but Madnesse and not against that Fellowship which is truely good but against that which passing vnder the name of good is full of all vice and wickednesse There is an honest and cleane Mirth which Oyle to the bones as the Wiseman sayth and this if the World could find the Salt of the World would not correct and chasten And indeed this alone deserues the Name of Mirth for the sport of sinne is a laughter at things lamentable and a ioy in stead of sorrow and is so vnseparable from sorrow that if it haue not the sorrow of temporall Repentance it shall haue a far greater sorrow of endlesse penance True it is that God at first gaue his creatures to man to be inioyed and now especially to Christians is that right renued so that Christianitie is so far from taking them from vs that it only giues them truly to vs. Againe God delighteth not in the sowrenesse of face in hanging downe the head like a Bul-rush in tormenting the body which though with some they may be esteemed as good out-sides of Religion and as Paul termes them shewes of Godlinesse yet of themselues they are of no value with God There is nothing in vs louely to God but righteousnesse and that which aduanceth it and there is nothing odious to God but sinne and that which serueth it If therefore the Creatures of God be vsed toward the aduancement and incouragement of Gods seruice in vs wee please him in their vse yea wee offend him in their neglect And the speech of Ionathan concerning Sauls forbidding of meate will God himselfe vse against vs these men haue troubled the Land for if they had eaten they had done greater seruice against the Enemies of God And for ioy it selfe we may see that God hateth it not For hee himselfe in the old Law appointed many feastes in which there was a plaine precept of Reioycing And in the new Law Paul telles Timothie that God giues vs all things abundantly to inioy and in the Acts hee testifieth that God filleth vs with food and gladnesse But our Mirth must bee wise and reasonable as becommeth those that are men and not Apes euen Creatures stamped with the Image and Character of God And too true it is that the Mirth of Man as the Wrath of Man seldome keepes such a measure that it fulfills the will of God Yet this cals for Watchfulnesse and measure vnto Mirth but sets not vnlawfulnesse on it if it bee measured and decent I denie not but Sadnesse is sometimes necessarie in Religion but not as it is Sadnesse but as Sadnesse is a Rod vnto Vice and as by humbling the Flesh it aduanceth the Spirit Sadnesse hath no worth by it selfe neither is it in Religion the end of it selfe but euen Sadnesse it selfe tendeth to Ioy. Religious men by Sadnesse walke vnto Comfort and indeed Comfort is an assured fruit of Spirituall Sadnesse Sorrow for sinne endeth in the ioy of forgiuenesse and sadnesse of meditation endeth in the ioy of Diuine contemplations So are we made merrie by Sadnesse and the weed of sorrow changeth it selfe vpon vs into the garment of gladnesse And this high priuiledge of Ioy hath a Christian aboue a Carnall man that whereas the Man of earth being sad is onely sad and sad vnto sadnesse the Christian being sad is sad vnto ioy How must not then a Christian bee a most ioyfull Creature whose very sadnesse endeth in ioy yea it is a means of procuring and making ioy Fleshly mirth endeth in sadnesse and spirituall sadnesse endeth in mirth and so if that be well that ends well the sadnesse of a Christian is better then the mirth of a Heathen There is yet a third Obiection That Religion is attended with opposition and persecution and these are terrible things to flesh and bloud I answere that if this bee so yet is Religion a ioyfull thing For these are not in Religion but after Religion and indeed they are qualities of Irreligion Religion it selfe is busied about excellent things as vnion with God conformitie to God fruition of God and persecution and opposition comes from Irreligion Atheisme and Malice Religion must needs be the more excellent because it hath such Enemies as wicked men and wicked spirits as one commended Christianitie because Nero persecuted it If great Armies come to conquer a Land it is likely to be a Land of pleasure and fertilitie for barrennesse and worthlesnesse seldome call for Conquerors Enuie the Deuills torment and pleasure seeth some invaluable ioy which he would take from vs by outward vexations but certayne it is that as it is a ioy whose fulnesse is beyond the reach of Mans heart so the fastning of it is aboue the reach of the Deuills hand for nothing can reach high enough to take it from vs. Yea when he reacheth to it by the persecutions of the bodie hee increaseth the ioyes of our soules for as tribulations abound so doe consolations abound also So in this point is a Christian also a most ioyfull Creature whose afflictions breed consolations and whose enemies are instruments of comforting them euen by afflicting them So in all things are wee more then Conquerors Ioy is our part which nothing may take from vs but all changes by an vnchangeable Law doe worke our Ioy. Therefore doth the Christian enioy tribulations and takes them for aduancements yea the disciples of Christ reioyce in their sufferings for Christs sake as testimonies of worth and estimation with their Lord. So a Souldier takes pleasure in that which to an ordinarie man is a terrour yea hee inioyeth his scarres and wounds as markes of valour and steps vnto Honour And as the sight of future aduancement doth cheere vp the Heauenly Souldier so doe the present ioyes of the Spirit of consolation As the bodie is pricked or scourged without the heart is bathed within in the celestiall oyle of ioy and gladnesse The comforts within rise according to the suffrings without yea with them by them and aboue them God the Creator is within comforting and they are but Creatures that are without afflicting and how shall wee not bee full of Courage of Comfort since hee that is in vs and with vs is so infinitly greater then hee and all they that are without vs and against vs But as the Carnall Man hath had leaue for his obiections against Religion so I desire leaue of him a little to question the ioyes of his Carnality For I am in great doubt that many sinners haue more trouble and worke to be damned then many Christians to be saued I say it falleth out by Diuine Mercie on the one and Iustice on the other that if some righteous men haue the Deuill for a hard Enemie some sinners haue him also for a cruell Master Generally the peace of the wicked is fearefull hollow interrupted and finally ending in sorrow If Affliction come to him as the first Curse giues some taste of it selfe vnto all hee receiueth the
neede of humane Inforcements Againe this is an excellent proofe that there is one generall Teacher by a Diuine Light illuminating the Church and it giues great comfort to the members of it that in some matters of Religion one man beeing many hundred myles distant or borne many hundred yeares after another receiueth some bright euident and glorious Truth which he seeth plainly to bee true and heauenly but receiueth it not of man by hearing or reading but of God alone by Meditation and yet he shall meet with another man so farre from him or with some workes of one so farre afore him which will tell the same Truths as being by that one Teacher also reuealed vnto them Againe there were among the Martyrs and Fathers men of as great and sound vnderstanding as any of these Wizards are yea they haue at first as much contemned and reiected Christ by their naturall knowledge yet at length they haue changed their minds and haue sought him as ardently as before they contemned him despitefully Now you cannot imagine that they would haue forsaken the light of their naturall Reason but that they saw a more glorious Light neyther would they haue spared their Candle but vpon the rising of the Sunne And surely these Seers doe as much wonder at the naturall mans not seeing as the not-seers at the seeing But the God of this World hath blinded their eyes that the glorious Light of the Gospell should not shine vnto them and this blindnesse cannot bee taken away by Arguments and being taken away Arguments are needlesse And this must bee thought the true Reason why in the Councell of Nice the Reasons of the learned Fathers could not preuayle with the Heathen Philosopher yet the playne narration of the Faith by a simple Priest preuayled The vayle of the flesh lay on his heart and their Reasons could not take it away but the Spirit of God tooke it away then the euidēce of a plain proposed truth perwaded him And indeed God only hath the Key which vnlockes the heart and that is the spirit Eloquence and Logicall Demonstration are not those Keyes which may open the Soule That which is fastned in our generation must be loosed by Regeneration the remedie must bee equiualent yea preualent to the Disease It may not bee a naked bare and vnactiue word that may cure the deed of excecation done to the heart but it must be an operatiue forcible and effectual word that speaks what it does and does what it speakes If such a Word say let there bee light there shall be light and then the light of our soules shall see the great Obiect of our Soules the perfect Light Christ Iesus But before this light and sight bee created in vs let that Infinite Light shine right into the eyes of blindnesse and darknesse the darknesse will neuer comprehend it And euen to them that see they will deny their sight and sweare that they are blind also But whither it be fit for vs to beleeue their blindnesse or our owne sight let euery man iudge In their owne wisdome they will hold That Sensus non fallitur circa obiectum And by that will prooue the Sunne shines or the Swan is white because the vnhindered fence hath apprehended it to be so And why should not wee enioy the same priuiledge and say much more That a soule clarified and illuminated by the purest spirit is not deceiued in spirituall Obiects but as Salomon saith it seeth more and more truely then seuen men on a Watch-towre and as Paul saith The spirituall man discerneth spiritual things Surely the spiritual eye as properly and as naturally seeth spirituall things as the bodily eye doth bodily things yea it should doe it better and more assuredly because this spirituall sight came more newly immediately from the Maker but our fight comes from him to vs through many men and many infirmities of those men much soyled and dimmed And here comes in fitly to be answered a second Obiection which is an Imputation of captiuitie vndergone by our vnderstandings in the matter of Faith To this I answere That in true Religion it is not a brutish captiuitie by which the vnderstanding yeelds vp her eyes to be put out herselfe to bee blindfold but the vnderstanding receiuing a better sight yeelds vp the worse and so doth not loose her light but change it for a better yea it changeth captiuitie for freedome for euen that blindnesse that captiuated is is led into captiuity but the vnderstanding is more free then before as an eye that is freed from blindnesse For the Sonne by his Spirit hath freed vs from that naturall darknesse wherein we were borne 2. Cor. 3 16 17. But they will re-inforce this Obiection from the vsuall forme of teaching young or new Christians Their first instruction they say is to beleeue and they take Credo for their beginning But do Christians herein otherwise then other Teachers of Sciences It is knowne for a Maxime without the bonds of Religion Oportet discentem credere Hee that learnes an Arte must at first beleeue the Teacher of the Arte and then after being skilfull in his Arte hee may looke himselfe into the truth of his Art So in Christianity at first Religion must be receiued vpon trust but this is by Learners only not true and formed Christians The Church must at first teach her Children vntill they be taught by Christ and then indeed they are only true and formed Christians when Christ himselfe hath taught them Some of the Samaritans beleeued the woman at first concerning Christ but being taught by Christ they went beyond that beliefe and beleeued himselfe and they adde their Reason Wee now know that he is the Christ. So is Knowledge still the kindly foundation of our Religion which heerein out-strips other Arts. For the yong beginners must at first beleeue the Artists themselues and proceeding farther must generally vpon trust beleeue principles which they hold most from Aristotle who as the Doctor saith in his Preface is often contrary to himselfe and exceeds in grosse absurdities all them that went before him And if some transcendent spirits shake off trust and authority and search the Fountaines of things they find that the Principles themselues are indemonstrable and what cannot be demonstrated I hope must bee taken vpon blind beliefe But this fauour they will not allow vnto Christians neyther doe wee much desire it for we see and know our selues what we beleeue whereof wee affirme and wee see by the highest purest and most vndeceiueable light and we want not the Glow-worm of demonstration to tell vs that wee see the chiefest Light Christ Iesus by our Faith and the light which wee see is the same Light by which wee see Herein only is the trouble that we cannot communicate our sight vnto blindesse and they will not allow vs to beleeue by seeing what for want of seeing they cannot beleeue Therfore when with Stephen
perfection of it If one poore sparke of vertue be to bee loued for it selfe much more is that infinite Rocke of Orient and most shining vertue to be loued in God and it is a most reasonable purpose and resolution to loue the Higher Excellence more then the lower and to loue the lower the better if it leade to the Higher When wee find gold Oare in the top of the Earth we value it highly but wee value it the more because it leades vs to the Gold Mine it selfe Therefore the Philosophers were children in this that hauing found a Myne-stone they played with it and sought no farther but the Christians are truly wise who hauing found it follow the Veine vntill they come to enioy the very Roote and Treasurie thereof Another spot which is cast on Diuinitie by the odious comparison or preferment of Philosophie is this That the vertue of Diuines is more vulgar and that of Philosophy more rare Heere I cannot but stand still and wonder how this man came to vse speeches so flatly contrary to the speeches of Christ and hauing spoken them to propose them to Christians Eyther he thinkes himselfe herein wiser then Christ or that wee are no Christians and therefore apt to beleeue him before Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith But it is an ancient truth The narurall man is blinde in the things of God Christ hath said The way to Heauen is narrow and few there bee that finde it and I take it that is rare which but a few doe find Israel was but a drop to the Ocean of Mankinde and Israel only had for a long time the Statutes and Iudgements of God Againe at this time when Religion is let out into the World how is it beyonded by Turcisme Atheisme Gentilisme Heresies and Epicurisme Surely a true Christian is a rare thing and if it were not so this man could not well haue hoped to bee generally beleeued that they are common And if hee meanes by vulgar besides the commonnesse to intimate that Christianitie is incident to meanenesse and so is fit for the common people as well in that they are base as in that they are many I vtterly gainsay him For if Diuinitie bee truly examined it requireth the highest vnderstandings to search it the mightiest and noblest indeauours to performe it for in Diuinitie they are Mysteries which are taught and excellent things which are commanded Therfore Christ telles things hidden and vnsearchable to the very wise of the world and enioyneth vertues excelling the ambitious holinesse of the very Scribes and Pharises Yea he wyteth his hearers that contented themselues with ordinarie vertues saying What great or excellent thing doe yee yet the truth is that to sundrie of the meane ones God imparteth the light and grace of Christianitie but not because meannesse is fitter to apprehend it but because by meannesse God best expresseth his owne excellence and shewes his power chiefly in infirmitie and his light in darknesse Therefore for his owne glorie hee chuseth them and not for their abilitie toward Religion but rather for their not-abilitie in some respect For whereas by their natural vnablenes they were altogether vncapable of Diuine Mysteries God is sure to get glorie to his Spirit which entring into men so full of darknesse and meannesse makes them lightsome wise able and truely noble For from henceforth being regenerate They vnderstand secrets performe difficult vertues aspire vnto eternitie and despise tēporall though glorious vanity Thus meane men receiu grace not by their meannesse but for their meannes receiuing it are no lōger mean but are made excellent and noble This is it which Dauid sayes Psalm 19. That God by his Word giues vnderstanding to the simple And Psal. 119. That by the feare of God hee became wiser then his Teachers And if wee looke for examples to omit those ancient Fisher-men a profession commonly most ignorant whose words and writings cannot bee matched by the world in spirituall that is in the best wisdome I wil speake of our times that in them I haue seene Men admirable in Simplicity for worldly things but miraculous in Diuine knowledge so that their speeches in the one kind haue bin contemptible and in the other haue sounded like Oracles So that a great knowledge beeing found in a great simplicitie it may not bee thought That simplicitie is the cause of Knowledge but wee must looke a higher cause euen that the Creator is the cause of a new Creation And the fountaine of Wisdome is the cause of these droppes of new and supernaturall wisedome powred into naturall simplicitie And this hits right with Christs speach vnto Peter Flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it to thee but my Father in Heauen And that Diuinitie is not a shallow knowledge fit to be waded through by dwarfish ignorance the experience of the Fathers may confirme For the chiefest of them were men of admirable wisedome great learning and vnwearied studie and yet they found in Diuinitie Wisedome beyond their Vnderstanding Learning aboue their Learning and Worke beyond their Time Therefore it shall remaine a certaine Truth That Religion ordinarily requires Wisedome and therefore though it often lights on them that lacke it yet then it brings Wisedome with it And indeed Religion brings with it the best Wisedome For that is the best Wisedome which teacheth vs the most perfect vertues and leades vs to the most perfect absolute and eternall Happinesse Lastly though God doe shew most often his strength in weakenesse yet that Grace of God is no common worke neither among the common people But surely I thinke this man deceiued himselfe thus Hee saw in the blind Religion of his Countrie the common people led with Ignorance and Superstition and out of that superstitious Ignorance to doe many seeming workes of Charitie and Pietie and on these he bestowth the title of the vertue of Diuines But it is a great errour to make Superstition the Roote and Mother of Theologicall vertue for Superstition is a Bastard begotten by an informed and ignorant feare of the Deitie Such people are as farre from true Diuinity as he is from the true commendation of it And himselfe in his chapter of Pietie hath truly shewed pietie to be of so high a Nature vniting Man to his Root the Godhead that I wonder he could here make the superstitious dotage of the ignorant vulgar to bee the high and transcendent vertue of the Diuines For let him confesse ingeniously how many of the vulgar hath hee knowne truly to returne to their originall and to knit themselues vnto it Surely it seemes he forgate at last what he had written at first or knew not at first what he would write at last But say what hee list Theologicall vertue is of no base stampe it containeth in it an vnion with God and from hence issueth an Image of God and from this Image the Loue of God Charitie to our Neighbour and Sobrietie in our selues And in
this path of vertue it leades vs to Felicitie And when hee hath magnified his Philosophie to the highest Diuinitie chalengeth all the Goodnesse it hath as her seruant and addes more vnto it Now for the other two Epithites wherewith hee decketh Philosophie and whereof he robbeth Diuinitie Pleasantnesse and Power I haue fitted seuerall discourses for them yet withall respecting other faults But the Reader may set such pieces of them together as being inlayd in his memorie iointly with this may serue for an intire Confutation of these errours And that his memorie may not trauaile farre for the doing of it I heere immediatly adioyne them CHAP. III. A healing of their Griefe that are affrighted at Christianitie and runne away from it as from some terrible and vgly thing THere are some that thinke on Religion as vpon some fearfull Apparition and accordingly receiue the Image thereof into their Mindes in the likenesse of a sowre grim and austere visage And surely some Pharisies haue giuen a Confirmation hereunto But this is an especiall deceit and fraud of the Deuill to rob vs of the greatest ioy by a false feare of the greatest sadnesse Is there any more comfortable thing then the vnion of Man with his Souereigne Good Is there any thing more pleasant then light and true Christians haue in them the beames of the vppermost Light Is there any thing more rauishing then Beautie and these are delighted with the highest Beautie of the Creatour and with the lower Beauties of iust and holy men resembling the higher What delights Man more then to loue and to bee beloued and behold a Christian is the best louer and loued of the best Vertue was glorious in the eyes of the Heathen so that in regard of her they despised all labours and sufferings yea life it selfe Yet their Vertue was but of a bounded Nature as a standing Poole whose waters are by measure But the Vertues of Christianitie are continuall streames flowing from the eternall Fountaine of the Deitie and haue an vnlimited power of daily increasing I cannot I would not say all that the ioy of Christians can afford me I haue * Arté of Happâ—nesse elsewhere saued this labour Neither let men thinke but that these are matters of Fact and not of meere Speculation for the hearts of true Christians are at this day liuing Witnesses and the Sayings of the Dead cry aloud to confirme it Reade DAVID reioycing in his Psalmes and you will thinke him a man rauished so doth euery word swell with ioy prayse and exultation See him dancing before the Arke and if you bee no wiser then a very woman you will thinke him out of his wits but if you bee so wise as a good woman you will say his soule did magnifie the Lord and his Spirit reioyced in God his Sauiour Againe reade the Song of Dauid describing the extasies of loue and delight wherein the Church almost loseth her selfe as vnable to contayne them and you cannot but say that there is a ioy entered into the heart of man which cannot get it selfe wholy into it by comprehension nor get out of it by expression All the Instruments of Musicke all the Creatures both sensible and insensible are summoned together to helpe forth the vtterance of an vnvtterable ioy And how can you blame him for his soule is in the Courts of Heauen Where to be a doore-keeper for one day is better then to bee a thousand yeares in the Courts of Princes and yet most men thinke that Courtiers haue great ioy of their places Againe Gods Words are sweeter to him then the hony and you know Sweetnesse is the God of the Epicure Yea it is more precious then fine Gold and Gold is the God of the Worldling Thus a Christians ioy surmounteth the ioyes of the Naturallist euen Honour Pleasure and Profit But if this bee true you will say how comes it that so few seeke heauenly and almost all seeke earthly ioyes and perchance thou which readest it art also of the same minde Hereunto I answere That the fault is in the Taste not in the Meate in the folly of the Iudgement not in the Pearle when a graine of Corne is preferred before it To taste spirituall ioyes a man must bee spirituall for the spirit rellisheth only the things of the spirit and like loueth his like Betweene a spirituall man and spirituall ioyes there is as mighty an appetite and enioying as betweene fleshly meate and a carnall stomack Therefore the want of this taste and apprehension condemneth the World to be carnall but magnifies the ioyes spirituall as being aboue a grosse and carnall apprehension Surely the face of this world at the first view shewes vs a plaine euidence of its vnacquaintaÌ„ce with these ioyes it is so willingly soyled with the sweat of worldly labours so defiled with wallowing in the mire of voluptuousnesse so wrinkled with the cares of this perishing life They still cry out who will shew vs any good but they would haue this good shewed them in their Corne and Wine and Oyle But on the otherside if men did fully taste the sweetnesse and rightly value the preciousnesse of heauenly ioyes the World would run so fast from the World and presse so violently into the Kingdome of God that wee should extremely neede Sermons to perswade to the labours of the six dayes whereas now all Exhortations are too little toward the sanctâ—fying of the Seuenth And indeed the Primitiue times gaue examples hereof when there was plaine need of dehortation to keepe men from too much haste toward Persecution and too much flying from the World If thou therefore be as they were thou shalt bee readie to doe as they did Doe not as Fooles do who because they cannot taste the ioyes of a Christian therefore leaue to be Christians But euen because thou canst not tast them be thou more vehemently desirous to bee a Christian that thou mayest taste them For by being a Christian thou shalt taste the ioyes of a Christian whereas else thou losest thy selfe and them and sinkest downe to the base degree of a grosse and transitory creature and so of base and transitorie ioyes yea below them againe into a bottomlesse pit of endlesse darknesse But rather striue thou by earnest Prayer to the Father of Spirits to make thee spirituall that so spirituall things may be pleasing to thee and thou pleasing to him who is the chiefe of Spirits for Conformitie and Harmonie is the Law of Pleasure and Delight Therefore also on the otherside tread downe thy flesh and the taste thereof whose exaltation is the abatement of spirituall Life Taste and Feeling and whose abatement is the exaltation of spirituall fauour and discerning Another Obiection is framed by the World that Religion cannot bee pleasant because none speak more against Mirth and good Fellowship then these forward Christians and great Religionaries To this I answere That men truely wise and holy doe not preach against Mirth
discourseth of Superstition hee strongly consutes the practicall religion of the Church of Rome and so seemes to differ from them though hee after creepe againe into their good-will vnder the couert of commanding an obseruation of Ceremonies Customes and Ordinances Secondly I haue heard it constantly affirmed in France by a Gascoigne Montagnes country-man and one that was himselfe an Author that his Doctor was a great acquaintance of Montagne and that his booke was Montagnes pieces brought into a Methode And sure I cannot much blame the Doctor for not doing an impossibilitie for it is a matter neere impossible handsomly to inlay all the â—agged pieces of Montagne â—nd to reduce his infinite wandrings into the order of a steadie path for hee seemed altogether to runne after his owne wit and to take vp whatsoeuer it did let fall but the wit â—t selfe did seldome runne after any Marke nor walke by any Rule And so might his Follower by the intricatenesse of the labour well forget the different colours of some of the pieces which hee ioyned into one Bodie And if we consider but this Chapter of Piety we may find many contradictions in it He maketh the Religion of Palestine which is the Religion of the Iewes to teach this belief that the cutting and punishing of our selues the massacring of beasts is a most precious present vnto God as if God tooke pleasure in the torment of his Creatures And yet after out of the one and fiftieth Psalme he sayth That the most acceptable Sacrifice vnto God is a pure free and humble heart And againe out of the fiftieth Psalme Non accipiam de domo tua vitulos Besides hee sayth the Iudaicall Religion retayneth many things of the a â—oseâ—â—us in his first book against Apion writes that the Egyptians and the Iewes could not agree because of the diuersitie of their Religion And Plessis in his 21. chapt of Christian Religion shewes that the Oracles of Aâ—oâ—o and the â—ibilles prefâ—rred the Iewâ—s as the best worshippers of God Egyptian Gentile which is a great blasphemie eyther in this sence That the Iewish Religion had any thing in it not deliuered by God himselfe or that God tooke his copie out of some of that Gentile-Egyptian Religion thereout to make vp a Religion for the Iewes And herein is also an implyed contradiction For hee that commendes the Christian Religion and condemnes the Iewes Religion as parcell heathen contradicts himselfe for the Iewes Religion established by God and the Christians are all one in substance of Faith and if they differ in the manner I hope that manner was not borrowed of the Heathen but the Heathen rather counterfeite the Iewes Againe hee speaketh of Religion as of some Arte or Confection saying That Religion is so fitted that it may be respected and had in admiration yet hee sayth It is composed of parts some base whereat high Spirits doe scorne and some high and mysticall whereat low Spirits are offended So politickely is Religion framed to intrap all men that it is fashioned to offend all men But yet there remains an obiection of the Heathen Martialists who may tell vs now as heretofore That Rome being Hethen raised an Empire and being Christian lost it To this I answere that it was not Romes Hethenisme that won it nor her Christianitie that lost it but rather it might bee sayd that Christianitie won it and want of Christianitie lost it There were three Empires before this and they being all Heathen arose and Heathen fell and why should wee not thinke that this would also fal if it had still beene Heathen It hath long bin obserued that Kingdomes and Empires haue * Ier. 27.7 Ages and Periods aswell as priuate men And when an Empire shall rise there comes a spirit of Valour on Armies and of Heroicall Vertue on Chieftaynes which the Empire being ripe departeth away and then are they like Samson when his Lockes are shauen and Samson is said then to bee like another man And that Christianity raysed the Empire it may be iustified in diuers senses The first is That God raised this Empire by the vniuersality thereof to spread his vniuersall and Catholike Truth The hedges and partitions of the World were broken downe that Christian Religion might haue a free walke throughout the whole World Againe this huge Kingdome was raysed iust to meet with Christs Kingdome that by the hugenesse of the opposition the greatnesse of the victorie might bee magnified The spirit of Antichrist was mounted on this Beast and fought then in the Emperors and now fights in the Popes against Christ his Church but the Dragon or the Beast or the false Prophet may not preuayle â—or the Kingdome is the Lord Christs and his is glory and honour and dominion for euermore This resisting and aduersarious Empire while it fought against Christ it serued Christ while it killed his Church it increased his Church and while it fought against Religion it became a meanes to spread and inlarge it And that it was rather Heathenisme then Christianity that lost the Empire may appeare by the Stories of the Degeneration both of the Church and of the Emperours Pride Couetousnesse contempt of Religion deseruing the remouall of the Candlesticke which long afore was threatned to the Church of Ephesus and in them to any other like parts of the whole Church The time and worke of the Empire was expired it had fought against Christ and was ouercome by it and now the sinnes and corruptions ioyntly requiring it he that hindred was to bee taken away euen the Emperour and the man of Sin was to step in his place by whom Antichrists second part was to be acted And against him also doth the Kingdome of Christ preuayle though fighting against Christ by the old weapons of the Heathen Empire euen fire and sword And now small States and Kingdomes are animated strengthened by the hand of Omnipotence so that they stand the shock of his greatest fury yea they gaine and grow vpon him A little bordering Country that is but a piece of a former state and the most despicable piece of it standing in water and therefore participating left of the actiuity of fire yet â—ow by the disposition of the Almightie partakes of the wisdome and power of a fierie Spirit and hath often consumed both the aduerse policies and forces preseruing mightily yea in larging that Religion which should haue beene taken from it by the cruell talents of the Inquisition Wherfore be wise O ye Kings and be instructed O yee Iudges of the Earth Kisse the Sonne and resist him not lest he be angrie and ye perish in the mid-way Make not your Hoasts and Nauies the vaine Bulwarkes of declining Antichrist neyther wrap your selues in the ruines of him that is appointed to fall When Christ will ouercome an Hoast is contemptible before him and the greatnesse of your opposition can only magnifie his Victory and your owne ruine And bee
World of Action into the company of persecuting Iewes seducing and hypocriticall Pharisies yea into the winnowing of Satan himselfe And indeed generally the Apostles liues were liues of Action and liues of Passion And if these Apostles bee the foundation and Christ the Corner stone then are Actiue men the chiefest in Heauen as beeing next vnto Christ and no Contemplatiue men may euer sit aboue them for the foundation will still be neerest to the corner stone and nothing may goe betweene them Contemplation indeed is absolutely necessary and in her owne turne and time more necessary then Action as Maries hearing in the time of Christs preaching was more necessary then Marthaes seruing but the same Maries action of anoynting Christ in a due season is as famous as her hearing of Christ. Contemplation must not end in it selfe but it must proceed and the due proceeding of it is to end in Action When Contemplation ends in it selfe we may reape some pleasure to our selues but nothing is reaped to God But so it may not bee for the end of our life is the seruice of God and the seruice of God is Faith working by Loue and the fruits of Loue are good Workes therefore we must proceed as farre as these good Workes or else wee are short of the end and scope of our life appointed by God And Gregory himselfe confesseth that the Contemplatiue Life is barren like Rahel and the Actiue fruitfull like Leah euen fruitfull in sauing of soules Now Rahel pleased not herselfe in her barrennesse nor should the Church of God but it should cry as heartily though not so impatiently Giue me Children or else I dye Neyther doth Christ the Husband of the Church loue or reward barrennesse but hee desires that wee beare much fruit and the especiall fruit especially crowned with the glory of Starres is sauing of soules Accordingly Christ when thrise he had questioned Peter of his louing him Peter had thrise affirmed it Christ doth not say to Peter If thou louest mee be thou still looking on mee sit still and enioy mee and reade and thinke only of me But Peter If thou louest me feed my Sheepe Feed my Lambes which shewes that a life of Action and Edification is the most noble Fruit notable Effect which Christ expects from his Louers And accordingly shall the last Sentence be pronounced Come ye blessed of my Father not who haue continually carryed me in your thoughts and beheld mee with your Contemplations but yee who haue spiritually and corporally fed me clothed me visited me in my members Therefore let vs take heed that wee take not heauen too soone neyther spend so much ouâ— time in enioying the earnest that we abate the inheritance assured vs by that earnest And indeed which is the second thing God deales so with vs in this life that contemplation cannot be a whole imployment to Man Therefore as before it appeared to be vnlawfull now it also appeares to be impossible For well doth euery Saint of God know that the glory and comfort of contemplation lasts but some turnes and then comes an ebbe of grace a night of vision and perchance a long storme of Satans buffettings Eyther the Spirit withdrawes his glorious beames from the soule or the soule it selfe is forsaken of the body as not able to endure a long bent of high Meditations or else the flesh hath leaue to take vs downe by temptation that the height of Contemplation may not hurt vs by an equall height of Pride For the height of Contemplation is made most safe and profitable to vs by the lownesse of Humilitie and Infirmity is a chiefe preseruer of Humilitie And euen in these times though we haue not the ioy ability of Contemplation yet are wee outwardly able for Action and we can profit others when we seeme wholly vnprofitable to our selues Therefore to fall into a true moderation and indifferency betweene Contemplation and Action let this be our Rule that Contemplation nourish and feed Action but not deuoure it that we contemplate to know God and to loue God that we know and loue him to please him and serue him in the Actions of some profitable vocation We may not quench Contemplation for it warmes the soule cheereth and heateth her to action Againe wee must not exclude Action for that is to water the roote and to pull away the buds and so to preuent the fruit The excellency of Contemplation and Action is the Concord of them therefore let vs bee contemplatiue that wee may bee actiue and in our actiuenesse striue verily to expresse our Contemplation For Contemplation is then most commendable when it is expressed in deeds and not when it is meerly borne and buried in thoughts And it shall be more true glory to a true Christian amid the world to despise the world to resist it to ouercome it then wholly to runne away from it Yet briefly for caution let no man take any more to his taske then he is duely called to and his strength can beare let not the horse take on him the burden of an Elephant neither let men indanger themselues farther in secular imployments then grace giues them good hope to returne with safety I will conclude in the saying of c Gregor in Ezek. hoâ—il â— in Iob. lib. 10. c. 11. Gregorie The holy beasts did goe and returne and did goe and not returne So the Saints they goe from their sinnes and returne no more to them but in another kind of going they goe from Contemplation to Action and returne again from Action to CoÌ„templation for these continuall returnes nourish and refresh each other and it is vnprofitable or vnpossible for a Christian to continue still in one without returning to the other Thus doing we shall be those labouring Contemplators who onely are the blessed ones that dye in the Lord wee shall rest from our labours of Action and our workes shall follow vs and then our good Actions shall bee turned into the ioyes of an eternall Contemplation CHAP. X. Against hungry and pinching Holinesse a foolish craft of some that if they may saue much here they care not though they be saued but a little hereafter IT is a lamentable thing to see not so much how the men of the world but how some men of Religion doe fit their seruice for God For in these men is the greatest wonder who professe friendship and familiarity with God and yet deale deceitfully with Him So stedily doth Nature worke on her worke of Corruption in the Children of Nature though hauing vndertaken a profession of Grace yea euen in the very Children of Grace though not wholly or finally for euen Peter in something is to be blamed and Barnabas is seduced Gal. 2. Nature I say continues her old worke euen the same which in the dayes of old shee wrought in the inhabitants of the Land of Israel who being taught by the Priest to serue the God of heauen were
plainly of it That it is the Euidence of things not seene that is by Faith wee see Spiritually things vnseene Carnally Now I hope where is sight and euidence there is not blindnesse and darknesse Againe when Peter confessed Iesus to be the Christ Christ tells him that flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it to him but his Father in Heauen and I trow had not Peter reason to beleeue in Christ when the Father in Heauen had reuealed him and haue the Artists any such euidences of the ground of their Arts. Againe Ioh. 17. This is life eternall to know thee to be very God and hee whom thou hast sent Christ Iesus So Christ must be knowen before he become our Life eternall And Ioh. 10. I know my sheepe and I am knowne of mine And 1. Cor. 2.10 The reason of this our Knowledge is shewed God hath reuealed to vs by his Spirit the things that hee hath prepared for vs. And ver 12. Wee haue receiued the Spirit of God by which wee know the things that are freely giuen vs of God And Vers. 15. A man made Spirituall discerneth all things and himselfe is iudged of no man that is not Spirituall for how can a blind man iudge the sight of a seer And therefore euen in this point which I now defend wee may well scorne to be iudged by blinde naturall Men that know not our fight and therefore know not the things which they gainsay but euen for that cause deny them to bee Furthermore Paul Eph. 1. speakes of the Spirit of Wisdome and Reuelation by which the eies of our vnderstandings may be inlightned to know the riches of our calling and the great Power of God in the resurrection of Christ. And to conclude excluding many more with an euident testimony let vs consider that of the second to the Cor. 3.18 We all with open Face beholding as in a Glasse the glory of the Lord are changed vnto the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord which is presently followed in the next Chapter with these words That God who commanded Light to shine out of Darknesse hath shined in our hearts to giue the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Iesus Christ which indeed is but a Comentarie of Christs short words Ioh. 14.21 He that loues mee I will shew my selfe visibly vnto him Now if God haue so shined visibly in our hearts that by the beames of his light we haue a knowledge of his glorious worke of our Redemption in Christ Iesus yea if Christ hath shewed himselfe plainly to vs who can hinder vs to beleeue that wee know euen to beleeue in an all-sufficient Sauiour reuealed to vs by the transcendent Light of an omnipotent Creator Therfore will wee triumph in the reasonablenesse of our Beleefe wee will boldly tell the naturall Man Quod vidimus testamur and we worship that which we know We will answere with Peter Ioh. 8. Wee beleeue and know that thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God And let the heart of euery true Christian speake what it sees and it cannot but affirme that it seeth an admirable wisedome in the mysterie of Saluation it beholdeth Christ a most absolute Redeemer and Christ shines to him in an incomparable Beauty as the fayrest of Men And this euidence is not without a seale for hee feeles power accompanying Light A new Light hee hath which some yeeres before he had not and a new power hee hath felt to follow that Light The things which now seeme glorious to him and are his chiefest Treasures were before contemptible and holinesse which before was loathsome is now his chiefest delight And whence can such a change come that a man should be cleane turned out of himselfe but by a hand that turneth hearts as Riuers of waters Therefore truely may it be said that the Light of Faith is sealed by the Spirit of Promise Ephes. 1.13 So that we beleeue the Truth not only by a single promise but euen with a witnesse But the naturall Man will obiect two things First That this Sight of ours is but an Imagination and wee see only because we thinke we doe see but we answere first That he that denyes our sight is himselfe blind and therefore cannot see that wee doe not see Salomon sayth the Foole walketh in darknesse but a Wise man hath his eyes in his head Now Salomons Foole is a Naturall man and the Wise man is a man Sanctified and how can the Foole finde by his darknesse that the Wise man finds nothing by his Light It is no argument that I doe not see because his blindnesse cannot perceiue my Sight But he will haue mee prooue it to him that I see But I answere that though I should prooue it he cannot conceiue it For my selfe is Spirituall and he is Carnall and if I describe to him a Spirituall sight or obiect his carnalitie cannot conceiue a Spirituall kind of seeing but euen the sight of the Spirituall man is folly to the Carnall man If there were a people of perpetuall blindnesse and a seeing man should come among them and tell them what glory there is in the Sunne the Moone and the Starres I wonder by what Argument his sight can proue it to their blindnesse for whatsoeuer his sight affirmeth their blindnesse will eyther doubt or deny And indeed except a man can communicate sight hee can hardly communicate an Image of his seeing And as a blind man on the one side cannot receiue vndenyable proofes of Light and sight but the beliefe thereof must bee fundamentally grounded vpon a trust of the Reporter and this indeed may be the blind belief which he meanes which is indeed the beliefe of the blind beleeuers and not of the seeing and therefore is not true beliefe So on the other side to proue the brightnesse and beauty of Light to one that sees is as friuolous and vaine as the other impossible If hee should come to a man of sight in a cleare and cloudlesse day and beginne with him thus Sr I assure you the Sunne shines and I can proue it by most euident reasons the hearer would doubt more of the Speakers discretion then of his assertion So it is among the Children of Light Christ Iesus the Sonne of Righteousnes the Obiect of their Faith shines on their hearts with an open face and for one of these to come to another and to tell him that Christ Iesus is the Sonne of God the head of the Church and the Sauiour of his body that in him are hid the treasures of true wisedome and happinesse he would answere as Elisha to the Prophets speaking of the translation of his Master I know it well hold you your peace And this was long agone prophesied that such Demonstrations should bee needlesse among the sonnes of GOD For it was foretold that true Beleeuers should be all taught of God and his teaching should saue the