growth and fruit is not more manifest then an easie vnitie in their juyce But if you would by a neere instruction see the obedience of the creatures it disioyned to returne to vnitie you may from your selues instruct your selues and when mans bodie fals-off from his soule in that one dis-dis-vnion behold two vnions and nature hastning to its first similitude You may see the body put-on an humble corruption and be content to returne to as vnfeigned dust as that which is the food and curse of the Serpent or that into which euery beast must bee confounded that if the ashes of Alexander and his Bucephalus had beene put in one vrne Aristotle himselfe could not haue distinguished them either by Philosophy or by flattery You may likewise by the eye of the soule see the soule at its separation so refined by similitude into spirit that it is readie to mistake it selfe for an angell as if its knowledge were at the same time perfected and deluded Nor will it onely imitate the likenesse but also the office of an angel and shal at last be sent vpon a message to its owne body which it will take vp as an angell will take vp both the body and soule But because the soule can ascend higher by contemplation then it can by essence it may behold the beginning of vnitie in all things by beholding him who is the beginning of all things In whom wee may see an vnitie in a diuision and shew the Mathematician a mysticall possibility of the diuiding of a point whiles wee may behold God not multiplyed and yet diuided into persons Now though man be not capable of the mysterie yet he is of the instruction and may with as much case as delight vnderstand that God is so delighted with vnitie that it is alwayes either his nature or his worke It was the same wisdome which dispensed Adam into Nations and contracted them againe into the houshold of an Arke God created angels in multitude but hee made man in vnitie hee gaue excellence to them but to man Supremacie the chiefe of angels being in heauen but a subject but the chiefe of men being on earth a King And though an angell bee more like to God for purity yet man is more like him for production An angell can more subtilly vnderstand his owne likenesse but a man more powerfully can also partly beget his owne likenesse being made a Deputie Creator and therefore he is a King because he is a father A kingdome by nature is but an enlarged family and the first King begot his owne subjects and a father by the Romane Law had once as just power to execute his sonne as to preserue him The Law of God which commands our obedience to a King commands it for him by the title of a father Adam was by God and Nature the King of Mankind and Nature would haue deliuered this kingdome to his first borne Nor had it beene a mistake Nature saw just cause why he should haue succeeded though it did not see a juster cause why hee should not succeed and though the Diuine justice changed the person yet it changed not the Law It did interrupt it but not abrogate it and therefore the Royalty goes still with the Eldership Thus he that was the first King was before his people and this agrees with the course of nature by whose instruction wee know that in the method of euery birth which is not peruerse the head is elder then the body As then both angels and man tooke their beginning from one God so all other men tooke their beginning from one man And God hath not onely honoured this vnity in succession but also preserued it by succession So some Kings supply birth right by victory and some by election though to elect a King be as much newes to nature as to adopt a Father and it did first arise from necessitie and conueniency in families whom the blessing of multitude had dispers'd and mixt And though it were often among the Gentiles continued by faction and by the Iewes at first entertayned by Fancy yet God in the Wisedome of his diuine indulgence did grant their desire and chastize it giuing them a King by choice but it was also by his owne choice he did not in the election commend election but Monarchie which makes families so wise as to become a Nation nay which makes Nations so wise as to become a Nation and by the witty happinesse of vnity to prooue one to be stronger then two It is as great a difficulty as a blessing for brethren to liue in one Nation and friendship but it is as great a wonder as a blessing when Nations become brethren and are distinguished rather by number then affection Abraham and Lot were almost brethren and yet they were diuided that they might not be diuided Iacob and Esau were brethren and though one wombe could contayne them one Countrey could not but Iacob must flie Esau is as ready to hunt Him as Venison But Cain was at that diuision with Abel that the same world could not hold thē both and yet hee kild him for he knew not what it was about Gods fauour but not for it Thus experience can hardly find vnion there where reason would thinke it hard to find a diuision Vnion is the happinesse of man and the accusation it being more entertayned by inferiour creatures which rather possesse it then enjoy it then it is by man who likewise doth more vnderstand it then enjoy it And yet it is a blessing not so excellent for the raritie as for the increase it being by nature of that thrift and cunning that it growes in goodnesse by growing in greatnesse and from number receiues excellence The vnion of families into a Citie as it doth conquer affections vnto peace so it selfe is conquered into a perfection by a greater vnion The vnion of Cities into a kingdome tries the goodnesse of a King but the vnion of kingdomes tries his wisdome the simplicitie of justice beeing enough to manage one kingdome but two will require the mysterie of wisdome When Nature vnites people into a kingdom it doth but work by an humble safety but when it vnites kingdomes it workes by the transcendent power of loue and glory this excellent vnion being as much the delight as the imitation of Nature So that although it arise sometimes by accident from causes lesse naturall as from pride and force yet the diuine wisdome hath in all ages condemned and rectified such vnion still suffering a great part of the world by a happy rashnesse to runne it selfe into Empires In each of which mee thinkes we may obserue some eminent and distinct blessing which attends and honours the vnion of Nations If you will wipe-off the dust of antiquity from the Chronicles of the Assyrians you may in that vnion of Nations sufficiently discerne the blessing of peace witnesse their plantations wherein they more employed the trowell then the sword Witnesse
Assyrian to imitate and chastize these slaughters And yet no deportation of these people into some land on which they would haue bin taught to commit no violence but with the plough But God did not stretch out his hand to judgement but did correct them with their owne hands making their fury which was their guilt their punishment He threatned them with captiuity but graciously did but threaten them But hee conquer'd them both he conquered them with his mercy which vndertooke their vnion when hope and reason had forsaken it Could any man expect they should bee vnited by marriage which was a meanes that in former times had beene prooued to bee weake and now seemed as desperate as the warre that followed it wherein the royall Bridegroome falling by the irreuerent fury of the sword left an infant for his successour not able to vnderstand the blessing of a Kingdome or the losse of a father but left a man for his enemy our last Henry a King full of triumphs and heires Yet were they vnited from the blessing of marriage and thus their first vnion was the vnion of their bodies Could any man expect they should bee vnited by Religion whiles they beheld two glorious Queenes the one famous for wisdome the other for wisdome and happinesse the one of age to bring vp her heire the other of age to beare an heire but Princes as much diuided by Religion as they were vnited by nature Yet were they vnited in their successour who was heire in Royalty to the one and in Royalty and Religion to the other Thus were our Britanies vnited from the blessing of marriage by Religion also and this was the vnion of their soules And now you will expect they should be vnited in obedience and now they were vnited in obedience which was the vnion of their persons which was the vnion of their bodies and soules And they were so obedient to this successor that assoon as they heard of him they did obey him without ambition commending their owne obedience as much for the expedition as for the sinceritie As soone as they heard of him they did obey him loyally commanding their King to loue them by obeying the report of him which did preuent his command The report had no sooner entred the eare but like the soule it straight informed the whole subject It was in an instant in the heart cōmanding loue it was in the tongue commanding acknowledgement it was in the knee commmanding worship it was in the hand commanding applause it was in the eye commanding desire it was in the foot commanding speed And yet as if that had beene too slow the report of the Kingdome striued to be swifter then the report of the King and taking horse it carried the messenger waking and sleeping It allowed him sleepe but not rest as if it would haue prooued that euen the sleepe of a good subject is busie in the Kings seruice But wee haue heard of some Kings abroad that haue beene heard-of yet not so soone obeyed When the right Reuerend father in God Henry King of Portugall had by the boldnesse of death left his Crowne as for a Crowne he had before by the temptation of his right put off his Cardinals cap Portugall quickly heard of Philip of Spaine but did it as quickly obey him And yet hee was heire to Charles the fift's glory and wisdome and yet hee was faine to vse more wisdome by vsing more force ere hee could winne obedience and so whiles diuers Pretenders laboured to prooue themselues to bee neerer the Crowne hee by a wiser speed proou'd himselfe to be neerer the Kingdome Our neighbours quickly heard of their greatest Henry immortall for all Rauillac's Knife but did they as quickly obey him Was hee not faine to make them heare his Drumme as well as his fame But when our Peacemaker was heard of there was no tumult but of our joy there was no voice of a Trumpet but to proclaime our joy there was no lifting vp of a hand but of the hand that anointed him God did preuent him with liberall blessings he changed his Cradle into a Throne and almost as soone compassed his head with a Crowne as his body with a Swath His hand did afterward lead him his hand did afterward protect him and by a new Coronation doubled his Royalty with his age God did preuent him with liberall blessings God did preuent vs with liberall blessings He blessed vs with a vnion as quiet as sleepe or a good conscience We haue heard of some vnions in our owne Country and it is a cheaper sorrow to haue heard of them then to haue seene them since they were as much attended with bloud as with victory The old Saxons were vnited but it was by ruine nay it was into ruine they did rather fall into vnion then rise by it and their bloud seemes still as fresh as their story Our eldest Britaine 's who lay diuided from the Saxons by injury and melancholy could not yet lie hid from the inquisitiue sword of our first Edward which forced them all to vnion either in death or obedience though at last they were fully vnited and recompensed for all their afflictions in our wisest Henrie in their Henrie in whom their bloud was repair'd and honour'd The two Royall Houses of Yorke and Lancaster were at last vnited yet not without diuision and they were faine to shed some bloud that they might shed no more bloud The Vsurper that great Artist must become as foule in his death as in his plots and lose his bloud ere Henry and Elizabeth by the holy vnion of marriage could mixe theirs But God did preuent vs with liberall blessings hee did with peace preuent our peace and also made for vs a greater blessing then peace the continuance of it When our enemies opened their mouthes to reuile vs when they opened their mouthes to deuoure vs when they said God hath dishonoured them to the protection of a Woman nay when they said they shall lose euen that protection though not that dishonour when they had measured our iniquity for their owne indeed could not bee measured and had made-vp God Almighties accounts for him without his notice then did the Almighty aduance himselfe in his jealousie and in his people then did hee aduance the memory as before the victory of that Queene which perpetually conquered her enemies and her sexe then did he aduance the pietie of our King as the King had encreased it He placed him before in the kingdom of his Predecessors but now in the Throne and made him as well acquainted with the Chaire as with the Prophesie then did he aduance our peace like our peacemaker O happy Britanies vnited in the same justice though not in the same lawes which differ more in their forme then in their purpose O happy Britanies vnited in the same honours in the same signes of honour the glorious wreath of our white and red Roses which was before vnited but with an Embleme a knot being now vnited surer without a knot being now defended surer from any irreuerent touch by the prouision of the Thistle The Rose hath naturally a little of the Thistle but ours haue the whole Thistle they had before the sharpnesse of it but now the company O happy Britanies vnited now in the discipline of Religion as before in Religion Now doe wee all not onely serue the same God in the same truth but also in the same manner and the Priests of God are so farre from being diuided in opinion that they are vnited euen in apparel which as wel as the body is taught an obedience to the same Commandement A Prelate and an Organ are now no newes but the one is euery where more sacred then a father the other as cheerfull as a Psalme And in the voice of a Psalme will we prayse thee O thou God of Psalmes and in the cunning and vnfeined breath of an Organ will wee imitate and praise thee O thou Creatour of our breath that hast giuen vs another breath our King the breath of our nostrils And by thy blessing in thy blessing in our peace will we prayse thee O thou Prince of peace Thou that makest the Wolfe dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard lye downe with the Kid and the Calfe and the young Lion and the Fatling together and a little Child to lead them thou that makest the Cow and the Beare feed and their young ones lye downe together and the Lion eat straw like the Oxe thou that makest the sucking child play on the hole of the Aspe and the weaned child put his hand on the Cockatrice denne in our peace will we prayse thee O thou Prince of peace that hast broken downe our partition wall which now was no more able to hinder our peace then it was before able to procure it And as thou hast thus made way for vs to meete together to enjoy this blessing of our vnion so by this blessing haue we now made vse of that way and met together to acknowledge this blessing of our vnion And here with vnion of heart and voice we render vnited prayses vnto thee O thou God of vnion Who hast this day crowned thy King with fauour who hast this day crowned thy selfe with glory whiles this day thou hast crowned thy people with a King The end
EZEKIEL 37.22 I will make them one nation A SERMON PREACHED At Pauls Crosse March the 24. 1624. BY BARTEN HOLYDAY Archdeacon of OXFORD LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Nathaniell Butter and are to be sold at his Shop at Saint Austines Gate in Pauls Church-yard 1626. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD IOHN LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD HIS WORTHY DIOCESAN My good Lord THat which is the cause for which many men doe not publish their labours is the chiefe cause for which I doe publish mine the danger of the attempt I iudged this the choisest proofe whereby I might expresse how hardy I dare bee rather then bee vngratefull And this courage in mee is but an effect of your goodnesse a goodnesse not more acceptable for the bountie then for the circumstances which argues as much your wisdome as your fauour It is a great fauour to satisfie hope but it is a skilfull fauour to preuent it Hope giues more speedy content then possession does but hope giues lesse content then possession giues nay it makes lesse the content which possession giues Which your bounty that well knowes how to manage it selfe so well vnderstands that it delights only in this noble oppression To disturbe him whom it blesses giuing him happinesse sooner then the apprehension of it And yet it is a kind of mercy to giue a man the respite of expectation though of good things the sodainnesse of newes though good being sometimes deadly But this is the only mercy which your goodnesse vseth to deny yet for which whiles your bountie claimes thankes from one your iudgement claimes applause from all And this is a part of that wisdome which now hath made you as eminent in the Church as it hath hitherto made you industrious for the Church Which honour as it was begun by your wisdome and zeale so was it perfected by the wisdome and fauour of our late Souereigne with whose most acceptable memory I thought good thus to conueigh my thankes And this memoriall may bee the more gratefull since it is an Anniuersary not of his death but of his happinesse in the Vnion of his Britanies It was before my seruice to his Maiesty but now to his memory then it expressed my duty but now my syncerity in which only blessing I shall alwayes defend and endeuour an ambitious perfection Nay this endeauour is already at that height that it may almost make my gratitude fall into the suspicion of pride whiles it doth wish my meditations immortall that so my thanks might be immortall The only way of conâ—e at that I haue taught my selfe is not so much in that your bounty did helpe me as in that your iudgment did choose mee to make mee a part of your good workes which by their nature must be a part of your ioy euen in death and a signe of that ioy which shall be after death Thus is it as possible for you to lose your good worke as the necessarie gratitude of Your Lordships perpetually obliged Barten Holyday TO speake of Kingdomes may bee as full of danger as it is of difficultie I knew not therefore how to endeuour an apter vnion of truth and safety then to speake of kingdomes in the words of a King My text was first deliuered by a Prophet and hath beene since coyned by a King in letters of gold a mettall not more compact then the kingdomes he vnited The King is the happinesse of this day and God the glory of it and the day is the thankefull Historie of both This day in which the expedition of the Diuine bounty did by the right of Coronation preuent the act of Coronation which graciously yeelds to the leisure of Ceremonie and of the subject who notwithstanding doth not make his King but declare him Our approbation and joy though in themselues they are of a naturall libertie being yet in this politicke relation but parts of Alleageance which then is compleate when we prooue our memory to be as good a subject as our vnderstanding and our will and by the loyall Astronomie of an Almanacke no lesse faithfully represent vnto our selues the reuolution of our joy then of our time No Coronation needs such repeated solemnitie euery Coronation expects it and this singularly deserues it There is in no Coronation an Vnion of heads there is in euery Coronation an vnion of a head and a bodie but in this there is also a vnion of bodies and then proportion as well as pietie ought to presume an vnion of hearts Varietie is the pleasure of nature but Vnitie is the businesse of Nature And therefore though the Creator haue in the diuersitie of creatures shewed his power Yet hath hee as much in their vnion shewed his proprietie There is implanted in the creatures a Catholike similitude which is the secret cause of a possible vnion so Diuersity may seeme to arise but from accession of circumstance which being withdrawne makes the creatures retire to their primitiue vnity And if you would see this vnitie in the creatures behold first the Heauens which indeed deserue to bee first beheld and though some Astronomers haue accused them into a diuision of Spheares yet may wee suspect such diuision to bee rather in the Astronomers then in the heauens and therefore some haue courteously preserued the vnitie of that great body by multiplying onely the motions of the lesser bodies the Starres yet diuersitie of Spheares would not ouerthrow vnitie but magnifie it whilest the inferiour Orbes doe at the same instant professe a contrarietie and an obedience to the first moouer striuing to recompence the varietie of their bodies by the consent of their motions Behold the Elements and you shall find that though they are apt to quarrell yet as if they would shew the goodnesse of a hastie nature they are reconciled with equall facility and speed and sometimes fall so farre in loue with their enemies that they seeme to lose themselues whiles they runne halfe way to meete them Thus doth the fire delight to be extinguished into ayre that it may slide neerer vnto water as well in nature as in affection And for a preparatiue to such vnion two opposite elements haue alwayes by prouidence one friendly element interposed which cunningly perswades them to a peace by the discretion of indifferencie Behold the most sullen minerals that seeme to be setled in the stoicisme of their separated natures and you shall find their pretended obstinacie so conquered to a change by the vnited power of Nature and Art that they shall at least dissemble their dissimilitudes and euen the fowlest appeare as faire as the promises of an Alchemist Or if you thinke you are not able to judge the heart of the earth you may reade this vnitie in the face of the earth you may reade it expounded in the fruits of the earth you may see the seuerall kinds of the apple dwell vpon the same apple-tree by which friendship of nourishment through their grafts the
their Countrie because they haue not lost their God who raiseth Ezekiel to raise their hope and in Assyria they receiue their Countrie againe by promise as afterward by possession returning from the captiuity of their bodies to a happy captiuity of their passions being now as much vnited in loue as they were before in affliction Iudah returnes not in sorrow yet in teares weeping for joy because it hath no longer cause to weepe hauing now changed the place the motiue and the nature of its teares through which it can scarce see Ierusalem which it doth long to see as if they would imitate in their returne from Captiuity the blindnesse of their King when hee was ledde into Captiuitie But doth not Israel also returne that it may repent in joy for its jdolatry and Conuersion Doth not Israel also returne that it may with shame and delight build vp the wall of Ierusalem which with fury and delight it once pulled downe Doth it not returne that it may repaire the Temple and in the Temple with teares confesse how once it spoyled it Doth it not returne that it may pray for Iudah that it may pray with Iudah Or is Israel now become more odious to God then captiuity is to Israel is it left behind in Assyria as if it were a thing as execrable as Assyria Else why doe wee not see them in their journy vnlesse they be clouded in the dust of their journy why do we not heare the tumult of their returne vnlesse their joy be so mannerly that it is afraid to make a noyse Why doe we not heare the shouts of liberty vnlesse they are become hoarse with mourning Or peraduenture they are not yet on their way Or peraduenture they will not be yet on their way or it may be they will returne to Iudah but not with Iudah Shall we then delude our selues into the Creed of the Iewes beleeuing as the Doctors of their Poetrie doe at this day deliuer that Israel hath changed Assyria for the Caspian mountaines and their captiuity for a second wildernesse Shall wee beleeue that there they multiply children as these Teachers doe their fancies to make vp the traine and fable of a Messias which these our Iewes haue bespoken for them Or to returne strong to Ierusalem for feare of another falling-out Or not without their Messias as if hee were to make their peace with Iudah as well as with God Shall wee yet expect Iudah and Israels vnion in the Empire of the Rabbines And must the Heifer fall againe at Ierusalem vnder the stroke and folly of the Priest This were not to offer a sacrifice for sinne but to make the sacrifice a sinne this were not to hope for vnion and dominion but to faine them this were not to fulfill a prophesie but violate it and by an impious courtesie to defend a Prophet and wrong the Lord of the Prophet Our Messias is come and hath excused the beast from sacrifice as hee hath excused vs from the necessitie of such sacrifice Our Messias is come but his Kingdome is not come his Kingdome being not of this world though in this world hee did the acts of a King in vniting Nations in sauing Nations But did he vnite Iudah and Israel who were so diuided that they could onely be vnited by that God from whom they were diuided Or must we with the tedious Millenary wait for their vnion till our soules with expectation haue wearied our bodies Nay till our soules haue left our bodies Nay till our soules resume our bodies by our owne vnion at the Resurrection And must we beleeue that then when all the world rises from the graue it must yet but walke in its sleepe for a thousand yeeres And that the Iewes shall see Christ in Ierusalem and yet not crucifie him And that they shall haue such delights in marriage that Cerinthus himselfe who inuented them shall bee weary of them Alas at the Resurrection there shall be no marriage but of the Lambe there shall be no Ierusalem but the heauenly Ierusalem for Iudah and Israel to be vnited in But will not God in this world vnite them as in this world he hath promised to vnite them Iudah hath had the blessing to returne and hath not God a blessing for Israel also hath he not promised this blessing to Israel also Or will not God performe his promise because Israel hath not performed the condition of his promise Indeed hee did not giue them all the land of promise but made some of it alwayes a land but of promise not that he neglected his promise made to Them but to make them remember they had neglected their promise made to Him and that they did more prouoke his justice then the Heathen did euer prouoke their passion But now wil you see how God doth at once magnifie his Prophet his mercy Will you see the progresse of his jealousie which proues his word to be himselfe imparted to the eare Obserue then the parts of time by which the parts of his promise are famously distinguished in which the parts of his promise are famously justified When Cyrus gaue leaue to the Iewes to depart not from his Countries yet to their owne did hee stay Israel from this departure Or did Israel stay it selfe from this departure Is any man so stupid to suppose Israel so stupid Doth hee not deserue captiuitie that can thinke they would choose captiuitie Perhaps some few besides the aged made their lazie wishes trauell to Ierusalem in steed of themselues some few whose degenerate soules made them captiue wheresoere they were although the Assyrian had neuer conquered them and although Cyrus did release them some few who belike had liued as much without a God as without a Temple But Israel did returne the people of Israel though not the name Israel had before left out Gods Name and now God leaues out theirs now all is Iudah which was before as good as all God made them into one name as well as into one Nation and to shew his loue gaue them for their Prince a Prince whom he loued his seruant Dauid Dauid not in person but in succession He gaue them Zorobabel the restorer with whom they returned to their owne land and were as welcome as the spring with whom they returned to their Ierusalem which was as glad of them as it was once of the Temple with whome they returned not to the Temple yet for the Temple And thus you see them vnited in peace which is their vnion among themselues but now you shall see them vnited in holinesse which is an vnion in themselues which is Gods vnion with them When the Redeemer of Israel descended to Israel when God vouchsafed to endure flesh that man might bee as neere Gods nature as God was pleased to be neere mans conuersation hee made no difference betweene the Ierusalem-Iew and the Samaritan-Iew but prouided Baptisme to bee so tempered for them both that though they