top of Aarons head to the beard Psal â—33 2 the skirts of his clothing This blessing of absolute power is Gods onely to giue who at his pleasure can bestow temporall or eternall gifts Sometimes temporall vpon the creatures for man or vpon man in the vse of the creatures Ephes 1.3 Sometimes eternall vpon the Saints as he blessed the elect with all spirituall blessings in Christ chosen before the foundations of the world Aquinas This blessing hath no match and therefore it is said benedicere Dei est causare bonitateÌ„ there is none but God which can create goodnesse in man The other Superiour blessing is by commission to Gods Deputies which blessing is either more-common or more rare The common blessing is praier sent as an Angell to fetch the blessing of God from the top of the ladder in heauen to the foot of the ladder on earth Thus the superiours in the Church for which cause we thinke superiority expedient do pray for the blessing of God inward and outward and ex officio doe shew that God will bestow them wich are necessary This blessing is dayly or ought to bee of Kings to their subiects Pastors to their flocke and Parents to their children The blessing of the King to his subiects Iosh 22 1 Paralip 16 3 Reg. 8 as Ioshuah blessed the Rubenites as Dauid blessed the people in the name of the Lord or as Salomon blessed all the congregation of Israel Thus shall the King prolong his daies in the kingdome and his sonnes in the middest of Jsrael The blessing of the Pastor to the flock Deut. 17.20 Nomb 6.23 Leu. 9.23 Hebr. 7.1 ought to be as Aaron blessed the people at Gods appointment as Moses and Aaron blessed the people when the glory of the Lord appeared and as Melchisedec blessed Abraham the Priest of the most high God met Abraham c. blessed him This blessing when it is directed according to the prescript and allowance of the word of God is then of great power by the power of God annexed by promise The blessing of parents to their children is also of good vse and commendable among vs in England for the good speede commonly obserued in these blessings Apud Britannos inprimis sacra antiquitatis vestigia etiamnum hodie clara in hac parte sunt Hyperius Raedius Britannicarum claritatum speciosus The Britanes are most honourable aboue all Nations for the continuance of this holy ordinance This is without all doubt an holy order which the Lord ordeined from the beginning that children might bee preserued within the compasse of dutifull obedience to their parents and might esteeme greatly of their great office ouer them Moreouer this obseruation beeing a comely correspondence to the fifth commandement doth thereby approue it self that in our religion it should not be neglected or reputed a stranger And this is more manifest by the reasons of the Wise man in which hee lappeth his counsels for the precious estimation of the parents blessing Eccles 3.11 For the blessing of the father establisheth the house of the children and the mothers curse rooteth out the foundations I might here lift vp some monuments on which it hath been proued and written how the blessings curses of parents haue kindled fire of heauen or hell as if Gods will and the parents were all one In this purpose an heathen speaketh as if he had been a Diuine in the skill of secrets Si affirmabit pater aduersus nos pati nos oportet quod ille faciat cuius potestas plus potest God doth iustly effect that which man doth iustly craue But of all blessings by commission that is the highest and of most power which is called the Patriarchall or Propheticall blessing With this blessing Isaac blessed Iaacob and Iaacob after blessed his sonnes This is called a blessing of excellency for that those holy men indued with the spirit of Prophesie did blesse with the blessing of God which could not be supplanted I haue blessed him and he shall be blessed These blessings were as delectable nuts in the Church because in them beeing words of men there was deliuered the blessing of God Cant. 6.10 as the kirnell in the nut So that Iaacob gone towards his blessing might say I went downe into the garden of nuts The Lord had so enacted the couenant of grace with those gracious fathers that it did rest in custodie vt sanctum depositum as an holy pledge deliuered in trust They by their solemne blessing might conuey this treasure to their posterities in whose families the Church and life of saith was to continue till Christ his comming Thus Noah blessed his sonne Sem before and Moses blessed the twelue Tribes after Concerning Noah his blessing the question is asked wherefore that largesse of Patriarchall blessing was bestowed on Sem when as Iaphets fauourable demeanour towards his father was of equall reuerence and care for his fathers honour as Sems was The answer to this question is plaine that the holy ghost did foresee how from Sem should spring Abraham and all his holy followers of whom the most blessed fruite that euer did grow was to come into the world Therefore to Sem was that great Patriarchall blessing conueyed yet had Noah an other blessing for Iaphet as Abraham had for Ismael and Isaac had for Esau This secondary blessing was far short of the first as the light of a starre is short of the light of the sunne Yet this blessing might be inlarged to Iaphet if hee would light his starre at the sunne and dwell within the light of the Church within the tents of Sem according to the condition of the blessing God perswade Iaphet that he may dwell in the tents of Sem. And thus is it happilie with vs Gentiles conuerted and perswaded to fetch our light at Christ in the tents of Sem our blessing is inlarged by him and the Church with his blessing is inlarged by vs. Now then let me shew you how Iaacob the Hebrew and our English Iaacob are a blessed field The superiour blessing is vpon them both and their blessing is made manifest vnto vs in three most worthy allowances The first is for scituation the second for plants and the third for fruitfull vantages of watering In the first Iaacob is a blessed field scited in the sunne the fairest funne the Sonne of God which alway shines A blessed scite is Iaacobs conscience thus neighboured with the sun his conscience is asweet lodging sweetned with the ioies of Christ as his father Abrahams bosome O blessed Iacob thy fathers blessing hath Iodged thee in the bosome of Christ as the spouse in the bosome of her husband Cant. 2.4 Hee brought me into his wine-seller and loue was his banner ouer me God dwelling with Iaacob and Iaacob is two waies One in tabernaculo personali in the flesh of man the other in tabernaculo mistico in the
tonitrua quibus coloni in aruis affliguntur ita è co dibus malorum parentum euoluuntur pssimi filij suis vicini◠cruente infesti nor washed nor saulted c. Good tutors and teachers should performe the offices of good mid-wifes to your children these to helpe them in their generation those to further them in their regeneration This is the cause that there are among vs so many young Amorites and Hittites for want of holy education Amorites and Hittites a bitter people cruell rebels yet pratlers which dare so vaunt themselues that they are euen an astonishement vnto vs. But may I bee so bold heere to aske another question What are such parents better then Tantalus Cambyses or Lysimachus One of them killed his sonne of pride another of furie and the third of foolish loue The popish father is right as Lysimachus who by the cursed perswasion of a cruell step-mother killed his sonne his valiant sonne Agathocles Haud ero securus dum sit tibi tanta securis O Nouerca Roma thou hast intised many a father to murder his owne child and many children to reuolt from God a tender hearted father Papa caput est ecclesiae vt caminus est Domi in se fumos Jesuiticos recipiens et effundens vt enecet Ier 39.3 Apoc. 18 Deut. 13 Deut. 18 and the true Church a most louing mother Yes by thy instigations as the stings of the Hornet thou hast set to worke many a Ragmag and Neregall These as a close couered candle haue secretly kindled fire vpon christian States to melt and dissolue all holy gouernment Ah thou hast imployed Ragmag and Neregall with all the rest of the Princes of the King of Babell to teare off the life or religion or peace or all from Ierusalem O Nouerca Roma Queene mother thou saiest thou art a Queene but thou art a dreamer a deceiuer a charmer a regarder of times a counsellour with euill spirits a step-mother as those Lurida terribiles miscent aconita Nouercae alwaies tampring with poyson for Gods children Menander Did not the Poet dreame of thee in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is not a worse mischiefe then a wicked step-mother Per ea quae sunt placida suadēt foeda 3 Reg. 18.4 4 Reg. 11.1 Quae dedit infidus mella venena puto Let thy sisters either Phaedra or Medea be thy Iudges how thou hast raged against Kings children or thinke of them of whom thou art more certaine in holie writte how thy sisters Iesabel and Athaliah shall rise against hee in the great day for killing the Prophets and the Kings linage Thus died the mild French King before thus followed the puifant French King after and both died of their mothers knife If then the sunne haue reueiled this way of a Serpent vnder a stone is not Rome hasharsheol a Wolfes house Vbi cascus cascam duxit and your good mother a bloud-sucker You tell vs daily that your father is holy his name is holinesse but your mother is a murtherer De Papa quam plurims quod de hircosis dicunt quo redolentioribus sese odoramentis fumigauerint eo tetrius olent hyrcum Ita pater iste mendax quo sacratioris titul◠laruam iudueril eo gra uiorem expirat mephitim eius fallacitas and therefore we thinke your fathers holinesse is to blame The Diuell hath a wide circle compassing the earth and that Strix of Rome is angry as the Bore which whets his teech because his circuit is not as large as the Diuels Who seeth not also that Satan and his holinesse are agreed to marke all with their blacke cole and brand them for Heretikes which blesse themselues with Gods blessing out of their reach Therefore to requite the Popes kindnesse I dare presume to take a little more roome to wrastle one fall with his holinesse for the wrong done to this name of holinesse I know well that the Popes solliciters haue much confidence in their Champion as the Philistines had in Goliah yet must hee needes fall which will stand on his tiptoes vaunting himselfe against Gods cause as hee did and more blasphemous then Rabshakeh arrogate to himselfe the Title which is proper to God This name of God the type of his incomparable perfection Exod. 28. was engrauen onely in gold the golden letters beeing as the letters of a seale to signifie him who onely by himselfe is of himselfe It was his proper name which being holinesse it selfe is able to make others holy God is more able to make Aaron holy then fire is able to make the mettall hot or the sunne able to infuse his heat into the day both these creatures may be restrained by God but the Creator by none God can with hold the naturall powers from the strongest Exod. 3. Iob. 40.4 and the fairest so that the fire shall not burne in the bush nor the sunne shine in Egypt God can illuminate man with the light of life and none can forbid it Canst thou restraine the sweet influence of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion hath man an arme like God Shall then challenge of equalitie with God in his matchlesse name be made by a weake and sinnefull man whose foundation is dust and his daies vanitie Some of the learned thinke it was the ineffable name of God which was engrauen on the plate of gold and so they write of the opinion of some of the Rabbines which being granted then the name there written cannot bee the Popes What if Aaron did beare this name in the Myter vpon his fore-head yet was it borne not as Aarons owne name but his Master his name whom Aaron serued as it is written Holinesse to the Lord. Let mee yeeld as much vantage as a wrastler may and lend the Pope that hold of an ancient father S. Hierom. Exod. 28.38 Totam Pontificis pulchritudinem Dei vocabulum coronet protegat But why so that Aaron may beare the iniquitie of the offerings c. This is plaine which was in speciall commanded for Aaron and none other wherein he was the singular type of Christ and of none other who onely could take away the sinnes of the world and none other Ioh. 1 2. Cor. 5.18 Ibidem to reconcile the people to God We poore Ministers haue the ministerie of reconciliation giuen vnto vs but none are reconciled to God but by Iesus Christ for God was in Christ reconciled the world to himselfe And he which hath the highest place in the ministration must be holy but he cannot be Holinesse he must be true but he cannot be the Truth these are Gods preheminences Therefore is this name Gods onely and properly Quarto modo to signifie that soueraigntie which is aboue the Popes capacitie But what needeth this attempt will some say to cast him downe who hath so often cast himselfe downe like a blinde man who cannot see or a drunken man which
out vpon the rich fields of heauen and earth that we might be all one flocke bought and paid for and seised into possession by his precious bloud-shedding he hath set at peace through the bloud of the Crosse both things in heauen Col. 1 20 and things in earth Iaacob is a potters field Christ Iesus was laid vp in this field 2. Cor. 4.7 that Iacob might die to sinne and liue to righteousenesse Iaacob hath heauenly treasure in an ear then vessell Matth. 13.4 Christ is the hidden treasure in the potters field more worth then all the field But shall I say that Iaacob is a Meridian field yes a goodly sun-shine field of common ioy and profit to the Church As the common court of the Tabernacle was vpon the sun-shine side a faire and comely passing to the Church Exod. 27.9 Thus was Iacob a faire field of common passage for the Saints for all must come by Iaacob This is the generation of them which seeke him Psalm 24.6 of them which seeke thy face O Iaacob Nostrum est rapere regnum coelorum per gratiam quod quis nequeat attingere per naturam our nature being lame Ierome Chrisostome we must be strengthened in grace to hold heauen by violence So then albeit Iaacob be a common field in whose faire paths and steppes of faith we repaire daily towards the house of God Yet is he but a figure of a fairer field for Christ himselfe is for vs all our rich faire common field He is ager frumenti where we haue all our bread of life Ioh. 6. Hee is ager hortorum where all the Church hath all her spices He is ager sanguinis our mercy truth righteousnesse and peace beeing all died in his bloud who did tread the winepresse alone Hee was ager figuli a man of earth in all things like vnto man sinne onely excepted hee bare the shape of a seruant in our potters field Yet this was his priuiledge that his vessell was not broken Hee was pierced with thornes and scourges and bored through with nailes and speare but he could not be broken among the spoiles of death Not a bone of him shall be broken Esa 12.46 Esa 53.5 Hee was broken for our iniquities in the separation betwixt his body and soule but his body could not be corrupt because it was neuer attaint with sinne with which seale the stay of our field is put together Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption Psalm 16.10 When all his enemies had done against him what they could hee wonne the masterie from them all as the sun at none day doth winne the victory of all the clouds of darknesse and is thus become our Meridian field Heere stands our glorious sonne the King of glory as the sunne in Gibeon on the top of the hil whilest the Lord doth fight for Israel Iosh 10 Vers 13.14 Apoc. 1 The sunne abideth in the middest of our heauen as the son of man in the middest of seuen golden candlestickes and there is no day like this Christ Iesus is our common field 1. Cor. 1.24 and there is neither Iewe nor Grecian nor bond nor free shut out which haue any title in this field as the righteousnesse of Christ for a wedding garment Matt. 22.11 There are none secluded which making right vse of their talents haue right desire to enter into the Lords ioy Matt. 25.21 as the wise virgins which went in with the bridegroome into the wedding Here we all gather plenteous redemption as Ruth gathered plentie of releese in the field of Boaz Ruth 2.15 Let her gather among the sheaues and doe not rebuke her O blessed Boaz our Sauiour what strength is in thee for vs all what strong charity what faire righteousnesse hast thou scattered for vs all to gather As Boaz scattered some of his sheaues of set purpose for Ruth Vers 16 so Christ himselfe let fall some of his sheaues for vs that we might gather without rebuke Ecclesia militans est sancta imputatione inchoatione segregatione sanctitate multimoda à sancto sanctorum imbuta Nay who can tell how many thousand more Christ hath done for vs that we may gather heauenly fruits and after feede thereon for euer It is said of Ruth that shee gleaned in the field till euening Heere vntill euening till the day of this life bee spent wee gather all our good conditions comforts profits pleasures all our mercies sweet remissions all our truth true faith all our righteousnesse faire beauty and all our peace sweet rest vntill our euerlasting sabbaths rest in that blessed field of Gods rest for euer But all this while where is the Prince hath hee no place heere or doth he beare no Armes in this Field Yes now let all the worthies of the world looke on him the Prince is Hur all white cleane hands and cleane heart and vpholdeth the armes of his worthy father as Hur did the hands of Moses to the discomfiture of our enemies 〈◊〉 he going downe of the sunne The Prince is a field of Corne Colos 3. â—6 Nom. 24.6 Heb. 10.22 Psalm 78.39 the Word of God doth plentifully dwell in him A field of gardens as the gardens by the riuers side A field of bloud sprinkled in his heart from an euill conscience and yet a potters field Let him remember that he is but flesh and a winde that turneth not againe What then are all those sanctities lost in him no now let my tongue touch my heart and let my voyce shout out for ioy that the Prince is our English Paradise Henricus campus meridianus magnae Britanniae The Lord sent him out of the North into the South and now is he becom our meridian field for the health and wealth of Christendome The Lord hath brought againe the captiuitie of Sion Psalme 126.1 and here is the health and wealth of these dominions Now shake thy selfe from the dust arise and sit downe O Ierusalem loose the bands of thy necke O captiue daughter Sion Shall I compare with that happie time of our blessed Queene Elizabeth They which were banished in Queene Maries time for sowing were sent for againe in Elizabeths daies to reape a fauourable recompence of God Psal 126 5 that they which did sowe in teares might reape in ioy In former time the people went downe into Egypt and Ashur oppressed them without cause but now how beautifull vpon the mountaines are the Watchmen which see lift vp their voyce and shout together Now is our mouth filled with laughter Vers 2 and our tongue with ioy our ioy renewed new ioy doubled double ioy multiplied our manifold ioyes established in the King and the Kings sonne Heere is cause enough for vs all to confesse the largesse of Gods mercifull true and righteous dealing in the performance of his promise Leu. 26.9 I will haue respect vnto you and make you