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
liue in his feare Taste then and see how gracious the Lord Iesus is and how plentifull is his goodnesse which he hath layed vp for them that feare him and prepared for them that trust in him euen before the sonnes of men He being the perfection of Priesthood and prophecie of sacrifice and sacrament so that now who so setteth his heart vpon any thing but vpon the Lord Iesus is liable to the extreme curse of Gods desertion Set not then your hearts on beautie beloued it is but a forward blossome soone nipt nor on pleasure it is but a bitter pill lapt in sugar nor on your belly it is but the pantrie for the draft house nor on riches they are but guiles and baites to insnare vs which while they are in getting wearie vs while they are possessed befoole vs and when we lose them they crucifie vs. Set not your hearts on the fauour of Princes or Potentates for they are but the sonnes of men nor on ambition it is but a feather tossed with the wind nor on gay apparell it is but rags nor on goodly houses they are but so many bonefiers against the day of doome nor on any thing vnder the sunne but only like and loue them in and for the Lord Iesus sake as they are either remedies for sin or directions in ordine ad Deum for our vsefull necessities and furtherances to further our future happinesse But as for those who despite the spirit of grace and trample the blessed bloud of the new Testament vnder their feete as do all sycophantizing Papists schismatizing Puritans neutralizing Atheists satanizing scorners of all godlinesse truth and honestie I will euer pray against their wickednesse Psal. 69. Let their table be their snare their eies dimmed their habitation voide their backes bowed downe let them heape vp iniquitie vpon iniquitie and let their names be razed out of the booke of life Let them be vnto vs as paganish Ethnicks and Publicans as vncleane leapers put out of the campe of Israel as rotten members cut off from the bodie of the Church as dead branches broken off from the true vine as vncleane dogges put out of the holy Citie and as those of the Concision of whom we must beware Phil. 3. 2. Yea let all that is about them be hatefull vnto vs. Let the goods of such be as the cursed things of Iericho their houses as odious as a iakes their possessions as direfull as Acheldama their gaines as vile as the Pharisies Corban their name as branded and as infamous as was Ieroboams their posteritie as obscure as the vntimely fruite of a woman which neuer seeth the sunne If they be honourable and do not honor Christ ô Lord lay their honor in the dust If noble let them be accompted base vnlesse they be ennobled in Iesus Christ. If learned let their learning be a by-word and a fable among the vulgar that studie not to be students in Christs schoole If they be a whole nation let their portion be as the men of Ashdod 1. Sam. 5. If a king let him be made as Nebuchadnezzar that he may know the Almightie If a Courtier let him be despised in the sight of the king yea let all them be deliuered ouer that loue not the Lord Iesus but despise him vnto Sathan by excommunication that confession at least may be wrested from them as it was from Simon Magus and Elimas the Bariesu who craued aide of the Church which formerly they desperatly despised that if it be the will of the Lord they may be saued by repentance in this day of grace before that fatall and finall diuorce from the Lord of their soules and bodies be denounced before the curses of separation Depart from me of indignation ye cursed of dolor into fire of desperatiō into hell fire of confusion prepared for the deuil and his angels be in the last iudgement awarded against them for their contempt of the Lord Iesus Christ. But to them that seeke the Lord Iesus mella fluant illis and all the beatitudes of mount Gerazim let their eares neuer heare the horrors of the vale of the children of Hinnon but let Sions rayes shine vpon them all their life and let the Lord Iesus appeare vnto them in his second coming to saluation who loue him and looke for him from heauen and long for him from the bottome of their hearts crying come Lord Iesu. Let them heare ô Lord thy perfect blessings of association Come of benediction ye blessed of inheritance possesse of glory the kingdome of election prepared for you before the foundations of the world were layed And God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of blessed Sem. Euen so ô Lord be it Amen My welbeloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5. 10. YOu may iustly demand of me blessed and beloued in the Lord Iesus as the daughters or faithfull people of Ierusalem do here of the spouse in the Canticles concerning her beloued saying What is thy beloued more then other beloued what is thy beloued more then another louer that thou dost so charge vs because of late I denounced from this place before you not against you for I am perswaded better things of you my brethren and such as accompanie saluation Paule his fearefull curse of Anathema Maranatha to wit If any man loue not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed when the Lord shall come And my reply vnto you must be my text which the spouse here maketh to the like demand that is My beloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand The words are few the matter manifold Out of Sion saith Dauid hath God appeared in perfect beautie for what higher and more heauenly perfection can be imagined or was euer hard of then Sions sacred rayes which giue bright splendor and most glorious lustre to the whole Christian world The rigor of the law frō Sinay is satisfied in the righteousnesse of the Gospell from mount Sion If any thē be affectionate let him come hither here is loue and if he haue grace here is his welbeloued also and this commencement and commerce of sweet loue will be the whetstone of true perfect and perpetuall loue If any be curious here is amiable beautie white and ruddie white answering the purenesse he would haue and ruddie corresponding the zealous hartines he would craue And further if he shall be curious and be elegans formarum spectator here is choice euen the chiefest of ten thousand For here he may behold the spouse first shewing her deere affection then her true loues description her affection she vttereth by appellation of vnfained loue welbeloued and also by application thus My welbeloued she then describes him generally as thus is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand And then particularly in his parts as in the verses following of this Chapter In her generall description she sets him downe in
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
faith the one of the obiect as that there is a life euerlasting that Christ died for the sinnes of the world Both certaine by the promise of God Yet this is small comfort vnlesse the other certainety of the subiect also be assured vnto vs. To wit that this euerlasting life is prepared for me and that Christ died for my sinnes This indeed is the vndoubted worke of faith Dauid could saie Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiuen Yet this is but Christ in the whole cloth as we may say but Paule had learned to turne Dauids quorum into his owne ego and say whereof I am cheefe and so cut himselfe a garment therof to couer his owne wretchednes For he well knew that as many as were baptized into Christ had put on Christ. So you see he is fitted as a garment to weare and not to gaze vpon The reason of this certainty is this Because faith maketh that present which is absent Therfore by the Spirit of God faith is called The euidence of things not seene Neither is this certainety of hope but of knowledge For S. Iohn saith We know that when he shall appeare we also shall appeare in glorie And S. Paule testifieth that the Spirit assureth our spirits that we are the sons of God Doubtlesse therefore most restlesse and most vnquiet is the mind of that man which doubteth of Gods loue For what auaileth it thee be thy estate neuer so happie if it be miserable to thy selfe What comfort is it to a king to weare a crowne of gold albeit in great happinesse of estate if he be not perswaded of the enioyment therof What sound solace is it to any Christian to know that there is a life euerlasting yet knowes not whether he shall heare Come ye blessed or go ye cursed it being a very dictate of nature That no man is happy but he that so thinketh himselfe The felicity thereof consisting not in the happy expectation but in the present perswasion Thus then you see the appropriation of this loue how necessarie it is and not onely herein but in all other inducements of godlinesse S. Augustine recordeth that he was conuerted by reading that of S. Paule Rom. 13. Not in chambering and wantonnesse strife and enuying but put on the Lord Iesus So S. Augustine applied the Scripture to the particular reformation of his owne life And Alipius S. Augustines louing consort applied the beginning of the 14. Chapter to the Rom. to the end that S. Augustine might thereby recouer confirme him that wauered and staggered in the holy faith of Christ Iesus So the spouse here appropriateth Gods deere loue to her owne affections whereby we may learne That to a deuoted and truly religious soule Christ Iesus applied is the onely loue and life O heare a godly soule speake in her diuine phrases to Christ Iesus applying him to euery part to her mouth saying Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth that her words might be gracious and seasoned by the salt of the spirit of God 2. To her breasts My beloued is as a bundle of myrrhe vnto me he shall lie betweene my breasts that by alwaies meditating on him she might not be drawne aside to the by-paths of follie and vanity 3. To her affections Set me as a seale vpon thine heart that she might neuer be without his impression 4. To her actions And as a signet vpon thine arme that she might neuer be destitute of his directions The reason is For loue is as strong as death iealousie as cruel as the graue Much water cannot quench it neither can the floud drowne it whence ensueth a whole resignation Therfore I am my beloueds and he is mine Thus the true spouse Dauid likewise in the same case I am thine ô Lord hide not thy commandements from me Dauid was now neither for sinne nor for Sathan nor for the world nor for the flesh nor for his owne selfe but for the Lord totally by resignation fully by affection And verily how can it be otherwise but that a religious soule should thus wholy deuote it selfe to God in all sacred affection if it call to mind but these motiues following First what Ieremie saith how the Lord speaketh when he considered whereof the sonnes of men were made and weighed that they were but dust and therefore in his mercie to them he said it and not to the Angels that fell Shall they fall And not arise shall they turne away and not turne againe Here is rising from the gulfe of hell and returning from the bondage and captiuitie of the diuell assured vnto vs by promise in Gods preuenting mercie Secondly when we shall remember that God hath omitted all his other creatures of heauen and of earth and as it were neglected them and hath set his loue onely vpon vs yea the Angels that fel he hath reserued in chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day and yet saued a remnant of the sonnes of men Thirdly when it shall call to mind that to all other creatures God hath giuen a direct motion to content themselues in their now being but to man a circular motion that we should onely seeke our felicitie in him in whom we had our beginning Fourthly that forasmuch as Gods grace is giuen vs for our guide in this dangerous world which ouercometh infallibly the world the diuell and the flesh holdeth the truth inseparably against all heresie and schisme and leadeth indeclinably into the Paradise of God we should with all deuoted thankfulnesse entertaine this holy blessednesse Fiftly seeing that we may by holy faith as in a christall mirror behold the whole holy and vndeuided Trinitie in this worke of louing sauing and sanctifiing grace we should as those that had newly receiued their eye sight after a long blindnesse be rauished with ioy and comfort For see God the father so loued vs that he gaue his onely begotten sonne c. that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but should haue euerlasting life God the sonne so loued vs that he would die for vs God the holy ghost so loued vs that he maketh request for vs with sighes vnutterable in our soules Who would not then gather hence diuine affections according to the measure of grace giuen vnto vs calling to mind the precept of Christ which is the summe of all Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soule and with all thy mind that is saith S. Augustine Loue him with all thy right reason with all thy earnest affection and with all thy strongest powers loue him with all thy vnderstanding with all thy will and with all thy memorie loue him wisely that thou be not deceiued by the diuell in an angell of light Loue him sweetly that thou be not allured by the wicked and bewitching world Loue him
hypocriticall and hyperbolicall integritie like an old bottle they must vent it or else they would burst and vtter they must yea slauer out rather then faile their owne fooleries be they neuer so grosse or neuer so greeuous to be endured So that they may be then taken for great ones they thinke and haue the names of None such or the great outcrie of vaine glorie and popularity and heare others say of them as the Ephesians doting on their Idol Diana cried Great is Diana of the Ephesians And then do they beyond all meane and measure admire themselues and their owne beauties as did Narcissus and lift vp their plumes with the peacocke contemning all other in the basest manner and crying out to their brethren whom they most contemptuously despise like the Elizean spirits to the Tartarian and say Procul ô proculite profani But yet for all this the whole ranke of them in the sound iudgement of true and essentiall wisedome is but a rout of foolish dottards and dizzie drunkards doting on their owne conceitfull beauty and transgressing in the pride of their owne hearts Seest thou a man wise in his owne conceit more hope is of a foole then of him See the dottard The reason is because a foole is wiser in his owne conceit then seauen men that can render a reason Seest thou a man that is proud in his heart he is as one that transgresseth with wine as did drunken Zebul taking trees for men and as did mad Aiax taking rammes for lambes and taking carts for castles as they do Qui concipiunt aethera mente The way also that this generation walketh in is like them to wit a seeming iust and imagined straight way For whereas all skill in diuinitie is either opinion faith or knowledge these dizzie dottards are onely guided by opinion the very fountaine of Atheisme and the high way to heresie and schisme grounded vpon vncertainties and seeming truths but are not guided by the direction of Iesus faith which hath holy increasings and doth suscipere maius minus there being a progresse à fide ad fidem according to the praier of the yong beleeuer O Lord increase my faith These contrariwise take vpon them to know suddenly all reason all rule all resolutions and like ignorant idiots controll euen their learned Priests Certainely they might notwithstanding do well to call to minde Saules way which seemed iust vnto him when he spared Agag and the best things for sacrifice yet the issue thereof was the ouerrhrow of him and his estate They might also remember the fierie zeale of Iames and Iohn that would fire should come from heauen vpon the Samaritans But the Lord Iesus told them that they wotted not of what spirit they were and sent them to learne a new lesson euen this I will mercie and not sacrifice There is a way therefore that seemeth right but the issues thereof are the issues of death So S. Peter likewise in the tendernes of his hart would not the Lord should suffer at Ierusalem as he prophesied to his Apostles Math. 16. saying Master spare thy selfe But the Lord called him an aduersarie and told him that he sauored not of the things of God In the singularitie also of his good manners Peter said vnto the Lord Thou shalt not wash my feete but when he vnderstood better that if he were not washed he had no part with him he suddenly changed his minde and then would haue his head and all his body bathed by him And yet againe in the singularitie of his sincerity aboue all his fellowes he told his Master that if all forsooke him he would not and see his sinfull defect immediatly following as a punishment of that presumptuous singularity for he first and onely denied him and that most strangely being vanquished with very slight prouocations There is a way then that seemeth right to a man but the issues thereof are the issues of death In this conceitfull generation then and in this seeming way there is no essentiall worth much lesse any especiall vertue to be found Looke vp then to your Lord Iesus your soules beloued and in him and by him you shall see a beautifull generation regenerated by grace who are of his owne generation and partake of his diuine graces by the measure of sanctification giuen them they are also a choice generation set apart for himselfe and for his seruice which are stiled The generation of them that seeke the Lord. The way that they insist in is a right way not of opinion but of iudgement For all the waies of God are so many iudgements saith Gods secretary Moses These turne neither to the right hand too superciliously nor to the left hand too superstitiously but keepe the old ancient and perfect way to God Christ himselfe being their direction in this blessed way for he is verbum genitum the begotten word and the way to him is by verbum scriptum the written word If therefore I should haue my wish I would rather choose to be a doorekeeper to this generation of essentiall goodnesse then to dwell in the glorious tents of seeming holinesse and I shall rather be at sea tossed with a tempestuous storme in the ship with those that humblie professe themselues sinners then on the shore in the table of those Pharisies that iustifie themselues with their hideous haughtinesse Now as this bright beautie is essentiall in the substance so also it is especiall in the brightnesse and excellencie thereof For there are foure sorts of whitenes First fanatically phantasticall whitenes Secondly superficiall whitenes Thirdly naturall whitenes but changeable in the subiect Fourthly natiue whitenes and not changeable in the subiect The first is the diuell transformed into an Angell of light for he is fanatically phantasticall white The man that had a blemish of white in his eye was debarred from the priesthood was resembled to the owle of whom the Naturalists yeeld the reason that shee cannot see in the day time because of the exceeding great whitenes she hath in her eyes which scattereth so the sight that the optiques thereof cannot discerne perfectly the obiects Such are all those that conceiue themselues pure and yet are not washed and cleansed from their euill conscience who say they see and therefore their sinnes remaine for had they bene blind they might pretend some excuse but now all excuse is taken from them because they say that they see The superficiall white are painted sepulchers and whited walls loathsome within and the best is but woodden without like the gilded potsheard Salomon speakes of that the next shower of raine discouereth to be but an outcast for the potters field how gloriously soeuer it glister The natural white but changeable are they that are borne faire but afterwards by the Sunne and soyle they become blacke and Aethiopian-like Semblable are those that begin in the spirit of grace and bright
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