a generall and indifferent one Every one Fifthly because it is so just and profitable a one One another Lastly because it is prest by such a rare example as the world never had the like As I have loved you You see the eares that stand above the rest which by the example of the Apostles on the Sabbath I will d Mat. 12.1 rubbe in the handling of them to stay your spirituall hunger a while A new The first word in my Text is new and even this may seem new and strange that Christ calleth here this commandement of love a new commandement which is as old as the Law of Moses nay as the law of nature For before Christ made love Gospel Moses made it written Law and before Moses made it written Law God made it a branch or rather the root of the law of nature before the Evangelist wrote this precept in the Gospel Moses wrote it in the Law and before Moses wrote it in the Law God wrote it with his owne finger in tables of stone and long before that in the fleshly tables of Adams heart How then doth our Saviour here terme it a new commandement which is so old that Saint e John 3.11 This is the message that ye received from the beginning that yee love one another John himselfe commendeth it from the antiquity As Saint Ambrose spake of the Cherubins in Ezekiels vision Si stabant quomodo movebant si movebant quomodo stabant If they stood still how did they move if they moved how did they stand still may not we likewise argue the case thus If the duty of mutuall love be a message received from the beginning either of the promulgation of the Law or the Creation it selfe how is it here stiled new If it be so new in Saint Johns Gospel how is it so old in his Epistle Every answer shaped by the Interpreters to this question may serve for a severall exposition of this Text and a speciall motive to this duty of mutuall love First f Mald. in Mat. Multa dum vobiscum versatus sum dedi mandata multa documenta nunc dabo unum quod instat est omnium Maldonat resolveth it to bee an Hebraisme in which language new rare and most excellent are synonimaes A new name Apoc. 2. is a most honourable name A new song Psal 69. a most excellent song New wine Matth. 26.29 vinum praestantissimum alterius generis the best wine so here a new commandement is a rare a choice a speciall a remarkable one as if our Lord had said Unum praeque omnibus unum One above all other Calvin g Calvin in hunc loc Vult hujus mandati perpetuò vos esse memores ac si lex esset recens nata Scimus leges initio diligentiûs servari sensim verò labi ex hominum memoriâ donec tandem obsolescant ergo Christus quo magis infigat charitatem suorum animis à novitate eam commendat varieth not much from Maldonat paraphrasing thus Christ would have us perpetually mindfull of this his precept as if it were a law newly enacted For wee know saith hee that lawes at the first making of them are carefully looked unto and diligently observed but by degrees weare out of mens memory and in the end grow quite into dis-use therefore Christ the more to fasten love in the minds of his commendeth it unto them as a new commandement The most of the Ancients conceive this commandement to be termed new because it is propounded here novâ formâ in a new form In the Law it runs thus Love thy neighbour as thy selfe but in the Gospel Love one another as I have loved you that is in some case more than your selves For indeed so did Christ laying downe his life for us Yet Saint h Aug. in hunc loc Novum dicitur ab effectu quod nos renovet exuto vetere novo induat Austin hath a new way by himselfe hee saith that the commandement of love is here said to be NEW from the effect because it renewes us and by it we put off the old man and put on the new Let us strike all these strings together and make a chord of them What account ought we to make of how carefully to observe the commandement of our Saviour which is a rare and singular one and so new renewed and revived by Christ in the Gospel and so new delivered in a new manner and after a new forme and so new enforced by a new president and so new lastly which maketh us new in our mindes in our inward and outward man and so new The most fluent and currant sense of the words seemeth to be this Christ had before called his Disciples children and fore-told them that hee was shortly to leave them therefore hee giveth them here such counsels and precepts as fathers usually give their children when they are to take a long journey Children I am now to leave you who have been your greatest stay and comfort now therefore you must bee a mutuall help and comfort one to another My peace I leave with you my love I commend unto you I give you now my last and newest commandement to love one another as I have loved you I have loved you 1. Freely for you chose not i John 15.16 mee but I chose you 2. Sincerely for I have left my Father and a Kingdome in Heaven to live with you 3. Exceedingly for I have resolved to lay k John 15.13 downe my life for you 4. Constantly for having loved mine owne which were in the world I loved them to l John 13.1 the end Let your love bee such one to another that all that see you may know you by this badge to be my Disciples This cognisance was so bright to bee seen in the livery of the Christians of the Primitive Church that by their love-feasts and charitable contributions and having all things in common and visiting their sicke in time of infection and having recourse one to another in prisons and dungeons and dens and caves of the earth and accompanying one another to the racke to the gibbet to the blocke to the fire to all sorts of most exquisite tortures and torments the Heathen knew a man to be a Christian But this badge grew in after ages dimmer and now it is in a maner quite worn out Which that it might not come to passe our Saviour in m Gorth in hunc loc Ideo novum dicit mandatum quia semper debet recens esse in corde quia semper debet dilectio innovari ac nunquam per interruptionem aut negligentiam inveterari Gorrhams judgement proposeth this precept of love in this forme of words A new commandement I give unto you that is such a one as ought to be alwaies fresh in your mind and memory and never to waxe old or be blotted out of your heart by any dis-use or negligence
To come yet neerer to the native and genuine sense of the words a law may be said to be new out of a double consideration Either in respect of the thing commanded if it be such a thing as before never fell under any law and this is the meaning of our Proverbe Novus rex nova lex New lords new lawes because for the most part new governours and rulers bring in new customes proclaime new edicts and settle new orders in Church and Common-wealth Or in respect of the new act of commanding so an old Statute when it is revived may be called a new Statute as an old booke when it is re-printed or an old fashion laid aside for a long time when it is againe taken up passeth for new In both these respects this commandement in my Text may be said to be new 1. First in respect of the duty commanded For though mutuall love were long before this enjoyned yet not this love whereby Christians are required to love one another as Disciples of one Master nay as members of one mysticall body whereof Christ Jesus is the head 2. Secondly in respect of the new act of commanding expressed in these words I give unto you The promises of Christ in the Law are the Gospel of the Law as on the other side the precepts of Christ in the Gospel are the Law of the Gospel there is * James 4.12 one Law-giver who is able to save and destroy and this Law-giver is Christ the Judge of quicke and dead It belongs to Kings to give Lawes to their subjects Masters to their servants Parents to their children Christ was their n Matth. 2.1 King and their Master and their Father for he calleth them children saying Little o Joh. 13.13 33. children yet a while I am with you In which of these relations are we to God as our King or our Master or our Father are we subjects servants or children If wee are subjects let us obey our King If wee are his servants let us doe our Masters will If wee are children let us keep the commandements of our Father Had the p 2 Kings 5.13 Prophet saith Naamans servant bid thee to doe some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more when hee saith unto thee Wash and be cleane so may I say unto you If our Master our Father our King had laid a hard taske upon us wee ought to have done it how much more when hee saith but Love as I have loved you A new commandement I give unto you To love To q Arist 2. rhet ca. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love is to beare good affection to another and to bee willing and ready to doe him all the good we can for his owne sake without any eye to our selves therein Otherwise if wee love him for our pleasure we love indeed our pleasure and not him if we love him for our profit we love our profit and not him if we love him for any end of our owne we love our selves not him The Flie loveth not the Apothecaries shop but the sweet oyntment there Craterus loved not Alexander but the Crown and therefore was termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jewes loved not Christ but the r John 6.26 loaves which hee multiplyed by miracle Verily verily I say unto you yee seeke mee not because you saw the miracles but because you did eate of the loaves and were filled The Schooles therefore well distinguish of a double love 1. Amor concupiscentiae 2. Amor amicitiae A love of concupiscence and a love of friendship If the love of concupiscence exceed it degenerateth into either lust covetousnesse or ambition If it carry us inordinately to pleasure it is lust or sensuality If to gaine it is covetousnesse If to honour it is ambition The love of friendship is of another nature it loveth a person for himselfe not for any by respect or to speake more properly it loveth Christ in our Christian brother and may bee well termed the naturall heat of Christs mysticall body which conveigheth nourishment into all parts and performeth all vitall functions It is a spirituall grace knitting the hearts of the faithfull in affection one to another melting them in compassion one of another and dilating and enlarging them in delight and joy one in another In the delineation of this plant of Paradise I will imitate the Naturalists and describe it by the root the maine stocke the branches the blossomes the leaves the fruit The root is the knowledge of God For as the beames of the Sunne reflected from thicke glasses generate heat so the light of divine knowledge incident upon the understanding and reflected upon the will produceth in it the ardent affection of the love of God and from it as the maine arme of the tree issue two branches the love of our neighbour and of our selves The blossomes on these branches are good meanings desires and purposes to wish all good to our neighbour to think well of him to congratulate his felicity and to condole his misery The leaves are good speeches counsels and prayers The fruit are good workes and almes-deeds to correct him in his errours to comfort him in his troubles to visit him in his sicknesse and to relieve him in his necessities And to speake truth to love in truth is to love in deed and charitable deeds are the deeds and evidences that certainly prove a good conveighance of this affection Let us love saith the Apostle not in Å¿ 1 John 3.18 My little children let us not love in word not in tongue but in deed in verity word and in tongue but indeed and verity Deed and verity as you heare are all one and therefore word onely and vanity and hypocrisie must goe together as also the Latine phrase verba dare signifieth True t James 1. ult religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and the widow in their affliction and to keep himselfe unspotted of the world I would all who professe religion were of this religion of Saint James For the religion which is I will not say professed but practised by most men is aptly set forth unto us in the Wezel quae aure u Adrian Jun. â—mhl concipit parturit ore which conceiveth at the eare bringeth forth at the mouth It conceiveth in the eare in the frequent if not perpetuall hearing of Sermons but bringeth forth onely at the mouth by discourses of religion pious counsels good words and liberall prayers such as these God helpe thee God relieve thee God comfort thee Alas poore soule alas poore comfort Words bee they never so adorned clothe not the naked be they never so delicate feed not the hungry be they never so zealous warme not him that is starved with cold be they never so soft cure not the wounded be they never so free set not free them
that spit upon him whipped him smote him on the face crowned him with thornes tare him with nailes these were they who in the act of his bitter passion when his soule bereft of all comfort laden with the sinne of all the world and fiercenesse of his Fathers wrath enforced from him that speech than which the world never heard a more lamentable My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee then in stead of comfort they reviled him If thou be the Son of God come downe from the crosse all this notwithstanding though they persecuted him hee loved them though they cryed Away with him he dyed for them at his death prayed for them Father forgive and pleaded for them they know not what they doe and wept for them offering supplications in their behalfe with prayers strong cries Greater love than this can no man shew to lay downe his life for his friend yet thou O blessed Saviour art a patterne of greater love laying downe thy life for this people whilest they were thine enemies but not for this people only the Holy Ghost so speakes O Lord we were thine enemies as well as they and whilest we were thine enemies we were reconciled to God the Father by the precious death of thee his Son For the Scripture setteth forth his love to us that whilest we were yet sinners he dyed for us He for us alone for us all the same spirit which set before him expedit mori did sweeten the brim of that sowre cup with this promise that when hee should make his soule an offering for sin hee should see his seed that as the whole earth was planted so it might be redeemed by one bloud as by one offence condemnation seized upon all so by the justification of one the benefit might redound unto all to the justification of life And this bloud thirsty Caiphas unwittingly intimated saying Expedit unum mori pro populo If one and he then dead could do thus much what can he not do now now that he liveth for ever He trod the wine-presse alone neither is there salvation in any other S. Stephen was stoned S. Paul beheaded Nunquid pro nobis No it cost more than so it is done to their hands there is one who by the oblation of himselfe alone once offered hath made a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world And that whilest it is a world for our Saviour that stood in the gap betwixt Gods wrath us catching the blow in his own body hath by his bloud purchased an eternal redemption every one that beleeveth in him shal not perish but have life everlasting In the number of which beleevers if we be then is the fruit of his meritorious passion extended to us we may challenge our interest therein and in our persons the Prophet speaketh He bare our infirmities and carried our sorrowes he was wounded for our transgressions the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes are we healed Which great benefit as it is our bounden duty to remember at all times so this time this day Vivaciorem animi sensum puriorem mentis exigit intuitum recursus temporis textus lectionis as S. Leo speaketh The annuall recourse of the day and this text fitted to it calleth to our minde the worke wrought the means by which it was wrought on this day to him a day of wrath of darknesse of blacknesse heavie vengeance but to us a good day a good Friday a day of deliverance freedome a day of jubilee and triumph For as on this day by the power of his Crosse were we delivered from the sting of sin and tyranny of Satan so that whereas we might for ever have sung that mournfull Elegy O wretched men that we are who shal deliver us from death hell we are now enabled to insult over both O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory Which victory of our Saviour and ours through him so dearly purchased when we call to mind let us consider withall that as the cause of this conflict on his part was his love to us so on our parts it was the hainousness of our sinne not otherwise to be expiated than by his death And as the first ought to raise us up to give annuall daily continuall thankes to him who did and suffered so much for us so the second should withhold us keep us back from sin that since our Saviour dyed for our sin we should dye to sin rather dye than sin This bloud once shed is good to us Expedit nobis if to faith in that bloud we joyn a life beseeming Christianity but if by our crying sins trespasses we crucifie him againe we make even that bloud which of it selfe speaketh for us better things than the bloud of Abel in stead of pardon to cry for vengeance against us Let us therfore looke up to him the author and finisher of our salvation beseeching him who with the bloud of his passion clave rockes stones asunder with the same bloud which is not yet nor ever will be dry to mollifie and soften our hard hearts that seriously considering the hainousnesse of our sins which put him to death and his unexpressible unconceivable love that for us he would dye the death even the death of the Crosse we may in token of our thankfulness endeavour to offer up our soules and bodies as a reasonable sacrifice to him that offered himselfe a sacrifice for us and now sitteth at the right hand of God to this end that where he our Redeemer is there wee his people and dearest purchase may be for ever THE SECOND ROW And in the second row thou shalt set a Carbuncle a Saphir and a Diamond THat the second Speaker that sweet singer of Israel whose ditty was Awake sing ye that sleep in dust made according to my Text a row or Canticum graduum a Psalme of ascents or degrees I cannot but even in a duty of thankfulnesse acknowledge for the help of memory I received from it had not he made a row that is digested disposed his matter in excellent order I should never have bin able to present to you the jewels set in this row which are all as you see most orient Of all red stones the Carbuncle of all blew the Saphir Plin. nat hist l. 37. of all simply the Diamond hath been ever held in highest esteem Maximum in rebus humanis pretium adamas habet non tantum inter gemmas Comment in Esay Carbunculus saith S. Jerome videtur mihi sermo doctrinae qui fugato errore tenebrarum illuminat corda credentium hic est quem unus de Seraphim tulit farcipe comprehensum ad Esayae labra purganda Whether this second Preacher in S. Pauls phrase a Prophet his tongue were not touched with such a coale I referre my selfe to your hearts and consciences Nonne
cognation or affinity 3. by nation or country 4. by love affection 1. common to all men the sons of Adam our father 2. speciall to all Christians the sons of the same mother the Church 1. Nature made Jacob and Esau brethren 2. Affinity our Lord and James brethren 3. Nation or country Peter and the Jewes brethren 4. Affection and obligation 1. Spirituall all Christians 2. Carnall and common all men brethren Thus the significations of brother in Scripture like the circles made by a stone cast into the water not only multiply but much enlarge themselves the first is a narrow circle about the stone the next fetcheth a bigger compasse the third a greater more capacious than it the fourth so large that it toucheth the bankes of the river in like manner the first signification of brethren is confined to one house nay to one bed and wombe the second extendeth it selfe to all of one family or linage the third to the whole nation or country the fourth and last to the utmost bounds of the earth No name so frequently occurreth in Scripture as this of brethren no love more often enforced than brotherly We need not goe farre for emblemes thereof b Plut. de amor fratr Plutarch hath found many in our body for wee have two eyes two eares two nostrills two hands two feet which are as hee termeth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brethren and twinne members formed out of like matter being of one shape one bignesse and serving to one and the selfe same use Nature her selfe kindleth the fire of brotherly love in our hearts and God by the blasts of his Spirit and the breath of his Ministers bloweth it continually yet in many it waxeth cold and in some it seemeth to bee quite extinguished Saint Paul prayed that the Philippians c Phil. 1.9 love might abound more and more Hee exhorteth the Hebrewes Let brotherly d Heb. 13.1 love continue but we need now-adaies to cast our exhortation into a new mold and say Let brotherly love begin in you For were it begun so many quarrells so many factions so many sects so many broiles so many law-suites would not be begun as we see every day set on foot Did we looke upon the badge of our livery which is mutuall e John 13.35 By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples if ye love one anther love we would cry shame of our selves for that which we see and heare every day such out-cries such railing such cursing such threatning such banding opprobrious speeches such challenges into the field and spilling the bloud of those for whom Christ shed his most precious bloud Is it not strange that they should fall foule one upon another who have bin both washed in the same laver of regeneration that they should thirst after one anothers bloud who drinke of the same cup of benediction that they should lift their hands up one against another for whom Christ spread his hands upon the crosse Let there be no f Gen. 13.8 falling out between mee and thee saith Abraham to Lot for wee are brethren Let mee presse you further touch you neerer to the quick Let there be no strife among you for you are members one of another nay which is more Yee are all members of Christ Jesus What members of Christ and spurne one at another members of Christ and buffet one another members of Christ and supplant one another members of Christ and devoure one another members of Christ and destroy one another It is true as Plutarch observeth that the neerer the tye is the fouler the breach As bodies that are but glewed together if they be severed or rent asunder they may be glewed as fast as ever they were but corpora continua as flesh and sinewes if any cut or rupture be made in them they cannot bee so joyned together againe but a scarre will remaine so those who are onely glewed together by some civill respects may fall out and fall in againe without any great impeachment to their reputation or former friendship but they who are tied together by nerves and sinewes of naturall or spirituall obligation and made one flesh or spirit together if there fall any breach between them it cannot be so fairely made up but that like the putting a new peece of cloth into an old garment the going about to piece or reconcile them maketh the rent worse When g Cic. famil ep l. 9. Noli pati litigâ—re fratres judiciis turpiâ—us conflictari Tully understood of a suit in law commenced between Quintus and M. Fabius hee earnestly wrote to Papirius to take up the matter g Cic. famil ep l. 9. Noli pati litigâ—re fratres judiciis turpiâ—us conflictari Suffer not saith hee brethren to implead one another For though suits about title of lands seem to be the fairest of any yet even these are foule among brethren wherefore my beloved brethren let us 1. Prevent all occasions of difference let there be no tindar of malice in our hearts ready to take fire upon the flying of the least sparke into it let us so root and ground our selves in love that no small offence may stirre us let us endeavour by all friendly offices so to endeare our selves to our brethren and so fasten all naturall and civill ties by religious obligations that we alwaies keep the h Ephes 4.3 unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace 2. If it cannot be but that offences will come and distract us if the Divell or his agents cast a fire-brand among us let us all runne presently to quench it let us imitate wise Mariners who as soone as they spie a leake spring in the ship stop it with all speed before it grow wider and endanger the drowning of the vessell 3. After the breach is made up and the wound closed and healed let us not rub upon the old sore according to the rule of i Coel. Rodig antiq lect l. 16. 19. Pythagoras Ignem gladio ne fodias let us not rake into the ashes or embers of the fire of contention lately put out As we pray that God may cast our sinnes so let us cast our brothers trespasses against us into the k Micah 7.19 bottome of the sea The Athenians as l Plut. lib. de fraterno amoâ—e Plutarch writeth tooke one day from the moneth of May and razed it out of all their Calenders because on that day Neptune and Minerva fell out one with another even so let us Christians much more bury those daies in perpetuall oblivion strike them out of our Almanacks in which any bloudy fray or bitter contention hath fallen among us For our Father is the God of peace our Saviour is the Prince of peace our Comforter is the Spirit of peace and love God who is m John 4.8 love and of his love hath begot us loveth nothing more
in the children of his love than the mutuall love of his children one to another n Mat. 23.8 Ye are all brethren love therefore as brethren be pitifull be courteous not rendering evill for evill nor railing for railing but contrariwise o 1 Pet 3.8 9. blessing knowing that yee are thereunto called that yee should inherit a blessing As beames of the same sunne let us meet in the center of light as rivelets of the same spring joyne in the source of grace as sprigs on the same root or twins on the same stalke sticke alwaies together Such was the love of the Saints of God in old time that their hearts were knit one to the other yea which is more All the beleevers had but p Acts 4.32 The multitude of them that beleeved were of one heart of one soule one heart But such love is not now to be found in our bookes much lesse in our conversations we hardly beleeve there can be such love in beleevers we seem not to be of their race wee seem rather to be descended many of us from Coelius who could not be quiet if he were not in quarrells who was angry if he were not provoked to anger whose motto was Dic aliquid ut duo simus Say or doe something that we may be two or from Sylla of whom Valerius Maximus writeth that it was a great question whether he or his malice first expired for he died railing and railed dying or of Eteocles and Polynices who as they warred all their life so after a sort they expressed their discord and dissention after their death for at their funerals the flame of the dead corpses parted asunder when they were burned When the Son of man commeth shall hee find q Luke 18.8 faith on the earth saith our Saviour I feare we may demand rather shall he find charity on the earth All the true family of love may seem to be extinct for the greater part of men as if they had been baptized in the waters of strife from the font to their tomb-stone are in continuall frettings vexings quarrells schisme and faction Turba gravis paci placidaeque inimica quieti But let these Salamanders which live perpetually in the fire of contention take heed lest without speedy repentance they be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone forever If r Mat. 5.9 blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God cursed are all make-bates for they shall be called the children of the wicked one If the fruits of ſ Jam. 3.18 righteousnesse are sowne in peace of them that make peace certainly the fruits of iniquity are sowne in contention by them that stirre up strife and contention If they that sow t Pro. 6.16 19. These sixe things doth the Lord hate yea seven are abomination unto him a false witnesse that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among brethren discord among brethren are an abomination to the Lord they that plant love and set concord are his chiefe delight What u Cic. tusc 1. Optimum non nasci proximum quà m citissimè mori Silenus spake of the life of man The best thing was not to be borne the next to dye as soone as might be may bee fitly applyed to all quarrells and contentions among Christian brethren it is the happiest thing of all that such dissentions never see light the next is if they arise and come into the Christian world that they dye suddenly after their birth at the most let them be but like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 small creatures Aristotle speaketh of whose life exceedeth not a summers day Let not the * Ephes 4.26 sun goe down upon our wrath How can we long be at odds and distance if we consider that we are all brethren by both sides For as we call one God our Father so we acknowledge one Church our Mother wee have all sucked the same breasts the Old and New Testaments we are all bred up in the same schoole the schoole of the crosse we are all fed at the same table the Lords board we are all incorporated into one society the communion of Saints and made joynt-heires with our elder brother Christ Jesus of one Kingdome in Heaven If these and the like considerations cannot knit our hearts together in love which is the bond of perfection the Heathen shall rise up in judgement and condemne us x Mart. epig. lib. 1. Si Lucane tibi vel si tibi Tulle darentur Qualia Ledaei fata Lacones habent c. Martial writeth of two brothers between whom there was never any contention but this who should die one for the other Nobilis haec esset pietatis rixa duobus Quod pro fratre mori vellet uterque prior The speech also of Pollux to Castor his brother is remarkable y Mart. epig. lib. 1. Vive tuo frater tempore vive meo I cannot let passe Antiochus who when he heard that his brother Seleuchus who had been up in armes against him died at Galata commanded all the Court to mourne for him but when afterwards hee was more certainly enformed that he was alive and levied a great army against him he commanded all his Commanders and chiefe Captaines to sacrifice to their gods crown themselves with garlands for joy that his brother was alive But above all z Plut. de fraterno amore Euclid shewed in himselfe the true symptomes of brotherly affection who when his brother in his rage made a rash vow Let me not live if I be not revenged of my brother Euclid turnes the speech the contrary way Nay let me not live if I be not reconciled to my brother let me not live if we be not made as good friends as ever before Shall nature be stronger than grace bonds of flesh tie surer than the bonds of the spirit one tie knit hearts together faster than many The a Cic. offic l. 1. Oratour saith Omnes omnium charitates patria complectitur but we may say more truly Omnes omnium charitates Christus complectitur all bonds of love friendship affinity and consanguinity all neernesse and dearnesse all that can make increase or continue love is in Christ Jesus into whose spirit we are all baptized into whose body we are incorporated who in his love sacrificed himselfe to his Fathers justice for us who giveth his body and bloud to us in this sacrament to nourish Christian love in us For therefore we all eate of one bread that we may be made one bread therefore wee are made partakers of his naturall body that wee may be all made one mysticall body and all quickned with one spirit that spirit which raised up our head Christ Jesus from the dead Cui cum Patre c. THE PERPLEXED SOULES QUAERE A Sermon preached on the third Sunday in Lent THE LXIX SERMON ACTS 2.37 What shall we doe THe words of the
I ghesse to represent the bloud of many thousand Martyrs spilt upon them twenty three whereof were put to most exquisite torments by Dioclesian in Rome but deserve to be distinguished from other dayes by golden letters in ours in memory of two of the most renowned Princes that ever swayed Scepter in these Kingdomes wherein wee live the one received life the other escaped death on this day For a Bed Baron in Martyrolog mens August Beda and Baronius in their Church Rolls of Martyrs record on the fifth of August the nativity of King Oswald who united the b Which were after severed for many ages but â—ow by the speciall providence of Almighty God againe lye lovingly encompassing and embracing each the other Crownes of England and Scotland and after hee had much enlarged the bounds of Christs Kingdome with his owne in the end exchanged his Princely Diadem for a Crowne of Martyrdome and signed the Christian Faith with Royall bloud So happy an uniter of the Royall Diadems and Princely Martyr of our Nation should not be forgotten on this day yet may hee not every way compare with our Rex Pacificus who hath so fastened these Diadems together that we hope they shall never be severed againe Nor is the birth of any Prince by the usuall course of Nature so remarkable as the unheard of and little lesse than miraculous preservation of our Soveraigne his Royall person from the bloudy assacinate of the Earle Gowry and Alexander Ruthen his brother to the everlasting memory whereof our Church hath consecrated the publike and most solemne devotions of this day And therefore wee are now to change the old spell Quintam fuge and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Carefully shunne the fifth day into Quintam cole Religiously observe the fifth day of this Moneth if not for King Oswald yet for King James sake if not for the birth of the one yet for the safety of the other if not for the ordinary Genesis and entry of the one into the gate of life yet for the extraordinary Exodus or exit of the other out of the chambers of death Which wonderfull delivery of our gracious Soveraigne that I may print the deeper in your memories I have borrowed characters from King Davids royall presse as you see But those that seeke my soule c. Ver. 9 10 11. All which Verses together with their severall parts and commaes even to the least Iota or tittle by the direction and assistance of Gods holy Spirit I will make use of in my application if I may intreat * Here he bowed to his Grace your Gracious patience and * Here he turned to the Lords your Honourable attention for a while in their explication And first of the translation then of the relation of these words as well to the eternall destruction of the enemies to Christs Crosse as to the temporall punishments of the traitors to Davids Crowne They shall goe into the lower parts of the earth these shall goe into the nethermost hell They shall fall by the hands of men these shall fall into the hands of the living God They shall be a portion for Foxes these shall he a prey for Divels But the King shall rejoyce in God David in Christ Christ in his Father And all that sweare by him that is Christ to him that is David shall glory For the mouth of all that speake lyes against the one blasphemies against the other shall be stopped The vulgar Latine upon which the Romane Church so doteth that she is in love with the errours thereof as c Cic. de orat Naevus in puero delectat Alceum est deformitas in vultu illi tamen lumen videbatur Alceus was with the wirts in his boyes face rendereth the Hebrew thus Quaesiverunt in vanum animam meam introibunt in imâ terrae They have sought my soule in vaine they shall goe into the lowest parts of the earth Of which words in vanum inserted into the Text I may say as Aristotle doth of the ancient Philosophers discourse d Aristot Phys auscust c. de Vacuo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de vacuo of a supposed place voide of a body to fill it Their disputes faith he of this void or empty space are empty void and to none effect For neither are they found in any originall copy as is confessed neither serve they as artificiall teeth to helpe the speech which soundeth better without them yet Cardinall Bellarmine to helpe out the vulgar Interpreter with an officious lye beareth us in hand that his book was otherwise pointed than ours are and that where we reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if Leshoath and Leshava the one signifying to destroy the other in vaine differed no more than in prickes or vowels and not in consonants and radicals or the sense were so full and currant they seeke my soule in vaine as they seeke my soule to destroy it or for the ruine or destruction thereof they shall goe to the lowest parts of the earth that is they that seek to overthrow me and lay mine honour in the dust they shall lye in the dust themselves They shall fall by the sword So wee reade in the last translation and the members of the sentence seeme better to fall and shoot one in the other if we so reade the words They shall fall by the edge of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes than if we reade according to the Geneva Translation They shall cast him downe with the edge of the sword they shall bee a portion for Foxes Yet because Calvin Moller Musculus Tremelius and Junius concurre with the Geneva Translation Note understanding these words as a speciall prophecy of Sauls death who was Davids capitall and singular enemy and this translation and exposition fitteth better the application which I am to make of this Scripture to the present occasion but especially because the Hebrew Jaggirhu signifieth as the last Translators rightly note in the margent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall make him runne out like water by the hand of the sword that is his bloud shall be spilt by the sword I preferre the Geneva Translation before the last and as the Macedonian woman appealed from Philip to Philip so I appeale from the Translators in the Text to themselves in their Marginall note and reade the tenth Verse thus They shall cast him downe or slay him with the edge of the sword Thus having accorded the Translations I now set to such heavenly lessons as the Spirit of God hath pricked for us in the rules of this Scripture The first is pricked in the title of this Psalme A Psalme of David when hee was in the wildernesse of Judah and it is this Doctr. 1. That the wildernesse it selfe may be and is often a Paradise to the servants of God If the Poet could say of himselfe and his friend
suos pietas impietas est apud Deum What Seneca speakes of words may bee a good rule in these teares still are volo non currere let them drop like precious water out of a Lymbecke not run like common water out of a spout o Horat. carm l. 2 ed. 20. Absint inani funere naeniae Luctusque turpes querimoniae Compesce clamorem Demang in Hebrew signifying a teare hath great affinity with Demama signifying silence to teach us that our teares ought to bee silent not querulous or clamorous Let nature have her course but let religion set bounds to it p Horat. l. 2. carm ed. 9. Ne semper urge flebilibus modis Mysten ademptum Let us water our plants but not drown them as those that mourne without hope Joseph loved his Father Jacob better than the Egyptians yet his teares were but the tithes of theirs for hee mourned but q Gen. 50.3 seven dayes but they seventy Rachel though otherwise a good woman yet in this was too womanish and wayward that shee would not bee comforted neither is her reason good nor true if wee take it as the words sound because they are not for wee know they are and living too all live to God wee know where they are that dye in the Lord with Christ in Paradise wee know what manner of dwellings they have tabernacles not made with hands eternall in the heavens wee know of what congregation they are of the congregation of the first borne and the spirits of just men made perfect wee know what they doe they follow the lambe wheresoever hee goeth wee know what they say also they cease not to cry day and night Holy holy holy c. lastly wee know what they sing Halelujah Wherefore as Xenophon when newes was brought him as he was sacrificing of his sonnes death put off the crowne hee had on his head and gave vent to his sorrowes at his eyes but after hee understood that hee dyed valiantly and worthy such a Father put on his crowne againe and finished his sacrifice so when newes shall bee brought unto us of the death of our dearest friends let us first put off our crowne of joy and let nature and love melt us into teares but when wee heare againe that they dyed penitently and religiously with hope full of immortality let us put on our crowne againe and comfort ourselves and finish our Christian course with joy as those religious people did of whom Saint Austine speaketh putting himselfe among them * Aug. ser 35. de divers Contristamur in nostrorum mortibus necessitate amittendi sed cum spe recipiendi inde angimur hinc consolamur inde infirmitas afficit hinc fides reficit inde dolet humana conditio hinc sanat divina promissio the consideration of the losse of our friends cutteth us but the hope of receiving them againe healeth us And now at the length to release your long captivated attention I will speake but one word of admonition to you concerning your owne end and so an end Is death nothing but a sleep why then are you so much scared at the mention or thought of it When the Prophets of God or some other your deerest friends deale faithfully with you telling you there is no way but one and advising you to set your house in order for you must dye and cannot live why doe you fetch many a deep sigh turne to the wall and mourne like a dove or chatter like a crane why doe you not rather struggle with your owne infirmitie and with resolute Hilarion even chide out your soules hankering at the doore of your lips Egredere quid times egredere anima mea quid dubitas sexaginta prope annis servisti Christo mortem times Goe out my soule why art thou afraid goe out why makest thou any difficulty thou hast served Christ well nigh sixty yeeres and dost thou now feare death You will hardly finde any little childe much lesse man that is afraid to goe to bed nay travellers after a tedious journey in bitter weather are not content to pull off their cloathes they teare them for haste to get into their soft and warme beds When our day is spent and wee are come to our journeyes end why doe we not as it were pull off our cloaths by stripping ourselves of worldly cares and businesses and settle our selves to sleepe in Jesus and breathe out our soules betweene his armes Plato when hee died had the booke of Sophronius the Musitian under his pillow When we lye on our death bed let us have under our pillow to support us not the booke of Sophronius the Musitian but the bookes of the sweet singers of Israel David and Salomon and the rest of the inspired Writers so shall wee be sure that God will make our beds in our sickenesse and we shall sweetly fall into our last sleepe as did the most religious Matron Paula who when some about her as shee was now drawing on read to her the second of Canticles so soone as shee heard the Bridegroome calling Surge speciosa mea surge columba mea veni Arise my Love arise my Dove arise my Faire one and come away the winter is past the raine is over and gone she answered as it there followeth the flowers appeare in the earth the time of pruning or as it is in our translation the time of singing is at hand With which word shee made an end of her life and I will of my Sermon committing you as shee did her soule to God beseeching him who hath taught us the doctrine of the resurrection by his word to accomplish it in us by his Spirit that having part in the grace of the first resurrection here wee may hereafter participate in the glory of the second through JESUS CHRIST Cui c. THE TRUE ZEALOT A Sermon preached at the Archbishops visitation in Saint Dunstans THE FOURTEENTH SERMON JOHN 2.17 The zeale of thine house hath eaten mee up THe parcell of Scripture whence I have taken my text is a sacred sculpture or Hieroglyphicke consisting of 1 An embleme or imprese 2 A motto or word The embleme presenteth to us the Temple with a kinde of Faire in it and a man which is the sonne of man with a scourge of small cords driving out all the buyers and sellers and powring downe their money and overthrowing their tables and stalles The motto word or sentence is that which I have already spoken in your hearing viz. The zeale of thine house hath eaten mee up The exemplification of the embleme I commend to him to whom our Saviour hath left his whip to void cleanse this temple and to discipline all sorts of bad merchants in it The motto or word belongeth properly to them to publish proclaime it whose stile is vox clamantium the voice of a Mat. 3.3 cryers not the sweet voice of singers to lull men asleep in security with melodious streines of time-serving
cluster of the grapes of the vine of Engaddi 1 Presse the first grape and it will yeeld this liquor That Christians may not communicate with Idolaters nor consort with prophane persons For. 2 Presse the next grape and it will yeeld this juice That holinesse to God is the Imprese of the regenerate Yee 3 Presse the third it yeeldeth this That there are Saints upon earth viz. in truth and sincerity though not in perfection Are. 4 Presse the fourth it yeeldeth this That the whole company of true believers make but one Holy Catholike Church Temple not Temples The Temple 5. Presse the fift it yeeldeth this That reverence is due to the servants of God that sanctity is in them and safety with them Of God The Temple of God carrieth with it all three and to whom indeed is due more reverence in whom shineth more sanctity with whom is found more safety than Gods secret ones who as stones coupled together and built upon the corner stone Christ Jesus rise up towards heaven and become a holy temple of God 6. Presse the last and it yeeldeth this That the God whom we Christians serve is the onely true living God and source and fountaine of all life which hee conveigheth to us in a threefold channell 1 The broader of nature 2 The narrower of grace 3 The overflowing and everspringing of glory For The reason standeth thus Separate your selves from wicked and profane persons For yee are a Temple Secondly keep your selves from dead and dumb Idols For yee are the Temple of the living God Doctr. 1 First this For perforce draweth us from all familiar company and intimate conversation with men of a leud dissolute or profane carriage c Ephes 5.11 Have no fellowship with them saith the Apostle elsewhere d Act. 2.40 Save your selves from them saith Saint Peter Come out from among them and be you e 2. Cor. 6.17 18. separate and I will be a Father unto you and you shall bee my Sonnes and Daughters It was an abomination by the Law to touch any dead thing f Lev. 22.4 Whosoever toucheth any thing that is uncleane by the dead c. and are not they that live in pleasure and sensuality g 1 Tim. 5.6 dead while they are alive but she that liveth in pleasure is dead whilest shee liveth Shee is no loyall wife that delighteth in company disliked by her husband though but upon suspition How can the sonne but incurre his fathers displeasure who entertaineth such guests with all love and kindnesse whom his father hateth and forbiddeth them his house Those who are of worth seek to preserve their credit and good name as a precious oyntment which is soone corrupted by the impure ayre of nasty society For such a man is deservedly esteemed to bee with whom hee ranketh himselfe but corrupting the soule is farre worse than tainting a good name and who is there almost that commeth faire off from foule company hee cannot but learne evill by them or h Epictet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer evill of them Man in Paradise might be like the plants of Paradise of which Athanasius reporteth that they imparted an aromaticall savour to the trees neere adjoyning but since man was cast out the corruption of his nature maketh him resemble rather the wan and withered vine in the Poet which tooke away the fresh colour and sap from the neighbour vine i Juven sat 1. Dedit haec contagio labem c. Uvaque livorem conspectâ ducit ab uvâ. It is true Bonum est sui diffusivum Goodnesse is of a communicative nature but since our fall wee are not so capable of receiving good as evill The example of an evill man sooner corrupteth a good man than a good example converteth an evill man The weake and watery eye is not strengthened by looking on a quicke or strong eye but on the contrary many a strong and dry eye by looking on a watery eye waters it selfe The sound man by lying with the sicke loseth his health yet the sicke man by lying with the whole man gaineth not his health the exchange is not mutuall If you mingle bright and rusty metall together the rusty will not become bright by it but on the contrary the bright rusty so saith k Senec. ep 7. Rubiginosus comes etiam candido suam affricuit rubiginem Seneca a rusty companion rubbeth some of his rust upon a man of faire conditions yet the man of faire conditions imparteth none of his candor to the rusty The diseases of the minde are more taking than the diseases of the body let us therefore take heed how wee come within the breath of a man who is of a rotten heart and corrupt conscience If Joseph living in Pharaohs Court learned to sweare by the life of Pharaoh and the people of God being mingled with the heathen learned their workes beware how you touch pitch lest you bee defiled and bird-lime lest you bee entangled Socrates was wont to say to Alcibiades sometime the paragon of beauty both of body and minde when hee met him among Gallants like himselfe I feare not thee but thy company and Saint l Aug. confes l. 2. c. 9. Eamus faciamus pudet non esse impudentem Austine in his Confessions with teares complaineth of the hellish torrent of evill company wherewith hee was carried away oftentimes and fell into many a dangerous gulph I had not the power to stay my selfe saith hee when they called Eamus faciamus Let us goe let us doe some noble exploit or brave pranke of youth nay they so farre wrought upon mee that I was ashamed of my shamefaced modesty and blushed that I was not past blushing You that are Gods chosen make choice of your company let all your delight bee with holy David m Psal 16.3 in such as excell in vertue and have holinesse to the Lord engraven in their breasts For yee are Temples therefore bee yee separate from profane persons Doctr. 2 Yee are the Temples of the living God meddle not therefore with dumb and dead Idols If Idolatry bee the spirits adultery and Gods wrath against Idolaters is jealousie and his jealousie burneth like fire downe to the bottome of hell I shall not need by arguments to deterre any understanding Christian from comming within the verge of so dangerous an impiety the guilt whereof lyeth not onely upon those whose soules and bodies have been agents in Idols services but also all those who by any speeches acts signes or outward gestures give any allowance or countenance thereunto n Amb. ep 31. Pollui se putabat si aram vidisset Constantine the Emperour thought himself defiled if he had but seen an heathenish altar o Psal 16.4 David if he had but made mention of an Idoll their offerings of bloud I will not offer nor take their names into my mouth Saint Paul permitted not the Corinthians to taste of any dainties
that are bound visit not the sicke or imprisoned in a word performe not any of those duties which shall be vouchsafed the naming at the generall day of retribution unto all men which shall be according to their workes not according to their words The witty Epigrammatist deservedly casteth a blurre upon Candidus his faire name and debonaire carriage because all the fruits of his friendship grew upon his tongue * Martial Epigr. Candide κοῖνα φιλῶν haec sunt tua Candide πάντα quae tu magniloquus nocte dieque sonas Ex opibus tantis veteri fidoque sodali das nihil dicis Candide κοινα φιλων Thou sayst my friend Candidus that all things are common among friends but it seems these words of thine are thy all things For of all thy wealth and goods thou makest no friend thou hast a doite the better thou givest nothing at all and yet art most prodigall in thy language and wearest out that Proverb threed-bare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are common amongst friends The Naturalists observe that the females of Biâ—ds oftentimes lay egges without cockes but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ova subventanea egges filled up with winde unfit to be hatched such is the issue of most mens love now a dayes it bringeth forth partus subventaneos windy brats that is good words faire promises and happy wishes But though in our gardens of pleasure wee nourish many plants and trees for their beautifull blossomes and goodly flowers yet it is manifest out of the 16. Thou shalt eare freely of every tree in the garden Verse of the second of Genesis that there grew no tree in the terrestriall Paradise of God that bare not fruit neither shall any but such as fructifie bee transplanted into the celestiall For x Mat. 3.10 Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and cast into the fire Wee reade in our Chronicles of King Oswald that as he sate at table when a faire silver dish full of regall delicacies was set before him and he ready to fall to hearing from his Amner that there were great store of poore at his gate piteously crying for some reliefe commanded his Steward presently to take the dish off the table and distribute the meat and beat the dish all in pieces cast it among them whereat the Bishop his Amner taking hold of his hand was heard to use these or the like speeches Nunquam veterascet haec manus the hand which beareth such fruit shall never wither or waxe old in part he was a true Prophet for afterwards in a battell where the King was slaine having his arme first cut off the arme with the hand being found were covered in silver kept as a holy Relique and by this means endured many hundred of yeers after the whole body was consumed That which quencheth Hell fire in the conscience is the bloud of Christ that which applyeth this bloud is faith that which quickneth this faith is love that which demonstrateth this love are workes of mercy and bounty piety and pity which are not so much offices to men as sacrifices to God faith cryeth for these as Rachel did for children Give mee fruit or else I dye For y James 2.26 Faith without works is dead as the body without breath And can aman think we live by a dead faith Give saith our Saviour and it shall be given unto you Which precept of his was so imprinted in the minde of that noble Matron z Hieron epitaph Paul Mat. Damnum putabat si quisquam debilis aut esuriens cibo sustentaretur alterius Et Cyp. de elecmos Demus Christo vestimenta terrena indumenta coelestia recepturi demus cibum potum secularem cum Abrah Isa Jac. ad coeleste convivium venturi Paula that shee accounted it a great losse and dammage to her if any prevented her charity in relieving any poore or distressed member of Christ she was a like affected as if one had taken a great bargaine out of her hand A great bargaine indeed to lay out mony in earthly trash and receive for it heavenly treasure to bestow ragges and receive robes to give a little broken meat that perisheth to the hungry and for it to bee bid with Abraham Isaac and Jacob to an everlasting banquet in Heaven I should close with this sweet straine of Saint Cyprian but that there remaineth another note pricked in the last words of my Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One another If any demand why Christ addeth this clause enjoyning mutuall love I answer because gratitude charity and necessity inforceth it Where love is not answered there is no gratitude where kindnesse is not requited there is no justice where offices of friendship are not mutually performed there is no life All a Senec. ep 48. Alteri vivas oportet si vis tibi Societas nostra lapidum fornici similima est quae casura nisi invicem obstarent hoc ipso sustinentur humane societies are like archt-building in which unlesse every stone hold up another the whole frame suddenly falleth Howbeit though gratitude justice and necessity plead for correspondency in Christian charity yet the world is full of complaints of parents against their children husbands against their wives pastors against their flockes tutours against their pupills masters against their servants that their providence love and care is not answered in the observance love gratitude and obedience of their inferiours Fathers upbraid their children saying Amor descendit non ascendit Love descendeth from us to our children but ascendeth not from them to us Husbands commence actions of unkindnesse against the wives of their bosome that the kinder they are to them the more disloyall they find them Pastors take up the Apostles complaint against his Corinthians that the b 2. Cor. 12.15 more he loved them the lesse hee was loved againe Tutours murmure that their care to breake their scholars of ill conditions is recompenced with hatred And Masters that their good usage of their servants is requited with contempt whereby you see how needfull it was that Christ should with his owne mouth as it were heat the glew to joyne our affections together with his own finger knit the knot to tye our hearts together with his owne hands to write a new bond to inwrap our soules one in another and with his owne presse print anew in our mind the commandement of mutuall love the characters whereof were quite worne out of most mens memory Seneca fitly resembleth the mutuall and reciprocall duties of friendship in giving and receiving benefits one from another to a game at Tennis wherein the ball is tossed backward and forward from one racket to another and never falleth to the ground or if it fall it is his forfeit who mist his stroake even so every kind office wherewith our friend serveth us ought to be returned backe to him that no courtesie fall to
the ground The Cherubins faces in the c Exod. 37.9 Arke were one to another Alter in alterius jacientes lumina vultum And the wheeles in Ezekiels d Ezek. 1.16 vision were one in the midst of the other to teach us that we ought not only to cast a benigne aspect one upon another like Cherubins but also to be inwardly knit one in another like the wheels that we may be one in another as Christ is in e John 17.23 the Father and wee in him I in them and they in mee that they may be made perfect in one Wheresoever almost in holy Scripture this obligation of love is mentioned the condition is expressed that it be mutuall as in affection Be like f Rom. 12.10 one to another in courtesie to salute g Rom. 16.16 one another in humility to wash h John 13.14 one anothers feet in love to serve i Gal. 5.13 one another in hospitality to k 1 Pet. 4.9 entertaine one another in patience to l Colos 3.13 forbeare one another in compassion to beare m Gal. 6.2 one anothers burdens in devotion to pray n Jam. 5.16 one for another in holy communication to o 1. Thes 5.11 edifie one another Here morall Philosophy goeth hand in hand with Divinity demonstrating that true friendship cannot but be mutuall because the foundation of it is a similitude of manners and dispositions which similitude being a relation cannot but be in both And daily experience teacheth us that as fire in an apt subject generateth fire so love begetteth love I will tell thee saith p Seneca ep 9. Ego tibi monstrabo amatorium sine medicamento sine herba Si amari vis ama Seneca how thou maist make another love thee without any love potion spell or witchcraft if thou desirest to bee beloved love thou first sincerely and entirely This recipe is approved by q Arist rhet l. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle who saith that of all men they are the most lovely that are most loving And by the Poet who adviseth him who desireth to endeare the affections of another to himselfe first to endeare his affections to her and to kindle fully that fire in his owne breast which hee would have burne in hers Sit procul omne nefas ut ameris amabilis esto Plato writeth under this his probatum est and he instanceth in Socrates and Alcibiades the one whereof had no sooner began a health of love but the other pledged him in the same cup atque ita mutuum imbiberunt amorem He must needs be of a very ill disposition qui amorem si nolit impendere nolit rependere who if he will not begin love and provoke this affection in another will not yet repay love and answer love with love and courtesie with courtesie considering that as the affection is mutuall so the gaine is reciprocall As in a Hop-yard the poles sustaine the Hops and the Hops by imbracing adorne the poles and as in a building the walls beare up the roofe and the roofe keepeth the walls and timber from wet so it is among friends the wise directeth the strong and the strong defendeth the wise the wealthy maintaines the honourable and the honourable supporteth the wealthy There is not onely a re-action between naturall but also between morall agents Philosophy demonstrateth omne agens repati omne patiens reagere that every agent suffereth from his patient and every patient worketh againe upon the agent either in the same or in a divers and contrary kinde In the same kind as when the hammer and the anvile one harden the other or when two Mill-stones grate one on the other or two tooles whet and sharpen one the other In a divers and contrary kinde as when the warme hand heateth the cold the cold hand cooleth the warme the stone drieth the drop of raine and the drop moisteneth the stone And in physicke the corasives sharpen the lenitives and the lenitives mitigate the corasives In like manner every one that doth good should receive and every one that receiveth from another should do good to the other either in the same kinde as when two Preachers like lights kindle one the others knowledge or two Physicians heale one the other or two Bone-setters set one the others joynts or two Lawyers plead one for the other or two Souldiers fight one for the other Or in a divers and contrary kinde as when the confident Christian comforteth the weake and the weake Christian by relating his conflicts and temptations is a meanes to keep the strong and confident Christian from presumption the zealous professour inflameth the moderate and the moderate temperateth the zealous the rich supplyeth the want of the poore and the poore taketh away from the superfluity of the rich Thus in the same kinde or in a divers and contrary every one that is willing may hold correspondency and faire quarter in love If no otherwise wee can requite the kindnesse of our friends yet in thankfull acceptance we may and the acknowledgement of the debt of love is a good part of the payment The jewell which is illustrated by the Sun beames coloureth the beames and the earth which receiveth moisture from the skie repayeth it backe againe in vapours and exhalations yea the rockes and stones which receive a sound from the ayre before it bee fully given returne it by an eccho onely selfe-love and ingratitude returne nothing backe againe Selfe-love is a bad creditour it will lay out nothing and ingratitude is a bad debtour it will repay nothing The former resembleth the Pumish stone from which no moisture at all can bee extracted the later is like the stone of Syphnos which being steeped in oyle becommeth the harder by it such is an ungratefull person the better you are to him the worse he demeaneth himselfe towards you Dearly beloved Christians if any man could live of himselfe hee might have some colour to live to himselfe onely but sith all civill life and humane society is maintained by giving and receiving as the naturall is by taking in and letting out breath let us abandon those vices above all others that stop the entercourse of courteous offices passing from one friend to another and let us all imbrace that Christian vertue which joyneth all men unto us and us unto all men in the glew of affections and bond of perfection Let us give that we may receive let us sow liberally that wee may reap plentifully let us scatter abroad earthly that we may gather heavenly treasure While we have time let us do good unto all especially to the houshold of faith and in this time of fulnesse thinke of the empty belly and out of our superfluity supply their extreme want We reade in the Jewish Talmud that the grapes in Babel upon a time sent to the vines in Judea for some of their broad leaves to overshade them otherwise the
seven heads and ten hornes like to the woman whereby the Roman Empire or Church is meant called Babylon the Mother of fornications and abominations on the earth ver 5. because the Dragon employed the seven heads and ten hornes Apoc. 17 3.5 that is the policie and strength of the Roman State especially to suppresse the true Religion and overthrow the Church Other Kingdomes and States have beene stained with the bloud of Christians but Rome is that Whore of Babylon which hath died her garments scarlet red with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Christ others have licked or tasted thereof but she in regard of her barbarous crueltie in this kind is said to be l Apoc. 17.6 drunke with their bloud The vision thus cleared the meaning of my text and the speciall points of observation in each word therein may easily be discerned The first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the woman figureth unto us the Church her 1 Originall 2 Fruitfulnesse 3 Tendernesse 4 Weakenesse 5 Frailtie 1 First her Originall As the first Adam being cast into a slumber the woman was formed of a rib taken out of his side so when the second Adam fell into a dead sleepe on the Crosse his side was opened and thence issued this woman here in my text Christs dearest Spouse 2 Her fruitfulnesse The honour of women is their childbearing For therefore was Heva called the mother of the living because all save Adam came from her such is the Church a most indulgent and fruitfull mother Heva mater viventium the mother of all that live by faith And as St. m Cypr de unit Eccles Deum non habet patrem qui ecclesiam non habet matrem Cyprian concluded against all the Schismatikes in his time we may resolve against all the Separatists in our daies they cannot have God to their Father who acknowledge not the Church for their Mother 3 Her tendernesse Mulier saith Varro quasi mollior women take their name in latine from tendernesse or softnesse because they are usually of a softer temper than men and much more subject to passions especially of feare griefe love and longing their feare is almost perpetuall their griefe immoderate their love ardent and their longing most vehement such is the temper of the militant Church in feare alwayes weeping continually for her children never out of trouble in one place or other sicke for love of her husband Christ Jesus and ever longing for his second comming 4 Her weakenesse or impotencie Women are the weaker n 1 Pet. 3.7 Giving honour to the wife as to the weaker vessell vessels they have no strength in comparison of men they are able to make small or no resistance and in this also the militant Church resembleth a woman for howsoever she be alwayes strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and albeit for a short time when she had Kings and Princes for her Champions as in the daies of David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah and other Kings of Judah and in the reigne of Constantine Theodosius Martianus Justinian and other Emperours of Rome by the temporall sword she put her enemies to the worst and had a great hand over them yet in other ages as well before Christs incarnation as after she hath bin destitute of the arm of flesh and hath had no other than womens weapons to defend her self viz. prayers and teares These alone St. Ambrose tooke up for his defence against the Arrian Emperour o Amb. ep 33. R gamus Auguste non pugnamus We bow downe before thee we rise not up against thee our dread Lord. For my owne part I can sorrow I can sigh I can weepe by other meanes I neither may nor can resist 5 Her frailtie Women are not only weaker in body than men and lesse able to resist violence but also weaker in mind and lesse able to hold out in temptations and therefore the Divell first set upon the woman as conceiving it a matter of more facilitie to supplant her than the man I would the militant Church were not in this also too like the weaker sexe Faire she is I grant but p Cant. 6.10 faire as the Moone in which there are darke and blacke spots Origen in Cant. homâ— an illa verba Nigâ—a sâ—â— Nigra est sponsa pulchra tamen inter mulicres ita ut habeat aliquid Aethiopici candoris Or as St. Origen noteth pulchra inter mulieres not perfectly faire but faire among women her brightest colours are somewhat stained her graces clouded her beauty Sun-burnt Let the Pelagians and Papists stand never so much upon the perfection of inherent righteousnesse they shall never be able to wash cleane the q Esay 64 6. We are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse is as filthy ragges menstruous cloutes and filthy ragges the Prophet Esay speaketh of St. Austin who was more inward to the servants of God in his time and better acquainted with their thoughts than any Heretikes could be telleth us that if all the Saints from the beginning of the world were together upon earth and should joyne in one prayer it would be this or the like Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Nothing is so easie as to slip whilest wee walke upon a r Apoc 15 2. And I saw as it wâ—re aâ—ea of glasse mingled with fire sea of glasse For this reason it is that our Saviour teacheth us to pray Å¿ Mat. 6.13 lead us not into temptation because there is not any temptation so weake that putteth not our frailtie to the worse and albeit it overcome not our faith yet it maketh our sinewes so shrinke as Jacobs did after hee wrestled with the Angell that by it we are lamed in holy duties All those usuall similitudes whereby the Scripture setteth the Church militant before our eyes shew her frailtie and imbecilitie She is a vine a lilly a dove a flocke of sheepe in the midst of ravening wolves What tree so subject to take hurt as a vine which is so weake that it needeth continuall binding and supporting so tender that if it be prickt deepe it bleedeth to death No flower so soft and without all defence or shelter as a lilly no fowle so harmlesse as the dove that hath no gallat all no cattell so oft in danger as sheep and lambes in the midst of wolves Yet neither the weake vine nor the soft lilly nor the fearefull dove nor the harmelesse sheepe so lively expresseth the infirmitie and danger of the wayfaring or rather warfaring Church as the travelling woman in this vision What more pitifull object or lamentable spectacle can present it selfe to our eyes than a woman great with child scared with a fierie serpent ready to devoure her child and driven to fly away with her heavie burden with which she is scarce able to wag This and worse if
sed spe debemus indubitatâ praesumere Gregory impropriateth not this assurance to himselfe or some few to whom God extraordinarily revealeth their state hereafter but extendeth it to all making it a common duty not a speciall gift saying Being supported with this certainty wee ought nothing to doubt of the mercy of our Redeemer but bee confident thereof out of an assured hope By the coherence of the text in the eighth to the Romans we may infallibly gather that all that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and have received the first fruits thereof and the testimony within themselves are the Sonnes of God know that all things worke together for their good Have wee not all received the spirit of adoption doe we not come to God as children to a most loving father doe wee not daily in confidence of his love cry Abba Father If so then the Apostle addeth farther that the Spirit testifieth to our spirit that we are the sonnes of God And lest any hereticall doubt cast in might trouble the spring of everlasting comfort as if we were indeed made sonnes for the present but might forfeit our adoption and thereby lose our inheritance the Apostle cleareth all in the words following v. 17. If sonnes then heires heires of God and joynt heires with Christ God adopteth no sonne whom he intendeth not to make his heire neither can any that is borne of him cease to be his sonne because the ſ 1 Pet. 1.23 Being borne againe not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed of which he is borne is incorruptible and this seed still remaineth in him 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him There are three means of assurance among men 1 Earnests 2 Seales 3 Witnesses In bargaines earnests in deeds seales in trialls witnesses First to secure summes of money or bargaines we take earnests of men or some pledge behold this security given us by God even the t 2 Cor. 1.22 earnest of his Spirit in our hearts On which words St. u Chrysost in secund ad Cor. hom l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome thus plainely glosseth He saith not the Spirit but the earnest of the Spirit that thou mayst be every way confident for if he meant not to give thee the whole he would never have given this earnest in present For this had beene to lose his earnest and cast it away in vaine Secondly to confirme all grants licences bonds leases testaments and conveyances seales are required behold this confirmation also Ephes 1.13 In whom ye are sealed by that holy Spirit of promise and 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption Whether we speake of the seale sealing or the seale sealed we have both For we are sealed by the Spirit of grace as by the seale sealing and by the grace of the Spirit as the seale sealed that is printed upon us In reference to which place Daniel x Chamierus de fid l. 10. c. 13. Sigillorum varii sunt gradus alia simpliciter ad rei pertinent certitudinem indefinité sic Reges sigillis suis muniunt diplomata sic contrahentes sigillis schedam suam muniunt sed alia spectant personae certitudinem quae obsignari dicitur id est signo peculiari insigniri ut eo sciat se in numerum eorum ascriptum ad quos tale aliquod jus pertinet ut cum Rex Equitibus suis torques concedit ut procerto habeat se Equites esse Chamierus rightly noteth that there are seales put to things for their confirmation and certaine signes or badges answerable to seales given to persons at their investiture as a collar of S's and a blew ribbon with a George to the knights of the Garter c. We have both these seales sigillum rei by the Sacrament and sigillum personae by the Spirit which sealeth us to the day of our redemption Thirdly to prove any matter of fact in Courts of justice witnesses are produced behold this proofe of our right and title to a kingdome in heaven proofe I say by witnesses beyond exception the holy Spirit and our renewed consciences The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our Spirit that wee are the children of God Rom. 8.16 On which words St. Chrysostome thus enlargeth himselfe y Chrysost in epist ad Rom. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a man or an Angel or an Archangel had promised thee this honour to be the Sonne of God thou mightest peradventure have made some doubt of it but now when God himselfe giveth thee this title commanding thee to call him Abba Father who dare question thy title If the King himselfe pricke a Sheriffe or send him the Garter or the Seale what subject dare gainesay it Lastly as the Planets are knowne by their influence and the Diamond by his lustre and the Balsamum by his medicinall vertue and the soule by her vitall operations so the gift here promised is most sensibly knowne by the effects 1 Exceeding love 2 Secure peace 3 Unspeakable joy 4 Invincible courage He that is not certain that he hath or ever shall receive any benefit by another or comfort in him loveth but a little He that was condemned to die and cannot tell whether he hath a pardon for his life or no can be at no peace he that heareth glad tidings but giveth little credit to them rejoyceth but faintly he who hath no assurance of a better life will be advised how he parteth with this But the Saints of God and Martyrs of Jesus Christ are exceedingly enflamed with the love of their Redeemer in comparison whereof they esteeme all things as dung they enjoy peace that passeth all understanding they are ravished with spirituall joy they so little passe for this present life that they are ready not onely to be bound but to dye for the Lord Jesu they rejoyce in their sufferings they sing in the middest of the flames they lie as contentedly upon the racke as upon a bed of doune they prove masteries with all sorts of evill they weary both tortures and tormentors and in all are more than Conquerours therefore they know assuredly how they stand in the Court of heaven they feele within them what Christ hath done for them they have received already the first fruits of heavenly joyes and doubt not of the whole crop they haue received the earnest and doubt not of their full pay they have received the seales and doubt not of the deeds of their salvation they have received the testimonie of the Spirit and doubt not of their adoption they have received the white stone in my text and doubt not of their absolution from death and election to a kingdome in heaven What doe their dying speeches that ought to live in perpetuall memory import lesse First St. y 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. Pauls I am now ready to be
Carry-away as they called it that is some jewell or piece of coine with his name engraven on it or some speciall poesie Such entertainment is promised in my text and performed on this holy Table Christ who is both Hoste and feast biddeth you to his hidden Manna in the Sacrament and tendereth to every one of you a white stone with your new name written in it for your Apophoreton What remaineth but that by particular examination and fervent prayer and speciall faith and intention of devotion yee prepare your stomacks for these covered dishes and the hidden Manna and after you have fed upon it receive the white stone of absolution and keepe it safe by you and have it alwayes in your eyes Let not your importunate clients so trespasse upon your time but that you reserve alwayes some golden moments in every day and especially on the Lords day to bee clients to God So peruse other writings and Records that you forget not to search the deeds and evidences of your owne salvation before you give learned counsaile to others to secure and cleare their titles to their lands on earth aske you counsaile of the spirit and with David u Psal 119.24 make Gods statutes your counsailers to secure your title to a kingdome in heaven Make your election whereof the white stone in my text is a cleare evidence sure unto your selves by the markes which I have described unto you hatred of sinne and contempt of the world and desire of heaven secure it to your soules by the life of your faith and strength of your hope and ardency of your love and extremity of your hunger and thirst for righteousnesse and your earnest strife and most vehement fight against all your corruptions by your deepe sorrow for your sinnes carefull watching over all your wayes sonnelike feare of displeasing your heavenly father universall conformity to his will and humble submission to his rod with continuall growth in grace and mending your pace towards heaven the nearer you come to your journyes end So shall you overcome the devill by your faith the world by your hope the flesh by your spirituall love sinfull joyes by your godly sorrow carnall security by your watchfull care and filiall feare dreadfull crosses by your comfortable patience and dangerous relapses by your proficiencie in godlinesse and all sorts of temptations by your constant perseverance And thus overcomming Christ will make good his promise unto you set before you the hidden Manna and give you this white stone which none shall be able to take away from you and lay you all as so many pretious stones in the x Apoc. 21.19 foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem descending from God To whom c. THE NEW NAME THE XXVIII SERMON APOC. 2.17 And in the same stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IN this close of a letter endited by the Spirit and endorsed to the Angell of the Church of Pergamus our Emperour Christ Jesus his donatives to his victorious souldiers are set forth to the best advantage of art To him that is to every one whosoever hee bee Jew or Gentile bond or free young or old Captaine or common souldier that overcommeth the flesh by subduing it the world by despising it the devill by defying him and quenching all his fiery darts on the buckler of his faith dipt in Christs blood I will give out of my bounty not for the merit of their service the hidden Manna of consolation the white stone of absolution and the new name of adoption which no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it The hidden Manna I set before you when I first entertained your religious attention with the mysticall delicacies this text affordeth The last time I delivered unto you the white stone and now I am to spell and read unto you your new name and both declare what it is and why engraven in this white stone as also how so engraven that it can bee read by none save him who owneth it For my method I will take it from Masters of Musicke and dancing for as they first tune their instruments then finger the streines of some exquisite lessons on it finally teach their scholars how to foot the dance accordingly so the divine assistance concurring with your patience I will first by endevouring to accord the severall interpretations of the words as it were tune the strings next by delivering unto you the doctrines of this scripture set to the lessons and last of all by applying them to your lives and conversations direct you how you are to order your feet according to the heavenly musicke pricked by the Spirit in the rules of my text But because it is very hard to read letters or characters engraven in brasse or stone if the brasse or stone bee covered with dirt or blotted with inke before I proceed to spell your name I hold it requisite to rubbe out those spots and wipe away those blots which the ancient Pelagians and late Pontificians have cast upon this white stone I meane our Protestant doctrine concerning the assurance of our salvation in particular Object 1. They cast this blurre upon it That it hath no foundation in holy Scripture for where read wee say they thou William or thou John or thou Peter art assured of thy salvation 2. They cast this blurre upon it That it hath no place in the Apostles Creed and therefore in scorne and derision they tearme it the thirteenth article 3. They alledge against it That it hath no footing at all in reason For say they wee ought continually to pray for the remission of our sinnes which wee need not to doe if wee were assured of our justification and salvation 4. They article against it That it crosseth all such texts of Scripture wherein feare is commended unto us as a speciall helpe and furtherance to eternall salvation To what end doth David advise a Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with feare and Saint Paul admonish b Rom 11.20 Be not high minded but feare and c Phil. 2.12 work out your salvation with feare and trembling and Saint Peter exhort d 1 Pet. 1.17 passe the time of your sojourning here in feare if all true beleevers are so assured of their salvation that they are in no danger of forfeiting their estate of grace here or losing their crowne of glory hereafter 5. They alleage against it That it dulleth the edge of industry and cooleth the heat of zeale and taketh away all care of walking exactly before God and uprightly before men care and watchfulnesse in their judgement are superfluous where salvation and eternall happinesse is secured The first blot is thus wiped out Resp ad 1. As all parts are contained in the whole body so all particulars and singulars are vertually enclosed in generals and universals and therefore as when wee read That all men are sinners and
graces in ours doe you desire my brethren to be Johns gracious in the eyes of your Redeemer make much of those things for which hee was so much made of love those vertues above others which made him beloved above others decke your soules with those jewels the beauty whereof enamoured the Sonne of righteousnesse which are three especially 1 The Emerauld the embleme of chastity 2 The Ruby the embleme of modesty 3 The Carbuncle the embleme of love Chastity is resembled by the Emerauld which as g Rueus lib. de geminis cap. de smaragd Rueus writeth hath a singular vertue to coole the heat of lust and in this stone was the name of Levi engraven who revenged the wrong done to the chastity of his sister by the h Vid. infr Shechemites Modesty is resembled by the Ruby in whose colour the hue of that vertue appeareth And who cannot see in the glowing fire of the Carbuncle the ardencie of love Saint Jerome attributeth the overflowing measure of Christs love to Saint John to his chastity Saint Chrysostome to his modesty Aquinas to his love of Christ Saint John lived and dyed a Virgin and if wee will beleeve the Ancients the cleerenesse of his complexion answered the purity of his conversation and beauty of body and minde met here in one The beauty of the body is faire and brittle like chrystall glasse but if the gift of spirituall chastity bee incident to it like the beames of the sunne it is most lovely in the eyes of God and man Eriphile was so taken with the sparkling of an orient jewell exhibited to her that for it she sold her loyalty to her husband a farre more pretious jewell Take heed Beloved lest for favour of great ones or worldly honour or earthly treasure you put away that jewell which if you once part withall you can never recover againe There can bee nothing more hatefull to him that was borne of a pure Virgin continued a Virgin all his life and now in heaven is attended by Virgins i Apoc. 14.4 These are they which were not defiled with women for they are Virgins these are they which follow the Lambe whithersoever he goeth than to make his members the members of an harlot Wee have had the glympse of the Emerauld let us now view the Ruby Saint Johns modesty who though hee might glory truely if any in the spirit For he had seene with his eyes and heard with his eares and handled with his hands the Word of life hee was an eye-witnesse of Christs transfiguration one of the three k Gal. 2.9 pillars mentioned by Saint Paul he was a Prophet an Evangelist and an Apostle and in greater grace with his Lord and Master than any of the rest yet hee will bee knowne of no more than that hee was a Disciple hee concealeth his very name The modest opinion of our knowledge is better than knowledge and humility in excellency excelleth excellency it selfe That stone is most resplendent which is set off with a darke foyle modesty is the darke foyle which giveth lustre to all vertues How many saith Seneca had attained to wisedome if they had not thought so and therefore given over all search after it how many had proved men of rare and singular parts if they had not knowne them too soone themselves Moses face shined but he knew not of it the blessed of the Father at the day of judgement shall heare of their good workes but they shall not acknowledge them but answere saying l Mat. 25.38.39 Lord when saw we thee hungry or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sicke or in prison and ministred unto thee If wee take no knowledge of our good parts God will acknowledge them but if like Narcissus wee know and admire our owne beauty this very knowledge will metamorphize us and make us seeme deformed in the eyes of God and man Wee have viewed the Ruby let us now cast a glaunce on the Carbuncle the third precious stone Saint Johns love to Christ The maine scope of his Gospel is Christs love to us and the argument of his Epistles our love one to another As he is stiled the beloved so he might well be called the loving Disciple as hee was one of the first that came to Christ so hee was the last that left him hee was never from his side I had almost sayd out of his bosome Out of confidence of his loyall affection to his Lord when neither Peter nor any of the rest durst hee was bold to enquire of our Saviour m Joh. 13 25. who is it that shall betray thee Hee followeth Christ to the high Priests hall to the judgement seat and to the crosse where our Lord commended his n Joh. 19.26 Woman behold thy sonne Ver. 27 Then sayd hee to the Disciple behold thy Mother Mother to him and him to his Mother and his soule to his Father Love is the load-stone of love that love that drew Saint Johns heart to Christ drew Christs to him If thou desire above all things that Christ should love thee love him above all things love him with all thy heart whose heart was pierced for thee love him with all thy soule whose soule was made an offering for thee love him with all thy strength who for thee lost not onely his strength but life also Yea but you may say how can wee now shew our love to Christ he is in heaven and our bounty cannot reach so high wee have him not here to offer gold myrrhe or frankincense as the wise men did or minister to him of our substance as some religious women did or breake a boxe of precious oyntment and poure it on his head as Mary did or feast him as Simon did or wrap his corps in fine linnen as Joseph did wee have not his mother with us to keepe cherish or comfort her as Saint John did yet wee have his Spouse his Word his Sacraments his Disciples his mysticall members and if out of sincere love to him wee honour his Spouse the Church wee frequent his house the Temple wee delight in his Word the Scriptures wee come reverently and devoutly to his board the Communion Table wee give countenance and maintenance to his Meniall servants the Ministers of the Gospell and relieve his afflicted members the poore and oppressed among us wee shall bee as Johns to him gracious in his eyes Disciples nay which is more beloved Disciples yea so beloved that to our endlesse rest and comfort wee shall lye in his bosome not on earth but in heaven Which hee grant unto us who o Apoc. 1.5.6 loved us and washed our sinnes in his blood and made us Kings to command and Priests to offer our dearest affections unto him To whom c. THE ACCEPTED TIME OR THE YEERE OF GRACE THE XXXI SERMON 2 COR. 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time Behold now is the day of salvation AS at the Salutation of the
some of the reformed Churches with eyes sparkling like fire and stamping with his brazen feet to see these abominations of Jezebel winked at as they are in so many places I meddle not here with any deliberation of State fitter for the Councell Table than the Pulpit but discover to every private Christian what his duty is to refrain from the society of Idolaters I beseech them for the love of him who hath espoused their soules to himselfe and hath decked them with the richest jewels of his grace and made them a joynter of his Kingdome to beware that they be not enticed to spirituall fornication to forbeare the company of all those who solicite them in this kind nay farther to detect such persons to authority that they may learne not to blaspheme the truth of our Religion nor seduce his Majesties subjects from their allegiance to the Prince and conformity to his Lawes Pliny writeth of certaine m Plin. nat hist l. 8 c. 15. Indiginis innoxii peregrinos interimunt Efts in Tyrinth and Snakes in Syria that doe no hurt to the natives but sting strangers to death it may bee some have the like conceit of our English Seminary Priests and Jesuites who have done so great mischiefe beyond the Sea that they have no power or will to hurt any here at home and therefore dare more boldly converse with them because their outward carriage is faire But I beseech them to consider that the Panther hideth her ougly visage which shee knoweth will terrifie the beasts from comming neere her alluring them with the sweet smell of her body but as soone as they come within her reach shee maketh a prey of them Therefore as you tender the salvation of your body and soule your estate in this life and the life to come take heed how you play at the hole of the Cockatrice and familiarly converse with the great Whore or any of her Minions lest they draw you to naughtinesse and spirituall lewdnesse Have no part with them that have no part in God or have part with abominable Idols If the good Bishop Saint Ambrose being commanded by Valentinian the Emperour to deliver up a Church in his Diocesse to the Arrians gave this answer That hee would first yeeld up his life Prius est ut vitam mihi Imperator quà m fidem adimat shall wee give up our soules which are the Temples of the living God to Idolatrous worship If Saint John the Evangelist would not stay in the bath with Cerinthus the Hereticke shall we dare freely to partake with worser Heretickes in the pledges of salvation and wash our soules with them in the royall bath of Christs bloud o Ambros ep 37. Pollui se putabat si Aram vidisset ferendâ—mve est ut Gentilis sacrificet Christianus intersit Constantius the Emperour thought himselfe polluted if he had but seen an Heathenish Altar and Saint Ambrose proposeth it as a thing most absurd and intolerable that a Christian should be present at the sacrifices of the Heathen Our Saviour in this place and Saint p 1 Cor. 10. Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians would not have Christians to eate any of those things that were sacrificed unto Idols Nay the Prophet q Psal 16.4 David professeth that he will not so much as name an Idol Their offerings of bloud will I not offer nor make mention of their names in my lips I end and seale up my meditations upon these words spoken to an Angel with the words spoken by an r Apoc. 14.9 Angel If any worship the Beast and his Image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angels the Lamb and the smoake of their torments shall ascend for ever ever And they shall have no rest neither day nor night which worship the Beast and his Image whosoever receiveth the print of his name Gracious Lord who gracest the Ministers of the Gospel with the title of Angels make them in their knowledge and life angelicall keep them not only from sinnes of omission and commission but also from sinnes of permission that all may see their works and their love and their service and their faith and their patience their love of thee and their service to thee and their faith in thee and their patience for thee and their growth in all these graces and that thou maist have nothing against them And sith thou hast displayed the Romish Jezebel unto us by her three markes of imposture impurity and idolatry breed in us all a greater loathing and detestation of her abominations preserve us by the sincere preaching of the Word and powerfull operation of thy Spirit that wee bee neither deceived by her imposture to beleeve her false prophesies neither defiled in our body by her impurity to commit fornication nor in soule by her idolatry to eate things sacrificed unto Idols SERMONS PREACHED AT OXFORD FOURE ROWES OF PRECIOUS STONES A Rehearsall Sermon preached in Saint Maries Church at Oxford Anno 1610. THE XXXV SERMON EXOD. 28.15 16 17 18 19 20 21. 15. And thou shalt make the breast-plate of judgement with cunning worke 16. Foure square shall it be being doubled 17. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones even foure rowes of stones the order shall be this a Rubie a Topaze and an Emrald in the first rowe 18. And in the second row thou shalt set a Carbuncle a Saphir and a Diamond 19. And in the third row a Turkeise and an Agate and an Amethist 20. And in the fourth row a Beril and an Onyx and a Jasper and they shall be set in gold in their inclosings or imbosments Hebrew fillings 21. And the stones shall bee with the names of the children of Israel twelve according to their names like the engravings of a signet every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve Tribes Right Worshipfull c. QUintilian a Institut orat lib. 1. cap. 1. instructing parents how to lay the ground-colours of vertues in the soft mindes of tender infants and acquaint them with the rudiments of learning adviseth Eburneas literarum formas iis in lusum offerre To give them the letters of the Alphabet fairely drawne painted or carved in ivory gold or the like solid and delectable matter to play withall that by their sports as it were unawares those simple formes might be imprinted in their memories whereby we expresse all the notions of our mind in writing even so it pleased our heavenly Father in the infancy and nonage of his Church to winne her love with many glorious shewes of rites and ceremonies as it were costly babies representing the body of her husband Christ Jesus and to the end she might with greater delight quasi per lusum get by heart the principles of saving knowledge
and presenteth their prayers and them and himselfe for them to his Father For that Thummim that is perfections is an empresse becomming none but our Saviours breast all Christians will easily grant and that Urim that is lights are an Embleme of the divine nature Plato professeth saying Lumen est umbra Dei Deus est lumen luminis Light is the shadow of God and God is the light of light it selfe For Christ his third office we need not goe farre to seeke it for the Bells of Aaron sound out the preaching of the word and the Pomegranates set before us the fruits thereof and both his entire Propheticke function If there lie any mysterie hid in the numbers we may conceive the foure rowes of shining stones answerable to the foure Beasts in the Revelation full of eyes either prefigured by foure Evangelists or the foure orders in the Church Hierarchy Apostles Evangelists Doctors and Pastors as for the twelve stones doubtlesse they had some reference to the twelve Apostles for in the 21. chapter of the h Apoc. 21.14 Revelation where these twelve precious stones are mentioned it is said expresly that in the wall there were twelve foundations garnished with all manner of precious stones and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lambe You have heard the mysticall interpretation lend I beseech you an eare to the morall 1. First these glorious vestments and ornaments of Aaron set forth unto us the dignity of the Priests office i 2 Cor. 3.7 8. and if the ministration of the letter were glorious shall not the ministration of the Spirit be much more Yes how dark and vile soever our calling seemeth to the eyes of the world it shall one day appeare most glorious when they that turne many unto k Dan. 12.3 righteousnesse shall shine as starres in the firmament for evermore Here I cannot conceale from you that l In Exo. c. 28. Cappo one of the Popes Botchers taketh measure of Aarons garments to make massing vestments by as before him Durand hath done in his booke intituled rationale divinorum where he saith Noster Pontifex habet pro feminalibus sandalia pro lineâ albam pro balieo cingulum pro podere tunicam pro Ephod stolam pro rationali pallium pro cidari mitram pro lamina crucem just but where is the causible in Latine casula sic dicta quasi parva casa saith hee because it closeth the Priest round as it were with a wall having a hole for him to put out his head like a Lover to let out smoake signifying that the Priest ought to be like a little cottage with a chimney in it heated with the fire of zeale sending up hot fumes of devotion and letting them out with his breath at the LOVER of his mouth But I will not put them to so hard a taske as to parallel each of their vestments with Aarons all that I shall say to them for the present is this That the neerer they prove their vestments to come to Aarons ornaments the more ceremoniall and typicall they prove them and consequently more unfit to be retained now by Christians if the Apostles argument drawne from the m Heb. 10.1 vanishing of the shadow at the presence of the body be of any force therefore let the observation of Cappo passe with a note of plumbea falsitas not aurea veritas wherewith he graceth it 2. My second observation is that God both first beginneth with the breast and appointeth also the most glorious and precious ornaments for it n Exod. 28.4 The garments shall be these thou shalt make a breast-plate an Ephod c. after followeth the mitre to the making whereof blew silke onely and fine twined linnen is required with a plate of gold on it but for the breast-plate cloth of gold wrought about with divers colours plates of gold and foure rankes of the richest jewells in all the treasury of nature are appointed all this as we may piously conceive to signifie that God best esteemeth the breast and heart and not the head My o Pro. 23.26 sonne give mee thy heart Our heavenly Father preferreth enflamed affections above enlightened thoughts he cannot bee received or entertained in our narrow understanding yet will hee p Eph. 3.17 dwell in our hearts by faith if we enlarge them by love Cecidit Lucifer Seraphim stant aeternâ incommutabilitate incommutabili aeternitate the Angels which had their names from light fell like lightening from heaven but the ministring spirits which are by interpretation burning fire hold yet their place and ranke in the Court of God Let ambitious spirits seeke to shine in Aarons mitre or at least to be caracter'd in the Onyx stones on his shoulders my hearts desire was and ever shall be to be engraven in one of the jewells upon the breast-plate to hang with the beloved Disciple upon the bosome of my Saviour 3. Thirdly I observe yet again that the names of the twelve tribes which were before written in the Onyx stones upon the shoulders of Aaron are here engraven againe in the rowes of jewels hanging neere his heart which as it representeth Christ his both supporting and affecting his chosen supporting them on his shoulders affecting them in his heart so it teacheth all the Ministers of the Gospel to beare the names of Gods people committed to their charge not onely upon their shoulders by supporting their infirmity but also upon their hearts Ver. 29. by entirely affecting them above others and above all things Gods glory in the salvation of their soules If q John 21.15 thou love me saith Christ feed my sheep if you desire that Christ should beare you on his heart before his Father beare you the names of his Tribes his chosen on your hearts before him 4. Fourthly you may easily discerne that the stones as they are of sundry kindes and of different value so they are set in divers rowes 1. 2. 3. 4. which illustrateth unto us the divers measures of grace given to beleevers in this life and their different degrees of glory in the life to come All the stones that were placed on Aarons breast-plate were Urim and Thummim that is resplendent and perfect jewells yet all were not equall some were richer and above others in value as those in the second row even so all the elect are deare to our Saviour yet some are dearer than others he entirely affected all the Apostles yet Saint John who r John 21.20 leaned upon his breast was neerer to him than any of the other all the Jewels were set in gold in their embossements yet one was set above another in like maner all the faithfull shall shine as starres in the firmament yet some shall be set in a higher sphere than others for as the Apostle teacheth us there is ſ 1 Cor. 15.41 one glory of the Sunne and another of the Moone and another of the Starres
for one Starre differeth from another in glory and so shall be the resurrection of the dead 5. Fifthly looke yee yet neerer upon these shining stones and yee shall finde that they will not onely delight and lighten the eyes of your understanding but also heate and enflame your devout affections They are as twelve precious bookes wherein you may reade many excellent lessons printed with indeleble characters You see cleerly here the names of each of the Tribes in severall engraven let your marginall note be God hath from all eternity decreed a certaine number of Elect to bee saved and hee hath written their names in severall in the booke of life 6. Sixthly observe that the names of the Tribes are not written in paper nor carved in wood but engraven in solid and precious stones with the point of a Diamond never to be razed out let your interlineary glosse be None of those whose names are written in the book of life can be stricken out For there is no blotting interlining nor variae lectiones in that booke stars there are but no obeliskes the Elect therefore though they may fall grievously and dangerously yet not totally nor finally Stella cadens non est stella cometa fuit Were you beloved but embossed or enammeled in the ring upon our Saviours finger you were safe enough for no man can plucke any thing out of our Saviours hand but now that you are engraven as signets on our Saviours heart what can be your feare what may be your joy Is it so doth our high Priest set us on his heart and shall not wee set our heart on him shall we esteem any thing too deare for him who esteemeth us so deare unto him Hee who once upon the Crosse shed his heart bloud for us still beareth us upon his heart and esteemeth of us as Cornelia did of her Gracchi and presenteth us as it were in her words to his Father Haec sunt ornamenta mea these be my jewels Doth he make such reckoning of us and is it our desire he should doe so then for the love of our Redeemer let us not so dishonour him as to fill the rowes of his breast-plate with glasse in stead of jewels let us not make him present to his Father either counterfeit stones through our hypocrisie or dusky through earthlinesse and worldly corruption let us rub scowre and brighten the good graces of God in us that they may shine in us we may be such as our Saviour esteemeth us to be that is orient and glorious jewels The summe of all is this Yee have heard of foure rowes of precious stones set in bosses of gold upon Aarons breast-plate and by the foure rowes you understand the foure well ordered methodicall Sermons by me rehearsed by the jewels either the eminent parts of the Preachers or their precious doctrines by the embossments of gold in which these precious gems of divine doctrine were set their texts nothing remaineth but that the breast-plate being made you put it on and as Aaron did beare it on your hearts By wearing bearing it there you shall receive vertue from it and in some sort participate of the nature of these jewels in modesty of the Ruby in chastity of the Emrald in purity of the Onyx in temperance of the Amethyst in ardent love of the Carbuncle in invincible constancy of the Adamant in sacrificing your dearest hearts bloud and affections to Christ in passion for him if you be called thereunto of the Hematite You shall gloriously beautifie the brest-plate of our Aaron who hath put on his glorious apparrell and sacred robes and is entred into the Sanctum Sanctorum in heaven and at this time beareth our names on his breast for a remembrance before God his father and long it shall not be ere he come from thence and all eyes shall t Apoc. 1.7 see him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him then shall he say to us Lift up your heads looke upon my breast reade every one your name engraven in a rich jewell You were faithfull unto death therefore see here now I give you a crowne of life behold in it for every Christian vertue a jewel for every penitent teare Chrystall Pearle for every green blew wound or stripe endured for me an Emrald and a Saphir for every drop of bloud shed for the Gospel a Ruby and an Hematite weare this for my sake and reigne with mee for evermore Cui c. THE DEVOUT SOULES MOTTO A Sermon preached in Saint Peters Church in Lent Anno 1613. THE XXXVI SERMON PSAL. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Right Worshipfull c. THe words which our a Luke 12.49 Saviour spake concerning the issue and successe of his preaching may serve fitly for a preface to my intended discourse upon this Text Ignem veni missurus inter vos quid volo nisi ut accendatur I come to put fire among you or rather in you and what is my desire but that by the blasts and motions of Gods Spirit and the breath of my mouth it may presently bee kindled and burne in your hearts Burne it will not without fuell take heed therefore saith b In opusc Cave ne injicias quod fumum aut foetorem ministret Bonaventure what you cast into this fire to feed the flame for if it be grosse impure and earthy matter the flame will be obscure and the fume unsavoury but if it be refined pure and celestiall the flame will be cleare and the fume a sweet perfume in the nostrils of Almighty God Nadab and c Levit. 10.1 Abihu smoaked themselves for offering strange fire upon Gods Altar but wee are like to burne in unquenchable fire if wee offer not continually the fire I am now to treat of upon the Altar of our hearts and yet it is a strange fire too for it giveth light yet burneth not or rather it burnes yet consumeth not or rather it consumes yet impaires not but dilateth and enlargeth the heart Other fire burnes blacke and marreth the beauty of the body but this contrariwise giveth beauty to the soule for as Saint d Mor. in Job l. 18. Non clarescit anima fulgore aeternae pulchritudinis nisi hic arserit in officinâ charitatis Gregory rightly observeth the soule shineth not with the brightnesse of everlasting beauty that burneth not in the forge of charity With this beauty God is so enamoured that Saint e De dilig Deo Major est in amore Dei qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei Bernards observation is true that he is greatest in favour and in the love of God who draweth most to the love of God If we desire to know saith Saint f Aug. Enchirid ad Laurent c. 117. Austine what a man is wee enquire not what he beleeveth or what he hopeth
a fellow-feeling of one anothers miseries and to t 2 Cor 1.11 Phil. 1.4 Câ—lâ—s 4.3 2 Thes 3.1 Heb. 13.18 James 5.16 pray one for another but he no where layeth such an injunction upon the dead to pray for us or upon us to pray to them Fourthly we have many presidents in Scripture of the faithfull who have earnestly besought their brethren to remember them in their u Phil. 1.19 Gal. 4.3 2 Thes 3.1 Philem. 22. Heb. 13.18 prayers but among all the songs of Moses psalmes of David complaints of Jeremy and prayers of Prophets and Apostles you shall not find any one directed to any Saint departed from the first of Genesis to the last Verse of the Apocalypse there is no precept for the invocation of Saints no example of it no promise unto it Fifthly lastly we entreat not any man living to pray for us but either by word of mouth when he is present with us or by some friend who wee know will acquaint him with our desire or by letters when we have sure meanes to conveigh them to him whereby hee may understand how the case standeth with us what that is in particular for which we desire his prayers All which reasons faile in the invocation of Saints deceased for wee have no messengers to send to them nor means to conveigh letters to the place where they are neither are they within hearing neither can we be any way assured that they either know our necessities or are privie to the secrets of our heart For the Mathematicall glasse which some of the Schoolmen have set in heaven wherein they say the Saints in heaven see all things done upon earth to wit in God who seeth all things it hath bin long since beat into pieces for I demand Is this essence of God a necessary glasse or a voluntary that is Do they see all things in it or such things only as it pleaseth him to present to their view if they see all things their knowledge must needs be infinite as Gods is they must needs comprehend in it all things past present future yea the thoughts of the heart which God peculiarly x Apoc. 2.23 I am he that searcheth the heart and reines assumeth to himself yea the day of Judgment which our Saviour assureth us no man knoweth not the y Mat. 24.36 Angels in heaven nor the son of z Mar. 13.32 But of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels that are in heaven neither the Son but the Father man as man If they see only such things as God is pleased to reveale unto them how may he that prayeth unto them be assured that God wil reveale unto them either his wants in particular or his prayers how can he pray unto them in faith who hath no word of faith whereby hee may be assured either that God revealeth his prayers to them or that God will accept their prayers for him Certainly there was no such chrystal instrument as Papists dream of to discover unto Saints departed the whole earth all things that are in it in the time of Abraham Isaac or Josiah for St. Austin in his book de a Cap. 13. Si parentes non intersunt qui sunt alii mortuorum qui noverunt quid agamus quid ve patiamur ibi sunt spiritus defunctorum ubi non vidunt quaecunque aguntur aut evenâ—unt in istâ vitâ hominibus curâ pro mortuis out of the second book of Kings the 63. of Esay concludeth that sith kings see not the evils which befal their people after their death sith parents are ignorant of their children without doubt the Saints departed have no intelligence how things pass after their death here upon earth So far is it froÌ„ being a branch of their happines to know the passages of human affaires here that S. b Jerom. in epitaph Nepot Foelix Nepo ianus qui haec non audit non videt Jerom maketh it a part of their happines that they are altogether ignorant of them happy Nepotian who neither heareth nor seeth any of those things which would vexe his righteous soule do cause us who see hear them often to water our plants By this which hath bin said any whose judgements are not fore-stalled may perceive the impiety of that part of Romish piety which concerneth invocation of Saints it is not only needless fruitless but also superstitious most sacrilegious for it robbeth God of a speciall part of his honour and wrongeth Christ in his office of mediatour When he holdeth out his golden scepter unto us calleth to us saying Come unto me come by me I am the way shal we run to any other to bring us to him shall we seek a way to the way shall we use mediatours to our mediatour this were to lay a like imputation upon our Redeemer to that which S. c De civit Dei l. 1. Interpres deorum eget interprete sors ipsa referenda est ad sortes Austin casteth upon the heathen Apollo the interpreter of the gods needeth an interpreter we are to cast lots upon the lot it selfe Let it not seem burthensome unto you my deare brethren that I speak much in behalf of him who alone speaketh in behalf of us all we cannot do our Redeemer a worser affront we cannot offer our mediatour a greater wrong than to goe from him whom God hath appointed our perpetuall advocate intercessor imploy Saints in our suites to God as if they were in greater grace with the Father or they were better affected to us than he Have we the like experience of their love as we have of his did they pawn their lives for us have they ransomed us with their bloud will he refuse us who gave us himselfe will he not powre out hearty prayers for us who powred out his heart bloud for us will he spare breath in our cause who breathed out his soule for us shall we forsake the fountain of living water and draw out of broken cisternes that can hold no water shall we run from the source to the conduit for the water of life from the sun to the beam for light of knowledge from the head to the members for the life of grace from the king to the vassall for a crowne of glory But I made choice of this Scripture rather to stirre up your devotion than to beat down Popish superstition therfore I leave arguments of confutation set to motives of perswasion Look how the Opal presenteth to the eye the beautifull colours of almost all precious stones so the graces vertues perfections of all natures shine in the face of God to draw our love to him among which two most kindle our affection vertue and beauty nothing so lovely as vertue which is the beauty of the mind beauty which is the chief grace and vertue of the body To give vertue her due
which is the first place we speak not so properly when we say that God hath any vertue as when we attribute to him all vertue in the abstract all wisdom all justice all holines all goodnes Goodnes is the rule of our will but Gods will is the rule of goodnes it selfe we are to doe things because they are just good but contrariwise things are just good because God doth them therfore if vertue be the load-stone of our love it wil first draw it to God whose nature is the perfection of all vertue As for beauty what is it but proportion colour the beauty of colour it self is light light is but a shadow or obscure delineation of God whose face darkneth the sun dazleth the eies of the Cherubins who to save them hold their wings before them like a plume of feathers A glympse wherof when the Prophet David saw he was so ravished with it that as if there were nothing else worthy the seeing it were impossible to have enough of so admirable an object he crieth out d Psa 105.4 seek his face evermore not so much for the delight he took in beholding it as for the light he received from it For beholding the glory of God as in a mirrour with open face we are changed into his image after a sort made partakers of the divine nature ô my soul saith a Saint of God mark what thou lovest for thou becommest like to that which thou likest Si coelum diligis coelum es si terram diligis terra es audeo dicere si Deum diligis Deus es if thou sincerely perfectly lovest heavenly objects thou becomest heavenly if carnall thou becomest sensuall if spirituall thou becomest ghostly if God thou becomest divine Let us stay a while consider what a wonderful change is wrought in the soule of man by the power of divine love surely though a deformed Black-a-moor look his eies out upon the fairest beauty the world can present hee getteth no beauty by it but seems the more ougly by standing in sight of so beautiful a creature the sun burns them black darkeneth their sight who long gaze upon his beams but contrarily the Sun of righteousnes the more we looke upon him the more he enlighteneth the eies Poulin in opusc Illum amemus quem amare debitum quem amplecti chastitas cui nubere virginitas c. maketh them fair their faces shine who behold him as Moses his did after he came down from the Mount where he had parley with God O then let us love to behold him the sight of whose countenance will make us fair lovely to behold let us conform our selvs to him who wil transform us into himself let us reflect the beams of our affection upon the father of lights let us knit our hearts to him whom freely to love is our bounden duty to embrace is chastity to marry is virginity to serve is liberty to desire is contentment to imitate is perfection to enjoy is everlasting happines To whom c. THE ROYALL PRIEST A Sermon preached in Saint Maries Church in Oxford Anno 1613. THE XXXVII SERMON PSAL. 110.4 The Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Right Worshipfull c. THere are three principall attributes of God Wisedome Goodnesse Power Wisedome to comprehend all the good that can bee Goodnesse to will all that which in wisedome he comprehendeth Power to effect all that in goodnesse he willeth and decreeth for the manifestation of his justice and mercy to his creatures These three attributes of God shine most clearely in the three offices of Christ 1 Kingly 2 Priestly 3 Propheticall Power in his Kingly Wisedome in his Propheticall Goodnesse in his Priestly function For Christ by his Princely authority declareth especially the power by his Propheticall he revealeth the wisedome and by his Priesthood he manifesteth the goodnesse of God to all mankinde Christ as a Prophet in wisedome teacheth us what in his goodnesse he hath merited for us as a Priest and by his power he will bestow upon us as a King freedome from all miserie in the Kingdome of glory And on these three offices of Christ the three divine graces 1 Faith 2 Hope 3 Charity have a kinde of dependance 1 Faith holdeth on him as a Prophet 2 Hope as a King 3 Charity as a Priest For Faith buildeth upon the truth of his Prophesie Hope relieth upon the power of his Kingdome Charity embraceth the functions of his Priesthood whereby he washeth us from our sinnes in his owne bloud and maketh us a Apoc. 1.5 6. Kings and Priests unto God and his Father In this Psalme David as Christs Herauld proclaimeth these his titles First his Kingly Sit thou on my right hand ver 1. Be thou ruler in the midst of thine enemies ver 2. Secondly his Propheticall The people shall come willingly in the beautie of holinesse ver 3. Thirdly his Priestly The Lord sware thou art a Priest ver 4. To obscure which most cleare and evident interpretation of this Propheticall Psalme although some mists of doubts have beene cast in former times yet now after the Sun of righteousnesse is risen and hath dispelled them by his owne beames nothing without impietie can be opposed to it for b Mat. 22.42 43 44. there he whom David meaneth openeth Davids meaning he whom this Prophesie discovereth discovereth this Prophesie he to whom this Scripture pointeth pointeth to this Scripture and interpreting it of the Son of man sheweth most evidently that he is the King who reigneth so victoriously ver 1. the Prophet that preacheth so effectually ver 3. and the Priest that abideth continually according to the words of my text which offer to our religious thoughts three points of speciall observation 1 The ceremony used at the consecration of our Lord The Lord sware 2 The office conferred upon him by this rite or ceremonie Thou art a Priest 3 The prerogatives of this his office which is here declared to be 1 Perpetuall for ever 2 Regular after the order 3 Royall of Melchizedek First the forme and manner of our Saviours investiture or consecration was most honourable and glorious God the Father performing the rites which were not imposition of hands and breathing on him the holy Ghost but a solemne deposition of his Father with a protestation Thou art a Priest ceremonies never used by any but God nor in the investiture of any but Christ nor his investiture into any office but his Priesthood Plin. panegyr Trasan Imperium super Imperatorem Imperatoris voce delatum est nihil magis subjecti animo factum est quam quod caepit imperare At his coronation we heare nothing but the Lord said Sit thou on my right hand The rule of the whole world is imposed upon our Saviour by command and even in this did Christ shew his obedience
Fathers of children Magistrates of cities and Kings of realmes who have received your authority from God bee ruled by him by whom yee rule take him for a president in your proceedings from whom yee have your warrant hee first convinceth then reproveth after threatneth and lastly chastiseth those all those whom he loveth doe yee likewise first evidently convince then openly rebuke after severely threaten and last of all fatherly chasten with moderation and compassion all those indifferently without partiality who deserve chastisement not sparing those who are most deare and neare unto you But to the bruised reed to the drouping conscience overwhelmed with sorrow and griefe both for sinnes and the punishment thereof the Spirit speaketh in the words of my text on this wise Why doe yee adde affliction to your affliction and fret and exulcerate your own wounds through your impatience It is not as yee conceive your enemy that hath prevailed against you it is not a curst Master or a racking Land-lord or a partiall Magistrate or an envious neighbour that wreakes his spleene and malice upon you but it is your heavenly Father that striketh you and he strikes you but gently and with a small ferular neither offereth hee you any harder measure than the rest of his children so hee nurtureth them all Neither are yee cast quite out of favour though cast downe for the present nay bee it spoken for your great comfort yee are no lesse in favour than when your estate was entire which now is broken and your day cleerest which is now overcast Yee are so farre from being utterly rejected and abandoned by your heavenly father that yee are by this your seasonable affliction more assured of his care over you and love unto you For hee never saith As many as I love I smile upon or I winke at their faults but I rebuke and chasten whom hee lesse careth for hee suffereth to play the trivants and take their pleasure but hee nurtureth and correcteth you whom hee intendeth to make his heires yea joint heires with his best beloved Christ Jesus Therefore submit your souls under his mighty hand in humble patience after that raise them up in a comfortable hope kisse his rod quae corpus vulnerat mentem sanat which woundeth the body but healeth the soule makes the flesh peradventure blacke and blew but the spirit faire and beautifull Arguite castigate vos ipsos convince your owne folly rebuke your bad courses chasten your wanton flesh with watching fasting and other exercises of mortification confesse your faults and grieve not so much because yee are stricken as that ye should deserve to bee so stricken by him then will the affection of a father so worke with him that hee will breake his ferular and burne his rod wherewith hee hath beaten you and the overflowing of his future favours will make it evident that whatsoever was said or done before was in love to make you partakers of his holinesse and more capable of celestiall happinesse Wherefore let all that mourne in Zion and sigh as often as they breath for their many and grievous visitations heare what the Spirit saith to the Angel of Laodicea I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Spices pounded and beaten small smell most sweetly and Texts of Scripture yeeld a most fragrant savour of life when they are expounded and broken into parts which are here evidently foure 1 The person of Christ I. 2 The actions of this person Rebuke and chasten 3 The subject of these actions As many 4 The extent of the subject As I love 1 The person most gracious I. 2 The actions most just Rebuke and chasten 3 The subject most remarkable Whom I love 4 The extent most large As many 1 In the person you may see the author of all afflictions 2 In the actions the nature of all afflictions 3 In the extent the community of all afflictions 4 In the subject the cause of all afflictions Of this extent of the subject subject of the actions actions of Christ by his gracious assistance and your Christian patience and first of the person 1. That in all afflictions of the servants of God God is the principall agent and hath i Isa 45.7 I make peace create evill the greatest stroake needeth not so much evident demonstration as serious consideration and right and seasonable application in time of fearfull visitations For what passage can wee light upon at all adventures especially in the writings of the Prophets where wee finde not either God threatning or the Church bewailing afflictions and sore chastisements k Amos 3.6 Is there any evill in the city which I have not done saith the Lord And l Lam. 1.12 Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted mee in the day of his fierce wrath saith his captive Spouse What face of misery so ugly and gastly wherewith hee scareth not his disobedient people To them that have hard hearts and brazen browes that cannot blush hee threaneth to make m Lev. 26.19 the earth as iron and the heaven as brasse hee martials all his plagues against them sword famine pestilence stings of serpents teeth of wilde beasts blasting mildew botches blaines and what not And according as he threatneth in the law he professeth that he had done to the Israelites in the dayes of the Prophet Amos n Amos 4.6.7 8 9 10. I have sent you cleannesse of teeth and scarcity of bread in all your coasts and yet yee have not returned unto mee also I have withholden the raine from you and yet yee have not returned I have smitten you with blasting and mildew your gardens and vineyards the valmer-worme hath devoured and yet yee have not returned unto mee Pestilence I have sent you after the manner of the Egyptians and your young men I have slaine with the sword and yet yee have not returned unto mee I have overthrowne you as God overthrew Sodome and Gomorrah and you were as a fire-brand out of the burning and yet yee have not returned unto mee There being a double evill as the Schooles distinguish Malum 1. Culpae 2. Poenae the evill of sin and the evill of punishment to make him the author of the former and to deny him to be the author of the later is a like impiety For the former errour impeacheth his purity sanctity the later his justice and providence It is true that in the afflicting of his children God sometimes useth none of the best o Job 1.2 2 Cor. 12.7 Hieron lib. de vir illustr in Ignat. De Syria ad Romam pugno ad bestias in mari in terrà ligatus cum 12. Leopardis hoc est militibus qui me custodiunt quibus si benefeceris pejores sunt iniquitas eorum mea doctrina est instruments neither do they intend what God doth in laying heavie crosses upon his children yet he keepeth their malice within such
may be in our apprehension absolutely to yeeld without further disputing to him who hath more than thirty legions of Angels at his command and all the creatures in heaven and earth besides There is no contesting with soveraignty no resisting omnipotency no striving with our Maker The fish that is caught with the hooke the more he jerkes and flings the faster hold the hooke taketh on him the harder a man kickes against the pricks the deeper they enter into his heeles An earthen pitcher the more forcibly it is dashed against an iron pot the sooner it flies in pieces in like manner the more we contend against God and his judgements the more we hurt wound and in the end destroy our selves Wherefore let us not like dogges bite the stone never looking upon him that flingeth it but mark him who aimes at us and hitteth us and lay our hands on our mouth with a Psal 39.9 David saying I held my peace because thou Lord hast done it The Persian Nobles as b Annot. in Tacit. Janus Gruterus reporteth accounted it an exceeding great grace to be scourged by their Prince and though it were painfull to them yet they seemed much to rejoyce at it thanking him that he would take paines with them and minister correction unto them himselfe and shall we not much more praise the divine Majesty that hee vouchsafeth himselfe to chasten us for our good The wounds of a friend are more welcome to us than the plaisters of an enemy and a sicke patient who will not endure a bitter potion offered him by a Physician yet oftentimes taketh it from the hands of his most endeared spouse or a beloved friend and shall not all Gods children sicke of too much prosperity willingly take the bitter yet most wholsome potion of affliction from the hand of the Father of spirits Saint Paul shall close up the doctrine When c 1 Cor. 11.32 we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world and Saint Peter the use d 1 Pet. 4.19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their soules to him in well doing as unto a faithfull Creatour From the person I proceed to his actions rebuke and chasten not condemne and punish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verba virtutem non addunt soft words make smart blowes neverthelesse felt if the stroakes be as many and inflicted with equall force whether ye call it chastening or punishing all is one to the poore patient Indeed were there but a verball difference and not a reall between punishing and chastening this note would little better the musicke but if ye look more narrowly into the words ye shall find in them many and materiall differences In punishing ye shall observe a Judge in chastening a Father in punishment a satisfying of justice in chastisement a testifying of love in punishment a compensation of desert in chastisement a mitigation of favour in punishment a principall respect had to a former offence in chastisement to future amendment A Judge principally regardeth the wrong done to the law and therefore proportioneth his punishment to the quality of the offence but a father whom not love of law and justice but the law of love moveth and after a sort enforceth to do what he doth for his childes good is contented with such correction not as he deserveth for the fault he hath committed but that which he hopeth will serve for his amendment Pro magno peccato parum supplicii satis est patri In briefe this word Castigo I chasten how much soever at the first it affrighteth us yet it affordeth us this comfortable doctrine That God as a father inflicteth with griefe and compassion moderateth with mercy and directeth by providence all the stroakes that are laid upon his children 1. He inflicteth with griefe and compassion O f Hos 6.4 Ephraim what shall I doe unto thee O Judah how shall I entreat thee my bowels erne within mee and my repentings roll together and For the g Jer. 9.10 mountaines will I take up a weeping and wailing and for the habitations of the wildernesse a lamentation because they are burnt up so that none can passe through them neither can men heare the voice of the cattell both the fowle of the heavens and the beast are fled they are gone h Mic. 1.8 9. I will waile and howle I will goe stripped and naked I will make a wailing like the Dragons and mourning as the Owles for her wound is incurable 2. He mitigateth with mercy his childrens payment 1. In respect of time 1. Indefinitely 2. Definitely 2. In respect of the grievousnesse of their stroakes He mitigateth in respect of time indefinitely In a little i Esa 54 7 8. wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercy will I gather thee and The God of all k 1 Pet. 5.10 grace who hath called us into his eternall glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you Sometimes he prescribeth the definite time as to l Gen. 41.1 Joseph for his imprisonment two yeers to the m Jer. 25.11 They shall serve the King of Babel seventy yeeres Jewes for their captivity seventy yeeres to n Dan. 4.25 Nebuchadnezzar for his humiliation seven yeers to the o Apoc. 2.10 Ye shall have tribulation ten dayes Angel of Smyrna ten dayes And as he mitigateth their sufferings in respect of the time so also in respect of the grievousnesse of their punishment The Lord hath p Psa 118.18 severely chastened mee saith David but he hath not given mee over unto death God he is q 1 Cor. 10.13 faithfull and will not suffer his children to be tempted above their strength 3. He directeth by his providence and fatherly wisedome all the crosses that are laid upon his children to speciall ends for their good namely to cure their dulnesse and stupidity abate their pride tame their wanton flesh exercise their patience enflame their devotion try their love weane their desires from this world and breed in them a longing for the joyes of heaven and fruits of Paradise Prosperity flattereth the soule but trouble and affliction play the parts of true friends they rightly enforme us of the insufficiency of all worldly comforts which leave us in our extremities and can stand us in no stead at our greatest need And therefore S. Bernard very well resembleth them to rotten stakes flags and bull-rushes which men catch at that are in perill of drowning hoping by them to scramble out of the water but alas it falleth out far otherwise these help them not at all nor beare them above water but are drawne downe under water with them This most
their actions or satisfie by their passions taketh away not only all merit but all worth from them both 2. It instructeth the penitent for if afflictions are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discipline and nurture then somewhat is to be learned by them It is good for mee saith h Psal 119.71 David that I was in trouble that I might learne thy statutes Blessed is he saith Saint * Greg. mor. in Job c. 5. v. 17. Gregory who is chastened of the Lord Quia eruditur ad beatitudinem because he is set in the right way to blessednesse The Greekes say in their Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines answer them both in the rime reason Nocumenta documenta that is we gain wit by our losses and the rod imprinteth learning into us What wee learne in particular by it I shall God willing declare at large hereafter this lesson shall suffice for the present That as a loving father never beateth his child without a fault so neither doth God chasten us without a cause our sins are the cords which furnish his whip Lam. 3.39 Man suffereth for his sinne It is true that sinne is not the adaequate or onely cause for which God striketh his children yet is it alwayes causa sine quâ non a cause without which hee never striketh them i Joh. 9.3 Although neither the blind man his sinne nor his fathers were the cause why hee was borne blind more than other men but that through the miraculous cure of his blindnesse all might see the divine power of Christ yet certaine it is that hee and his father for their sinnes deserved it or a greater punishment Likewise Jobs sinnes were not the cause why the arrowes of the Almighty fell thicker upon him than any other but it was to make him a rare mirrour of patience and convince Satan of his false slander and to take occasion of crowning him with greater blessings in this life and everlastingly rewarding him hereafter yet Job denies not that those calamities fell justly upon him k Job 7.20 I have sinned saith he O Lord what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men 3 It comforteth all that are afflicted there are as many arguments of comfort in it as words of arguments Is any man either impoverished with losses or visited with sicknesse or strucken with soares or oppressed with heavie burdens or pined with famine or grieved with death of friends or affrighted with terrours of conscience let him lay this text of holy writ to his heart and it will presently asswage his paine and in the end if not cure his malady yet make it sufferable yea and comfortable also to him Let him thus question with himselfe Who afflicteth me It is answered God I. How proceedeth hee to afflict After warning and upon conviction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rebuke What are afflictions chastisements and chasten Whom doth he thus afflict only some stubborn and obstinate sinners or desperate cast-a-wayes nay but all his children as many Why afflicteth he Because he loveth them I. It is God that smiteth me can I resist his power must I not obey his will Rebuke Hee hath given me warning before and I suffer but what I deserve Quae venit ex merito poena ferenda venit Chasten Hee inflicteth with griefe moderateth with love guideth with fatherly providence what hee ordereth mee to suffer shall I refuse nurture and shew my selfe a bastard and no sonne had I rather hee should leave me to my selfe to follow my owne courses according to the bent of my corrupt nature with a purpose to deprive mee of his glory and dis-inherite me of his kingdome As many Hee disciplineth all his children am I better than all the rest As I love His only motive herein is his love and shal I take that ill which is sent to mee in love shall I bee afraid of and refuse love tokens shall I bee grieved and dismaid because I have now more sensible experience of his care and love than ever before To joyne all together to make of them all a strong bulwarke against impatiency in all sorts of afflictions and tribulations Shall wee either stubbornly refuse or ungraciously despise or take unkindly after all faire meanes by us sleightened the deserved chastisement of our heavenly father which with great moderation and greater griefe he inflicteth upon all his deerest children in love Can we justly repine at any thing offered us upon these tearmes is not this salve of the spirit alone of it selfe able to allay the most swelling tumour of the greatest hearts griefe I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Rebuke and chasten So doth the Translatour render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly and answerably to the main intent of the Spirit but not fully and agreeably to the nature of the letter wee have no one English word capable of the whole contents of the two words in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primarily signifieth to evict or convince to give evidence of any thing or against any person to lay his sinnes open before him in such sort that hee cannot but see them and bee ashamed of them as in these passages l Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m Eph. 5.11 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n Psal 50.21 Bud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the evidence of things not seene and I will rebuke thee and set thy sinnes in order before thy face and Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but by the light of truth discover and openly rebuke them Likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word much more pregnant than chasten and if you will have it in one word expressed is I nurture or I discipline for the word implyeth as well instruction as correction Now out of the nature of the phrase which signifieth to rebuke upon conviction or evidently convince by reproofe and the order of the words first rebuke and then chasten All Judges and Ministers of justice are lessoned to bee better instructed and informed in the causes they sentence than usually they are to sift matters to the very bran to weigh all circumstances together before they give judgement For to reprove without cause deserveth reproofe to censure without a fault deserveth censure and to punish without conviction deserveth punishment o Fulgent ad Monimum Ipsa justitia si puniendum reum non invenerit sed fecerit injusta est Punishing justice if it fall not upon a party legally convicted is it selfe injustice and punishable in a Magistrate Now that they who are in authority may not exercise injustice in stead of executing justice 1 They must indifferently heare both parties Philip kept an eare alwayes for the defendant p Orat. de coron in prooem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes in his famous oration for Ctesiphon putteth the Athenian Judges in mind of this which he calleth
it the more vertue we shall finde in it and use to be made of it I have already counted many particulars in my former discourses upon these words and the supply of the rest together with the summe of the whole shall be my taske for the remainder of the time I will begin with the occasion which was a deepe wound of griefe which the Angel of Laodicea might seeme to have received from that keene and cutting reproofe Because thou art neither hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my mouth Now that he might not take on too farre by reason of so grievous and heavie a message the Spirit verifieth his name Paracletus and healeth and suppleth the wound with these comfortable words As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Gather not too much upon my former sharp reproofes and threats against thine owne soule there is yet place for thy zealous repentance despaire not of my favour nor wrong my love in thy over-weening conceit I would not have so rebuked thee if I had not loved thee Are those that are in Gods place to rebuke sinne and chasten offenders so carefull not to drive them to desperate courses will they daigne as God here doth to yeeld a reason of their proceedings and mitigate their sharpe censures with favourable expositions take away all scruples out of mens minds which their speeches and actions might otherwise leave in them Yee see the occasion and by it the scope of the Spirit and connexion of the words which carry this sense I rebuke with conviction and chasten with instruction all those whom I love not onely at large as I doe all mankind but in a speciall manner as I doe those whom I intend to make heires and co-heires with my only begotten Son Here wee have a speciall action of Gods carefull providence over his children Now the actions of God may be considered in a double respect either as they come from the Soveraigne of all power above us or as he is the patterne of all goodnesse to us as they are actions of soveraignty they require of us obedience and an awfull and a trembling regard of them as they are examples of goodnesse we are to seeke to imitate them and expresse them in our lives According to the former consideration these actions of God and words of my Text rebuke and chasten strengthen those that are under the rod but according to the latter they direct those that are to use it the former when they are chastened the latter when they chasten are to take notice of the severall circumstances set down in the Text. More particularly and plainly thus 1. We learne out of the words Gods care of his whom he reclaimes by threats and chastenings from their evill courses 2. The condition of the Church militant which is seldome without rebukes and chastenings 3. The imperfection of inherent righteousnesse and difficulty or rather impossibility of performing the Law now after our fall all Gods deare children are rebuked and chastened by him and therefore are not without blame or fault These are the speciall observations Their use must be to informe our judgement in the true estimate of the things of this life to stirre up our love to God who taketh such care of and paines with us as it were to call us home unto him by threatning of judgements and correcting us with a fatherly and compassionate affection Let us yet resume the words and consider the proceedings of the Almighty and wee shall see in God his actions the Magistrate his direction and charge and in the Magistrate his charge of distributing these tokens of Gods love the duty of all inferiours to receive them with the same affection wherewith they are given The Minister is to reprove the Judge to convince the Father to nurture the Magistrate to punish the Master to discipline those that are under them without partiality with moderation and in love those that are under their authority they may not revile but rebuke not torment but chasten not some in a spleen but all in love by the example of the Spirit in my Text God rebuketh whom he liketh and chasteneth whom he rebuketh and loveth whom he chasteneth Amor ille fraternus saith Saint d Aug. confes lib. 10. c. 4. Respirent in bonis suspirent in malis Austine we may say paternus sive approbet me sive improbet me diligit O that fatherly mind which whether it approve mee or reprove mee still loveth mee is worth all Amor saith the old man in the Poet est optimum salsamentum Love is the best sawce of all it giveth a rellish to those things that are otherwise most distastefull and loathsome It is most true of Gods love for it maketh rebukes gratefull and even chastenings comfortable I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Happy are we if we are of these many for e Job 5.17 blessed is he whom God correcteth Howsoever all chastening seemeth grievous unto us for the present yet it after bringeth the f Heb. 12.11 quiet fruit of righteousnesse to those that are exercised thereby Wherefore it is worth the observation that David prayeth not simply O Lord rebuke mee not neither chasten mee for that had been as much as to say O Lord love mee not for God rebuketh and chasteneth every one whom he loveth but he addeth g Psal 6.1 Rebuke mee not in thine anger neither chasten mee in thine heavie displeasure or as Junius rendereth it out of the Hebrew in aestu irae tuae in the heat of thy wrath I rebuke Was it enough to allay and coole the boyling rage of the young man in the comedy Pater est si non pater esses were thou not my father shall not this word I in my Text and this consideration that Gods hand is in all our afflictions be more forcible to quell the surges of our passions within the shore of Christian patience that they break not forth and fome out our own shame It was the speech of Laban Bethuel though devoid of the knowledge of the true God h Gen. 24.50 This thing is proceeded of the Lord we cannot therefore say neither good nor evill We who are better instructed must alter the words and say This thing is proceeded of the Lord this crosse is sent us from him therefore we cannot but say good of it we must thanke him for it In this losse sicknesse disgrace banishment imprisonment or whatsoever affliction is befallen us the will of our heavenly Father is done upon us and is it not our daily prayer Fiat voluntas tua Thy will be done Looke we to the author and finisher of our salvation hee bowed his will to take upon it his Fathers yoake shall we with a stiffe necke refuse it Father saith he let this cup passe let it passe if it be possible let it passe Ye heare he prayeth thrice against the drinking of it with all
possible vehemency and earnestnesse yet presently he yeeldeth to forgoe his will and undergoe his passion Sed fiat voluntas tua non mea But thy will be done not mine or Neverthelesse not as I i Mat. 26.39 will but as thou wilt Not as I will these words imply an unwillingnesse Neverthelesse be it done as thou wilt sheweth a resolute will here is a consent of will without a will of consent a will against a will or a will and not a will Non mea sed tua As man he expressed a naturall feare of death and desire of life yet with a submission to the will of his Father it was not his will to take that cup for it selfe and antecedently and as he saw wrath in it yet as hee saw the salvation of man in it and greater glory it was his will to drink it off consequently because such was his Fathers good pleasure to which his will was alwayes subordinate Saint k Cyp. de bono patient Dominus secit voluntatem Patris sui nos non faciemus patiemur voluntatem Domini Cyprian speaketh home in this point to all that repine at what God sendeth them be it never so bitter to their carnall taste Our Lord did and suffered the will of his Father shall not we doe and suffer the will of our Lord he conformed his will to his Fathers shall not we ours to his If these inducements from the love of God and example of our Saviour which prevaile most with the best dispositions worke not kindly with us let vulgar and common discretion teach us to make a vertue of necessity Suffer we must what God layes upon us for who can l Rom. 9.19 resist his will If we suffer with our will wee gaine by our sufferings a heavenly vertue for a worldly losse or crosse we make a grace of a judgement if we suffer against our will we suffer neverthelesse and lose all benefit of our sufferings We adde drunkennesse to thirst and impatience to impenitence passive disobedience to active and what doth obstinacy and rebellion against the will of God availe us Doe the waves get by their furious beatings against the rockes whereby they are broken the bones in our body by resisting the lightening whereby they are bruised and consumed the soft and yeelding flesh being no way hurt The strong and tallest trees by their stiffe standing and setting themselves as it were against the wind give the wind more power over them to blow them downe to the ground and teare them up by the root whereas the reeds and bents by yeelding to every blast overcome the wind and in the greatest and most blustering storme keep their place and standing Alas the more we struggle and strive and tugge to plucke our necke out of Gods yoake the more paine we put our selves to the oftner and stronger we kicke at the prickes of Gods judgements the deeper they enter into our heeles m Vae oppositis voluntatibus quid tam poenale quà m semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit inaeternum non obtinere quod vult quod non vult inaeternum sustinere Woe be to these crosse wills saith St. Bernard they shall never attaine what they would and they shall ever sustaine and endure what they would not As grace in the godly is a means to procure the increase of grace as the cymball of Africa sweetly tinckleth Ipsa meretur augeri ut aucta mereatur so punishment in the wicked through their impatience becommeth a meanes to improve both their sinnes and punishments for after they have suffered for not doing the will of God they are againe to suffer and that most deservedly for their not suffering patiently their most deserved punishments If any be so wedded to their wills that they will not be severed from it no not to joyne it and themselves to God let them in the last place consider that the only meanes to have their will perpetually is to resigne it to God not only because Voluntas inordinata est quae non est subordinata The will which is not subordinate to God is inordinate and therefore not to be termed will but lust but especially because such is the condition proposed to us by God either to suffer temporall chastisements for our sinnes with our wills or eternall punishments against our wills If we will have our will in all things here we shall want it for ever hereafter but if we will be content to want our wills here in some things for a time we shall have our will in all things and fill also of heavenly contentments for evermore hereafter And chasten If all afflictions of the godly are chastenings and all chastenings are for instruction then to make the right use of them we are not only in general but also in particular to search our selvs what those sins are in our soules which God seeketh to kill in us by smart afflictions If our affliction be worldly losses let us consider with our selvs whether our sin were not covetousnesse if disgrace and shame whether our sinne were not ambition if scarcity and famine whether the sinne were not luxury if bodily paines torments or aches whether wee offended not before in sinfull pleasures if a dangerous fall whether the fault were not confidence in our owne strength if trouble of mind and a fit of despaire whether before we provoked not God by security and presumption This to have bin the practice of Gods Saints as in other examples so we may cleerly see in the brethren of Joseph who impute the hard measure that was mett to them in Egypt to the like hard measure they had mett to their brother Joseph saying one to another n Gen. 42.21 We verily sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soule when he besought us and we would not heare therefore is this anguish come upon us We find it also in Saint Paul who conceived that the o 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him that he might not be lifted up above measure with his so many graces and speciall revelations And when certain virgins ravished by barbarous souldiers in regard they found in themselves no spot of impurity before they suffered this violence called in question the justice of God for permitting those unclean persons to have their will of them who had all their life preserved their honour and reputation untainted and their bodies unspotted Saint p Lib. 1. de civit Dei c. 28. Austine wisely adviseth them to search their hearts whether those insolent indignities offered them by the worst of men might not be a punishment of some other sinne rather than unchastity and in particular whether their sinne were not their pride of this vertue and too highly prizing their virginity for pride even of virginity is as fowle a sinne before God as impurity As many
double with God and are of a changeable religion to have no faithfulnesse or honestie By how much the graces and perfections of the mind exceed those of the body by so much the imperfections and deformities of the one surpasse the other what may wee then judge of wavering inconstancie which is compared to a spirituall palsey or an halting in the mind Halt yee Though the metaphor of halting used in my text might signifie either a slacknesse or slownesse in the way of godlinesse or a maime in some member or article of their faith yet according to the scope of the place and consent of the best Expositors I interpret it unsettled wavering and inconstancie For he that halteth is like a man of a giddie braine in a cock-boat or wherrie who turneth the boat sometimes this way sometimes that way not knowing where to set sure footing The opposite vertue to this vice is a stedfast standing in the true faith whereto S. Paul exhorteth the Corinthians i Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. And the Colossians If yee continue in the faith k Chap. 1.23 grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospell and for it he heartily prayeth For this cause I bow l Ephes 3.14 16 17 18 19. my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ that hee would grant you according to the riches of his glorie to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that yee being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth length depth height to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulnes of God The Pythagorians who delighted to represent morall truths by mathematicall figures described a good man by a cube whence grew the proverb Homo undique quadratus A perfect square man everie way The reason of this embleme is taken from the uniformitie stabilitie of this figure which consisteth of six sides exactly equall on which soever it falleth it lies stedfast As the needle in the mariners compasse while it waggleth to fro till it be settled fixed to the North-point giveth no direction no more doth our faith till it be settled unmoveably pointeth directly to the true religion which is the only Cynosure to guide our brittle barks to the faire havens where we would be Between two opinions It is bad to halt but worse as I shewed before to halt betweene two opinions which may be done two manner of wayes 1. Either by leaving both keeping a kind of middle way betwixt them 2. Or by often crossing from one to the other and sometimes going or rather limping in the one and sometimes in the other The former is their hainous sinne who in diversitie of religions are of none the latter of them who are of all The former S. m Confess l. 6. c. 1. Cum maâ—â— indicassem non me quidem jâ—â— esse Maniâ—â—aeâ—m sed nec Catholicum Christianum Austine confesseth with teares to have beene his piteous case when being reclaimed from the heresie of the Manichees and yet not fully perswaded of the truth of the Catholique cause he was for the time neither Catholique nor Manichee Which estate of his soule he fitly compareth to their bodily malady who after a long and grievous disease at the criticall houres as they call them feele suddenly a release of paine yet no increase of strength or amendment at which time they are in greater danger than when they had their extreme fits on them because if they mend not speedily they end For there can be no stay in this middle estate betweene sicknesse and health The wise Law-giver of Athens Solon outlawed and banished all those who in civill contentions joyned not themselves to one part How just this Law may be in Common wealths on earth I dispute not this I am sure of that our heavenly Law-giver will banish all such out of his Kingdome who in the Church civill warres with Heretiques joyne not themselves to one part I meane the Catholique and Orthodox The Praetor of the Samnites spake to good purpose in their Senate when the matter was debated whether they should take part with the Romans against other Greekes or carrie themselves as neuters n Media via neque amicos patit neque iniâ—icos tolliâ— This middle way saith hee which some would have us take as the safest for us because thereby we shall provoke neither partie as bolding faire quarter with both is the unsafest way of all for it will neither procure us friends nor take away our enemies Of the same minde was the great Statesman Aristenus who after hee had weighed reasons on all sides o Romanos aut socios habere aut hostes oportere mediam viam nullam esse Liv. Dec. 4. l. 1. Macedonum legati Aetolis sâ—â—ò ac nequiâ—quâ—m cum Doâ—inum Romanum habebitis socium Philippum quaeretis resolved that the Romans so peremptorily demanding aid of them as they did they must of necessitie either enter into confederacie strict league with them or be at deadly fewd that middle way there was none Apply you this to the Roman faith and it is a theologicall veritie upon necessitie wee must either hold communion with the Roman Church or professedly impugne her and her errours God cursed q â—udg 5.23 Meros for not taking part with the Israelites against their and Gods enemies and Christ in the Gospel openly professeth r Matt 12.30 He that is not with me is against me Media ergo via nulla est The second kinde of halting betweene two opinions may be observed in those who are sometimes of one and sometimes of another Men of this temper though they seeme to be neerer health than others yet indeed they are in more danger as the Angell of Å¿ Apoc. 3.16 Laodicea his censure maketh it a cleare case For though they may seem to be more religious than they who professe no religion yet sith it is impossible that truth falshood should stand together all their religion will be found to be nothing else but dissimulation and so worse than professed irreligion Here that speech of Philip concerning his two sons u Plut. Apoph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hecaterus and Amphoterus may have place Hecaterus is Amphoterus and Amphoterus is Udeterus that is hee whose name is Either of the two is worth Both but he whose name is Both is neither The Nazarean Heretiques saith S. Austine while they will be both z Aug. de haer Ad quod vult Deum 2 Kings 17. 29 30 33. Jewes and Christians prove neither one nor the other Doth
and crucifying the lusts of the flesh than in verbo or signo After these three wayes we must all shew forth the Lords death Till he come To wit either to each particular man at the houre of his death or to all men and the whole Church on earth at the day of judgement This Sacrament is called by the auncient Fathers viaticum morientium the dying mans provision for the long journey he is to take Every faithfull Christian therefore is to communicate as long as he is able and can worthily prepare himselfe even to the day of his dissolution and all congregations professing the Christian religion must continue the celebration of this holy Sacrament till the day of the worlds consummation As often The seldomer we come to the table of some men the welcomer we are but on the contrary wee are the better welcome the oftener wee come to the Lords Table with due preparation There are two reasons especially why wee ought oft to eate of this bread and drinke of this cup the first is drawne from God and his glory the second from our selves and our benefit The oftener we partake of these holy mysteries being qualified thereunto the more we illustrate Gods glory and confirme our faith If any demand further how oft ye ought to communicate I answer 1. In generall as oft as yee need it and are fit for it The x Cypr. ep 54. Quomodo provocamus eos in confessione nominis Christi sanguinem suum fundere si iis militaturis Christi sanguinem denegamus aut quomodo ad Martyrii poculum idoneos facimus si non eos prius ad bibendum in Ecclesiâ poculum jure communicationis admittimus Martyrs in the Primitive Church received every day because looking every houre to be called to signe the truth of their religion with their bloud they held it needfull by communicating to arme themselves against the feare of death Others in the time of peace received either daily or at least every Lords day The former Saint Austine neither liketh nor disliketh the latter he exhorteth all unto 2. I answer in particular out of Fabianus the Synod of Agatha and the Rubrick of our Communion booke that every one at least ought to communicate thrice a yeere at Christmas Easter and Whitsontide howbeit we are not so much to regard the season of the yeere as the disposition of our mind in going forward or drawing backe from this holy Table The sacrament is fit for us at all times but wee are not fit for it y Gratian. de consecrat distinct 2. Quotidié Eucharistiam dominicam accipere nec laudo nec vitupero omnibus tamen dominicis communicandum hortor Ibid. Qui in natali Domini Paschate Pentecoste non communicaverint catholici non credantur nec inter catholicos habeantur wherefore let every man examine his owne conscience how hee standeth in favour with God and peace with men how it is with him in his spirituall estate whether he groweth or decayeth in grace whether the Flesh get the hand of the Spirit or the Spirt of the Flesh whether our ghostly strength against all temptations be increased or diminished and accordingly as the Spirit of God shall incline our hearts let us either out of sense of our owne unworthinesse and reverence to this most holy ordinance forbeare or with due preparation and renewed faith and repentance approach to this Table either to receive a supply of those graces we want or an increase of those we have and when we come let us Eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. For as both eyes are requisite to the perfection of sight so both Elements to the perfection of the Sacrament This the Schooles roundly confesse Two things saith z Part. 3. q. 63. art 1. Ideò ad Sacramenti hujus integritatem duo concurrunt scilicet spiritualis cibus potus Et q. 80. art 12. Ex parte ipsius Sacramenti convenit quod utrumque sumatur corpus scilicet sanguis quia in utroque consistit perfectio Sacramenti Aquinas concurre to the integrity of the Sacrament viz. spirituall meate and drinke and againe It is requisite in regard of the Sacrament that we receive both kindes the body and the bloud because in both consisteth the perfection of the Sacrament And * Bonavent in 4. sent dist 11. part 2. art 1. Perfecta refectio non est in parte tantùm sed in utroque ideò non in uno tantùm perfectè signatur Christus ut reficiens sed in utroque Bonaventure A perfect refection or repast is not in bread only but in bread and drinke therefore Christ is not perfectly signified as feeding our soules in one kind but in both And a Soto in 12. distinct q. 1. art 12. Sacramentum non nisi in utrâque specie quantum ad integram signification em perficitur Soto The Sacrament as concerning the entire signification thereof is not perfect but in both kindes Doubtlesse if the Sacrament be a banquet or a supper there must be drinke in it as well as meate The Popish communion be it what it may be to the Laity cannot be a supper in which the Laity sup nothing neither can they fulfill the precept of the Apostle of shewing forth the Lords death for the effusion of the wine representeth the shedding of Christs bloud out of the veines and the parting of his soule from his body If we should grant unto our adversaries which they can never evict that the bloud of Christ might be received in the bread yet by such receiving Christs death by the effusion of his bloud for us could in no wise bee represented or shewen forth which the Apostle here teacheth to be the principall end of receiving this Sacrament As oft saith he as yee eate of this bread and drinke of this cup Yee shew forth Christs death In Christs death all Christianity is briefly summed for in it we may observe the justice of God satisfied the love of Christ manifested the power of Sathan vanquished the liberty of man from the slavery of sinne and death purchased all figures of the Old Testament verified all promises of the New ratified all prophecies fulfilled all debts discharged all things requisite for the redemption of mankind and to the worlds restoration accomplished Therein we have a patterne of obedience to the last breath of humility descending as low as hell of meeknesse putting up insufferable wrongs of patience enduring mercilesse torments compassion weeping and praying for bloudy persecuters constancy holding out to the end to which vertues of his person if ye lay the benefits of his passion redounding to his Church which hee hath comforted by his agony quit by his taking justified by his condemnation healed by his stripes cleansed by his bloud quickened by his death and crowned by his crosse if you take a full sight of all the vertues wherewith his crosse is beset as with so