low a Worme should swell and thinke to bee great The Disciple k Mat. 10.24 is not greater then his Master nor the servant above his Lord Vt exaltari voluit sicut Dominus humiliari noluit sicut servus l Marc. Marul That hee should be exalted as his Lord that will not bee humbled as a servant And therefore Si vis capere celsitudinem Dei cape prius humilitatem Christi is the counsell of Saint Bernard m Epist If thou desirest to bee partaker of the glory of God follow Christ in the steps of humility through this valley of misery that thou mayst ascend to him to the Mountaine of Majesty Which GOD grant wee may all doe for Iesus Christs sake To whom with the Father and the Blessed Spirit bee all honour and glory now and for ever more Amen THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON 1638. To the Right Honorable Sr. RICHARD FENN Knight Lord Major of the City of London And to the right Worshipfull the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Company of HABERDASHERS LONDON I May perhaps by some bee accounted a right Son of Levi a Numb 16.7 in taking too much upon mee to present this Sermon to your Patronage Right Worshipfull But it hath some right and title to you who shew your selves to bee members of the Church in extending your charitie to them that are farre off For you doe not take delight as Cyrus did b Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in putting men in good hopes but in doing good deeds allowing good helpes to maintaine manie of the Sonnes of the Prophets Among the rest J was one that had an exhibition from your Company while I lived in the University This I could not forget and therefore though I cannot doe any thing by way of requitall with David c 1 Kings 2.7 to Barzillai Jonathan d 2 Sam. 9.7 yet J must ever by way of thankefull acknowledgement pray for your society as S. Paul did for the house of Onesiphorus e 2 Tim. 1.16 The Lord give mercie unto you all and grant that you may all finde mercie of the Lord in that day Your Honors and Worships to bee commanded in all Christian duties WILLIAM PARKES THE ROSE AND LILY. SOLOMONS SONG 2.1 J am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the vallyes WHen Balak brought Balaam to the top of Pisgah a Numbers 23.13 14. hee shewed him onely the utmost part of the children of Israel but did not shew him all so may I say unto you I have brought you as it were to the top of Pisgah whence you have seene onely the utmost part of those mysteries that concerne our Saviour Christ but cannot shew you all Wee have all this while but floated on this deepe Ocean we are not able to fadome it It is as much impossible for the wit and learning of one man though he have b Ps 45.1 the Pen of a ready writer and c 1 Cor. 13.1 speake with the tongue of men and Angels fully to comprehend and expresse those mysteries as it is for a Boy to empty the Ocean Sea with an Oyster-shell And therefore as the Paynter Tymanthes being to expresse Agamemnons griefe conceived for the losse of his daughter Iphigenia drew him with his face covered over with a veyle that men might conceive of that sorrow which hee could not expresse so I being to speake of those great mysteries of Christs passion resurrection humility and the rest must needs have passed many things over with the veyle of silence as being not able perfectly to decipher them Now then give mee leave to alter the subject of my Text and to leave it as it concernes Christ and to follow it as it respects the Church for of that subject the Church doe some d Caldâ—e Para. â—hrast Aynsworâ—th Brightman in locum expound the Text as you formerly were also told For what is written of Ianus that hee had two faces praeterita retospiciens futura prospiciens looking two wayes forwards and backwards so may I say of this Text it hath two faces one looking toward Christ the other toward the Church I have already in some measure unveyled that that lookes upon Christ and now I must unmaske that which lookes downe on the Church As I have shewed how Christ doth so now I must shew you wherein the Church doth resemble the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vallies But because the spouse ought to bee correspondent to the husband the members to be proportionable to the head and the mysticall body of Christ conformable to himselfe therefore I shall not need to seeke out any new and untrodden path but follow the same way I have already gone First therefore as the rednes and prickles of the Rose did represent Christs passion so doth it represent the Churches trouble and persecution Secondly the sweet smell of the Rose doth intimate the Churches sweet conversation upon earth and Thirdly the Roses being dead in winter but budding out againe shewes the resurrection from the dead First of the first as the Rose is full of prickles so is the Church alwayes subject to persecution The sweetenes of the Rose is joyned with prickles which doth plainly teach that Quae jucunda vobis sunt O homines tristibus permixta sunt saith St. Bazill c Hom. 〈◊〉 Paradiso sweet and sowre mirth and mourning are intermixed together in this life Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane saith the Poet f Virgil. Weeping may endure for a night but joy commeth in the Morning saith the Prophet g Ps 30.5 Iulius Caesar was one day renowned in the Senate accounted a Pater patriae a father of his Country often Praetor and invested with princely honour The next day as it were you may see him loose his honour and bee reputed a tyrant accounted no pater patriae but hoâ—lis patriae no father of his countrey but a factor against it no Praetor to defend it but praedator a preyer upon it to spoyle it not saluted but slaine in the Senate and from an Emperour turned to a dead carkasse Our Saviour Christ himselfe when hee was upon the earth did find this intercourse of things for upon Mount Tabor hee was transfigured with glory that his face did shine upon Mount Calvary hee was disfigured with sorrow that confusion did cover his face and such is the condition of man in this life sometimes he is lifted up on the Mountaines of prosperity and sometimes hee is cast downe into the valley of adversity sometimes hee walkes in the sun-shine of peace and plenty and sometimes in the shade of trouble and persecution But the Church doth usually lie open to
THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON for GEORGE WILNE 1639. ⧠To the Right Honourable HENRY Earle of Huntingdon Lord Hastings Hungerford Botreaulx Molins and Moules and Lord Lieutenant of his Majestes County of Leicester and Rutland my Honoured Lord. Right HONOVRABLE IT is not any want of Bookes in these daies of ours wherein they doe so much abound that moves mee to publish these my weake labours nor yet any desire I have to shew myself in Print J am too sensible of mine owne imperfections to be desirous to shew them to the World But considering my engagments especially to your Honour and not willing to be altogether guilty of that hatefull sinne of ingratitude but knowing no other way to expresse my thankefulnes J have pitched upon this chooseing rather to shew my selfe a weake man then ingratefull J must confesse I had rather be silent then be seen in Print And my small fortunes had made me as dejected in person as J was in place untill it pleased your Honour to cast the beames of your countenance on mee in giving mee part of this Lecture where these Sermons were preached which made me a little erigere caput to peepe up and shew my selfe if to no other end then this to expresse my thankfulnes it were a sufficient cause to move mee to it J have heere endevoured to give unto your Honour not only what Aeschines gave unto Socrates me ipsum but even Deum ipsum for it is an unfolding of some part of those Mysteries that concerne Christ of whom your Honour is a livelie member in his Church militant and will be untill you are a full partaker of all his benefits in the Church triumphant which that your Honour may be is the prayer of Your Lordships dayly Orator and most humbly devoted Chaplaine WILLIAM PARKES The Praeface to the Reader I Will use no Praeface but onely say as Ruffinus did to Laurentius a Interopa Cyp. habetur pag. 543. Mihi quidem ad scribendum animus tam non est cupidus quam nec Idoneus scienti non esse absque periculo multorum judiciis ingemum teme exile committere And indeed when I first pend these sermons I did not intend to put them to the Presse nor to expose my selfe and them to that which the World is too full of censure But finding some part of it in the delivering of them as namely for the urging of fathers in Latine in my Sermons c. for which I have beene traduced behinde my back and perswaded to my face to leave them I could therefore doe no lesse for the justifying of my selfe and the satisfying of others then commit them to the eye as I did to the eare to see whether they deserue any Pragmaticall censure It is a true observation of Macrobius b Lib. 6. Satur that Multa ignoramus quae non laterent si veterum lectio nobis esse familiaris wee are ignorant of many things which would not be hid unto us if the reading of ancient writers were familiar with us yet such is the humor of some that nothing can please them except it be plaine and delivered ex tempore from mens owne braynes without any ground or light from any ancient fathers Though nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius c Terent Eunuch prolog There is no new thing under the Sunne d Eccles. 1.9 yet such is the condition of these Athenians that they are altogether for novelties which makes their itching eares to be delighted with new fangled teachers which preach the Chymaeraes of their owne braynes altogether neglecting the fathers of the Church If Prayers or Sermons be pend they are presently sleighted and the more paynes are taken in them the lesse acceptance have they with these men I know no reason he had to teare out the Athanasian Creed out of his bible when it was read in the Church but onely to satisfy his owne humour and as little that our Novelists have to except against our Church liturgy except it bee for that suffrage from all blindnes of heart from pride vaine glory and hypocrisy from envy hatred and malice and all uncharitablenes Good Lord deliver us which is a great part of their Religion And I know lesse reason for any to censure so rashly as to say that a pend Sermon never converted soule for I dare presume to maintaine that many have beene converted by reading and I thinke it must bee pend before it be printed and written before it be read Wee read in the Gospell e John 3. that Christ turned water into wine hee might as easily have filled the vessels with wine as made them to bee filled with water first but to signify that hee will not fill those empty vessells that come unfurnished into the pulpit and looke then for Revelations But if it were lawfull at other times to preach quicquid in buccam venerit yet is it very unfit for a Lecture in Divinity for a Lecture doth consist of a mixt auditory and must have as well meat as milke that the learned may have strength by the one as the ignorant have growth by the other Againe a Lecture as I conceave was at the first founded for the explayning of the fundamentall poyntes of Religion and the handling of controversies in the University and so are continued by men of great learning and eminence the publique professors And in Queene Elizabeths dayes as I conjecture Lectures were permitted in Parochiall Churches not commanded or injoyned for I read of Parsons Vicars and Curates in the booke of common Prayer but not of a Lecturer neither were they suffered to this end to draw eare-Christians and lip-professors together to parlee in a parlour of poynts of Divinity which they understand not and of matters of Church discipline that doe not concerne them but to build the people up in knowledge and to handle matters of controversy and then in points of controversy and explicating of difficult points of Divinity the fathers are very fit to bee urged Ob. But it is an unknowne tongue and the Apostle sayth f 1 Cor. 14 24 that edifyes not and therefore Latin is not fit to bee used I answer Ans it edifyes the learned if not interpreted but if interpreted it edifyes the Church g Arct in 1. Cor. 14. and if it were unlawfull to speake in an unknowne tongue altogether why should S. Pauls practice contradict his precept for hee writes to the Romans and Hebrewes in Greeke when Latin was the language of the one and Hebrew the language of the other Ob. But it takes up a great deale of time Ans Not so much time as many usually spend in vaine Tautologies and idle
repetitions which stand like ciphers to fill up empty places in their Sermons Ob. But it would please better without them Ans Indeed if a Lecturer were to live like the poore and the blind meerely by collection then happily hee must preach to please his good Masters or else hee would loose a great part of his living But Sermons are not to be made as some Commaedians made their Playes Populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas h Terence And yet for ought I know Sermons with Latin in them may please as well and better as those without it Ob. But S. Austin himselfe bids not to hearken what i Epist 18. contra Petil. lib. Rogatus Donatus vincentius Hylary Ambrose sayth Ans but what sayth the Lord But S. Augustines purpose is not k Hooker Eccl. Pol. lib. 2.6 7. I thinke when he bids us not to heare men that we should stop our cares against his owne exhortation and therefore he cannot meane simply that audience should be denyed unto men but either if men speake one thing and God another then he not they is to be obeyed or if they both speake one thing then also mans speech is unworthy of hearing not simply but in comparison Ob. But Lastly it may be objected the Scriptures of themselves are sufficent for salvation and justification And therefore there is no use of Fathers in Sermons Ans It is true that the Scriptures are able to make us wise to salvation but such is the dulnes of our understanding that we cannot understand the difficult places of it without an interpretor I confesse I had rather light my dim Lamp at their lights and take an interpretation from them then from many moderne writers and will alwayes use them and dispise new non licensed Pamphlets that may breed faction and irregularity in the hearers So that Fathers are not such a Bugbeare but a man may looke on them without frighting and borrow their golden sentences as the Israelites did borrow from the Aegiptians Iewells of Silver and Iewells of Gold Which may appeare by example reason and Scripture By example thus All the Fathers and almost all moderne writers doe it even they themselves that deny it will use moderne writers how is Calvin urged in defence of usury and against Church government and then why may not we cite the Fathers By reason thus If it bee lawfull to read them it is lawfull to cite them l Doctor West faling in his Sermon preached at Oxford Anno. 1582. and if it be lawfull to read later writers which I know none that doth deny then why not them except they may bee read for their manner of tractation and not for their matter By Scripture thus The Apostles and our Saviour too bring sentences of the Prophets in the new Testament which were interpretors of the Law and why may not wee bring sentences of the fathers which are interpretors of the Gospell Nay S. Paul brings sentences from the Poets viz. from Aratus m Acts 17.28 Menander n 1 Cor. 15.33 and Epimenides o Tit. 1.12 so that wee may rob the prophane Poets of their ornaments p Aret. loc eom de Lect. Ethin and consecrate them to Christ much more may we take sentences from the holy Fathers Besides there are Hebrew and Syriack words used in the new Testament without interpreting as Anathema Maranatha Hosanna and Cephas which might occasion Optatus Milivitanus for ought I know to thinke Peter g Lib 2. contra Parme. to bee the head of the Church hee thinking it to be a Greeke word and derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a head when as it is a Sirack word and signifyes a stone but there can bee no danger in any mistake in urging sentences of the Fathers being interpreted So that though we doe not bring any grounds of faith from them yet it is lawfull and fitting to urge them First for interpretation of hard Texts Secondly for illustration Thirdly for confutation of errors as our Saviour quotes r Mat 23. the Pharisees Fourthly for instances and. Fiftly we may use them comparatively and bring the sayings and examples of Heathen to shame Christians I had thought to have sayd more but fearing least my porch should be too big for my house that this book should be like the City Minda with too great gates I conclude wishing thee and all good Christians to doe that that shall tend to the glory of God and the peace of the Church Farewell From my study in Chellaston MAY 28 1638. Thine in the Lord Jesus WILLIAM PARKES THE ROSE AND LILY. Solomons Song 2.1 J am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys THE summe of mans duty to God consists in the keeping of the ten Commandements which for the brevity of them Moses that man of God calles a Exod 34.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnasereth haddebarim decem verba ten words our Saviour Christ reduceth those ten to two and the Apostle S. Paul reduceth those two to one when he sayes that b Golat. 5.14 love is the fulfilling of the Law But all love is not lovely in us nor likeing to God for as there is the love of God so there is the love of our selves and the love of the world which two last like Pharaohs leane kine c Gen. 41.21 eat up and devour the former and yet are never the better and therefore they must bee pruned away that the former may be grafted in Now Solomon who passed d 2 Chron. 9.22 all the Kings of the earth in wisdome wrote three books the booke of the Proverbs to prune away the love of our selves we must not thinke our selves to be wiser than all others and e Pro. v 1.7 despise instruction lest wee prove fooles And the booke of Ecclesiastes to prune away the love of the world because f Eccles 1 4. all is but vanity and vexation of spirit Cum enim duo sunt mala quae vel sola vel maxime militant adversus animum vanus scilicet amor mundi et superfluus sui pesti vtrique duo illi libri obviare noscuntur saith S. Bernard g In Cant. Ser. 1 Whereas there are two evills which either solely or cheifely doe fight against the soule to wit the vaine love of the world and the over-weaning love of our selves those two Bookes yeeld a remedy for each malady Alter sarculo disciplinae prava quaeque in moribus et superflua carnis resecans alter luce rationis in omni gloria mundi fucum vanitatis sagaciter deprehendens veraciterque distinguens à solido veritatis The one by the pruning-hooke of instruction cuts off the rudenesse of manners and the superfluous desires of the flesh the other by the light of reason doth quickly apprehend the smoake of vanity in the glory of the world and distinguish it from the truth And he wrote
rise againe If they had beleeved him and the stone had beene removed from their hearts as it was from the Sepulchre in stead of saying Sustulerunt Dominum w John 20 13. They have taken away the Lord they would have said resurrexit x Mat. 28.6 he is risen and indeed they contradict themselves in saying so for if he were their Lord how could he be taken away it was enough for Labans Idols to be stollen y Gen. 31.30 when Iesus appeared unto Mary she supposing him to be the Gardiner said z Iohn 20.15 Domine si tu or sir if thou have borne him from hence tell mee This Question was well asked Domine si sustulisti if you have taken him away for none could take him away but himselfe The Rose-tree though it be troden on and trampled on in the Winter yet by the heat of the Sunne by the heavenly influence without any other helpe it springs againe so though they sought to lay our Saviours honour in the dust and even trample on him yet by the power of his Divinity without other helpe he did Erigere caput lift up his head again Happily the Gardiner if it be a Garden Rose may remove some of the Earth for the Roses springing and an Angell descended a Mat. 28.2 and rolled away the stone for our Saviours rising Others did rise before Christ for Elijah b 1 Kings 17.22 raised the widowes dead sonne of Zarephath and Elisha being alive raised the Shunamites c 2 Kings 4 34 dead sonne and being dead his dead bones did raise d 2 Kings 13.21 a dead man These were great miracles which these great Prophets did but he that was anointed e Psal 45.7 with the oyle of gladnes above his fellowes did lift up his head among the rest Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi f Virgil. as much as the loftiest Cedars overtop the lowest shrubs What they did it was in nomine fide ejus saith St. Cyprian g de resur Christ pag. 48. in his owne name and by his power but he as he layd downe his life of himselfe h Iohn 10.18 so he had power to take it up of himselfe They rose to die againe but he rose to live for ever for herein the resemblance doth not hold betweene him and the Rose the Rose springeth and dyeth againe the next winter but Christ being raysed i Rom. 6.9 from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him They did not conquer death but death did at last conquer them but Christ rediit victor a mortuis inferni secum spolia trahens k Ruffinus in Hym. Apost inter oper Cypriani did rise as a conquerour from the dead carrying with him Trophyes of his triumph over death and Hell And it was he onely Qui virtute propria ut victor prodiit de sepultura saith S. Bernard l De Resurrec Christi that by his owne power could rise as conquerour out of the Sepulchre Though they laid him in the earth they could not keepe him under the earth though they did Imponere Pelio Ossam m Virg. Georg. lib. 1. v. 181. lay a great stone upon the Sepulchre but at the Spring of the resurrection he rose againe herein shewing himselfe to be the springing Rose of Sharon and so I come to the limitation of this attribute Sharon I am the Rose of Sharon Sharon is the name n Ainsworth in locum of a place or playne which was very fruitfull wherein King Davids herds of Cattell o 1 Chron. 27.29 were fed And the Prophet speaking of the flourishing of Christs Kingdome saith p Isay 35.2 that the excellency of Carmel and Sharon shall be given unto it And in this sense it shewes that Christ takes no delight in them that are barren but in them that are fruitfull in good workes and also it shewes the fruitfull estate of the Church under Christ that it is no barren Doe but a fruitfull Hind and although before his coming shee was a barren Wildernesse yet by him she was as fruitfull as Sharon But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sharon in the originall signifies q Pagnin Lexic a Field in generall as well as the Field Sharon in particular and therefore give me leave to follow the old Translation of this word which renders it I am the Rose of the Field for therein lyes hid three mysteries First he is the Rose of the Field not of the Garden Campus enim sine omni humano floret adminiculo non seminatus ab aliquo non defossus sarculo non impinguatus fimo sic omnino sic virginis alwis floruit sic inviolata integra casta Mariae viscera tanquam pascua aeterni viroris florem protulere cujus pulchritudo non viderit corruptionem cujus gloria in perpetuum non marcescat saith S. Bernard r De Adventu Ser. 2. The Field flourisheth without mans industry it is neither sowed nor digged nor dunged by man but the Flowers grow in it by the providence of God so Christ was conceived by the holy Ghost without the help of man the virgins Wombe did flourish and her chaste bowels like a Field of eternall greennesse brought forth a Flower whose beauty never saw corruption and whose glory shal never wither The flowers of the Feild ſ Doctor Guilliam 7 Gold Candlest tract of the Incaru have onely a father in Heaven that is the Sunne by whose heat and vertue they grow and a mother in earth that is the ground from whence they spring so this Flower of the root of Iesse had onely a father in Heaven God and a mother in earth the virgin He was Deus de patre homo de matre de patris immortalitate de matris virginitate de patre sine matre de matre sine patre de patre sine tempore de matre sine semine saith Saint Augustine t De Tempore Ser 23. he was God of his father man of his mother of the immortality of his father of the virginity of his mother of his father without a mother of his mother without a father of his father without time of his mother without seed Anselmus hath observed v Lib 2. cap. 8. foure waies by which man may come into the world First by the help of man and woman the common way Secondly without the help both of man and woman as Adam Thirdly of a man without a woman as Eve Fourthly of a woman without a man as Christ God made the first Adam without the help of man for God w Gen. 2.7 formed him of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life so God made the second Adam without the help of man but the holy Ghost overshadowed the virgin and she conceived Ergo si tunc licuit hominem sine homine nasci
Revel 19 4. foure and twenty elders and the fowre beasts praysing GOD with our Church and saying Glory be to God on high and in earth peace good will toward men We prayse thee wee blesse thee we worship thee we glorify thee we give thankes unto thee O Lord God heavenly King for all thy blessings bestowed upon us for that thou hast sent thy Sonne Iesus Christ not only to live among men but to dy for men Grant O Lord that we may all be partakers of all the benefits of his passion And that for the same Iesus Christ his sake who as he died for sin so he ever lives to make intercession for sinnes To whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON 1638. To the Right Honorable FERDINANDO Lord HASTINGS my very good Lord. WHAT Thucidides affirmes experience proves true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hearing is not lyable to any account but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever a man speakes but especially writes it layes him open to others censure unto which J have now exposed my selfe and crave your Lordships protection Your Honour must not expect any high straynes in this Sermon Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi As it is J desire your Lordships acceptance of it as an expression of some part of that duty and service J owe your Honor. The God of mercie poure downe his mercies on your Lordship your Honourable Lady and hopefull children Which shall alwaies be the praier of Your Lordships in all duty and service WILLIAM PARKS THE ROSE AND LILY. SOLOMONS SONG 2.1 J am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the vallyes WHat the Queene of Shebah told Solomon that a 1 Kings 10.6 7. though it were a true report which shee had heard of him yet the one halfe was not told her so may I say unto you concerning this Text though it bee a true report you have heard of him that is greater then Solomon b Mat. 12 42. yet the one halfe is not told you For this Text is a most fertile and fruitfull Field conteyning variety of no lesse profitable then pleasant Flowers from whence I have already brought you a Posy made of Roses and now give me leave from the same Garden to present unto you a Posy composed of Liles The Lily is next in nobility to the Rose saith Pliny c Lib. 2 cap. 5. and therefore as I have shewed you wherein Christ resembles the Rose so must I now shew you how hee is the Lily of the vallyes The writers d Arist Pliny Dodan of the nature of things have written much in the commendadation of the Lily affirming it to bee a most fine Flower both for fragrant smell and curious colours And many Princes did beare it in their crests and Escutchions but I leave this for Heralds to discourse of and for Herbalists to discusse and shall onely shew you that Christ resembles the Lily in these fowre respects First the Flower of the Lily is lifted upward and open toward Heaven but toward the earth it is close and shut so Christ had his mind open toward Heaven set on heavenly things but he alwayes neglected and contemned earthly things Secondly the leaves of the Lily spread outward and bend downward so Christ extended his benefits downward even to his enemies Thirdly the whitenesse of the Lily may signify Christs eternity or his innocency Fourthly the Lily growes among thornes and Christ when hee was upon the Earth was conversant among sinners in these respects hee shewed himselfe to bee the Lily of the vallyes And first of the first the Flower of the Lily is open toward Heaven but close toward the earth so Christ had his affections open toward heavenly things but he neglected earthly As Christ was sometime e Luke 2.51 subject to his Mother so was he alwayes obedient to his father He that f John 3.31 came from above did set his affections on things g Colos 3.2 above This Lily had alwayes the eyes of his affections open toward heaven it being his chiefest care to doe his heavenly fathers h Luke 2.49 busines but close shut toward earth and earthly things There are three i Ludolph de vita Christi part 1. cap. 67. things that hinder us from having the eyes of our soules open toward Heaven but Christ was free from them all First quando oculus nimis occupatur circa sensibilia when the eye is too much imployed about sensible objects namely when the affection is set on earthly things for then is the eye of the soule dazled with the dust of covetousnes but Christ had no mind of earthly riches but as hee had none so he did desire none Secondly quando nimis occupatur circa delectabilia when it is too much taken up with delightfull things the carnall desires of the flesh for then the eye is blinded with the fire of concupiscence but Christ was free from that and it is such a sinne that the divell himselfe would not tempt Christ by that though hee tempted him by riches and the glory of the World k Mat. 4 Thirdly quando nimis occupatur circa sublimia when it is intent on lofty things namely ambitiously taken up with the pompe and glory of the World for then the eye is darkned with the smoake of pride but Christ was free from that for he l John 6.16 fled from those that would have made him King So that he had no worldly riches to clog him no carnall pleasures to allure him no ambitious thoughts to stop him nor any of those to hinder him for having his eyes and thoughts settled on heavenly things Hee was not like the Basiliskes which Pliny m Lib. 8. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they looke downward and cannot turne their countenance upward toward the Firmament but rather he was like the fish which Albertus as I remember makes mention of that had but one eye placed in his pole so that he alwayes looked upward minding things above but hee did altogether neglect if not contemne all earthly things Which will the better appeare if we consider his poverty in his birth in his life and in his death First in his birth Exigua magni pompa puerperii saith S. Cyprian n Serm. de nati Christi There was but small pomp at this great birth he was borne in so meane a manner that the cratch was his cradle the o Luke 2.7 manger his chamber and the stable his Inne If the Sun of God will needs come and dwell among the sons of men Kings palaces me thinks were bad