the Church is profitable and healthfull to her members Shee restores health to her members by monitions and admonitions strengthning them that are sound by wholesome Doctrine and restoring them that are sicke by good discipline But if any member be past cure then w Ovid Metamorph Immedicabile vulnus Ense redendū est ne pars sincera trahatur Then shee cuts it off by the spirituall sword of Excommunication Those that are in the barren Wildernes without the pale of the Church are miserable there is mors in olla death is in their pot but those that are within the pale of the Church in that fruitfull Field are happy there is health in her bosome The Church of God is the House of God x 1 Tim. 3.15 the Pillar and ground of truth And shee is very profitable unto her members Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus is a common saying among the fathers without the Church there is no salvation Without the Church they cannot attayne unto the right of adoption whereby they that live faithfully are made actually the children of GOD. They that continue in the Ship of the Church are secure y Doctor Boy though the Sea make a noyse and stormes arise but hee that utterly forsakes the Ship of the Church and swims either in the cockboate of heresies or upon the windy bladders of his owne conceipt shall never touch the land of the living Those that are out of the Church have not the communion and interest of the members with the head and being no part of his body how can they lay claime to his benefits or challenge right to the Kingdome of heaven And to this purpose heaven is called z Acts. 26.18 the inheritance of them which are sanctifyed by faith in CHRIST Nothing now remaines to be spoken of at this time but onely that every one fill his pitcher with this water and carry it home for his owne use which that wee may doe I shall briefly apply First in that the Church is the red Rose by persecution every one should learne patience in his affliction Remember the sufferings of Christ wee doe but sup of that Cup which hee dranke quite off Nihil est quod non aequanimiter tolleretur si passio Christi in memoriam revocetur a St. Gregory There is no affliction so great no crosse so grievous that will not easily be borne by us if wee doe remember the sufferings of Christ And therefore Vniversa pro eo sustine qui prius pro te Majora sustinuit saith St. Bernard b de Resurrec Dom. suffer some persecution for his sake that suffered more for thine Secondly let us labour for our Renovation that our newnes of life may send forth a sweet savour in our conversation Thirdly in that the Church and the members thereof shall rise from the dead it affords matter of our consolation For so the Prophet David speakes c Psa 16.9.10 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Fourthly seeing the Church is of Gods owne plantation let us looke to our fructification Our Saviour putteth forth the parable of the Figge tree to us d Luke 13.6 A certaine man had a Figge Tree in his Vineyard and hee came and sought fruit thereon three Yeares Every one of us is a Tree planted in the Vineyard of the Church God hath expected fruit of us three Yeares in generall of the whole Kingdome under the Raignes of our most gracious Soveraignes Queene Elizabeth King Iames and King Charles in particular of every private persons the three ages of mans life infancy youth old age let not us give him the bark of an outward profession onely nor the leaves of good works but the fruit of good workes Lastly seeing the Church is open to all commers let every one of us labour to be of that corporation that we may bee partakers of all the benefits that accrew thereby and that being members of the Church militant we may reigne with the Church triumphant Which God grant unto us all for Iesus Christs sake To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost three persons and one God be al honour and praise now and for ever Amen THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON 1638. To The Right Worshipfull his much Honoured friend THOMAS PARKS Esquier SIR IF Elisha were at a stand when hee considered what the good Shunamite had done for him that hee askes a 2 Kings 4.13 What is to bee done againe for her And Ahasuerus for Mordecay when hee had receaved a good turne from him that hee saies b Esther 6.3 What hath beene done to him for this How much more maie I saie of you you have been beneficiall to mee from my Youth What dutie and service shall J returne to you againe J confesse that if there bee anie thing in these my weake labours that maie deserue acceptance you maie justlie challenge it as your owne Without whose bountie I had not lived in the University nor attained to that small measure of knowledge that J have And therefore being able to doe nothing else J commit this Sermon to your Patronage and protection and your selfe your fruitfull Vine and Olive branches to the protection of the Almighty desiring him to give you the blessings of his Right hand and of his left to fill you with the blessing of grace heere and of glorie hereafter Yours to be commanded in Christ Jesus WILLIAM PARKES THE ROSE AND LILY. SOLOMONS SONG 2.1 J am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the vallyes WHat S. Ierome sayes a Ad Paulin. of the Catholique Epistles of S. Peter S. James S. John and S. Jude Breves esse pariter long as that they are both short and long so may I say of this Text it is short in words but long in matter And what S. Austin sayes b Praefat in Psal 87. of the fourescore and seaventh Psalme Brevis est numero verborum magnus pondere sententiarum that it is short in regard of the number of the words long in respect of the weightines of the matter so may I say of this Text it is a short sentence but full of sence conteyning matter for almost as many Sermons as it conteynes words It being but five words in the Originall yet is the subject of foure Sermons Three of them have been delivered formerly and now the fourth the same assistance strengthing and the same patience expecting is to be prosecuted in shewing you wherein the Church resembles the Lily of the Valleys First the Lily is open toward heaven but close and
THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON for GEORGE WILNE 1639. ⧠To the Right Honourable HENRY Earle of Huntingdon Lord Hastings Hungerford Botreaulx Molins and Moules and Lord Lieutenant of his Majestes County of Leicester and Rutland my Honoured Lord. Right HONOVRABLE IT is not any want of Bookes in these daies of ours wherein they doe so much abound that moves mee to publish these my weake labours nor yet any desire I have to shew myself in Print J am too sensible of mine owne imperfections to be desirous to shew them to the World But considering my engagments especially to your Honour and not willing to be altogether guilty of that hatefull sinne of ingratitude but knowing no other way to expresse my thankefulnes J have pitched upon this chooseing rather to shew my selfe a weake man then ingratefull J must confesse I had rather be silent then be seen in Print And my small fortunes had made me as dejected in person as J was in place untill it pleased your Honour to cast the beames of your countenance on mee in giving mee part of this Lecture where these Sermons were preached which made me a little erigere caput to peepe up and shew my selfe if to no other end then this to expresse my thankfulnes it were a sufficient cause to move mee to it J have heere endevoured to give unto your Honour not only what Aeschines gave unto Socrates me ipsum but even Deum ipsum for it is an unfolding of some part of those Mysteries that concerne Christ of whom your Honour is a livelie member in his Church militant and will be untill you are a full partaker of all his benefits in the Church triumphant which that your Honour may be is the prayer of Your Lordships dayly Orator and most humbly devoted Chaplaine WILLIAM PARKES The Praeface to the Reader I Will use no Praeface but onely say as Ruffinus did to Laurentius a Interopa Cyp. habetur pag. 543. Mihi quidem ad scribendum animus tam non est cupidus quam nec Idoneus scienti non esse absque periculo multorum judiciis ingemum teme exile committere And indeed when I first pend these sermons I did not intend to put them to the Presse nor to expose my selfe and them to that which the World is too full of censure But finding some part of it in the delivering of them as namely for the urging of fathers in Latine in my Sermons c. for which I have beene traduced behinde my back and perswaded to my face to leave them I could therefore doe no lesse for the justifying of my selfe and the satisfying of others then commit them to the eye as I did to the eare to see whether they deserue any Pragmaticall censure It is a true observation of Macrobius b Lib. 6. Satur that Multa ignoramus quae non laterent si veterum lectio nobis esse familiaris wee are ignorant of many things which would not be hid unto us if the reading of ancient writers were familiar with us yet such is the humor of some that nothing can please them except it be plaine and delivered ex tempore from mens owne braynes without any ground or light from any ancient fathers Though nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius c Terent Eunuch prolog There is no new thing under the Sunne d Eccles. 1.9 yet such is the condition of these Athenians that they are altogether for novelties which makes their itching eares to be delighted with new fangled teachers which preach the Chymaeraes of their owne braynes altogether neglecting the fathers of the Church If Prayers or Sermons be pend they are presently sleighted and the more paynes are taken in them the lesse acceptance have they with these men I know no reason he had to teare out the Athanasian Creed out of his bible when it was read in the Church but onely to satisfy his owne humour and as little that our Novelists have to except against our Church liturgy except it bee for that suffrage from all blindnes of heart from pride vaine glory and hypocrisy from envy hatred and malice and all uncharitablenes Good Lord deliver us which is a great part of their Religion And I know lesse reason for any to censure so rashly as to say that a pend Sermon never converted soule for I dare presume to maintaine that many have beene converted by reading and I thinke it must bee pend before it be printed and written before it be read Wee read in the Gospell e John 3. that Christ turned water into wine hee might as easily have filled the vessels with wine as made them to bee filled with water first but to signify that hee will not fill those empty vessells that come unfurnished into the pulpit and looke then for Revelations But if it were lawfull at other times to preach quicquid in buccam venerit yet is it very unfit for a Lecture in Divinity for a Lecture doth consist of a mixt auditory and must have as well meat as milke that the learned may have strength by the one as the ignorant have growth by the other Againe a Lecture as I conceave was at the first founded for the explayning of the fundamentall poyntes of Religion and the handling of controversies in the University and so are continued by men of great learning and eminence the publique professors And in Queene Elizabeths dayes as I conjecture Lectures were permitted in Parochiall Churches not commanded or injoyned for I read of Parsons Vicars and Curates in the booke of common Prayer but not of a Lecturer neither were they suffered to this end to draw eare-Christians and lip-professors together to parlee in a parlour of poynts of Divinity which they understand not and of matters of Church discipline that doe not concerne them but to build the people up in knowledge and to handle matters of controversy and then in points of controversy and explicating of difficult points of Divinity the fathers are very fit to bee urged Ob. But it is an unknowne tongue and the Apostle sayth f 1 Cor. 14 24 that edifyes not and therefore Latin is not fit to bee used I answer Ans it edifyes the learned if not interpreted but if interpreted it edifyes the Church g Arct in 1. Cor. 14. and if it were unlawfull to speake in an unknowne tongue altogether why should S. Pauls practice contradict his precept for hee writes to the Romans and Hebrewes in Greeke when Latin was the language of the one and Hebrew the language of the other Ob. But it takes up a great deale of time Ans Not so much time as many usually spend in vaine Tautologies and idle
Revel 19 4. foure and twenty elders and the fowre beasts praysing GOD with our Church and saying Glory be to God on high and in earth peace good will toward men We prayse thee wee blesse thee we worship thee we glorify thee we give thankes unto thee O Lord God heavenly King for all thy blessings bestowed upon us for that thou hast sent thy Sonne Iesus Christ not only to live among men but to dy for men Grant O Lord that we may all be partakers of all the benefits of his passion And that for the same Iesus Christ his sake who as he died for sin so he ever lives to make intercession for sinnes To whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON 1638. To the Right Honorable FERDINANDO Lord HASTINGS my very good Lord. WHAT Thucidides affirmes experience proves true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hearing is not lyable to any account but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever a man speakes but especially writes it layes him open to others censure unto which J have now exposed my selfe and crave your Lordships protection Your Honour must not expect any high straynes in this Sermon Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi As it is J desire your Lordships acceptance of it as an expression of some part of that duty and service J owe your Honor. The God of mercie poure downe his mercies on your Lordship your Honourable Lady and hopefull children Which shall alwaies be the praier of Your Lordships in all duty and service WILLIAM PARKS THE ROSE AND LILY. SOLOMONS SONG 2.1 J am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the vallyes WHat the Queene of Shebah told Solomon that a 1 Kings 10.6 7. though it were a true report which shee had heard of him yet the one halfe was not told her so may I say unto you concerning this Text though it bee a true report you have heard of him that is greater then Solomon b Mat. 12 42. yet the one halfe is not told you For this Text is a most fertile and fruitfull Field conteyning variety of no lesse profitable then pleasant Flowers from whence I have already brought you a Posy made of Roses and now give me leave from the same Garden to present unto you a Posy composed of Liles The Lily is next in nobility to the Rose saith Pliny c Lib. 2 cap. 5. and therefore as I have shewed you wherein Christ resembles the Rose so must I now shew you how hee is the Lily of the vallyes The writers d Arist Pliny Dodan of the nature of things have written much in the commendadation of the Lily affirming it to bee a most fine Flower both for fragrant smell and curious colours And many Princes did beare it in their crests and Escutchions but I leave this for Heralds to discourse of and for Herbalists to discusse and shall onely shew you that Christ resembles the Lily in these fowre respects First the Flower of the Lily is lifted upward and open toward Heaven but toward the earth it is close and shut so Christ had his mind open toward Heaven set on heavenly things but he alwayes neglected and contemned earthly things Secondly the leaves of the Lily spread outward and bend downward so Christ extended his benefits downward even to his enemies Thirdly the whitenesse of the Lily may signify Christs eternity or his innocency Fourthly the Lily growes among thornes and Christ when hee was upon the Earth was conversant among sinners in these respects hee shewed himselfe to bee the Lily of the vallyes And first of the first the Flower of the Lily is open toward Heaven but close toward the earth so Christ had his affections open toward heavenly things but he neglected earthly As Christ was sometime e Luke 2.51 subject to his Mother so was he alwayes obedient to his father He that f John 3.31 came from above did set his affections on things g Colos 3.2 above This Lily had alwayes the eyes of his affections open toward heaven it being his chiefest care to doe his heavenly fathers h Luke 2.49 busines but close shut toward earth and earthly things There are three i Ludolph de vita Christi part 1. cap. 67. things that hinder us from having the eyes of our soules open toward Heaven but Christ was free from them all First quando oculus nimis occupatur circa sensibilia when the eye is too much imployed about sensible objects namely when the affection is set on earthly things for then is the eye of the soule dazled with the dust of covetousnes but Christ had no mind of earthly riches but as hee had none so he did desire none Secondly quando nimis occupatur circa delectabilia when it is too much taken up with delightfull things the carnall desires of the flesh for then the eye is blinded with the fire of concupiscence but Christ was free from that and it is such a sinne that the divell himselfe would not tempt Christ by that though hee tempted him by riches and the glory of the World k Mat. 4 Thirdly quando nimis occupatur circa sublimia when it is intent on lofty things namely ambitiously taken up with the pompe and glory of the World for then the eye is darkned with the smoake of pride but Christ was free from that for he l John 6.16 fled from those that would have made him King So that he had no worldly riches to clog him no carnall pleasures to allure him no ambitious thoughts to stop him nor any of those to hinder him for having his eyes and thoughts settled on heavenly things Hee was not like the Basiliskes which Pliny m Lib. 8. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they looke downward and cannot turne their countenance upward toward the Firmament but rather he was like the fish which Albertus as I remember makes mention of that had but one eye placed in his pole so that he alwayes looked upward minding things above but hee did altogether neglect if not contemne all earthly things Which will the better appeare if we consider his poverty in his birth in his life and in his death First in his birth Exigua magni pompa puerperii saith S. Cyprian n Serm. de nati Christi There was but small pomp at this great birth he was borne in so meane a manner that the cratch was his cradle the o Luke 2.7 manger his chamber and the stable his Inne If the Sun of God will needs come and dwell among the sons of men Kings palaces me thinks were bad
low a Worme should swell and thinke to bee great The Disciple k Mat. 10.24 is not greater then his Master nor the servant above his Lord Vt exaltari voluit sicut Dominus humiliari noluit sicut servus l Marc. Marul That hee should be exalted as his Lord that will not bee humbled as a servant And therefore Si vis capere celsitudinem Dei cape prius humilitatem Christi is the counsell of Saint Bernard m Epist If thou desirest to bee partaker of the glory of God follow Christ in the steps of humility through this valley of misery that thou mayst ascend to him to the Mountaine of Majesty Which GOD grant wee may all doe for Iesus Christs sake To whom with the Father and the Blessed Spirit bee all honour and glory now and for ever more Amen THE ROSE AND LILY. DELIVERED AT THE LECTVRE In ASHBY de-la-zouch in the County of Leicester By WILLIAM PARKS Master of Arts and curat of Chelaston in the County of DERBY 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discendum propter docendum LONDON Printed by JOHN NORTON 1638. To the Right Honorable Sr. RICHARD FENN Knight Lord Major of the City of London And to the right Worshipfull the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Company of HABERDASHERS LONDON I May perhaps by some bee accounted a right Son of Levi a Numb 16.7 in taking too much upon mee to present this Sermon to your Patronage Right Worshipfull But it hath some right and title to you who shew your selves to bee members of the Church in extending your charitie to them that are farre off For you doe not take delight as Cyrus did b Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in putting men in good hopes but in doing good deeds allowing good helpes to maintaine manie of the Sonnes of the Prophets Among the rest J was one that had an exhibition from your Company while I lived in the University This I could not forget and therefore though I cannot doe any thing by way of requitall with David c 1 Kings 2.7 to Barzillai Jonathan d 2 Sam. 9.7 yet J must ever by way of thankefull acknowledgement pray for your society as S. Paul did for the house of Onesiphorus e 2 Tim. 1.16 The Lord give mercie unto you all and grant that you may all finde mercie of the Lord in that day Your Honors and Worships to bee commanded in all Christian duties WILLIAM PARKES THE ROSE AND LILY. SOLOMONS SONG 2.1 J am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the vallyes WHen Balak brought Balaam to the top of Pisgah a Numbers 23.13 14. hee shewed him onely the utmost part of the children of Israel but did not shew him all so may I say unto you I have brought you as it were to the top of Pisgah whence you have seene onely the utmost part of those mysteries that concerne our Saviour Christ but cannot shew you all Wee have all this while but floated on this deepe Ocean we are not able to fadome it It is as much impossible for the wit and learning of one man though he have b Ps 45.1 the Pen of a ready writer and c 1 Cor. 13.1 speake with the tongue of men and Angels fully to comprehend and expresse those mysteries as it is for a Boy to empty the Ocean Sea with an Oyster-shell And therefore as the Paynter Tymanthes being to expresse Agamemnons griefe conceived for the losse of his daughter Iphigenia drew him with his face covered over with a veyle that men might conceive of that sorrow which hee could not expresse so I being to speake of those great mysteries of Christs passion resurrection humility and the rest must needs have passed many things over with the veyle of silence as being not able perfectly to decipher them Now then give mee leave to alter the subject of my Text and to leave it as it concernes Christ and to follow it as it respects the Church for of that subject the Church doe some d Caldâ—e Para. â—hrast Aynsworâ—th Brightman in locum expound the Text as you formerly were also told For what is written of Ianus that hee had two faces praeterita retospiciens futura prospiciens looking two wayes forwards and backwards so may I say of this Text it hath two faces one looking toward Christ the other toward the Church I have already in some measure unveyled that that lookes upon Christ and now I must unmaske that which lookes downe on the Church As I have shewed how Christ doth so now I must shew you wherein the Church doth resemble the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vallies But because the spouse ought to bee correspondent to the husband the members to be proportionable to the head and the mysticall body of Christ conformable to himselfe therefore I shall not need to seeke out any new and untrodden path but follow the same way I have already gone First therefore as the rednes and prickles of the Rose did represent Christs passion so doth it represent the Churches trouble and persecution Secondly the sweet smell of the Rose doth intimate the Churches sweet conversation upon earth and Thirdly the Roses being dead in winter but budding out againe shewes the resurrection from the dead First of the first as the Rose is full of prickles so is the Church alwayes subject to persecution The sweetenes of the Rose is joyned with prickles which doth plainly teach that Quae jucunda vobis sunt O homines tristibus permixta sunt saith St. Bazill c Hom. 〈◊〉 Paradiso sweet and sowre mirth and mourning are intermixed together in this life Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane saith the Poet f Virgil. Weeping may endure for a night but joy commeth in the Morning saith the Prophet g Ps 30.5 Iulius Caesar was one day renowned in the Senate accounted a Pater patriae a father of his Country often Praetor and invested with princely honour The next day as it were you may see him loose his honour and bee reputed a tyrant accounted no pater patriae but hoâ—lis patriae no father of his countrey but a factor against it no Praetor to defend it but praedator a preyer upon it to spoyle it not saluted but slaine in the Senate and from an Emperour turned to a dead carkasse Our Saviour Christ himselfe when hee was upon the earth did find this intercourse of things for upon Mount Tabor hee was transfigured with glory that his face did shine upon Mount Calvary hee was disfigured with sorrow that confusion did cover his face and such is the condition of man in this life sometimes he is lifted up on the Mountaines of prosperity and sometimes hee is cast downe into the valley of adversity sometimes hee walkes in the sun-shine of peace and plenty and sometimes in the shade of trouble and persecution But the Church doth usually lie open to