first set up by Saint Ambrose in Millaine according to the custome of the Easterne Churches D. Aug. lib. 9. confes cap. 7. Ne populus maeroris taedio contabescat so that it was not only a speciall in ducement to the mortification of those which otherwise had been still secularly dispos'd but a maine cordiall and solace for them also which under the sword of Arrianisme were set apart of old for the Fiery Triall Some Philosophers are of opinion that the Spirit knoweth and understandeth onely by the help and service of the Sences Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit prius in sensu which if it bee generally true our eares doubtlesse are as trap-doores to our mentall faculties which as they are shut or open so shut or open to their spirituall operations But Aristotle here was too much a Naturallist and somewhat injurious to the soule in so beslaving it and setting it a begging of the senses as if it had not vertue and wisdome enough of it selfe to exercise her functions without the speciall administration of outward Adjuncts knowing that the Senses apprehend onely the simple Accidents and not the Formes and Essence of things much lesse the secrets in or above Nature which are a journey and taske for our contemplative and intellectuall powers and these also puzled sometimes in their inquisition and well nigh lost in the windings and turnings both of metaphisicall and naturall speculations And therefore doubtlesse in spirituall affaires where the Soule chiefely is imbarqu'd we are or should be more elevated to God by Reason than by Sense when we ascend to him by serious Meditations deepe Penetrations of his Word Tho. Wr. ut supra Majestie Attributes Perfections which chiefely transport those that are truely grave that are mortified indeed when this overtickling of the Sense by the plausibility of sounds this courting and complementing with the Eare by the elegance and raritie of some well-run-voluntary or descant are for Punies in devotion to whom notwithstanding they are as sensuall objects to ascend to God in Spirit to contemplate his sweetnesse blessednesse eternall felicitie though even in those also that are most pure and sanctified to whom the most curious Ayre that ere was set is not halfe so harmonious as one groane of the Spirit doe not alwayes attend those deeper cogitations but now and then intermingle their devotions with this sacred sensualitie which as a pleasant path leadeth to the Fountaine of spirituall joy and endlesse comfort And therefore let the Psalmist bee once more our remembrancer and as a remembrancer an informer too Laudate Dominum in Psalterio Psal 150.5 laudate eum in Cymbalis Iubilationis let our outward praises of the Lord so runne with those within that our Soule may magnifie him and our Spirit rejoyce in him that sav'd us and then no doubt wee may sing cheerefully of his Power and sing aloud of his Mercy so sing and sing aloud that our Psalterie may bare a part with our Cymball our heart with our tongue our sincerity with our profession our actions with our words Saint Augustine paraphrasing on that of the 104. Psalme Sing unto the Lord sing Psalmes unto him makes a criticisme betweene Cantate and Psallite Singing unto God singing Psalmes unto him Verbo Cantat Psallit Opere hee sings to God that barely professes him he Psalmes it that obeys him the one is but Religion voyc'd the other done and 't is this doing in spirituall businesse that sets the crowne on Christianity Profession onely shewes it and oftentimes scarce shewes it truly like an hypocriticall glasse which represents a feature as it would be not as it is as it desires to seeme not as it lookes Againe Psalterium pulsatur manibus D. Aug. ibid. Ore Cantatur Manibus Psallitur he that Sings makes use of the mouth hee that Psalmes it doth exercise the hand so that the mouth it seemes onely expresseth our faith the hand our good workes the one doth but tattle Religion the other communicates it And therefore our Prophet no sooner mentions his Cantate and his Psallite but immediately there followes a Narrate and a Gleriamini First Sing unto the Lord and sing Psalmes unto him and then in the next verse Talke of his wondrous works glory in his holy name So that belike He that onely sings unto God the vocall professor he doth but talke of his wondrous workes but he that Psalmes it the realist in Christianity he glories in his holy Name And to this purpose the Father doubles on the Prophet Psal 67. Sing unto God D. Aug. in Psal 67. sing praises unto his Name Cantat Deo qui vivit Deo Psallit nomini ejus qui operatur in gloriam ejus hee sings unto God that lives unto God and hee sings praises to his Name that doth something for the glory of his Name And happie is that man that so sings and sings praises that both lives and does to the glory of GODS Name And how can Gods Name be better glorified than in his House and how better in his house than by singing of his Power and Mercy his Mercy in so drawing us that wee can live unto him his Power for inabling us to doe something for his Glory And 't is well that Those whom God hath enabled to doe will doe something for Gods Glory for the Glory either of his Name of House A President this way is but Miracle reviv'd and the Thing done doth not so much beget Applause as Astonishment 'T is somewhat above Wonder to see the One without Prophanation or the Other without Sacriledge I meane not and I say I meane not to forestall the preposterous Comments of others which sometimes injuriously picke knots out of Rushes that Sacrilege which fleeces the Revenewes but the Ribbes and Entrailes of a Church defaces Pictures and rifles Monuments tortures an innocent peece of Glasse for the limme of a Saint in it Razes out a Crucifice and sets up a Scutchion Pulls down an Organ and advances an Houre-glasse and so makes an House of Prayer a fit den for Theeves And indeed this malicious dis-robing of the Temple of the Lord is no better than a Spirituall Theft and the Hands that are guilty of it are but the Hands of Achan and for their Reward deserve the hands Gebazi God is the God of Decency And Ornaments either In his House or About it as they are Ornaments are so farre from awaking his Jealousie that they finde his Approbation He that hath consulted with the Iewish Story cannot want instance this way nor illustration The Law of old required the Altar cleane the Priest wash'd the Sacrifices without blemish and this when there was yet not onely a Temple not built but not projected but this once enterpriz'd straightway stones must be choicely hewed from the Mountaines Artificers fetch'd from Tyre Cedars from Libanus Silver from Tharshish Gold from Ophir 1 King 6. 7. 2
Cron. 3.4 1 Chro 29.4 Silver and Gold in no small proportion ten thousand talents at least to overlay the walls of it besides the very beames and posts and doores o'respread with Gold Gold of Parvaim no other would serve the turne garnisht within with pretious stones and graved Cherubins 2 Chron 3. Cherubins of Gold too â—â—â—e Gold so sayes the Text vail'd over with blue and purple and crimson and fine Linnen nothing wanting for lustre or riches for beautie and magnificence for the house of a God the King would have it so Salomon the wise King and he would have it so for Ornament and not for Worship except for the worship of his God and that his God approves of with a fire from heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 And now my Brother what capitall offence in the Image of a Saint or Martyr historically or ornamentally done in the house of the Lord It invites not our knee but our eye not our Observance but our Observation or if perchance our Observance not our Devotion Though we honour Saints we doe them no worship and though sometimes wee sing of we sing not unto them wee sing of their Sufferings not of their Power and in so singing we sing unto God Sing first of his Power that he hath made them such Champions for Him and then Sing aloud of his Mercy that they were such Lights unto us And here what danger of Idolatry what colour for Offence what ground for Cavill or exception Our dayes of Ignorance and blind zeale are long since past by but it seemes not of Peevishnesse or Contradiction And certainely if Fancie or Spleene had not more to doe here than Judgement this Quarrell might be ended without Bloud We are so curious in Tything of Mynt and Cummin that we let goe the waightier matters of the Law and whilst we dispute the indifferencies of a painted roofe or window we sometimes let downe the very walls of a Church And I dare say if a Consistory did not more scarre some than a Conscience Temples would stand like those Aegyptian Monuments I know not whether a Modell of Antiquity or Desolation 'T is a misery when the life of Religion shall lye in the Tongues of men and not in their Hands or if in their Hands sometimes not in their Hearts The times are so loud for Faith Faith that the noyse thereof drownes sometimes the very Motion of good Workes and even there too where Faith is either begotten or at least strengthened in the House of the Lord That stands Naked and sometimes Bare-headed as if it begged for an Almes when our Mansions swell in pride of their Battlements the beauty of their Turrets and yet their Inhabitants still cry as the mad people did after the Floud Come Gen. 11.4 let us make Bricke let us Build But all this while No noise of an Axe or a Hammer about the House of the Lord Their project is to lift their Earth unto Heaven and it matters not though the Heaven here below lay levell with the Earth they sing of a City and a Tower to get them a Name They care not for a Temple to sing aloud in to the Name of their God And hence it is that this God makes that sometimes a way to their confusion which they intended a meanes to their Glory I have observ'd three speciall sorts of Builders in our Age and three sorts of singing by them Some build up Babel with the stones of Jerusalem Adorne their owne Mansions by demolishing of Churches and such sing onely Requiems to their owne name and are so farre from singing unto Gods that he cries out against them by his Prophet Though you build aloft Obad. 4. and nestle among the Cloudes yet I will bring you downe into the dust of the Earth Others build up Ierusalem with the stones of Ierusalem repaire one Church with the ruines of another Take from that Saint and Give unto this And in this they thinke they sing aloud unto God but hee heares not their voice or if hee heare he rebukes it Away with your sacrifices I will none of your burnt offerings Isa 1.13 they are abomination unto me saith the Lord God Others build up Ierusalem with the stones of their Babel Repaire the ruines of Gods house with their owne costs and materialls and not onely repaire but beautifie it as you see And such not onely sing unto God but sing Psalmes unto him Talke and doe to the Glory of his Name And blessed is the man that doth it doth it as it should be done without froth of ostentation or wind of Applause or pride of Singularity But from the uprightnesse and integrity of a sound heart Psa 69.9 can Sing aloud to his God 'T is my zeale to thy house that hath thus eaten me up And doubtlesse he that is so zealous for the house of the Lord the Lord also will be mercifull unto His and hee that so provides for the worship of Gods name God also will provide for the preservation of His Deut. 28. Blessed shall he be in the City and Blessed in the field Blessed in his comming in and Blessed in his going out Blessed in his basket and in his store Blessed in the fruit of his cattell and the fruit of his ground Gods speciall Providence shall pitch his Tents about him the dew of Heaven from above and the flowers of the Earth from below Before him his Enemies flying behind him Honours attending about him Angels intrenching on his right hand his fruitfull Vine on his left his Olive-branches without Health of body within Peace of Conscience and thus Psal 25.12 His Soule shall dwell at Ease and his Seed shall inherit the Land And whilst he sings unto Heaven Blessed be the Name of the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Heaven shall rebound to the Earth and the Earth sing aloud unto him Blessed is he that putteth his trust in the Lord for Mercy shall incompasse him on every side And now O Lord it is thy Blessings which we want and thy Mercies which we beg Let thy Blessings and thy Mercies so fall upon us as we doe put our trust in Thee Lord in Thee have we trusted let us never be confounded Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo Amen FINIS The Christian Duell IN TWO SERMONS Ad Magistratum Preached at two severall ASSIZES held at TAUNTON in Sommerset Anno Domini 1634. 1635. By Humphrey Sydenham ROM 8.5 Qui secundum Carnem sunt quae Carnis sunt sapiunt Qui verò secundum Spiritum quae Spiritus sunt Vellem quidem et carnem meam esse in vita sed quia non potest sit vel Spiritus meus sit vel Anima mea D. Aug. Serm. 6. de Verbis Domini LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TO THE TRVLY NOBLE BOTH BY BLOVD and VERTVE Sir IOHN POULETT KNIGHT Sonne and Heire
Domini Luke 2.30 The salvation of the Lord or rather the salvation from the Lord from the Lord for man Hence David rapt in the spirit and desiring to see the sonne of God incarnate pour's out his request to the Lord with an Ostende nobis misericordiam tuam et salutare tuum da nobis domine shew us thy mercy O Lord and grant us thy salvation Psal 119 41. thy mercy and thy salvation because from thee but thy mercy and our salvation because for us And this Salvation for us was a mighty salvation So runnes the prophecy Blessed be the Lord God of Israell why Hee hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of his servant David Luke 1.68 A mighty Salvation and therefore a mighty Mercy such a mercy as the Apostle cal's Divitias misericordiarum riches of mercy mercie so wonderfully rich that it is above all Gods workes all his workes of nature or miracle or glory or mystery In his workes of nature there was only flatus or spiritus Dei the breath of the Lord used what breath his Dixit et facta sunt which were the breathings of the Almighty upon his creatures he spake and for the most part they were made and where they were not so he spake and breath'd and they were made good So God breath'd into man the breath of life Gen. 2.7 and man was a living soule Gen. 2.7 In his workes of miracle there was digitus Dei the finger of God so in those done before Pharach and his wisemen When magicke was at a stand and all her spells and inchantments non-plust in the production of lice out of dust the Sorcerers and Wizards insteed of manifesting their skill acknowledge their impotence and that great Master of their blacke art who had hitherto tutor'd them in lyes now lectures them a way to truth with a digitus Dei hic This is the finger of God Exod. 8.19 In his workes of glory there is manus Dei the hand of God so those roling torches of the firmament those bright eyes of Heaven Sunne Moone and starres with all that spangled and glorious hoast the Apostle calls the worke of Gods hand Heb. 1.10 But in his workes of mystery especially in this greatest of incarnation as if nature and miracle and glory were subordinate and the breath or hand or finger of the Almighty too weake for so mighty a designe there was Brachium Dei the arme of God his mighty arme the strength of his mighty arme And therefore the blessed Virgin Mary in a deepe contemplation of it professes Stella in 1. Lucae Dominum potentiam in brachio forti demomstrasse The Lord hath shewed strength in his mighty arme Luke 1.51 In that ransome of the Israelites from the Egyptian vassalage the text sayes he did it with his arme his outstretched arme Psal 77. with his arme why not as well there with his finger or his hande as with his arme why Their freedome from that temporall captivity by Moses was a type of our redemption from our spirituall slavery by Christ and therefore as the arme was exercised in the one so in the other too Wee were in our Egypt here in darkenesse darkenes so thicke that it might bee felt made slaves to the grindings of a Tyrant though not a Pharaoh yet a Prince as he was of darkenes and worse then hee was then of utter darknesse under his Iron rod and scepter all the fetters and manacles of sinne and Sathan till God by the vertue of his Arme knock'd off those yron shackles and brake asunder the bands of death and darkenesse And herein was the worke of his Arme his mighty Arme the Strength of his mighty Arme nay it was not so properly the strength of his own Arme as that strength which is the Arme it selfe the Arme JESUS And here in two Prophets meet Paravit Dominus brachium suum and Dominus in fortitudine ventet brachium ejus dominabitur The Lord hath made bare his Arme so Isaiab His holy Arme hath gotten him Victory so David And why hath the Lord thus made bare his Arme or what is that Victory his holy Arme hath got What Isai 52.10 All the ends of the world shall see his salvation Isa 52.10 And His salvation is made knowne in the sight of all the Heathen Psal 98.2 Here then still Psal 98.2 this Arme is Salvation and this Salvation Mercie and this Mercie Eminent and this Eminencie in Truth All the ends of the world shall see it and it shal be made known in the eyes of all the Heathen all the Heathen all the World all shall see it shall See it but not enjoy it and yet to see it is the way to enjoy it and that we may finde that way and at length enjoy it as we should Isa 52.9 Breake forth into melody sing together ye waste places of Ierusalem and not onely those but the whole Earth Sing aloud unto the Lord all yee Lands the round world and all that therein is ye sowles of the Ayre Psal 98. that sing among the branches ye Beasts and Cattell upon a thousand Hills yee that sport also in the deepe Psal 104. v. 8. 11 12. that goe up as high as the mountaines and downe to the Valleyes beneath Let the Sea roare and the fulnesse thereof let the floods clap their hands and the little hills dance for joy Let the Nations also be glad let them sing upon the harpe upon the harpe with a Psalme of Thankesgiving Praise him on the Cymballs ye sons of His praise him on the Wel-tuned Cymballs with trumpets also and shawmes praise his Name Powre out all your acclamations and shouts of Joy all your Hosannahs and Hallelujahs yee Saints of his Sing and sing aloud unto the Lord that his mercie is thus made knowne upon Earth and his saving Health among all Nations And here we cannot complaine of the Lord as the Prophet did of old Isai 63.15 Where is now the sounding of thy bowels and thy mercies towards us For it is gone you heare into all Nations but rather where is the sounding of our Thankfulnesse our singing aloud in Magnificats and Regratulations unto him Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantobo saith David I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever Psal 89.1 And certainely if they be Mercies of the Lord they are Mercies for ever Psal 89.1 and if Mercies for ever great Mercies and if Mercies and Great and For ever too worthy for ever to be sung by all those that are in misery even by Kings by David himselfe if a King as he was in misery For Misery hath aswell a For ever as Mercy hath And therefore it was necessary that God's Mercies should be infinite because of our miseries and it was just that our miseries should be infinite because of our sinnes Here then Abyssus abyssum invocat One deepe cryes unto another and here Altitudo
surprisall here but in a church triumphant where the Palme and the Crowne and the white Robes are layd up and insteed of Drums and Ensignes Hallelujahs to the Lambe for ever I have done now with the text Applicatio ad Magistratum and the two lawes there lex Dei and lex peccati But the occasion of this meeting listen's after a third law and that 's lex Regni which though it be grounded or at least should bee on the lex Dei yet it sometimes fall's unhappily upon the lex peccati Now a warre there is in this law as betweene the former two Inveterate sometimes Irreconciliable and not to be decided but by Deaath war much of the nature of the other between Spirit Flesh a proud spirit for the most part and a stubborne peece of flesh for if there were either humility on the one side or patience on the other the noise of discord would not bee so loud in our streets but the voyce of the turtle would bee heard better in our land There would bee more peace within our walls I am sure more plentiousnes within our habitations What in the first institution was intended as a shield or buckler is us'd at length as a semiter or sword That which should defend mee from the blowes of another is the engine by which I wound him at last and my selfe too The law which in case of in jury or trespasse was ordain'd of old for a Sanctuary is made sometimes little better then a house of correction If I malice another 't is not I must seourge him but the law though it be in mine own power to chastise him with whips yet the law doe it with more state and more fury too for that shall chastise him with Scorpions when all this while the lash falls not so much on the back of the transgressor as his purse and the bleeding of that as the world goe's is as fatal as the other Sed hominum sunt ista non legum the fault is not in the law but in some of her touchy and waspish votaries or if it bee in the law I am sure it is not in the lex Dei nor I hope in this lex Regni but in the lex peccati 'T is the law of sin is to blame here the mighty Holofernes as Castrusian tolde S. Ierom that rebellious lust of ours which thus plaie's the tyrant with our selves and others Ille criminum leno Ille par asitus vitiorum that bawd and parasite of vices which in one act flatters and betraies us This is the Fox with a Fire-brand in the taile that burnes up the corne field of the Philistines the prime wheele and stirrer of all our turbulent motions our unpeaceable proceedings which first sets our pride a-gog and then our malice and at length our revenge and in such a high way of distaste that no sorrow of the partie offending no mediation of friends no tender of sitisfaction no interposing of the Magistrate himselfe can attone or pacifie But as if there were no Gospell upon earth or else no mercy by that Gospell they are still Jewishly bent with their crucifige crucifige the Law the Law And let such implacable Spirits have their fill of it let it enter like water into their bowels and like oyle into their bones let the Law at last be their comfort and not the Gospell let justice have her full swindge and not mercy and so if they will needs have it so Currat Lex let the Law goe on á lege ad legem from one Law to another from the Lex Regni to the Lex Dei from the Court of Common Pleas here below to the great Starre-chamber above where every man shall receive either doom or recompence according to his works The Law all this while is unreproveable you heare no staine nor blemish there but either in the malicious Clyent or Sollicitor or both It being true in this case what Saint Paul spake in another Lex quidem spiritualis illi vero carnales venundati sub peccatò Rom. 7. v. And here some may expect that I should have a fling at the Gowne or at least as the custome of this place is instruct or counsell it But this were to bring drops to a River offer a few mites or pence to a Treasury that is full for no charity can be so barren as to conceive that those should be ill husbands in counselling themselves that so abundantly dispense and communicate to others And indeed how or to what purpose should they receive instructions in a Church here that are taking so many in a Chamber How make use of the Doctrine of the Preacher that are so busie with the breviat of a Clyent But by their leave for I must have leave to tell them so God is herein dishonour'd and the solemnity both of this time and place disparag'd if not prophan'd They are not I presume so straightned with time nor so throng'd with the multitude of affaires but they might sequester one solemne houre for the service of the Lord The hearing of a Sermon can be no great prejudice to the debating of a cause if it bee just and honest and a few Orisons first offer'd in the Temple are a good preparative and prolog to a conscionable and faire pleading at the Barre As for any error else either in their practise or profession I have not to obtrude here or if I had I would not Every man or at least every good man is a Temple to himselfe and hath a Pulpit in his owne bosome where there is a continuall Preacher or Monitor a conscience either accusing or excusing him and one lash of that toucheth more at the quicke than a thousand from the tongue or pen of another Cor hominis saith Saint Augustine aut Dei Thuribulum aut Diaboli every mans heart is an Altar for God or for the Divell and according to the nature or quality of the Sacrifice so it smoakes either to his doome or glory and this is enough for an understanding eare without farther boring it And indeed it is not my practise to pull Gravitie by the beard bring backe the grey haire to the Rod and the Ferule Schoole as some doe a Magistrate and catechise a Judge nay traduce him too with their borrowed and affected Epithites Rampant Couchant Dormant and the like unreverent and saucie follies which are nothing else but the leakings of bottles which are not sound the noyse of Caskes which are both foule and emptie fragments of that broken vessell Salomon speakes of which can containe nothing no not the droppings of their owne vanities For mine own part I have been taught what the word Iudge meaneth both by representation and by office a King one way and a God another and what is that but a God and a God and therefore a God shall admonish him not I and one God I presume may speake roundly to another Hearke then what the God Iekosaphat
tells the Gods his Judges in the fenced Cities of Iudah Take heed what you doe for you judge not for man but for God who is with you in the judgement Wherefore now let the feare of the Lord be upon you take heed and doe it for there is no iniquity with God no respect of persons nor taking of gifts 2 Chron. 19.6 7. Doubtlesse the matter is of great weight and consequence that is thus prefac'd with a double caution Take heed Take heed The formér Cavete is for a Quid facitis the latter for an ut faciatis first take heed what you doe and then take heed that you doe it too so that in matters of Judicature a deepe consideration should alwayes precede Action Deliberation Judgement And the reason of the quid sacitis if you observe it is very ponderous For you judge not for man but for God and God as the Psalmist speaketh Iudgeth amongst the gods Psal 82.1 You gods that judge men here that God shall judge hereafter and as you judge these so shall he judge you The reason of the ut faciatis is no lesse weighty neither for there is no iniquity with God he loves it not and what he loves not you are to condemne and judge and that this judgement may carry an even faile there must be no respecting of persons nor taking of gifts The eares must be both open and the hands shut the complaint of the Widdow and the Orphan and the oppressed must be as well listen'd to as the trials of the rich and mightie aswell and assoone too nay sooner for the one gives onely the other prayes and mens devotions goe with us to heaven when their benevolences with the giver moulder upon earth Let the Sword then strike where it should in the great busines of life and death let the ballance hang even in matters of nisi prius that there bee no selling of the righteous for a peece of silver Amos 8.6 or of the needy for a paire of shooes no cruell mercy in the one in remitting incorrigible of fenders no partiality in the other in siding with particular men or causes but fiat justitia et ruat coelum And when justice is thus done in your part it is not done in all manifold experience tells us that when causes have been prosecuted by all the fidelity and care of the sollicitor pleaded by all dexterity of counsel attended by al the vigilancy of the Iudge yet the mystery the wicked mystery of a decem tales shall carry them against wind and tide and a heard of mercenary ignorants for mnay of them are no better shall buy and sell a poore man his estate for eight pence This is neither christian nor morall nor scarce humane therfore for reformation of this capitall abuse it is both just necessary that such substantial men as are returnd in Iuryes should attend in their own person and not shuffle of the waight of publike affaires upon the shoulders of those who either understand not a cause when it is debated or else use not a conscience as they should in giving up their verdict but make their foreman their primus motor whom they follow like those beasts ' in Seneca non qua eundum est sed qua itur No man is to good to doe his God or King or Countrey service nay every good man thinkes it rather his honour then his burthen and therefore where there are delinquents this way let the mulct the fine bee laid on according to statute that where admonition cannot prevaile imperet Lex compulsion may And now I have performd my office done the part of a spirituall watchman blowne the cornet in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramoth told Israell aloud her sinnes and Iudah her transgressions The next act is from the Pulpit to the Tribunall where it will bee expected that Moses should doe all things according to the patterne shewed him by GOD in the mount beere that lawes be not only written or prescribed or remembred but put in execution also and for your better encouragement herein observe what the same Moses saies to Ioshua Deut. 31.8 Bee strong and of a good courage for the Lord thy God hee it is that goeth with thee hee will not saile thee nor forsake thee To that God and to his sonne Christ Iesus with the blessed spirit bee ascribed all honour glory power and dominion both now and forever Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo FINIS The Christian Duell THE SECOND SERMON Ad Magistratum Preached at the ASSIZES held at TAUNTON in Sommerset 1635. By Humphrey Sydenham ROM 8.6 Quod sapit Caro Mors est Quod autem sapit Spiritus Vita Pax. LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TO THE NOBLE AND MVCH DESERVING Sr. WILLIAM PORTMAN BARONET SIR STartle not my Noble Sir This is no Challenge I present you with but a Flag of truce for though it have an Alarum in the Front and the subject speakes warre altogether and discord yet it prepares to peace such a peace as presupposeth victory and victory life and life Eternity To tell you here the nature of this warre it's feares stratagems dangers sufferings were but to preach by Letter and degrade a Sermon to an Epistle The following discourse shall give you a hint of all where shall find that he that is a true Christian souldier must be at peace with others though he have no concord with himselfe This is the modell of the whole fabrick and this I offer to your Noble hands which when it shall kisse be confident you cannot hold faster than please you try the heart of him that offers it Sicknesse and Age both my companion now are but ill Courtiers and as little acquainted with the nature of Ceremony as the practise A Complement then you cannot stile this but an expression of my zeale to the merits of your dead Brother to whom as I was of old a faithfull Servant so still a true honorer of his Name though not O my unhappinesse an Attendant which I cannot so much ascribe to negligence or error as to Fate But suppose either or all or others I murmure not but blesse rather and blesse thus God preserve you and yours and send you length of dayes and accumulation of honours and fruitfulnesse of Loynes that as your Fortunes looke greene and flourishing so may your Name also to the glory of your God the service of your Countrey the hope of your friends the Ioy of your Allies and the Prayers of Your wel-wishing Honorer HVM SYDENHAM THE CHRISTIAN DUELL The second Sermon GAL. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the Flesh T Is not my intent to perplex either my selfe or Auditorie with any curiositie of Preface or division the words are already at variance betweene themselves and so instead of farther dividing them the Text at this
and veines and the joynts swimming with marrow and fatnesse there is a kinde of macelency and famine and leannesse in the soule all goodnesse is vacant and banish'd then and Lust keepes her revell and rendevouz A fit caution and mements as I conceive for this place and meeting that those dayes which the Church hath of Old solemnely consecrated to the service of the Spirit we devote not another way in making provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof That the time shee hath set apart for Fasting and Prayer whereby we should magnifie the Lord upon the strings and pipe and so make the tongue Cymbalum jubilationis A wel-tun'd Cymball wee over-lavish not to feasting and excesse and so make our throate Sepulchrum apertum An open sepulchre I know that Noble assemblies require something extraordinary both for State and Multitude and let them have it But withall I beseech them to consider what Lent is Preached in Lent ad Magstratum and with what devout strictnesse observ'd by the Christian Church for many hundred yeeres together though in these dayes of Flesh cryed downe by some pretenders to the Spirit as a superstitious observation of our blinded Ancestours But let them know or if they doe not let them reade reade Antiquity in her cleere though slow streamings unto us not the troubled and muddy waters novelty hath cast upon our shore and then they shal know that it is a time of Sackcloth and Ashes and casting earth upon the Head for the humbling and macerating of the Sinner not of putting on the glorious apparell your vaine shinings in silkes and trssues for the ruffling of the Gallant A time like that in the mountaine of restraint and scarcity when a few barly loaves and some small Fishes should suffice a Multitude Ioh. 6.9 Not of pomp or magnificence when the stalled Oxe and the pastur'd Sheepe and the fallow Deere 1 King 2.4 and the satted Fowle are a service for the Lords Anointed For mine owne part I am not so rigid either in practise or opinion or if I were in both it matters not where a higher judgement and authority overballac'd me to deny sicknesse or age or in respect of travell or multitude of imployments the publike Magistrate what in this case were either convenient or necessary or enough however I desire them to remember that both the Sword and the Keyes have a stroke here and so that they would feed onely not cloy nourish not daintie up the body knowing that when it is cocker'd and kept too high the Soule it selfe is manacled and more than lame and heavie in sacred operations And therefore let us not be altogether men of Flesh but as the Father hath it occasionally on this Text D. Aug. 43. Ser. de verb. Dom. Vincat spiritus carnem aut certè nè vincatur a carne let the spirit have a sway too and though not wholly a Conquerour yet make her not a captive let our Devotions goe along with our entertainments our Acts of Charity with our Acts of Iustice Foeneratur Domino qui miseretur pauperis saith the Wiseman He that hath pitty upon the poore lendeth or as the Latine implies putteth to use unto the Lord Prov. 19.17 Now Qui accipit mutuum servus est foenerantis The borrower is a Servant to the lender Prov. 22.7 So that the Lord is as 't were a Servant unto him that hath pitty on the poore because in that pitty hee lendeth to the Lord. And indeed who would not be a lender to the Lord when his interest may be a Crowne and his reward everlastingnesse who would not exchange a morsell of bread for the celestiall Manna and almes for the food of Angels a few earthly ragges for the white Robe of the Saints Since most of these are not so properly a lending or benevolence as a due The gleanings of the Cor-field Levit. 23.22 and the shakings of the Vintage were a Legacie long since bequeath'd the poore man by the Law when the Gospel was yet in her non-age and minoritie But now it is not onely the crums and fragments from thy Table and so feed the hungry or the courser shearings of thy Flock and so cloath the naked But visit the sicke too and those which are in prison Mat. 25.26 So that our charity should not onely reach the impotent and needy but the very malefactor and legall transgressor The groanings of the prison should bee as well listned to as the complainings in the streets and at this time more specially more particularly that those bowels which want and hunger have even contracted and shrivel'd up and those bodies which cold and nakednesse have palsied and benumm'd not finding it seemes so much pitty as to cloath and feed them as they should whilst they were alive may at last meet with such a noble and respective charitie as to shroud and interre them like Christians when they are dead In the meane time I have that humble suit to preferre to the Gods of Earth here which David had of old to the God of Heaven Oh let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before you Psal 79.12 according to the greatnesse of your power have mercy on those which are appointed to dye Let your Vinegar be tempered with Oyle Iustice suger'd o're with some compassion that where the Law of God sayes peremptorily Thou shalt restore and not dye let not there the Law of Man be writ in blood and say except to the notorious and incorrigible offender Thou shalt dye and not live There will a time come when wee shall all appeare before the Iudgement seate of God 2 Cor. 5.10 And what then what The Sinners Plea will bee generally then Job 9.3 Lord I cannot answer thee one for a thousand And what if I cannot yet O Lord with thee there is mercy and plenteous redemption Psal 130.7 But now and then it falls out so unhappily at the Judgement seate of Man that parties arraign'd though they answer a thousand in one multitudes of inditements in one innocence yet sometimes naked circumstances and meere colourable conjectures without any solid proofe at all shall so cast them in the voyce of a dazled Iury that there is neither hope of mercy nor redemption Gen. 40.22 Esther 7.10 but Pharohs Baker must to the Tree and Haman to the Gallowes fifty cubits high But in this case Bee learned and wise yee Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce to him in reverence Psal 2.10 But I have here digress'd a little and perhaps a little too sawcily in this point of charity let charity have the blame if shee have deserved it whilest I returne where I formerly left you and that was at a feast in time of fasting Good LORD how preposterously nay how rebelliously and in one act crossing both the civill and ecclesiasticke power which prohibite it And therefore since nature saies for the better
also And at length soar'd so high D. Aug. lib. 5. de Civ Dei cap. 19. Vt nihil molle habere crederetur si nesciretur There was not so much as a thought of Mercie left because none of Goodnesse And now to be savage is no lesse his inclination than his sport Sloth and Cruelty two rare Eminencies in Superiours must innoble him to posterity where hee seemes to be as greedy of Fame as before of Bloud Rome must be called Neropolis and that moneth and season of the yeare which was for his recreation and disport Annot. Lud. viv Ib. dem Neroneus What projects will not ungodly men set on foot first for the advancement of their name and then the perpetuity But such a perpetuity is not without a kinde of rottennesse 'T is a curse the Spirit of God breathes against the wicked that Their memory shall rot nothing shall remaine of them but their Vices and they sometimes of that stench and loathsomnesse that the Sent of them is quick though unsavoury in the nostrills of Posterity Eccles 9.5 What lives there of Herod besides his Lust and Cruelty but the manner of his death which was no lesse a prodigie than his life the story of the one being written by the bloud of Innocents of the other by the fury of Wormes And yet how cautelous this Monster was to propagate his honour to After-ages who doubting the basenesse of his parentage should in future be discovered burnes the Genealogies of the Jewes that hee might be thought to have had his discent as royall as the rest of his Predecessors And this is the customary Plea of the Aspirer the Gourd and Mushrome in Common-wealth hee cares not whose name be obliterate so his owne flourish causing other families to vanish in a snuffe whilst his owne must shine like a light in a Watch tower or a Beacon flaming on the top of a mountaine I could wish we had not such Foxes in our Vineyards such Boares about our Forrest which will not onely feed where they enter but root out and destroy like a steepe Torrent driving all before them or as A sweeping raine saith Salomon which leaveth no food Pride Violence Pro. 28.3 oppress on are too low for them nothing stands up with the greatnesse of their Spirit or designe but a Generall devastation laying house to house and field to field like Ravens of the valley Prov. 30.17 pecking out the very Eyes and Heart-bloud of those that come under the Tyranny of their Bill And thus They gather stones for other mens buriall in which they interre both their Fortunes and their Name not onely scarifie them alive but Torment them when they are dead also strip them of their monumentall Rites the solemne pompe and Trophies of the Grave ravish their sepulchres deface those ensignes and inscriptions which should remarke them to succeeding Times A Barbarisme or rather Sacriledge abhorr'd amongst the Heathens as a Capitall injury and violence to their Manes and infernall Gods the prophaners whereof they threatned with the torture of all the Furies O consider this All you whom God hath advanc'd either in Title or Bloud above others thinke it not enough to be Great or Fortunate but to be Good also that men may as well sing of your Mercy as your Power rather magnifie your compassion than murmure at your rigour you are exalted to protect the innocent not to oppresse them to relieve the poore man not to grinde him The Lazar and Widow and Orphan should proclaime your care and pitty not your insultation acknowledge your Power rather by their Love than Feare Remember the greater you are in place the nearer you are unto God and he that is neere unto God hath a Greatnesse as well of Mercy as of Power And as of these you sing unto God so the afflicted must sing unto you and as in their calamities you have been a strength and resuge for them so in all your troubles God wil be a Sanctuary for you and then you may boldly rejoyce in the words of our Prophet here I will sing of thy Power and I will sing aloud of thy Mercy in the morning because thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble Gloria in excelsis Deo Amen Osculum Charitatis OR MERCY and JUSTICE kissing A SERMON PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY Anno Dom. 1635. By Humphrey Sydenham Osculetur me osculis oris sui sunt enim Amores tui meliores vino Cant. 1.2 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TO THE TRVLY GENEROUS AND NOBLY DISPOS'D DENYS ROLE Esquire This. SIR IT was not thought of Old however the Conditions of Men and their Times vary either Presumption or Rudenesse in the Divine to salute his Superior with a Kisse Prophets have done so to Kings themselves at their Regall Unctions in the very Dawne of Soveraignty And Apostolicall men to their greatest Proselites in the first rising of the Christian Church where the prime Ceremony was a Kisse And a Kisse like This I present you with Osculum Charitatis a Kisse of Charity A Kisse indeed of your owne choice in your first honouring of it from the Pulpit and now in all justice of your countenance at the Presse A Kisse much like your selfe and Actions where there is such a sweet mixture of Charity with Power that I know not well whether I should rather magnifie Fortune that you are Great or Vertue that you are Good Your Noble Deportment in the publike Services of your Countrey your great and unpattern'd Supplies of your ingag'd and necessitated Friends your courteous and liber all respects to those despised ones of mine owne Coate besides the daily flowings of your Elëemosinary Bounties can speak what temper you are of In all which though you wanted not a Trumpet to proclaime you yet you blew it not your selfe So just you are to your owne merits that doing Courtesies you scorne to blabbe them Maxima Laus est non posse laudari Tua non velle It is the greatest argument of Praise to be beyond it of Noblenesse without it Merit will be Merit without popular acclamations and common applause doth not alwayes give Lustre to particular honours but sometimes Suspition For mine own part my Style and Disposition both are too rough for a Panegericke And indeed to sow pillowes under Elbowes I ever thought fitter for an Upholster than a Divine However let the world know I no lesse hate Rudenesse than Flattery And as I would not be thought clawing so not uncivill especially in religious Ceremonies in this holy one of the Kisse which I shall desire you to entertaine fairely and cheerefully with an even Brow and not like the coy Dames of our Age turne the Cheeke for the Lippe and so lowre a Kisse into a Scorne That were to lessen you in your former ingenuities and cast a cloud over
those vertues which so make you shine in the opinion of others and me The unworthiest of your Honourers HVM SYDENHAM Osculum CHARITATIS OR MERCY and JUSTICE KISSING PSAL. 85.10 Mercy and Iruth are met together Righteousnesse and Peace have kissed each other EVery Attribute of GOD is God himselfe and God himselfe is principally discovered by those Attributes Now where we finde Mercy and Truth and Righteousnes and Peace and all these meeting and kissing in one substance we cannot conceive lesse than a God there the true God for the true God is the God of all these Had the words run onely in the Concrete mercifull and true and righteous and peaceable David perhaps or who ever else was Author of this Psalme might have understood here some earthly God a King a Good King as David was for these also meet and kisse in a religious soveraignty But since they are in the abstract mercy and truth and righteousnes and peace there is a greater Majesty inshrin'd A King of Kings and a God of Gods And what is that God here In Generall and at large the * Triune Triune GOD the One God in Three persons In Speciall and more particularly the second person in that One God CHRIST For if we sunder and untwist the Attributes as they now lie folded in the Text and so set Righteousnesse to Truth wee shall finde God the Father if Mercy to Truth God the Sonne if Peace to Truth God the Holy Ghost In Righteousnesse there is the Creator in Mercy there is the Redeemer in Peace there is the Comforter in Truth All Three But if we ranke them again as they stood in their first order and so make Mercy Truth meet and Righteousnes and Peace kisse they kisse meet properly in the Anointed and the Saviour the King and the Priest the God and the Man and the Iudge betweene Both CHRIST JESUS Mercy there 's the Saviour Righteousnesse there 's the Iudge Truth there 's the King Peace there 's the Priest or if you will have it Peace there 's both King and Priest Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Heb. 7.17 Now Melchisedech was King of Salem and Salem signifieth Peace so that he is not onely a Priest but a King of Peace a Priest and a King so for ever When the Earth was first in a generall Combustion and her sinfull Rebellions smoaking against Heaven when between God and Man or rather from God to Man there was nothing to be expected but Fire and Sword Christ stands betweene like Moses in the Gappe He is the Attoner and Pacifier the Propitiation and Reconciliation for all our sinnes 1 Joh 2.2 And here was Peace indeed and this Peace could not be procured without Mercy an infinite Mercy for a Sonne to interpose betweene an angry Father and an obstinate offender nay a wilfull enemy for so was Man then was an Argument of Mercy you 'll say But to hunger and to bleed and to dye for him and to dye ignominiously and in that death to beare the Curse due to the malefactor too was an infinite mercy Thus God commendeth his Love towards us his exceeding great Love that when wee were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 I will not trouble the Text nor Time nor you nor my selfe with a Division what God hath thus ioyned together let not man separate Mercie and Truth meete Righteousnesse and Peace kisse and let them meete and kisse still onely give me leave to shew you How Mercy and Truth have met and in whom and How Righteousnesse and Peace kiss'd and For What. Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousnesse and Peace have kissed each other I beginne with Mercy and there doubtlesse we shall finde Truth Mercy and Truth have met together FOr Mercy here the Originall hath the word Rachen from Racham which signifieth Diligere to Love but such a Love as is inward and from the very Bowells Now the Bowells you know are the Seate of Mercy and therefore S. Paul presses his Collossians with an Induite viscera misericordiae Put on the Bowells of Mercie Col. 3.12 But because of this Mercie there are manifold Effects the Greeke hath it usually in the plurall Origen in cap. 12. ad Rom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercies Ad judicandam immensam Dei misericordiam To shew the Greatnesse saith Origen and not onely so but the Tendernesse of Gods Mercies And therefore wee reade sometimes Miserationes sometimes viscera miserationum sometimes Viscera miserationes so Phil. 2.1 If there be any Bowells and Mercies where the Text hath not only the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornel. a lap in cap. 2. ad Phil. v. 1. which are the same with the Hebrew Rachamim miserationes for Viscera misericordiae So Christ when he saw the people scatter'd in the wildernesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the Text His bowells did yearne or He had pitty on them Mar. 6. Hence compassionate men are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bonorum Viscerum Men are good bowells which we translate Tender-hearted or mercifull Ephes 4.32 So mercifull that touch'd even at the marrow and intrails for the miseries of another they could poure out their very Bowells for him And such were the Mercies of God to Man when he powr'd out his owne Bowells His onely begotten Son for us So the Evangelicall Zachary Prophetically of Christ By the tender Mercies of God where the vulgar reades Per Viscera misericordiae Dei By the bowels of the mercy of God the Day-spring from on high hath visited us Luk. 1.78 And to this purpose Saint Paul labouring the conversion both of Iew and Gentile Rom. 12.1 doth beseech them by the mercies of God as tender-hearted mothers their immorigerous children per abera et ventrem suum Pet. Mart. in cap. 12. Rom. saith Peter Martyr by the wombe that bare them and by the paps that gave them sucke Nay more per viscera misericordiae by the bowells of mercy farther yet per viscera Iesu Christi by the bowells of Jesus Christ hee that is wombe and bowels and paps and all mercy God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowells of Iesus Christ Phil. 1.8 And certainely if there were ever bowells of mercy his were or ever miseries for those bowells to worke on ours were when hee not only pour'd out his affections but his very bloud for us us then his enemies and without him perpetuall captives and gally slaves to sinne and Sathan And therefore the Evangelist having it seemes no word more Emphaticall to expresse the mystery of incarnation by calls it mercy Luke 1. vide St llamin cap. 1. Lucae and the Apostle charity Rom. 8. Mercy and Charity the Analasis of heaven and earth God and man epitomiz'd nay God the man and therefore those two great vertues or rather attributes Symeon in his song calls salutare
at the very heeles by the Hue and cry of two foule sinnes Murder and Adultery is at length brought unto the barre and after arraignment and conviction done calls for his Psalme of mercy and insteed of an Exaudi me Domine hee comes with a miserere mei Deus 'T was before Heare me O Lord for thy righteousnesse sake as if hee stood upon termes of justification but now both the Tune and the Plea is alter'd And therefore have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodnesse according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my offences Psal 51.1 Here we finde Saint Bernard againe with his Magna misericordia and his Multitudo miserationum great sinnes require great goodnesse offences that are not common the multitude of Gods mercies the multitude of his tender mercies and according unto those Have mercy upon mee the Psalmist cryeth upon mee thy servant thy Prophet the man after thine owne heart My sinnes are such that they require thy goodnesse thy great goodnesse my offences so capitall that they looke for thy mercies thy tender mercies the multitude of thy tender mercies for their sake and onely for their sake blot out these my foule corruptions which if they should still continue in that uglinesse which they now are whither O whither should I flye No flesh is righteous in thy sight nay no righteousnesse in me as man meerely but is as flesh in thy sight fraile imperfect rotten not able to indure the touch of thy judgements If thou shouldest marke what is done amisse who should be able to abide it Psal 130.3 Surely not flesh blood not I I that am the miserablest of flesh and bloud I cannot answer thee one for a thousand Job 9.3 not one for a thousand thousand so desperate are my sins without thy goodnes thy great goodnes so hainous my transgressiōs without thy mercies thy tender mercies the multitude of thy tender mercies And this ever was will be the plea of Gods Children in their great extremities all their thoughts words endeavours then tread no farther the way to heaven than a miserere mei Deus If any brain-sick or upstart speculation have found out a newer cut or a neerer for mine owne part I give it the Pasport and good speed that Constantine did the Novatian Hereticke Tollescalas Acesi Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 7. in coelum solus ascendas let Rome suggest me it is in him that willeth or Geneva in him that runneth Saint Pauls miserentis Domini carryes the Palme at last It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 Those vaine-glorious opinions of merit and perfection here are but the dreames or delusions rather of two opposite and wayward Sisters Popery and Puritanisme Non sum dignus Nonsum dignus was the true and ancient ensigne both of sanctity and martyrdome And therefore the great Patriarch of the Romish Church was inforced at last to come in with his Tutissimum est It is most safe most safe Cardinall Bellar. de justif lib. 5. cap. 7. most just In sola Dei misericordia only in the mercy of God to repose our hope our confidence our eternall exectation And to this purpose one of the candles or rather stars of the same Church speaking of the mystery of our redemption Stella in 1. Lucae calls it mercy Quia tale tam divinum opus sub nullo merito comprehenditur sed sola divena misericordia factum est He that hath heard of Bellarmine or Stella knowes where the Quotations lie Heere then mercy and mercy only is embrac'd and those old presumptions of merit casheird by some of their greatest Rabbies Now if I could but reade or heare of so much modesty or so much mercy from some Perfectists of ours men so pretendingly immaculate and pure as if their hands and hearts were wash'd in innocence and they could goe boldly to Gods Altar as if they rather dar'd his justice then implor'd his mercy I might at length beleeve as I doe not yet that it were possible for a sincere or a learned or a not discontented man to turne Chatharist and so finde out a new way to Heaven by the spirit of opposition and singularity If any such Pharisees there be here standing about the Temple which yet dare vaunt in their plumed righteousnesse and tell God sawcily to his face that they are not as other men Extortioners vnjust Adulterers no not as this Publican let them enjoy the fruite of their insolent and uncharitable devotions whilst others and my selfe addresse our Orizons to God in his pensive and humble posture where wee may find a heart more stooping then a knee and a looke then either an eye so dejected and intent that it dares nor so much as glaunce where it offended as if one cast of it towards heaven were enough not only to dazzle but confound him Besides a hand so trembling or rather so feeble that it moves only to the striking of a sinfull breast no higher thoughts so mortified and gesture so lowly and language so modest that wee can discover nothing but penitence and submission and these rather express'd by groanes then words or if words broken ones Luke 18.13 God be mercifull to mee a sinner And here by the way we must remember that as mercy and truth meete so peace and righteousnes must kisse too nay righteousnes and mercy God is as well a righteous as a compassionate God a God of justice as of mercy nay his mercy sometimes shines the cleerer for his justice as the Sunne doth neere a storme or thunder-clapp His mercyes saith the Prophet are above all his workes All his workes Psal 145.9 That as you have heard is without Quaere not all his attributes too No though the Apostle seemeth to intimate so much Misericordia Dei super-exaltat judicium mercy doth super exalt or gloryes above or as some reade it Against judgement James 2.13 There is nothing in God majus or minus His attributes as I tolde you are himselfe and therefore to make one lesse or greater then another were to make God lesse or greater then himselfe God is summe simplicissimus not only one but very onenesse and therefore whatsoever is in himselfe must be himselfe and if himselfe therefore infinite infiinite then his justice as well as mercy and all his attributes as either and yet though mercy and justice as they are referr'd to God may bee styled infinite and are yet in relation to his workes they have such a reason of their magnitude as the worke it selfe is either proceeding from mercy or justice And therefore when God suffers sinnes to passe by unpunished as sometimes hee does hee is sayd to bee exceeding mercifull But when hee doth scourge a little his justice was not home to the desert of the offender so that his mercy is said to be greater than his justice though both be infinite
eye they coozen it Iustice no doubt is as visible as Mercy but that Flesh and Bloud is apt to turne the perspective the contrary way and so beholds Iustice in a small letter but turning it againe views Mercy in a large print In such a case I should rather chide than counsell did not the Sonne of Syrach put in his caveat here Ecclus. 5.5 6. concerning Propitiation Bee not without feare to adde sinne to sinne and say not His mercie is great he will be pacified for the multitude of my sinnes for mercy and wrath come from him and his Indignation resteth upon Sinners Ecclus. 5.5 6. 'T is true the Mercies of the Lord are infinite but his promises of them are for the most part conditionall and restrain'd like as a Father pittyeth his owne children so is the Lord mercifull Psal 103.13 but to whom Timentibus eum to those that feare him Psal 103.13 So againe the mercyes of the Lord are throughout all generations All generations How Timentibus eum to those that feare him throughout all generations Luke 1.50 No feare then no mercy But is there alwaies mercy where there is feare yes this Timentibus eum joyn'd with a Credentibus ineum if feare goe with beliefe and filiation with feare not else Yea but the Divells beleeve and tremble too is there not mercy for them Origen will say there is and after some expiration of yeeres Salvation too And for the better colouring of his tenet he hath as well text for the Divell as the Divell had for Christ Hath God forgotten to be gratious or will he in his anger shut up his tender mercyes for ever Psal 77. From which words he endeavours to lenifie those often breathings against the wicked Vt terribilus dicta quam verius as if they had more horrour in them than truth and us'd only to awe malefactors not to punish them But this wilde fancy of his the Church long since spewed out as erronious and interprets that anger of God which he formerly urg'd in the behalfe of the damned not any divine perturbation but their owne damnation which is frequently in scripture call'd anger and that anger endlesse and therefore the Psalmist sayes Inira sua non ad finiendam Lib. 4. dist 66. or post iram suam as the Master glosseth it And doubtlesse as the glory of Gods children is endlesse so is the destruction of his enemies The text oftentimes resembling their torments unto fire fire unquenchable everlasting fire Everlasting in respect of time though sometimes not of rigour And herein is mercy still though no salvation mercy in that there is a qualification of punishment not salvation because no termination of time for that punishment Hereupon Saint Augustine in his enarrations upon that of the Psalmist The mercy of the Lord endureth for ever Psal 106. From a double version of the word ever gathers a double observation of mercy The Septuagint reades it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In aeternum Saint Ierome whom the Father followes In seculum Now there is a mercy saith he Qua nemo sine Deo beatus esse potest by which no man can be blessed without God that is not injoying him And this he calls mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In aeternum There is a mercy besides Quae miscris exhibetur which is afforded to men in misery such a mercy as either involves barely a consolation or else such a mercy as presupposes freedome and this he calls mercy In seculum D. Aug. ad Psal 105. that is as he interprets himselfe In finem seculi in quo nòn decrunt miseri quibus misericordia praebeatur At the generall and dreadfull assize at the last day some shall not cease to be miserable to whom mercy is allowed and so to the Divell his Angells and the reprobated drove there is a mercy granted a mercy not of inlargement but relaxation and so that mercy may be said to be eternall on their eternall misery Non aeterno supplicio finem dando Lomb. lib. 4. dist 66. sed levamen adhibendo not by Ending but by Easing their everlasting torments And here D. Aug. ut sup Quis audeat dicere saith the Father who durst say this Easing is not Mercy or this Mercy not Eternall His mercie endureth for ever His mercy endureth for ever His mercy endureth for ever 'T is the burden and under-song the Prophet useth thrice in one Psalme and 26. times in another Whither then O God shall wee flie from thy Power or whither so flying but to thy Mercy If wee climbe up to Heaven Mercy is there If we goe downe into Hell Mercy is there If we take the wings of the morne and flye to the uttermost parts of the Earth Mercy is there also 'T is in Glory Exile Torment Psal 118. Above beyond under us with thy Friends thine Aliens thine Enemies thy glorified thy dispersed Psal 13. thy condemned Mercy Before the world and Mercy After the world Mercy From everlasting and Mercy To everlasting Mercy when there was no Time and Mercy when there shall be Time no more Mercy from that immortality which hath No beginning and Mercy to that immortality which hath Noend Infinite Incorruptible Aeternall For his Mercy endureth for ever for his Mercy endureth for ever for his Mercy endureth for ever Well then Is God the God of Mercie And Christ the Christ of Mercie Are we Christs and Christ God's Let us then be the Sonnes of Mercy too being mercifull as our Father in Heaven is mercifull forgiving one another as God for Christs sake forgave us Let there not be a Nabal murmuring within us no heart of stone for the hammer of the Law to batter but hearts of Flesh soft and pliable to the miseries of others And as God hath powred out his bowells for us so let us powre out our bowells for our brethren our bowells of Pitty and Compassion Remember what the counsell of S. Ierom was to Demetriades the Virgin S. Hieron parte 3. Tract 5. Ep. Epist 17. Laudent te esurientium viscera non ructantium opulenta convivia Let the great mans Voyder be the poore mans Basket the emptying of his Abundance the Accommodation of the others wants Hunger will not be fed with Ayre nor misery with good words they must have a taste of the Meale in our barrell and of the Oyle in our Cruse Let 's abate somewhat of our superfluities to supply their necessities Sint tua supersiua pauperis necessaria Sen. ad Lucil. Ep. 51. Bleed this Plurisie of ours and Cordiall their Consumption Let the Naked be cloth'd the Hungry fed the Impotent provided for the Sicke visited Give not for Bread a Stone nor for a Fish a Scorpion But let our hands speake what our hearts meane our Almes tell that our thoughts are compassionate And not like those flinty professours which turne Gospell into Law Christianity into Barbarisme A poore widow