Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n
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A10062
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The eagles flight or six principall notes, or sure markes for euery true Christian to soare vp to the euerlasting nest of Gods eternall kingdome. As it was deliuered in a most godly and fruitfull sermon at Paules Crosse. By Maister Price of S. Iohns in Oxford.
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Price, Henry, 1566 or 7-1600.
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1599
(1599)
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STC 20307; ESTC S100876
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32,251
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86
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the Fathers were they so They could not mee thinks misse of eyther that of Leo It is so obuious Necessarium est trepidare de monito Religiosum gaudere de dono Be thou neuer so good yet must thou learne to builde so little on it as to tremble at the thought of it And bee heauen giuen neuer so free cost yet so downe must thy stout hearte on this condition to bee glad to accept it Or that of Bernardus Merita habere cures merita data noueris frùctum speres dei miseric ordiam Doe not like the men of this barren generation of ours who as securely as they sit are the next doore to cursing and in the way to burning too Heb. 6. for that 's the issue they shoulde finde of so little fruite after so long tilling Bee doing a Gods name and God though he will not sell the yet will giue thee heauen but yet see thou bee sure to remember of whom it is giuen thee to be able to do this good and then in any case let thy Plea be Not mine owne merit but his mercie A third sort of men there is who build and about the rocke too but not on the top of the rocke as Iob tels vs the Eagles doe but where the storme hath worne a hole in the rocke These are rather Plinies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so termed because they naturally want feete and cannot stand in english Martinets who as the same Author lib. 10 chap. 39. of his naturall history writeth haue certaine good qualities First they bee very rife court and contry swarme with them Then they are as busie as rife His quies nisi in nido nulla aut pendent aut iacent They are still stirring but in their nests and there you shall not take thē but either hanging or lying Last they are as diuerse as either rife or busie ingenia aequè varia scarce two of them in one minde First they builde in the Ruines of the Rocke for what betwene the sacrilegious preferrer which will not beg all but haue some And the Simonicall gratifier who like our new kinde of purchasers makes away land to get Lordshippes by sea and the fantastique Reformer Qu◠nomine imperij impugnat imperium Act 5.38 who hath beene so long building the Church till hee hath almost puld downe the Church for there are more kinde of Martinets than the Libellers neuer wrought Hannibals scalding vineger vpon the Alpes as these fellowes as hote as tart Spirits doe vpon this poore Rocke the Church to make it moulder downe But the comfort is they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they haue noe feete For if Paule his tutors rule holde and by Saint Luke registring it it should seme it doth This councell of theirs which is not of God cannot stand the roote of that cannot bee but rottennesse whose fruite is but corruption and no longer can this fog of their greatnesse last than till the Sunne be risen to dispell it and towards day it cannot but alreadie bee so many Cocks haue crowed against them This of the first note of an Eagle the nest and such as by it may be knowne to be no Eagles Now a worde of the second to witte the eye which be you of the right male is al waies so quicke as to ken a farre off so strong as to looke straight against the Sunne For her eyes behold a farre off saith Iob Plin. lib. 10. cap. 3. Illi acies contra radios solis stat firma her eye will neuer water though she gase into the Sun And these two vertues shall you still marke in their eyes who shall bee gathered hither Iob. 39.32 See the first in Abraham in whose bosome Diues would faine haue beene he can see and reioyce at Christs day almost 2000. yeares off See the second in Eagle Iohn himselfe and his fellowes he runnes not with bare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee haue seene but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. 8.56 our eyes haue serued vs to stande and gase vpon no lesse than euen his glorie yet what manner glory was his very such as is the onely begotten sonnes of the Father Gratious God how farre are the Atheists of our age from both this strength and sharpnes of sight Light it selfe is so dym they cannot see it themselues are so farre off they cannot discerne themselues for God is light so saith the truth and their soules are themselues so faies their Philosophie They cannot see a God that is the fountain of al natures in so cleare a glasse as the Mirrour of all creatures A worke so faire would in reason proue a workeman as skilfull For to an effect aboue the bent of his owne nature can no cause any better reach than a childes wit can to the building of this Church And yet can they Bussards as they are see a worlde that is a building infinity admirable for the firmnes capacitie maiestie vse order motion of it And not finde as much as the tracte of any creatures either omnipotēce in that fitmenes or infinitnesse in that capacitie or glorie in that maiestie or goodnesse in that vse or wisdome in that order or life in that motion of it Suppose one of these pollitike depose-Gods were but a maister Chimick as such working wits are verie ingenious hauing don me the fauour to shew me some one of his especial Magistrals as greatnes of skill pride in kindenes are oft cōpenions should heare me iudge it to be the destillation of some Pedler Aqua-vitae-man would he not take mee to be of small iudgement in that Arte And then demaunde I of him whosoeuer hee be whether as meane an opinion for his iudgemēt in very nature may not be wel had of him who seeing an heauen which hee confesseth abundant in varietie of influence and they all as maruelous as manic managed by a consort of motions which thwart and yet disturbe not one another Who treading vpon an earth which yealdes breade to strengthen him wine to comfort him golde to enrich him drugs to heale him wonders to astonish him who sailing vpon a sea which hee knowes is water that is a humor naturally spreeding and yet sees it higher than the earth that is against nature without limit solid can yet surmise so hab-nab a cause as chance nay anie but so aboue nature a cause as GOD could bee the compactor of this heauen the endower of this earth the controller of this sea Hee sees huge Elements earth water and aire yet so ouerawde as to giue their substance moisture and breath to the nourishing little plants and hearbes Hee sees fierce sturdie beasts yet so ouerruled as to yeelde their backs to seruing their liues to feeding weake and little man O can he doubt there is an vmpire of impeachable right vnmatchable power vnsoundable wisdom which could without repining subiect those so greate to these so little Let mee beg of him be there any present
of this minde first to be thinke himselfe what interest his prince who may commaunde his life and lande hath in him Then should shee from which wrong thanked bee God her highnes hath euer bene farre hauing forced him to yeelde both into her handes dispose of the one to her Exchequer of the other to his vnderlings seruice whether hee coulde brooke such measure euen at her hande or no whether hee would fast to feede that vnderling of his watch to guard him die to saue him And then say how deare needes must this title bee to all how soueraine his power to all that at his becke pride hath not thought much to bowe to basenes learning to be taught by rudenesse power to be manacled by weakenesse millions to be wonne by twelue and the earth to be caught by fishers O had I now but Ananias his gift that after the shining of this great light froÌ„ heauen earth all vpon these princes of the darkenes of this worlde I could much them and make the scales fall from their eyes how clearely should they see not onely that God who of nothing made them and of most wretched molde blessed them but also that soule of their own which now though their quickest sence be too slowe to descrie yet one day will their slowest be quicke enough to feele For yet as they cannot see a God in his creatures so neither can they a soule of their owne in his effects Liue they yet is it not by a soule their temperature forsooth cannot giue them to doe so much yet is this temperature of theirs of foure deads they say for such are the elements and of deade added to deade can life I am sure no better arise than some what of nought multiplied by nought for millions of Cyphers you knowe will not raise so much as one vnit Finde they somewhat in them little selues of capacitie enough to holde this great world it not thronged but so distinctly as in a moment to present them with it all the heauen moouing the stars shining the fire mounting the Ayre pearcing the sea swelling the earth resting gemmes glistring varietie entertayning why euen yet is not this somewhat which within so little as they are holdeth so greate as these are in any case a soule for they haue nothing in them which is not a bodie yet euery bodie is bound they say to this lawe that it cannot holde any thing bigger than it selfe Feele they somewhat in themselues which waxeth as the bodie waineth and which is wisest to prescribe when the bones sinewes are weakest to execute which enables that body now to grow moue speake which it may be ere night hauing euery part that they so it now hath a greater quantity than now it hath wil be as vnable to grow moue or speake as the dullest stone wese And yet caÌ„not this same what whatsoeuer it is so twhart the bodie in nature so seperat froÌ„ it coÌ„tinuing it so perfect obtaine of them to be other than either somewhat of the bodie or nothing in the worlde Stonie sencelesse men what can there be possiblie thus to infatuate them They could yet neuer see for sooth this God this soule wee so much talke of Plautus as I remember in Asinaria brings in an olde strumpet playing vpon a worne-out customer of hers with whome the worlde ranne so lowe that he was faine to aske daies of paiment for his pleasure with these words Oculatae nostra sunt manus credunt quod videÌ„t my friend people of our trade haue eyes in their hands if your present be so fine they cannot see it they beleeue it is so farre off they doe not receiue it It is as olde as true that like will to like for see our gallants of Diagora his religion haue kist their mistrisses haÌ„d so oft that they are woxeuen like theÌ„ why they are come to creduÌ„t quod videÌ„t too It will not sinke into their heads that any this which is not so grosse it may beseene I maruaile whether these men thinke theÌ„selues breath in SoÌ„mer as well as in winter It should seeme they doe not For the sharpest he among them sees no breath he then sendeth forth But as colde growes on and the ayre rarifies beginnes it to appeare Fooles as they are God and his prouidence and their soules and the like are things of so subtil nature that all this Sommer of their pleasures or haruest of their profit they cannot see them But there is a winter of iudgement drawing on and it so colde an one that it will force a trembling of their flesh and gnashing of their teeth Then will the ayre grow so sharpe that it will shewe them a God in their iudgements his prouidence in their damnation and to a now vnbeleeued soule themselues haue an vnspeakable torment which in it they shall feele Then shall they be so mad with paine that they shall stare and roare and cry O what is this I feale It cannot be a heade a hand a leg a brest a backe that beareth all I feele these teeth haue made me rage with paine yet was that case to this this flesh these neaues these ioynts the wind hath euen rackt yet was it ease to this It is now but a moment yet feele I what eternitie can inflict vpon mee And though I feele what it can inflict yet will it haue somewhat to inflicte I neuer felt It is that soule which then reputed fooles now founde too wife Christians taught was immortall that tasteth all this O that I were so happie as to make but one of you haue sence of this and that if you would bee intreated to spende but some fewe houres in marking some disparing mans fit who though sounde in bodie yet in somewhat else you should see inconceiueably panged you could not choose but haue How ioyfull should I poast with such a soule vnto God with how sweete hymnes of consorted Angels would heauen entertaine vs It were pride to say wee should come to ioy but hundred thicke that were to intimate that wee supposed one of vs were iust Noe wee should both bee then so good of yet so bad that there shoulde bee for each of vs his 99. degrees of ioy a peece But woulde there more come in our companie increase O then how would that vaulting ring How full would each one make the number of all and how exceeding all the ioy for each ones part Now to the third to wit the slight wherein are to be densidered two things the pitch or hight of it peise or streÌ„gth of it To botls which God himselfe alludes Exod 19.40 where he putting his people in minde both how farre aboue the earth as wee â—erme it of danger and how quickly before the expectation of longing he had conducted them out of Egypt hee tels them hee had borne them vpon Eagles winges Of the latter some Grain-marians say that it hath