k Isa 1.5 Why should yee bee stricken any more saith the Lord which is as if a Physician should say concerning his desperate Patient I will minister no more physicke to him give him what hee hath a minde unto because there is no hope of life in him As it is a loving part in a Tutour to correct his Scholar privately for a misdemeanour to save him from the heavier stroak of the Magistrate or the Jaile so it is a singular favour of God to chasten his children here that they may not bee condemned with the world hereafter I end the solution of this doubt with the peremptory resolution of Saint Bernard l In Cant. Si Deus non est recum per gratiam adetit pre◠vindictam sed vae tibi si ita recum adest imo vae ibi si ita tecum non dist If God be not with thee O Christian by grace he will be with thee by vengeance or judgement here and woe bee to thee if hee bee so with thee nay woe bee unto thee if hee bee not so with thee or not so even with thee for if thou art preserved from temporall chastisements thou art reserved to eternall punishments The last doubt that riseth in the minde of the broken hearted Christian to bee assoyled at this time is drawne from the words of the wise man m Eccl. 9.2 All things fall alike unto all men the same net taketh cleane and uncleane fowles and enwrappeth them in a like danger In famine what difference betweene the Elect and Reprobate both pine away In pestilence what distinction of the righteous and the sinner both are alike strucke by the Angel In captivity what priviledge hath hee that feareth God more than hee that feareth him not both beare the same yoake In hostile invasion how can wee discerne who is the childe of God and who is not when all are slaughtered like sheep and their blood like water spilt upon the ground Sol. 1 Here not to referre all to Gods secret judgement who onely knoweth who are his intruth and sincerity Sol. 2 nor to rely wholly upon his extraordinary providence whereby hee miraculously saveth his servants and preserveth them in common calamities even above hope as hee did Noah from the deluge of water which drowned the old world as hee did Lot from the deluge of fire which overwhelmed and burnt Sodome and Gomorrah as hee did the children of Israel in Goshen from the plagues of Egypt as hee did Moses from the massacre of the infants by Pharaoh as hee did Elias from the sword of Jezebel drunke with the blood of the Prophets as hee did all those Christians among the Romans that fled to the Sepulchres of the Martyres when the city was sacked by the n Aug. l. 1. de civ Dei c. 1. Gothes as hee did those pious children who carried their fathers and mothers upon their backes through the midst of the fire in the Townes neare Aetna whereof o C 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle religiously discourseth in his Booke De mundo When saith hee from the hill Aetna there ranne downe a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabout in the midst of those fearefull flames Gods speciall care of the godly shined most brightly for the river of fire parted it selfe on this side and that side and made a kinde of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents and plucke them out of the jawes of death To make an evident distinction betweene the godly and the wicked wee see here the fire divided it selfe as the waters before had done in the p Exod. 14.22 passage of the children of Israel through the red Sea Howbeit these exemptions and speciall protections in common calamities are neither necessary nor ordinary Sol. 3 I answer therefore farther that two things are to be considered in the good or evill casualties as they are called of this life the nature and substance of them which is in it selfe indifferent and the accidentary quality which maketh them good or bad Now so it is ordered by divine providence that the wicked possesse oft times the substance of these things I meane houses lands treasure and wealth but they have not them with that quality which maketh them good I meane the right use of them and contentation of minde in them On the contrary the godly often lacke the substance of these things yet not that for which they are to bee desired and which maketh them good contentment of minde with supply of all things needfull in which regard the indigencie of the godly is to bee preferred before the plenty and abundance of the wicked according to that of the Psalmist q Psal 37.16 A small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly And doubtlesse that large promise of our Saviour r Mar. 10.29 There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold in this time is to bee understood according to the former distinction thus Hee shall receive an hundred fold either in the kinde or in the value either in the substance of the things themselves or in the inward contentation and the heavenly wealth I now spake of In like manner death and all calamities which are as it were sundry kindes of death or steppes unto it have a sting and venomous quality which putteth the soule to most unsufferable paine and rankles as it were about the heart I meane Gods curse the sense of his wrath the worme of conscience discontent impatience despaire and the like ſ 1 Cor. 15.55 O death saith Saint Paul where is thy sting In like manner wee may insult upon all other evils O poverty O banishment O imprisonment O losses O crosses O persecutions Where is your sting it is plucked out of the afflictions of the godly but a worse left in the prosperity of the wicked In which regard the seeming misery of the godly is happy but the seeming prosperity of the wicked is miserable Albeit God sometim s giveth them both a drinke of deadly Wine yet hee tempereth the sharpe Ingredients of judgement with corrective Spices of mercy and sweetneth it with comforts in the Cup of the godly t 2 Cor. 1.5 As their sufferings for Christ abound so their consolations also abound by Christ And this evidently appeareth by the different working of the Cup of trembling in both the wicked presently after their draught rave and grow franticke but the godly are then in their best temper the wicked u Apoc. 16.10 gnaw their tongues for sorrow but the godly employ them in prayer and praises the wicked bite Gods iron rod and thereby breake their owne teeth but the godly kisse it the wicked are most impatient in afflictions the godly learne patience even by afflictions In a word the one in extremity of paine are
little Christian bloud in as much as Dioclesian plucked but out the bodily eyes of Saints and Martyrs the holes whereof the good Emperour Constantine kissed whereas Julian by shutting up all Christian schooles and bereaving them of the light of knowledge after a sort plucked out the eyes of their soules Which I speake not for that I conceive the Scriptures are not sufficient of themselves for our instruction to enlighten our understanding but because we are not sufficient for the opening of the meaning of them without the helps of arts and sciences the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost ceasing long before our time The light of divers rapers in the same roome though united yet is not confounded as the opticks demonstrate by the distinct shadowes which they cast neither doth the light of divine knowledge confound that of humane in the soule but both concurre to the full illumination of the understanding And as the organe of the bodily eye cannot discerne any thing without a double light viz. 1. h Brierhood tractat de oculo M.S. Lumine innato an inward light in the christalline humour of the eye 2. Lumine illato an outward light in the aire and on the object so neither can the eye of the soule in this region of darknesse perfectly distinguish the colours of good and evill without a double light the in-bred light of nature and the outward light which is acquired by learning being Lumen not innatum but illatum not naturally resplendent in the soule and brought with it into the world but ab extrinseco brought into the soule by reading hearing discoursing contemplating or divine inspiration Solomon who best knew what belonged to wisedome sets his wise man to i Pro. 1.5 Aâ—â—se man will heare and will understand learning schoole and promiseth for him that he will take his k Pâ— 9.9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will he yet wiser teach a â—â—t man and he will in crease in learning learning and bee a good proficient in it And behold a wiser than Solomon l Mat. 13.52 Christ himselfe compareth every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdome of heaven to a man that is an housholder who bringeth out of his treasury new things and old He likeneth him not to a pedler that hath nothing but inkle tape and such like trash in his pack which he openeth at every mans doore but to a rich ware-house man who out of his treasury or ware-house bringeth out precious things either new or old as they are called for Such a Scribe was Moses who m Acts 7.22 was learned in all the wisedome of the Aegyptians Such a Scribe was Daniel and the foure children that were bred up with him to whom God n Dan. 1.17 gave knowledge and skill in all learning Such a Scribe was S. Paul who was o Act. 22.3 brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers Neither was he conversant onely in the writings of the Rabbines but also expert in the heathen Philosophers Orators and Poets whom he after a sort defloureth of their choicest sentences observations incorporating them into his most learned and eloquent epistles Such a Scribe was Clemens Alexandrinus whose writings in regard of all variety of good literature in them are called stromata rare pieces of Arras or Tapestry Such a Scribe was S. Cyprian who by Rhetoricke Tertullian who by the civill Law Justin Martyr and Origen who by Philosophy S. Basil who by Physicke S. Austin who by Logicke Eusebius who by history Prudentius who by Poetry Gregory Nazianzen Jerome and many other of the ancient Doctors of the Church who by exquisite skill in the Arts and learned Languages exceedingly improved their sacred talent of Scripture-knowledge p Vid. Lyps Manuducti ad Stoicam Philosophiam Philo that accomplished Jew deviseth an elegant allegory upon Abrahams companying with Hagar before he could have issue by Sara Hagar the bond-woman is secular or humane learning with which we must have to doe before wee can promise our selves fruit by Sarah that is much profit by the study of divinity Neither doth this argue any imperfection in the Scriptures but in us the starres are most visible in themselves yet through the imbecillity of our sight without a perspective glasse we cannot exactly take their elevation or true magnitude What though God in the first plantation of the Gospell used the industry of illiterate men and made Fishermen fishers of men that our q 1 Cor. 2.5 faith should not stand in the wisedome of men but in the power of God yet after the miraculous gifts of the Spirit fayled in the Church wee shall read of no Rammes hornes but Silver Trumpets emploied in the throwing down of Sathans forts Since that the promise of dabitur in illa hora it shall bee given you in that houre is turned into the precept of attende lectioni give r 1 Tim. 4.13.15 attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine meditate upon these things give thy selfe wholly unto them that thy profiting may appeare unto all men Since the dayes of the Apostles and their immediate Successors the learnedst men have proved the worthiest instruments of Gods glory in Church or Commonwealth Be learned therefore Yee Judges Religion commends learning and learning a Judge Å¿ Numb 11.17 The Lord tooke of the Spirit which was upon Moses and put it upon seventy Elders This Spirit it is which animateth a Judge whose briefest and yet fullest definition is Jus animatum enlived right or the living law For the law is a dead and mute Judge and the Judge is a living and speaking law As the Philosopher termeth t Arist Rhet. l. 3. Pictura muta poesis poesis loquens pictura painting silent Poetry and Poetry a speaking picture Now how can a Judge speake the law or the law speake by him if he know not the law It implyeth a kinde of contradiction for an Actor to bee without action or an Orator without words or a Labourer without worke or a Counsellor without advice or a Judge without judgement in the law Can an Artificer worke by his rule who holdeth it not in his hand or a Pilot steere by the compasse who hath not the compasse before his eye or understandeth it not no more can a Judge give sentence according to the law who is ignorant of the law Ignorance in a private man is a prejudice and some blemish to himselfe but u Aug. de civ Dei Ignorantia Judicis est calamitas innocentis ignorance in a Judge is the calamity of the innocent nay may prove the ruine of a State What greater mischiefe in any society than that the estates good name livelihood yea and lives too of men should lye in the breast of a Judge who out of ignorance is faine to aske Quid est justitia what is justice as Pilate
circumveniat why doth he compasse the earth but to circumvent us Circumvention is more easily understood than prevented or avoided A Wrestler who can circumvenire come about his adversary taketh hold where hee list to his best advantage in a duell fought on horse-backe hee that can nimbly turne his beast and circumvenire come about his Antagonist hee striketh him at pleasure when a passenger is met by a theefe at every turne he is properly circumvented when a city is environed and begirt with a puissant army that is circumvented there is no hope to escape By which few instances you may perceive how apt this phrase is to expresse the great danger of Satan his temptations Yet the Kings Translation lest Satan get advantage of us commeth neerest to the Greeke Etymology which imports to have more or the better to gaine over and above and Oecumenius the Greeke Scholiast descanteth upon this signification of the word after this manner * Oecumenius in 2 Cor. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doth not Satan gaine over and above when hee gaines upon us both wayes when hee getteth an advantage of us both by sinne and repentance both by vitious pleasures and by godly sorrow as hee would have done upon this Corinthian whom first hee perswaded to make an incestuous match to satisfie his lustfull desires and after hee felt the smart of his sinne and severe censure of the Church hee wrought upon his sorrow and sought to drive him into desparation But why doth the Apostle say lest hee get advantage of us was Saint Paul in any danger or had Satan any designe upon him We may piously conceive that Saint Paul joynes himselfe with them because hee esteemed all those whom hee begot to Christ by the Gospell no other than his own children and the Father cannot but suffer in the losse of his childe The f Cypr. de laps Plus pastor in gregis sui vulnere vulneratur shepheard must needs be endamaged when any of his flocke is diminished g 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is offended saith Saint Paul and I burne not yet this is not all Saint Paul was further interessed in this businesse than so for the Corinthians had excommunicated this incestuous person by order from the Apostle himselfe and therefore if he had miscarried Satan had made his advantage upon all upon the incestuous person whose soule hee would have ruined upon the Church which hee had maimed of a member upon the Corinthians and S. Paul himselfe under whose hands this patient had beene so roughly handled that hee died in the cure These were Satans reaches or as they are here called devices which he could not carry so closely but that the Apostles vigilant eye descryed them for saith hee Wee are not ignorant of his devices Did the housholder know what night the thiefe would come to rob him he would certainly guard his house did the birds know a snare were laid for them would they come neare it were the fishes aware that a net were spread for them would they run into it had the souldiers certaine notice of an ambush set for them would they bee surprized Loe here beloved snares of temptation nets of circumvention ambushes of destruction prepared by a most subtle enemy and wee are not ignorant of them if then we be taken entangled or surprized can we lay the blame upon any thing but upon our carelesse and retchlesse folly Could wee plead with him in the Poet Non expectato vulnus ab hoste tuli I was wounded by a dart I was not aware of our case deserved some compassion but when wee know our enemy and are foreshewed what fiery darts hee prepareth for us and when and how hee will cast them at us if we receive our deaths wound our blood must needs bee upon our selves Satan assaults us two maner of waies by his lions paw by his serpents sting by open force and by cunning sleights by the one in time of persecution by the other in time of peace of the latter the Apostle here speaks saying wee are not ignorant of his Devices Devices are subtle meanes to compasse our ends such as are trickes in gaming fallacies in disputing sleights in wrestling mysteries in trading policies in state and stratagems in war the enemy of our soule is full of them cui nomina mille Mille nocendi artes Lypsius hath written of all the warlike engines used by the ancients and Vegetius of their military policies and Captaine-craft but never any yet was able to recount much lesse describe all Satans poliorcetickes and stratagems Some of the chief and most dangerous partly out of scripture and partly out of experienced souldiers of Christ I purpose to acquaint you with at this time 1. The first stratagem policy or device of Satan is To observe the naturall constitution of every mans minde and body and to fit his temptations thereunto For hee knoweth well that as every plant thrives not in every soyle so neither every vice in every temper and complexion Though there bee in every man a generall aversenesse from good and propension to evill and albeit nature as it is corrupted since the fall bee a step-dame to all vertue and a mother to all vices yet shee is not equally affected in every one to all her owne children Some ill conditions are more incident to some climats to some countries to some families than others The Easterne people were for the most part given to sorcery the auncient Jewes to idolatry the Greeks to curious heresie the Latine Church to superstition Unnaturall lust seemeth to bee naturalized in Italy pride in Spaine levity in France drunkennesse in Germany gluttony and new fangled fashions in great Brittaine Ambition haunteth the Court mostly faction the University luxury and usury the City oppression and extortion the Countrey bribery and forged cavillations the Courts of justice schisme and simony the Church Pliny writeth of some families that they had privie marks in their bodies peculiar to those of that line the like may bee found in mens mindes and every one herein is like the Leopard Cognatis maculis parcit fera hee h Greg. mor. in Job l. 29. Priùs conspersionem uniuscujusque intuctur pòst tentationum laqueos apponit favoureth his owne spots These spots Satan curiously marketh and accordingly frames his suggestions hee observes our walkes and spies our usuall haunts and there sets gins for us As the Mariner marks the wind and accordingly hoiseth up or striketh saile or as the cunning Oratour learneth which way the Judge propendeth and ever draweth him where hee seeth him comming on so the Devill maketh perpetuall use of the bent of our nature to helpe forward his temptations rightly considering that it is a very easie matter to bow a tree the way it bendeth of it selfe to cast a bowle swiftly downe the hill to push downe a wall where it swaggeth already to trip up his heeles whose foot is sliding Hee
ceaseth to offer up prayers to God with strong cries till hee be eased of them Are wee such bruised reeds We often in stead of denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts have with Peter denied our Master but doe wee weep bitterly with him and as hee whensoever hee heard the Cocke crow after the deniall of his Master fell on weeping afresh so doe the wounds of our consciences bleed afresh at the sight of every object and hearing of every sound which puts us in mind of our crimson sinnes We have polluted our beds with David but doe wee cleanse them as he did doe wee make our couches to swimme with teares of repentance Wee have intertained with Mary Magdalen many soule sinnes like so many uncleane spirits but have wee broken a boxe of precious oyntment upon Christs head or kneeled downe and washed his feet with our teares If wee have done so then are we bruised reeds indeed and shall not be broken but if otherwayes wee be not bruised in heart for our sinnes and breake them off by mature repentance wee shall bee either broken for them by sore chastisements in this world or which is worst of all like unfruitfull and rotten trees be reserved to be fuell for Hell fire But because the bruised reed was the measure of my former discourse I will now fall to blow the smoaking flaxe which Christ will not quench To quench the light especially the light of the spirit in our hearts seemeth to bee a worke of darknesse how then may it bee ascribed to the Father of lights or what meaneth the Prophet to deny that Christ will doe that which is so repugnant to his nature that if he would he could not doe it Religiously learned antiquity hath long ago assoyled this doubt teaching us that God quencheth as he hardneth Non infundendo malitiam sed subducendo gratiam not by pouring on any thing like water to quench the flame but by taking away that oyly moisture which nourisheth it Our daily experience sheweth us that a lampe or candle may bee extinguished three manner of wayes at least 1. By a violent puffe of winde 2. By the ill condition of the weeke indisposed to burne 3. By want of waxe or defect of oyle to feed it Even so the light of the Spirit may be quenched in us by three meanes either by a violent temptation of the evill spirit as it were a puffe of wind or by the inbred corruption of our nature repelling grace which fitly resembleth the indisposition of the week to take fire or keep in it the flame or lastly by subtraction of divine grace which is the oyle or sweet waxe that maintaineth this light By the first meanes the Divell by the second man himselfe by the third God quencheth the light of the spirit in them who love darknesse more than light but such are not those who in my Text are compared to smoaking flaxe For though they have small light of knowledge to shine to others yet they have heat of devotion burning in themselves Hil. In haec verba igniculum fidei concipientes quadam dilectione cum carne juxta fumantes quos Christus non extinxit sed incendit in iis ignem perfectae charitatis they are such saith St. Hilary Who conceiving in themselves a small sparke of faith because they are in part still flesh burne not cleerly but as it were smoakily whom Christ will not quench but kindle in them the fire of perfect charity St. * Greg. in Evan. Dom. Quod sacerdotes lineis uterentur vestibus Gregory by smoaking flaxe understandeth the Aaronicall Priesthood now dimly burning and ready to go out he thinketh the flaxe to have some reference to the Priests linnen garments made of it Tertullian paraphraseth the smoaking flaxe Momentaneum gentium fervorem The momentary fervour of the Gentiles in whom the light of nature by sinfull filthinesse being extinct exhaleth most pestiferous fumes of noysome lusts St. a Chrysost in Matth. ca. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome and St. Austin through the smoake discerne the Scribes and Pharisees and other enemies of Christ their envie and malice which soultred within them but brake not out into an open flame Whom Christ quenched not that is destroyed not though he could have as easily done it as breake a reed already bruised or tread out a stinking snuffe cast upon the ground But these expositions in the judgement of later Divines seem either constrained and forced or at the lest too much restrained and narrow They therfore extend the meaning of them to all weak Christians either newly converted or relapsed b Pintus In quibus tamen relucet aliquid bonae spei c Junius Scintilla aliqua pietatis veluti moribunda d Aquinas Tepidi ad opus bonum habentes tamen aliquid gratiae e Arboreus Extinctioni vicini f Guilliandus Qui sceleribus gravissimis seu fumo quodam oculos bonorum offendunt veluti foetore corruptae famae mores piorum infestant Breathing out bitter fumes for their sinnes offending the godly with the ill savour of their lives luke-warm to good workes neere extinction in whom yet remaines some light of faith and hope though very obscure some warmth of charity some sparke of grace Comfort then O comfort the fainting spirits and cheare up the drouping conscience say to the bruised reed that is now unfit to make a pipe to sound or a cane to write the praises of God thou shalt not be broken and to the smoaking flaxe which gives but a very dimme light and with the fume offendeth the eyes of the godly and with the stench their noses thou shalt not bee quenched Nothing is so easie as to breake a reed already bruised the least weight doth it nothing so facile as to quench smoaking flaxe the least touch doth it yet so milde was our Saviour that he never brake the one nor quenched the other The flaxe or weeke smoaketh either before it is fully kindled or after it is blowne out If we consider it in the first condition the morall or spirituall meaning of the Text is that Christ cherisheth the weake endeavours and small beginnings of grace in his children For we must know that in our first conversion the measure of grace is but small in us and mixt with much corruption which if Christ should quench there would be found never a cleere burning lampe in his Church but hee most graciously preserveth it and augmenteth it because it is a sparke from heaven kindled by his owne spirit and it much illustrateth his glory to keep it from going out notwithstanding the indisposition of the weeke to burne and continuall blasts of temptation ready to blow it out I said in my haste quoth David I am cast out of thy sight there is smoake in the flaxe Psal 31.22 yet was not the flaxe quenched for he addeth yet thou heardest the voice of my prayer
inferiour to the chiefe Apostles neither in preaching nor in working miracles nor in dignity but in time Saint Chrysostome acutely observeth that the Apostle redoubleth his forces and not content with that hee had said before in 2 Cor. 11.5 I suppose I was not a whit behinde the very chiefest Apostles he addeth in the Chapter following with more confidence and authority In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles though I be nothing What not inferiour to Saint Peter no not Saint Peter for so it followeth in Saint Chrysostome he sheweth himselfe to be equall in dignity to the rest and he m Chrys in Gal. 2. v. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compareth himselfe not to other of the Apostles but to the chiefe shewing that he was of equall ranke with him See saith n Occumen in Gal. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumenius how he equalizeth himselfe to Peter or sets himselfe upon even ground with him These were Fathers of the Greeke Church what will our adversaries say if o Leo serm de laud. Petri Pauli De quorum meritis virtutibus quae omnem superāt dicendi facultatem nihil diversum sentire debemus nihil discretum quos electio pares labor similes mors fecit aequales Leo Bishop of Rome who extolled Peter above the skies and admitteth him after a sort into the fellowship of the individuall Trinity yet maketh Saint Paul his match saying Let no man cast a golden apple of contention betweene these glorious instruments of Christs Gospell Peter and Paul of whose merits and vertues which exceed all faculties of speech or can never bee sufficiently commended wee ought to thinke nothing divers or put no difference at all in any respect betweene them whose calling to the Apostleship made them equall and their travell in their office like and their martyrdome parallel Saint Paul then in Leo his judgement may goe everywhere hand in hand with Peter and in very deed hee hath the hand of him in the Popes seale which putteth Bellarmine to much trouble and great feare lest Saint Paul should bee taken to bee the better man of the two because in the Popes seale which confirmeth all his Buls and unerring Decrees ex cathedra Saint Paul hath the right hand and Saint Peter the left But hee may set his heart at rest for no Protestant goeth about to set Saint Peter below Saint Paul or any other Apostle all that wee contend for among the Apostles is but for a parity a parity there may bee in the Apostolicall power and function and yet Peter have some preheminency in respect of his yeeres or gifts such a primacy may be granted him without any power or jurisdiction over the rest some power hee might have over the rest and bee a kinde of President in the Apostles Colledge yet not Christs Vicar generall or Head of the whole Church Head hee might bee of the Church in some sense yet his Headship as his Apostleship dye with him and not descend upon his successors descend it might upon his successors to wit upon his undoubted successors in Antiochia not be appropriated to his questionable successors at Rome lastly it might be after a sort entayled to his successors at Rome yet with a qualification to all his lawfull successors not to usurpers to men as Linus not to women as Pope Joane to Catholickes as Saint Gregory and Damasus and all the Popes for 300. yeeres not Heretickes as Liberius and Honorius and many of the latter to such as entred canonically as Cornelius and Stephanus and the ancient Popes generally not such as thrust themselves into that See and purchased the Papacy either by art Magicke as Sylvester the second or by an imposture as Hildebrand or simony and faction as almost all since Lastly upon Apostolicall men in life and doctrine not apostaticall or apotacticall as those fifty Popes reckoned by Genebrard his Holinesses Chronicler one after another By all which particulars seriously considered Urban his supremacy derived from Saint Peter appeareth to be a rope of sand or a castle of Table-men piled one upon another without any thing to hold them together which fall allasunder with a fillep or an old ruinous paire of staires the ground-cell or foot whereof viz. Peters superiority to the rest of the Apostles is not sure and all the consequences deduced from thence like staires built upon it are all rotten and therefore I will stand no longer upon them but leape into my third and last part The manner of the Apostles consecration and first of the mysterious rite Hee breathed The truth and substance Christ himselfe who put an end to all legall shadowes commanding all to worship God in Spirit and truth ordained notwithstanding mysterious rites in the Sacraments of the new Testament and used visible and significant gestures in his miraculous cures he gave sight to the blinde not without touching the eye and hearing to the deafe not without thrusting his finger into the eare and speech to the dumb not without wetting the tongue he fetched not Lazarus breath back againe without fetching a deepe sigh nor inspired his Disciples with the holy Ghost without breathing upon them Gestures p Cic. de orat l. 3. Gestus est sermo quidam corporis in religious actions are as significant and more moving than words Decent Ceremonies in the substantiall worship of God are like shadowing in a picture which if it bee too much as we see in the Church of Rome it darkeneth the picture and obscureth the face of devotion but if convenient and in fit places it giveth grace and beauty to it Superstition may be and is as properly in such who put Religion in not using as in those who put Religion in using things in their owne nature meerely indifferent Christian liberty is indifferently abridged by both these errours about things indifferent And as a man may be proud even of the hatred of pride and contempt of greatnesse so he may be superstitious in a causlesse feare and heady declining of that which seemes but is not superstitious Which is the case of some refined Reformers as they would bee thought who according to their name of Precisians ungues ad vivum resecant pare the nailes of pretended Romish rites in our Church so neere that they make her fingers bleede For feare of monuments of Idolatry all ornaments of the Church if they might have their will should be taken away for feare of praying for the dead they will not allow any prayer to be said for the living at the buriall of the dead for feare of bread-worship they will not kneele at the Communion for feare of invocating the Saints deceased they will not brooke any speech of the deceased in a funerall Sermon for feare of making matrimony a Sacrament they will have it no sacred rite but a meere civill joyning the parties contracted in the congregation not by the hand of the
cluster of the grapes of the vine of Engaddi 1 Presse the first grape and it will yeeld this liquor That Christians may not communicate with Idolaters nor consort with prophane persons For. 2 Presse the next grape and it will yeeld this juice That holinesse to God is the Imprese of the regenerate Yee 3 Presse the third it yeeldeth this That there are Saints upon earth viz. in truth and sincerity though not in perfection Are. 4 Presse the fourth it yeeldeth this That the whole company of true believers make but one Holy Catholike Church Temple not Temples The Temple 5. Presse the fift it yeeldeth this That reverence is due to the servants of God that sanctity is in them and safety with them Of God The Temple of God carrieth with it all three and to whom indeed is due more reverence in whom shineth more sanctity with whom is found more safety than Gods secret ones who as stones coupled together and built upon the corner stone Christ Jesus rise up towards heaven and become a holy temple of God 6. Presse the last and it yeeldeth this That the God whom we Christians serve is the onely true living God and source and fountaine of all life which hee conveigheth to us in a threefold channell 1 The broader of nature 2 The narrower of grace 3 The overflowing and everspringing of glory For The reason standeth thus Separate your selves from wicked and profane persons For yee are a Temple Secondly keep your selves from dead and dumb Idols For yee are the Temple of the living God Doctr. 1 First this For perforce draweth us from all familiar company and intimate conversation with men of a leud dissolute or profane carriage c Ephes 5.11 Have no fellowship with them saith the Apostle elsewhere d Act. 2.40 Save your selves from them saith Saint Peter Come out from among them and be you e 2. Cor. 6.17 18. separate and I will be a Father unto you and you shall bee my Sonnes and Daughters It was an abomination by the Law to touch any dead thing f Lev. 22.4 Whosoever toucheth any thing that is uncleane by the dead c. and are not they that live in pleasure and sensuality g 1 Tim. 5.6 dead while they are alive but she that liveth in pleasure is dead whilest shee liveth Shee is no loyall wife that delighteth in company disliked by her husband though but upon suspition How can the sonne but incurre his fathers displeasure who entertaineth such guests with all love and kindnesse whom his father hateth and forbiddeth them his house Those who are of worth seek to preserve their credit and good name as a precious oyntment which is soone corrupted by the impure ayre of nasty society For such a man is deservedly esteemed to bee with whom hee ranketh himselfe but corrupting the soule is farre worse than tainting a good name and who is there almost that commeth faire off from foule company hee cannot but learne evill by them or h Epictet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer evill of them Man in Paradise might be like the plants of Paradise of which Athanasius reporteth that they imparted an aromaticall savour to the trees neere adjoyning but since man was cast out the corruption of his nature maketh him resemble rather the wan and withered vine in the Poet which tooke away the fresh colour and sap from the neighbour vine i Juven sat 1. Dedit haec contagio labem c. Uvaque livorem conspectâ ducit ab uvâ. It is true Bonum est sui diffusivum Goodnesse is of a communicative nature but since our fall wee are not so capable of receiving good as evill The example of an evill man sooner corrupteth a good man than a good example converteth an evill man The weake and watery eye is not strengthened by looking on a quicke or strong eye but on the contrary many a strong and dry eye by looking on a watery eye waters it selfe The sound man by lying with the sicke loseth his health yet the sicke man by lying with the whole man gaineth not his health the exchange is not mutuall If you mingle bright and rusty metall together the rusty will not become bright by it but on the contrary the bright rusty so saith k Senec. ep 7. Rubiginosus comes etiam candido suam affricuit rubiginem Seneca a rusty companion rubbeth some of his rust upon a man of faire conditions yet the man of faire conditions imparteth none of his candor to the rusty The diseases of the minde are more taking than the diseases of the body let us therefore take heed how wee come within the breath of a man who is of a rotten heart and corrupt conscience If Joseph living in Pharaohs Court learned to sweare by the life of Pharaoh and the people of God being mingled with the heathen learned their workes beware how you touch pitch lest you bee defiled and bird-lime lest you bee entangled Socrates was wont to say to Alcibiades sometime the paragon of beauty both of body and minde when hee met him among Gallants like himselfe I feare not thee but thy company and Saint l Aug. confes l. 2. c. 9. Eamus faciamus pudet non esse impudentem Austine in his Confessions with teares complaineth of the hellish torrent of evill company wherewith hee was carried away oftentimes and fell into many a dangerous gulph I had not the power to stay my selfe saith hee when they called Eamus faciamus Let us goe let us doe some noble exploit or brave pranke of youth nay they so farre wrought upon mee that I was ashamed of my shamefaced modesty and blushed that I was not past blushing You that are Gods chosen make choice of your company let all your delight bee with holy David m Psal 16.3 in such as excell in vertue and have holinesse to the Lord engraven in their breasts For yee are Temples therefore bee yee separate from profane persons Doctr. 2 Yee are the Temples of the living God meddle not therefore with dumb and dead Idols If Idolatry bee the spirits adultery and Gods wrath against Idolaters is jealousie and his jealousie burneth like fire downe to the bottome of hell I shall not need by arguments to deterre any understanding Christian from comming within the verge of so dangerous an impiety the guilt whereof lyeth not onely upon those whose soules and bodies have been agents in Idols services but also all those who by any speeches acts signes or outward gestures give any allowance or countenance thereunto n Amb. ep 31. Pollui se putabat si aram vidisset Constantine the Emperour thought himself defiled if he had but seen an heathenish altar o Psal 16.4 David if he had but made mention of an Idoll their offerings of bloud I will not offer nor take their names into my mouth Saint Paul permitted not the Corinthians to taste of any dainties
did his best to incline his will that way yet he could not keep it to that bent but that it slacked and bowed another way as Christs words imply Ducent te quo nolis They shall d John 21.18 lead thee whither thou wouldest not He saith not they shall draw thee but they shall lead thee Peter therefore was in some sort willing to goe with them that led him to the crosse yet hee somewhat shrinked at it though the spirit was strong in him yet the flesh was weake Who ever did or suffered more for the Gospel than Saint Paul yet he professeth that in regard of the law of sinne in his members the e Rom. 7.19 good which he would doe he did not and the evill which he would not doe that he did And being thus crossed in all his godly desires and endeavours hee cryeth out O * Rom. 7.24 wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of death Yee see now the root of bitternesse set so deep in our hearts that it cannot be pluck't up till wee are transplanted there is no hope in this life to purge out this matter of continuall diseases it is so mingled with our radicall moisture the balsamum of our lives only wee may abate it by subtracting nourishment from it and allay the force of it by strengthening nature against it by prayers godly instructions and continuall exercises of religious duties A neerer cause of our so great distemper in afflictions wee owe to the delights of our prosperity which as the pleasures of Capua did Hannibals souldiers so weaken our mindes and make us so choice and tender that we cannot beare the weight of our owne armour much lesse the stroakes of an enraged enemy The f Hieron ad Heliod Corpus assuetum tunicis loricae onus non fert caput opertum linteo galeam recusat mollem otio manum durus exasperat capulus body used to soft raiment cannot beare the weight of an helmet the head wrapped in silke night-caps cannot endure an iron head-piece the hard hilt hurteth the soft hand It was wisely observed by the g Senec. sent Res adversae non frangunt quos prosperae non corruperunt Heathen Sage that none are broken with adversity but such as were weakened before and made crazie by ease and prosperity Sound trees are not blowne downe with the wind but the rootes rather fastened thereby but corrupt trees eaten with wormes engendered of superfluous moisture are therefore throwne downe by the least blast because they had no strength to resist Why do losses of goods so vexe us but because we trusted in uncertaine riches Why is disgrace a Courtiers hell but because he deemed the favour of the Prince places of honourable employment his heaven We are therefore astonished at our fall because sometimes with David in the height of our worldly felicity we said Wee shall never bee h Psal 30.6 moved If when we had the world at will we had used the things of this life as if wee used them not now in the change of our estate our not using them would be all one as if we used them The best meanes to asswage the paines of affliction when it shall befall us will be in the time of our wealth to abate the pleasures of prosperity if we sawce all our earthly joyes with godly sorrow all our worldly sorrow shall be mixed with much spirituall joy and comfort Let us not over-greedily seeke nor highly esteem nor immoderately take nor intemperately joy in the delights and comforts which wealth and prosperity afford and the rod of Gods afflicting hand shall fall but lightly upon us Let us not so fill our hearts with temporary pleasures but that wee leave some place for these and the like sad and sober thoughts What are riches honours pleasures and all the contentments of this life that because I enjoy them for the present I should take so much upon mee The Divell offereth them the wicked have them Gods dearest children often want them therefore they are not eagerly to be sought They are not good but in their use nor things but for a moment nor ours but upon trust therefore not greatly to be esteemed They without store of grace in our selves and good counsels from others strengthen the flesh weaken the spirit nourish carnall lusts choake all good motions cloy our bodily and wholly stupifie our ghostly senses cast us into a dead sleep of security but awake Gods judgements against us therefore they are sparingly to be tasted not greedily to be devoured These and the like meditations are not only good preservatives in prosperity but also lenitives in adversity as they helpe us to digest and i Pind. od 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concoct felicity so they strengthen us to beare misery All that wee now possesse and the world so much doteth upon what are they in their nature and condition but things indifferent therefore wee ought to bee indifferently affected to them and the contrary they are transitory what strange thing then is it if they passe from us they are farre inferiour to the immortall spirit that quickneth our bodies therefore cannot the want of them deprive it of happinesse they are not our inheritance for ever nor our donatives or legacies for life but talents for a while committed to us to employ them to our Masters best advantage therefore the restoring them back is no mulct but a surrender no losse but a discharge The more of this sort wee are trusted with the more liable we are to an account how then are wee hurt or endammaged by the diminution of that which lessens our accounts Finally they are often effects of Gods wrath and their effects usually are sensuality security and stupidity against which afflictions are a speciall remedy To extract then the quintessence of the herbes and flowers of Paradise and make of them a cordiall to comfort us in worldly losses Nothing is absolutely good but God all other things respectively only temporall blessings as they proceed from his love and may be imployed to his glory in this respect only to be desired and loved If then wee affect God in them and enjoy them in God and it be made apparent unto us that afflictions and losses are sometimes more certaine tokens of Gods love and that they minister unto us more matter and greater occasion of testifying our love to him and meanes of setting forth his glory we should be rather glad than sorrowfull when God seeth it best for us to exchange the former for the latter Yea but the forlorne Christian out of all heart because in his conceit out of Gods favour will reply Shew mee that the countenance of God is not changed towards mee nor his affections estranged from mee and it sufficeth surely kissings and embracings not blowes and stroakes are love complements how may I be perswaded that God layeth his heavie crosse upon mee in
inference is pernicious To establish you in the truth of this supposition or rather hypotheticall commination it will be needfull to lay downe certaine grounds 1. That the certainty of the end no whit impeacheth the necessary use of all meanes for the attaining it For the end and meanes are coordinata and both involved in the same decree As the meanes are appointed for the end so the end is decreed to bee attained by such meanes for example the propagation of mankinde by marriage the maintaining our temporall life by food and sustenance the recovery of health by physicke the reaping the fruits of the earth by manuring and tillage the governement of the world by lawes the calling of men to the knowledge of the truth by the Word and Sacraments the keeping the children of God from presumptuous sinnes by admonitions and comminations The heathen themselves saw a glimmering of this truth for the Stoicke Philosophers who taught the foreknowledge of God and thence inferred inevitable necessity of all events according to that foreknowledge yet most strictly urged the performance of all morall duties and vertuous actions and generally the use of all meanes for the attaining that end any man proposeth to himselfe Bee it thy destiny say they to have many children by thy wife yet thou must not neglect conjugall duties be it thy destiny to recover of thy disease yet thou must not neglect the prescriptions of the Physician bee it thy destiny to conquer thine enemy yet thou must not forget to bring thy weapon with thee into the field bee it thy destiny to bee a great Professour in Philosophy yet thou must not neglect thy study bee it thy destiny to dye a rich man yet thou must not be carelesse of thy estate 2. That this and the like comminations in holy Scripture are spoken generally to all Elect as well as Reprobate and they are of speciall use to both to terrifie the Reprobate and keepe them within some bounds or at least to convince their consciences and debarre them from all excuse at the day of judgement and to stirre up the Elect to watchfulnesse over all their wayes and diligence and constancy in the use of all such meanes as by Gods grace may keepe them from backe-sliding and dangerous relapses to hold them in continuall awe and excite them to make their calling and election sure and work out their salvation with feare and trembling as Saint Austine declareth at large through his whole booke de correptione gratiá 3. That all Israelites are not true Nathaniels all converts are not absolutely so nor all penitents throughly cleansed from their sinnes many are regenerated but in part they repent of their sinnes but not of all they keepe a sweet bit under their tongue they have a Dalilah in their bosome or an Herodias at their table or a Bathsheba in their bed though they bee healed of all other diseases yet not of the plague of the heart some secret sinne hath a kinde of predominancy in them Now as the Peacockes flâ—sh if it hath but an ordinary seething growes raw againe cocta recrudescit and wounds that are not perfectly healed though they may be skinned over breake out againe and bleed afresh so a man that is not perfectly regenerated in all parts though hee hath a tast of the heavenly gift and may beleeve with Simon Magus and tremble at Gods judgements with Felix and heare the Word gladly with Herod and doe many things yet because the seed of the word hath not taken deepe root in him it is possible for him with Demas to forsake the Gospel and embrace this present world with Himeneus and Philetus to make shipwracke of faith and a good conscience with Julian to become an Apostata and a persecuter of the truth 4. The Prophet Ezekiel in this place speaketh not of Evangelicall righteousnesse but of legall for he saith not simply when a man turneth from righteousnesse but from his righteousnesse And vers 5. hee defineth a just man to be he That doth that which is lawfull and right and hath not eaten upon the mountaines nor defiled his neighbours wife c. Now whatsoever may be alledged for the stability of evangelicall righteousnesse and their permanency who are engraffed into the true Vine Christ Jesus daily experience sheweth that the most righteous on earth may and somtimes do remit of their strict observance of their duty that it is not only possible but very facile for them to let loose the reines to sensuall desires and to follow the gainefull or ambitious or voluptuous courses of the world at least for a time For the way to heaven is up-hill but the way to hell is down-hill and thither the weight of our sinfull flesh forcibly tendeth Facilis discensus averni A man may without any paine slip downe to the place of everlasting paines and torments Yea saith Seneca a Å¿ De mort Clau. Caes Omnia proclivia sunt facilè dâ—scenditur itâ—que quâ—mvis poda gricus momento temporis pervenit ad januam ditis gouty man may get thither in a trice Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras Hoc opus hic labor est But saith the Poet all the labour is to come backe from hell and get up out of the deep pit so hee But the truth is no labour can worke it no skill compasse it for from hell there is no redemption Wee know there is great strength required to bend a bow of steele which will unbend it selfe if the string breake or but slip Our motions to God-ward and proceedings in a sanctified course of life are like the rowing of a small boat against a strong wind and tide the blasts of the evill spirit and the propension of our corrupt nature much labour and sweat is required and very little is done with much adoe and if wee slâ—cke our hands and misse but one stroake we are carried downe with the streame and cast further backe than wee can fetch againe with many stroakes Did not Solomon turne away from his righteousnesse and commit iniquity and doe according to all the abominations of the wicked when he defiled his body and soule with spirituall and corporall fornication Did not David likewise when he spilt the bloud of Uriah that hee might more freely stay in the bed of Bathsheba I spare the rest because I would be loth with my breath to stain the golden and silver vessels of the Sanctuary and come à Thesi ad Hypothesin from the indefinite to the singular from the hearers at large to this present auditory Ye heare out of the Text how incommodious and dangerous a thing it is for a righteous man to degenerate and turne away from his righteousnesse it depriveth him of all the benefit of his former travells in the way to heaven it blasteth all the fruits of his labours without a second return to God dasheth all his hope of reward leaveth him in