Ieremies proclamation vsed in his Lamentations and say vnto you as if Christ himselfe spake in person and shewing you his sufferings should crie Haue ye no regard all ye that passe by this way Behold and see if there be any sorrow like vnto my sorrow which is done vnto me and wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath For what could he haue suffered that he did not suffer He was most lamentably afflicted by all sorts of men for whom he suffered Despised he was of Iewes 2. Scorned of Gentiles Princes of the earth stood vp and kings banded themselues against the Lord and against his Christ. 4. Priests conspire in counsell and choose a murtherer rather then the Lord of life Souldiers deuide his vestures 6. His owne seruants flie from him Iudas betraies him Peter denies him Thus we may on all sides see Iewes and Gentiles Princes and Priests souldiers and seruants doing whatsoeuer the Lord of heauen had determined before to be done Looke vpon him againe and see him perplexed in all his members with loathsome spittings in his blessed face with piercing thornes vpon his sacred head with buffets vpon his comely cheekes with stripes vpon his manly backe and with the transverse part of the crosse vpon his glorious shoulders 3. Impeached in his estate with scornefull reproches his good name wronged with blasphemies his honor trampled vpon with shamelesse obloquies his holy garments shared with profane lottery and his reputation stained with the association of theeues 4. Tormented in his senses his touch with the piercing nayles his sent with the loathsomnesse of Caluarie the place of dead sculs his hearing with wicked detractions his sight with the sorrow of his blessed mother and with the moane of his beloued disciple his taste with gall and vineger Inwardly also distressed for his soule is heauie euen vnto the death so that he cries Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me and sweateth clots of bloud that trikle downe to the earth to blesse it that was accursed At which time an Angell is sent from heauen to comfort him Yea in the extremity of this his vnspeakeable passion he cries with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Yet none of this nor all this could suffice vntill he had yeelded vp his sacred soule into the hands of his heauenly Father Blessed and beloued men fathers and brethren in this our Beloued is not this his zealous loue the roseall beautie of our benediction 1. Is not this that bloud that purgeth vs from all our sinnes 2. that speaketh better things for vs then the bloud of Abel for that called for vengeance but this craues for vs mercie 3. Is not this the sacrifice whereby we haue remission of our sinne 4. Is not this the reconciliation whereby wee do partake of the diuine nature this sacred bloud being shed into our hearts by the Spirit of God 1. Is not this red sea the bath for all sinners to cure vs of our leprosies of incontinency of our lethargies of ingratitude of our dropsies of couetousnesse and of our palsies of inconstancy and strayings aside from God 3. Is not this the oblation that maketh God propitious and a louing father vnto vs openeth the kingdome of heauen that was shut and sealeth vnto vs all the holy promises of God Let then a beleeuing soule say O Lord Iesus what shall I repay vnto thee for this thy loue I owed the debt and thou didst pay it I haue sinned and thou art punished this whole worke of thine is singular patience the performance of it wonderfull humility the cause vnspeakeable charity I haue circuited the whole earth and can finde no where any such loue as in thy glorious passion the breadth whereof is Charity diffused dilating it selfe into the fowre parts of the world The length is long suffering for thou hast borne mans iniquities the height is the hope of heauen and a certaine assurance of the same The depth of it is deliuerance from the lowest deepe the pit of fatall and finall destruction If any should perswade me to come downe from the high meditation of this sacred mystery I should greatly refuse it for it shall euer be a bundle of Myrrhe betweene my breasts yea here will I die and not descend vntill the Lord stretch his hand from heauen and take me into his holy sanctuary But to the retchlesse and respectlesse soule which regardeth none of this our welbeloued saith farther See what I suffer these paines these grones these moanes these nayles these thornes this speare this profusion and red sea of crimson bloud yet am I much more inly tormented that thy wilfull soule should yet be vnthankfull for this so vnspeakable loue for this so vnutterable and grieuous passion sustained for thy sake to make thee a wretched sonne of man by nature to become a blessed sonne of God by grace Let vs beloued and beleeuing brethren take yet a reuiew of this blessed beauty in the sacred mixture of white and red for he is ruddy both in himselfe and in his mysticall members 1. In himselfe his beauty appeares ruddie for in the sacrament he is white in the bread and red in the wine therefore in the Scripture stiled sometime Manna which was white like the christall dew and sometime a Vine which yeeldeth red grapes to glad the heart of man The grapes of this sacred vine were the parts of his body the crosse the wine presse his bloud the holy liquor thereof making glad both God and man God in the holy obedience of his sacred Sonne purchasing himselfe a glorious kingdome and man in the saluation of his sinfull soule These sacred seales of bread and wine shew the Lords death vntill he come againe Iosephs coate besprinkled with bloud portended him to old Israel as dead but not actually but these shew our true Ioseph to be crucified and done to death in deed and yet he like Sanpsons lion sends forth euen in after his death sweete hony combes and most redolent graces For his death abateth the sting of death abandoneth sinne despoileth sathan the strong man of his weapons and procureth for vs that die in him the land of the liuing This holy mixture of white and red appeared in the opening of his side whence flowed water and bloud this blessed opening being much more powerfull then Moses rod for that caused water onely to come out of the rocke but this both water and bloud The Fathers therefore obserue that as out of the side of the first Adam the woman was taken by whom came sinne so out of the side of the second Adam the Church should be framed to saue as Noahs arke the sonnes of men from the generall and fearefull deluge of sinne and shame Let then now all Histories tell or historiographers of the world shew if in any age they haue seene or read how that a mans
Come and see THE BLISSE OF BRIGHTEST BEAVTIE SHINING OVT OF SION IN PERFECT GLORIE Being the summe of foure sermons preached in the Cathedrall Church of Glocester at commandment of superiours BY WILLIAM LOE Imprinted at London by Richard Field for Mathew Law 1614. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL AND RIGHT WORTHY GENTLEman Sir William Sandis Knight and to that wel-disposed very Christian Ladie the Ladie Margaret Sandis his vertuous wife and ioyfull consort grace and glorie be multiplied in Christs kingdomes of grace and glorie MVch honored The Christian neighborhood and kind commerce both of bountifull liberalitie and gracious respect which my selfe and mine receiued from you and yours this time tweluemoneth by our contiguous vicinitie hath occasioned me to be thus bold in saluting you after long silēce with a paper token the onely miniment and memoriall of a Scholer in this last and worst age that hath nothing for vs but bookes amongst the best and by-words amongst the worst as her onely bequest and our legacie Howsoeuer notwithstanding it is the heartie ioy of Israel the vnspeakeable comfort of Iacob that still some of the precious balme of Gilead that falls vpon Aarons head doth distill downe euen vnto the skirts of his priestly clothing And whereas others may haue spices and balmes to preserue their bodies for a time and monuments of brasse and stone to continue a future glorie to their memorials yet euer those haue bene most enobled whose remembrances the tokens of vertue and godlinesse haue endeuored to eternize and keepe from the rottennesse of corrupted baserie and obscure obliuion And albeit the purport of this whole proiect is but the turning of my tongue into my pen and the matter it selfe is but a preaching againe as it were the same words another saboth day as the Gentiles besought Paule in the Acts yet I pray you entertaine them as the presence of my spirit the pledge of mine heart and the earnest of that affection and loue which I iustly beare vnto you And whereas before I spake in a great auditory in the presence and countenance of a liuing man am now content in this my paines to bury my selfe in a dead letter of lesse effectuall perswasion But principally I protest to this only end and purpose that God might be magnified if it be his holy will in me the weakest meanest of his seruāts both by the meditations of mine heart and in the endeauors of mine hand The Treatise is of the loue of God deuoted vnto your selues in whom I haue obserued much loue toward God toward your brethren without and amongst your selues at home Goe on then blessed in the Lord Iesu in this sacred vettue that disposeth you to God so amiablie and you shall find these holy encreases in you 1. You shall euer desire to thinke on him that made you 2. Gladly and willingly to frequent his house the pallace of praier 3. Duly to speake talke of him 4. Often to heare of him by his messengers and to meditate of that you heare 5. Readie will you be to giue for his sake 6. Ioyfull that you suffer whatsoeuer it be for Gods honour 7. Duly to bowe your hearts to the obedience of his holy lawes 8. Yea you wil loue them that loue the Lord and despise and hate them that hate him 9. Neither will you loue this world nor anything therein vnlesse it be for the Lords cause 10. Yea in a word you will loue your friend in the Lord and your enemie for the Lord. Long may the blessing of this diuine loue which is the beautifull Idea of your soules sparkle and flame in you Let the God of heauen grant that the distempered humours of misperswasion may neuer quench it within you nor the ouerflowings of vngodlinesse in the world euer put it out but let the light of Gods owne most blessed countenance for euer and euer shine vpon you and cause it to be enflamed eternally I beseech the God of heauen and of earth to multiplie his richest blessings vpon your selfe your Ladie and your children for euermore Euen so Lord Iesu be it The Colledge of Glou. Febru 20. 1611. Yours because you are of Christ. WILLIAM LOE TO THE CHRISTIAN READER BVT ESPECIALLY TO E. B. HIS VERY much respected friend Grace and Glory LEt God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them that hate him flie before him As the smoke vanisheth so let them perish at thy presence ô Lord that haue euill will at Sion But let them that loue and seeke the Lord be euer ioyfull and glad in him let them be telling his praises from day to daie And if there be any man so brutish that loueth not the Lord Iesus let him be had in execration Maranatha Seeing man being fallen is raised by Christ onely man is returned to God hauing turned awaie from all good The Angels that fell are damned man that sinned is pardoned To man God hath giuen a motion neuer to ceasse vntill he rest in him grace to guide him goodnes to imbrace him messengers of glad tidings to instruct him faith to furnish him with the fulnesse of perswasion sanctimony to dignifie him in this life glorie to deifie him in the other life Seeing with Iesus Christ also is the fulnesse of ioy whose name is saluation whose passion redemption whose sacrifice satisfaction whose bloud purgation whose resurrectiō sanctification whose ascension eternall glorification And seeing that the Lord Iesus Christ is loue substantially hauing nothing in him selfe but himselfe being loue it selfe essentially not accidentally he is also loue causally causing it in others as in the Elements in the creatures in the sweete symphonie of the whole vniuerse and in the bitter iarres of mans corrupted nature making men to be of one mind in an house and of one heart in a common-wealth He is loue actiuely louing all things he hath made man more particularly his redeemed most especially with a loue to the end in the end without end Louing them in their election when they could not loue him louing them in their redemption when they would not loue him louing them externally for they haue a promise to enioy their outward blessings louing them internally for their hearts shall be comforted louing them eternally for they shall euer be blessed with him in heauenly things He is loue passiuely most worthie to be beloued being louing euerie daie in multiplying his blessings being louing euery way in magnifying his mercies louing vs first in preuenting vs mercifully louing vs in continuance in guiding vs powerfully louing vs last in perfecting vs eternally Yea so louing that if he go to punish he walkes a soft pace he comes in the coole of the day but to shew mercie he runnes for he is gracious righteous yea our God is mercifull punishing three or fowre of the generation of the godlesse but shewing mercy to thousands that loue him and
valiantly that thou be not danted with the diuellish proiects and practises of Gods enemies See the sparkes of this diuine and seraphical fire in Daniel who is stiled vir desideriorum a man neuer satisfied here but still desiring to be replenished with the full sight of God Behold them in Esay the Euangelicall Prophet whose soule desired God in the night season when his eies were bereft of the distractions of the day In Dauid also whose soule thirsted for the liuing Lord and in S. Paule who was straitted for want of this enioyment and cried Who shall deliuer me wretched man that I am from this body of death Doubtlesse these holy soules knew that this loue was all loue vnto them for euen in naturall loue Christ can be all things vnto thee whereas thy gold cannot be thy clothing thy siluer cannot be thy drinke thy bread cannot be thy light Christ alone is all this vnto thee If thou neede necessarie loue he is thy protector and bulwarke If thou wouldest be happy in loue with him is the fountaine of liuing life for euer These considerations and the like caused Gods children neuer to admit any thing neere their hearts contrary to this loue as is the affection inordinate to the creature but loued the creature onely for the Lords sake They euer remoued farre from their holy affections all carking care and ouer much toyling in the businesse and negociations of this world as being the deceitfull bane of this loue vsing indeed the world necessarily but so as if they vsed it not which caused their loue to be continuall not flashes of passion rather then true affection enduring for a moment but resembling the loue of the blessed Saints who see God and loue him for euermore Againe they knew that if we would be couetous and sell our loue none could buy it dearer for he will giue vs a kingdome for it if we would be liberall and giue it none more worthy of it for he is absolutely the soueraigne good But if we would haue our loue strained from vs by violence he also will vnsheath the sword of the Spirit and with the blade thereof deuide asunder the soule and spirit euen with this one stroke If any man loue not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed Anathema Maranatha Furthermore the faithfull soules will hence gather good degrees and steps of grace as first considering euen in nature that if one had lost an eye or were distracted of his wit or were condemned to execution how would we tender him that could and would heale our eye sight restore vs to our right minde and redeeme vs from the dreadfull horror of death But Christ hath illuminated vs with the light of grace that were in the power of darknesse and shadow of death hath giuen vs repentance vnto life and regeneration that were sold to sinne and Sathan and hath purchased for vs a pardon that were condemned to euerlasting torments was made poore that we might be enriched gaue himselfe for me saith Bernard that I might be giuen to my selfe yea we owe him now more for redeeming vs then for making vs. For in the creation he spake the word and it was done but in our redemption it cost him his dearest bloud In this life he hath promised That all things whatsoeuer shall worke together for the best to them that loue him and in the other life the eye hath not seene nor the eare heard nor the heart can conceiue what is his displaied glory in seeing him as he is seene and knowing him as he is knowne And to purchase this inheritance for vs see how vilely he esteemes himselfe being sold for thirtie pence and prizeth vs vs I say wretches at so high a rate as his owne most peerelesse and precious bloud O insensible indurate and intollerable vnthankfulnesse of the sonnes of Adam who do not totally resigne themselues and their affections to this loue But yet for all this behold I pray you and see whether Christ be the beloued of ourage and the Helena of our countrey as we would beare the world in hand he is and be you your selues witnesses in this case Do we diligently seeke him when we haue lost him by our preuarication as wee vse to do those whom our soule loueth and as did that much louing soule Mary Magdalen when she sought him at the fearefull sepulcher and abode there though a weake woman and would not be satisfied with looking but asked Iesus then risen supposing he had bene a gardiner If thou hast taken away my Lord tell me where thou hast put him that I may fetch him O happie soule that so sought that she found Are we often frequenters of his house and louers of the place where his honor dwelleth as Anna did who departed not from the Temple but serued God day and night with prayers and fasting Do we talke of him in our iourneying as did the disciples that trauelled to Emaus Do we willingly heare of him and in hearing lay vp the things in our hearts as did the blessed Virgin Do we restore and giue for his sake as Zacheus and Cornelius did Do we suffer reproch gladly for his glory and reioyce in it as the Apostles did Do we loue his commandements as Dauid did whose studie was in them day and night Do we decline from the loue of this world and as Iacob who wresting with the angell fell lame so we in the businesse with God preuaile but in the affaires of this world grow cold and remisse Do we honor them that serue God as the Galathians did that would haue pulled out their owne eyes had not the law of God and nature forbad them to do Paul their Preacher good O how farre different are the affections of our times If we looke the Lord Iesus among some gouernors they say he is not heere many of vs haue something else to do then to attend preaching If among some of the rude people they seldome or neuer thinke of him If among the giddie hearers with Peter they answer we know not the man If among the worldly rich with Demas they haue forsaken the loue of Christ and haue imbraced this present world If among the loud but leude professors they haue a shew of godlinesse but haue denied the power thereof If among the couerous there is linsey wolsey as farre as will make for their profit so farre and no longer they loue God nor any of his seruants If among the ahabaptistical zealous they say we are not iustified by workes and therefore wee will do none at all As if their faith or any faith were auaileable with God but that which worketh by loue For without loue was neuer any man saued and with loue neuer any damned If of the worldlings they are so busie in deuiding Christ his coate that they cannot awhile to loue They are of king Roâ—us mind that vsed to say That the
limmes did showre downe streames of bloud or that in any agony the face of man should stand beset with drops of crimson bloud Neither doth this content the holy wisdome of God but that also wee should see this loue of Christ resembled yea testified vnto vs againe in reference euen in his mysticall members that is in the beleeuers by forgiuing whos 's sinnes he hath made them pure and white in his fight and giuing also many of them grace and honouring them so farre that they willingly suffered as martyrs whereby they also became purple red Of the first white this is vnderstood Purge me with hyssop and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall be whiter then snow This is the perfect beauty indeed to be purged from sinne Of the second it is said of his beloued martyrs That they were prodigall of their liues euen vnto the death for the testimony of the Lord Iesus Such were Iames Antipas Ignatius Polycarpus in the former ages and all other euen those thousands in hose Mariana tempora whom fire and faggot deuoured and all other exquisite torments that could be deuised by the wicked bloudy butcherlike mindes of Gods enemies All which blessed soules were translated to God whom they loued in fierie chariots of persecution and were rapt vp with Elias to the vision of the eternall God This being indeed their matchlesse felicitie that they were so greatly honored of their God that they should shadow out vnto him his Christ whipped stocked striken stoned tormented tortured and bloudily butchered Let not then the vaine and gallant minions of the world boast of their venereous ladies or of their bright curtizans or Helenaes on whom they dote which are but as the dunghils vnsauory salt of the earth for behold here is a lillie and a rose from heauen euen our Lord Iesus a white lillie deuoide of sinne and a damaske rose in his pure and crimson passion And let them againe behold his martyrs as pure lillies cloathed with his righteousnesse and as red roses in their sacred martyrdomes into whose calendar euery beleeuing soule should desire rather to be registred then in the catalogue of all the worlds misbeleeuing or misperswaded Magnificoes And seeing beloued that we are come to bloud let vs pause a little and stand still awhile as the people did when in the wars they came and saw Azael lie weltring in his bloud and let vs see the godly suffer for the godles the guiltlesse for the guilty Let vs looke vp to the crosse and see our Sauiour lie weltring gasping crying bathing strugling and dying in his bloud Dauid could say when he saw the Angell of the Lord kill the people with the plague of pestilence I haue sinned what haue these sheepe done But Christ might haue said otherwise These sheepe haue sinned what haue I done I am constrained to pay the things I neuer tooke What more blessed brethren could he haue done for his vineyard what greater loue can be shewed then for a man to die for his friends yet our welbeloued died for vs his enemies But what doth the Lord require at our hands in retribution for all these blessings Surely onely faith and feruency of zeale by which we also shall become white and ruddie by his sanctifying and by his sauing grace Faith is as Iacobs hand which will not let the Angell go vntill he haue the blessing It is also as Iacobs robe put on to gaine our elder brother Christ Iesus his blessings and it is the wedding garment wherewith we must enter into the wedding house of our spouse And feruency of zeale is an effect of our loue and is an heroicall and magnanimious vertue shed in our hearts by the holy Ghost whereby we are moued to holy anger when either the glory of God his truth or his honor is violated Behold the zealous and ruddy beautified Christians in this kind Who will rise with me against the wicked or who will take my part against the euill doers saith Dauid the Lords worthy And in another Psalme I fainted because men kept not thy law And againe The zeale of thine house hath euen eaten me vp The zeale of God doth eate one vp when God giueth such courage and magnanimity of heart vnto some one man that he withstands many mightie and malicious transgressors and yet is not remoued from his holy valour and resolution though the earth be moued and the mountaines caried into the midst of the sea Such an one was Elias against all Baals false prophets and Micheas against the foure hundred false prophets of Ahab and of late yeares Martin Luther against the Pope and all his complices But we in our last and worst age eate vp the zeale of God because wee do not resist the euill wherein totus mundus ponitur the whole world lieth nor the arrogancie of the presumptuous nor the malice of the mighty nor the haughtines of the proud nor the tyrannie of the oppressors but like bastards and not children declaring to our owne selues that we haue not one drop of the good bloud of our heauenly Father in vs for bonus sanguis non mentitur honorable bloud cannot dissemble we suffer God to be blasphemed in our hearing Christ to be scorned his sacred Ministrie to be despised and we in the meane while either assent thereunto or neglect to rebuke it which sheweth that we partake not at all of this diuine and roselike beautie O that the Seraphicall zeale of God had inflamed the Princes the Prelates and people of the Christian world as it did Dauid not a martiall zeale which is a feruour without discretion but a zeale according to knowledge not anger per vitium but holy anger by zeale not priuate grudge but zeale appertaining to the vocation and calling we are of which hath both a good roote and a good end Such as was Elias zeale for the Lord of hoastes against idolatrie Such as was Phineas zeale against the beastlinesse of Zmiri the sonne of Sale and Cozbi Such as was Ezechias zeale for the peoples reuolt Such as was good king Iosias zeale for the Lords dishonor among the Priests Such as was Nehemiahs zeale when he heard the people speake halfe Hebrew halfe Ashdod halfe Sur halfe Sion halfe Christ halfe Belial Oh to these holy Cherubicall zeales I exhort you beloued in the name of the Lord. Be you angrie with those that are angrie with God when tribulation befals them or if their hearts bee not glutted with all the delights they desire or if God do not fill their bellies with onions and garlike and other such like grosnesse Be angrie with preachers that lie as Ionah did vnder the gourd and preach not Be angrie with the dogs that returne to their vomit and with hogs that wallow in the mire albeit they haue bene ten times purged Be angrie with vice that ruleth with the diuell that rageth with vanity that reigneth with lies that sway almost
euery where It remaineth that I onely acquaint you with a safe station while you are here to stand in and a powerfull supplication while wee are here to pray with Let your station be like that of Elias in mount Horeb who stood in the clifts of the rockes entrance vntill the strong wind the earthquake and the fire in all which God was not were passed by but when he heard a soft and still voice he came out and stood before the Lord so let vs be continually meditating the passion and rents of our rocke Christ Iesus and hiding our selues therein while the winds of wickednesse the earthquakes of changings and chances the fire of might and malice and while all the works of darkenesse wherein God is not passe by vntill we heare a soft and sweete voice of the Lord to call vs forth of our station to rest Then let vs go forth willingly vnto our welbeloued and loue him and liue with him for euer Let our prayers and supplications in the meane while be the words of the hard-hearted and misbeleeuing Iewes but not their spirit for they cried His bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children and it was and is so to their vtter ruine and desolation euen vntill this day as a iust iudgment of God for their crucifying the Lord of life But we will pray and say in the spirit of the faith of Iesus in whom we beleeue His holy bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children to our saluation according to Gods blessed promise made to the Patriarks Prophets and to all the faithfull For he is the chiefest of ten thousand c. or as some reade it the chiefest of twelue thousand where in wee may see the mystery of the number both of ten and twelue as also the excellency of the partie that he is the chiefest in heauen and the choicest on earth together with the perfection of both heauen and earth in himselfe and imparted to his chosen the Church of the redeemed The Papists imitating the Platonists are very superstitious in numbers the one putting a fatall necessity in them in the period of estates and kingdomes the other affirming a certaine secret efficacy to be in many numbers but in the septenary number especially Hence haue they their canonicall houres for prayer and sacrifice But Bodin in his booke de Repub. iustly taxeth Plato for that dreame And the schooles conclude against them both that Numeri qua numerus nulla vis nulla efficacia Wee therefore will content our selues with the holy and mysticall vse which the booke of God maketh of them The mysticall numbers of sacred text are these to wit three foure fiue sixe seauen eight ten twelue Ten and twelue meete vs in this text by variation of readings both signifying perfection Ten is the highest of simple numbers all nations after ten begin to number againe The tenths was consecrated to the Priests Gods seruants In the tenth moneth the waters of Noahs floud abated Sem a father of the faithfull seeth the tenth age Ten words for the Creation of the world and ten words for the gouernment thereof as the Talmudists obserue For twelue we reade of twelue Patriarches the sonnes of Iacob twelue stones set vp in Iordan twelue precious stones in the breast plate of Aaron At twelue yeares Salomon decideth the plea of the dead child Christ the true Salomon at twelue yeares disputeth with the Doctors Twelue Apostles are sent to perfect the kingdome of grace Twelue foundations twelue gates twelue Angels the porters a tree that beareth twelue manner of fruites medicinable all the twelue moneths of the yeare describe the perfection of the kingdome of glory in the celestiall Ierusalem Thus we see that the mysterie of the number sheweth onely the excellency of the perfection of the partie being the chiefest in heauen and earth so described by Iohn the Diuine Apoc. 5. A throne is seene in heauen one sitting theron hauing a booke in his hand written within and without sealed with seauen seales But none was found neither in heauen nor in earth nor vnder the earth worthie to open the booke no nor once to looke into it Then wept the Diuine because none was found worthie to open the booke or once to looke therein But one of the Elders said Weepe not Behold the Lion of the tribe of Iuda the stocke of Dauid hath so preuailed that he may open the booke and loose the seales thereof This booke is Gods will these seauen seales are loosed and made knowne vnto vs by the declaration of Iesus Christ. The first seale is his Natiuitie opened Mal. 4. 2. But vnto you that feare my name shall the Sunne of righteousnesse arise and health shall be vnder his wings and ye shall go forth and grow vp as fat calues The second his Baptisme Zach. 13. 1. In that day there shall be a fountaine opened to the house of Dauid and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem for sinne and for vncleannesse The third his Passion poutrayed by Esay 53. chap. throughout The fourth his Descent deciphered Hosh. 13. 14. I will redeeme them from the power of the graue I will deliuer them from death O death I will be thy death O graue I will be thy destruction The fift is his Resurrection recorded Psal. 16. 10. For thou wilt not leaue my soule in the graue neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption The sixt his Ascension described Psal. 68. 18. Thou art gone vp on high thou hast led captiuity captiue and receiued gifts for men yea euen the rebellious bast thou led that the Lord might dwell there The seauenth is the sending of the holy Ghost pointed out vnto vnto vs Ioel 2. 28. And afterward will I powre out my Spirit vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie your old men shall dreame dreames and your yong men shall see visions By the opening of the first seale to wit his Natiuitie whereby he became flesh he hath redeemed vs from being worse then very brute beasts For man being in honor vnderstood it not and therefore was compared to the beasts that perish S. Augustine speaking of the grace of the new Testament comforteth vs thus saying Let no man despaire but conceiue hope vnspeakable for by participation of the word we become the sonnes of God seeing that Iesus Christ by incarnation is become the sonne of man Aske your forefathers saith Moses and the daies of old euen since the day that God created man vpon the earth and aske from the one end of heauen vnto the other if there come to passe such a great thing as this Did euer people heare the voice of God speaking out of the midst of a fire as thou hast heard and liued If Moses spake thus of the voice of an Angell for the law was giuen by the ministrie of Angels what may we say of the gracious words of eternall life vttered by the Lord of life Indeed
beautie and end in the fraile and filthy flesh The natiue and vnchangeable whitenes is that of pearelesse and pricelesse diamonds whose least sparkle will shine and giue true luster albeit it be seuered from the whole Such was and is this speciall Candor in our welbeloued Lord Iesus and his chosen who euen in this life haue these white robes in part put on them mentioned in the Reuelation not their owne conceited attire of the righteousnesse of workes but Gods owne righteousnesse and they haue also the white stone giuen them which is sanctification in some measure as an earnest penny and pledge of further fauor and future beautie to be perfected in glory Behold then with milke white and pure eyes of holy faith your Lord Iesus especiall and perfect whitenesse your precious diamond in especialnesse by whom all wee and as many as haue gone before vs being his holy seruants haue bene beautified and graced First as he is Emanuel that is God with vs His conception pure he was conceiued by the holy Ghost 2. His birth pure he was borne of an vndefiled virgin 3. His life the perfection of sanctimony for there was no guile found no not in his mouth And he is perfect that offends not in his tongue 4. His doctrine pure correcting all the vnpure glosses of the reformalizing Pharisies as in old time it was said Thou shalt not kill but Christ taught true puritie that wee should not be angry with our brother vnaduisedly Teaching thereby that furie and wrath doth oft transport vs to fell and desperate actions and therefore his holy doctrine as an axe strooke at the roote Againe it was said of old time Thou shalt not commit Adulterie in act But Christ taught vs not to looke on a woman to lust after her and so in turning away our eyes we should not behold vanitie Likewise it hath bene said Thou shalt not forsweare thy selfe But Christ taught that wee should not sweare at all for be doubtlesse that vseth to sweare much must needs sometime forget and forsweare himselfe And it hath bene said of old Thou shalt loue thy neighbour hate thine enemy But Christ taught Thou shalt loue thine enemie for that is the exaltation of Christian charitie aboue all other loues Nay of euery idle word he told vs that we must render an account Oh holy lessons ô sacred discipline how pure is the beautie hereof how precious the sinceritie In his death therefore neither death nor he that had the power of death could finde any part whereon to fasten their intended furie but in spite of death and the diuell and the wicked world he was declared mightily to be the Sonne of God by the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the dead We may learne then out of this which hath bene alreadie said That the puritie of a sincere conscience consists in essentiall and sanctified actions and not in seeming holinesse of froward and dottish factions The blessing being promised to the pure in heart and not to the wordy pure but to the worthy of whom it is also said That to such all things are pure but of the other That their very consciences are defiled and they themselues howsoeuer reputed holy for some good workes yet reprooued to euery good worke The reason because God requireth truth in the inward parts and the searcher of the heart knoweth what is in man Likewise because no vnpure thing shall enter into the kingdome of God and therefore surely no party propale Christian that dealeth hypocritically shall there haue entrance I wonder therefore that any will be so foolish as to make themselues odious euery way by their seeming holinesse First to the world for the world hateth euen those that are Christians but in shew For it can discerne no further Secondly they are abhominable to God who hates them because they are but in shew And lastly they are traitors to themselues in deceiuing their owne soules and consciences with deceitfull dreames of sanctitie But let vs a little lanch forth and ken the diuell transforming himselfe into an Angell of light and brightnesse and boasting both of puritie and preheminence aboue and before all others both in Iudaisme and also in Christianisme as he euen yet worketh with too too many in this our age In Iudaisme we will take a view but of the Pharisies Sadduces Essens and Hemerobaptists The Pharisies were men separate from others in respect of their pretended perfection they were pure in their garments pure in their deuotion pure in their laundring Their vestures must be enuironed and the borders made broade with the commandements of God embrodered thereon Luc. 11. Mat. 15. Their deuotion such that they would not cure on the Sabbath were the sicknesse neuer so desperate nor plucke an eare of corne in the extremity of hunger Their washings diuers both of hands pots boords and what not Yet for all this outward pretended purenesse Christ the true Doctor and teacher of perfection tells them seauen times in one Chapter that they were meere hypocrites and dissemblers The Sadduces so pure in their owne conceit that they onely and no other were the true Iustitiaries yet were they so sottish that they neither knew Angell nor spirit and then iudge how brutish how bestiall and how carnall they were The Essens thought themselues both essentiall and especially pure aboue all others in the world They wore white robes at all their refections they obserued so strictly and precisely the Sabbath that in that day they would not make a fire nor stop a running vessell nor lay an apple in the fire nor knocke vpon a table to still a childe nor quench a burning nor spit nor do the requisits of nature yet Epiphanius rankes them in the ranke of branded heretickes The Hemerobaptists euery day did baptize and drench themselues in water imagining that all their sinnes were thereby washed away for â—asse ex opere operato whereas Epiphanius saith that the whole ocean and all the flouds in the world cannot purge one sinne These were the seemings of Iudaisme all dying in their dreaming diuinitie In Christendome what should I recall from hell the old Cathari that pretended the onely purity of life the Gnostiques that had as they deemed the impropriation of all diuine knowledge or Manes that onely boasted of the Paraclete seeing our later age of fresher memorie hath heard of yea and seene fanaticall Anabaptists dreaming Euthusiasts of reuelation and hideous visions rebaptizations and new pretended policie of Church and common wealth And we see many are daily misled and misperswaded by Iesuites the rare illuminates accompted of the world who pretend aboue all the rest of their frie to be the most perfect in respect of their direction in all negociations in ordine ad Deum and most sacred in that holy exercise which they obtrude vpon their nouices that subiect and deuote
of perfection and not of defection Nullus in egregio corpore naeuus erat The Iewes indeed saw no beauty forme or feature in his face Esay 53 yet was he peerelesse being void of all staine either of sinne or shame the most absolute perfection of beauty For his eloquence what eloquence may declare it The Grecian Demosthenes and the Romane Cicero are herein but rudesbies Hercules that was conceiued to draw multitudes after him with golden chaines si ad illum coÌ„paretur nihil est The Queene of the South comes to heare the wisdome of Salomon matchlesse in his time but behold our true Salomons eloquence whoÌ„ being yet but a child of twelue yeares the grand Doctors are amazed to heare Luke 2. Being a man his very enemies said No man spake like this man Iohn 7. His owne that knew his worth said Thou hast the words of eternall life When he disputed he put his aduersaries to silence as we may see in his discourse with the Sadduces and when he preached he taught with authority and not as the Scribes Mat. 7. 29. Yet this gracious eloquence and heauenly charming was follie to the Pharisies who thrust him out Lu. 4. 29. and to the vnbeleeuers madnes and therefore they cry He hath a diuell So euen at this day the spirit of prophecie which indeed is the sauor of life vnto life becomes to some misperswaded misbeleeuers the fauor of death vnto death Neither is this eloquence of this chiefest the delicacy of words but the efficacie of power for out of his mouth goeth a two edged sword Apoc. 1. 16. By the eloquence of his word he leadeth the facile with the terrour of his sword he enforceth the stubborne and vnwilling for if his word preuaile not which deuides discernes deuides betweene the soule and the spirit the marrow and the ioynts and discerneth the very intentions of the heart then his sword the rod of his manly mouth shall plague them and the breath of his mouth shall kill them Esay 11. 4. As for his power who was euer able to resist it either Heroique or Heretique Let the fatall destructions and fearefull downfalls of Herod Ascalonita that murthered the infants of Bethlem and died disconsolatly of Herod Archelaus who died ingloriously at Vienna in Austria being but a terror onely to Christ of Herod Antipas who beheaded Iohn Baptist Christs seruant and perished with his dancing minion in Spaine and of Herod Agrippa a persecuter of Christs preachers who was eaten vp of wormes in the sight of thousands at Cesarea Philippi Act. 12. be exemplary warnings to all posterities how they dare resist the Lord Iesus Among the ranke of heretiques let the wretched ends of Arrius Nestorius and Euty ches be presidents of his power puissant renowne And besides all this the glorious increase and godly perfection of his Church maugre the proiects of all his open and secret enemies The splendor whereof is so eminent that it remaineth firme stedfast when other powers haue yeelded thereunto For his kingdome shall haue no end Esay 9. 7. The zeale of the Lord of hostes shall bring it to passe And God the Father hath giuen him a kingdome that shall not be taken away Dan. 7. 14. As the Angell told the blessed Virgine That Christ should rule ouer the house of Iacob for euer Luke 2. 33. His equity sustaining his throne For he iudgeth not by the sight of the eyes nor by the hearing of the eares but according to iudgment and equity Esay 11. 4. His magnificence is boundlesse mercie All about him smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia For he abhorred not the confessing theefe he despised not the sinfull woman that wept vnto him he reiected not the suppliant Canaanite he iudged not the adulteresse apprehended in the fact he called Mathew sitting at the receit of custome he had respect vnto the disciple that denied him yea he prayed for them that crucified him And therfore the spouse representing the Church of the redeemed saith in the Cant. We will runne after thee in the sweete odors of these thine oyntments and fragrant perfumes the sacred confections of thy most perfect nature Thus we see our welbeloued to be the chiefest in heauen and the choicest on earth yea the perfection both of heauen and earth both in himselfe and also in his redeemed Church For he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the heauens and the earth were perfected The Elohim by whom al things in the great vniuerse receiue speciall perfection in particular he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sufficient for himselfe and others rightly resembled to the glorious Sunne that hath light sufficient for it selfe and for both the superior and this inferior world also He is Ens simplicissimum and things the more simple and deuoide of commixture the more pure and perfect they are as heate is the more it selfe the lesse it is intermingled with cold and wine the lesse it is alayed with water and gold the lesse drosse is in it the more refined But our welbeloued is most pure and perfect without any the least dramme of blending or commixture In a word he is the perfection of life motion and being Of life for who so liueth not in him is dead already albeit he hath a name that he liueth Of motion for who so moueth not in him is distracted and doth peregrinarià Domino vitae estrange himselfe from the Lord of life Of being for who so is not in him by his Spirit is subiect to be lost by an eternall priuation In his Church of the redeemed he is also of most absolute perfection which Church consisteth both of men and Angels he being the perfection of both who albeit he was made man yet was he God from euerlasting laied in a cratch yet adored by Angels from heauen and worshipped by sages on earth The Iewes saw no beauty nor comlinesse in him yet beleeuing eyes saw in the mount a glimpse of that glory which rauished them with exceeding great ioy He was baptized as man yet forgiueth sins as God he hungred yet filleth a thousand hungry soules with the bread of life the Angels foode He prayed as man yet heareth our prayers as God he wept as man yet wipeth all teares from our eyes In a word he is the perfection of prophecie and priesthood of sacrifice and sacrament I exhort you therefore beloued and blessed in the Lord Iesus seeing that the chiefest and choicest man and woman among vs is more then a litle imperfect let vs flie and hasten to our perfection to be perfect men and women in Christ Iesus and to rest and abide with him that we may be beautifull and perfect as surely all those shall be that abide stedfast and are found in Iesu Christ according to his effectuall prayer Iohn 17. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one For by him was our creation in him is our preseruation and of him shall be our eternall felicity and perfection Let vs then men fathers and brethren returne vnto him with stedfast eyes lift vp to heauen where our perfection is with bowed knees of humility and grace and with pure hands lifted vp to the throne of God without wrath or enuying euen to him that was and is and is to come that he would grant vs continuance of that we are to be his and giue vs supplie of that we want and that we resolue that it is our chiefest grace and choicest beauty to haue the least resemblance of his diuine perfection in vs. Euen so Lord Iesus To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be rendred all praise perfection power maiestie and glory throughout all ages for euermore Amen Errata Pag. 4 lin 28. for when reade where p. 17. l. 12. Goodesse reade goodnesse p. 23. l. 19. shall reade had p. 30. l. 4. hearing reade learning p. 27. l. 4. propale reade perpale Act. 13. Ioh. 20. Luke 2. 1. Pet 4. Io. 14. 1. Io. 3. Io. 18. 1. Io. 5. Mat. 12. Psal. 68. 1. 1. Cor. 16. 22. Picus MiraÌ„d Hexapl. Zanâ—h in Euchirid Bern. de am dei Picus Mirand in Apolog. Iosu. 6. Dan 3. Mat. 25. Heb. 9. 28. Apoc. 22. Mat. 25. Cant. 5. 9. 1. Cor. 16. 22. Cant. 5. 10. Psal. 50. 2. The diuision Ioh. 13. 23. 2. Cor. 12. 4. Mat. 17. Aquinas Cant. 8. 6. Cant. 3 11. Bern. de consyd ad Euge nium l. 3. c. 4 Cant. 5. 2. Cenebrards obseruation 2 Cor. 5. 13. 14. 1. Ioh. 2. 14. 1. Ioh. 4. 8. Aug. in Soliloqui Bern. de 2. more Dei Cyprian de me â—o dilig Dei Euseb. Emiss Deut. 30. 14. Certitudo objecti Certitudo subiecti Psal. 32. 1. 1. Tim. 1. 15. Gal. 3. 27. Heb. 11. 1. Rom. 8. 16. Mat. 25. Seneca Aug. lib. confes 8. cap. 12. Rom. 13. 13. The lesson Cant. 11. Cant. 8 6. 7. Cant. 7. Psal. 1 19. Ier. 8. 4. Picus Mirand in Heptapl sup Gen. Ioh 3. Rom. 8. Aug. in locum Esay 26. Rom. 7. 1. Cor. 16. â—2 Bern. in Solil Rom. 8. 28. Ioh. 20 15. Luke 2 37. Luke 24 Luke 2. Act. 10. Act 5. Psal. 1. Gen. 32. Math. 26. Bero. sup Cant. Math. 4. Phil. 3. â— Act. 20. Col. 3. 2. Psal. 16. 6. Psal. 122. 1. Pro. 30. 11. Pro. 16. 25. 1. Sam. 28. Luke 20. 20. Mat. 2. 7. Mat. 2. 6. Rom. 15. 1. Acts 5. Iob 21. 14. Leuiculus noster Demosthenes Tull. lib. 5. Tusc. Act. 19. Vir. lib. 6. Ae. nead Pro. 26. 12. Pro. 26. 16. Abac. 2. Rom. 1. 1. Sam. 15. Ioh. 13. Mat. 26. Deut. 9. Nicolaus de Lyra sup 5. cap. Exod. Apoc. 3. Iam 3. Mat. 5. Rom. 1. 2. The lesson Mat. 5. Tit. 1. Apoc. 22. Pharisies Mat. 23. Sadduces Essenâ— Ioseph antiquit lib. 18. cap. 2. Item de bello Iudaico lib. 2. cap. 7. Hemerobaptists Epiph. de haeres Epiph de haeres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozomen 6. 38. Ioseph de antiquit Iud. lib. 18 cap. 2. Act. 5. Mat. 5. 20. Ezech 36. Ios. 1. Gen. 38. 27. Mat 1. 3. Beâ— sup Cant. Ier. Lament 1 12. Psal. 2. Mat. 26. Act. 3. Luke 22. Psal. 51. Apoc. 12. Psalm 119. Mat. 26. Rom. 1. Rom. 5. 5. Ioh. 6. 68. Ioh. 8. Volentes ducit nolentes trahit Psal 45. Cant. 1. Ioh. 3.