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
owne Secretaries speake The registers and pen-men of Divine story How they sing of his Power How they blazon his Omnipotence Loe Isa 40.12 He metes out Heaven with a span measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand comprehends the dust of the Earth in a measure weigheth the Mountaines in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance Isa 40.12 Here is the whole world circled in one verse and yet not his whole Power in that Circle his Power is his Godhead and God himselfe hath been call'd a Circle It is he that sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grassehoppers before him Marke He sits there he is not contained there There no that were above miracle the greater Circle contain'd in the lesse The Heathens themselves could tell us God was an intelligible Spheare Empedocles without Dimensions a Circle whose center was every where no where his Circumference no where not in the whole World not in the Earth not in the Waters not in the Heavens that circle both The Waters you heare he measures in the hollow of his hand the Earth in the same measure the Heavens that containe these in a Span Here is but a Span and Handfull of his Power and yet this Handfull graspes the Vniverse This made our Prophet often sing and in his song close as he began How wonderfull is thy Name in all the World Psal 8.1 9. How wonderfull in all the World A double wonder indeed in respect of Man though of God not so God could not be so wonderfully Great if man had ability to expresse him and therefore having none hee expresses himselfe by himselfe or at least himselfe by his Prophets to whom himselfe hee dictates who like men infus'd and intranc'd Speake aloft in sacred Allegories such as beseeme the Majesty and Greatnesse aswell of the Pen-man as Inspirer And here Psa 104.2 what sublimity both of power and language He clothes himselfe with light as with a garment Isa 40.22 stretcheth out the heavens like a curtaine and spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in by his spirit hath he garnished the skie Job 26.10 and fashioned it like a molten looking glasse In them hath he set a tabernacle for the Sun Psal 19.5 which as a Bridegroome commeth out of his chamber Psal 103. and rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his course He he hath appointed also the Moone for seasons and at his pleasure sealeth up the starres Job 9.7 He bindes the sweet influences of the Pleiades Iob. 9.7 and loses the bonds of Orion brings forth Mazaroth in his season and guides Arcturus with his Sons Iob. 38.31.32 Heere all bumane Eloquence is befool'd Non vox hominum sonut Oh Dei certe Such an expression of God none could frame but God himselfe and this made our Prophet finge againe Psal 104.24 O Lord of hosts how wonderfull are thy workes In wisedome hast thou made them all who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy power and faithfulnesse round about thee Psal 89.8 Let us now leave the firmament and the Lord bowing the heavens and comming downe see what empire and dominion he hath in the regions of the aire There Psal 104.3 he layeth the beames of his chamber in the waters maketh the cloudes his chariot and rideth upon the wings of the winde Through the brightnes of his presence are coales of fire kindled lightnings and hot thunderbolts Psal 18. There he hath made a decree for the raine Iob. 38.28 en 37.16 the ballancings of the cloudes as Iob styles them and there hath he begotten the drops of dewe Thence he giveth snowe like wooll Psal 147.17 18 and scattereth the hoare frosts like ashes casteth out his ice like morsells There Iob. 28.25 he maketh waight for the windes he bindeth up the waters in a cloude as in a bottell Iob. 26.8 and the cloude is not rent under them This made our Prophet sing aloft Praise the Lord in the heights praise him fire and haile snowe and vapours stor my winde sulfilling his worde Psal 108.1 and 8. verses Let us descend once more and amongst those proud heapes of earth which seeme to lift their heads even to the very starres observe what sway his power carries there or rather what terror He shall thresh the mountaines and beate them smal Isai 41.15.16 and make the hills as chaffe he shall fanne them and with his whirle winde shall he scatter them Iob 28.10 and shall overturne them by the rootes Isai 40.16 If he be angry Lebanon is not enough for incense nor the beasts thereof for a burnt sacrifice The foundations of the round world are discover'd at his chiding Psal 18.15 at the blasting of the breath of his displeasure This made our Prophet sing againe The Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods in his hands are all the corners of the earth and the strength of the hills is his also Psal 95.3.4 Shall wee yet stoope lower and descending this mount see how he is a Lord of the valleys and the inhabitants thereof Iob 38.6 Loe the foundation of the earth he hath wonderfully set Iob 9.6 and laid the corner stone thereof at his pleasure againe hee shaketh it out of her hindges Psal 114.8 and the pillars thereof tremble He turnes the hard rocke into a standing water and the flint-stone into a springing well The Nations before him are lesse then nothing they are accounted as the drops of a bucket Psal 149.8 and as the small dust of the ballance He bindeth Kings in chaines and Nobles in fetters of iron Isai 41.2 he gives his enemies as dust to the sworde and as driven stubble to his bow He shal rise up as in mount Perazim Iosh 10.12 He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that he may doe his worke his great worke Isai 28.21 and bring to passe his act his great act This made our Prophet sing againe The earth is the Lords and all that therein is the compasse of the whole world and all that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the Seas and prepar'd it upon the floudes Psal 24.1 2. Shall wee now leave the earth and those that sojourne there and see the wonders of the Lord in the great deepe Psal 33.7 There he gathereth the waters of the Sea together and layes them up in store-houses At his commaund the flouds lift up their voyce the waves beginne to swell Iob 41.31 and he makes them boile like a pot of oyntment Againe he ruleth the raging of the Sea and the waters thereof he stilleth at his pleasure Psal 93.4 He bindeth the flouds from over flowing shuts up the Sea with doores when it breakes forth as if it issued out of the wombe makes the cloude a garment thereof and thicke darkenes a
or Lazar or Orphan are an Abomination at their gates The story of Hatto and his mice reviv'd Away with such vermines as these which devoure our Corne they stand neither with our profit nor the Law A morsell of Bread for Gods sake or a penny for the Passion of a Saviour they choak with a penall statute and their Charity is a Lex prohibet Fie on this cruell Mercie it holds not with the Law If a Collection for the disasters of Fire or Wracks or distressed captives be presented them though stamp'd with the Authority of a Regall Pattent yet Away with this Non obstante 't is against the Law Nay if Tribute be required for Caesar himselfe a supply demanded for the ships of Tharshish a Rate to be levied for the Royall Navy to the honour of their Prince the Terror of other Nations and the future preservation of their Owne they are up presently with their Passive Obedience Goods forsooth they have but in this case Money they have none though all the while they tumble in Bonds and Morgages And why 'T is against the Law Thus they make the meere Letter of the Law Their Oracle A Statute their Teraphin or tutelary God Their Religion Faith without Workes Their Allegiance murmuring their Church Mutiny their Charity Implacablenesse their Compassion Bridewell their Almes a whipping Post O crudelis Alexi Nil nostri miserere Argier or the Holy Inquisition are scarce so mercilesse Againe Is God the God of Truth and Christ the Christ of Truth Let us then be Christians in Truth too not onely in the Barke and Shell in outward deportment and resemblance as too many are but at the very Core and Kernell in Reality and Substance also He that is not sound at heart is little better than rotten in all his parts And that Religion which hath not warmth within is either Cold or Counterfeit or Both A Cake on the hearth not turn'd the Prophet sharpely condemn'd in Ephraim and your halfe-bak'd Christian is an Abomination to the Lord. What we professe to be let us be wholly least we prove at last to be nought at all Let us not have a Tongue here at home and a Heart at Geneva our pretence for the reformed Church and our project for the Romish But if we be for Baal let us goe after him If for the Lord let us goe after Him Lastly Is God a God of Righteousnesse and Peace Doe they kisse both in the Father and his Sonne Christ Jesus Let them kisse therefore in Vs also that are Christians That as we are his Sonnes by Adoption so we may likewise by Imitation Let us endeavour to be Righteous as He is Righteous at least in similitude though not in equality to be the Sonnes of Peace as he is the God of Peace turning our Swords into Sythes our Speares into Pruning-hookes that the voyce of War and Dissention be no more amongst us Away with those waters of Marah and Meribah those overflowings of bitternesse and Strife let the silent Streame glide amongst us no Raging of the waves Rising of the flouds no Noyse of the water spouts But let us all endevour to keep the unity of Spirit in the bond of Peace Remember whither you are now going to the Lord's Altar and he that comes thither must have his hands wash'd in Innocence and his heart in Peace It is the Altar of Attonement and Reconciliation and there is no Reconciliation with God except there be first Peace with thy Brother If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the Altar and goe thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift as our Saviour adviseth thee Matth. 5.24 Looke not here for mercy from God except thou hast first Charity with man How canst thou expect forgivenesse of thy Trespasses unlesse thou forgive Them that trespasse against thee Forgive then and thou shalt be forgiven Seeke Peace and thou shall finde it even That Peace which passeth all understanding And let That Peace alwayes keep your hearts and mindes in the knowledge and love both of God and Man And The Blessing of God Almighty the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost be with you and remaine with you now and for ever Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo Amen FINIS The Blinde Ephesian OR IGNORANCE unvail'd A SERMON PREACHED Ad POPVLVM at Henton S. GEORGE in Sommerset By Humphrey Sydenham Revela Domine Oculos meos ut intuear mirabilia de Lege tua Psal 119.18 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TO MY MOST DESER VING FRIEND and Kinsman HENRY POVLETT Esquire THIS SIR WIth a bold dedication I have this humble suit to preferre that you measure not the disposition of the Offerer by the quality of the Present For if I had not as wel known the greatnesse of your Charity as of your Iudgement I should not have thus profan'd a Noble Altar with a blind Oblation which amongst those Legall sacrifices of old was ever so much below acceptance that it was not farfrom Abomination I must ingenionsly confesse this Peece was design'd elsewhere and perhaps importuu'd also but then in all probability the blind should have led the blind and so both falne into the Dyke together with you I am sure as well of a Cherisher as Director and such a one our Ephesian wants who in his first offer to the pulpit trip't a little so apt blind people are to fall but it was in the misprision of the hearers which commonly receive things according to Fancy or guilt and soldome to the intention of the Speaker However he is now on his legs again will adventure under your Countenance and Conduct to travaile the world a while where wanting the benefit of his owne eyes he shall be guided by the quicknesse and clearnesse of Yours which can distinguish betweene things really blind and those which are metaphorically and in tittle onely such are the Freewill offerings of Your poore Servant and Allie HVM SYDENHAM THE Blinde Ephesian OR Ignorance unvail'd EPHES. 5.8 Yee were sometimes darknesse but now ye are light in the Lord walke as Children of light NOthing so much debaseth man and brings him downe to Beast as a wilfull neglect or ignorance of morall and sacred principles Our Apostle you know hath been formerly at Ephesus where instead of incountring men 1 Cor. 15.32 hee himselfe testifies that he fough with beasts a people belike as brutish in their manner of deportment as Religion Now Ephesus was the Metropolis of Asia the lesse a Citie saith Saint Ierome stupidly affected to Magicke and Idolatry In praemio Comment hujus Epist in chiefe remark'd for that renowned Temple of her great Goddesse Diana which as it was the Mother of much wonder unto other Nations so of superstition to her owne
for instead of those Magnificats and Hosannahs which were proper onely to the true God Act. 19. v. 28. 34. Great great is the Lord and worthy to bee praised how excellent is thy Name in all the world Psal 8. Here the unruly shout of Crafis-men and Shrine-makers so busie are Mechannicks still in matters of Religion are loud for a more glittering Deity and cause both the streets the Temple to ring Act. 19.26 Great is Diana of the Ephesians Great is Diana of the Ephesians Saint Paul therefore pittying their blindnesse and willing to reduce them from darknesse unto light tells them that they were no Gods which were made with hands but the braine-sicke sancies of those that made them and withall acquaints them with a new Divinity which they had not heard of and hearing perhaps could not well understand opens to them the mystery of a Trinity tells them of Three Persons in one God nay that three persons were but one God and yet every one of these persons a true God that there was a Father from everlasting which was Divine and a Sonne so too very God of very God begotten before the world and before all time and yet brought forth after there was a world and in the fulnesse of time This could be no lesse than a Riddle to Flesh and bloud and more apt to stagger a naturall understanding than informe it But that God who wrought miraculously in the Creation of man doth also in his Conversion His Apostle here shall doe that by the secret operations of the spirit which the subtle powers of Art and reason with all their acutenesse and sublimity cannot possibly aspire unto And now he begins to preach unto them Christ Iesus and him crucified 1 Cor. 1.23 a matter of folly unto some of stumbling unto others but of salvation here and this great worke is not to be done suddainely or with a flash but requireth both time and teares diligence and compasaion as if in matters of spirituall imployment God not onely expected the tongue or hands of his Ministers but their eyes also for so Saint Paul tells the Elders of Ephesus at Myletum Acts 20. that Hee ceased not to warne every one night and day with teares And this he did for the space of three yeeres untill a commotion being rais'd against him by Demetrius the Silver-smith one that more lov'd his owne gaine than Religion as most mercenary men doe hee departed into Macedonia leaving Timothy at Ephesus for the farther growth of that Doctrine which hee there seeded Not long after going bound in spirit to Ierusalem and from thence to Rome where he was in bonds and fearing that the Dog might againe to his old vomit hee writes this Epistle to Ephesus by Tychicus the Deacon 2 Tim. 4.12 not to the dispersed Iewes there or Iudais'd Christians as some conjecture for these had formerly revolted 2 Tim. 1.15 Phygellus and Hermogenes being chiefe but to the converted Gentiles for so he himselfe profess'd Ego Paulus vinct us Iesu Christi pro vobis Gentibus in the 3. chapter of this Epistle In which he is not onely carefull for the suppressing of Heresies which were like to rise or else already growne principally those of the Symonian Sect and the Schooles of the Gnosticks Epiph. lib. 1. contra Haeres as Epiphanius notes but also for the perfecting of that great worke of Christianity which hee had with such danger begun and with such difficulty proceeded in And therefore here like a discreet Monitor he first puts them in mind of their primitive condition what they formerly were Yee were sometimes darknesse Then of their present state and happinesse what they now stood in Ye are light in the Lord And lastly of their conversation in the future what a holy strictnesse should carry them in after-times Walke as children of light These are the branches the Text naturally spreads unto and because they are large ones and each particular full enough for the whole body of a discourse I shall pitch my meditations for the present on the former onely and so confine both my selfe and them to the very front of the Text Eratis olim Tenebrae Ye were sometimes darknesse And here lest we fall a stumbling in the darke and with the Israclite wander up and downe under the Cloud let us inquire a little what darknesse is or rather what it is not then what it is or is not in the Text here and so make up the Analogie betweene both Now darknesse is nothing else but Absentia luminis a Non-residency if I may so stile it or vacancy of light Qui diligenter considerat quid sint tenebrae snil aliud invenit quam lucis absentiam D. Aug. lib. de Gen. ad lit imperfecte And to this purpose Moses tells us that in the beginning when the earth was without forme and void Tencbrae erant super Abyssum Darknesse cover'd the face of the deepe which is all one saith Saint Augustine with Non erat lux super abyssum There was no light upon the face of the deepe So that the Father would have darknesse there to be onely Informitas sine lumine A prodigie without light blemishing and dimming that rich beauty and lustre which should radiate and enlighten the whole world And indeed if we critically enquire into the originall of things wee cannot bring darknesse within the verge of Creation wee reade of a Fiat lux let there be light but no where of a Fiant tenebrae let there be darknesse as if with darknesse God had nothing to doe nothing indeed in respect of Creation but of Ordinance or Administration For God made the Species of things Nè vel ipse privat ones non haberent suum ordinem D. Aug. ut supra not privations not made these but dispos'd them least privations themselves should not have their order God managing though not creating them who is the God of Order Now light you know is a created quality not made as I told you but ordain'd onely like a rest in a Song where though there be an intermission of voyce for the present as if there were neither voyce nor Song yet if it be rightly tim'd and order'd makes the Song more melodious and the art fuller Or like shadowes in wel-limn'd Pictures which give the other life and excellence but in themselves Non specie sed ordine placent their shape is not pleasing ' but their order Wee say not nor dare not say that God was the causer of this Ephesian darknesse but doubtlesse he was the Disposer of it otherwise it had never beene advanc'd to this Lux estis in Domino yee are now light in the Lord. God is not the Authour of any obliquity or crookednesse in our wayes but he is the Orderer and turnes them oftentimes to our punishment and his glory Nay oftentimes O the depth and riches of his mercyes ' from our punishment to our owne