of meate boyl'd in Wormewood I cannot helpe it if it does heare it you must the fault is in your palate and not in the meat I hope there is no Antipathy betwixt this dish and any of yee present if yee can endure the fight of it although yee tâ—e not of it let mee entreate yee to be so mannerly as to fit the Meale out I give Tithes of all that ever I possesse I trust to God there be not many now who will deny Tithes to be due ex jure divine by the Law of God so that I hope I may spare the proving of it although some I confesse whose names are up for great Rabbines in Israell have endeavoured to expresse theyr great learning and deepe insight in Antiquity by bearing armes against the Church in this quarrell And the truth is hee who undertakes such a popular warre such a plausible subiect his a great advantage on his side Facile credimus quod volumus The greater number would have it to anâ— slâ—der arguments and weapon will serve thy mâ—n when thâ— adversarâ— is willing to 〈◊〉 overcome We see here the Pharisee does it and it is 〈…〉 those things wherein he puts his â—st 〈…〉 concerning his justification They were 〈…〉 paying their Tithes that they did it unto Minte and Commin And of this our Saviour himselfe beates witnesse in the 23. of St. Mat vers 23. Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for yee tithe Mine and Commin and Annis and leave the weightier matters of the Law as judgement and mercy and truth And he does not onely beare witnesse that they doe it but he commends them for doing it too For although he pronounces a woe against them for neglecting of judgement and mercy yet he approves of theyr Tything even unto such smâ—ll matters in the latter part of the verse These things yee ought to have done and not to have left the other undone But here our new Pharisees come short of our old ones For I appeale to the consciences of most men whether they can truly say with this Pharisee I give Tithes of all and and if yee come short of them yee are in a lamentable estate for heare what truth it selfe sayes in the 5. of St. Math. 20. For I say unto you except your righteousnesse exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees yee shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven What will become of yee then O thinke of it for your owne sakes when your righteousnesse shall come short of theyrs If yee enter not into the Kingdome of Heaven consider then what place it is into which yee shall enter But did I commend the Pharisee for this If I did I must retract it all for marke the propriety of the phrase well he uses I give Tithes of all that I possesse He does not say I pay Tithes as confessing them due but I give as if they were onely benevolences and so it is in the Latine Do decimas Vpon which Stella has this note Cum ait do rectius diceret reddo cum Dei sunt When the Pharisee sayes I give Tithes sayes he he ought to have sayd I pay Tithes because they belong to God they were none of his to give Tithes and Parsonages are Offices not Benefices however we have lately fastened that Title upon them I give Tithes O this is a word which we cannot chuse but be all in love with We would faine bring the Clergy to be under our girdles to live upon Benevolences and Gifts onely and then we thinke wee should be safe Yee might then sin yee thinke and goe to Hell quietly without controlment if yee had the Preachers tongue in your Pocket once whereas now these Parsonages where the Tithes are exacted as due and not as gift doe make the Churchman not so carefull to cut out his Doctrines in that fashion which shall please you as to indeavor to please God and discharge a good conscience These Tithes too yee say doe make the Priests proud and stately whereas your Lecturers are meeke and humble striving to give content to all who otherwise should come short of their wages I answer it the Priest be proud it is a great fault in him and he shall one day answer for it But take thou heed that Pride in thee does not make thee call that pride in him which is not pride but onely a Iustice and true proportion in his carriage for then thou shalt answer for that Peradventure thou wouldst construe that to be humility in him which indeed would be basenesse if he should doe it Alas every little thing of us who has but scrapâ—d a pâ—ch'd estate together a company of poore Cottages broken and craâ—e as theyr Titles by what meanes â—o matter though the Widow and the Fatherlesse curse us and all our posteritie for it must affect a kinde of greatnesse now and as it was with wicked Haman all our greatnesse is nothing wee cannot sleepe with it unlesse MORDECAI the â—ew will bow to us unlesse we can make the Parson stoope to our greatnesse O it is an infinite eye-sore to us to see him thrive and prosper in the World But yee deceive your selves the Office of the Priest-hood is not so contemptible a thing as yee would have it If any will bee great amongst you sayes our Saviour let him bee your Minister I doe not goe about to exact an absolute soveraignty over the Laâ—tie No give us in the name of God but that respect which belongs unto that holy Character and we require no more As we desire not to be Lords over you so neyther must you be Lords over us and oppresse us as if wee were of the dregs of the people As we must not be so proud but that we must visite the Widdow and the distressed I even administer unto the necessities of the poorest wretch in the Parish so on the other side wee must not be so base to flatter the greatest And this CHRIST himselfe has taught us by his owne example who did not refuse to touch the poore Leapers in the Gospell with his owne blessed hands and so cur'd them and yet yee see he us'd an other kinde of behaviour to the great ones of the Iewes the Scribes and Pharisees To their faces often hâ— calles them Hypocrites painted Sepultures Murderers of the Prophets câ—ren of the Divell and pronounces woe upon woe against them For he knew that the diseaâ—s of the Leaper and Pharisee were different and therefore requir'd a different Playster And yet for all this yee will not dare I hope to call him proud or stately because hee did not croutch to them O yee would â—e keepe the Parson low amongst yee that hee might not bee able to recover his own 't is one of the greatest cares of some men and therefore they apply themselves against him as against the cominoâ— Enemies But take heed for in detaining thy Tithe thou doest not onely rob the Priest
he followed him that even into the high Priests Hall Where it is true hee told them he knew not the man but this also is as true that he did tell them so The other Disciples knew not the man and were so fearefull that they durst not come neere to tell them so but Peter is so couragious that hee stands out a threefold deniall In his very deniall he was valâ—anter then all the rest Let us therefore ascribe unto St. Peters God for St. Peters faith for St. Peters love for his valour for his doctrine for his life for his repentance for his death and martyrdome all which are set up as so many Sea-markes to guide us into the Haven of eternall rest as due is all praise honour power majestie c. Amen THE FOVRTH SERMON PREACHED Upon St. John Baptists Day LVK. 1. Part of the 66. verse What manner of Childe shall this be I Cannot tell whether I should more commend the former Ages of the Church or lament our owne they in the Primitive times were so carefull to take all possible occasions to glorifie God in Himselfe in his Sonne â—e his holy Spirit in his Saints that they did dedicate set dayes on purpose for his worship as the day of the Nativity of our Saviour the day of his Passion of his Resurrection which was indeed the great day of the yeare which did quite abrogate the Jewish Sabbath the day also of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost wherein the Comforter was sent to the Disciples Nor did their devotion stop here but because they might let slip no occasion to praise the Lord they also did set apart certaine dayes wherein God should be glorified in the anniversarie memory of his Saints At ipsa sanctitas sanctorum simul memoria frigidis his nostris temporibus exulant But our times frozen with a certaine new upstart discipline blowne from Geneva are so farre from affording any honourable mention of Gods Saints that many of us quarrell the very name And indeed to say the truth what have they to doe with the word when the thing which the word signifies is banished from them I doe acknowledge that the Church of Rome is something too ceremonious too complementall in regard of the Saints and doth bestow too much honour upon them many times even to the prejudice of Gods glory But shall we therefore like fooles or mad men in a wilde desire of opposition erre farther on the other hand because they honour them a little too much therefore shall wee dishonour them God hath beene pleased to glorifie them in heaven like the Starres in the Firmament The just shall shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father saith our Saviour in the 13. of Saint Mathew ver 43. And therefore certainely these are not fit objects of our scorne and neglect But to give if it be possible some satisfaction to the froward and ignorant concerning these dayes dedicated to the Saints If Antiquity would satisfie them I could send them to â—ertullian St. Ierome St. Augustine and of later times to Baronius Annales to Bellarmine who are not much branded for bearing false witnesse of the ancient times For certaine it is that this dedication of dayes unto the honour of the Saints or to the honour of God in the Saints choose yee which is of great Antiquity The Romanists have indeed abused this custome and have multiplied the number of their Saints beyond the number of their dayes it may bee have put in some into the number of their Saints when there hath beene neither such Saints nor such men But it is no good argument from the abuse of a Thing to conclude against the lawfull use But I will leave Antiquity which they care not for and will deale with them by reason I was too blame to tell them so I doubt my arguments will fare the worse for comming to them in that livery Carnall reasoning as they call it they cannot abide O that such people would but heare without prejudice For what is he who hath not lost all that is man about him when hee shall heare the reasons which are alleadged for the dedication of these dayes but must needes mee thinkes retract his lunacie and folly and call the former Ages wise and our selves happy them for first instituting and us for enjoying those blessed occasions and meanes to build us up in devotion The dayes therefore dedicated to the memory of the blessed Virgin St. Mary the holy Apostles and Martyrs have many profitable and religious uses First That upon those dayes wee might joyne our rejoycing with theirs communicate together in our joy and praises of God And for this it is that we beleeve and confesse in our Creed A communion of Saints Secondly that we might shew our thankfulnesse both unto God and to them who are so solicitous for our good and doe so thirst after and rejoyce at our salvation and glory There is joy in heaven for one sinner that repents Thirdly That wee contemplating their vertues and graces might be provoked to an imitation of their godly lives Fourthly That our Faith and Hope might by the consideration of them be established that as we verely beleeve that they are now glorified in Heaven who were once mortall men here on Earth subject to the same passions to the same infirmities with our selves so wee following their steps in vertuous and religious living shall one day also be removed from this earth and enjoy with them an everlasting vision of glory Fifthly That God thereby might be honoured For if we so honour the memory of the Saints certainly this very action of ours must needs acknowledge him to be more glorious more honourable who both made them men and made them Saints Sixthly That by meditating upon their happinesse and the beauty which they are now possest of we might be perswaded unto a hate of all earthly things and onely let our thoughts bee taken up with Heaven which while they lived here was their study now is their habitation And lastly That by the celebration of these Feasts meeting at Gods house as we ought to do praising and raying unto the Lord hearing his holy Word read or preached we might be builded up to further degrees of knowledge and devotion And were there no other reason but this me thinkes it might move a good Christian But I shall make a monster of this Childe of mine this discourse in making the head too bigg for the body so that I am afraid you will get to the Text before me and say of my Sermon as the people did here of St. Iohn the Baptist What manner of Child shall this be I therefore make haste to the Text. And all they that heard these things laid them up in their hearts saying What manner c. Our whole discourse at this time shall bee nothing else but an answer to this question And to whom is this question directed I perceive
yee the words of an Author of no small repute amongst them speaking of the very same comparison of the difference of faces and mindes Alii aliis non omnino assimulantur ideo privatim de anoquoque meminit Ecclesia sine aliquo mendacio Non est inquit similis illi c. Therefore saith hee doth the Church and that without any imputation of lying say of every Saint His like is not to be found Mat 22.30 Wee shall be in Heaven saith our Saviour Math. 22. as the Angels of God and the more holinesse there is in us the neerer we approach to the nature of Angels even while we live here upon earth Now Aquinas tells us that quilibet Angelus constituit speciem Every Angell doth make a severall species So that there is no numericall distinction of the Angels but a specificall And the reason of this is because those things which agree in the species and differ onely in number doe agree in the forme and are distinguished onely in regard of the matter But seeing the Angels are not compounded of matter and forme but are without that principium fundamentum distinctionis that beginning and foundation of numericall distinction which is matter therefore it is impossible that they should be distinguished any other way but in the species And the species are compared unto numbers Yee cannot say that one number is equall to another number the number of 6 is greater then the number of 4 and lesse then the number of 8. For as well in the species as in numbers there is no linea à latere but only the upwards the downward line which implies greater and lesse So it is in the Saints no equality one must needs be greater another lesse And therefore S. Chrisostome concludes substantially and subtilly If no man be greater then Iohn the Baptist all Saints compared amongst themselves are either greater or lesse therefore he who hath none greater then himselfe must needs be greater then all But I have bin too long amongst these School delicacies Here is one thing remains to be explained concerning his last greatnesse the greatnesse of his glory For our Saviour addes in that 7. of S. Luke Luk. 7.28 Neverthelesse hee who is least in the Kingdome of God is greater then he There be two answers given First That this spoken in comparison of the Angels who were onely yet the inhabitors of the Kingdome of God For say they when Christ spoke these words the Kingdome of Heaven was not open unto the soules and spirits of men the Key of that was the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ till then there were no men in Heaven As if our Saviour should have said neverthelesse all this greatnesse of Iohn which I have made mention of the least in the Kingdome of God i. the least amongst the Angels is greater then hee because Iohn notwithstanding all these commendations is but a man but the Angelicall nature is far greater then the nature of man But this answer carries along with it a point in controversie not yet determined amongst us as granted and therefore cannot fully satisfie Secondly The answer is That he who is the least in the Kingdome of God is greater then Iohn the Baptist meaning that hee is greater pro nunc greater while Iohn lived upon the earth And this greatnesse arises a securitate fruitione from security and fruition For hee who rides in his triumphant Chariot must needs be said to be greater and happier then he who is yet in the heate of the Battell although this last be farre the worthier and the valianter because this is yet in dubio certamine but the other being freed from the malice of his enemies weares his Garland upon his head in security and therefore it is not said here that he who is least in the Kingdome of God is holier or better then Iohn but is greater then hee which greatnesse proceedes from a present possession of happinesse Wee have hitherto Preached unto you of the greatnesse of this blessed Saint St. Iohn the Baptist And what harme I pray yee is there in all this now There be a Generation of People whether it be out of envie or ignorance or pride or from what other root it should proceede I know not who cannot endure to have any of the Saints of of God spoken well of No the mention of the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary who was the Mother of our Lord and Saviour a rich Cabinet containing in it a farre richer Jewell whom the Angell of the Lord accosts with this strange salutation Haile Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women This holy name I say if it comes in usherd by the word Saint is distastfull to many of them such is their madnesse affording a more honourable mention of some of their new Saints in a Funerall Sermon then of her who was the Mother of Him who redeemed the World But these people certainly if they knew my thing must needs know that the greatnesse of the followers doth redound unto the greatnesse of their Lord who is able to make and to keepe such followers And when wee heare of the the greatnesse of St. Iohn the Baptist me thinks we should all be carried up into a consideration of his greatnesse who made St Iohn For if St. Iohn was so great that by the Testimony of Christ himselfe there was not a greater then hee amongst all who were begotten of Women O how much greater then must he needs be who was and is the Lord and Master of St. Iohn whose Herald whose forerunner whose Minister he was and as he himselfe confesses whose Shoo-latchet he was not worthy to unloose Let such of us therefore who have bin any whit faulty in this kind learne hereafter to have a more honourable esteeme of Gods Saints and of the holy dayes which are dedicated to their memory and not suppose with too many that they are dayes set apart onely for licentiousnesse and drunkennesse No the good intent of the Church was that there might be preserved an Anniversary memory of the Saints of their vertues and graces of their lives and deaths to the glory of God and our owne instruction who following their good examples shall one day come to be Saints our selves amongst them This was and is the religious use of holy dayes not excluding the Civill which is to permit honest and lawfull recreations only with this caution First serve God and then take thy honest and Christian liberty Let us then make an end of this discourse with praise and thanks-giving to Almighty God for all Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Fathers whose lives and doctrine God hath set up as lights to guide us unto the Kingdome everlasting but especially as this day calls to our memory for the blessed Saint Saint Iohn the Baptist who was great in his conception great in his nativity great in his
comes leaping to us as though our happinesse were an addition to his owne With what alacrity with what cheerfulnesse with what thanksgivings O it is a string which cannot be touched too often ought wee then to meete him What preparations can be too great to bid him welcome Deck up thy selfe then in all thy best ornaments make cleane and adorne the Temple of thy heart that when the holy Spirit comes and beholds the sweetnesse of the lodging he may fall in love with it and to thy great joy say unto thee I am pleased with the habitation and in this house will I abide for ever and so hee shall leape in thee according to St. Bernards meaning that is thy soule shall be filled with joy But this joy is not to all En discretos circumspectos sponsi saltus saith the same Father Behold how the holy Spirit doth chuse out the places upon which he will leape hee doth not leape every where but onely upon the mountaines Vpon the mountaines Salit in montibus Hoc est in perfectis in coelo vicinioribus qui divina coelestia meditantur quique in terram tanquam parvum aliquid vile despiciunt ex alto He leapes in the mountaines that is in those who are perfect in such as are neere unto heaven whose meditations flye a higher pitch then earth or earthly things who being mounted and placed upon the top of divine contemplation looke downe upon all things below them with a kinde of neglect and beheld all the men upon earth and all those glorious Cities and great Kingdomes of the world as Charon did in Lucian when by the ayde of Mercury they had made that goodly pile of mountaines to take the better prospect of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who told Mercury that he saw men moving up and down like so many Pismires and a few little nests wherein they cabened which were the great Cities of the earth Men who doe not over-prize the world these are they upon whom the holy Spirit will leape But hee will have nothing to doe with those men who look through their eyes upon the world as through a multiplying Glasse which presents every object to the sight farre bigger then indeed it is whose thoughts are all taken up with earthly cares who with the foole in the Gospell dreame of nothing but of building bigger barnes of enlarging their worldly possessions no matter how although it bee by the ruine of all their neighbours round about them the whole bent of whose studies and endevours is to multiply their earthly Mammon never so much as thinking of the riches coelestiall or if it fortune that such a religious thought at any time crowd into their hearts it findes no long entertainment but out it is thrust againe with this answer I am not now at leisure to thinke of heaven meete me at Master Doctors when I am old or when diseases and infirmities have made me fit to entertain such melancholy thoughts as it is in the Story of that poore old ignorant woman who being sicke and the Priest desiring her to thinke upon heaven and call upon God for his mercie answered him That shee hoped it was not come to that yet No the Spirit of God takes no delight to leape upon such places as these this is too foule too fenny a ground for him he leapes only upon the mountaines upon men whose meditations are high and pointed to Heaven Or else Salit in montibus hoc est in seperatis à mundo à confluxu populi He leapes in the mountaines that is in such as are seperated from the world and the great conflux of people My Dove saith Christ in the 14. verse of this Chapter Thou art in the holes of the rocke and in the secret places of the staires The Spirit of God many times leaves populous Cities great concourses of people and vouchsafes his presence rather where two or three are gathered together though it be in the Desart The Shepheards who were in the field watching their Flocks that by night too when all things were quiet and silent had a vision of Angells appeared to them when Herod and all the Grandees in Ierusalem who were in a throng of people knew of no such thing Hagar so long as shee was in Abrahams great family had no vision at all but no sooner got into the Wildernesse of Beer-sheba Gen. 21. but presently the Angell of the Lord appeares to her and comforts her saying Hagar feare not for the Lord hath heard the voyce of the child And the reason of this is because these places are many times too full of tumult noyse and confusion to admit of the quiet approaches and operations of the holy Spirit Besides where a multitude of men is there must needs be a multitude of sinnes too O si possemus in talem ascendere speculam de qua universam terram sub pedibus nostris cerneremus It is S. Ieromes wish O saith he that we could but climbe up into such a mountain from whence we might discover the whole earth under our feete what a strange various spectacle would it afford us Nay were we but able at one time to behold the divers affaires of one Citie it would astonish us to see a company in this place lying in wait for the blood of the innocent in that place another knot combined together to defeat the Widow and the Fatherlesse of their possessions here a troupe making hast to the Stewes there others thundring out oathes and blasphemy in a Taverne here a prophane crue laying their heads together how they may cozen God of his Tithes These and a thousand other affaires of the same nature though of divers faces may a man betray where there is a multitude of people And can the holy Ghost take any delight thinke yee to leape in such places as these We have an olde saying and it is a true one Exeat Aula qui vult esse pius Hee who desires to leade a devout and godly life let him remove himselfe as farre as he can possibly from the noyse and tumult of the people If hee would pray let him with our Saviour goe up into the mount of Olives if he desires visions if he hath a minde to set himselfe apart for contemplation let him with the Prophet Daniel retire himselfe to the quiet and pleasant banke of the river Tigris for it is a very hard thing for a man to be conversant in the businesse of the world and not to have his heart taken up too much with them to touch Pitch and to escape with cleane fingers So difficult a thing hath it seemed in all Ages that many godly men were afraid to stand the danger of it but fled some into Monasteries some into Caves some into the Wildernesse turning Anchorites muring up themselves from the company of all men Amongst which multitude I will onely name that worthy learned and devout Monk
Praeludium or Preface to it besides the acknowledging of the ground to be holy and dedicated to God and besides the stirring up of mine owne devotions thed evotions of others by beholding that humble and reverend gesture thou shalt finde to be done not without a great deale of caution not without a great deale or reason and mysterie Yee will not be discontented I hope if I make it plaine to you that our Saviour CHRIST himselfe has taught us this very same Method of Adoration Looke but into the Lords Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven c. Hee first layes downe the Foundation of our Religion of our Devotion a Father we have a God there is a great God a God which is in Heaven This being done before we are taught eyther to pray for our owne Salvation in saying thy Kingdome come to us before wâ— are taught to pray for our Dayly bread for the forgivenesse of our Sinnes or for any thing which concernes our selves we are tâ—ght to say hallowed be thy Name VVâ— must first seeke and desire the glory of God and then â—uâ— owne Salvation and not onely so but we are to desire Gods glory first in the abstracted notion onely for and in regard of himselfe Sanctificetur it is St. Chrysostomes Note CHRIST does not teach us sayes he to say sanctificemus let us sanctifie thy Name but sanctificetur impersonally sanctified or hallowed bee thy Name without the joyning of any person to it to show us that we ought to desire Gods honour principally and in the first place without any respect unto our selves as He is the chiefe good and the chiefe happinesse which is a great deale more thanke-worthy then to doe it with relation to our owne happinesse as we are partakers of that chiefe good and happinesse And this very method doe we observe at our entrance into Gods House we doe not immediately fall downe to our Prayers for that were to worship God in respect of our selves but first of all before we come to lay any claime unto him by our Prayers we humbly prostrate our selves before the Altar as acknowledging him to be the great God in the abstracted notion without any respects unto us as if by that gesture we should repeate that first Petition of the Lords Prayer and say Hallowed bee thy name impersonally So that if there should be a Heathen amongst us in the Congregation and should but behold that reverent behaviour hee could not chuse but breake out and say Certainely there is a God in this place and I knew not of it When we bow then at our first Entrance into the Church we doe as it were acknowledge Gods Image and Superscription to be upon that House and in so doing we worship God as he is the great God but afterwards when wee Kneele downe and pray to him then we worship him as he is the Good the Gracious and the Mercifull God in relations to us Our first bowing without Prayer acknowledges his Omnipotencie and Independencie Our second bowing accompanyed with Prayers does confesse his Mercy and the Communication of his Goodnesse If thou wilt then fall directly upon thy Knees to thy Prayers is soone as thou enterest the Church and â—o worship God onely as a good and a gracious God to thee I blâ—e thee not for it enjoy thy Liberty Onely take heed thou beâ—st not too lavish in thy Censures against them who doâ— the other too and are able to show better reasons for the doing of it then thou for leaving it undone But all that I can doe will not bring the Pharisee I see to stoope we must be forc'd to leave him as we found him standing Let us heare what hee does more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pharisee stood and pray'd thus with himselfe We have too many such Pharisees now adayes who pray with themselves by their good wils they would never joyne with the Congregationâ— But I have touch'd upon that already The thing which I 〈◊〉 from these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hâ— pâ—y'd with himselfe is this See what the effect of his standing of his Pride is The Prayers of the Iust and Humble doe use to pierce the Clouds and knocke at the Cares of Heaven for entrance and are admitted but this vaine glorious and proud man by boasting of his owne merits and standing with a stiffe Knee before the Lord has even clipâ— the wings of his Prayers so that instead of ascending unto God they remaine heavy things at home with him all that hee can doe cannot perswade them to take wing he pray'd with himselfe they went no farther God heard him not The Lord heareth not sinners hee esteemes 〈◊〉 of the Prayers of the proud and disobedient For although the reverent gesture of Kneeling or Prayers and at the blessed Eucharist and other â—re Câ—emonies of the Church be not absolutely and primarily of the Essence of Religion â—though secondarily they are for obedience is of the Essence of Religion and to doe those things the Church commands is Obedience yet it showes forth a great pride and a spirit of contradiction in them who refuse them It is acknowledg'd that the chiefest Sacrifice and which is most acceptable to the Lord is a Contrite heart yet I say againe that where the Heart is contrite there the Body will expresse Humilitie The Knee of that man cannot be stiffe whose heart is broken 't is both against Philosophie and Divinitie the heart is like the great wheele in a Clocke it sets all the other members a working Hee stood and prayed thus with himselfe Let us now heare what it is that he prayes O God I thanke thee that I am not as other men Extortioners vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publicane I fast twice in the Weeke I give Tithes of all that ever I possesse 'T is well the Holy Scripture tells us that this is a Prayer certainely we should hardly have believ'd it else It has a strange beginning nay the whole ayre of it is something harsh to be called a Prayer Iustus in principio accusator est sui The just and godly man he commonly begins his Prayer with an accusation of himselfe so ABRAHAM in the 18. of Genesis 27. praying for the Sodomites Ge. 18.27 Behold now I have begun to speake unto my Lord who am but dust and Ashes As if Abraham had sayd let not my Lord be angry although I who am a Sinner my selfe doe entreat for other Sinners So IACOB Gen. 32. O God of my Father ABRAHAM I am lesse then all thy Mercies So DAVID in the 2. of Sam. 18. Who am I O Lord God and what is my House that thou hast brought me hitherto So DANIEL chap. 9. O Lord Righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of Face And thus doe all Godly men begin their Supplications but the Pharisee he expresseth in other kinde of language God I thanke thee I am not as other men c. It