and put out his eyes and bound him with fetters of brass and made a Miller of him to grinde in the Prison-house at Gaza Dost thou exceed others in strength of body yet consider thou art therein inferiour to the Horse the Elephant and divers other beasts thou shewest what a poor creature thou art to put confidence in bodily strength The force of an hidden evil overcame Hercules that was not to be overcome by any man The strongest man in the world There is none strong like our God 1 Sam. 2.2 Jer. 9 23. Cogita quantarum ipse sis virium istae enim non tuae sunt sed hospitii imo carceris vires tui vanum autem est cum ipse sis fragilis forti habitaculo dicam melius forti Adversario gloriari Petrarc de Remed utriusq fortunae The Amorite was strong as the Oaks yet God destroyed him Amos 2.9 his strength is but weakness compared with the strength of an Oak Let not the strong man glory in his strength saith the Lord. There is no man so strong but his strength may be impaired either by immoderate labour or by some sharp and violent disease or by excessive grief and sadness or decrepit old age which overcometh all things Dost thou boast of thy great strength let me tell thee that every weighty thing laboureth with its own burthen and this is the nature almost of every thing when it cometh to its height it descendeth not with an equal motion the ascent is more slow but the descent is precipitious and this bodily strength when it begins to decline will decline apace SECT 2. Of pride of Strong-holds I Find in Alexanders wars that when he came to subdue the Sogdians a people that had a rock for their habitation and the munition of rocks on every side Volateran reports of Niniveh that it was eight years a building by no less then ten thousand Workmen and Diod. Sieulus saith The walls were an 100 foot high the breadth able to receive three carts on a row it had 1500 turrets but is now laid waste they jeered him and askt him Whether his Souldiers had wings or no Unlefs thy Souldiers can flie in the aire we fear thee not Many men when they get into a strong hold like David in his strong Mountain think they shall never be moved But fee how the Lord threatens Israel if they hearkned not to the voyce of the Lord and to do all his Commandments and Statutes that he would bring upon them a Nation of fierce countenance that should besiege them in all their gates until their high and fenced walls came down wherein they trusted throughout all their Land Natural men since the fall must have some strength or other to trust to Deut. 28.52 Gen. 11.7 8. When Cain was driven out from his Fathers house he falls a building of Cities and we read of some after the Flood that would build a Tower of Babel that should reach to Heaven to get themselves a name but the Lord soon confounded their language and scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth Thou boastest that thou livest in an impregnable Castle Dost thou not know the Proverb Quis cladem illius urbis quis funera sando Explicet aut posist lachrymis c. Virg. 2. Aeneid that there is no place that is invincible Even that Tower of Locris that double Tower could not be defended by Hannibal himself and that impregnable Tower of Praeneste then which Historians say never was a stronger when it could not be overcome by force of arms it was taken by flattery and false promises and was demolished That Fortress cannot stand long where wickedness getteth in between the timber and the stones besides the faith of Gods children which can remove mountains is able to throw down the strongest walls Heb. 11.30 as it did the walls of Jericho No strong-hold of it self is sufficient to secure a man from the wrath and vengeance of God pursuing him Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit Ovid. Epst 1. I have read of Bishop Hatto in Germany that suffered the poor to starve at his door albeit the Rats eat up his corn but after they had devoured his Corn they sought after him from house to house wherefore he built him an house in the River Rhemes where the water runneth very swiftly yet that would not serve they got to him and eat up him also whereupon that Tower is called The Rats Tower unto this day There is no true security in any thing but in God He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty Psal 91.1 2. I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God Psal 18.2 in him will I trust The Lord is my rock and my fortress c. my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower saith David The name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe Prov. 18.10 God hath promised his people that the munitions of rocks shall be their place of defence Isa 33.16 The Lord will set them so high that none shall be able to reach them to do them hurt But let the wicked man build never so high his pride will bring him down Thy terribleness hath deceived thee saith God to Edom and the pride of thy heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cedren hist p. 452. O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock that holdest the height of the hill though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the Eagle I will bring thee down from thence saith the Lord Jer. 49.16 When Nicephorus Phocas had built a mighty wall about his Palace for his security in the night he heard a voyce crying O King though thou buildest as high as the clouds yet the City may easily be taken the sin within will mar all CHAP. 12. Of pride of Children CHildren especially to Mothers whose affections are very strong are very taking things being little images of themselves Parents take so much delight in their children that the evils of children affect them as if they were their own How earnestly doth the woman of Canaan cry out to Christ for her daughter Matth. 15.21 You read likewise of a man crying out to Christ Master I beseech thee behold my son for he is all that I have Luke 9.38 Behold my son that is have mercy on my son as it is expounded Matth. 17.15 And so sometimes videre is taken for respicere and respicere for misereri seu delectari Psal 66.18 Parents are apt to dote too much upon an only son therefore when they are taken away the grief of Parents is excessive The greatest mourning in Scripture is set out by the mourning for an only son Indeed some there are whose affections are so strong to their children that
apparel These men are like the Camelion changing themselves into every colour and shape they behold one day they are in this colour and fashion and the next in another Such as these are but beasts in the shape of men a beastly minde and a barbarous habit usually go together good men have always shunned these fooleries Such as these the Lord threatneth Zeph. 1.8 It shall come to pass in the day of the Lords Sacrifice that I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparel God judged not the ornaments of silver and gold and precious stones to be absolutely needful for us for if he had he would not have hid them in the bowels of the earth and in the remotest parts of the world in Shell-fishes in the Sea c. And one observeth if God would have covered us with divers coloured garments Non haec ornant corpus sed mentem detegunt Quintilian he would have made Creatures some green some yellow some red and some of all colours and have caused silk to be sown as flax is There was never any age but found danger in gorgeous and fantastick apparel and Seneca saith this hath brought ruine upon many a Commonwealth Tacitus The Roman History saith that the first that wore purple was smitten with thunder Chrysostome saith That God would have us look on Herods garments who as Josephus saith was clothed in cloth of silver when he made his oration to the people Acts 12. Joseph Antiqu. that those that see the vanity of his garments may also see the penalty of his pride It is but immodesty and madness for Christians to jet it out in silk and silver and gold seeing the Persians therewith clothe their very Camels 1. It is prodigal spending of Gods blessings and benefits to be bestowed on better purposes 2. It is a note of vanity and idleness Faemina culta nimis faemina casta minus to be still devising new-fangled fashions 3. It is an ensign of pride to use them being invented without consideration of conveniency 4. It argues much levity and frothiness to be still changing it would make the world believe that the Moon were our Mistress and predominant planet and then every body knows what kinde of people we are Excessive bravery doth not make those that wear it more commendable Clemens Alexandrin Paedagog lib. 3. cap. 11. It is a great reproach our English Nation hath gotten to follow all fashions Therefore other Countreys do paint an English man naked with his cloth under his arm and a pair of shears in his hand seeking a Taylor to finde him out a new fashion To conclude this Chapter it is better to have our mindes well clad with vertues and graces The Turks say Ut derisi potius quam vestiti esse videantur Angli Sir John Mandev 1 Pet. 5.5 1 Tim. 2.10 then our bodies with vestments this is required of women the weaker vessels and therefore it is much more beseeming men that must guide and govern them 1 Pet. 3.3 then are we best adorned when we are clothed with humility and good works and do put on the Lord Jesus Christ CHAP. 5. Of Pride of Beauty and the vanity thereof BEauty in self is a commendable thing and many good women in Scripture have been commended for their beauty as Eve made in perfection Sarah Pulchritudo corporis est congruentia partium cum quadam coloris suavitate August ad Nebrid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripides Genes 12.11.14 Rachel Genes 29.17 Esther Est 2.7 Bathsheba 2 Sam. 11.12 Rebecca Gen. 26.7 Jobs three daughters Job 41.15 Naomi Ruth 1.20 Goodmen likewise have been commended for their beauty as Joseph Gen. 39.6 who was a goodly person and well-favoured David 1 Sam. 16.12 who was ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to Daniel and his three companions Dan. 1.4 Moses Exod. 2.2 But beauty is a thing whereof people are apt to be proud Ezek. 28.17 This is charged on the Prince of Tyrus that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty though that be meant of his honour riches and greatness which had a splendid beauty in them yet is it also true of natural beauty Pulchritudo corporis bonum Dei donum est sed propterea id largitur etiam malis ne magnum bonum videatur bonis August de Civit. Dei lib. 15. cap. 22. men and women are apt to grow proud of it Quintus Hortensius a Roman Consul is infamed by Historians because he stood long poring in a glass when he made him ready and was too curious in trimming up himself Philip King of Macedon deprived a Magistrate from his Office which he had given him onely because he heard he was more busied in beautifying and trimming his person then in studying his books The use of glasses was first intended that thereby men and women might the better know themselves that the most beautiful might learn to avoid all infamous things and not defile the dignity of their persons with the deformity of their manners It was the advice of Socrates in Laertius Socrat. in Laert. that young men should have always a looking-glass to look themselves in it if they were outwardly deformed they might labour to recompence it with inward comeliness and that those that were outwardly beautiful might also labour for inward beauty But alass our glasses have now lost their primary institution Lucius Apuleius de magia lib. 1. Qui eximia forma est id agat ut animi pulchritudo corporis pulchritudini splendore respondeat Nazian in maximum and made many persons to forget themselves and like Narcissus to dote upon their own faces thinking that every one that seeth them wrongs them that doth not admire them Besides many there are that use artificial painting to set off themselves that they may seem more beautiful then they are Painting is not intended to please chaste eyes and is but a whorish varnish learnt from that wicked Jezabel whom the Dogs devoured Socrates saith That one Pambus lamented being brought out of the wilderness to Alexandria by Athanasius there seeing a woman taking pains that way he burst out into tears Fastus inest pulchris sequiturque superbia sormam Dum comuntur poliuntur vestiuntur faeminae annus est Seneca and wept bitterly And being askt why he wept he assigned two causes 1. Saith he because she takes so much pains and spends so much cost and time to cast away her self and damn her soul 2. Because she taketh more pains and bestoweth more labour to please vain young men then I have done to please God Tripartit Histor lib. 8. cap. 1. p. 484. Now Solomon or Bathsheba his Mother both very beautiful say that favour is deceitful and beauty is vain Prov. 31.30 or a very vanity as the Geneva Translation hath it Beauty is compared by holy
Christ and offered to God when they have knowledge and years of discretion by good education for this God took special order in his Law telling his people that his laws must not only be in their own heads to know them Deut. 6.7 but in their mouths to talk of them and learn them to their children And questionless the common dissoluteness and disobedience of children when they be grown up proceeds from the carelesness of Parents when they were young they offered them not to Christ nor put them to his school but trained them up in wantonness pride and vanity which is the bane of youth And thus some have brought their children to beggery others to the Gallows and more have brought them to spiritual and eternal death CHAP. 13. Of Pride of outward priviledges EVil men are very apt to pride themselves in their outward priviledges The Jews boasted they were Abrahams seed according to the flesh though they cared not to follow Abrahams faith they boast also that they have the Temple of the Lord Jerem. 7.4 Deus habitat in medio nostrs apud nos babet domicilium Haec prima hypocritarum munitio Calv. in Jerem. 7. and they cry the Temple of the Lord as if they should have said God dwelleth in the midst of us he hath his habitation with us This is the first fortress of hypocrites saith Calvin They gloried that they were a vine of Gods own planting that God had known and chosen them out of all the families of the earth to be his peculiar people and had entred into covenant with them There is nothing more common with proud and wicked men saith Salvian then to defend themselves by the name of Catholick when in life they are more prophane than Goths and Vandals Salvian de provid dei lib. 7. Vanum sine corpore nomen Hoc nomine ecclesia sola Romana gloriatur Coster in Enchirid de notis Eccles a vain name without a body yet this is the argument of Costerus the Jesuite in this name the Roman Church alone doth glory But what doth this priviledge of a religious name profit them that call themselves Catholicks and the same may be said of the Catholick faith and profession Little reason have men to be proud of outward priviledges for the Apostle tells us that in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing Gal. 6.15 nor uncircumcision but a new creature nothing is acceptable to God nor available to salvation Chrysostome saith of the Jews that divinis penè obruti erant beneficiis and under these two he Synecdochically comprehendeth all outward priviledges prerogatives dignities and precedences whatsoever under circumcision comprising the dignities of the Jews Rom. 3.1 2. Rom. 9.4 5. under uncircumcision the Gentiles with all their wit wealth strength laws policy or whatever is of esteem among men and glorious in the eyes of the world all which he accounts as nothing in respect of regeneration Luk. 16.15 1. Therefore first wealth strength nobility wisdom are nothing and not to be gloryed in 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28. You see your calling brethren not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty c. and things that are not to confound the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence 2. Outward callings are nothing as to be Emperours Kings Priests Prophets Apostles 3. Or outward actions of hearing fasting almes-giving prayer It is a mark of a wicked cast-away to rest in these things of one who buildeth the house not upon the Rock Qui domū aedificat non in petra sed in arena August in Ps 103. but upon the Sand saith Austin It is the note of such as shall be refused when the great King shall make distinction between the sheep and Goats 4. Kindred and alliance avail not for if the blessed Virgin had not as well conceived Christ in her heart by faith Beatior Maria percipiendo fidem Christi quà m concipiendo carnem Christi Christum faelicius gestavit corde quam corpore mente quam ventre August as in her womb according to the flesh she had not been saved Luke 11.27 28. For when a certain woman said unto Christ Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck he said yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it It seemeth to have been an usual thing among the Jews to commend Parents by their children and to commend children by pronouncing their Parents blessed in them So it is recorded of Rabbi Jochanan Ben Zachary that commending one of his scholars he brake out into this speech Blessed is she that bare thee And in prophane Authors this and the like speeches are usual Ashre sevvaled techa Beataquae te genuit Tremel in loc Faelices tales quae te genuere Parentes Thus Solomon tells us that a wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is heaviness to his mother Prov. 10.1 yea as good children be comforts to their Parents privately so they be credits to them publickly as the Psalmist saith he that hath good children need not be ashamed to meet his enemy in the gate and that this is an especial outward blessing Quisquè nascitur ex Adamo nascitur damnatus de damnato Aug. in Psal 132. our Saviour denyeth not for in his answer he doth not cross and contradict the speech as false but only correct it shewing that though it were a good thing in the kind to have good children yet it was a better thing to be good our selves and howsoever his blessed mother were a vessel of grace on earth and be now a glorious Saint in heaven yet herein consisted not the height of her happiness in that she bare him in her body but rather in this that she believed on him in her heart And if Christs kinsmen had not been his brethren as well by spiritual adoption and regeneration as by carnal propagation Mark 3.30 31 32 33 34. and generation they should not have had inheritance in the kingdom of God 5. Nay the outward Elements are nothing without the inward grace 1. For Baptism it is not the washing the face or body nor the washing away the filth of the flesh that is acceptable to God but the stipulation of a good conscience that maketh request to God 1 Pet. 3.21 2. For the Sacrament of the Lords Supper he that doth not as well receive panem dominum 1 Cor. 11.27 29. as panem domini the bread that is the Lord as the bread of the Lord is an unworthy receiver and so is guilty of his body and blood and the reason why these outward priviledges are nothing available with God is because the things that God regardeth are spiritual and eternal
by the Romans as Tertullian tells us 2. It is Gods prerogative royal to act all for himself he hath no higher end than his own honour and glory The Lord made all things for himself for his own glory Dionysius junior alebat Sophistas non quod magni faceret sed ut propter eosin admirationem esset Plut. mor. 11 p. 400. Prov. 16.4 Now a proud man doth not mind the glory of God in his own thoughts but his own glory his own praise credit and esteem The Pharisees when they gave alms blew a trumper that people might take notice what merciful men they were that they might have the glory of men and when they prayed they often did it in the corners of the streets that they might be seen of men Humane applause was all they sought for approbation from God and acceptance with him they look not after and this they have as their reward Therefore saith Christ to his hearers Mat. 6.1 2 4 5 6. Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them c. Mat. 6.1 Object But it may be said that our Saviour Mat. 5.16 commends and commands what he forbids and condemneth here for there he saith Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and here See that you do them not before men to be seen of them Answ If we compare the places we shall see it s no such matter for in the former place we are bidden to do good works before men that they may see them and glorifie God for them and be occasioned to imitate and follow them as 1 Pet. 2.12 And here we are forbidden to do them before men About one hundred and odd years agone some of the Princes Noble-men and Gentlemen of Germvny in a vain glorious way caused these five letters V. D.M.I.Ae the first letters of verbum dei manet in aeternum to be wrought or embroydered or set in plate upon their cloaks or sleeves of their garments to declare to the world that forsaking Popish traditions they were professors of the pure Word of God but many of these men had not the Word written upon their hearts Joh. Wolf lect membr Tom. 2. ad ann 1549. not simply but eo animo to be extolled praised and magnified for doing of them we may bona opera ostendere shew our good works but not ostentare not make an ostentation of them we must aym at Gods glory not our own if it follow it must be upon the by and more then we expect or respect in doing our duties It must as one saith be but a consequent no cause moving us But praise will follow vertuous and pious actions as the shadow the body The Romans made the image of vain glory in the form of a vagrant woman writing over her head This is the Image of vain-glory This Image had a Crown on her head a Scepter in her left hand a Peacock in the other her eyes vailed and blinded sitting on a Chariot drawn by four Lions the reason of all this was because the lovers of vain honour and glory are as inconstant as a vagrant woman the Crown on her head shewing that they ever desire to be honoured and admired in this world like Kings the Scepter betokening thier desire to rule the Peacock shewing that as the Peacock decks his former part with his tail and so leaves his hinder parts naked so vain-glorious men deck themselves in the eye of this world and deprive themselves of eternal glory the vail that is before her denoteth how blind the vain-glorious man is that he cannot see his own folly and arrogancy the four Lions intimate that the vain honour of this world is ever drawn with four cruel sins as fierce as Lions Pride Avarice Luxury and Envy A proud man can bear reproach of none and seeks to be adored and praised by all Calvisius Sabinus got servants skilled in all arts and speaking all languages arrogating all that they knew to himself Seneca ad Lucil. Epist 27. CHAP. 17. Of Pride of gifts in general GIfts are those endowments with which God fills the minds of men for the edifying of the Church of Christ and of these the Apostle tells us there is a diversity 1 Cor. 12.4 Si sono benle differenti de doni maegli e vn medesimo Spirito c. Questo fanno il genere sotto il quale si contengonole specie che sono soggiunte delle amministrationi operationi Ital. Annota in 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. and these all proceed from the Spirit of God Gifts are as it were the life of a Christian and the Spirit of God is the life of them all There is not greater variety of Herbs Trees Plants Knots Flowers in a curious garden enclosed to which the Church is compared then there is of gifts in the minds of men some indeed have a double portion of gifts as Elisha had of the spirit of Elijah and every one hath his proper gift suitable to that place whereunto God hath called him his dimensum as the Scripture termeth it Now the design of the Devil is to make a man proud of his gifts and to look more upon his gifts then look to the giver of them when a man feeds this humour in himself and is so far from checking it in his heart that he rather seeks to foment it and add matter to it and sheweth it by the contempt of others of inferiour gifts this is a note that gifts do puffe him up with Pride Now this is a great vanity for a man to be proud of gifts 1. Because these gifts are not our own but Gods Who made thee to differ from another or what hast thou saith Paul which thou hast not received and if thou hast received it 1 Cor. 4.7 why then dost thou boast c. every good and perfect gift cometh from above from the Father of lights who giveth freely c. Jam. 1. We have nothing that is good Omnia mea mala purè mala sunt mea omnia mea bona purè bona suit et non mea Hugo Card. Austin observeth against the Heathen that Christian vertues far surpass the vertues of the Heathen by the name they are called saith he you call yours habits because you have them we call ours gifts because we receive them from God but is the gift of God and cometh from the grace of God Thus one saith All my evils are purely evil and mine All my good things are purely good and not mine And Austin upon the fifth Petition of the Lords prayer saith What can be less then bread yet lest we might think to have that of our selves our Master hath taught us to beg it of our heavenly Father saying and praying daily Give us this day our daily bread therefore seeing all that we have whither for the body or mind are Gods gifts we must not say of them
open place as the Publican Luke 18. So a man may pray for ostentation in a secret place even under many locks and with many doors shut upon him if he withdraw himself to the end he may be seen and observed Therefore Austin writing to certain Eremites whom he stileth brethren in the wilderness August Ad fratres in eremo Claude ostium hoc est noli sermone clamare nec diffundere orationem tuam nec jactare per populos sed in secreto tuo ora securus ut te in secreto possit audire quoniam videt audit universa August Ambros Hieron Chemnit bids them come out of those solitary places and come into towns and Cities yea even to the Court rather then be proud of being in a wilderness Object But may not a man glory in the good works done by him doth not the Apostle say Let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another Gal. 6.4 Answ The Apostle layeth down a remedy against self-love and over-weening conceit of our selves and it stands in proving and examining a mans own work by it self without comparing it with another mans Whereof he renders this reason Then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another There is a double ground of glorying one out of a mans self the other in a mans self 1. Out of himself in God alone Jerem. 9.23 He that gloryeth let him glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.31 2. In himself viz. in the comfortable testimony of a good conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 The one is glorying before God the other before men the one of justification the other of holy conversation for the time past and constant resolution for the time to come the one in the testimony of our own conscience the other in the testimony of Gods Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are the sons of God Rom. 8.16 the first not here meant 1 Cor. 1.29 Object This glorying in a mans self is vain-glory and a branch of pride Answ It differs from vain-glory in two things In the Foundation In the End 1. Vain-glory hath for its ground and foundation our own vertues gifts works considered as they come from our selves not from God whereas this true glorying is grounded upon them as they are fruits of regeneration and proceeding from justification by Christ and reconciliation with God 2. They differ in the end vain-glory tending to the advancing of our selves in an opinion of our own proper desert this true glorying aimeth at Gods glory alone acknowledging that all the good that we have and all the good that we do to come from God alone rejoycing in our good works not as causes but as fruits of our justification so that if the question be whether we be justified by them or not we must then disclaim them and tread them under our feet and account them as dung as Paul did Phil. 3.7 8 9 10. SECT 3. 6. PRide will make a man unfit for society with others Pride is a great enemy to union therefore it is that there are so many sad separations of men one from another in these divided times It is very hard for men of proud spirits long to accord and unite together Melanct. Comment in Prov. 13.10 Melancton compareth proud men to mountains and saith concerning such men there was wont to be this Proverb Duo montes non miscentur Two mountains will not mix together Humble persons are very sociable they can converse together with an unequal respect of age parts sex or degree Humble men like the Bees love a sociable life who as Ambrose observeth are included and inclosed in one hive and shut up with one door Proud persons cannot cope together a proud man envieth his superiors because they be above him he scorneth his inferiors because they be beneath him and labours to keep them down lest they over-take him and he studieth to supplant and undermine his equals lest they out-strip and excell him therefore that our Saviour might correct this humour among his own Disciples he took a little child and set him in the midst of them Matth. 18.2 3. saying Vnless ye become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of God Children are humble and meek-spirited they envy not they disdain not they exalt not themselves one above another the children of a Prince will be familiar and play with the child of a peasant they equal themselves one to another till they be told their places and made proud by being observed So must not Christians strive for precedency and superiority above their brethren Thus David saith that his heart was not haughty c. nor walked in matters too high for him but saith he I have behaved and quieted my self as a child Psal 131.1 2. Servus servorum dei as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child The Pope indeed is stiled by a most lowly title The servant of the servants of God though he be nothing less but had we hearts truly humble we should learn the Apostles lesson and serve one another in love The Romans therefore painted humility in the form of a serving-man wearing black garments his head hanging down and a staffe in his hand to represent the several good conditions of humility and of the humble man 1. He thinks meanly of himself albeit most noble and excellent 2. He ever thinks himself bound to run the way of Gods Commandments this is expressed by the staffe in his hand 3. The black-garments express him to be one of Sions mourners like the poor Publican lamenting his sins standing afar off as not worthy to lift up his eyes to heaven 4. To signifie that himself was created to serve God and others and this the picture expressed by being in the form of a serving-man 7. Pride threatens ruine and destruction to to a mans children house and family The Hebrews call the generation of children the building up the house and Pride throws down this building The Lord will destroy the house of the proud saith Solomon Prov. 15.25 though like Lucifer he set his nest among the stars yet pride will unnest him and throw him down Thus God brought ruine upon the house of Valois those proud persecutors of the French Protestants So likewise Maximinus the Roman Emperour having made a decree against the Christians and being in the act of persecuting them he perished in an insurrection and mutiny of his souldiers who hated him for his pride and cruelty and killed not only himself but his son also crying out That there should not a whelp escape of so bad a breed Proud Parents are the greatest enemies to their children that possibly can be making them liable to Gods wrath and curse When good Hezekiah grew proud of his treasures Quae servare poterat occultata praedae reddidit obnoxia ostentata M S. Isa 39.6 7.
not find way he made way by this engine of the Word what a rufling did proud Arius keep in the Eastern Church for a while but as Constantine reporteth Porteth the glistering truth of the Gospel did overcome the Arians Moses his rod did devour the rods of Egypt and the nearer Dagon came to the Ark the greater was his fall Direct 5. Cum superbia tentat cogita meliores Ber. When thou art apt to swell with the thoughts of thy own excellencies think not only on thine inferiors but upon thine equals and superiors when we compare our selves with others that are above us as the heavens above the earth whose gifts and graces do as far excel and exceed ours as the bright sun-shine doth the dimm candle light we cannot but be ashamed and acknowledge that there is no cause why we should magnifie our selves above others and vilifie yea nullifie others in comparison of our selves but that we should esteem of others better then our selves this will make us lay down all vain opinions of our selves and to judge our selves from a right knowledge of our selves the least and lowest of all others It is a speech of one of the Antients August They that are in the view of the world better then others must in their own hearts esteem themselves inferior to others Rom. 12.10 this will teach us in honour to prefer one another 2 Pet. 3 15 Alios plerunque imitari nolumus quia nos ipsos meliores credimus Greg. Peter and Paul had been at some difference yet notwithstanding Peter honoureth him with his title and testimony of beloved brother and Paul looks not altogether at his own honour but is also careful of the honour of inferiour Preachers as Sylvanus Timothy c. therefore he joyneth their names with his own in some of his Apostolical Epistles to the Churches Direct 6. Set before you the examples of the godly that were men renowned for their humility Gen. 32.10 Humble Jacob saith to God I am less then all the mercies and truth which thou hast shewed to thy servant Luk. 1. And the blessed Virgin calleth her self an handmaid of the Lord not worthy to be regarded The poor prodigal saith I am not worthy to be called thy son and John Baptist saith he was not worthy to untie the lachet of Christs shoo Paul saith he was chief among sinners Ephes 3.8 and less then a Saint less then the least yea less then the least of all Saints and not worthy to be called an Apostle and the Centurion saith to Christ I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof Luk. 5.8 and Peter when he saw a miracle that Christ wrought he fell down at Jesus knees saying Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man Object But you will say This request of Peter seems very strange for to whom shall sinners go but to their Saviour and whom can they desire to have come to them and be with them rather then he that only hath eternal life this was in a manner the suit of the Devils Matth. 8.29 What have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son of God c. Now it may seem strange that Peter a pillar in the Church should utter such a speech contrary to what he had said John 6.68 Respon You must not think though the words sound almost the same that the sense is any thing alike the devils out of servile fear and malice thinking Christ to be come to torture and torment them as he did even then make a beginning to unroost and dislodge them desire his absence but Peter on the other side not through distrust or despair of his salvation or weariness of Christs company which doubtless was most welcome to him but out of a feeling of his own frailty and unworthiness uttered these speeches thereby signifying not his weariness but unworthiness of Christs company and therefore maketh this modest request 2 Sam. 7.18 Thus David saith of himself in humility who am I O Lord and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto that is advanced me to this Crown and Kingdom Hence we may observe a difference between the presence of God and earthly Princes viz. that men grow proud to be admitted into their presence and think it the only grace and favour can be done them Rex meus me semper habebat in oculis and therefore the bragging Souldier in the Comedy could vauntingly say My King had me alwaies in his eyes and Haman thought no man in the Kingdom so highly in favour or so likely to be honoured as himself because he had been laely graced at a banquet by the King and Queen but when men come into the presence of God it fareth otherwise it maketh them exceeding humble as Job in Gods presence abhorreth himself and repents even in dust and ashes When Rebecca came towards Isaac Gen. 24.64 65. and saw him she lighted from her Camel and vailed her self and when the Spouse of Christ cometh before Christ her husband she casteth off all confidence of her own righteousness and desireth to be shrowded and vailed under the mantle-covering of Christs righteousness imputed to her thus you see the better any men are the meaner they think of themselves now these great examples are registred in Scripture for our imitation therefore whensoever your hearts are apt to swell with pride check them and chide them for this disorder by sending them to the examples of the most eminent Saints to whose humility the Scripture gives so large a testimony And let me advise you further to converse frequently with humble men this is effectual to expell pride As Solomon saith He that walks with the wise shall be wise so he that converseth with the humble shall learn humility The humble sheep will flock together humble men can converse together without censuring quarreling or disdaining and get much by conversing with others whereas the proud care not for communion and if they converse with any it is only with such as do excell if they sit at the feet of any it must be at the feet only of some Gamaliel CHAP. 31. The seventh Direction Direct 7. ABove all take the Lord Jesus for your pattern Learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 Hierom having read the holy life and pious death of Hillarion folding up the book said Well! Hillarion shall be the champion whom I will imitate Discite à me non ad Patriarchas non ad prophetas vos ego mitto sed me vobis exemplum me formam humilitatis exhibeo Inviderunt mihi altitudinem quam habeo apud patrem Angelus Faemina ille potentiae illa scientiae vos autem aemulamini charismata meliora discite à me quia mitis sum humilis corde Bernard Epist How much rather should we say so of Christ He is the pattern that I will follow
humble but his heart is full of pride This was Absaloms humility who rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate 2 Sam. 15.2 3 4 5. Adoravit vulgus c. And it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeysance he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him why was Absalom thus humble was it not to get applause from the people and to steal away the hearts of the men of Israel and in the end to set up himself in the throne of David his Father A proud man like the Lion coucheth and humbleth himself that the poor may fall into his strong paws Psal 10.10 as one renders that place This is called by one Vulpina humilitas the Foxes humility One compareth these to the little venemous serpent Cerastes which to allure the birds to come unto it that she may feed on them counterfeits her self to be dead So these proud counterfeits seem to be very lowly and officious putting their hands under your very feet when as their hearts are full of pride and covetousness Pride in it self is very odious therefore it labours to shrowd and palliate it self under the mask of humility There is another kind of outward humility a voluntary humility that is of such as vow voluntary poverty and seem to renounce and relinquish the world and betake themselves to a Monastical and Eremetical kind of life such as these have no warrant for it that I can find our Saviour indeed pronounceth a blessing upon the poor not on those that are outwardly poor in estate Matth. 5.3 but on those that are poor in spirit that have mean thoughts of themselves from which these men are far enough placing an opinion of merit in these courses Nor are they truly poor for howbeit they have the possession of nothing yet they enjoy and have the command of more then they that have lands and livings large rents and revenues of such kind of Cattel Albertus Duke of Saxony said that he had three wonders in one City meaning three Monasteries whereof the Friars of one had Children but no Wives Non magnum est sua sed se relinquere Ferus in Matth. 5. The Friars of the second had store of Corne but no land And the third had store of money and no rent or other apparent means to raise it It is a greater matter for a man to relinquish himself then to relinquish his goods which indeed is the part of him that is poor in spirit But true humility is a grace seated in the mind or heart whereby a man from a right knowledge of himself walks humbly with God and man 1. It will make a man disclaim all his own worth and excellencies in Gods presence it will make a man willing to be debased that God may be glorified 2 Sam. 6.14 20 21. it will make men of honour to lay aside their own honour to honour God as David when he laid aside his Princely robe and put on a linnen Ephod and daunced before the Ark of the Lord though his wife Michal upbraided him with it as a thing too low and base for his dignity yet saith he it was before the Lord and therefore if I have been vile I will yet be more vile then thus and will be base in mine own sight Therefore one saith he is more astonisht at Davids dauncing Gregor then at Davids fighting for in fighting he overcame but his enemy but in dauncing he overcame himself Humility makes a man zealous in serving God and yet when he hath done what he can he accounts all as nothing though he hath done much yet humility saith I have done nothing Luk. 17.10 That of our Saviour is the humble mans posie When I have done all that was commanded me yet am I but an unprofitable servant The humble man knows though afflictions are sharp and bitter arrows yet they are shot from a loving hand and therefore to be endured 1 Sam. 15.26 I have done that which was my duty to do Many pretend to be Gods servants but the humble man alone is the man that can be content to serve God in a mean place or low calling The humble man is wise to sobriety not daring to rifle Gods Cabinet or too curiously to search for things too high and too wonderful for him The humble man quietly bears the yoke and is very sensible of the hand of God when it is upon him and cannot complain of Gods dispensation towards him If the Lord say saith humble David I have no delight in thee behold here I am let him do to me as seemeth good unto him He lays his hand upon his mouth when the Lord smites him because t is his doing 2. The humble man thinks meanly of himself Christ calls the woman of Canaan a dog How doth she digest this bitter pill she saith truth Lord yet even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their Masters table as if she had said seeing I am no better then a dog I shall be contented to be served like a dog Matth. 15.26 27. I desire not to sit at table with Abraham Isaac and Jacob nor to be fed either before the Children or with the Children a scrap or crumb will serve me a poor Gentile I desire not a loaf but a crumb of bread I leave thy great mercies and great miracles for thy own country-men thy peculiar people the Jews but Lord I beseech thee shew one mercy to me a poor Gentile do one little miracle for my sake cast out one devil out of my poor daughter spare one crumb of mercy upon me a poor Canaanite Accedens ad Christum canis vocatur discedens à Christo mulier vocatur ipsa muâ—â—vit affectum ipse mutavit vocabulum August If I be a dog I am thy dog and as a dog will be sometimes impudent and not cease bawling till he get something so will I be importunate and not cease begging till thou hear me and heal my daughter Now see what the issue was Jesus answered her O woman great is thy faith Coming to Christ she is called a dog and departing from Christ she is called woman she shewing her self by her faith and humility to be no Canaanite but a true Israelite he ceaseth to call her dog and calls her woman she changeth her affection and he changeth his denomination 3. The humble man thinks highly of others in lowliness of mind Phil. 2.3 esteeming others better then himself Humility will make a man very officious and serviceable to others When there arose a strife among Christs Disciples who should be the greatest his argument is that they must not be like Pagan Princes Stultè perperam regnum vobis fingitis alia vobis med tanda est ratio si mihi operamsidelem impendere cupitis c. Sit haec vestia magnitudo excellentia dignitas fratribus vos submitterc Calvin in
know that this inhibition of Christ was onely temporary not perpetual Mat. 10.5 6. but onely till the Apostles had preached to the Jews which to do one suit would serve their turn for they were commanded not to go into the way of the Gentiles nor to enter into any City of the Samaritans but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel And either their journeyes should be so short Non proibisse il possedere quaeste tali coseima commanda lor qüaesto non solo perche non stano rotardat i da nifs uno impedimento ma ancora à fincche gustando aliquanto il benefitio de la divina providenzia siano preparati à questo officio Apostolico as they might easily reach from place to place with one coat and without refreshing themselves by the way or else he would extraordinarily strengthen them and provide for them that they should in the strength of what they had eaten at one place go to another as he did Elijah If Christ had not allowed them to have had two coats at other times as well might they say that they should never preach to the Gentiles because Christ forbade them for a time to go into the way of the Gentiles which is cancelled Mat. 28.19 when he bids them go teach all nations Mark 16.15 and so was this cancelled also by the practise of Christ and his Apostles for Judas was his Almoner and purse-bearer and his Disciples had two swords in his company And in all probability Paul had two cloaks 2 Tim. 4.13 for we reade of one that he left behind him at Troas and it is likely he had another with him But that which I am now speaking of is a superfluity in respect of the multitude of garments Take not two coats that is saith Lyra superfluous garments One man weares enough on his back at once to cloath two naked wretches all their lives Adams many there are that have such variety of garments that they will rather let the moths eat them than give away any of them to clothe the poor and needy To such James speaks Go to now you rich men Jac. 5.1 2. weep and boule for the miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted your garments moth-eaten the very moths shall witness against such abusers of apparel Object Doth not John Baptist when the people came to his Baptism asking him what they should do say unto them Luk. 3.11 Let him that hath two coats impart to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise this is no great variety nor any superfluity to have two coats doth not this seem to set open a wide gap to Anabaptistical parity and equality and Platonical community Answ I must confess that it is an hard task to walk with an even foot in this argument but either the rich or the poor will abuse something as shall be taught them let a man teach that it is lawfull to possess goods cloaths money land and other goods that a man hath left him by his Ancestors or gotten by his honest industry and rich men will soon conclude that they are absolute owners of their wealth and may use it yea even abuse it at their own pleasure Let a man on the other side stir up men to charity the poor are apt presently to think themselves more than quarter-masters of their rich neighbours goods and if they be somewhat slow in giving they will be quick enough in taking them before they be given Quest A question may arise then Whether there is any propriety any meum and tuum in goods and cloaths c. because the Baptist here speaks of an equal division Answ 1. We must answer affirmatively that there is and it may thus be proved What God giveth man may possess Psal 104.28 That thou givest them they gather the blessing of God maketh rich Prov. 10.22 2. They are not onely given to men as general blestings but as peculiar favours to his own children Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord c. Psal 112.1 Wealth and riches shall be in his house ver 3. Many of the godly have had great riches as Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Job David Solomon Joseph of Arimathea Nichodemus and others whose faith Christ commendeth to us therefore the possession of abundance is lawfull Object Are not all things the Saints 3. Christian piety doth not overthrow but maintain a civil policy which alloweth possessions else to what use be all Laws about weights measures buying selling usury yea else what use is there of the eighth Commandment But I must not stay here for though it be lawful for rich men to possess and enjoy those things that God hath given them or more truly lent them 1 Cor. 3.21 Answ Theirs by right but not by possession a right to all things not in all things Jus ad rem non in re yet they must remember that they be but stewards of them and must come to account for them and must use them well Under these two kindes of provision for back and belly John prescribeth liberality in every kinde signifying unto us that every one must out of his superfluity and what he may spare supply his brothers necessity and what he seeth him want Lyra saith that in those hot Countreys men needed but one coat therefore we must give what others need and what we may spare SECT 5. Of strange apparel 5. PRide appeareth further in wearing strange apparel of new and stange fashions Heliogabalus erected a Council of Women Sir Rich. Barkley de summo bono who should determine what manner of attire the Matrons of Rome should wear Caligula was a laughing stock for the dissolute fashion of his apparel In Licaonia they would endure no inventions of any new fashions If any one devised any new fashions When Alphonsus King of Arragon was advised to wear more costly apparel I had rather said he excel my subjects in manners and authority then in a Diadem and purple Diogenes meeting an effeminate young man that had attired himself finely but undecently for a man as he thought Art thou not ashamed said he when Nature hath made thee a man to make thy self a woman that differed from the ancient manner of their Countrey the deviser was banished and the device abolished The Persians had a Law That whosoever brought into their Countrey any strange or new manners or fashions he should lose his head And Adrian the Emperour would say that there is not any thing that doth more hurt a Commonwealth then to infect the same with strange and unaccustomed manners and fashions in apparel therefore he made a Law against both When men clothe themselves with garments of divers colours and strange fashions this I call strange apparel And here you may see the fantasticalness of proud spirits frequently to change the colour and fashion of their