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A03104
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The mirror of pure devotion: or, The discovery of hypocrisie Delivered in sixe severall sermons, in the Cathedrall Church of Chichester, by way of an exposition of the parable of the Pharises and the publican. By R.B. preacher of the word, at Chidham in the county of Sussex.
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Ball, Robert, fl. 1635.
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1635
(1635)
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STC 1323; ESTC S113587
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64,577
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210
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is accidentally and from without And therefore S. Chrysostome excludes In Ep ad Coloss none from the comfortable use of the Scriptures but makes generall Proclamation to all sorts of people Audite quotquot est is mundani c. Hearken all ye men of the world that have wives and children how S. Paul the Apostle of Christ commandes you to read the Scriptures and that not slightly or perfunctorily but with great diligence Yea the same Father is so eager upon the point that he doth as it were force and thrust the Bible into the peoples hands Take the Bible into your hands saith he in your houses at home So likewise S. Ierome most Jerome gravely and divinely urges upon the same place of Scripture that Lay-men ought to have the Word of God not only sufficiently but abundantly whereby they may bee able to teach and to counsell others But bee it granted that some places of Scripture are obscure and darke it were but a fallacy à secundum quid ad simpliciter as the Logicians call it to argue from thence that the Scriptures are full of darknesse because some are difficult to some therefore all are dangerous to all sorts of vulgars The Prophet David reades a contrary Lecture to us and tels us That the Word of God is a Lanthorne unto our feete and a light unto our pathes And therefore Saint Chrysostome buildes upon a sure foundation Omnia clara plana In Gen. Hom. 29. sunt in Scripturis Divinis saith he quaecunque necessaria sunt manifestasunt All things are cleare and plaine in the Holy Scriptures whatsoever things are necessary for us are also manifested unto us Whereupon Clemens Alexandrinus makes an other Proclamation as hee is quoted by the same Chrysostome Audite qui est is In 2 Thes Hom. 3. longè auditè qui prope nullis caelatum est verbum Hearken yee that be farre off hearken yee that bee neere the Word of God is hid from no man As Moses to the Israelites It is neither in heaven Deut. 30. that wee need hire any to climbe for it nor yet beyond the Seas that we need get any travell for it but the Word of God is in our owne mouthes and in our owne hearts to doe it Luâ— est communis omnibus Clem Aleâ— orat aâ—hort ad gentes illucesâ—it nullis in verbo Cymmâ—rius As God so his Word is that common Light that inlightneth every man that comes into this world in it there is no darkenesse at all So Irenaeus Scripturae in aperto Lib. 1. cap. 45. sunt c. The Scriptures are plainâ— and without doubtfulnesse and may bee read indifferently of any So Saint Ierome The Lord hath spoken by his Gospell not that a few should understand him but that all For certainely beloved the Spirit of God is a free Spirit bound neither to the sharpenesse of our wit nor to the deepenesse of our learning for many times the simple and illiterate man being illuminated sees more then the Scribe or the great disputer of this world According to that clause of our Saviours prayer Matth. 11. I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth for that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Whereupon Epiphanius divinely Solis Spiritus Lib. 2. Sancti filiis facilis est Scriptura The Scriptures are plaine and cleere onely to the children of the holy Ghost The Spirit breatheth where it listeth without which wee can neither live nor move nor have any spirituall being we are meere dead men and therefore must needs be blind men But to those that are illuminated whether learned or unlearned there ariseth up light in darkenesse There is food of all sorts for all sorts of people So Fulgentius In Scripturis Divinis Serm. de con abundat quod robustus comedat quod parvulus sugat In the Word of God there is plenty sufficient strong meate for men milke for Babes It is the Bridegroomes Wine-cellar wherein he feasteth and comforteth his beloved Spouse with Flagons and Apples and delicates of all sorts whereof shee hath free welcome and liberty bibere inebriari to drinke and to bee satisfied and to drinke and to bee more then satisfied So farre are the reverend Fathers you see from fathering the abortives of heresie and schisme upon the sacred Scriptures that they rather indeed proclaime them to be the severe step-mother or murderesse of such Cockatrices in the egge Irenaeus confesses ingenuously that the onely cause of the Valentinian heresie was Scripturarum Dei ignorantia the peoples blindnesse and ignorance of the Scriptures So Saint Chrysostome concerning the errour of the Manichees in his time Manichaei Ad Heb. hom 8. omnes haereses decipiunt simplices The Manichees and all heresâ—es deceive the simple But if our mindes bee illuminated by often reading and hearing of the Scriptures we may be able to discerne both good and evill So likewise Theophylact Illis qui scrutantur Divinas Scripturas nihil potest illudere nothing can deceive them that diligently search the Holy Scriptures it is the candle whereby the theife is discovered So the ancient of dayes himselfe unto the Sadduces Yee erre not because Math. 2â— yee know but because yee know not the Scriptures For heresies or schismes arise not from the Scriptures themselves or any darknesse in them but from the ignorance and pravity that is in mans understanding they are rather discovered and suppressed by Scripture Should I tell you that a blind man may better avoyd dangers then he that seeth Or that a naked man in the middest of his enemies may better acquit himselfe then he that is compleately armed Or that the full fed I picure is neerer starving then the miserable captive that is debarred all kinde of sustenance you might well thinke I were mad So certainely it argues no lesse frenzie and in compossibilitie of minde to broach such unreasonable and unlikely doctrines But to winde up this controversie in one word It were an easie matter me thinkes to catch the adversary in his owne gin if wee did urge him to nominate what manner of persons hee thinkes meete in his owne conscience to be exempted from the reading of the Scriptures Hee cannot say old men for shame they are the very staffe and comfort of their age It was the sweete amabaeum and burden to Davids song when hee was aged In Gods Word will Psal 58. 10. I rejoyce in the Lords Word will I comfort me Not young men for pitty they are the onely curbe to restraine the heate and fury of their tamelesse youth for wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his waies but by ruling Psal 119. 9. himselfe according to Gods word Surely the Apostle S. Paul thought it the best breeding hee could possibly bestow upon his sonne Timothie 2 Tim. 3. 15. to bring him up in the knowledge
but delude himselfe as the Prophets dreamer did who ate by imagination at mid-night and when hee awoke from sleepe his soule had nothing Let every member of the body then and every facultie of the minde be so subject to the higher powers of the heart that as the Ninivites presumed not to venter upon their Generall humiliation without lawfull authoritie from the King and the Councell so let neither the body bowe nor the head droope nor the hand smite without a lawfull Fiat from the heart and affections So bee it Then shall I be sure both to seeme as I am and to be as I seeme Not to be intùs Nero foris Cato totus ambiguus Monstrum A Saint without and a Divell within an hypocrite in both a meere monster But like unto Nathauael a true Israelite in whose heart and hand and tongue there is no guile So then to conclude the point in the Apostles language When I come into the Temple to doe my humble service I will bowe my heart to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and I will bowe my body also for he is the Creator of that too My heart shall droope first and my head shall droope next first my heart shall bleed and then my hand shall smite and so shall I be sure mine Organs are in tune and I may begin my service when I please And so I passe from the Organ to the Quire from the pipe to the voyce from the instrument to the Song Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori O God be mercifull to mee a sinner Wee are now come unto the song it selfe you see ready prickt unto our hands by the hand and heart of humilitie it selfe an excellent artist in his kinde the humble Publican The first note hee reaches is a note above Ela no lower then the highest Oh God God then it seemes is the first note hee reaches and higher he cannot reach neither for name nor puritie nor glory Hee is a transcendent note above all notes for name They shall know saith David that thou whose name is Iehovah art the most high God over all the earth Hee is such a transcendent note of puritie that the Moone shines not and the Starres are impure in his sight and the Cherubims clap their wings Esa 6. 3. upon their faces and cry continually Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts And hee is such a tranâ—cendent note of glory that hee is Psal 104. Psal 68. 13. Psa 50. 1. become exceeding glorious saith David hee is clothed with Majestie and honour Hee decks himselfe with light as with a garment and spreads out the heavens like a curtaine The Chariâ—ots of this God are twentie thousands even thousands of Angels This is the Lord even the most mightie God that hath spoken and called the world from the riâ—ing of the Sunne unto the going downe thereof The glorious Majestie of this God shall indure for ever Blessed be his glorious name for ever and let all the earth bee filled with his Majestie Amen Amen Now the Diapason that answers to this high trebble is a deep base Deepe indeed he reaches a note below Gam ut baser then the basest a sinner This Base was once a Meane if hee could have kept himselfe there Minuisti eum paulò ab Angelis saith David thou madest him a little inferiour to the Angels an innocent and a spotlesse man in his estate of integritie but his voyce beeing crackt by over-reaching himselfe this homo became homulus and so fell a note lower and by multiplication of errour this homulus became mulus a note lower yet a beast and no man a worme or vermine and no beast the basest of all bases a Sinner Now then for a judicious Artist to tel me justly how many Eights there may bee betwixt this high treble and this deepe base this mightie Iehovah and this silly worme this fountaine of puritie and this sinke of impietie this glorious Majesty and this despectible misery this great God and this wretched sinner There had need you see to bee two good closing parts to make the Musicke sweet and full betwixt these two extreame Extreames the trebble and the base and so behold there is A true Tenor to close with the Base that alwayes sings Me in E la Me to make the Musicke full by an humble and heartie confession of sinne or else it could never be And a sweet Meane to close with the Trebble to make the Musicke harmonious by an humble and heartie apprecation of mercy Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori O God bee mercifull to mee a Sinner This for the Diapasons now for the closing parts And first I beseech you marke how truly the Tenor closes with the Base To bee a sinner and not to know it is the part of a bungler Qui peccare Epicuruâ— â— se nescit non vult corrigi It was the best doctrine that ever Epicure preached To bee a Sinner and to know it and not to acknowledge it is the part of a fumbler to slubber and shift a sinne from the man to the woman and from the woman to the Serpent this is but muffling the conscience and juggling with God But the skilfull and ingenuous Artist will both know and acknowledge and rather aggravate then mince a sinne He will both produce and accuse and condemne himselfe as Ionas to the Mariners Novi Quia propter me there is his mee in Ela me Take Ion. 1. mee and cast mee into the Sea for I know that for my sake this mightie storme is come upon you Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori O God be mercifull to mee a Sinner When the Tenor closes thus truly with the base that makes the Musicke full So full indeed that it even ravished all the Saints of God they were never in quiet till they had learned this part It was the part of David to Nathan Peccavi I 2 Sam. 12 2 Sam. 24 have sinned And againe to God himselfe both with a restriction to the person and aggravation to the sinne Valdè peccavi I have exceedingly sinned And Ego sum qui peccavi And Ego sum qui inique egi It is I and only I that have done wickedly The part of Iob 7. 1 sim 1. 15. Iob Peccavi I have sinned And the part of the very chiefest Apostle to proclaime himselfe the very chiefest Sinner Ego peccatorum primus I am the chiefest sinner Let presumptuous Pharisees then harpe upon an harsher stiâ—ine and say God be mercifull to this or that man most odious and abominable sinners God I thanke thee I am not as these men are But oh may it be my part and oh may it bee all their parts at the very last close of our service and at the last blast that shall give breath unto the Organ That breath and pipe and voyce and all may humbly conclude with this Publican Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori O God bee