelling with enuie said he did it by the power of the chiefe Deuill so to disgrace the worke they could not hinder Against these men he directs his speech and sheweth in them their intollerable blasphemie a sinne against the holy Ghost neuer to haue pardon Our present History then setteth out a double conflict of Christ the King and Sauiour of the world against Satan the enemie of mankind the Deuill in the body and in the tongue in the body of a poore man possest in the tongue of the proud and rebellious Pharisees The one was a Deuill blind and dumbe the other a seeing and a slandering aduersary Because violence doth not make an enemie so dangerous as when craft conueyeth his enterprise by some secret vndermining the blind and dumbe man soone cured where the enemie shewed himselfe by force but these cauillers vnder whose lips lay hid the poyson of Asps were not so soone put to silence These Pharisees seemed holy men they called the chiefe Deuill Belzebub out of zeale and a deuout pretence in detestation of their ancestours idolatry who worshipped Baal and among seuerall kinds of that heathenish idoll which had many names according to the places of worship Baalzebub whose name they now abhord And because all things require gouernment they supposed Belzebub the chiefe in hel seeing withall so many miracles performed by Christ they said he did combine with the chiefe Deuill and by that power cast them out This calumnie is confuted by sundry arguments First out of the seuenteenth verse Euery Kingdome deuided against it selfe is brought to desolation and a house deuided against it selfe cannot stand If Satan also be deuided against himselfe and Belzebub the chiefe ioyne with Christ against the lesse how could that gouernment in dure The second argument we haue verse 19. Their iudgment was partiall and with respect of persons for their children cast out Deuills and had no blame He meaneth the Iewish exorcists who had a power giuen them from aboue by calling vpon Gods name to cast out these vncleane spirits It is more then probable these Iewes did cast them out by vsing the name of Christ which then was become famous S. Iohn saith to our Sauiour Marke 9.38 Maister we saw one casting out Deuills in thy name and he followeth not vs. These then escaped the Iewish hatred but Christ did not therefore hee inferreth against them they shall be your iudges to condemne you that malice the cause of slander that the mother of falsehood haue cast vpon me this iniustimputation A thirâ— argument is in these words A strong man keepeth his house and goods vntill a stronger force him out and take possession in his place I doe this expelling him with my word therefore his power is subiect vnto mine and my miracle is true yee ought then to embrace my saying and to stand to my cause confirmed with such cleere testimony or to be scattered in
your fond deuises so to reape the fruite of your owne folly In the handling of these words I meane not to stand so much vpon possession of the body and of Christ the deliuerer but that the subiect may something sute with the eminence of this place and the full scope and latitude of the words rather shew a recouering of the soule a renewing of the world and a subduing of sinne by the Gospell For the consent of interpreters extend this saying to this as the full and perfect meaning expounding pounding it not merely of a bodily dispossession but of the whole proceeding of Christ in the strength of his Kingdome The words yeeld the same of necessity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all his armour the entering his palace and diuiding his spoiles cannot limit this victory to a bodily deliuerance alone Nos quondam arma eius regnique militiam in â—â—s suum redegit saith S. Hilarie Christ hath taken vs who were once the Deuills armour and force of his Kingdome and brought vs vnder his owne power The whole world is the house of Belzebub so Erasmus And Caluin quicquid corporibus praestitit Christus ad animas referri voluit whatsoeuer Christ performed to the body he would haue the same referd vnto the soule It is plainly showne from the 24. Verse of this Chapter following the Text immediately He compareth the nation of the Iewes to a man possest as the Deuills house S. Mathew maketh it more plaine Christ did driue him out and clensed the house by his Gospell but because they entertained his words with scorne and neglected him the house was empty then commeth the vncleane spirit with seauen worse then himselfe who finding the house emptie swept and garnished he maketh it his habitation and the end thereof is worse then the beginning So dangerous a sinne is Apostacy and so truly did hee threaten that wicked generation being rebels against the truth for what decayed house or miserable ruine of any building can compare with those emptie Iewes that would not acknowledge their Lord And that which Esay the Prophet spake of the soule Cap. 53. verse 4. He tooke our infirmities and bare our sicknesses meaning sinne and the maladies of the mind S. Mathew chap. 8. verse 17. applieth to casting out of Deuills and curing of diseases For both are the worke of one Lord for one and the same end to make vs acknowledge him the onely redeemer As the battering of the walls of a Citty is but a preparatiue to handy strokes and the ouerthrow of the dwellers so the casting out of Satan from the body the case and outside of the soule is a signe of sauing power that cureth both soule and body and will expell the enemie from all his vsurped places Dauid reasoned from one good turne to another 1. Samuel 17.36 Thy seruant slue both the Lyon and the Beare and this vncircumcised Philistim shall be as one of them seeing he hath defied the armies of the liuing God Moreouer the Lord that deliuered me from the paw of the Lyon and the beare he will deliuer me out of the hand of this Philistim in like manner these words of Christ take occasion from the miracle to expresse his Soueraigne might in redeeming from the paw of hell and destruction Let vs therefore take the whole world for a haunted house We find it so Iob 1.7 I come saith he from going to and fro in the earth and from walking vp and downe in it The greatest strength of it his weapons and munition the greatest wit and policy of it if it be foolishnesse with God as the Apostle calls it it cannot but sauour of the wisdome of this Serpent 1. Cor. 3. If these places be the prime of our microcosme the head and glory of all our Iland they cannot but be assaulted And if the cry of vices be not vntrue the walking of some dangerous spirit may raise vp our suspition and complaint Whose puisance to shew whose dealing to discouer and to vncase his villanie that lurketh in our presence as in it selfe is profitable so more auailable when the power of heauen is showne that ouerthrowes it In the seeing of both we may doe as the world vsually doth take part with the stronger side To one we mustioyne no staying in the middest Christ saith so in the last of these verses He that is not with me is against me That God is strongger and his quarrell safer the beginning speaketh euidently Christ entreth into the strong mans Palace Ouercommeth him taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted and deuideth his spoiles I find then in this Text that which either is exprest or implyed in euery Sermon a Doctrine and a Vse the strength of our Sauiour affirmed and our obedient seruice enforced In the first of these a power of vsurpation and a power of iurisdiction In the vsurped power we find two parts the strong mans industry He is armed and keepeth his Palace and his security his goods are in peace The lawfull power hath two parts Christs victory But when a stronger then he shall come vppon him and ouercome him and his gaine he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted and deuideth his spoiles The next Verse is a reproofe of vnprofitable seruants which make no vse of this benefit Hee openeth in them two things a base negligence and a vaine confidence First the negligent stander by that is neither hot nor cold is cast out as distasted by his palate he that is not with me is against me Secondly his vaine hope Let him heape and build and frame his workes together all is to be blowne away with the breath of Gods displeasure hee that gathereth not with me scattereth Of these parts in order His industry when a strong man armed keepeth his Palace The beginning hauing dwelt longer vpon the sence of the words to free them from obscurity each part may be past ouer with better expedition These first words note vnto vs the power of our enemie called the strong Man and his diligence he is armed and keepeth his Palace Hard it is to match with one so well prouided Our Sauiour speaketh of him thus Now is the Prince of this world cast out Iohn 21.31 And to shew we might imagine something aboue the world and the reach of mortall powers because the greatest Potentate is but an arme of flesh he is called the God of the world 2. Cor. 4.4 In whom the God of this world hath blinded the eies of them that beleeue not Hee is called the Prince of the power of the aire Ephes 2.2 Sunt magnapars corum quae in imperijs geruntur fiunt saith Peucer In the busines of Kingdomes they haue a hand and a great stroke Insidiantur atrocius ijs qui ad gubernaculasedent saith the same Authour They assault them most dangerously who sit at the helme of gouernment and he addeth the reason that the disease hauing gotten and possest