may be reiterated though the other may not And so haue I laid before you as many particulars as I thinke obserueable in this Text which I will now vnfold briefly and in their order First then of the Author He is here called Iesus Saint Paul calleth him the Lord Iesus Though Sacraments be Ceremonies yet are they Ceremonies of efficacie Were they onely of significancie the Church might haue some power to ordaine them but being of efficacie their ordination belongeth onely to God because the efficacy floweth from his Spirit and of his Spirit none can dispose but himselfe As onely God is the Author of Sacraments so did hee institute them by the second Person by him that is the Sauiour of the world doth hee institute the Sacraments of sauing grace the Sacraments are his most liuely picture therefore he was fittest for to draw them He was fittest as Iesuâ— for to draw them and as the Lord to enioyne the obseruation of them therein especially stands his Kingdome in his Church to prescribe the meanes vnto eternall Life But how doth he do it you shall learne that in the Institution I therein obserued the time and the manner The time while they were eating saith St. Matthew after Supper saith St. Luke Saint Paul the same night that he was betrayed St. Paul and St. Luke are easily reconciled for the Passeouer was solemnized at the same time and St. Luke meaneth when they had done with that so far as concerned the Paschal Lamb but were not yet risen for that there was another Ceremony to be performed as the Iewish Ritualls obserue and that Ceremony was this The Master of the Family after the Passeouer was eaten distributed with solemne words concerning the deliuerance out of the Egyptian captiuity bread and wine before that was done Christ instituted the Sacrament and so it might be while they were eating though it were after Supper Where out of St. Pauls addition that it was the night wherein Christ was betrayed we may obserue that for the terrour of the Crosse which he fore-saw Christ did not omit to doe any thing which concerned his office and was to be for the comfort of his Church Secondly obserue that they were not at a prophane but a sacred Banquet which hindered not but they might be meete guests for Christs holy Supper while they receiued one Sacrament they were not vnfit for another And this teacheth vs the reason why though Christ gaue the Sacrament to the Apostles while they were feasting the Church commands vs to take it fasting For their feast was sacred the Church forbids that which is prophane so doth St. Paul 1. Cor. 11. yea the Iewes were to sanctifie themselues before the receiuing of the Passeouer How may we then come vnprepared to ours that the meate of our soules may the better be receiued we must not be prepossest with the food of our bodies Where by the way you may learne how to answer the cauill against our Liturgie which saith that the Diuell entered into Iudas after his vnworthy receiuing of the Sacrament For put the case he were not at the Eucharist which notwithstanding will not easily be proued because the best Harmonists are against the conceipt and so are the Fathers Greeke and Latine But put the case he were not there yet was he at the Passouer that is plaine in the Euangelists and the Passeouer was a Sacrament and so in effect the matter is all one Secondly obserue on these words While they were eating that before the Sacrament of the Old was abolished for it was not abolished but by the death of Christ Christ instituted the Sacrament of the New that because we haue alwayes so much need of grace wee might neuer be without the meanes thereof So did he substitute Baptisme to Circumcision the Ministry of the Gospell to the Priesthood of the Law the Lords Day to the Iewish Sabbath Seeing then Christ hath been so carefull of vs we must not be wanting to our selues if we want grace the blame must not be laide on him but on vs. Thirdly Christ abolished the Ceremoniall Law but not all Ceremonies We consist of a body and a soule and God doth conuey grace vnto the soule by the body which cannot be done without Ceremony But ours are fewer in number than were the Iewes Austin though they are not inferiour in power yea they are much more commodious though they be lesse burthenous Our charge being easier and our comfort greater our sinne is lesse excusable and our neglect more challengeable if we doe not practise such easie meanes to compasse so great a benefit Enough of the Time I come now to the Manner of the Institution where wee must first see what Elements were chosen and here we finde bread and wine Of this choice the reason is inquired Some thinke it occasionall because the Father of the Family did after the Passeouer distribute bread and wine Some thinke Christ tooke an occasion from that ceremony to institute this by this Truth to accomplish that Type Others thinke the reason to be Propheticall Cap. 1. Malachy foretold that from the rising of the Sun vnto the going downe of the same Gods Name should be great amongst the Gentiles and in euery place incense should be offered to his Name and a pure Offering the word is Mincah and so doth import an accessory to the ancient Sacrifice that was made commonly of fine flower and wine this accessory might in some cases be a principall as appeares in the Law Some rise higher vnto the dayes of Melchisedech and because hee offered bread and wine and Christ was a Priest after the order of Melchisedech therefore hee made vse of his Sacrifice and perpetuated it to this heauenly vse Now the bread and wine which Melchisedech brought out when hee met Abraham are by many of the Fathers thought to be a Sacrifice I might adde a fourth Originall that is Manna and the water out of the Rocke wherewith God sustained the Israelites in the wildernesse St. Paul calleth them spirituall meate and drinke 1. Cor. 10. But to leaue these points which are subiect to dispute I will come to that which is more cleare and that is Bread and Wine are the choisest of food bread strengtheneth mans heart and it is the sustenance of all other sustenances the Psalmist giueth Wheate as it were kidnies of fat not onely alluding to the forme of the graine but also to the effect thereof and God by the Prophet when he threatneth a famine expresseth it by breaking the staffe of bread as if without it all food were heartlesse As for wine the Psalme teacheth vs that it was made to cheare vp mans heart The Parable of the Trees telleth vs it cheareth both God and man Iudges 9. In the Probleme Esdras 3. What is strongest wine is brought in as one Ecclesiasticus hath made almost a whole Chapter of it and holdeth that there is no life without it be
it the gift would bee contemptible for who cares for that which euery one hath and the distribution would be vnreasonable for how shall one member further another when all haue the same gift But in calling some and not the rest God doth prouide that his gift is mag is augustum more reuerend and the body of his Church is mag is ordinatum better proportioned all then doe not partake this Calling It was a mutinous speech of Corah Dathan and Abyram when they said to Moses Aaron You take too much vpon you seeing all the Congregation is holy It is true that all are holy in that they are Christians yea in that they are Christians they are anointed Priests so the Scripture cals them 1 Pet. 2. Reu. 1. and they haue spirituall sacrifices which they must offer but it is one thing to offer Sacrifice another thing to offer publicke sacrifice it is one thing to offer for themselues another thing to represent the whole Church vnto God this publicke function is peculiar to some the other is common vnto all The like must we thinke of the other part of the Ministrie euery one may reade Gods word vnto himselfe and to his familie and may instruct himselfe and them therein but in Gods house and in the presence of the whole Congregation to dispense the Mysteries or to take vpon him any where to set to Gods seale of the Sacrament is so peculiar to the Stewards of his house that others may not presume to meddle therewith But yet this is the honour that God hath done vnto all men that they are de genere Sacerdotali euery one is capable of holy Orders euery man I say for St. Paul vpon good reason hath excluded women if hee bee fit he may be called to serue in the Sanctuarie of God and administer in sacred things And this is no small honour though the world thinke otherwise who thinke not that so to minister to God was a prerogatiue of the first borne the Patriarkes made it their chiefe employment our Sauiour Christ did not disdaine it and they are basely proud that thinke themselues too good for it But enough of the first difference the difference betweene the Minister and his flocke and the degree they haue aboue it As the Clergie doe all differ from the Laitie and haue a degree aboue them so doe they differ betweene themselues and haue each degrees aboue others it is cleare by the diuision that St. Paul makes in my text some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists c. It is true that the Gospell is but one that is committed to them all and all agree in this that they are but Ministers but the same abilitie is not giuen vnto all to publish the Gospel neither are they all trusted with alike ample charge And yet this distinction is not such as that diuers of these degrees may not meete in one person though the gifts differ formally et may they meete in the same subiect A vegetable soule differs from a sensitiue a sensitiue from a reasonable and yet notwithstanding they all three meete in the soule of a man euen so though it be one thing to bee a Pastor another thing to be a Doctor c. yet may one man sustaine all these persons you will perceiue it when I open the particulars Of these degrees then some be extraordinary some be ordinary the three first are extraordinary and serued for the first plantation of Christian Religion Of those three the Apostles had plenitudinem Ministerij the fulnesse of Ministeriall power for their calling comprehended all the other degrees And why they were to lay the foundations of the Church so the Apostle teacheth vs in this Epistle and St. Iohn cals the twelue Apostles the twelue foundations of the heauenly Hierusalem Reuel 21. they had infallibilitie of knowledge because they were to set downe the Canon of the Scripture their Diocesse was all the world they might plant Churches euery where their flocke were not only all Nations but all Pastors they had power not only to ordaine them but also to inable them neuer was the like Ministeriall power giuen vnto meere men As for the other two the Prophet and the Euangelist they had each of them a piece of the Apostles power The Prophet of the new Testament was he that was so well seene in the Prophets of the old that he could discern the new Testament in the old and shew how the one is confirmed by the other This was his proper gift though hee had some other accessory which was to foretell future things to aduise in perplexed cases answerable vnto Vrim and Thummim and to discouer the secrets of mens thoughts which were occasionall works of the Spirit of Prophecie but the ordinary was that which I first specified The Euangelist deliuered the new Testament only and in doing that was assistant to the Apostles following their directions and supplying their place whithersoeuer they were sent This was their principall worke whereunto some of them had an accessory which was to record the summe of the Gospel indited vnto them by the Apostles so did Luke and Marke Besides these there were other gifts extraordinary as of speaking with strange tongues curing of diseases working of miracles but they serued rather for to raise attention than to conferre the grace of adoption and therefore they are not here specified these here specified are those which serue properly for that principall end and therefore they are only specified The other two degrees are ordinarie Pastors and Teachers Some of the Fathers make these different some take them to be but one degree They that make them different hold the Doctor or Teacher to bee that person whose care is only to deliuer truth and the ground thereof whereby it is confirmed maintained against opposite errours such as were the Catechists or Lecturers in Cathedral Churches in the primitiue times of whom we read often mention in the Ecclesiasticall story and the Chancellors of Churches were founded for this vse But now it is apparent in the Vniuersities where therebe speciall Professors appointed to train vp youth in the knowledge of the truth and this is the principall vse of those Nurseries of learning a blessed vse The Pastor is hee that resides vpon his Cure and takes care of the people to instruct them in the knowledge and feare of God and recall them when they goe astray and comfort them in perplexities of conscience As it is true that there must be Nurseries of learning and the testimony there of doth much recommend the Pastour to the people so we must know that none may bee a Pastor which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able to teach though many be able to teach which are not Pastors Therefore many of the Fathers vnderstand one degree by these two names and the obseruation is that the names put the Minister in minde of his duety hee must feede by teaching Man
interruption of Parliaments and other great affaires toward his later time and at last his vntimely and much lamented death as it seemes put an end to that worthy and religious designe In the exercise of the Discipline of the Church hee carried himselfe so that by his own practice he wrought a great reuerence thereof euen in those who were otherwise not well affected thereunto For when any ennormous offender was censured in his Consistorie whose punishment and penance was fit should be performed in the Cathedrall Church as incestuous persons notorious Adulterers notorious Schismatickes or the like himselfe was vsually the Preacher at such times and this he did often and vpon diuers occasions and in such his Sermons sundry of which thou shalt find in this Worke did so open the grieuousnesse of those offences and the authoritie of the censures and discipline of the Church as for the most part wrought great contrition in the parties punished and after Sermon before the the whole Congregation himselfe gaue them absolution All which he performed with that grauitie learning and power as gaue great comfort to all and bred no doubt a generall reuerence and awe of the censures and authoritie of the Church And here by the way I cannot but acknowledge as himselfe often did what a helpe he found toward the ordering of his iurisdiction in the assistance of a wise honest learned and discreet r Doctor Dâ—â—k Chancellour whom as it was his happinesse to find there so it was his vertue euer to make much of his person and to vse his counsell as occasion serued By meanes whereof hee not only was neuer crost nor contested with in any cause wherein he thought fit to inter-medle but also for the legall and orderly carriage of such things as came before him no man could euer take iust exception to the formalitie of his proceedings His trienniall Visitations he alwayes kept in his owne person and kept them so that to say no more he was euer welcome where he came for indeed his comming was like Saint Pauls to the Corinthians not Å¿ 2 Cor. 12.14 burthensome but beneficiall to those he came too for he sought not theirs but them yea as occasion serued he did gladly spend and was spent for them though I cannot adde as it is in the same place that t Ibid. v. 15. the more he loued the lesse he was loued againe for surely it was a great argument of their loue that they resorted flockt to him in euery place u Senec. de Clem. Lib. 1 Chap. 3. tanquam ad salutare beneficum sidus as Seneca speakes of good Princes going their Progresses yea they brought their children and whole Families to receiue his blessing and to be confirmed by him which act being one of those that x Vide Hieronym aduers Luciferianos vbi tamen affirmat hoc factum esse ad honorem sacerdotij potiùs quam ad leg is necessitatem antiquitie hath euer reserued to the Episcopall power he performed not in a tumultuarie manner or as we vse to say hand ouer head but with aduised deliberation and choice admitting only those whom either by the certificate of their Minister or the examination of his owne Chaplaines hee found to be sufficiently instructed in the Principles of Religion and so by the intention of our Church y See the Common Prayer Booke in the. Order for Confirmation capable of the benefit of that sacred action Of his care of the Cleargie in generall I haue alreadie spoken yet it is not to be omitted heere how in those Visitations of his he particularly exprest it Wherein his fashion was to examine strictly all those of whose sufficiencie hee any way doubted as well touching their course of studie as of their preaching and as he would restraine those from preaching for a time whom hee found weake and ignorant so would hee with all direct them both for the Bookes they should reade and the method they should vse for the better enabling of themselues to that exercise and thereof would he take account as occasion serued by which meanes he alwayes quickned their industrie and drew many of them to such a commendable improuement of their talent that the Countrie was much edified thereby J will adde but one thing more of the cariage of this man in his Episcopall Function which though it were a thing small in it selfe yet J know not how it serued to increase much as well the peoples deuotion to God as their reuerence to his person In the Cathedrall Church of Welles whether it were so that himselfe preacht or no as indeed very often he did but though he did not after the Sermon done and the Psalme sung as the manner is himselfe standing vp in his Episcopall seat gaue the benediction to the people after the example of the High Priest in the Old Testament Numb 6.23 which thing as hee performed like himselfe that is to say in a most graue and fatherlike manner so any man that had but seene with what attentiue and deuout gestures all the people receiued it what apparant comfort they tooke in it and how carefull euery particular man was not to depart the Church without it could not but conclude that there is a secret r 〈◊〉 ò obserua◠〈…〉 quod saâ—erdotalis benedicâ—â—a non tantâ—m est simplex ena precatio sed etiam vâ—lâ—ti pigâ—us acâ—â—â—timonium sauo is Dei omninò habet quandam vâ—m ac efficacia clauis soluentis absoluentis â—llyâ—â—â— Clau. Script in verbo Benedicere vertue in the Prayers and blessings as of naturall so of spirituall Parents which as they are neuer the worse for giuing so those that haue the relation of sonnes vnto them are much the better for the receiuing and it is not for nothing that the Apostle saith Å¿ Heb. 7.7 The lesser vseth to be blessed of the greater By these few things which J haue set downe Christian Reader thou mayest easily perceiue what an eminent patterne of all vertue as well personall as pastorall God hath bestowed on our Church in the person of this one man whom as oft as J reflect on considering the rare integritie and synceritie of his life together with his singular pietie and Deuotion whereof no man that knew him but was a witnesse me thinkes J may well ballance him with any of those whom the Church of Rome boasteth of and whom she daily canonizeth among the Saints Neither doe J doubt but those of that Church that either knew him or shall read of these things are by this time ready to say Talis quum fuerit vtinam noster fuisset Yea who knowes whether they may not by some forged plea goe about to claime him after his death who liued in a Church opposite to theirs all his life time For such trickes haue they practised of late vpon some of our most eminent Prelates and it is no new art but that which
Psal 145. Psal 25. of the hight of it it reacheth vnto Heauen sometimes of the depth of it it fetcheth men from Hell sometimes of the width of it it is ouer all his workes sometimes of the length of it it hath bin euer of old His tender Compassions faile not they are renewed euery Morning Lamen 3. But all this is to bee vnderstood in Christ his Incarnation his passion the whole Redemption that hee wrought is indeed Magna Misericordia a wonderfull Mercy Saint Paul mentioning the breadth the length the depth and the hight of it teacheth vs that it passeth all knowledge Ephe. 3. Neither is it Great onely but in this Greatnesse we must obserue Magnitudinem Multitudinem Saint Chrisostome doth excellently amplifie this poynt in regard of both branches Ores nouas inauditas Behold and wonder the first fruits of those that come to Christ are those which were most desperately enthrauled to Satan Magi Publicani Meretrices latro blasphemus the Conuersion of such persons is an vndoubted Argument of the Magnitude of his Mercy And touching the Multitude beleiue his answer to Saint Peter Mat. 18. â—â— who asking Christ Whether hee should forgiue his Brother seauen times replied Not only seauen times but seauentie times seauen Eze. 18.21 At what time soeuer a Sinner doth repent from the bottome of his heart I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance sayth the Lord. And verely were it not for this double Greatnesse that is in Gods Mercy few should bee saued for Psal 130. If thou Lord shouldest bee extreame to marke what is done amisse who were able to stand but with thee there is Mercy we would despaire of our cure if there were not such physicke of our great sores if there were not such a soueraigne medicine but this is our comfort Where sinne aboundeth Grace aboundeth much more Rom. 3.20 There is no sinne either so great or manifold which cannot be remedied by the Mercifull bowells of Christ It was Cains voice Gen. 4. my sinne is greater then can be forgiuen but a Father Saint Austin I thinke replieth to him Mentiris Cain this thy complaint is a blasphemous derogation from the vnmeasurable bowells of Christ and the Nouatians were long since condemned by the Church which straightned the power of the Remission of sinnes which Christ hath left vnto the Pastors Marke now the Correspondencie of the branches of this Text. Wee found Magnitude and Multitude in the Miserie of Dauid and they did need a Magnitude and Multitude in the gracious operations of Mercie and here we doe finde in the third place that Mercy is so well stored that it can doe as much as is required by Miserie Whereupon two thinges follow It is vnbeseeming diuine Mercy to bee scant in giuing and humane Miserie is foolishly modest that is spare in asking But this Diuinitie must not be abused it was neuer intended to encourage Presumption but God would haue it published to keepe men from Desperation It is wholesome Doctrine for them that are Miserabiles which labour and are heauie laden with the burden of their sin but it is dangerous to them that are onely Miseri such as are grieuous sinners but haue no sense of their wretched state The last point in the Text is Secundum Misericordiam Haue mercy vpon me according to that which is in Thee not that which is in Mee Nothing to moue God but onely the free goodnesse of God certainely to moue Mercy nothing else can be pleaded by Miserie Dauid had done many good things Omnes voluntates Dei as Saint Paul saith Acts 13. hee had restored Church and Common Weale and made many sweet Songs to the honor and prayse of God But he remembreth none of all these in his Prayer he doth not desire to speede for any of those And why Bona Opera Deo placere possunt Deum placare non possunt while wee doe them though imperfect yet are they well pleasing vnto God thorough Christ but if we doe contrary vnto them we may not pleade them for Satisfactions for our sinne No Gods Rule is Eze. 18. When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquitie all his righteousnesse that he hath done shall not bee mentioned therefore Dauid prayeth discreetly when he referreth God to his owne Goodnes and pleades nothing of his owne Worth and we must in the like Case lay before God only our beggery and commend that vnto Gods Mercy the lesse we haue the more wee shall find in him if wee are not ashamed to confesse our owne basenes and his Goodnesse But it is time to draw to an end Audi peccator orantem peccatorem whosoeuer thou art that art a sinner learne from King Dauid the argument of penitent Prayer It must represent a feeling Miserie and a tender Mercy and the feeling of Misery must make vs seeke vnto tender Mercy It was a strange errour in Saint Peter that when he had seene a glimpse of Christs Glorie Luke 5. â— brake out into these words Goe from me Lord for I am a sinfull Man hee should rather haue desired that Christ would approach him for with whom should a Patient desire rather to be then with his Physitian or a Sinner then with his Sauiour Surely Saint Peter at another time Iohn 13.2 though at first he made dainty that Christ should wash his feete yet when Christ told him except I wash thee thou canst haue no part in me replied Wash Lord and not my feete onely but my hands and my head also There is none of vs that doth not daily runne in arrerages to God that doth not staine that garment of Innocencie which he receiued in his Baptisme and what should we do then being in such a case but that our selues may be written in the booke of life desire that our sinnes may be blotted out of the Booke of death that we be not cast out of heauenly Hierusalem â—euel 7.14 as an vncleaÌ„e thing wash our garments white in the blood of the Lambe No doubt but as King Dauid so wee shall haue Paroxismes sharpe sits of despaire when our Conscience curiously suruaieth our Miserie But the eyes of our soule must not dwell there we must lift them vp vnto the Mercy-seate et abyssus abyssum inuocet let the depth of our Misery seeke a reliefe in the depth of Gods Mercy be our sins neuer so many bee they neuer so great we shall find more bowells of tender Mercy greater loue kindnesse there then our Sinnes can need Yea not onely finde them there in God but seele them also streaming from thence to the full reliefe of our distressed soules We shall feele them so acquitting so cleansing vs that we shall be assured that we are vessells of Mercy though we deserue for our sinnes to be Vessells of Wrath. I Shut vp all with this Prayer O Lord Righteousnesse belongeth vnto thee but
quaerenda in hac vita what God is is a lesson for the life to come in this life it is enough for vs to learne what Gods will is A second mysterie in the Cloud is that it agreeth well with the reuelations of the Old Testament Gal. 4. for God appeared then in shadowes and figures there was a vaile cast ouer the Law which was figured in the vaile wherewith Moses couered his face 2. Cor. 3. So that though the Church in the Old Testament had much more knowledge then the rest of the world for they had sauing knowledge as appeareth Heb. 11. Yet he that is least in the Kingdome of God saith Christ is greater then Iohn Baptist notwithstanding that he was greater then any Prophet of the Old Testament A third mysterie is the condition of the Law Chap. 33. which in Deuteronomic is called a fierie Law very piercing and very scorching it enters farre in searching of a mans conscience it is a discerner of the thoughts I had neuer knowne Heb. 4.12 Rom. 7.7 saith Saint Paul that lust is sinne had not the Law said thou shalt not lust As the Law is piercing because fierie so is it scorching also it vexeth and tormenteth their consciences whom it findeth guiltie it is a burden too heauie for the best of vs to beare Acts 15. Saint Austine obserues well Breuis differentia Legis Euangelij timor amor although both these affections beseeme both Testaments and he that loueth must feare and he that feareth must loue yet Feare was preualent in the Old Testament and Loue is in the New We haue not saith Saint Paul receiued the spirit of bondage to feare Rom 8.15 which was the state of man vnder the Old Testament but we haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father which is the libertie of the New Testament The same Apostle resembleth the different conditions of the Church vnder the two Testaments to the different conditions of a child when he is in nonage and when he is come to his full age Gal 4. while he is in his nonage though he be heire yet is he kept in awe and vnder a Pedagogue but when he commeth to full age his Father affords him a more chearefull countenance and more liberall maintenance Euen so vnder the Law the Church was kept vnder and scanted of grace but vnder the Gospel shee is more free and indued with a more plentifull measure of Gods holy Spirit Finally hereunto looketh the difference that Saint Paul maketh betweene Mount Sinai and Mount Sion Heb. 12. the terriblenesse of the one and the sweetnesse of the other I shall haue occasion to compare them before I come to the end of the Chapter By the mixture of the Cloud and of the Fire you may also conceiue a mixture of our knowledge of God as the light of the fire signifieth that he is in some good sort manifested vnto vs 1. Cor. 13 1◠so doth the Cloud signifie that out knowledge is very imperfect wee see but as through a glasse darkly that which we know not of God is much more then that which we doe know Let this suffice for the manner I come now to the End which is twofold for God came first to grace Moses whom he designed Lawgiuer to Israel or rather Referendarie of that Law which himselfe would giue vnto them And hee graced him two wayes First in comming to him and not vnto them so saith the Text I will come to thee Moses was vpon the hill the people in the bottome now the Cloud came downe but to the top of the hill not into the bottome wherein there was no small grace done to the person of Moses in the sight of all the people God vouchsafed his presence only to him and not to the people The second grace is yet greater that in the hearing of the people God would speake with him for it is not here said that God did speake with them But that wee mistake not this grace which is done to Moses and giue him more honour then hereby was by God intended towards him we must obserue that though here we find no mention of Gods speaking with the people but only of his speaking with Moses yet Deut. 5. verse 5. Moses himselfe saith that God talked also with them and here we reade that God so talked with Moses as that he talked in the hearing of the people When here wee reade of Gods talking with Moses only without any mention of Gods talking with the people hereby the Holy Ghost intends to honour him with the Mediatour ship of the Old Testament that honour which Saint Paul giueth him when hee saith The Law was giuen by Angels in the band of a Mediatour But where Moses saith Deut. 5. that God talked with the people there the Holy Ghost would teach vs that God intended the Law to the people And out of both places compared together it followeth that the Law was committed to Moses to the end that the people might receiue it from him not only as hee should deliuer it in the two Tables but also as he should report vnto them by word of mouth And because they were to receiue Gods Law as he should report it that they might be sure hee brought them nothing but that which hee receiued from God therefore God vttered the Law to him in their hearing Whatsoeuer commeth from a man as a meere man will hardly worke vpon the conscience because of that knowne principle Omnis homo mendax men haue their errors and their priuate ends therefore their proiects are entertained with iealousie that they mistake or intend their owne good but if a Law be once knowne to be Gods pleasure we readily submit because we know he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee can neither deceiue nor bee deceiued and hee hath absolute power to command Vpon this principle those famous Lawgiuers amongst the Heathen did make it their first labour to perswade their people that they had familiar colloquies with some diuine power by whom they were directed in their Law-giuing Minos with Iupiter Lycurgus with Apollo Numa with Aegeria c. Mahomet could neuer haue made his Alcoran so currant but by that notorious imposture of a Doue which had beene taught to come familiarly to his eare and which to the people hee pretended to bee the Holy Ghost Heretikes old and new haue had their Enthusiasticall guides Papisticall pretended apparitions and reuelations are much of this kind abuses of that sacred principle But to the point when God would establish the Canon both of the Old and New Testaments by two demonstrations hee shewed that they came from him the one of Miracle the other of Oracle So did hee establish that which the Church receiued by Moses First hee gaue him power to worke many Miracles which was a second proofe that he came from God for no man could doe
to our purpose Cyrill Alex in Oseam caâ— 9. Nouells abortiui puâ—abantur Hieron Deus vocandâ— Gentiles â—udaeos maxima melestia â—ffecit Theod in Rom. 10. that they did most insolently despise all other nations S. Hierome Ecclesiastes the sixth that the Gentiles were reputed but vpstarts and abortiues yea this pride was so rooted in them that the crossing of it was their greatest heart-breaking Theodoret obserueth it in Rom. cap. 10. for neither their seruitude nor their dispersion nor the ruine of their Temple and Countrie doth so much vexe them as the glorie of the Gentiles Church And there is good ground for this note both in rule and practice God foretold it should be so Deut. 32. Because you haue prouoked me to iealousie by those that are no Gods I also will prouoke you to iealousie with that which is no people by a foolish nation will I anger you The Gospell telleth vs it was so when Christ went into Zacheus did they not murmur Luke 19. Were they not filled with indignation when a whole Citie of the Gentiles came to heare the Word of God 〈◊〉 13. 1 〈◊〉 2. Did they not forbid the Apostles to preach to the Gentiles All these are proofes in what estimation they had the Gentiles And doe not the Romanists in the like manner glorie now in Saint Peter and thinke none built vpon the rocke of Saint Peters confession but themselues Syrians Armenians Ethiopians Graecians Protestants all are Heretickes but themselues they are not so eloquent in any argument as in their inuectiues against these but nothing so galleth them as the glorie of the Reformed Churches which is a spice of their Iewish pride Saint Iohn shall correct them in the Iewes Let vs come then to the Correction Saint Iohn disproueth the Iewes appropriating of Abrahams Family to themselues shewing that there is no impediment in Gods Power but that Abraham may haue yea rather there is faire euidence in his Couenant that Abraham shall haue other children euen those that seeme vnlikely to become chilren though all the Iewes saile Both these Propositions are contained in Saint Iohns answere the Fathers obserue both and I will shew you what ground there is for both But because the latter doth presuppose the former the former must first bee vnfolded vnto you Some then take the name of stones properly though they also differ amongst themselues some vnderstand the twelue stones that were by Ioshuah pitcht in the middest of Iordan when the children of Israel passed it vpon the drie ground other vnderstand common stones such as lie by the Riuers side But the difference is not worth the standing vpon those which Ioshuah pitcht were common stones and to the working of the Miracle it skilleth not whether they were those or any other for it must be an Almightie Power that must worke this alteration of any By Gods Power then you must vnderstand his absolute abilitie to doe what he will and can there be any question but that the same God which out of the dust of the earth made man of the rib of man made woman can raise vp children vnto Abraham to take away all doubt from the Iew and to make it out of all question that God can doe this see how he speaketh in the Prophet Esay Looke vpon the rocke from whence you were hewen and the pit out of which you were digged Looke vpon Abraham that begat you and Sarah that bare yee The Fathers thinke that Saint Iohn in his phrase alludeth to this place of the Prophet And if out of the withered bodie of Abraham and Sarah God could draw Isaak why cannot other children by the same power bee giuen vnto Abraham There should bee no doubt with vs the first Article of whose Creed is I belieue in God the Father Almightie and yet a doubt is made of this 〈◊〉 â—nim â—i lapidem râ—â—ente 〈…〉 homâ—nem 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 11 caâ— 24. a double doubt one Impious another Curious The Impious is made by Galen for thus hee saith Were God neuer so willing he cannot make a man of a stone and in this doth our opinion and the opinion of Plato and other Greeke Philosophers which haue written aright of the nature of things differ from Moses for God thinkes Moses is Almightie and can doe what he will although it be of Ashes to make an Horse or an Oxe But wee thinke not so But afsirme that there are somethings which nature cannot doe and that God neuer attempts any such thing but of that which is in his power he chuseth to doe that which is best The weaknesse of so worthy a mans iudgement I censure not as it deserueth because it was a fault of his infidelitie only I answere him as Christ did the Saducees He erred not knowing the Scripture Mat. 21 2â— nor the power of God he equalled Nature vnto God whereas God is the God of Nature and therefore many things which nature cannot doe Aliud est naturae possibile 〈◊〉 liud naturd Ephes 3. God often doth the instances are many that may be giuen hereof in the Old Testament and in the New the Apostles Rule is Hee can doe aboue all that we can thinke according to which words we must vnderstand those of our Sauiour That which is impossible to men that is not only aboue their power but also aboue their conceit is possible to God Potentiae Dei nullus neque numerus neque terminus Bern. pag. 1253. for as Saint Bernard There is neither number nor boundarie of those things that come within the compasse of Gods Omnipotencie But here the Papist commeth in vnseasonably with his Transubstantiation thinking this a faire ground to prooue the possibilitie of it but they racke Gods power too farre For as God simply hath no Passiue Power because he can faile in nothing So in his Actiue Power he is dissinabled by their owne confession vnto some things namely to make contradictories and they cannot with all their sophistrie free this their Tenent from manifold contradiction But to shut vp this first dispute Rom. 4. Heb. 11. Abraham had an eye to this Almightie Power both when hee expected and also when hee would haue offered his sonne and so must wee in our faith and in our obedience Gods Almightie Power must make vs resolute in both The second dispute is Curious the Schoolemen moue it they inquire how these men which God by his Almightie Power can make of stones can possibly bee the children of Abraham whereas Abrahams children must spring from Abrahams loines A question vnworthy of Diuines But to the purpose In hominem Physicum Theologicum A man is distinguished into naturall constitution and supernaturall condition In this dispute we haue not to doe with man as a man but as a member of the Church that it is so you may gather out of the very phrase it is not said God shall raise children of Abraham
but vnto Abraham they are not to bee his children by Generation but by Regeneration Which the rather must be admitted because the Apostle telleth vs Rom. 9. Iohn 1. They that are children of Abraham are children of God and then Saint Iohn will tell vs that the children of God are not borne of flesh and bloud but of the will of God Adde hereunto that they are first members of Christ then Abrahams seed and Christ hath no Natiue but Adoptiue members Finally Gregorie Nyssen doth wittily meditare vpon those words of God to Abraham Looke to Heauen and behold the Starres so shall thy seed bee Orat. 1. de Paschate Haec sydera dico quae de spiritu nobis orta sunt Coelum Ecclesiam repâ—â—te fecêrum I meane those Starres which haue their originall from the holy Spirit and haue suddenly turned the Church into a Firmament The children here ment are not naturall but spirituall and this cognation excels the other as much as the soule excels the bodie Certainly Christ did so esteeme his kindred Et tanto maior Fidei Virtutu cognatio quanto anima praestantior corpore when hee moued that question Who is my Mother and who is my Brother And God meant no other when he promised King Dauid of his sonne I will be his father and he shall be my sonne he meaneth that God would take him for his sonne though he bee not so by nature But this leadeth vs vnto a second Proposition and Saint Ambrose doth preferre the meaning thereof before the former The former seemeth to say that God will worke a Miracle rather then Abraham should want children but the second Proposition importeth a Mysterie in the words the promise is mysticall that supplyeth children vnto Abraham Quia mihi plus pâ—odest mysteriâ—â— quam mâ—â—aculu in praenuntio Christinihil magu quà m aedificationem Ecclesiae debeâ— agnoscere quae non rupeis saxis sed conuersionibus nostrorum surrex tanimorum I am more benefited by the Mysterie then the Miracle therefore in the speech of Christs Harbenger I obserue specially the building vp of the Church which was not erected of stones materiall but of conuerted soules Wherefore the Fathers for the most part vnderstand the word stones figuratiuely for the Gentiles and obserue a resemblance betweene the Gentiles and stones a double resemblance the one in regard of senslesnesse another in regard of worthlesnesse The Senslesnesse is double Actiue and Passiue Actiue in that they worshipped stones and then you know what the Psalmist saith They that make them are like vnto them so are all they that put their trust in them Quiamâ—sso sensu rationâ—s lapâ—dâ—â—us putant incsse alicunis rationem dâ—uinitatis it si in naturd lapidum non vsu corporis sed mentis habitu vertuntur Reuel 3. Their passiue senslesnesse is that whereby they are incapable of the mysteries of Heauen hauing stonie hearts like vnto stonie ground whereon whatsoeuer seed is cast is cast away Besides their senslesnesse there is in them also a worthlesnesse wherein they resemble stones a double worthlesnesse a Passine for they are without ornament an Actiue for they are without fruit they are as the Church of Laodicea blind wretched naked miserable and what fruit should they beare that drinke not in the dew of Heauen You see good resemblance betweene stones and the Gentiles You must also note that the power here meant is not absolute but limited Though Gods Power bee equall to his Will yet is not his Will alwayes as large as his Power therefore are there many things which the Scripture saith God cannot doe meaning not absolutely but vpon supposition Marke 6. The Angell could doe nothing whiles Lot was in Sodome Ier. 44. Christ could worke no Miracles because of the Iewes vnbeliefe God himselfe could no longer forbeare the Iewes because of their wickednesse the meaning is that the contrarie was decreed and God would not alter his Decree Now vpon this distinction ariseth the question seeing the Gentiles may bee figured by stones whether here they be figured by them Why not There were before Iohn at this time Publicans and Souldiers which for the most part were Gentiles and why might not Saint Iohn point at them Sure I am that when Zacheus a Publican receiued Christ Luke 19. Christ himselfe doth witnes This also is a sonne of Abraham Matth 8. and when the Centurion exprest his humble faith in Christ Christ assigned him a place at Abrahams Table 1. Pet. 2.5 and it is worth the marking that Saint Peter calleth Conuerts to Christ liuing stones and what is that but a Periphrasis of a sonne of Abraham made of a stone There are two things in a stone Insensiblenesse and firmenesse that must be remoued this must continue that the parts of the building may be sutable Gentium natura habendo institutionem â—abere potest cessationem Tertâ—ll adâ—ersus Hermog liâ— de Amma cap 21. Cum vniuersorum Deiss vid. sset se vnum populumer Iudaeis Gentibus aggregaturum ys per fidem salutem praebiturum vtrumque in Patriarcha Abraham prius descripsit Theod. in Rom. 4. and we built vpon the Rocke Christ may grow vp into a holy Temple in the Lord. The Gentiles then may here be meant and there is no impediment in Gods Couenant but that they may become children of Abraham Yea it is so farre from being against Gods Couenant that it is contained in it Abrahams name is a Prophesie of the Gentiles Conuersion it is contained in the Promise that is made of Abrahams seed when the God of all flesh saw that he purposed to make our Church of Iewes and Gentiles and that he would saue them by Faith hee prefigured both in Abraham And the Apostles text is cleere for it The Fathers make Thamars children a type hereof wherein the Gentile seemeth to haue a prioritie and to bee in the Couenant before the Iewes for Abraham was a type of the Gentiles being iustified and receiuing the promises in vncircumcision before hee was a type of the Iewes and had the promises renewed after that he was circumcised But as of Thamars children that which first put out the hand was not first borne so fell it out betweene the Gentiles and the Iewes finally Galatinus proueth out of the Rabbins that the Gentiles aswell as the Iewes were to be saued by Christ To conclude the Apostles Rule must bee held Rom. 9.6 It cannot be that the Word of God should be of none effect But why doth the Baptist make mention of Gods Power only and only say that God can doe this Chrysostomes opinion is that hee would feare them only and not driue them to despaire others say that taking Gods will for a thing cleare hee did put them in minde that hee could performe his will when he would But the time is past wherefore I will now conclude Saint Cyril Saint Chrysostome both say
More distinctly to breake vp this Application I will obserue therein Argumentum and Argumentationem What is affirmed and How it is inferred That which is affirmed is in a word this The Religious deuotion of the Militant Church is very powerfull but is not very lasting The Church is here called the Elect of God but we haue to doe with no more of them then are on earth that limitation is in the end of my text wherefore no more of the Church is here mentioned then that which is militant The Church being militant is made deuout by the Crosse the Elect therein are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being conscious to themselues of their owne weaknesse they call for helpe against their aduersaries The text telleth vs to whom and how They call vnto him that is best able and most willing vnto God and to him they call earnestly for they crie and constantly for they cry day and night Such is the religious deuotion of the Church Militant And such deuotion is Powerfull marke with whom and to what effect It is powerfull with him to whom the Church prayeth it preuailes with God And the effect to which it preuaileth is vindicatio cum vindictà the deliuerance of the Church to the vtter confusion of her foes God will auenge his Elect. But yet in this auenging festinat lentè God maketh no more haste then good speed for he forbeareth long and yet he stayeth not so long as to come too late hee will auenge speedily The deuotion is powerfull But it is not very lasting the rest of the text will teach that Neuerthelesse c. though deuotion steed vs so much yet become wee most lither when we should ply our helpe most And here marke first how the word is changed Before our deuotion was called crying here it is called faith There is good reason for the change for Prayer if it be religious is Oratio fidei it is endited by and vttered from our saith This crying faith or faithfull crie hath a wayning the nearer the world is to an end the older it groweth and becommeth weaker The end of the world is here meant by the comming of the Sonne of man at that time the dotage shall I call it or rather death of this deuotion shall appeare for it shall be sought for then but it will not then bee found there will bee then found no such praying as is powerfully deuout These things shall you find in that which is affirmed After that you must see how they are inferred And we shall find that the inference is made strangely but strongly Strangly for whereas God should be a patterne to the best of men here one of the worst of men is made a paterne vnto God And that is strange But yet the conclusion is strong for if there be any sparkle of compassion in stonie hearted man how tender are the bowels of our most gracious Father Whatsoeuer good the best of men will doe God will doe the same insinitely much more You haue the contents of my text what remayneth but that wee beseech God that I may cleere them so plainly and you so religiously entertaine them that whereas the ends of the world are hastening vpon vs our languishing deuotion may so be quickned that we may come with boldnesse to the throne of Grace obtaine mercie and find grace to helpe in all our time of need The first particular which I pointed out was the Title that is here giuen to the Church it is here called Gods owne Elect which is all one in the Originall Tongue with Ecclesia the things as well as the words haue a neere cognation And if you looke vpon them well they are though a short yet a full definition of the Church for the Church doth consist of a number of persons exempt from the common condition of men and none can so exempt them but only God More plainly Men by the common condition of their nature since the fall are children of wrath a Masse of Perdition they are without God without Christ without the Spirit without the Couenant without hope without all true life To be elected is to be taken not only out of the number but out of the condition of such wretched men to be made vessels of mercie a new lumpe vnto the Lord to be admitted into Gods house to bee incorporated into Christs bodie to be possessed of the Holy Ghost to be made parties to Gods Couenant partakers of the Communion of Saints and heires of euerlasting life This is the Exemption or Election here remembred And such an Exemption such an Election none can make but God God only can forgiue sinnes release punishments giue grace adopt for sonnes finally doe whatsoeuer was before exprest in the Exemption euerie branch is a Royall Prerogatiue of the King of Heauen But I must not omit to obserue vnto you That if Gods Election I speake not of the eternall Decree but the manifestation thereof in the Church militant there are two Acts. The first is the admission of persons into the outward Congregation and vnto the Sacramentall Obsignation which is nothing else but the outward profession of man that he is a partie to the Couenant of God Deut. 7. Psal 146. and so Moses telleth the Israelites that God hath chosen them to be his peculiar people which is no more then that God hath giuen them his Law which he had not done to euery Nation Rom. 9. Saint Paul addeth more particulars of this kind and in this respect giueth the name of Elect to whole Churches of the Gentiles But besides this Outward there is an Inward Act of Election and that is the operation of the Holy Ghost giuing vnto vs spirituall Wisdome and Holinesse making vs Gods children and members of the mysticall Bodie of Christ And that Church which wee beleeue in the Creed is partaker of both these Acts of Election aswell the Inward as the Outward and these latter are Electi ex Electis whom Christ doth designe when he saith in the Gospel Many are called but few are chosen Because there are none in this world actually of the Church inuisible but those that are in the visible and men cannot distinguish betweene the persons that partake either only one or both of the Acts of Election therefore in my text we will take the definition of a Church in the widest sense according to the rule of Charitie which the Scripture obserues although the power of denotion doth properly concerne the whole visible Bodie by reason of the better part thereof those which are aswell inwardly as outwardly of the Church The vse that wee must make of this definition of the Church is by the first word to be remembred of our Prerogatiue If we doe partake only the outward Act of Election how much are we better then the Heathen that know not the true God nor the Sauiour of the world Iesus Christ and are destitute of all those meanes by which
pray in him marke the forme of his words they are all plurall We confesse wee beseech wee pray c. he is the Minister of the Church and it is the whole Churches Deuotion that he presenteth vnto God Fourthly whether we pray or other members of the Church or the Minister wee must obserue that in all these prayers there is something transient and something permanent the Act is transient the Memoriall is permanent 1 Kin 18. learne this out of Salomons Dedicatorie Let these my words wherewith I haue made supplication before the Lord be nigh vnto the Lord our God day and night but you will say this is but a wish reade the beginning of the next Chapter and you shall see that there God granted it 〈◊〉 10. and the Angell told Cornelius that his prayers were come vp for a memoriall before the Lord. Fiftly The Church Triumphant prayeth for the Militant in generall as not ignorant of the condition out of which it selfe is come and out of which it wisheth the Militant freed as appeares by that voice of the soules vnder the Altar their crying loud voice which saith Reuel 6. How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell in the Earth This is Piè credibile wee may defend it without any offence to Pietie But that which the Church of Rome buildeth hereon the Innocation of Saints because they make Intercession we may not admit it trencheth too much vpon diuine Attributes and hath too much cognation with their Doctrine of Transubstantiation therein they giue as it were an vbiquitie vnto Christs Bodie and here to the soules of the Saints But I will not trouble you with Controuersies neither is that point so naturall to this Text only take this Item that out of the generall Intercession of the Saints for vs wee can neuer gather our particuar Inuocation of them no nor generall neither Finally our Sauiour Christ doth only put sweete odours into our Prayers that they may come acceptable vnto God Reuâ—l 8. 〈◊〉 8. but also himselfe maketh perpetuall intercession for vs vnto him his bloud cryeth better things then doth the bloud of Abel Put now all these together Christ the Head his Bodie the Church that part which is Triumphant that which is Militant all the members all the Ministers thereof you cannot doubt but the Elect do pray day and night But euery man in his owne case must remember a good obseruation of Saint Chrysostomes That Oratio propria our owne prayers make all the other prayers vsefull vnto vs They auaile for vs by way of Impetration but if wee desire to be accepted of God wee must contribute our owne deuotion with theirs for they doe not pray to make vs idle but to supply the interrupting of our prayers which is occasioned by our honest vocation or necessarie refreshing during which time we need not doubt but that we are remembred aswell to God as of God This constancie of prayer fauoureth not the Euchites who turned all Pietie into Prayer as if there were nothing else to bee done the Church hath long since branded them and many of the Friers may goe for their Cousin Germans Matth. 6. Neither doth it fauour the Heathenish Battologie which Christ condemneth De Orandâ— Deâ— ad Probam Saint Austin helpeth vs out with a distincton Absit ab oratione multa locutio sed non desit multa precatio si fernens perseuerat intensio Christ forbiddeh bare Lip-labour but Heart-labour hee doth not condemne pray as long as you will so your heart pray as well as your tongue Put now together the Persons and the Deuotion and then wee see the Elect must pray or else they shall not haue what God doth purpose them for as Christ saith Aske and you shall haue so Saint Iames saith you haue not because you aske not How absurd then are they that make this prophane Collection I am elected therefore it skilleth not whether I serue God Thou vaine man he that electeth to the end electeth to the meanes yea the election mentioned in my Text is vnto this Seruice for when thou art elected into the Church thou art elected to be a Priest thy person is elected to be a Temple and prayer is that Sacrifice which euery man must offer in that House of Prayer Can any man bee more elect then Christ was And yet the Gospel teacheth that hee sought for all things vnto God by prayer yea in our owne case when he was in an agonie he prayed most earnestly most constantly But how can wee doubt of this that the Elect must pray whereas it is most true that no Prayers are acceptable vnto God but those that come from the Elect Iohn 9. For God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him hee heareth The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord saith Salomon but the prayer of the righteous is his delight There is a quarrell betweene vs and the Church of Rome Prou. 15. whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things which God offereth vnto vs doe worke ex opere operato produce their effects out of their inherent or adherent efficacies but wee are both agreed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things which we tender vnto God are accepted of God ex opere Operantis according as the person is religiously disposed in acting them wherefore we must wash our hands in innocencie and so compasse the Altar of God and pray as beseemeth the Elect in Faith Austin Epist 121. Hope and Charitie I haue dwelt long enough vpon the Nature of Deuotion let vs come at length vnto the Power thereof I told you that the religious deuotion of Gods Elect is very powerfull Saint Iames telleth vs that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very effectuall a little before my text wee reade that it will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bring vnder those things which it hath to doe withall In thâ— Law it is figured in Isha â—euit 1. that is Ignitio or a fierie thing which you know is piercing and so preualent Chrysostome saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is Defensiue it is Offensiue it hath in it all power requisite for preseruation of our selues and confusion of our enemies hee that can doe nothing if hee can pray can doe all things neither can any thing conquer him that can be vigilant and feruent in prayer But to come closer to my Text that sheweth vs with whom it preuayleth euen with him to whom the Church doth pray that is with God We reade that Iacobs name was changed into Israel to signifie a Prince with God or as the Angell himselfe openeth it one that hath preuailed with God and so by Gods power shall preuaile with men but marke the reason of this was because of his importunitie in prayer for the Text saith Gen. 32. he
wrastled with the Angell and though the Angell desired yet hee would not let him goe till that the Angell gaue him a blessing and the blessing was this name Israel a monument of the efficacie of Prayer God in his iust indignation was readie to destroy all Israel Exod. 32. formaking and worshipping the golden Calfe Moses set vpon him with prayer God said to him Let me alone Moses would not God was saine to yeild and pardon his people Numb 14. Aaron made the like experiment wrath was gone out from God Aaron made haste with his Censor and stood betweene the liuing and the dead and presently Gods wrath was quenched 3. Sam 3â— And did not God command the punishing Angell to sheath his sword so soone as Dauid sacrificed in the threshing flowre of Areunah and for a perpetuall Monument of that preualent prayer consecrated that place for the Seat of his Temple which was to bee according to Gods promise made to Salomons Dedicatorie a house of preuaâ—ling prayer That wee haue not a second Floud to drowne this world that is as sinfull as the former that the seasons of the yeare haue continued so long â—en 3. Winter Summer Seed-rime Haruest wee owe it vnto the powerfulnesse of Prayer for Noah sacrificed vnto God and God promised it should bee so But beyond all goeth the efficacie of Christs Sacrifice vpon the Crosse Intercession at the right hand of God which wrought the redemption of man and doth continually preserue and propagate the Church if there were nothing else this sheweth abundantly how powerfull prayer is with God and the power which our prayers haue with him we are beholding for it vnto this they preuaile with God only through Iosus Christ our Lord But wee must not mistake this preualencie of our Prayer is not physicall but morall God is not forced by vs against his will but out of his good will he yeildeth vnto vs as parents vse to be ouercome by the petitions of their children â—euiâ— 1. Prâ—â— 15. Therefore is the Sacrifice of God in the Law said to be Ratzon a thing that pleaseth him well to be his delight a sauour of a sweet smell a sauour of rest it is grata violentia hee that ruleth all is well pleased to bee ouer-ruled by prayer Wherefore seeing we know what will preuaile most with him if we meane to speed of our desires let vs vse that most which wee are sure will please him best let vs not be lither therein but feruent in spirit Rom. 12 But whereto serueth this powerfulnesse of Prayer The Text saith ad vindicationem vindictam God vpon their prayer will auenge his Elect. And indeed in the Law God saith Vengeance is mine Deuâ— 22 Chap. 32. Psal 93. and I will repay the Apostle repeateth it to the Romanes the Psalmist saith asmuch O God to whom vengeance belongeth thou to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy selfe Chap. 1. Nahum doth amplifie this propertie of God very emphatically the Chapter is worth your reading The first thing I obserue here is That when in our distresses and while we are vnder crosses we seeke for succour vnto men we find that for the most part they haue blind eyes they will not see our case deafe eares they will not heare our groanes fast hands they cannot open them for vs and feeble knees that will not stirre towards vs finally they haue hard hearts they haue no fellow-feeling of our misery but here is our comfort there lyeth an Appeale from man to God and they shall preuaile with God which cannot preuaile with man he will not shut out our petitions though no bodie else careth for our soule Therefore we must in wel-doing commend our case to him that iudgeth righteously assured that as saluation belongeth vnto him so his blessing is vpon his people He is nigh to them that call vpon him to all that call vpon him faithfully The word in my Text doth signifie vindicationem and vindictam the deliuerance of the Church and the destruction of her enemies which commonly goe together as appeares in all the principall deliuerances recorded in the Scripture when Noah was saued the whole world was drowned Lot was deliuered when Sodome was burnt when God freed the Israelites the Egyptians perished so did the Babylonians when the Iewes were set free finally the iust shall goe to Heauen when the wicked goe to Hell The reason why these are coupled together is because the enemies of the Church are like sauage beasts which when they haue a prey in their power will not let it goe by faire meanes they must be forced to doe it which Dauid insinuateth in those words in the Psalme Thou hast smitten all mine enemies vpon the cheeke bone Psal 3. thou hast broken all the teeth of the vngodly or if you will the vngodly is made the ransome of the iust and commeth in his place when hee is deliuered as teacheth Salomon But yet this rule must we obserue for guiding of our Piety that although vindicatio vindicta our own deliuerance and the confusion of our foes vsually go together yet in our prayer we must desire vindicationeÌ„ propter se vindictam propter aliud our own deliuerance with a full and with a direct affection we may we must desire but we may not we must not desire the confusion of our foes otherwise then if it stand not with Gods pleasure to conuert them nor to make way to our deliuerance but by their destruction Yea and then too it standeth with the Charitie of the Gospel to be compassionate to them and to pray vnto God for them Finally obserue that whereas the wicked in sinning offend God and wrong vs God seemeth more sensible of our wrong then of his owne offence in that Christ saith He will auenge his Elect he seemeth to hold himselfe wronged in them Psal â—â—â— And indeed he that said Touch not mine Anointed said also Hee that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye he auengeth them as if he suffered in them God doth so but yet in auenging festinat lentè First lentè hee maketh no more haste then good speed for he forbeareth long You shall find in the Scripture a double 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or long-suffering of God one towards the Sinnes the other towards the Woe of his Elect and wee must be contented aswel with the one as the other we must be contented aswell to stay during Gods pleasure as hee stayeth our leisure vntill wee repent of our sinne he is vnworthy to haue the benefit of the latter that is discontented with the former The rather because it hath so manifold a vse and is so beneficiall both to our selues and others To our selues First ad probationem to make proofe that wee are that which we would seeme to be to be Gods owne Elect. The Arke saith Saint Austine was made of square timber which which way soeuer it turned stood firmely
temporall Iurisdiction should be swallowed vp in the Ecclesiastical State sauour not of the things of God but of the things of this world yea they sow dangerous seeds of discord betweene Princes and Pastors and seeke to breed iealousies vpon which what will follow but that the one will seeke to ruinate the other Christs Kingdome then is of his Church and it is a spirituall Gouernment of his Church Notwithstanding these words must not bee vnderstood exclusiuely as if Christ were so confined to his Church as that he had nothing to doe with those that were without the Church As King Dauid ruled in Israel but so that the Philistines Ammoniâ—es Moabites and all the bordering Countries were subiect vnto his Scepter and hee layd tribute vpon them and commanded them at his pleasure Euen so our Sauiour Christ not only ruleth in his Church but commandeth them also that are without it not onely men but euen the powers of Hell also He hath the keyes both of death and hell and euery knee boweth to him at of things in heauen and of things in earth so euen of things vnder the earth also And it is our comfort that hee which is our King hath so great a Power ouer our Foes the more power hee hath ouer them the lesse wee neede to stand in feare of them the more securely may wee obey him And so haue you heard of what sort Christs Gouernment is The next Point is Wherewith he sustaines this Gouernment it is here said that it shall be vpon his shoulders Morall Princes vnburden themselues vpon the shoulders of others the wits the power of their Officers in peace and warre doe beare vp the greatest part of their state It is not so with our King he beareth all himselfe euen when hee vseth meanes those meanes are but Instruments whose abilitie and efficacie are both from him The Minister speaketh words and dispenseth Elements but in vaine doth he both except Christ bee with him and his spirit make effectuall that which is done by him if there bee not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will be indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And what likelihood was there that a few Fishermen and those vnlearned should euer haue subiected the crownes of Princes the wits of Philosophers the stomacks of the Mighty the desires of the Ambitious finally all kinde of dispositions vnto the Scepter of Christ had not Christs spirit wrought with them A second thing that is to bee obserued in this Word is that as Christ is highest in degree so is hee deepest in care and so should Kings bee The Great world the Little world both preach this Lesson vnto temporal Kings The Great World hath many parts whereof it doth consist and of them one is placed aboue another The higher any part is placed the more it laboureth for the rest by motion and influence Witnesse the Sun the Moone the Starres compared to the inferiour Bodies all which labour for the Earth the basest of all In the Little World of our Body is not our Head set aboue our Hands and our Feete And how painefully doth the Eye watch the Eare heare and euery sense employ it selfe for the direction and preseruation of the Hands and Feete If it bee so in the Creatures that are destitute of Reason betweene reasonable Creatures it should bee much more so The Gouernour must lesse take his ease and lesse be idle than those which are gouerned nay his care his paine must farre exceede theirs he must partake of euery one of theirs Doe wee not see it so in our Body The hand hath his peculiar worke so hath the foote and euery other in feriour part employes it selfe about some particular function but the directiue and commanding parts in man are Architectonicall they resemble the Master of the works in a Building whose presence and guidance runneth through all the seuerall kinde of Labourers appointing what they must doe and caring that they doe it well whether they hew stones or lay them square timber or coâ—ple it whatsoeuer other worke is to bee done the Master hath though not his hand yet his head working with them No otherwise should the Magistrate carry himselfe in his charge nor be lesse prouident in the Common-weale the influence of his care must quicken must order must further whatsouer functions of the people and make them tend to the common good The 72. Psalme compares our Gouernour I meane Christ of whom this Text speaketh vnto a showre of raine and wee see that a showre of raine waters carefully all the plants of the fields the rose the lilly the violet the cedar and the pine all of them do fare the better for the watering of the raine And the grace of Christs spirit is no otherwise showred downe vpon euery member of the Church euery one is nourished therewith Malachie compares him to the Sunne he calleth him The Sun of Righteousnesse And who knoweth not how common the warmth of the Sunne is and how effectuall it is also The Raine yeelds matter to the earth but that it may become prouing matter the earth is beholding to the Sunne which workes the moisture and distributeth it through the whole body of the herbs and plants Christs grace supplyeth both Rain and Sunne from him wee haue both Posse and Velle nay the Apostle saith He worketh in vs both to will and to doe euen of his own good pleasure So that we may well say The Gouernment lyeth vpon his shoulders Vpon his shoulders Princes on earth beare the Ensignes of their Gouernment some in their hands as Scepters some on their heads as Crownes but Christ weareth his on his shoulders The Fathers generally vnderstand this of Christs Crosse some looking to the History related in the Gospell that Christ was made to bear his own Crosse vpon his shoulders when he went vnto his death which they say was prophesied of in the 95. Psalme Dicite in gentibus quia Dominus regnauit à ligno So saith St. Austin it was anciently read though it be not found so read now ordinarily in the Septuagint The Iewes in malice razed it out as hee thinkes But because the Hebrew Text hath it not wee neede not stand vpon so vncertaine a ground Wee may take a better eyther from the type of Aaron bearing the twelue Tribes ingrauen vpon his shoulders when he went into the Temple or from Eliakim Esay 22. vpon whose shoulders the key of the house of Dauid was layd or from the shepheard bearing the lost sheepe vpon his shoulders or if you will haue it of the Crosse take it from Christ himselfe speaking to the Disciples that went to Emmaus Ought not Christ to haue suffered these things and so to enter into his glory or from St. Paul also Christ triumphed ouer Powers and Principalities in his person but then when this Person suffered vpon the Crosse So that Christ reigned in his passion and because in his passion therefore had he his Gouernment
and the order that we are to expect from Christ who commeth to set vs in frame and to vse the Apostles words Ephes 4. to set vs in ioynt that euery part of man should keepe his order and none in working exceed his measure It is one of the curses that God in Esay threatneth to the Kingdome of Israel that the vile person shall set himselfe against the honourable And it is no small curse in euery one of vs to haue the worser part command the better and command it will except Christ doe order except he doe vse his first royall endowment But as he vseth the first so must he vse the second also for as the Kingdome is out of order so is it weake also and the establishing presupposeth this weakenesse yea indeed weakenesse is the cause of disorder men fall to disorder through weaknesse The weakenesse of the ciuill State of Israel is cleare in the Storie for the Israelites were become enthralled to the Romanes and had no power to relieue themselues though they were exposed to all kinde of ignominie and cruelty as he that readeth Flauius Iosephus will confesse It was bad with them in the Assyrian captiuity but in the Romane much worse and it was this weakenesse that the Iewes thought their Messias should support who reiected Christ because hee came not into the World as a likely person to doe this to crush their enemies and to make them a mighty nation according to the Prophecies which not only affirme they should be so but set it out in diuers Similies as you may reade in Esay in Zacharie and in others that they should thresh all Nations as a heauy stone should grinde them should bee as a soporiforous cup and as fire working vpon stubble These places they vnderstood literally which indeed should haue been vnderstood spiritually Another weakenesse for they had another kinde of weakenesse was disability to doe well whereby they were carried captiues vnto sinne as St. Paul speaketh Rom. 7. and that was it which enfeebled them as God had threatned Deut. 28. and gaue their enemies power ouer them Christ came to remedy this weaknesse Esay 35. to strengthen these weake hands and feeble knees as you may perceiue in that excellent description thereof which Zacharie hath cap. 2. where God promiseth power to all the house of Israel and sheweth that the feeblest of them shall be like vnto Dauid and the house of Dauid like vnto the Angels St. Paul Ephes 6. describeth the armour wherewith wee are strengthened and telleth vs that it is The power of the Lord and cap. 3. he telleth vs that therewith we are strengthned in the inward man and to the Hebrewes cap. 11. telleth vs that by Faith many of weake became strong euen so strong that St. Paul saith of himselfe Phil. 4. Hee could doe all things through him that strengthned him which is Christ Finally this is the strength for which he so often prayeth when he prayeth for the Church it is the strength whereby we may be able to encounter our chiefe enemies which are ghostly and to performe the duties which concerne a Christian life The substance of our faculties was not abolished by sinne but the sinewes were enfeebled as wee hold in the question of Free-will Try it in the particulars and you may perceiue it Our vnderstanding had proportionable strength to the obiect thereof the truth of God to apprehend it and the will to the obiect thereof our soueraigne Good to embrace it so had all the affections the strength that was expedient for such attendance vpon the will to further our possession of the obiect thereof But now euery one of these is disabled by sinne and it is Christs grace that enableth them againe giuing vs such wisedome such holinesse such courage and desires as are expedient for a childe of God to bring him vnto and keepe him in enioying of his finall end And this power is that power by which wee must ouerthrow our enemies if they be irreconcileable as the diuell and his angels are we foile them when they can fasten no sinne vpon vs then we break the Serpents head when his craft cannot delude vs and his taile too when we continue starres in the firmament notwithstanding his violent striking at vs and though he roare like a Lion yet we continue stedfast in the faith whether both these be vsed immediately by himselfe or mediately by his instruments And if the enemies be reconcileable then the conquest of them by this power is not the foyling of their bodies or spoyling of their goods but the casting downe in them of all imaginations 2 Cor. 10. and euery high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuity euery thought to the obedience of Christ And in this manner did the Apostles conquer and the Christians in the Primitiue Church taking-in all these holds that were possessed by Sathan and imposing the easie yoke of Christ vpon the wits and wils of all Nations And in this sense should the Iewes haue vnderstood the Prophets and made Dauids Kingdome a type not of historicall correspondencie but of mysticall presignificancy for other power they meant none none that should appeare in this world And the Popes of Rome are Iewish that herein stand for a temporall power ouer Kings direct or indirect whereby they may ouer-top the scepters and dispose of the crownes of Princes Christ left vnto his Church no other sword than that which commeth out of his mouth which elsewhere is called the breath of his mouth Heb. 4. and the Word of God which is sharper than any two-edged sword and workes in it by no other power as it is a Church though hee hath not abolished the ciuill sword nor rebated the edge thereof in peace or warre but strengthned it rather in proceeding vpon lawfull and legall grounds But the ciuill power is not to bee confounded with the power of the Gospell the power of the Church and the power of the Common-weale distant in toto genere and it is the power of the Church that is meant here that is the power which Christ established And marke it is not enough for Christ to order except he establish It was the case of Adam hee was well ordered but hee was not established and thereupon the good order became mutable and all the gifts of God be they not well rooted and founded in vs will come to nought and fall to disorder So that stability signifieth the preseruation of that good order which wisedome sets and is the principall blessing of the Gospell wherein standeth the prerogatiue of Adam regenerated aboue Adam created and it is that which Christ promiseth in the Gospell and for which the Apostles doe pray in their Epistles namely for prescruation and stedfastnesse in the truth and Christ in his prayer before his passion doth specifie it expresly If we consider the mutability of our nature which comming of
the naturall sense there is in the body but it is from the head intercept the insluence of the head and you extinguish the sense of the body And as it fareth with the body in regard of sense so doth it in regard of motion also The like appeares in the spirits that haue their original from the heart in the bloud that streameth from the veines In the great world you haue many like spectacles the Sun and the Light the Streames and the Fountaine the Rootes and the Trees euery one of these you may perceiue endure not if the effect be seuered from the cause How much lesse may wee expect any enduring in those spirituall effects did they not receiue continuance from this spirituall cause It is our comfort that considering there is a mutability in vs this mutability preuaileth not because of the Kings constant influence vpon vs. Wee sinne and recouer we are in danger and escape neyther our inward weakenesse nor our enemies outward mightinesse destroy Gods gifts in vs or so hinder their increase but that they become Catholick for all which we are beholding to the constant policie of the King who neuer faileth to support vs but continueth ours vnto the end But the Prophet speaketh of this policie as if it began when hee spake these words Christ was not borne till some hundreds of yeares after The answer is easie you had it before The efficacie of Christs birth wrought long before he was borne not only in the time of this Prophet but euen from the time of Adams fall A scruple there ariseth how these words can be true that our King shall so rule for euer seeing a time shall come as the Apostle teacheth 1 Cor. 15 when he shall giue vp his Kingdome to his Father The answer is if wee respect the Kingdome of Grace That as the effect shall not cease increasing till it become boundlesse that is haue attained all his parts and degrees so the cause shall worke till the consummation of that effect till all enemies be put downe and wee are throughly perfected And in this sense both cause and effect are termed endlesse because they shall continue till the worlds end If you extend it to the Kingdome of Glory it hath an eternity also though not of Restauration but of Conseruation though he shall cease restoring of vs further when we are fully restored yet shall hee neuer cease preseruing vs because wee can no longer be than wee are preserued You haue heard the constant Policie of the King wherein standeth the second branch of the Excellency of the State what remaineth but that if wee were affected with the growth and desired to bee partakers of it wee submit our selues vnto the cause thereof the Policie of the King that we yeeld our disorderly selues to be set in order by him and repose our weake selues to be supported on him who will prescribe no Lawes of order but those that spring from Iustice that spirituall Iustice which will abide the tryall at Gods barre and worke the highest kinde of righteousnesse in our liues Neyther doth he only prescribe it but possesse vs of it also and lest it should faile he supports it in vs his Iudgements are as watchfull ouer vs as his Iustice they rectifie vs when wee breake order and bridle vs that wee doe not breake it And this he doth vncessantly by bringing vs from growth to growth in the state of grace and prescruing vs in this growth in the state of glory Hee will bee vnto vs a lasting blessed cause that there may be in vs no end of that blessed effect O Lord I am out of order and I am very weake thon art that Counsellour that knowest how to set mee right againe and that Almighty God which onely canst sustaine me Lord rule me by thy lustice and by thy Iudgements bridle me that I may bee conformable to the holy members of thy Church and euer continue conformable vnto them Let thy worke neuer cease in mee so shall I neuer cease to bee thy Subiect if thy Policie faile me not I shall euery day grow on to the fulnesse ef grace and shall therehence proceede to the eternity of glory Which I beseech thee to grant vnto mee that art the fountaine both of Grace and Glory THE EIGHTH SERMON The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this THese are the last words of that Text whereof you haue heard often but haue not yet heard all The whole Text was diuided into a Doctrine and a Warrant The Doctrine deliuered the Substance and Excellency of Christs Person and State both which I haue at sundry times so far vnfolded as the time would giue leaue it were tedious now to repeat were it onely the heads whereof I haue distinctly spoken In stead of that repetition I only recommend vnto you the laying together the parts and therehence the gathering of a description of the Catholicke Church Which what is it but a Kingdome such as I haue described growing in grace without stint of Place or term of Time vnder and by meanes of such a Person as being God and Man is called to be the King thereof royally endowed with Wisedome and Power eternall to worke an eternall good both which he employes ordering and stablishing by Iustice and Iudgement the disorderly and feeble members of his Church and that without intermission vntill he hath brought them to the fulnesse both of grace and glory More than this in the nature of that Catholicke Church which we beleeue in the Creede there is not neyther is there any thing more that we would desire to bee therein So that we may take this Text as a full Commentary thereupon and to our comfort vnderstand the riches that are treasured vp in that Article But to leaue the Doctrine and come to the Warrant The Doctrine containeth a large Promise the Warrant sheweth that it shall be performed and sheweth this by renewing those impediments that may crosse the performance thereof The impediments that stay a man from being as good as his word are of two sorts they proceede ab extra or ab intra from without or from within From without wee may bee ouer-ruled from within wee may change our minde Neyther of these can hinder God hee cannot bee ouer-ruled for he is the Lord of Hosts hee cannot vary in himselfe because of the greatnesse of his loue which is termed zeale So that the remouall of these two impediments from God are the principall argument of these words Let vs looke into them That Gods Word shall stand That his Counsell is immutable yea That heauen and earth shall passe and yet his Word neuer passe are Maximes in the Scripture and therfore haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credibility enough in themselues but yet so farre doth the holy Ghost condescend to the weakenesse of our Faith as to point vnto these grounds which will content euen reason it selfe Reason when it questioneth the word of
a ground in the entrance to their decrees But when we come to enquire where the Lord saith so here we differ we differ about the Register of Gods Word wee acknowledge none but Verbum scriptum the written Word they adde vnto it Verbum non scriptum vnwritten Traditions but when we presse them with where is that to be found here they iarre between themselues To omit smaller differences this is a maine one that they cannot tell in whom the infallibilitie of relating these traditions is placed as likewise of interpreting the written Word The Councell of Constance and Basil placed it in the generall Councell to whom they gaue power euen ouer the Pope to ouer-rule him and giue Lawes vnto him and to this doth the French Church sticke though otherwise it hold the Romish faith But the Italian faction and specially Iesuites place it in the Pope and giue him authority ouer the Councell to controule it to giue Lawes vnto it and without it to make Lawes that shall binde the whole Catholicke Church and besides the Pope they hold that there is infallibilitie in none no not in a generall Councell Some place it ioyntly in both in a generall Councell that hath its approbation from the Pope wherein he presides by himselfe or his delegates and whose Canons he confirmes But while the Aduocates of the Pope strongly ouerthrow the reasons brought for the Councels infallibilitie and the Aduocates of the Councels ouerthrow the reasons brought for the infallibility of the Pope we may fairely collect from both that the infallibilitie is in neyther and if in neyther then not in both For as a cipher added to a cipher maketh but a cipher it maketh no significant figure so if the Pope may erre as the one side holdes and the Councell as the other side holds the fallibilitie of eyther added to the fallibilitie of the other cannot amount to the summe of an infallibilitie But we hold that which they confesse that the Word written in the Canonicall bookes is vndoubtedly signed with Thus saith the Lord of Hostes as for the Apocryphall Scriptures not onely the Fathers but their owne men haue branded them for Bastards before euer wee challenged them therefore doe not wee recommend them to the people further than they agree with the Bookes Canonicall Neither doe we burden the peoples consciences with their Vnwritten Word whereupon themselues are not yet resolued eyther Where or What it is Wherefore Thus saith the Lord must limit the Pastors message and the Peoples faith must not desire any thing beyond it for it is a sure foundation The best of men speake but in veritate mentis without simulation or dissimulation without equiuocation or mentall reseruation but God speaketh in certitudine veritatis no myst of errour can ouercast his wisdome or his holinesse his Word is tried to the vttermost Psalme 12 Heb. 12. as siluer tried seuen times in the fire there is stablenesse in his promise immutablenesse in his counsaile What should change him within him nothing can for he is the Lord neyther can he be changed by any thing that is without him for he is the Lord of Hosts therefore he speaketh thus in the Prophet Mal. 1. Ego Deus non mutor immutability is reciprocall with Gods nature Iames 1 With God there is no variablenesse or shadow of change God is not as man that hee should lye neither as the sonne of man that he should repent Hath he said it Numb 23. and shall he not doe it Yea he spake the word and it was done hee commanded and it stood fast The Lord breaketh the counsell of the Heathen and bringeth to naught the deuices of the people Psalme 33. but the counsell of the Lord shall stand for euer and the thoughts of his heart throughout all ages What neede we then feare Iulians scoffe who derided the Christians for that they had nothing to say for their faith but Thus saith the Lord. Orat. 3. Nazianzene replieth well vnto him you that allow Ipse dixit in the schollars of Pythagoras and though Suidas thinke that God was meant by Ipse yet Cicero saith Ipse erat Pythagoras may not except against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beleeue in the followers of Christ It is more lawfull to captiuate our iudgement vnto the authority of God than of man and if they might doe it in the principles of Philosophy which are examinable by reason much more may we doe it in the Articles of Faith vnto the secrets whereof no approach can bee made by the wit of man Wherefore Thus saith the Lord may well passe for an indemonstrable principle of our Faith and an irrefragable rule of life If there were no more in the signature but Thus saith the Lord this were enough to secure the Faith of a Christian man But Thus saith the Lord of Hosts is enough to stoppe the mouth of an Atheist let Iulian himselfe teach them hee derided Thus saith the Lord but hee had a wofull experience of the Lord of Hosts for being mortally wounded by Christs hand as himselfe confessed he breathed forth his impure soule with those words Vicisti Galilaec O Galilaean thou hast ouer-mastered mee Secondly if Thus saith the Lord of Hosts bee the signature we are hence to learne that the function of the Ministry is not onely for promulgation to instruct you in Gods will and in so doing to open vnto you the riches of our knowledge but it is for application also we thereby binde or loose the soules of men and remit or retaine their sinnes which the world little thinketh vpon For whereas there are two things considerable in a Minister his Sufficiency and his Authority the people listen much to his Sufficiency but take little heed to his Authority and therefore come they to Church rather to iudge than to be iudged forgetting that many may bee as skilfull but none can be as powerfull in this kinde as is a Minister A Iudge or Iustice of Peace may haue lesse Law in him than a priuate man but he hath much more power and they that appeare before him regard his acts according to his power so should it be in the Church But men feare the Magistrates that are vnder earthly Kings because the paines which they inflict are corporeall our hands our feete feele their manicles and their fetters And did our soules as truly feele as indeede they should the Pastors binding and loosing of them wee would make more account of these officers of God than we doe And it were good we did so for they so binde as that they can loose againe but if we neglect them when our Lord and Master commeth he will command all contemners so to be bound hand and foote that they shall neuer be loosed againe Wherefore let the power of the Keyes work more vpon your soules and consciences than vsually it doth I speake in regard of your religious submission to them If any
possible eyther onely to Gods Power or also to his Will All things are possible to Gods Power that are not contrary to his Nature for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all things are his host they subsist in him and therefore haue their strength from his influence Adde hereunto that in this very case God could absolutely forgiue all sinnes and abolish Hell being an absolute Lord. But Gods Power is moderated by his Will and when the Will hath set downe a resolution then the contrary is impossible not simply but because God cannot vary his iudgement So that here commeth in a second distinction of Possible and Impossible in regard of Gods Will. Now Christ doth not put in the condition in regard of Gods absolute Power but in regard of his limitted therefore in St. Luke he saith If thou wilt as if he did not desire it if Gods Will were against it if his Will made it impossible to his Power So then Christ doubteth not Gods Power but acknowledgeth that it is gouerned by his Will This Maxime if it were well heeded would determine many differences betweene vs and the Church of Rome who talke much of Possible by Gods Power when we speake onely of Possible according to Gods Will in the argument of Transubstantiation But I will not fall into a Controuersie Out of all that you haue heard putting the condition to the desire you may gather that the Voyce of Nature is but Veleitas a Wish though a reasonable Wish for Oratio est rationalis actio Christ could not conceiue his Wish in a prayer and not guide his prayer by reason the fore-taste of the Crosse did not so farre ouerwhelme him as that he knew not well what was vttered by him Though later Diuines as well Popish as our owne so amplifie Christs agonie that they seeme to conceiue otherwise yet seeing they doe absolutely free Christ from sinne they may not in charity be thought to detract any thing from the reasonable aduisednesse of Christ in speaking these words Christ was free in vttering the lawfull Voyce of Nature but lower he did not goe Yea when he came thither he soared higher and in the Will of Grace surmounted the Wish of Nature God is pleased that Christian men should be men but being men hee will haue them Christians also he doth not deny vs the Wishes of men but he will haue vs also haue the Will of Angells The Schooles distinguish between the superiour and inferiour reason not but that reason is one and the same but the obiects are not the same whereabouts reason is conuersant there are some that are called Rationes humanae such motiues as are presented by the nature of man some are called Rationes diuinae such motiues as are offered vnto vs from God Reason may bee an Aduocate for both so that in fauour of the lesser it doe not preiudice the greater and in this discretion consists the Will of Grace But more particularly Wee must obserue here a distinction of Wils and a submission of the inferiour to the superiour First for the distinction The Will of God is his Decree the Will of man is his Desire Gods Decree I must open a little farther as for mans Desire I neede not open it you haue heard enough in the Wish of Nature Gods Decree then is in the Acts called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 2.23 a determinate Will he doth nothing in time which before time he hath not determined especially in this great work of mans Redemption hee decreed how sinne should bee expiated and himselfe pacified how the Powers of darknesse should bee conquered and man restored how Mercy and Iustice should meete together all this commeth vnder the name of Gods Will. See then how hee doth cloath the Crosse with this sweete word thy Will not so much attentiue to his owne paine as to Gods good pleasure The Wills being thus discerned wee must now see how Christ doth submit his Will vnto his Fathers Not my Will but thine be done Wherein you must first obserue that Christ doth not desire death propter se sed propter aliud not for it selfe as if there were any thing desirable in it but onely to obey his Fathers Will. Secondly that to obey it he doth deny himselfe his owne life is not deare vnto him so hee may doe his Fathers Will. Iohn 18. Shall I not drinke the Cup saith he to S. Peter which my Father hath giuen mee and elsewhere Iohn 12. Father saue mee from this houre yet therefore did I come I came to do not mine own Will but his that sent mee Ioh. 6. And indeed to haue a Will subiect to none is the property of God men must imitate the Planets that go not their own motions otherwise than they are permitted per primum mobile so should all the motions of our soule conforme themselues to the good pleasure of God Christ in the Lords Prayer teacheth this by Rule but here hee teacheth it by Example We should be guided by the Rule and our neglect is inexcusable if we doe not follow it but our contempt is intolerable if wee be not moued by the Example Si Filius obediuit vt faceret voluntatem Patris quantò magis seruus De orat Dominic saith St. Cyprian it is intolerable insolencie for a seruant to be selfe-willed when a childe doth bend to the will of his father for man to bee headstrong when Christ is so pliable Intolerable insolency did I say nay grosse folly Tert. de Orat. cap. 4. for Vel eo nobis bene optamus cum dicimus fiat Voluntas tua quòd nihil sit melius Voluntate diuinâ Wee cannot wish better vnto our selues than to submit our selues vnto Gods Will for that there is no hurt that can be expected from his Will no not when he doth correct vs or lay the Crosse vpon vs for Christs Crosse on earth brought him to the throne of Heauen and our afflictions are not worthy of the Glory that shall be reuealed vpon vs. But from our owne will we can expect no good it can reach no farther than our vnderstanding which is but blinde and oftentimes it is ouerthwart when that seeth right And therefore as it is happy for the children of men that being of weake iudgements and of weaker affections haue parents to whose direction and correction they are obedient for their owne good euen so should the children of God thinke themselues happy that they haue a Father in Heauen that ordereth them better than they can order themselues to whom if they submit themselues they are sure they shall not miscarry But durus est hic sermo it is hard to worke this lesson into flesh and bloud into the voluptuous into the couetous into the ambitious into the prophane it is hard to make any wicked man to take this bridle Christ had so reuerent a respect vnto the sacred Will of God that he endured the sharpest
finde wee haue not lighted vpon that which should giue vs content as we may gather out of the Preachers censure Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanity when wee come to grace there wee rest St. Austine giues the reason of it Fecisti nos Domine propter te irrequietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te and K. Dauid expresseth it most passionately Psal 73. Whom haue I in heauen but thee and there is none vpon earth that I desire besides thee my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer And no wonder for nothing can giue constant content but that which is verum and summum bonum that which is good indeed and is our soueraigne good these are found only in God none finde them but they that partake of him Secondly the same grace that doth sistere appetitum doth also explere as it doth giue vs content in that we desire no other thing so of that only we may haue our fill Other things are not onely worse than that wee principally desire but they are lesse and we therefore doe loath them not because they are not good at all for they are the creatures of God and they are made for our vse but because they beare not proportion vnto our desire when we haue them we finde a great want of something else besides them let a man haue all the riches in the world all the honour yea all the wisedome they will not satisfie him yea let euery power haue his distinct obiect yet they will not satisfie him There is a common obiect that they all desire and which onely can fill them the desire of them all and that is Grace Grace is the fulnesse of God as the Apostle cals it Ephes 3.19 and the Prophesies of grace doe promise fulnesse Ieremie 21. God will not onely prepare a table for vs but our cup shall ouerflow Psal 23. here we hunger and thirst for a time but if grace be our portion we shall be satisfied and we shall be admitted to the tree of life and drinke our fill of the riuers of Gods pleasure But I told you that this which you haue heard is nothing else but a Periphrasis of the Spirit for the filling grace is nothing else but the Holy Ghost This day as we read Acts 2. when hee came he filled and filled not only with the Type but also with the Truth That you may vnderstand this you must obserue that as Christ our Passeouer was sacrificed iust at the time of the legall Passeouer and as he became the first fruits of them that stept rising that very day that the first fruits were offered euen so the Spirit was giuen vpon the very same day when God with his owne mouth pronounced the Law in the hearing of the People the mysterie whereof was this that man can neuer haue the benefit of the Law but by the grace of the Spirit iustifying him by faith and making him a new man But by the Spirit we must vnderstand not only the grace but the person also or else it will neuer fill For as the corne that is sowne is but a small graine but being watered with the dewe of Heauen and comforted with the Sunne it comes to a full eare euen so grace when it beginnes in man it is very scant there must bee some bodie to foster and cherish it that it may come to perfection and that is the Spirit And herein appeares a difference betweene Adam created and Adam restored Adam created was furnished with grace and being so furnished was left to himselfe whereupon he quickely became an vnthrift and brought to nought that portion which he receiued of his heauenly Father but being restored he is better prouided for hee hath the person of the Spirit bestowed vpon him as a liuing roote so that although hee haue his Winters and his Autumne he doth not alwaies spring nor is alwaies loaden with good fruit yet he hath life in the roote which will shute forth againe and he that seemes to be dead will reuiue and like corne that stockes better when it is nipt with frost will afterward beare the more fruit You haue heard the Gift what it is now heare of the Giuer and the Giuer is Christ Christ is the Giuer of the Spirit duplici iure originis meriti in that the Spirit doth proceede from him so he is said to bestow him because ordo ad extra is answerable vnto ordo ad intra He hath also a right by merit he deserued in doing the worke of a Redeemer to haue the bestowing of the Spirit in this later sense must wee vnderstand it in this place and of this sense in the next part of the text And here we must consider the difference betweene the Hebrew of the old Testament and the Greek of the new Accepit dona saith the Psalmist Dedit dona saith the Apostle They are easily reconciled if you marke Christs second power of giuing the Holy Ghost for Accepit quae daret accepit ex merito quae daret ex arbitrio therefore St. Austine saith well Vtroque verbo altero Prophetico Apostolico altero plenissimus sensus redditur The Apostles are the best Commentators vpon the Prophets and when we parallel texts that are found in both wee must not oppose the one to the other but expound the one by the other which we may safely doe because in vtroque est diuini sermonis auctoritas as the same Father speaketh Seeing then Christ receiueth what he giues receiues of his Father what he giues to vs these words must be vnderstood of Christ incarnate as God he could not receiue because he had all things wherefore if he receiue it must be as he became man so indeed he was Christus anointed and his name was as an oyntment poured out Cant. 1. the precious oyntment poured on his head ran downe vnto the very skirts of his cloathing hee was made the Sonne of righteousnesse and became the father of lights precious promises are giuen vnto vs by him and of his fulnesse we all receiue grace for grace Finally we must marke that though hee receiued as he was Incarnate yet he giues as he is God for though Accipere be meriti humani yet Dare is potestatis diuinae though in neither giuing nor taking wee must seuer the person yet must wee in eyther obserue which nature is principally respected As Christ is the giuer of the Spirit so doth he giue him discreetly and vniuersally discreetly for he giues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee keepes a measure in his giuing There is this difference betweene the Head and the Body of the Church the Head hath the Spirit without all measure but the members of the Body haue it in measure neither doth this argue any impotency in Christ the Giuer but his wisedome It is true that as it is in Christs power to giue or not
shepheard and high steward of Gods house appoints all vnder officers He sent the Apostles and by the Apostles others And this his sending is called here a Gift and well it may be so called for God might haue left vs in the dregges of our corrupt nature or after we are called suffer vs to relapse but hee is pleased to appoint meanes of our new birth and to recouer vs when we fall which wee may well call a Gift Secondly it is such a gift as men desire In the fift of Deuteronemie it appeares that when the Israclites had once heard God they desired to heare him no more they desired a Moses and God was pleased to yeelde to their desire and hath euer since fedde them by men Thirdly this dedit is not restrained only to the Apostles time for they had semen in speciem the Church hath still the same commandement and the same promise and must propagate these functions and what wee doe Christ doth by vs. Fourthly no man must take it before it s giuen no man must take this office before he is called seeing it is a power no man must vsurpe it without his leaue to whom God hath giuen all power especially seeing the sinewes of it are the assisting Spirit of whose presence no man may presume without imposition of hands for he breathes where he will not where we will Christ though hee bee gone from the Church doth not destitute his Church if the Church will follow his Ordinance Finally holy Orders are a Gift therefore not to be bought Symony is opposite to the nature of them Precio res nulla Deiconstat Tertul. apolog This generall Rule is specially true of holy Orders and therefore I thinke the Schooles call grace of Edification gratis datam I am sure these things must be freely receiued giuen I conclude when wee looke vpon holy Orders we must obserue two duties that are required Reuerence which is called for by the Author and Obedience by the vse ANd God grant that we may both Pastor and People so be affected to these meanes and so be wrought by them as that God may haue his glory and we may reape our good Amen THE THIRD SERMON EPHES. 4. Vers 8 9 10. Wherefore he saith when he ascended vp on high heled captiuitie captiue and gaue gifts to men Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended vp farre aboue all Heauens that he might fill all things THE Church is but one and therefore the members thereof should liue at one two speciall reasons mouing hereunto the Apostle in the second part of this Chapter alledgeth the first of which is drawne from the meanes whereby the second from the end wherefore the Church is indued with manifold graces Of the meanes I haue begun heretofore to speak and told you that the meanes is Christ and touching Christ the Text doth teach what he did and what right he had to doe it Of these two points I haue handled the former at seuerall times I haue shewed you what Christ did it followeth that I now goe on and shew what right he had to doe it And the Apostle will shew vs that Christ did no more than he might he gathereth it from Christs ascension for that ascension was a deserued Triumph In a triumph as they which are read in stories doe know there were two obserueable things the person of the Conquerour was carried in state and the monuments of the Conquest did attend his chariot and were disposable at his pleasure behold these things in the Ascension of Christ first Exaltation of his person Hee ascended on high farre aboue all Heauens secondly the Attendants vpon his exalted person Hee led captiuity captiue and gaue gifts to men such was his Triumph And this Triumph was deserued for he was not exalted before he was humbled that hee ascended what was it but that hee first descended yea he ascended not so high but hee first descended as lowe as hee ascended farre aboue all Heauens so hee descended into the lower parts of the Earth The same person is the subiect of both He that ascended is the very same that descended These are the particulars whereof I shall God willing now speake briefly and in their order and first of the Exaltation of his person And the Exaltation was the ascending thereof on high Ille triumphato Capitolia ad alta Corintho Victor agit currus On high saith St. Hierome that is to an high place and state First to a place Localis Homo c. saith Fulgentius ad Thrasimundum Christ being man wheresoeuer he is he is in a place and St. Austin Tolle spatia corporibus non erunt Christ could not haue a body and that body not contained in a place whatsoeuer deuices the Vbiquitaries haue to colour their conceits of the illocality of Christs body by that rule of St. Austin and St. Austins rule is grounded vpon the nature of bodies they cannot auoide a contradiction Into a place then Christ ascended and it is behoofefull for vs so to thinke for as Christs Ascension was so shall ours be Christ speaketh it expresly Where I am Iohn 17. 1. Cor. 5. there saith Christ in his prayer I will that all that beleeue in me be also and St. Paul doth distinguish betweene our presence and absence from the Lord which could not be if Christs body were euery where Where the place is whereinto Christ ascended we may gather out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth often signifie Heauen God on high is as much as God in Heauen but St. Paul here puts it out of all doubt when hee saith he ascended farre aboue all Heauens meaning the visible Heauens and so pointing at the place which hee elsewhere calleth the third Heauen 2. Cor. 12. which is a place appointed to bee the receptacle of Saints What manner of place it is we need not curiously enquire wee should rather striue to come to the place of this wee may bee assured that being the place which God hath assigned wherein hee will haue Angels and men enioy blessednesse it must needes bee a blessed place it is resembled to Paradise wherein grow the trees and runne the waters of euerlasting life it was shadowed by the holy Land flowing with milke and honey it was represented to St. Iohn in that glorious heauenly Hierusalem that came downe from Heauen it is called Gods House Gods Sanctuary the City of God and the Kingdome of Heauen the pleasures thereof we finde touched in the 16. and in the 36. Psalmes This must be obserued concerning the place because it is the first steppe of felicitie this earth is the valley of teares and they that liue here are in condition answerable to the place mortall in a mortall place and Christ hauing put off his mortality was no longer to abide in a
considering that spirituall plagues are much more heauie than corporall and we should in our humiliation ioyne our cryes with those soules vnder the Altar that were slaine for the Word of God and the Testimony which they held saying How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell in the earth Reuel 6.10 The Vse of all this first part of my Text that is the case of Sufferers is this That we know not God to halues God describeth himselfe to be Iust as well as Mercifull Exod. 34. and the sonne of Syrach tells vs Ecclus 5. that God is as mighty to punish as to saue therefore we must not look vpon onely Gods Mercy but vpon his Iustice also which is so palpable in the plagues And yet must wee not so plod vpon Gods Iustice as not to carry our eye from thence to his Mercy for as in the first case exprest in my Text we haue seene the Church suffering from Gods wrath so now in her second case we must behold her as a Suppliant hauing recourse vnto the Throne of grace And here first wee must obserue That though God for sinne be pleased to humble his Church yet doth hee afford her a meanes of reliefe whereby shee may come out of her greatest distresse And why God is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Destroyer but a Sauiour of his Church he doth not punish her but to recouer her as anon you shall heare more at large But though the Church be subiect to no more calamities than she hath remedy for yet of her manifold distresses the remedy is but one Penitent Deuotion is the onely remedy of all distresses And this Deuotion is here called by two names Prayer and Supplication The words in the Originall are fitted to the argument the first is Tephillah which is such a prayer as a prisoner maketh to him before whom hee is arraigned you may interpret it by those words in Iob cap. 9. I will make supplication to my Iudge And indeed a Penitent must so come to God as if he came to the Barre hee must suppose himselfe to bee an indited person And being such the second word will teach him what his plea must be euen a Psalme of Mercy for so Techinnah signifieth hee must come vnto God with Haue mercy vpon mee O God after thy great mercy Psal 51. and hee must pray with Daniel cap. 9. O Lord righteousnesse belongeth vnto thee but vnto vs confusion of faces In the Primitiue Church they had stationary dayes Tertullian saith their name is borrowed from warfare and Christians vpon that day putting on the whole armour of God did stand vpon their guardes against powers and principalities Serm. 36. and spirituall wickednesses in heauenly places St. Ambrose more plainly saith stationes vocantur Ieiunia quòd flentes ieiunantes in ijs inimicos repellamus These were the weekly fasting dayes Wednesdayes and Fridayes whereon Christians repaired to the Church and therein quasifactâmanu like an Armie with spirituall weapons of fasting and praying weeping and lamenting of their sinnes they put to flight all their ghostly enemies and remoued all the heauie pressures of the Church We keepe the dayes but haue lost the truevse of them It is much to bee wisht that they were restored againe and that thereon we did as our Fore-fathers were wont plye God in these sinnefull and wofull times especially with Tephillah and Techinnah the Prayers of guilty ones and Supplications for the mercy of God But more fully to rip vp this Deuotion so farre as wee are led by my Text obserue that it consisteth of two acts one inward and another outward The inward is a liuely sense of the Penitents euill case and an expression of his deuotion out of that sense Euery one of them must know the plagues of his owne heart Where first obserue that the plagues inflicted are corporall but the sense required is spirituall And why the originall of sinne is in the soule whereunto the body concurres but as a pliable instrument therefore God would haue the body serue by his smart to awaken the soule make it apprehensiue of Gods displeasure and tremble at his iudgements The word which we doe render plague doth signifie a wound now in the heart there may be a wound of sinne or a wound for sinne The wound of sinne 1. Pet. 2. is that which sinne giueth to the soule St. Peter tels vs that our sinfull lusts fight against the soule and in fighting giue the soule many a stabbe the sonne of Syrach expresseth this excellently All iniquity is as a two-edged sword the wounds whereof cannot bee healed Ecclus 21. And what meane we else when we say that sinne is mortall but that it giueth mortall wounds Besides this wound of sinne there is a wound for sinne you know that when a man in fight hath receiued a wound the Chirurgion must come with his instrument and search that wound scoure it and put the wounded man to a second paine euen so when wee haue wounded our soules with sinne wee must wound them a second time for finne if wee meane to be deuoutly penitent wee must be prickt at the heart we must rent our hearts we must breake our stonie hearts wee must melt our hearts we must poure forth our soules our spirit must be wounded within vs and our heart must be desolate This is that which God commanded the Iewes Leuit. 16.31 when hee bid them afflict their soules in the day of their solemne Fast This is that godly sorrow which St. Paul 2. Cor. 7.10 speaketh of sorrow not to be repented of Animae amaritudo est anima poenitentiae this vexing of our soules is the very soule of repentance As a penitent man hath these two wounds so he must know them but wee come very short of this all this mortall life of ours is nothing else but a masse of plagues full of temptations Iohn 7. and trauelleth with vanity of vanities and vexation of spirit Psal 38. all the sonnes of Adam doe daily suffer from the wrath of God in some thing or other and euerie one of vs may say as Augustus the Emperour sometimes said that he sitteth inter lachrymas suspiria betweene sighings and teares Certainly as the Christian world now standeth wee are encompast with lamentable spectacles both abroad and at home But many men are so hardened that they feele not their owne disease much lesse others yea so farre they are from feeling the ordinary plagues of man that they doe not feele the extraordinary ones wherewith God doth rowze sinnefull men Wherefore we must hold it for one of the gifts of grace wherewith God doth endue his children that they recouer againe the sense of godly sorrow And wee may well conclude that hee that is senslesse is gracelesse and they which haue no sense beare the heauiest plague The word doth carry with it not
them all I begin with Christs right Wee are first to enquire of what sort it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word vsed by the Euangelist doth signifie an Eminency now that may be either in Ability or in Authority in men these are often times seuered some haue abilities that haue no authority some haue authority that haue no ability some haue good gifts that are in no place of gouernement and some are in place of gouernment that haue no sutable gifts But in God and Christ it is not so both concurre in them and in them both are equall the Authority to the Ability and the Ability to the Authority And it should be so in those that serue them it is pity but that those which haue good gifts should bee set in good places but it is a shame for them that are set in good places to be without good gifts Wherefore let this be your sacred ambition who are now to receiue holy Orders neuer to let your preferment out-steppe your indowments labour to bee as able to serue as you are willing to be employed Something we haue said of Christs power but not that which is principally intended here To make you see that I must remember you of a Logicke Rule Talia sunt praedicata qualia permittuntur esse à subiectis suis when any attribute or title is giuen to a person it must bee conceiued in such extent as the person is capable of Now in Christ there are two capacities for he is God and he is also Man If we looke vpon him as hee is onely God so hee hath an infinite and an eternall power hee is as Almighty a Gouernour as Maker of all things This is potestas innata not data But becomming Man hee had another capacity and power proportioned thereunto a power fitting to a Mediatour a Mediatour that should recouer man fallen and reconcile him vnto God gather a Church and establish a Kingdome of Heauen Of this power our Sauiour Christ speaketh when he confesseth vnto Pilate that he is a King but addes My King dome is not of this world Iohn 18. and St. Paul the Kingdome of Heauen is not meate and drinke it standeth not in any earthly thing but in Righteousnesse and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 The Scepter of this Kingdome is the Gospell the seate of it is the Conscience of man it is as Christ speaketh in St. Luke chapt 17. Regnum Dei intra nos a Kingdome of God within vs a spirituall Kingdome mannaged with a spirituall power Such is the power of Christ the Mediatour But this power doth not in Christs person exclude the other power of a Creatour nor the Deriuatiue therefrom the power of Scepters and Crownes which are all subiect thereunto they are by Christs Ordinance and he that is Mediatour hath power ouer them and doth dispose of them as is best for his Church But hee doth not doe this as a Mediatour Kingdomes are founded vpon another ground a ground that went before the Fall vpon Paternall Authority though in time it hath receiued many variations yet did not the Mediatour intermeddle with those humane policies he erected no power ouer those powers but left them to the former Prouidence of God neither would hee haue them any way preiudiced or impeacht by the entertainment of the Gospell This Christ testified in his time the Apostles in theirs the Primitiue Church for many hundred yeares as our Writers haue clearly proued against the Vsurpation of the Bishop of Rome who claimeth by some of his Aduocates directly by other some indirectly a power at least ouer all Christian Scepters and Crownes But this is to confound that which God hath distinguished the power which the Church deriueth from a Mediatour which is a spirituall power with the power which Kings deriue from the Creatour and Founder of humane policy Obserue then in few words how Princes and Pastors are superiour and subiect in seuerall respects one to the other In Foro Poli in cases of Conscience and things that belong to ghostly counsell and comfort those things that belong to the saluation of the soule the Prince must be ruled by the Pastor so long as he is a faithfull Minister of Christ But in Foro Soli in the Iurisdiction that is annext to the sword the Pastor must submit to the Prince and obey his command This you may learne out of the Titles which are giuen them For as Princes are Children of the Church and Pastors reputed their ghostly Fathers so Pastors are Children of the Kingdome Ezechias calleth the Leuites his Sonnes 2. Chron. 24. and the Prophet calleth Princes nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers of the Church Esay 49. Constantine the Emperour distinguished well in his speech to the Prelates Vos estis Episcopi ad intra ego ad extra you are Bishops seruing for the administration of sacred things and mannaging of the Keyes but I also am a Bishop of the Church to see it well gouerned countenanced and protected While they serue God Princes are as it were Sheepe of the Fold but they are Shepheards also and must see God well serued This I obserue the rather because that you seeing the fountain of your Calling may keepe your selues within the Boundery thereof and not with either Papists or Schismatickes encroach vpon the Princes Sword deny vnto him his Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall or vsurpe vpon his Temporall two diseases which raigne much in this age which a man may more wonder at that readeth the New Testament wherein the Iewes dreame of their Messias worldly Kingdome is so plainly discouered and the ambition of the sonnes of Zebeaee Iames and Iohn who would sit one on Christs right hand and the other on Christs left hand in his Kingdome is checked so discreetly and that generall rule giuen Matth. 20. the Kings of the Nations beare rule they that are great men exercise authority but it shall not be so with you you shall receiue a spirituall but no temporall Iurisdiction you shall haue power not of the Sword but of the Keyes not ouer mens bodies but their soules in them must I raigne you must erect my Kingdome there And thus much of the kind of Christs power This power of Christ is lawfull because giuen to him giuen by his Father as elsewhere we learne And here wee must first obserue that if data Iohn 3. Daniel 7. Esay 49. Psal 2.48.13 Rom. 14. then it is not rapta that which is giuen is not vsurpt the Prince of this world hath power euen in the consciences of the children of disobedience and their soules are captiued to his pleasure God hath permitted this but he hath made him no grant of this power onely hee is contented to leaue men to his will by reason of their sinne though the Diuell be so arrogant vpon this permission that hee told Christ himselfe The Kingdomes of the earth and the glory thereof are mine and theirs to whom
I will giue them Luke 4.6 notwithstanding he is but an Vsurper Neither is Antichrist any better who sitteth in the Temple of God and carrieth himselfe as God 2. Thos 2. taking vpon him that power ouer the consciences of the people which Christ neuer gaue him the particulars are many you may meete with them in the Casuists and in the Controuersie Writers I will not trouble you with them Our Sauiour Christs power is iust For it was giuen vnto him But when First in his Incarnation for no sooner did he become man but he was annointed with the Holy Ghost and with Power therefore the Angels that brought the newes of his Birth to the Shepheards said that to them was borne a Sauiour which was the Lord Christ No sooner did the Sonne of God become man but hee was inuested with this power the eternall purpose of God and Prophesies of him began to be fulfilled the Godhead communicated to the manhood this power not changing the manhood into God but honouring it with an Association in his workes the manhood is of counsell with the Godhead in his gouernment and Christ from the time of his Conception wrought as God and man who before wrought onely as God Of this gift speaketh the Psalmist Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee aske of mee and I will giue thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance c. Psal 2. and in Daniel chapt 7. one like the sonne of man is brought vnto the Ancient of dayes and to him was giuen a kingdome c. But though this gift were bestowed at Christs Conception yet was the execution thereof for the most part suspended vntill his Resurrection some glympses he gaue of it and shewed his glory in his Miracles but for the most part he appeared in the forme of a seruant and his Humiliation was requisite that he might goe through with his Passion his power though it were not idle before yet was the carriage of it veiled and therefore acknowledged but by a few But after his Resurrection God gaue him this power manifestly and the world was made to see it clearly for Christ did then not onely cloath his person with Maiestie but shewed himselfe wonderfull in the gouernement of his people Therefore the time of the gift is by the Holy Ghost limited to the Resurrection and declared to be a reward of his Passion so saith the Psalme Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels that thou mightst crowne him with glory and honour Psal 8. St. Paul applyeth it vnto Christ Heb. 2. Rom. 14 and tells elsewhere that Christ dyed and rose againe that hee might be Lord both of quicke and dead The same he teacheth the Ephesians and the Colossians Cap. 1. Cap. 2. but especially the Philippians Christ being in the forme of God took vpon him the forme of a seruant and did exinanite himselfe and became subiect to death euen the death of the Crosse therefore God exalted him and gaue him a Name aboue all Names c. This gift or manner of giuing is properly meant in this place the gift of power in reward of Christs merit for by this merit did he enter into his Glory and into his Kingdome And from this must Ministers deriue their power which Christ hath right to conferre vpon them not onely by the gift of his Conception but also by the reward of his Passion As Christs power is lawfull so is it full also for hee hath all power a plenary power The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth note sometimes a passiue power sometimes an actiue a passiue power as in those words of the Gospell to them that receiued Christ hee gaue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power to bee the sonnes of God Iohn 1.12 actiue when Christ sent his Disciples hee gaue them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power ouer vncleane spirits Matth. 10.1 that is to cast them out According to this double acception of the word is the fulnesse of Christs power diuersly expounded Some say it is full passiuely before Christs Resurrection Christ was obeyed but per nolentes by those that serued him against their will and so hee was serued but to halfes but afterward hee gathered Populum spontaneum an ingenuous willing people Psal 110. a people that should serue him readily not with a mixt will halting between two or between willing and nilling but with all their heart and cheerfully not like luke warme Laodiceans for the Kingdome of Heauen suffereth violence and the violent take it Matth. 11. This is the Interpretation of some true in it selfe though not so proper to my Text. Therefore we must vnderstand it of an actiue power that power which by allusion out of the Prophets words is specified in the Reuelation Cap. 3. He hath the Key of Dauid that shutteth and no man openeth openeth and no man shutteth he hath both Keyes of the Church Clauem Scientiae and Clauem Potestatis the Key of Doctrine and the Key of Discipline hee giueth all men their Talents and calleth them to an account for the vse of them It is he that separateth the Sheepe from the Goates and from his mouth proceedeth as well Goe ye cursed as Come ye blessed But if you will haue it to the full it is comprehended in those three offices whereunto Christ was annointed he was annointed to be a Prophet a Priest and a King all by an Excellency all Heauenly and what power is there belonging vnto spirituall gouernment which is not reduced vnto these three And they were all three in him without exception without restriction and so he had all power or as I told you a power vnlimited in it selfe And yet marke the phrase it is omnis Potestas not Omnipotentia though in Christ as he is God there is Omnipotency yet that power which hee hath as Mediatour is of a middle size it is greater than any Creature hath Angell or Man but yet not so great as is the infinite Power of God that extends ad omnia possibilia to all that possible may bee But the power which God hath giuen to the Mediatour is proportioned not to scientiae simplicis intelligentiae but visionis it extends as farre as the Decree which God made before all times of all that shall be done in due time especially concerning the Church it hath an hand in mannaging all that Prouidence and mannaging it in an heauenly manner As the power is vnlimited in it selfe so it extends to all places Hee hath all power in Heauen and in Earth Heauen and Earth are the extreame parts of the world and in the Creed are vsually put for the whole but in the Argument we haue in hand we must restraine it to the Church which consisteth of two parts one Triumphant in Heauen the other Militant on Earth Christ hath power in both for both make vp his body and he hath reconciled both vnto God In Earth he giueth men Grace in Heauen he giueth
made steward of Gods house a disposer of the secrets of the Kingdome of God an Oecumaenicall both Steward and Disposer Et ad haec quis idoneus No man that is not qualified by grace and by grace not only called but inabled thereunto as St. Paul was that was not only an Apostle but had also Apostolicall gifts But I said I would haue an eye to this present occasion wherefore I will enlarge this point as fitteth the present Auditorie The grace of a Minister is eyther inherent or assistant the first giueth Abilitie the second Authoritie by grace inherent hee vnderstandeth the Scripture by grace assistant hee hath power to retaine and remit sinne Of these two graces both are requisite to the being as it were of a Pastor there should be a sufficiencie in him vnto whom authoritie is giuen and hands should not be imposed on them which haue not a competencie of gifts And yet it falleth out too often that through the ambition of ignorant men and ouer-facilitie of those that haue power to lay on hands many weake yea wicked ones are honoured with that sacred calling whereunto themselues are no meane dishonour who in regard of the grace of inherence cannot say with St. Paul by the grace of God I am that I am inward grace in this kinde they haue plainely none I would they would redeeme this shame and not liue to bee scandalls of our Church But the sinne of such doth not impeach their power they are true though they are not fit Ministers Which must bee considered by those which factiously refuse or scrupulously forbeare to be Sheepe vnder such Shepheards or to communicate with them in sacred things although hee come short in regard of grace inherent yet God is not wanting to him in regard of grace assistant whether he dispence the Sacraments according to Gods ordinance or present according to the ordinance of the Church the peoples deuotion vnto God And let this suffice touching St. Paules Endowment I come now to his Employment And here I told you first that St. Paul did not neglect Gods gifts Gods grace bestowed vpon him was not in vaine Vaine is eyther emptie or idle emptie is that which hath a shew but no substance idle is that whose efficacie is not answerable to its abilitie The grace that St. Paul had was neither way vaine for he had Gods spirit indeed not in shew onely and his deeds did beare witnesse that Gods spirit was in him In this place the Apostle meaneth not so much emptinesse as idlenesse for though whatsoeuer is emptie must needs be idle yet whatsoeuer is idle is not emptie otherwise there could be no sinne of negligence whereof notwithstanding there is too much in the world Negligence of both kinde of graces of the grace of Adoption which is common to all the Church for how many be there whose vnderstanding God illightneth with the knowledge of the truth that neuer make vse of it in ordering of their liues but liue as if they knew neyther Creede nor ten Commandements how many good motions doth God kindle in the hearts of many a man who notwithstanding liueth frozen as it were in the dregs of his owne impure lusts and those good motions set him not a whit forwarder towards heauen Nay as water that hath beene warmed is apt to bee bound faster with the frost so after-lusts are the more violent by reason of former good motions But this is a foule neglect of Gods good gifts Wherfore let me remember you all in the Apostles words to follow his good example not to receiue the grace of God in vaine St. Paul did not the more grace he had the better he liued and so must we if there be light in vs it must shine forth from vs and they must feele the heat of our inward zeale that conuerse with vs outwardly in the world In a word wee must all walke in that spirit by which wee liue they that boast of Gods gifts let them shew the effects of them for I haue chosen you saith Christ that you may goe and beare fruit Gods grace that makes vs other men must make vs also profitable men As none of the Church must neglect the grace of Adoption so must not the Ministers neglect their grace of Edification they must not hide their talent consult with flesh and blood bee disobedient to the heauenly visions they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stirre vp the grace of God blow off the ashes that would ouer-cast it sound the trumpet and giue timely Alarums be instant in season and out of season being salt wee must euer be seasoners of the world being light we must euer be dispelling the darkenesse of men being Architects wee must euer be building of Gods house being Husbandmen wee must euer bee labouring in Gods field finally being Shepheards we must euer be attending on Christs flocke so was St. Paul so must we Otherwise Gods grace is bestowed on vs in vaine our conscience cannot yeeld vs this good testimonie which St. Paul giueth here vnto himselfe it will rather challenge vs of our neglect and the grieuousnesse of our neglect will bee answerable to the gifts which wee receiue from God And God knowes there is too much of this neglect of our calling in many at whose hands God will require the blood of many perishing soules But I will dwell no longer vpon this first branch of St. Paules employment St. Paul did not neglect the gifts of God but vnto his vse of them there concurred more workers than one he doth specifie them and the preheminencie of eyther of them The workers are two St. Paul and Gods grace And here I must put you in minde that though in our first conuersion we are only passiue yet being conuerted we become actiue also God onely maketh vs new men but being new he will haue vs make vse of our new vnderstanding and our new will and our new affections he will haue vs vse them all And it were grosse for vs to neglect our selues when God hath giuen vs abilities which we may employ yea honoured vs so farre as to enable vs to work out our saluation and walke the waies that leade vnto eternall life neither doth hee euer deserue to come there that will not set forward that way And yet many such wretches haue you that leaue themselues to be carried to heauen by God while they giue themselues ouer-securely to fulfill their owne wicked lusts that hope well of God but themselues doe no good at all And as there bee such carelesse Christians so are there carelesse Ministers also who presuming vpon dabitur in illa hora do all things extempore preach pray and what not as if premeditation and studie did not concerne them but the spirit of God would alwaies supply them and giue them an extraordinarie abilitie But this is grosse presumption and dangerous also euen the high way vnto Enthusiasme Anabaptisme and all those mischieuous Sects the
good vse of your indulgence as to be ashamed and reclaimed Wherefore as St. Iude obserues you must saue some with feare and plucke them out of the fire wherein they would burne themselues you must compell them to learn and obey the law of the God of Ezra the true God whereupon followeth also the next point which is they will the more easily be brought to doe the Kings law Of obseruing lawes in generall I need say no more than I haue but the iniquity of the times wills mee to remember you that lawes must bee obeyed though they be the lawes of the King of Persia this is the second caution The Proctors of Rome though they dare not flatly deny it yet so sophystically handle it that what with subiecting the scepter of Kings to the command of Popes and exempting of such persons and cases as seeme good vnto him they vndermine what they would seeme to yeeld and the most they grant is no more nor no longer than their Holy Father doth that 's too much or hereafter will allow them If hee will abrogate all they must acknowledge none no lawes of a King of Persia a King that is not of their religion Others haue learnedly and sufficiently shaken their grounds and my Text is an argument of no small force to resolue the consciences of such as doubt whether a different religion doth euacuate the power of a lawfull Soueraigne It doth not though it be a false religion how much more when it is the true and the King our King commands onely for the God of Ezra the true God and enioynes no other worship of him than according to his owne lawes the vndoubted register whereof is the sacred Word of God Wherefore you must bee as the earth mentioned in the Reuelation cap. 12. and swallow all those waters that the dragon casts forth to drowne the woman you must crush these seedes of rebellion which ayme at nothing but the ouerthrow of true Religion And how must you crush it euen by punishment And so I come to the second worke of iudgement from the precept to the sanction which containes the second limitation of the power Wherein I obserue first how farre the Magistrate may draw his sword Looke how farre his prouidence doth reach so farre may his vengeance reach also The reward of sinne is death eternall death to violate Gods Lawes or the Kings is no lesse than sinne it should therefore be reuenged with eternall death But behold here vnspeakeable mercie God would haue vs iudged here by men that we be not condemned hereafter by him This is the proper end of the keyes and the sword of the power that is in the Prince and the Pastor The occasion draweth mee to speake of the Sword yet let me giue you this Item touching the Keyes that malefactors must remember that for euerie of their offences challengable by the Law of man they owe a repentance vnto God and the greater their offence the deeper should be their repentance Which I the rather note because there are too many of them that scarce giue glorie vnto God when they suffer by the Law and if they escape make no conscience at all of their sin as if how soeuer they speed at the iudgement seat of men they were not to take heed that they be not cast at the barre of God which the first Councell of Nice well corrected when imitating Gods law without preiudice to the ciuill sword it appointed sundrie yeares penance according to the grieuousnesse of sinne Sed pristino rigori non sumus pares the Liturgie of our Church saith that it were to bee wished but the iniquitie of the times that it is not to be hoped Secondly seeing your power should touch men with a losse temporall to keepe them from a losse eternall you see what wrong you doe them when you suffer them to spend their dayes in loosenesse and in a moment as Iob speaketh though from their beds they goe quicke down into hell how much better were it for them if with one hand or one eye they might goe into heauen than hauing both to bee cast into hell O then let the righteous rebuke them yea smite them rather than that your precious balmes should breake their heads yea slay their soules spare nothing that is temporall so you may preserue them from the paine which is eternall You see how farre you may draw the sword But when you strike your strokes must bee proportionable to their sinnes but the proportion must not be Arithmeticall but Geometricall they must be secundum merita but not aequalia meritis you may punish intra but not vltra medum so doth God who notwithstanding doth punish in number weight and measure Semper aliquid detrahit de poenae atrocitate as Nazianzene speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth temper mercie with iudgement In the hand of the Lord there is a cup the wine thereof is red and it is full mixt whereof though his children offending drinke yet only the incorrigible wicked drinke the dregs thereof And the same Father writing to the Emperours Deputie reckoning vp his vertues demands this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what shall I say of your clemencie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here you decline something but he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot much blame you you haue God for your patterne who in Hosea speakes thus of himselfe How shall I giue thee vp O Ephraim how shall I deliuer thee O Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Seboim my heart is turned within mee my repentings are rouled together I will not execute the fiercenesse of my wrath c. You must wisely then temper iudgement and mercie but so that mercie doe not hinder iudgement and yet that of the two mercie reioyce against iudgement And thus haue you heard what a Iudge may and must doe he may take the sword and must vse it against malefactors but with the conditions of the vse and limitations of the power specified in my text The conditions are two he must vse it timely and indifferently the limitations also two he must extend it to all transgressions of both Tables and intend it according to their transgressions And the end of all must bee by a temporall punishment to saue the wicked from eternall paine or if that will not bee that the blood of all cursing Shimei's and factious Ioabs and irreligious Abiathars also may bee vpon their head and the head of their seed but vpon Dauid our Dauid vpon his house and vpon his throne vpon this whole Church and Common weale may bee peace for euer from the Lord. MOst mighty most mercifull Lord who to preserue sincere pietie and secure peace in the Church and Common weale hast put the sword into the hands of mortall men and for the vse thereof hast aduanced them aboue their Brethren we humbly beseech thee so to sanctifie them with thy grace whom
that which I rather obserue is These two Disciples aboue the rest had a strong conceite of Christs earthly Kingdome which made them carnally both ambitious and zealous Of their ambition wee read elsewhere where One of them desired to sit on Christs right hand and the other on his left here they shew themselues zealous But their indignation is carnall and so is the weapon where with they doe expresse it My Obseruation is One grosse conceite breedes another It did so in them It doth so in the Church of Rome who dreaming of a temporall power which Christ hath giuen vnto his Church is forward to execute temporall paines vpon whomsoeuer is not conformable vnto her will But I leaue the Persons and come to their Passion Wherein notwithstanding marke that though they are bold to propose yet to resolue they are not bold They are bold to propose their Desire their Reason Their desire is Fire a sharpe weapon especially seeing Saint Paul for dissention in Religion prescribeth other which they would not haue to spare they would haue it Consume their Enemies Rom 16. Fire is their Weapon Quid mirum filios tonitrus fulgurare sayth Saint Ambrose It may be the very place put them in minde of the Element because it was in the Region of Samaria that God executed a fearefull vengeance by Fire 2. Kings 1. Or haply because this Element is in the Scripture made the ordinary attendment vpon Gods Iudgement therefore they especially affect that weapon Iohannes Magnus reporteth that Carolus an ancient King of the Gothes amongst his great Lawes ordained this for one That if any man were thrice conuicted to haue denied entertainement to strangers his house should be set on fire Vi aedibus proprijs iuste priuaretur qui earum vsum inhumaniter negavisset Surely whereas there are foure Elements the Earth the Water the Ayre the Fire euery one of the three first are hospitall the Earth entertaines beasts and men the Water fishes the Ayre birds only the Fire is inhospitall and therefore though they might haue wished for an earth-quake to founder the Village or a floud to drowne it or a venemous Ayre to poyson the Inhabitants of it as that King thought so did these Apostles think that the other 3 Elements were too compassionate and only this vnmerciful Element â—iâ— to take vengeance on these merciles men Sure they would haue no mercy shewed them for they would not only haue fire out Consuming fire Li 2 〈◊〉 Seneca obserues well Non vt in beneficijs bonestum est meritameritis compeâ—sare ita in iniurijs illic vinci turpe hic vincere inhumanum and the rule of the Law is Fauores ampliandt restringendaodia and God is the Patterne hereof whose mercy doth indeede permit him to doe vs good Vltra condignum but his Iustice neuer strikes vs but Citra condignum 〈…〉 81. 〈…〉 40. 〈◊〉 131. God is more admirable in sparing then punishing because Cedit iure suo in the one Exigit in the other read Hosea 1.6 Wisd 12. It is our riches to exact our debts but Gods to forgiue his What bowels then had these Apostles that would so repay wrong with reuenge a Iesse wrong with so sharpe a reuenge for it was but a common discourtesie which for many yeares the Samaritans bad vsed towards all the Iewes and that out of no other malice then such as proceeded from a rooted ignorance they were then rather to be pâ—tied for their ignorance then thus to be hated for their malice But I see now the truth of King Dauids answere to the Prophet Gad when he was offered his choice of three plagues Famine 〈…〉 Pessilence or the Sword I am in a wonderfull straight Let vs fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let not mee fall into the hands of men for men are bowelles euen Iames and Iohn which asking fire shew themselues to be worse then fire for as Chrysostome obserueth Fire can stay it selfe if God commaund though it be the nature of fire to burne as appeareth in the case of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego but men though it be contrary to their nature as appeares in that it is painefull to be furious and rage cannot hold though God lay his commandement vpon them The voluntary Agent whose property it should be Statuere actiont suae modum becomes a naturall Et agit ad extremum potentiae suae Vnto whom I say no more but this Wouldest thou O man that God should so deale with thee and send fire such a fire so soone as thou deniest entertainment vnto him Thou wouldest not see then how euery man desireth mercy for himselfe the tenderest mercy but for his enemy Iustice the extreamest Iustice and because it is so Seneca's rule is good Irascenti tibi nihil volo licere quia dum irasceris omnia putas licere In a word the Apostles offend twice first in that being Pastors they desire a corporall reuenge Secondly in that being Christians they desire so sharpe a reuenge Nazianzene thinks they wished for the fire of Sodome Sharpe it is but it is not singular though they haue no Rule yet they haue an Example for it Elias did so In this Chapter is report made of the Transsiguration of Christ wherein appeared Moses and Elias â— Moses the meekest of men Elias a seuere man they saw them both but see whom they remember they might haue remembred Moses and so haue intreated Christ not to take iust displeasure at so bad vsage if he had beene feeling of his owne wrongs but while he is calme they storme and they colour their passion by Elias his example So prone is our nature to imitation and in imitation to pitch vpon the worst The knowledge of Rules is too painefull few will study them and know good and euill by them men take a shorter course and thinke that well done wherein they are like vnto others So liueth the most part of the world and careth not much for any farther enquiry into their actions But when they fall vpon examples according to which they square themselues their liues commonly are exemplifications of the worst It is the obseruation of a very leud Writer but heerein hee hath deliuered a remarkable truth When men read the liues of good men they read them with content and cannot without detestation read the liues of those that are bad yet when they are but to expresse whom they wil be like they forget their owne vpright iudgment and yeeld themselues to their inordinate Passions Certainely these Apostles not so much out of iudgement as out of rage chose rather to bee liâ—e Elias then Moses and wherein are they better then the Samaritans For the Samaritans ranne vpon the same ground that they did they called for fire because Elias did and the Samaritans had the same argument They would not receiue Christ because their Fathers had not vsed to to do it Certainely in the
can be no fit obiect for compassion which is the next point of the Text. Touching which compassion we are here taught that it is a restoring of a Penitent in the spirit of meekenesse Meekenesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arl. Eth. lib. 4. cap. 5. and a meeke man is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle doth not forbid Anger but commendeth indulgence there is a rod and a spirit of meekenesse that for the impenitent but for the penitent this And certainly without meekenesse there is little good to be done with Penitents for generosus est hominis animus magis ducitur quà m trahitur especially in reformation of the inward man where not so much coaction as perswasion preuaileth therefore if any thing will win the wayward it is meeknesse so thought St AMBROSH Tolle hominem a contentione audacia et habebis eum subiectum by meeknesse the prince of this world is soonest ouerthrowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is likely to recouer a patient soonest that handleth him gentlest Now if it be so in reclayming of a sinner that meekenesse is so requisite how requisite is it in dealing with a penitent sinner If St BERNARDS practise be commendable in iudging of sinne either to excuse the fact or say the temptation was verie strong how tenderly must we respect the humiliation of a sinner And take heed of a pharisaicall pride which satiateth its owne vncharitablenesse vnder pretext of censure and proceedeth contrarie to GODS rule vltra rather then citra condignum with the most when it should be with the least St PAVL did remember and so should we all that we are the seruants of that GOD which desireth not the death of a sinner Members of that SAVIOVR which will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoaking flaxe Finally Temples of that Holy Ghost which is tearmed in my Text the Spirit of Meekenesse And indeed this vertue is a graffe not of nature but of grace and it argueth the Spirit dwelleth in vs when such fruit springeth from vs. Yea our whole soule must become meekenesse and this vertue must take vp euerie power thereof For such phrases are emphaticall and note not onely the originall but the extent of a vertue it doth argue that the whole inward man should be seasoned with it and concurre to the acting of it But the Spirit of Meekenesse must not be seuered from restoring for compassion should not cherish sinne but rectifie a sinner otherwise it is curdelis misericordia it is as if you should take a man that with a fall hath broken a ioynt and lay him downe vpon a soft bed but not take care to set his ioynts this were to leaue him in perpetuall torture or at least a maymed creature the righteous must smite but their stripes must be a precious balme the Church must censure but it must be for correction not destruction a sinner must be restored to that from which he is fallen It is an error long since condemned in the Nonatians who thought that the Church had no power to restore belieuing Penitents to restore them to that state wherein they were before their fall the very words vsed in my Text refuteth them which comming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying compleate and perfect and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nuper sheweth that it signifieth a perfect restitution vnto that which the person was before The fall did disgrace and disable so the restoring must recouer inwardly and outwardly inwardly in the peace of conscience and new strength to resist sinne outwardly in the Communion of Saints and the participation of sacred things and charitable society in the course of life In regard of all these the person must be as if he had neuer fallen Finally this restoring in the Spirit of Meekenesse must be without respect of persons and without exception of faults so saith the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he be a man that hath fallen Happily we can be contented to shew meekenesse to our kinred our friends not to strangers with whom we haue no such acquaintance But we must exclude none that may be ouertaken and any may be ouertaken that is a man Saint AVSTIN and other of the Fathers worke vpon the name man and shew that implyeth frailtie according to the Prouerbe Gen. 6.9 Humanum est errare and indeed the Scripture is cleare for it the frame of the imaginations of the heart of man is euill and that from his youth continually As we may exclude no person so must we except against no sinne If a man be ouertaken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any kind of sinne our bowels must not be straighter then Christs merits what his blood hath cleansed the Church may not hold vnpardonable therefore ouer great austerie was well condemned in the Councell of Nice which left power in the Bishops vpon iust cause to mittigate the penance which was enioyned by Canons with great seueritie to the terror of the wicked You haue heard what compassion must be shewed the Text moreouer teacheth who must shew it and vpon what ground Touching the partie that must shew it St HIEROME hath a good rule on this Text Homo potest se in voraginem perditionis conijcere non potest sine auxilio se eripere we may cause our owne ruine of our selues but vnto our restitution we need the helpes of others of others amongst whom we must acknowledge an Agent and the Instruments the chiefe Agent is GOD he onely blotteth out all our offences as himselfe speaketh in ESAY and it is He that healeth all our infirmities Ps 103. yet he is pleased to vse means or instruments and they are of two sorts medium impetrationis and medium operationis that is the Church offended this is the Minister In publike scandals GOD ouer and aboue the teares and sighes of the penitent will haue the whole Church to mediate and deprecate his wrath and he will haue the Minister spondere veniam to promise pardon and absolue in his name so that this Text implyeth a power which GOD hath giuen both the Pastor and People inabling each in his order to forgiue sinnes according as we are taught Math. 18. But marke here the words whereby these persons are described least they be proud and suppose their compassion to be arbitrarie which they may shew or withhold at their pleasure they are taught the contrarie by their names which testifie that it is necessarie for them to shew compassion The first name is Brethren Esay 58.7 this name implyeth an argument of compassion for a man may not turne away his eyes from his owne flesh this is true if he were but a naturall man but the spirituall cognation is greater and therefore bindeth more strongly by how much we owe more regard to our supernaturall then to our naturall Father Adde hereunto that their is no shew no pretence of
the present occasion for we haue to doe with a sinne and a censure euen such a sinne and such a censure as is contained in this Text. The sinne is first exprest then it is amplyfied It is exprest first in regard of the kind it is fornication secondly in regard of the degree that fornication is Incest yea it is Incest of the worst sort that a man should haue his fathers wife The Incest being so bad it is not onely exprest but also amply fied in respect first of the haynousnesse it was such as was not so much as named amongst the Gentiles secondly in respect of the notoriousnesse the fame thereof spread farre and neare it is commonly reported Now sinnes call for censures great sinnes for seuere censures they doe but the Corinthians were deafe they heard not they were not moued with the cry of this sinne though it were verie loud they sinne in not reforming sinne St PAVL therefore telleth them whence their sinne sprang and wherein it stood It sprang from too much selfe-conceit they were puffed vp and too little fellow-feeling for they sorrowed not from these roots sprang their senslesse carelesnesse they put not away from them the man that had done the sinne But St PAVL had a more quicke eare and a more tender heart as a lawfull superiour he supplieth their negligence and censureth the incestuous person whom they spared as it appeares in the rest of the Text wherein we see what the censure was and whereunto it serueth The censure was Excommunication but it is set out in very high termes for it is called a deliuerie vnto Satan the words imply more then they expresse Excommunication consists of two parts a priuatiue and a positiue an excommunicate person is excluded from the Communion of Saints and subiected to the Prince of Darknesse the latter part is here exprest but the former is presupposed and is therefore omitted because it was mentioned before in the Corinthians fault this is the censure which St PAVL inflicted And the inflicting of it is performed by two acts the first is St PAVLS he doth iudicially pronounce it in his owne person But here is some thing markable in his person which is said to be absent and present wheresoeuer he was as an Apostle he was neuer out of his Dioces neither was any of his Dioces any where out of his reach for though he was absent in his body yet was he with them in his spirit Vpon these prerogatiues of his person though he were as farre off as Ephesus is from Corinth yet did he giue sentence against the incestuous Corinthian so saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue already iudged What he pronounceth iudicially that doth he require the Corinthians to denounce solemnly this act is implyed when as St PAVL would haue the man excommunicated at Corinth he would haue it there denounced that himselfe had excommunicated him And he would haue it denounced solemnly First In regard of the place for he would haue it done in the face of the Church the Corinthians being gathered together and his spirit with them Secondly He would haue it done solemnly in regard of the proceeding for he would haue it done with the authoritie and by the efficacie of our Lord Iesus Christ with his authoritie in his Name by his efficacie by his Power So that although St PAVL haue a hand in this censure and the Corinthians also yet would he haue neither of them reputed other then Delegates from and Instruments of Christ he giueth the warrant and he maketh good the censure Lay all these parts of the doome together and you will find that it is tremendum iudicium a very dreadfull sentence for how dreadfull a thing is it for a man to be cast out of the Church To haue him that hateth him made Lord ouer him I meane Satan To haue this done by an Apostle In the assembly of the whole Church Authorized by Christ and by Christ inabled to inflict this censure Certainly this must needs be a most dreadfull Iudgment you would thinke him that is vnder it to be a most forlorne wretch But yet despaire not of him the last clause of my Text will tell you that the sentence is not mortall but medicinall Now you know that a medicine hath two properties first it doth paine then it doth ease and if you will beleeue the Prouerbe Nulla medicinat'am est salutaris quà m quae facit dolorem the more it doth paine the more it will ease Certainly it fareth so with a ghostly medicine it doth paine it serueth for the destruction of the flesh but it will ease thereby the spirit shall be saued And this saluation you shall then feele when it is most behoofefull in the day of the Lord Iesus Christ We beleeue that he shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead and thrice happy may an enormous sinner thinke himselfe if he can haue boldnesse then to stand before the Sonne of Man And herein standeth his hope that this Iudgment will preserue him from that this lesser from that greater this temporall from that eternall if an enormous sinner make that vse of it which Christ intendeth So that these last words must be marked as a mitigation of that sharpnesse which was in the sentence and a consolation of the true Penitent And so haue you the briefe of my Text. That we may all be fore-warned and this Penitent recouered let vs in the feare of GOD listen to that which shall now be farther but briefly obserued and applyed out of this both sinne and censure I begin with the sinne the kind of it is fornication Fornication though it be often vsed to note the vnlawfull coniunction of single persons which otherwise may lawfully marrie yet doth the word import properly the generall nature of all incontinencie or vnlawfull coniunction the sinfulnesse whereof that I may the better set before you I must first acquaint you with certaine vndeniable principles The first is That though it be common to man and beast to couple male and female in their seuerall kinds for procreation yet because the body of a man is inhabited by a reasonable soule euen these sensuall acts should be reasonable by participation reason should haue such power ouer the body that a man should not come vnto this coniunction out of a disorderly lust but a regular couenant not aduenturing vpon it but admitted thereunto by Marriage he must testifie that he is a man and not a beast The second principle is The same reason of state that preseribeth proprietie in all other things doth require it especially in the choyce of mates in those which are to come together so neere as to become one flesh for proprietie is the whetstone of loue and care neither of which would be so great as they should be except they were grounded in wedlock in which is a mutual appropriating of the wedded bodyes each to the other whence it is that
rule we shall see what it is and who prescribes it The rule is a precept which first doth range and then doth qualifie women answerable to their ranke In the Schoole of CHRIST there are Masters and Schollers women are placed amongst Schollers they must learne yea so are they placed amongst Schollers that they may neuer hope to be Masters for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they can haue no licence to teach The ground whereof is a generall maxime they may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vsurpe vpon men if absolutely women may not be superior to men then may they not be in Ecclesiasticall things for teaching imports a superioritie Women being thus ranged must be qualified answerable to their ranke being Schollers they must haue the qualities of Schollers those are two filence and obedience silence they must vse their eares and not their tongues about sacred things they must be more forward to heare then to speake they must learne with silence And vnto their silence they must adde obedience they must not giue but take instructions and put in practise what they are taught they must learne with all subiection This is the Rule But who prescribes it So harsh a rule had need of a verie good Author women will otherwise be hard of beliefe And surely this hath a good one it is St PAVL his stile in the Preface of this Epistle shews his warrant he is an Apostle of IESVS CHRIST he deliuers it not in his owne name but in his Masters as his Steward so much is intimated in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Steward so that we cannot dis-belieue him but we question CHRISTS truth The authoritie of this Rule then descends from Heauen and if it doe the bare promulgating of it requires that we credit it But as God doth all things not onely according to his Will but the Counsell of his Will euen so his words are Decrees not onely of his Will but also of his Counsell they haue a reason and for strengthening of our Faith the Holy Ghost though he be not bound yet is he often pleased to expresse the same He doth it in this place And the reason of this rule is taken first from the Creation then from the Fall From the Creation thus doth the Apostle argue woman must be subiect vnto man for Adam was first framed and then Eue the precedencie in being giues a prerogatiue of commanding But this was a reall ordinance and woman it should seeme tooke no notice of it for EVE began quickly to be a teacher of ADAM She did so but with verie ill successe for she was seduced she discouered the weaknesse of her iudgement and that not in a matter of speculation but of practise for she was in the transgression she brake GODS bonds and cast his cords from her by her and not by ADAM or rather by her taking vpon her to teach ADAM came sinne into the world Hereupon the Apostle concludes that because woman hath giuen so wofull a proofe of her vntowardlynesse in teaching of man she must forbeare for euer to meddle with that function and man must maintaine that authoritie which GOD hath giuen him ouer a woman These are the contents of this second Canon whereof suitable vnto this occasion I will now speake briefly and in their order I begin with the Rule I told you it is a Precept wherein we must see first how women are ranged The name of man and woman which in the Originall are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue a double signification they are vnderstood ratione either Sexus or Coniugij they note in generall male and female or in speciall such of either sexe as are ioyned in wedlocke The Apostle in this place makes vse of the generall signification but so that his doctrine may be applyed also to the speciall for if in generall women be so subiected vnto men wedlocke makes no alteration in this case but doth much more subiect a wife vnto her husband and in their measure must all the particulars of this text hold in the Oeconomicks though here they be handled as they are to be vnderstood in the Ecclesiasticks To come then nearer my Text. The CHVRCH is a societie and therefore consists of different parts there must be in it superiours and inferiours This is taught vs by the resemblance that is made between it and a Kingdome wherein there is a Soueraigne and Subiects betweene it and a Citie wherein there are Magistrates and Commons betweene it and an Army with Banners wherein there are Captaines and Souldiers betweene it and an House wherein there is a Master and his Family finally betweene it and our naturall Body wherein there are directing and obeying parts St PAVL handling this last resemblance 1 Cor. 12. shewes the ground of this subordination of persons as in all societies so in the CHVRCH to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the comlinesse and commoditie of the Societie This being a generall course which GOD hath set down in Societies it must be enquired first what be the different parts of a CHVRCH and then who are assigned to either part The parts are exprest in my Text and so also are the parties that are assigned to beare those parts The parts are Teachers and Learners all members of the CHVRCH come vnder this diuision for they are either Pastors or people ghostly Fathers or ghostly Children Stewards or the Houshold of GOD such as guid or are guided vnto Heauen This being plaine that there are but these two parts The second enquirie is What parties are assigned to beare them And here we find that GOD imposeth the person of a Learner vpon the woman and of a Teacher vpon the man Though the knowledge and the feare of GOD are common to men and women for women also are in the Couenant and must not be ignorant of the Articles thereof especially seeing GOD hath vouchsafed them to be spirituall both Kings and Priests yet the administration of sacred things is the peculiar of men In the beginning of the world GOD layed this Function vpon the first borne that was male after the deliuerance out of the Aegyptian captiuitie GOD in steed of the first-borne chose the Tribe of Leuie vnto this seruice to be performed onely by the males thereof after CHRIST was inaugurated to the Office of a Mediator he chose twelue men to be his Apostles and to them gaue order for the continuance of the Ministerie in that Sexe It is true that GOD extraordinarily in both Testaments raysed vp Prophetesses according to that of Ioel cap. 2. and while the Foundation of the CHVRCH was laying by women he enformed men of his Truth yea by a silly woman gaue entrance vnto Christianitie in a whole Kingdome but the instances are rare and they are workes wherein GOD shewed himselfe to haue power to dispense with his owne Ordinance and dispose at his
therefore hath in the Liturgie restored it to its natiue puritie Onely it were to be wished that so farre as the Church allowes it we would practise it for I am perswaded that many liue and dye in enormous sinnes that neuer made any vse of it nor receiued any comfort from the power of the Keyes The confessing to the Lord doth not exclude confessing vnto man so the due limitation be obserued But enough of the Confession There is one point more to be obserued before we come to the Successe and that is that this confession of King Dauid was onely in purpose he was come no farther then dixi a sense he had of his sinne but he was not yet come so farre as to vtter it though he was disposing himselfe thereunto But dixit was not onely verbum oris but cordis also promptitudinem alacritatem hoc verbo notat saith St Bernard he was willing and ready to make his confession he adds Saul dixit peccaui sed quia non dixit antequam diceret corde priusquam ore as King Dauid did non audiuit Deus transtulit pecâ—atum tuum he heard not so good newes from Samuel as King Dauid did from Nathan The Lord hath put away thy sinne The lesson rising hence is pij non trahuntur ad Tribunal Dei sed sponte accedunt knowing that there is no shelter against GOD but onely in GOD we must preuent our summons and resolue vpon a voluntarie apparance Finally putting the Purpose to the Confession we see that the children of GOD vse not to continue in their sinnes but so soone as they are roused the principles of grace doe worke and they humbly shreeue themselues to GOD. And so haue you the first maine point in this Text which openeth vnto vs King Dauids Practise I come now to the Successe thereof which is the forgiuenesse of the sinne Where we may first see the difference betweene Triâ—unals on Earth and the Tribunall of Heauen On Earth Non est confessi causa tuenda rei Confession is the cause of condemnation it is not so at the Tribunall of GOD there though it be not the cause as Papists straine it yet it is the meanes of absolution Whereby you may perceiue that the word here vsed is a phrase of the Gospell and not of the Law For iudgements of men tread the steps of the Law of GOD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no reliefe for a poore sinner to be found in the Law he that will haue it must seeke iâ— in the Gospel And yet the word here vsed is borrowed out of the Law but it is the Ceremoniall Law and the Ceremoniall Law is if not wholly yet for the most part Gospel But more distinctly to handle this point We must obserue the Matter forgiuen and the Manner of forgiuing The matter forgiuen is the Iniquitie of his sinne It is disputed what is meant here by â—â—â—quitie whether culpa or poena Some vnderstand poenam and thinke that an allusion is made in this word vnto the message of Nathan wherein GOD doth remit the heauiest stroke of his wrath but yet retaines some part in punishing the child and permitting Absolon to rebell and abuse king Dauids concubines so Theodoret Deus non condigna poena Dauideni puniuit Some vnderstand culpam and will haue this phrase to be an amplification of that as if Superbia defendens or Taciturnitas celans or Impietas contra Deum assurgens or some such great guilt were meant by this phrase But as I doe not censure these opinions which may well stand So I thinke the phrase lookes backe vnto that word which was in the Confession The sinne confessed was Peshang and this is but an analysis of this word for Gnaon Catai what is it word for word but the peruersenesse of my aberration Catah is an aberration from the Scope or Marke whereat we ayme all men ayme at felicitie but most men stray from it because they are not led by that Law that guides vnto it the violating whereof is called Catah But some doe stray out of meere ignorance and they onely breake the Law some out of stubbornnesse which will not submit themselues to the Law-giuer these mens sinne is called peruersenesse which GOD is said here to forgiue So that Dauid did not confesse more against himselfe then GOD includes in his pardon well may GOD exceed our desire he neuer doth come short thereof if it doe concerne our spirituall our eternall good as he doth exclude no sinner that doth confesse so doth he except against no sinne that is confessed You haue heard the Matter of the pardon now heare the Manner And the manner makes the Remission answerable to the Confession The Confession had an inward sense and an outward euidence so hath the Remission For GOD spake the word by Nathan to resolue king Dauids faith but he also gaue a tast of his truth by working ease in King Dauids heart Both are included in the word but specially the latter for Nasa signifieth to vnburden as if the soule were burdened with sinne And indeed sinne is a burden a burden as King Dauid else-where speakes too heauie for him to beare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heauier saith Chrysostome then any lead And no wonder For if euerie euill doe make a heauie heart much more spirituall euill cloggeth the Spirits makes a man sincke inwardly and bow outwardly you can haue no better character of such a deiected soule then that which we find in the penitentiall Psalmes It is verie true that many walke lightly and skip frolickly as if they bare no weight though they be fraught with sinne but the answer is plaine Nihil ponderat in loco suo while sinne resides in that part which commits the sinne it giues such content to the concupiscence that dwels therein as being the desired obiect thereof that it presseth not at all neither is it euer burdenous till it be brought vnto the conscience which onely hath an eye to discerne it a scale to weigh it and a sense wherewith to iudge of that weight and when GOD inhibendo with-holding those vanities which hinder the conscience from weighing and exhibendo putting the whole measure of sinne into the scales doth rouse vs then the most carelesse and the most senslesse shall be driuen to acknowledge that indeed it is a great burden But the penitents comfort is this that as he feeles it so he hath one by whom he may be eased of it the putting on the hands vpon the Sacrifice did ceremonially testifie as much but the morall thereof is in St Iohn Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Qui tollit a plaine translation of Nasa But CHRIST speakes it more plainly Mat. 11. Come to me all ye that labour and are heauie loaden and I will ease you Where also we find that it is the Lord onely that forgiueth sinnes They spake truly in the Gospel that excluded all
thou hast armed with thy power that with a watchfull and single eye they may obserue and represse with a seuere yet a tender hand all vnsound Beleeuers and inordinate liuers that Church and Common weale may blesse them as happy Supporters of this Christian State and themselues may with comfort make their last account to the vnpartiall ludge of quicke and dead and now and euer both of vs may giue glory vnto thee that art our most mighty and most mercifull Lord. Amen Blessed are they that keep iudgement and doe righteousnesse euermore Psalme 106. יהוה A SERMON PREACHED IN OXFORD AT AN ASSIZES 1613. PSAL. 75. Vers 2 3. When I shall receiue the Congregation I will iudge vprightly The earth and all the inhabitants are dissolued I beare vp the Pillars of it Selah THis Psalme was penned if not by surely in the name of some worthy Iudge the people blesse God for the comfort they receiued by him and hee promiseth to redresse the disorders of the people put both their speeches together and you haue a good Commentary vpon the title of this Psalme The title is Ne perdas or rather Non perdes the Hebrew Al-tasheth will beare both and it imports That a good Iudge yeelds the best hope that a disordered State may recouer although it be farre gone Who this Iudge is all are not agreed some ghesse at him by one part of the Psalme some by another and according to their different apprehension giue the Psalme some a mysticall some an historicall interpretation both may stand true as elsewhere so here But being to fit this present occasion my purpose is to passe by the mysticall and insist only vpon that sense which is historicall According to the history the person that speakes seemeth to bee the king of Israel and that king as it is most likely is king Dauid He speaks here first of his owne Tribunall the Tribunall of a king but because that was set at naught by many insolent ones hee calleth them to an higher Tribunall the Tribunall of God and telleth them that it is God which from time to time appoints those that shall iudge here on earth till by Christ he call that great Assizes and fit Iudge of all the world This is the effect of the whole Psalme my Text containes so much thereof as concernes the Tribunall of the king the Dignity the Necessity the Vtility thereof To vnfold it I beseech you to marke therein The person and His work the person is the king whose worke is to iudge I will iudge But of the iudgement wee are farther taught When it shall be executed and How The time is at an Assizes When I shall receiue the Congregation The manner is according to the law to try the vprightnesse of mens liues I will iudge vprightly and that of mens vprightnesse the word Mesharim reacheth so farre As if this were not enough here is a seuerall reason added to each of these branches a reason of calling an Assizes It is no more than needeth there is much amisse in the people The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolued And a reason there is why the king must iudge vprightly and of vprightnesse because if any goe awry if any swerue hee must set and keepe them strait so saith the king I beare vp the pillars of it These be the points that are to bee considered on this Text and that they are to be considered seriously you may gather by the last word Selah the character of a remarkable sentence it signifieth an extraordinary eleuation of the speakers voice which calleth for a more than ordinary attention of the hearers eare Consider then I beseech you in the feare of God the particulars that I shall deliuer thereon and God grant you a fruitfull vnderstanding of them all The first is the Person and this person is the King to Iudge is his work At Ierusalem are Thrones set for iudgement saith another Psalme and those thrones belong to the house of Dauid therefore in the Scripture is the kings throne called not onely the throne of Glory but of Iudgement also yea therefore of Glory because of Iudgement the Glory is giuen to countenance the Iudgement So that the plaintiffes speech was though not very courtly yet very true which hee vttered to a king denying him iustice Si non vis iudicare noli regnare implying that it is the proper worke of a king to be a Iudge And indeed God commits the power of iudgement immediately to the king and to that end setteth him vpon his owne Throne But you know what Iethro obserued to Moses Exod 18. and what Moses himselfe in his complaint to God confessed to be true A king in his owne person cannot beare all this burthen if he attempt it hee vainely tireth out both himselfe and his people wherefore it is Gods pleasure that so much as he cannot doe by himselfe he shall doe by his officers Whereupon ariseth a good distinction of a kings person It is either naturall or politique and vnder the politique are contained the Iudges This is cleare by Gods owne fact for when he called the 70. to bee assistants vnto Moses and to that end did qualifie them he saith not that hee will take of his owne spirit though that which hee tooke was the spirit of God but God is pleased to call that the spirit of Moses which he tooke and gaue to the 70. Numb 11. giuing vs to vnderstand that they were alwayes to bee reputed a part of Moses Yea and they communicate also in the same diuine title for I haue said yee are Gods containes not the peculiar title of a king it extends to euery Iudge as Moses teacheth in the Law if it be not plaine enough in that 82. Psalme So then when a king sendeth Iudges hee sendeth his owne eares to heare the complaints of his people his owne eyes to looke into their causes and his owne mouth to pronounce according to that which is heard and seen The person then in my Text though at first sight it seeme to bee onely the king yet now appeares to bee moreouer the Iudge and by I it is most plaine Honourable and Beloued that you are vnderstood The Vse of this point for the people is made by St. Peter 1. Pet. 2. Wee must be subiect to euery ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be vnto the King as supreame or to Gouernours sent from him such as are the Iudges the improuement of their persons must make them reuerend in our eyes But there is a Vse also which Honourable and Beloued must be made by you you may not mistake your eares your eyes your mouth you haue of two sorts priuate and publike the priuate you may vse about your domesticall affaires but to the Bench you may bring none but the publicke you must heare there with none but the kings eares and you know that a king is Abimelec my Father the king