the ancient Minoei of whom Ierome speaketh while they vrged Circumcision by consequent according to Pauls rule reiected Christ So the Pelagians while they defended a full perfection of our righteousnes in our selues ouerthrew Christs iustification and in effect said I beleeue in Christ and in my selfe So some Vbiquitaries while they hold the possibilitie of conuersion and saluation of reprobates ouerthrow the doctrine of Gods eternall Decree and immutabilitie Poperie comes in this latter ranke and may iustly bee tearmed Heresie by direct consequent though not in their grant yet in necessarie proofe and inference Thus it ouerthrowes the truth of Christs humanitie while it holds his whole humane body locally circumscribed in heauen and at once the same instant wholly present in ten thousand places on earth without circumscription That whole Christ is in the formes of bread with all his dimensions euery part hauing his owne place and figure and yet so as that hee is wholly in euery part of the bread Our iustification while it ascribes it to our owne workes The all-sufficiencie of Christs owne sacrifice whiles they reiterate it dayly by the hands of a Priest Of his satisfaction while they hold a paiment of our vtmost farthings in a deuised Purgatory Of his mediation while they implore others to aide them not onely by their intercession but their merits suing not onely for their prayers but their gifts The value of the Scriptures whiles they hold them insufficient obscure in points essentiall to saluation and binde them to an vncertaine dependance vpon the Church Besides hundreds of this kinde there are Heresies in actions contrary to those fundamentall practices which God requires of his as prohibitions of Scriptures to the Laitie Prescriptions of deuotion in vnknowne tongues Tying the effect of Sacraments and Prayers to the externall worke Adoration of Angels Saints Bread Reliques Crosses Images All vvhich are so many recall vnderminings of the sacred foundation which is no lesse actiue then vocall By this the simplest may see what wee must hold of Papists neither as no Hereticks nor yet so palpable as the worst If any man aske for their conuiction In the simpler sort I grant this excuse faire and tolerable poore soules they cannot be any otherwise informed much lesse perswaded Whiles in truth of heart they hold the maine principles which they know doubtlesse the mercy of God may passe ouer their ignorant weaknesse in what they cannot know For the other I feare not to say that many of their errors are wilfull The light of truth hath shined out of heauen to them and they loue darknesse more then light In this state of the Church he shall speake and hope idly that shall call for a publique and vniuersall euiction How can that be when they pretend to be Iudges in their owne cause Vnlesse they will not be aduersaries to themselues or judge of vs this course is but impossible As the Diuell so Antichrist will not yeeld both shall bee subdued neither will treat of peace what remaines but that the Lord shall consume that wicked man which is now clearely reuealed with the breath of his mouth and abolish him vvith the brightnesse of his comming Euen so Lord Iesus come quickly This briefely is my conceit of Popery which I willingly referre to your cleare and deepe iudgement being not more desirous to teach the ignorant vvhat I know then to learne of you what I should teach and know not The Lord direct all our thoughts to his glory and the behoofe of his Church Written long since to Mr J. W. EP. V. Disswading from separation and shortly oppugning the grounds of that error IN my former Epistle I confesse I touched the late separation with a light hand onely setting down the iniury of it at the best not discussing the grounds in common now your danger drawes me on to this discourse it is not much lesse thanke-worthy to preuent a disease then to cure it you confesse that you doubt I mislike it not doubting is not more the way to error then to satisfaction lay downe first all pride and preiudice and I cannot feare you I neuer yet knew any man of this vvay which hath not bewraide himselfe far gone with ouer-weening and therefore it hath been iust with God to punish their selfe-loue with error an humble spirit is a fit subiect for truth prepare you your heart and let me then answer or rather God for me you doubt whether the notorious sinne of one vnreformed vncensured defile not the whole Congregation so as we may not without sinne communicate therewith and why not the whole Church woe were vs if wee should thus liue in the danger of all men haue we not sinnes enow of our owne but wee must borrow of others Each man shall beare his owne burden is ours so light that we call for more weight and vndertake what God neuer imposed It was enough for him that is God and Man to beare others iniquities it is no taske for vs which shrinke vnder the least of our owne But it is made ours you say though anothers by our toleration and conniuence indeed if we consent to them incourage them imitate or accompany them in the same excesse of ryot yet more the publique person that forbeares a knowne sinne sinneth but if each mans knowne sinne be euery mans what difference is betwixt the root and the branches Adams sinne spred it selfe to vs because we were in him stood or fell in him our case is not such Doe but see how God scorneth that vniust Prouerbe of the Iewes That the fathers haue eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge How much lesse are strangers Is any bond so neere as this of blood Shall not the child smart for the Parent and shall we euen spiritually for others You obiect Achans stealth and Israels punishment an vnlike case and extraordinary for see how direct Gods charge is Be ye ware of the execrable thing lest ye make your selues execrable and in taking of the execrable thing make also the Hoast of Israel execrable and trouble it Now euery man is made a partie by a peculiar iniunction and not onely all Israel is as one man but euery Israelite is a publike person in this act you cannot show the like in euery one no not in any it was a law for the present not intended for perpetuity you may as well challenge the Trumpets of Rams-hornes and seuen dayes walke vnto euery siege Looke else-where the Church of Thyatira suffers the woman Iezabel to teach and deceiue A great sinne Yet to you saith the Spirit the rest of Thyatira as many as haue not this learning I will put vpon you none other burden but that which you haue hold fast He saith not Leaue your Church but Hold fast your owne Looke into the practice of the Prophets ransacke their burdens and see if you find this there yea behold our best patterne the Sonne of God The Iewish
did his Rocke and bring downe riuers of teares to wash away your bloodshed Doe not so much feare your iudgement as abhorre your sinne yea your selfe for it And vvith strong cries lift vp your guilty hands to that God whom you offended and say Deliuer me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord. Let me tel you As vvithout repentance there is no hope so with it there is no condemnation True penitence is strong and can grapple with the greatest sinne yea with all the powers of hell What if your hands be red vvith blood Behold the blood of your Sauiour shall wash away yours If you can bathe your selfe in that your Scarlet soule shall bee as white as Snow This course alone shall make your Crosse the way to the Paradise of God This plaister can heale all the fores of the soule if neuer so desperate Onely take heed that your heart be deepe enough pierced ere you lay it on else vnder a seeming skin of dissimulation your soule shall fester to death Yet ioy vs with your true sorrow vvhom you haue grieued with your offence and at once comfort your friends and saue your soule To Mr. IOHN MOLE of a long time now prisoner vnder the Inquisition at Rome EPIST. IX Exciting him to his wonted constancy and encouraging him to Martyrdome WHat passage can these lines hope to find into that your strait and curious thraldome Yet who would not aduenture the losse of this paines for him which is ready to lose himselfe for Christ what doe we not owe to you which haue thus giuen your selfe for the common faith Blessed bee the name of that God who hath singled you out for his Champion and made you inuincible how famous are your bonds how glorious your constancy Oh that out of your close obscurity you could but see the honour of your suffering the affections of Gods Saints and in some an holy enuie at your distressed happinesse Those wals cannot hide you No man is attended with so many eyes from earth and heauen The Church your Mother beholds you not with more compassion then ioy Neither can it be sayd how shee at once pities your misery and reioyces in your patience The blessed Angels looke vpon you with gratulation and applause The aduersaries with an angry sorrow to see themselues ouercome by their captiue their obstinate cruelty ouer-matched with humble resolution and faithfull perseuerance Your Sauiour sees you from aboue not as a meere spectator but as a patient with you in you for you yea as an agent in your indurance and victory giuing new courage with the one hand and holding out a Crowne with the other Whom would not these sights incourage who now can pity your solitarines The hearts of all good men are with you Neither can that place be but full of Angels which is the continuall obiect of so many prayers yea the God of heauen was neuer so neere you as now you are remoued from men Let me speake a bold but true word It is as possible for him to be absent from his heauen as from the prisons of his Saints The glorified spirits aboue sing to him the persecuted soules below suffer for him and cry to him he is magnified in both present with both the faith of the one is as pleasing to him as the triumph of the other Nothing obligeth vs men so much as smarting for vs words of defence are worthy of thankes but paine is esteemed aboue recompence How do we kisse the wounds which are taken for our sakes professe that we would hate our selues if we did not loue those that dare bleed for vs How much more shall the God of mercies bee sensible of your sorrowes and crowne your patience To whom you may truly sing that ditty of the Prophet Surely for thy sake am I flaine continually and am counted as a sheepe for the slaughter What need I to stir vp your constancy which hath already amazed and wearied your persecutors No suspition shall driue me hereto but rather the thirst of your praise He that exhorts to persist in well-doing while he perswades commendeth Whither should I rather send you then to the fight of your owne Christian fortitude which neither prayers nor threats haue beene able to shake Here stands on the one hand liberty promotion pleasure life and which easily exceeds all these the deare respect of wife and children whom your only resolution shall make widow and orphanes these with smiles and vowes and teares seeme to importune you On the other hand bondage solitude horror death and the most lingring of all miseries tuine of posterity these with frownes and menaces labour to affright you Betwixt both you haue stood vnmoued fixing your eyes either right forward vpon the cause of your suffering or vpwards vpon the crowne of your reward It is an happy thing when our own actions may be either examples or arguments of good These blessed proceedings call you on to your perfection The reward of good beginnings prosecuted is doubled neglected is lost How vaine are those temptations which would make you a loser of all this praise this recompence Goe on therefore happily keepe your eyes where they are and your heart cannot be but where it is and where it ought Looke still for what you suffer and for whom For the truth for Christ what can be so precious as truth Not life it selfe All earthly things are not so vile to life as life to truth Life is momentarie Truth eternall Life is ours the Truth Gods Oh happy purchase to giue our life for the truth What can we suffer too much for Christ He hath giuen our life to vs hee hath giuen his owne life for vs. What great thing is it if he require what he hath giuen vs if ours for his Yea rather if he call for vvhat he hath lent vs yet not to bereaue but to change it giuing vs gold for clay glory for our corruption Behold that Sauiour of yours weeping and bleeding and dying for you alas our soules are too strait for his sorrowes wee can be made but paine for him He vvas made sinne for vs vvee sustaine for him but the impotent anger of men he strugled vvith the infinite vvrath of his Father for vs. Oh vvho can endure enough for him that hath passed thorow death and hell for his soule Thinke this and you shall resolue vvith Dauid I will bee yet more vile for the Lord. The worst of the despight of men is but Death and that if they inflict not a disease vvill or if not that Age. Here is no imposition of that vvhich vvould not be but an hastning of that which vvill be an hastning to your gaine For behold their violence shall turne your necessitie into vertue and profit Nature hath made you mortall none but an enemie can make you a Martyr you must die though they vvill not you cannot die for Christ but by them How could they else deuise to make you happie
of some superstitious old wife or some idle and silly Cloysterer Faine would out charity conceiue so which is still credulous and as the Apostle commands thinkes not euill if Cassander did not directly tell vs that they publikely sing in their very Churches this deuout Antheme O foelâ—x 〈◊〉 per a Nostrapians scelcra Iuâ—e matris impera Redemptori O happy Mother of that Sonne Which hast all our sinnes for done Out of a Mothers right we pray thee Bid our Redeemer to obey thee If all these were not openly approoued by the holy Censors of the Romane Church seuere Controulers of manners yea by the voyces of their owne Popes If at this day witnesse the Muses of Bencius and Bonarcius the Iesuites did not both speake and write thus But let vs leaue these bold impieties if you will to their Bernardines Antonines Bartlemewes of Pisa Turtellines being vs foorth their more sober Diuines Polydores Cassanders Viues Euen their opinions will not downe with vs which teach that the Saints are in any wise to bee prayed vnto Indeede Lib. de Beatit Sanct c. 15. Cass in Cons Ca. de Inuocat Sanct. The same is confessed by Luth. Oecol Melanct Brent see Mort. Apocal. 1.2.12 s 1. the Protestants say as Bellarmine grants that the Saints pray for vs but onely in a generality Bucer said truly that the Saints haue great loue to their militant brethren great desire of their saluation and so doubtlesse haue the Angels But must wee therefore single out any one of those blessed Spirits to aid vs to sue for vs in the Court of Heauen God forbid For vpon what faith must these prayers of ours bee grounded vnlesse perhaps as Hosius saith wee must beleeue in the Saints also yea how sure are we that none of the Saints can either search the heart the fountaine of our Prayers or at once heare tenne thousand of their Suppliants distant in place from each other yea further if as there should bee no limits set to Religion all the world ouer deuout Clients should at once ioyntly commend and prostrate themselues humbly to some one Saint It is 〈◊〉 a swiftnesse of nature as Hierom contends that would serue the turne a true vbiquity as Bellarmine confesses must be required to the hearing of all those prayers What hinders now but that they which of sinfull men haue made Saints should of their Saints make Gods also Besides which of the Prophets which of the Apostles euer commanded this which of the Saints of the former world hath euer done it Or what other if credit may bee giuen to Theodoreâ— did Saint Paul forbid vnder the worship of Angels to his Colossians Or what was the Heresie of the Collyridicus if this must goe for piety That rule of Epiphanius shall be euer a safe course for vs Epiphâ—her 79. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Mary be honoured but the Father Son and Holy Ghost worshipped Heere is no feare of danger but that wee may goe safely to that God which cals vs to him and prostrate our selues to his Christ our Gracious Sauiour None of the Saints can enuy God this Honour none of them euer did either arrogate it to himselfe or suffer it to be giuen him Neither is there any of them whom God euer allowed either to take it to himselfe or to impart it to others or to accept it quietly being imparted to him by others The Papists therefore may come to vs when they will with safety and aduantage wee may not yeeld to them without manifest danger of Idolatrous dotage SECT XXI Of the Superstitious Heathenish and ridiculous worship of the Papists BVT if any good natured Reconciler shall bee so indifferent as to thinke these weightie points of difference not to be so hainous Socrat. l. 1. cap. 4. but that euery one might secretly maintaine what opinion hee list yet so that as Constantine said to Alexander and Arrius whiles the minds differ the outward peace may be preserued Let him further vnderstand that the continuall practise of the religious worship and seruice of God will euer both raise and proclaime no lesse hostilitie than matter of iudgement In our deuotions and publike exercises of Pietie and places consecrated to this vse there is nothing that can offend either the eye or the minde of a Papist except the barenesse of our walls and the Apostolicall simplicity of Ceremonies An easie fault and such as it is no praise of their ingenuitie to winke at For long since haue those clauses of our publike Liturgie beene purposely blotted out which in our Grand-fathers dayes did but lightly touch this galled fore of Poperie But contrariwise in the Popish Churches there is scarce any thing either said or done whereof we can with a cleere and vnwounded conscience be either partakers or witnesses Their very wals kill vs dead but their ridiculous or demonicall seruice who can endure We honour as wee ought the deare and happy memory of the Saints and chiefly the Leader of that heauenly Quire the blessed Virgin the Mother of God and whatsoeuer she can thinke not to be dishonourable to her selfe and her Lord and Sauiour we will most gladly giue it her to the full Neither will we only glorifie God in his Saints as Augustine hath taught Durand to speake but wee will magnifie the Saints as opportunity serues for their excellent graces and worthy acts both in God and in themselues wee will admire extoll and what wee may imitate their singular constancie faith sanctitie as Sidonius said of his Claudian No Tombe can either Soule or glory shroud Sidon in Epita Claud. Mamert But to digge vp their holy bones that I may borrow Luthers word out of their quiet graues and to fall downe before these wormeaten Monuments of the Saints to expect from them a diuine power whether of cure or of sanctification equally to respect Francis his Coule 〈◊〉 Combe Iosephs Breeches Thomases Shooe as Erasmus complaines with the Sonne of God himselfe can seeme no better to vs than an horible impiety Neither can wee abide either to deifie men or to canonize beasts It seemes that Cardinall could abide it well in whose Garden is yet to be seene this Epitaph which hee wrote vpon his too dearly-beloued Bitch This Tombe for then deare Bitch I builded haue Poem Illustr Port. Italor in That worthier wert of Heauen than a Graue Wee prophane Huguenots cannot skill of worshipping Martins Boots or Georges Scabbard or Crispiâ—s Paring knife or which they say is kept in a certaine Towne of Liguria the Tayle of that Asse which Christ rod vpon Mores in Scot. Orig. Pap. or ROCHES Dogge or Antonies Swine and surely he had need of a very thicke Hide that can doe this But in earnest say wee should yeeld these adorations to bee lawfull and godly What Macurius amongst so many woods of counterfeit trees can shew vs the true Crosse or what Heleus amongst such heaps yea Hils of Iron
touched of the purest Israelite Here the hem of his garment is touched by the woman that had the flux of blood yea his very face was touched with the lips of Iudas There the very earth vvas prohibited them on which he descended Here his very body and blood is profered to our touch and taste Oh the maruellous kindnesse of our God! How vnthankfull are we if we doe not acknowledge this mercy aboue his ancient people They were his owne yet strangers in comparison of our libertie It is our shame and sinne if in these meanes of intirenesse we be no better acquainted with God then they which in their greatest familiaritie vvere commanded aloofe God was euer wonderfull in his workes and fearfull in his iudgements but hee was neuer so terrible in the execution of his will as now in the promulgation of it Here was nothing but a maiesticall terrour in the eyes in the eares of the Israelites as if God meant to shew them by this how fearfull he could be Here was the lightning darted in their eyes the thunders roaring in their eares the Trumpet of God drowning the thunder claps the voice of God out-speaking the Trumpet of the Angell The Cloud enwrapping the smoake ascending the fire flaming the Mount trembling Moses climbing and quaking palenesse and death in the face of Israel vprore in the elements and all the glory of heauen turned into terrour In the destruction of the first World there were clouds without fire In the destruction of Sodom there was fire raining without clouds but here was fire smoake clouds thunder earthquakes and whatsoeuer might worke more astonishment then euer was in any vengeance inflicted And if the Law vvere thus giuen how shall it be required If such were the Proclamation of Gods Statutes what shall the Sessions bee I see and tremble at the resemblance The Trumpet of the Angell called vnto the one The voice of an Archangell the Trumpet of God shall summon vs to the other To the one Moses that climbed vp that Hill and alone saw it sayes God came with ten thousands of his Saints In the other thousand thousands shall minister to him and ten thousand thousands shal stand before him In the one Mount Sinai onely was on a flame all the World shall be so in the other In the one there was fire smoake thunder and lightning In the other a fiery streame shall issue from him wherewith the heauens shall be dissolued and the Elements shall melt away vvith a noise Oh God how powerfull art thou to inflict vengeance vpon sinners who didst thus forbid sinne and if thou vvert so terrible a Law-giuer vvhat a Iudge shalt thou appeare What shall become of the breakers of so fierie a Law Oh vvhere shall those appeare that are guilty of the transgressing that law vvhose very deliuery vvas little lesse then death If our God should exact his Law but in the same rigour wherein he gaue it sinne could not quite the cost But now the fire vvherein it was deliuered was but terrifying the fire wherein it shall bee required is consuming Happy are those that are from vnder the terrours of that Law which was giuen in fire and in fire shall be required God would haue Israel see that they had not to do with some impotent Commander that is faine to publish his Lawes without noyse in dead paper which can more easily enioyne then punish or descry then execute and therefore before hee giues them a Law he shewes them that he can command Heauen Earth Fire Ayre in reuenge of the breach of the Law That they could not but thinke it deadly to displease such a Law-giuer or violate such dreadfull statutes that they might see all the Elements examples of that obedience which they should yeeld vnto their Maker This fire wherein the Law was giuen is still in it and will neuer out Hence are those terrours which it flashes in euery conscience that hath felt remorse of sinne Euery mans heart is a Sinai and resembles to him both heauen and hell The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law That they might see he could finde out their closest sinnes hee deliuers his Law in the light of fire from out of the smoake That they might see what is due to their sinnes they see fire aboue to represent the fire that should be below them That they might know he could waken their securitie the Thunder and louder voice of GOD speakes to their hearts That they might see what their hearts should doe the Earth quakes vnder them That they might see they could not shift their appearance the Angels call them together Oh royall Law and mighty Law-giuer How could they think of hauing any other God that had such proofes of this How could they think of making any resemblance of him whom they saw could not be seene and whom they saw in not being seene infinite How could they thinke of daring to profane his Name vvhom they heard to name himselfe with that voice Iehoua How could they thinke of standing vvith him for a day whom they saw to command that heauen vvhich makes and measures day How could they thinke of disobeying his Deputies whom they saw so able to reuenge How could they thinke of killing when they were halfe dead with the feare of him that could kill both body and soule How could they think of the flames of lust that saw such fires of vengeance How could they thinke of stealing from others that saw whose the heauen and the earth was to dispose of at his pleasure How could they thinke of speaking falsely that heard God speake in so fearfull a tone How could they thinke of coueting others goods that saw how vveake and vncertaine right they had to their owne Yea to vs vvas this Law so deliuered to vs in them neither had there beene such state in the promulgation of it if God had not intended it for Eternity We men that so feare the breach of humane Lawes for some small mulcts of forfeiture how should vvee feare thee O Lord that canst cast body and soule into hell Of the Golden Calfe IT was not much aboue a moneth since Israel made their couenant with God since they trembled to heare him say Thou shalt haue no other Gods but me since they saw Moses part from them and climbe vp the Hill to God and now they say Make vs Gods we know not what is become of this Moses Oh ye mad Israelites haue ye so soon forgotten that fire and thunder which you heard and saw Is that smoake vanished out of your minde as soone as out of your sight Could your hearts cease to tremble with the earth Can yee in the very sight of Sinai call for other Gods And for Moses was it not for your sakes that he thrust himselfe into the midst of that smoake and fire which ye feared to see afar off Was he not now gone after so many sudden
precept of the Philosopher who taught him that by sitting and resting the minde gathereth wisdome * * Guliel Paris Another leaning to some Rest towards the left side for the greater quieting of the heart * * Dâ—onys Carthus A third standing with the eies lift vp to Heauen but shut for feare of distractions But of all other me thinketh Isaacs choice the best who meditated walking In this let euery man be his owne master so be we vse that frame of body that may both testifie reuerence and in some cases helpe to stirre vp further deuotion which also must needs be varied according to the matter of our Meditation If we thinke of our sinnes Ahabs soft pase the Publicans deiected eies and his hand beating his brest are more seasonable If of the ioyes of heauen Steuens countenance fixed aboue and Dauids hands lift vp on high are most fitting In all which the body as it is the instrument and vassall of the soule so will easily follow the affections thereof and in truth then is our deuotion most kindly when the body is thus commanded his seruice by the Spirit and not suffered to goe before it and by his forwardnesse to prouoke his master to emulation CHAP. XII NOw time and order call vs from these circumstances Of the matter and subiect of our â—editation to the matter and subiect of Meditation which must be Diuine and Spirituall not euill nor worldly O the carnall and vnprofitable thoughts of men We all meditate one how to doe ill to others another how to doe some earthly good to himselfe another to hurt himselfe vnder a colour of good as how to accomplish his lewd desires the fulfilling whereof proueth the bane of the soule how he may sinne vnseene and goe to hell with the least noise of the world Or perhaps some better mindes bend their thoughts vpon the search of naturall things the motions of euery heauen and of euery starre the reason and course of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea the manifold kinds of simples that grow out of the earth and creatures that creepe vpon it with all their strange qualities and operations Or perhaps the seuerall formes of gouernment and rules of State take vp their busie heads so that while they would be acquainted with the whole world they are strangers at home and while they seeke to know all other things â—â—â—y remaine vnknowne of themselues The God that made them the vilenesse of their nature the danger of their sinnes the multitude of their imperfections the Sauiour that bought them the Heauen that he bought for them are in the meane time as vnknowne as vnregarded as if they were not Thus doe foolish children spend their time and labour in turning ouer leaues to looke for painted babes not at all respecting the solid matter vnder their hands We fooles when will we be wise and turning our eies from vanity with that sweet Singer of Israel make Gods statutes our song and meditation in the house of our pilgrimage Earthly things proffer themselues with importunity Heauenly things must with importunity be sued to Those if they were not so little worth would not be so forward being forward need not any Meditation to solicit them These by how much more hard they are to intreat by so much more precious they are being obtained and therefore worthier our endeuor As then we cannot goe amisse so long as we keep our selues in the tracke of Diuinitie while the soule is taken vp with the thoughts either of the Deitie in his essence and persons sparingly yet in this point and more in faith and admiration than inquiry or of his attributes his Iustice Power Wisdome Mercy Truth or of his workes in the creation preseruation gouernment of all things according to the Psalmist I will meditate of the beauty of thy glorious Maiesty and thy wonderfull workes so most directly in our way and best fitting our exercise of Meditation are those matters in Diuinitie which can most of all worke compunction in the heart and most stirre vs vp to deuotion Of which kinde are the Meditations concerning Christ Iesus our Mediator his Incarnation Miracles Life Passion Buriall Resurrection Ascension Intercession the benefit of our Redemption the certainty of our Election the graces and proceeding of our Sanctification our glorious estate in Paradise lost in our first Parents our present vilenesse our inclination to sinne our seuerall actuall offences the tentations and sleights of euill Angels the vse of the Sacraments nature and practice of Faith and Repentance the miseries of our life with the frailty of it the certainty and vncertainty of our death the glory of Gods Saints aboue the awfulnesse of iudgement the terrors of hell and the rest of this quality wherein both it is fit to haue variety for that euen the strongest stomacke doth not alwaies delight in one dish and yet so to change that our choice may be free from wildnesse and inconstancy CHAP. XIII The order of the worke it selfe NOw after that we haue thus orderly suited the person and his qualities with the due circumstances of time place disposition of body and substance of the matter discussed I know not what can remaine besides the maine businesse it selfe and the manner and degrees of our prosecution thereof which aboue all other calleth for an intentiue Reader and resolute practice Wherein that we may auoid all nicenesse and obscurity since wee striue to profit we will giue direction for the Entrance Proceeding Conclusion of this Diuine worke CHAP. XIIII The entrance into the worke A Goodly building must shew some magnificence in the gate and great personages haue seemely Vshers to goe before them who by their vncouered heads command reuerence and way Euen very Poets of old had wont before their Ballads to implore the aid of their gods And the heathen Romans entred not vpon any publike ciuill businesse without a solemne apprecation of good successe 1 The common entrance which is Prayer How much lesse should a Christian dare to vndertake a spirituall worke of such importance not hauing craued the assistance of his God which me thinkes is no lesse than to professe he could doe well without Gods leaue When we thinke euill it is from our selues when good from God As Prayer is our speech to God so is each good Meditation according to Bernard Gods speech to the heart The heart must speake to God that God may speake to it Prayer therefore and Meditation are as those famous twinnes in the story or as two louing Turtles whereof separate one the other languisheth Prayer maketh way for Meditation Meditation giueth matter strength and life to our prayers By which as all other things are sanctified to vs so we are sanctified to all holy things This is as some royall Eunuch to perfume and dresse our soules that they may be fit to conuerse with the King of Heauen But the prayer that leadeth in
Lord DENNY Baron of Waltham All Grace and Happinesse RIGHT HONOVRABLE WHen I would haue withdrawne my hand from diuine Salomon the heauenly elegance of this his best Song drew mee vnto it and would not suffer mee to take off mine eies or pen. Who can reade it with vnderstanding and not be transported from the world from himselfe and bee any otherwhere saue in Heauen before his time I had rather spend my time in admiration than Apologie Surely here is nothing that sauours not of extasie and spirituall rauishment neither was there euer so high and passionate a speculation deliuered by the Spirit of God to mankinde which by how much more diuine it is by so much more difficult It is well if these mysteries can be found out by searching Two things make the Scripture hard Prophecies Allegories both are met in this but the latter so sensibly to the weakest eies that this whole Pastorall-mariage-song for such it is is no other than one Allegorie sweetly continued where the deepest things of God are spoken in Riddles how can there be but obscuritie and diuers construction All iudgements will not I know subscribe to my senses yet I haue beene fearefull and spiritually nice not often dissenting from all Jnterpreters alwaies from the vnlikeliest It would bee too tedious to giue my account for euery line let the learned scan and iudge What-euer others censures be your Honours was fauourable and as to all mine full of loue and incouragement That therefore which it pleased you to allow from my pen vouchsafe to receiue from the Presse more common not lesse deuoted to you What is there of mine that doth not ioy in your name and boast it selfe in seruing you To whose soule and people I haue long agone addicted my selfe and my labours and shall euer continue Your Lordships in all humble and vnfained dutie IOS HALL SALOMONS SONG OF SONGS PARAPHRASED CHAP. I. Dialogue The Church to CHRIST 1. Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for thy loue is beter than wine OH that he would bestow vpon me the comfortable testimonies of his loue and that he would vouchsafe me yet a neerer coniunction with himselfe as in glorie hereafter so for the meane time in his sensible graces For thy loue O my Sauiour and these fruits of it are more sweet vnto mee than all earthly delicates can be to the bodily taste 2. Because of the sauour of thy good ointments thy name is as an ointment powred out therefore the Virgins loue thee Yea so wonderfully pleasant are the sauours of those graces that are in thee wherewith I desire to be endued that all whom thou hast blessed with the sense thereof make as high and deare account of thy Gospell whereby they are wrought as of some precious ointment or perfume the delight whereof is such that hereupon the pure and holy soules of the faithfull place their whole affection vpon thee 3. Draw mee we will runne after thee the King hath brought mee into his chambers wee will reioice and bee glad in thee we will remember thy loue more than wine the righteous doe loue thee Pull me therefore out from the bondage of my sinnes deliuer mee from the world and doe thou powerfully incline my will and affections toward thee and in spight of all tentations giue mee strength to cleaue vnto thee and then both I and all those faithfull children thou hast giuen mee shall all at once with speed and earnestnesse walke to thee and with thee yea when once my Royall and glorious Husband hath brought me both into these lower roomes of his spirituall treasures on earth and into his heauenly chambers of glory then will we reioice and be glad in none but thee which shalt be all in all to vs then will wee celebrate and magnifie thy loue aboue all the pleasures we found vpon earth for all of vs thy righteous ones both Angels and Saints are inflamed with the loue of thee 4. I am blacke O daughters of Ierusalem but comely If I be as the tents of Kedar yet I am as the curtaines of Salomon Neuer vpbraid me O yee forraine congregations that I seeme in outward appearance discoloured by my infirmities and duskish with tribulations for whatsoeuer I seeme to you I am yet inwardly well-fauoured in the eies of Him whom I seeke to please and though I be to you blacke like the tents of the Arabian shepheards yet to him and in him I am glorious and beautifull like the Curtaines of Salomon 5. Regard yee me not because I am blacke for the Sunne hath looked vpon mee the sonnes of my mother were angry against me they made me keeper of the vines but I kept not mine owne vine Looke not therefore disdainfully vpon me because I am blackish and darke of hiew for this colour is not so much naturall to mee as caused by that continuall heat of afflictions wherewith I haue beene vsually scorched neither this so much vpon my owne iust desert as vpon the rage and enuie of my false brethren the world who would needs force vpon me the obseruation of their idolatrous religions and superstitious impieties through whose wicked importunitie and my owne weaknesse I haue not so intirely kept the sincere truth of God committed to me as I ought 6. Shew me O thou whom my soule loueth where thou feedest where thou liest at noone for why should I be as she that turneth aside to the flocks of thy companions Now therefore that I am some little started aside from thee O thou whom my soule notwithstanding dearely loueth shew me I beseech thee where and in what wholsome and diuine pastures thou like a good shepherd feedest and restest thy flocks with comfortable refreshings in the extremitie of these hot persecutions for how can it stand with thy glorie that I should through thy neglect thus suspiciously wander vp and downe amongst the congregations of them that both command and practise the worship of false gods CHRIST to the Church 7. If thou know not O thou the fairest among women get thee forth by the steps of the flocke and seed thy Kids aboue the tents of the shepherds IF thou know not O thou my Church whom I both esteeme and haue made most beautifull by my merits and thy sanctification stay not amongst these false worshippers but follow the holy steps of those blessed Patriarkes Prophets Apostles which haue beene my true and ancient flocke who haue both knowne my voice and followed mee and feed thou my weake and tender ones with this their spirituall food of life farre aboue the carnall reach of those other false teachers 8. I haue compared thee O my loue to the troupes of horses in the Chariots of Pharaoh Such is mine estimation of thee O my Loue that so farre as the choisest Egyptian horses of Pharaoh for comely shape for honourable seruice for strength and speed exceed all other so farre thou excellest all that may be compared
to your God the World and seek to please him with your base and seruile deuotions it shall be long enough ere such religion shall make you happy You shall at last forsake those altars emptie and sorrowfull How easie is it for vs Christians thus to insult ouer the worldling that thinkes himselfe worthy of enuie How easie to turne off the world with a scornfull repulse and when it makes vs the Deuils profer All these will I giue thee to returne Peters answer Thy siluer and thy gold perish with thee How easie to account none so miserable as those that are rich with iniurie and grow great by being conscious of secret euils Wealth and honor when it comes vpon the best tearmes is but vaine but when vpon ill conditions burdensome When they are at the best they are scarce friends but when at the worst tormentors Alas how ill agrees a gay coat and a festred heart What auailes an high title with an hell in the soule I admire the faith of Moses but presupposing his faith I wonder not at his choice He preferred the afflictions of Israel to the pleasures of Aegypt and chose rather to eate the Lamb with sowre hearbs than all their flesh-pots for how much better is it to be miserable than guilty and what comparison is there betwixt sorrow and sinne If it were possible let me rather be in hell without sinne than on earth wickedly glorious But how much are we bound to God that allowes vs earthly fauours without this opposition That God hath made you at once honourable and iust and your life pleasant and holy and hath giuen you an high estate with a good heart are fauours that looke for thanks These must be acknowledged not rested in They are yet higher thoughts that must perfect your contentment What God hath giuen you is nothing to that he meanes to giue He hath bin liberall but he will be munificent This is not so much as the taste of a full cup. Fasten your eyes vpon your future glory and see how meanly you shall esteeme these earthly graces Here you command but a little pittance of mould great indeed to vs little to the whole there whole heauen shall be yours Here you command but as a subiect there you shall reigne as a King Here you are obserued but sometimes with your iust distaste there you shall raigne with peace and ioy Here you are noble among men there glorious amongst Angels Here you want not honour but you want not crosses there is nothing but felicity Here you haue some short ioyes there is nothing but eternity You are a stranger here there at home Here Satan tempts you and men vexe you there Saints and Angels shall applaud you and God shall fill you with himselfe In a word you are onely blessed here for that you shall be These are thoughts worthy of greatnesse which if we suffer eyther imployments or pleasures to thrust out of our doores we doe wilfully make our selues comfortlesse Let these still season your mirth and sweeten your sorrowes and euer interpose themselues betwixt you and the world These onely can make your life happy and your death welcome To my Lord HAY H. and P. EP. III. Of true Honour MY Lord it is safe to complaine of Nature where Grace is and to magnifie Grace where it is at once had and affected It is a fault of Nature and not the least that as she hath dimme eyes so they are miss-placed She lookes still eyther forward or downeward forward to the obiect she desires or downeward to the meanes neuer turnes her eyes eyther backward to see what shee was or vpward to the cause of her good whence it is iust with God to with-hold what he would giue or to curse that which hee bestowes and to besot carnall minds with outward things in their value in their desire in their vse whereas true wisedome hath cleare eyes and right set and therefore sees an inuisible hand in all sensible euents effecting all things directing all things to their due end sees on whom to depend whom to thanke Earth is too low and too base to giue bounds vnto a spirituall sight No man then can truely know what belongs to wealth or honour but the gracious eyther how to compasse them or how to prize them or how to vse them I care not how many thousand wayes there are to seeming-honour besides this of vertue they all if more still lead to shame or what plots are deuised to improue it if they were as deepe as hell yet their end is losse As there is no counsell against God so there is no honour without him Heâ— inclines the hearts of Princes to fauour the hearts of inferiours to applause Without him the hand cannot moue to successe nor the tongue to praise And what is honour without these In vaine doth the world frowne vpon the man whom hee meanes to honour or smile where hee would disgrace Let mee then tell your Lordship who are fauourites in the Court of heauen euen whiles they wander on earth yea let the great King himselfe tell you Those that honour mee I will honour That men haue the grace to giue honour to God is an high fauour but because men giue honour to God as their dutie that therefore God should giue honour to men is to giue because hee hath giuen It is a fauour of God that man is honoured of man like himselfe but that God alloweth of our endeuours as honour to himselfe is a greater fauour than that wherewith hee requites it This is the goodnesse of our God The man that serues him honours him and whosoeuer honours him with his seruice is crowned with honour I challenge all times places persons Who euer honoured God and was neglected Who hath wilfully dishonoured him and prospered Turne ouer all Records and see how successe euer blessed the iust after many dangers after many stormes of resistance and left their conclusion glorious how all godlesse plots in their loose haue at once deceiued shamed punished their Author I goe no further Your owne brest knowes that your happy experience can herein iustifie God The world hath noted you for a follower of vertue and hath seene how fast Honour followed you Whiles you sought fauour with the God of heauen he hath giuen you fauour with his Deputy on earth Gods former actions are patternes of his future He teacheth you what he will doe by what hee hath done Vnlesse your hand be weary of offering seruice he cannot eyther pull in his hand from rewarding or hold it out empty Honour him still and God pawnes his honour on not failing you You cannot distruct him whom your proofe hath found faithfull And whiles you settle your heart in this right course of true glory laugh in secret scorne at the idle endeuours of those men whose policies would out-reach God and seize vpon honour without his leaue God laughes at them in heauen it is a safe and
is maruellous in our eyes You haue now parallel'd vs Out of both our feares God hath fetched securitie Oh that out of our securitie wee could as easily fetch feare not so much of euill as of the Author of good and yet trust him in our feare and in both magnifie him Yea you haue by this act gained some conuerts against the hope of the agents neither can I without many ioyfull congratulations thinke of the estate of your Church which euery day honours with the accesse of new clients whose teares and sad confessions make the Angels to reioyce in heauen and the Saints on earth We should giue you example if our peace were as plentifull of goodnesse as of pleasure But how seldome hath the Church gained by ease or lost by restraint Blesse you God for our prosperitie and we shall praise him for your progresse To M. THOMAS SVTTON EP. VII Exciting him and in him all others to early and cheerfull beneficence shewing the necessitie and benefit of good workes SIR I trouble you not with reasons of my writing or with excuses if I doe ill no plea can warrant me if well I cannot be discouraged with any censures I craue not your pardon but your acceptation It is no presumption to giue good counsell and presents of loue feare not to be ill taken of strangers My pen and your substance are both giuen vs for one end to doe good These are our talents how happy are we if we can improue them well suffer me to doe you good with the one that with the other you may doe good to many and most to your selfe You cannot but know that your ful hand and worthy purposes haue possessed the world with much expectation what speake I of the world whose honest and reasonable claimes yet cannot bee contemned with honour nor disappointed with dishonour The God of heauen which hath lent you this abundance and giuen you these gracious thoughts of charity of piety lookes long for the issue of both and will easily complaine either of too little or too late Your wealth and your will are both good but the first is onely made good by the second For if your hand were full and your heart empty we who now applaud you should iustly pity you you might haue riches not goods not blessings your burthen should be greater then your estate and you should be richer in sorrowes then in meals For if we looke to no other world what gaine is it to be the keeper of the best earth That which is the common cofer of all the rich mynes we do but tread vpon and account it vile because it doth but hold and hide those treasures Whereas the skilfull metallist that findeth and refineth those precious veines for publike vse is rewarded is honoured The very basest Element yeelds gold the sauage Indian gets it the seruile prentise workes it the very Midianitish Camell may weare it the miserable worldling admires it the couetous Iew swallowes it the vnthrifty Ruffian spends it what are all these the better for it Onely good vse giues praise to earthly possessions Herein therefore you owe more to God that he hath giuen you an heart to doe good a will to be as rich in good workes as great in riches To be a friend to this Mammon is to be an enemy to God but to make friends with it is royall and Christian His enemies may be wealthy none but his friends can either be good or do good Da accipe saith the Wise-man The Christian which must imitate the high patterne of his Creator knowes his best riches to be bounty God that hath all giues all reserues nothing And for himselfe he well considers that God hath not made him an owner but a seruant and of seruants a seruant not of his goods but of the Giuer not a Treasurer but a Steward whose praise is more To lay out well then to haue receiued much The greatest gaine therefore that he affects is an eauen reckoning a cleare discharge which since it is obtained by disposing not by keeping he counts reseruation losse iust expence his trade and ioy he knowes that Wel done faithfull seruant is a thousand times more sweet a note then Soule take thine ease for that is the voice of the matter recompencing this of the carnall heart presuming and what followes to the one but his masters ioy what to the other but the losse of his soule Blessed be that God which hath giuen you an heart to fore-thinke this and in this dry and dead Age a will to honour him with his owne and to credit his Gospell with your beneficence Lo we are vpbraided with barrennesse your name hath beene publikely opposed to these challenges as in whom it shall be seene that the truth hath friends that can giue I neither distrust nor perswade you whose resolutions are happily fixed on purposes of good onely giue me leaue to hasten your pase a little and to excite your Christian forwardnesse to begin speedily what you haue long and constantly vowed You would not but doe good why not now I speake boldly The more speed the more comfort Neither the times are in our disposing nor our selues if God had set vs a day and made our wealth inseparable there were no danger in delaying now our vncertainty either must quicken vs or may deceiue vs. How many haue meant well and done nothing and lost their crowne with lingring whose destinies haue preuented their desires and haue made their good motions the wards of their executors not without miserable successe to whom that they would haue done good is not so great a praise as it is dishonour that they might haue done it their wracks are our warnings we are equally mortall equally fickle Why haue you this respite of liuing but to preuent the imperious necessity of death it is a wofull and remedilesse complaint that the end of our dayes hath ouer-run the beginning of our good works Early beneficence hath no danger many ioyes for the conscience of good done the prayers and blessings of the releeued the gratulations of the Saints are as so many perpetuall comforters which can make our life pleasant and our death happy our euill dayes good and our good better All these are lost with delay few and cold are the prayers for him that may giue and in lieu our good purposes fore-slowed are become our tormentors vpon our death-bed Little difference is betwixt good deferred and euill done Good was meant who hindred it will our conscience say there was time enough meanes enough need enough what hindred Did feare of enuy distrust of want Alas what bugs are these to fright men from heauen As if the enuy of keeping were lesse then of bestowing As if God were not as good a debtor as a giuer he that giues to the poore lends to God saith wise Salomon If he freely giue vs what we may lend grace to giue wil he not much more
about three hundred yeeres agoe Not of Reason Negotiatores teâ—ae sunt ipsi Sacerdotes qui vendunt orationes missas prodenarijs facientes domum orationis Apotâ—ecam negotiationis In Reue. l. 10. p. 5. how should one meere man pay for another dispense with another to another by another Not of Scripture which hath flatly said The bloud of Iesus Christ his Sonne purgeth vs from all sinne and yet I remember that acute Sadeel hath taught me that this practise is according to Scripture what Scripture Hee cast the money-changers out of the Temple and said Yee haue made my house a denne of theeues Which also Ioachim their propheticall Abbot well applies to this purpose Some modest Doctors of Lonan would faine haue minced this Antichristian blasphemy who began to teach that the passions of the Saints are not so by Indulgences applied that they become true satisfactions but that they only serue to moue God by the sight of them to apply vnto vs Christs satisfaction But these meale-mouth'd Diuines were soone charm'd Bellar. lib. 1. de Indulgent foure seuerall Popes as their Cardinall confesseth fell vpon the necke of them their opinion Leo the tenth Pius the fift Gregory the thirteenth and Clemens the sixt and with their furious Buls bellow out threats against them and tosse them in the aire for Heretickes and teach them vpon paine of a curse to speake home with Bellarmine Passionibus sanctorum expiari delicta and straight Applicari nobis sanctorum passiones ad redimend as poenas quas propeccatis Deo debemus That by the sufferings of Saints our sinnes are expiated and that by them applied wee are redeemed from those punishments which we yet owe to God Blasphemy worthy the tearing of garments How is it finished by Christ if men must supply Oh blessed Sauiour was euery drop of thy bloud enough to redeeme a world and doe we yet need the helpe of men How art thou a perfect Sauiour if our brethren also must be our Redeemers Oh yee blessed Saints how would you abhorre this sacrilegious glorie and with those holy Apostles yea that glorious Angell say Vide ne feceris and with those wise Virgins Lest there will not bee enough for vs and you goe to them that sell and buy for your selues For vs we enuie not their multitude let them haue as many Sauiours as Saints and as many Saints as men wee know with Ambrose Christi passio adiutore non eguit Christs passion needs no helper and therefore with that worthy Martyr dare say None but Christ none but Christ Let our soules die if he cannot saue them let them not feare their death or torment if he haue finished Heare this thou languishing and afflicted soule There is not one of thy sins but it is paid for not one of thy debts in the scroll of God but it is crossed not one farthing of all thine infinite ransome is vnpaid Alas thy sinnes thou sayest are euer before thee and Gods indignation goes still ouer thee and thou goest mourning all the day long and with that patterne of distresse criest out in the bitternes of thy soule I haue sinned what shall I doe to thee O thou preseruer of men What shouldst thou doe Turne and beleeue Now thou art stung in thy conscience with this fiery Serpent looke vp with the eyes of faith to this brazen Serpent Christ Iesus and be healed Behold his head is humbly bowed down in a gracious respect to thee his arms are stretched out louingly to embrace thee yea his precious side is open to receiue thee and his tongue interprets all these to thee for thine endlesse comfort It is finished There is no more accusation iudgment death hel for thee all these are no more to thee than if they were not Who shall condemne It is Christ which is dead I know how ready euery man is to reach forth his hand to this dole of grace and how angry to be beaten from this dore of mercy We are all easily perswaded to hope well because wee loue our selues well Which of all vs in this great congregation takes exceptions to himselfe and thinkes I know there is no want in my Sauiour there is want in me He hath finished but I beleeue not I repent not Euery presumptuous and hard heart so catches at Christ as if he had finisht for all as if he had broken downe the gates of hell and loosed the bands of death and had made forgiuenes as common as life Prosperitas stultorum perdit eos saith wise Salomon Ease slaieth the foolish and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them yea the confidence of prosperity Thou saiest God is mercifull thy Sauiour bounteous his passion absolute all these and yet thou maiest be condemned Mercifull not vniust bountifull not lauish absolutely sufficient for all not effectuall to all Whatsoeuer God is what art thou Here is the doubt Thou saiest well Christ is the good Shepheard Wherein He giues his life but for whom for his sheepe What is this to thee While thou art secure prophane impenitent thou art a Wolfe or a Goat My sheepe heare my voyce what is his voice but his precepts Where is thine obedience to his commandements If thou wilt not heare his Law neuer harken to his Gospell Here is no more mercy for thee than if there were no Sauiour He hath finished for those in whom he hath begunne if thou haue no beginnings of grace as yet hope not for euer finishing of saluation Come to me all ye that are heauy laden saith Christ thou shalt get nothing if thou come when he calls thee not Thou art not called and canst not be refreshed vnlesse thou be laden not with sinne this alone keepes thee away from God but with conscience of sinne A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Is thy heart wounded with thy sinne doth griefe and hatred striue within thee whether shall be more Are the desires of thy soule with God Doest thou long for holinesse complaine of thy imperfections struggle against thy corruptions Thou art the man feare not It is finished That Law which thou wouldest haue kept and couldest not thy Sauiour could and did keepe for thee that saluation which thou couldest neuer worke-out alone alas poore impotent creatures what can we doe towards heauen without him which cannot moue on earth but in him hee alone for thee hath finished Looke vp therefore boldly to the throne of God and vpon the truth of thy repentance and faith know that there is no quarrell against thee in heauen nothing but peace and ioy All is finished He would be spitted on that he might wash thee he would be couered with scornefull robes that thy sinnes might be couered he would bee whipped that thy soule might not be scourged eternally he would thirst that thy soule might be satisfied he would beare all his Fathers wrath that thou mightest beare none he would yeeld to death that
And if wee could but as heartily haue prayed for him before as we haue heartily wept for him since perhaps we had not had this cause of mourning From sorrow let vs descend to paines which is no small cause of crying and teares as I feare some of vs must the word howsoeuer it is here translated is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour I must confesse labour and paine are neere one another whence we say that he which labours takes paines and contrarily that a woman is in labour or trauell when shee is in the paine of child-birth teares cannot be wip't away whiles toile remaines That the Israelites may leaue crying they must bee deliuered from the brick-kilnes of Aegypt Indeed God had in our creation allotted vs labour without paine but when once sinne came into the soule paine seized vpon the bones and the minde was possessed with a wearinesse and irksome loathing of what it must do and euer since sorrow and labour haue beene inseparable attendants vpon the life of man Insomuch as God when he would describe to vs the happy estate of the dead does it in those termes They shall rest from their labours Looke into the field there you shall see toiling at the plough and sithe Looke into the waters there you see tugging at the oares and cabels Looke into the City there you see plodding in the streets sweating in the shops Looke into the studies there you see fixing of eyes tossing of bookes scratching the head palenesse infirmity Looke into the Court there you see tedious attendance emulatory officiousnesse All things are full of labour and labour is full of sorrow If we doe nothing idlenesse is wearisome if any thing worke is wearisome in one or both of these the best of life is consumed Who now can bee in loue with a life that hath nothing in it but crying and teares in the entrance death in the conclusion labour and paine in the continuance and sorrow in all these What Gally-slaue but we would be in loue with our chaine what prisoner would delight in his dungeon How hath our infidelity besotted vs if we doe not long after that happy estate of our immortality wherein all our teares shall be wip't away and we at once freed from labour sorrow and death Now as it is vaine to hope for this till then so then not to hope for it is paganish and brutish He that hath tasked vs with these penances hath vndertaken to release vs. God shall wipe away all teares While we stay here he keepes all our teares in a bottle Psal 56. so precious is the water that is distilled from penitent eies and because he will be sure not to faile he notes how many drops there be in his register It was a pretious ointment wherewith the woman in the Pharises house it is thought Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of Christ Luke 7.37 but her teares wherewith shee washt them were more worth than her spilâ—nard But that which is here precious is there vnseasonable then hee shall wipe away those which here hee would saue As death so passions are the companions of infirmity whereupon some that haue beene too nice haue called those which were incident into Christ Propassions not considering that he which was capable of death might be as well of passions These troublesome affections of griefe feare and such like doe not fall into glorified soules It is true that they haue loue desire ioy in their greatest perfection yea they could not haue perfection without them but like as God loues and hates and reioyces truly but in a manner of his owne abstracted from all infirmity and passion so doe his glorified Saints in imitation of him There therefore as we cannot die so wee cannot grieue we cannot be afflicted Here one saies My belly my belly with the Prophet another mine head mine head with the Shunamites sonne another my sonne my sonne as Dauid another my father my father with Elisha One cries out of his sinnes with Dauid another of his hunger with Esau another of an ill wife with Iob another of trecherous friends 2 Kings 4. with the Psalmist One of a sore in body with Ezechias another of a troubled soule with our Sauiour in the garden euery one hath some complaint or other to make his cheekes wet and his heart heauy Stay but a while and there shall be none of these There shall be no crying no complaining in the streets of the new Ierusalem No axe no hammer shall be heard within this heauenly Temple Why are we not content to weepe here a while on condition that we may weepe no more Why are we not ambitious of this blessed ease Certainly we doe not smart enough with our euils that we are not desirous of rest These teares are not yet dry yet they are ready to be ouertaken by others for our particular afflictions Miseries as the Psalmist compares them are like waues which breake one vpon another and tosse vs with a perpetuall vexation and we vaine men shall we not wish to be in our hauen Are we sicke and grieue to thinke of remedie Are we still dying and are wee loth to thinke of life Oh this miserable vnbeleefe that tho we see a glorious heauen aboue vs yet we are vnwilling to go to it we see a wearisome world about vs and yet are loth to thinke of leauing it This gracious master of ours whose dissolution is ours while he was here amongst vs his princely crowne could not keepe his head from paine his golden rod could not driue away his feuers now is hee freed from all his aches agues stitches convulsions cold sweats now he triumphs in glory amongst the Angels and Saints now he walkes in white robes and attends on the glorious bridegroome of the Church and doe we thinke he would be content now for all the kingdomes of the world to be as he was We that professe it was our ioy and honour to follow him whither soeuer he had gone In his disports in his warres in his trauels why are we not now ambitious of following him to his better crowne yea of raigning together with him for heauen admits of this equality in that glory wherein he raignes with his Sauiour ours Why doe we not now heartily with him that was rauished into the third heauan say Cupio dissolui esse cum Christo not barely to be dissolued a malecontent may doe so but therefore to be dissolued that we may be with Christ possessed of his euerlasting glory where we shall not onely not weepe but reioyce and sing Halleluiahs for euer not onely not die but enioy a blessed and heauenly life Euen so Lord Iesus come quickly Now if any man shall aske the Disciples question Master when shall these things be the celestiall voyce tels him it must bee vpon a change For the first things are passed It shall be in part so soone as euer our first things our life
of Alexandria should be ouer Egypt Libya Penâ—â—polis as the Bishop of Rome was ouer his Suburbitarie Churches Doe but beare Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus an old man of aboue threescore solemnly protesting that hee succeeded his Grandfathers and great-grandfathers for seuen successiue generations in the same Episcopall chaire Heare but Irenaus Tertullian Clement Dorotheus Eusebius describing and recording the Bishops of Antioch Alexandria Hierusalem Rome in the vndoubted order of their successions not onely by their numbers but by their names also Certainly neuer day lookt forth since the age of the Apostles wherein the Spouse of Christ wanted the attendance of these Bride-men But what doe I vrge this The Sun is in the heauen and shines there Euen Ierome himselfe though but a Presbyter and a stout Champion of his owne order yet deduceth this difference of degrees from the cradle of the first Schisme from the common decree of the first Church from tradition Apostolicall yea when Saint Paul wrote this to his Corinthians that iarring word had sounded in the Church I am Pauls I am Apolloes I am Cephaes and therefore euen then had these differences beene Differences perhaps in Order you will say not in Degree Yes both in Order and in Power too There were those whom Saint Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presidents and Rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I whom Ignatius calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gouernors Dionysius Hierarchs Cypriâ—â— Ouerseers to whom Saint Paul attributes Power of reformation and correctioâ— to whom the Canons of the Apostles giue the power of sentence or constitution Ignatius chiefely and authority Eusebius out of Egesippus the throne of Episcopality Cyprian the vigor and authority of the Chaire Origen the highest pitch of the Church Ierome a peerelesse and eminent power The Councell of Sardis the height of gouernment and lastly Epiphanius an Order generatiue of Fathers But what doe I gleaning after the haruest of so great Authors as haue discussed this point Oh how oft and with what deepe sighes hath this most flourishing and happy Church of England wisht that shee might with some of her owne bloud haue puâ—â—â—ased vnto her dearest Sisters abroad the retention of this most ancient and euery way best forme of gouernment Which might happily 〈◊〉 so haue taken place if they had met with such a Monarchicall reformation as through the blessing of God waâ— designed vnto vs Now they are faine to vndergoe â—hat administration Prouisionally onely if we may beleeue wise and learned Fregeâ—ill which the necessity of their condition doth for the time cast vpon them The God of heauen raise them vp Queenes for their nurses and Kings for their nursing fathers that they may once enioy with vs this happy blessing of the sequence and subordination of degrees In the meane time I dare with Ignatius professe to put my soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in pawne for the safe obseruation of this excellent order Which if it haue euer not happily succeeded to any region or Church it is the fault of the person not of the institution it selfe which cannot iustly be deemed other than wholsome holy diuine But remember I beseech you in the meane while Reuerend Fathers that these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministeries a word raked out of the very dust lest it should not imply humility enough Yee are graced with Honors by the pious munificence of Princes But our Lord Iesus Christ ye know vses to measure your honours by your seruices Ye are Fathers of the Church but Sons of the Bride-chamber Peeres of the State but seruants of the Church Generalls of this warfare but with S. Paul fellow-souldiers Rulers in Gods house but withall fellow-seruants Intreat your Clergie kindly vse them familiarly as knowing your selues to be Fathers in dignity brethren in seruice Ye know the counsell of Saint Ambrose Let those of the Clergy within your charge be as limmes of your owne body God hath called you Starres and Angels Imitate ye the Starres which the higher they are the lesser they are wont to appeare Imitate ye the Angels who though Peeres of heauen yet are wont to approue themselues ministring spirits for the poorest of Gods Saints No spectacle can be more odious than a proud Prelate But heare mee also O yee Laicks take heed of contemning this sacred function These are ministeries indeed but glorious and honourable To serue God is to rule and command And what is it euen to serue you Surely those heauenly Spirits those principalities and powers doe the very same to vs continually whom yet their loue and seruice hath neuer drawne into contempt We beseech you Brethren that you know them which labour amongst you and are ouer you in the Lord and admonish you and hold them deare for their works sake We haue dispatched the Diuersities of Ministeries now followes that of Operations God hath not ordained to himselfe idle seruices but busie and painfull One gouernes another teaches a third doth both teach and gouerne worthy therefore of double honour for his rule for his labour And hee that gouernes sometimes must strike with the rod sometimes with the sword One while hee must kindly allure another while he must sharply punish he must vphold the falling retaine the wauering reduce the wandring And for him that teaches it is not onely the charge of doctrine that lies vpon him but of reproofe of correction of instruction in righteousnesse One while he directs with counsels then he erects with promises then againe he deiects with threatnings he wounds the whole salues the wounded workes alwaies The office of a Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a worthy worke Whosoeuer playes in this holy Chaire shall once waile in hell Saint Bernard said well in that famous Epistle of his to Henricus Senonensis Many would not so eagerly run to honours if they could thinke them burdens Certainly they would feare to bee crushed with this weight neither would with so much paine and perill gape for euery promotion Thus he But will it please you withall to heare what that pious Censor casts in the teeth of his owne times Sola attenditur gloria non poena Curritur in clero passim c. The dignity only is cared for not the duty Men of all Ages and ranks in the Clergy learned and vnlearned run to spirituall Cures as if they might liue for euer Sine curis when once they haue gotten Cures of soules Doe you marke well this Prophesie for such it might seeme of the Oracle of Clarenall Would to God this were not the very disease of our times There be some delicate peeces that thrust themselues into fat benefices onely that they may make much of one and giue themselues ouer to their pleasure and ease Euen of those mouthes which are sacred to God there want not some which out of a wanton custome sauour of nothing but Indian soot and take more pleasure to put forth a cloud of smoke than
this day wherein religion is not onely warmed but locked in her seat so fast that the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against it There haue beene Princes and that in this land which as the heathen Politician compared his Tyrant haue beene like to ill Physitians that haue purged away the good humors and left the bad behind them with whom any thing hath bin lawful but to be religious Some of your gray haires can be my witnesses Behold the euils we haue escaped shew vs our blessings Here hath bin no dragging out of houses no hiding of Bibles no creeping into woods no Bonnering or Butchering of Gods Saints no rotting in dungeons no casting of infants out of the mothers belly into the mothers flames nothing but Gods truth abundantly preached cheerefully professed incouraged rewarded What nation vnder heauen yeelds so many learned Diuines What times euer yeelded so many preaching Bishops When was this City the City of our ioy euer so happy this way as in these late successions Whither can we ascribe this health of the Church and life of the Gospell but next to God to His example His countenance His endeuours Wherein I may not omit how right he hath trod in the steps of that blessed Constantine in al his religious proceedings Let vs in one word parallel them Euseb de vita Const l. 4. c. 36. Constantine caused fifty Volumes of the Scriptures to bee faire written out in parchment for the vse of the Church Lib. 3.61.62 King Iames hath caused the Bookes of Scriptures to bee accurately translated and published by thousands Constantine made a zealous edict against Nouatians Valentinians Marcionites King Iames Lib. 3.63 besides his powerfull proclamations and soueraigne lawes hath effectually written against Popery and Vorstianisme Constantine tooke away the liberty of the meetings of Heretickes King Iames hath by wholesome lawes inhibited the assemblies of Papists and schismatickes Constantine sate in the middest of Bishops Lib. 1. c. 37. In media istorum frequentia ac congressu adesse vna considere non dedâ—gnatus Basil dor as if hee had beene one of them King Iames besides his solemne conferences vouchsafes not seldome to spend his meales in discourse with his Bishops and other worthy Diuines Constantine charged his sonnes vt planè sine fuco Christiani essent that they should be Christians in earnest King Iames hath done the like in learned and diuine precepts which shall liue till time bee no more Yea in their very coynes is a resemblance Constantine had his picture stampt vpon his mettals praying Lib. 4.15 King Iames hath his picture with prayer about it O Lord protect the kingdomes which thou hast vnited Lastly Constantine built Churches one in Ierusalem another in Nicomedia Lib. 3.43 King Iames hath founded one Colledge which shall helpe to build and confirme the whole Church of God vpon earth Yee wealthy Citizens that loue Ierusalem cast in your store after this royall example into the Sanctuary of God and whiles you make the Church of God happy make your selues so Brethren if wee haue any relish of Christ any sense of heauen let vs blesse God for the life of our soule the Gospell and for the spirit of this life his Anointed But where had beene our peace or this freedome of the Gospell without our deliuerance and where had our deliuerance beene without him As it was reported of the Oake of Mamre that all religions rendred their yeerely worship there Socr. l. 2. c. 3. The Iewes because of Abraham their Patriarch the Gentile because of the Angels that appeared there to Abraham The Christians because of Christ that was there seene of Abraham with the Angels So was there to King Iames in his first beginnings a confluence of all sects with papers in their hands and as it was best for them with a Rogamus Domine non pugnamus like the subiects of Theodosius Ribera in prophet min. ex Ioseph Antiq. lib. 9 vlt. â— mritam Iudaeos cognatos appellari soliti quamdiu illis bene erat At vbi contra c. 1 King 12. Flectâ—re si nequco c. But our cozens of Samaria when they saw that Salomons yoke would not bee lightned soone flew off in a rage What portion haue wee in Dauid And now those which had so oft looke vp to Heauen in vaine resolue to dig downe to Heli for aid Satan himselfe met them and offered for sauing of their labour to bring Hell vp to them What a world of sulphur had hee prouided against that day What a brewing of death was tunned vp in those vessels The murderous Pioners laught at the close felicity of their proiect and now before-hand seemed in conceit to haue heard the cracke of this hellish thunder and to see the mangled carcasses of the Heretickes flying vp so suddenly that their soules must needs goe vpward towards their perdition their streets strewed with legges and armes and the stones braining as many in their fall as they blew vp in their rise Remember the Children of Edom O Lord in the day of Ierusalem which said Psal 117.7 Downe with it downe with it euen to the ground O daughter of Babel worthy to bee destroyed blessed shall hee bee that serueth thee as thou wouldest haue serued vs. But hee that sits in Heauen laught as fast at them to see their presumption that would bee sending vp bodies to heauen before the resurrection and preferring companions to Elias in a fiery Chariot and said vt quid fremuerunt Consider now how great things the Lord hath done for vs The snare is broken and wee are deliuered But how As that learned Bishop well applied Salomon to this purpose Diuinatio in labijs Regis Pro. 16.10 B. Barlow p. 350 If there had not beene a diuination in the lips of the King wee had beene all in iawes of death Vnder his shadow wee are preserued aliue as Ieremie speaketh It is true God could haue done it by other meanes but hee would doe it by this that wee might owe the being of our liues to him of whom wee held our well-being before Oh praised be the God of heauen for our deliuerance Praised bee God for his anointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suet. by whom wee are deliuered Yea how should wee call to our fellow creatures the Angels Saints heauens elements meteors mountaines beasts trees to helpe vs praise the Lord for this mercy Addit neque me liberosque meos cariores habebo quam Caium eius sorores Clodoneus Otho Fris l. 4. c. 32. Clodoucus Otho Fris l. 4. c. 31. And as the oath of the Romane souldiers ranne how deare and precious should the life of Caesar bee to vs aboue all earthly things how should wee hate the base vnthankfulnesse of those men which can say of him as one said of his Saint Martin Martinus bonus in auxilio charus in negotio who whiles they
them that loue our soules and hate them that loue our sinnes They are these rough hands that must bring vs sauory dishes and carry away a blessing truth is for them now thankes shall be for them hereafter but in the meane time they may not be iudged by the appearance Lastly if we shall iudge friendship by complement salubrity by sweetnesse seruice by the eye fidelity by oathes valour by brags a Saint by his face a deuill by his feet we shall be sure to be deceiued Iudge not therefore according to appearance But that yee mistake not though we may not iudge onely by the appearance yet appearance may not bee neglected in our iudgement Some things according to the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeme and are are as they seeme Semblances are not alwaies seuered from truth Our senses are safe guides to our vnderstandings Wee iustly laugh at that Scepticke in Laertius who because his seruant robbed his Cup-bord doubted whether hee left his victuals there What doe wee with eyes if wee may not beleeue their intelligence That world is past wherein the glosse Clericus amplectens foeminam praesumitur benedicendi causà fecisse The wanton imbracements of another mans wife must passe with a Clarke for a ghostly benediction Men are now more wise lesse charitable Words and probable shewes are appearances actions are not and yet euen our words also shall iudge vs If they bee filthy if blasphemous if but idle wee shall account for them wee shall bee iudged by them Ex ore tuo A foule tongue shewes euer a rotten heart By their fruits yee shall know them is our Sauiours rule I may safely say No body desires to borrow colours of euill if you doe ill thinke not that we will make dainty to thinke you so When the God of loue can say by the Disciple of loue Qui facit peccatum ex diabolo est Hee that committeth sinne is of the deuill Euen the righteous Iudge of the world iudgeth secundum opera according to our works we cannot erre whiles wee tread in his steps If wee doe euill sinne lies at the doore but it is on the street side Euery Passenger sees it censures it How much more he that sees in secret Tribulation and anguish vpon euery soule that doth euill Euery soule here is no exemption by greatnesse no buying off with bribes no bleering of the eyes with pretences no shrouding our selues in the night of secrecy but if it be a soule that doth euill Tribulation and anguish is for it Contrarily If we doe well shall we not be accepted If we be charitable in our almes iust in our awards faithfull in our performances sober in our carriages deuout in our religious seruices conscionable in our actions Glory and honour and peace to euery man that workeâ—h good we shall haue peace with our selues honour with men glory with God and his Angels Yea that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding such honour as haue al his Saints the incomprehensible glory of the God of peace the God of Saints and Angels to the participation whereof that good God that hath ordained vs as mercifully bring vs for the sake of his deare Sonne Iesus Christ the iust To whom with thee O Father and thy good Spirit one infinite God our God be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer Amen THE GREAT IMPOSTOR LAID OPEN IN A SERMON AT GRAYES INNE Febr. 2. 1623. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON ⧠Printed for NATHANIEL BVTTER 1624. TO THE MOST NOBLE AND WORTHILY HONOVRED SOCIETIE OF GRAYES INNE AT WHOSE BARRE THIS JMPOSTOR WAS openly arraigned J. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES THIS PVBLIKE LIFE OF HIS WEAKE AND VNWORTHIE LABOVR THE GREAT IMPOSTOR LAID OPEN OVT OF IER 17.9 The heart is deceitfull aboue all things I Know where I am in one of the famous Phrontisteries of Law and Iustice wherefore serues Law and Iustice but for the preuention or punishment of fraud and wickednesse Giue me leaue therefore to bring before you Students Masters Fathers Oracles of Law and Iustice the greatest Cheator and Malefactor in the world our owne Heart It is a great word that I haue said in promising to bring him before you for this is one of the greatest aduantages of his fraud that hee cannot bee seene That as that old Iugler Apollonius Thyanaeus when he was brought before the Iudge vanished out of sight so this great Impostor in his very presenting before you dispeareth and is gone yea so cunningly that he doth it with our owne consent and we would be loth that he could be seene Therefore as an Epiphonema to this iust complaint of deceitfulnesse is added Who can know it It is easie to know that it is deceitfull and in what it deceiues though the deceits themselues cannot bee knowne till too late As wee may see the ship and the sea and the ship going on the sea yet the way of a ship in the sea as Salomon obserues wee know not God askes and God shall answer What hee askes by Ieremie he shall answer by S. Paul Who knowes the heart of man Euen the spirit of man that is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 If then the heart haue but eyes enow to see it selfe by the reflection of thoughts it is enough Ye shall easily see heare enough out of the analogie and resemblance of hearts to make you both astonished and ashamed The heart of man lies in a narrow roome yet all the world cannot fill it but that which may be said of the heart would more than fill a world Here is a double stile giuen it of deceitfulnesse of wickednesse either of which knowes no end whether of being or of discourse I spend my houre and might doe my life in treating of the first See then I beseech you the Impostor and the Imposture The Impostor himselfe The heart of man The Imposture Deceitfull aboue all things As deceitfull persons are wont euer to goe vnder many names and ambiguous and must be exprest with an alias so doth the heart of man Neither man himselfe nor any part of man hath so many names as the heart alone For euery facultie that it hath and euery action it doth it hath a seuerall name Neither is there more multiplicitie than doubt in this name Not so many termes are vsed to signifie the heart as the heart signifies many things When ye heare of the heart ye thinke straight of that fleshie part in the center of the body which liues first and dies last and whose beatings you finde to keepe time all the body ouer That is not it which is so cunning Alas that is a poore harmelesse peece meerely passiue and if it doe any thing as the subministration of Vitall spirits to the maintenance of the whole frame it is but good no it is the spirituall part that lurkes in this flesh which is guilty of such deceit We must learne of
it not are glorious hypocrites The last that stake downe and reuoke it are damnable Apostats Take all these out of the societie of men and how many customers hath God that care to buy the Truth If Truth were some rich chattell it would be bought If Truth were some goodly Lordship or the reuersion of some good Office it would be bought If Truth were some Benefice or spirituall promotion Oh time it would be bought Yea how deare are we content to pay for our filthie lusts we will needs purchase them too oft with shame beggerie disease damnation only the sauing Truth of God will not off hand What is the reason of this First of all It is but bare simple plaine honest homely Truth without welt without guard It will abide none but natiue colours it scorneth to wooe fauour with farding and licking and counterfeisance it hates either bought or borrowed beauty and therefore like some natiue face among the painted lookes course and rusty There are two shops that get away all the custome from Truth The shop of Vanity the shop of Error The one sels knacks and gew-gawes the other false wares and adulterate both of their commodities are so gilded and gaudy and glittering that all fooles throng thither and complaine to want elbow-roome and striue who shall be first seru'd Whereas the secret worke of artlesse and vnpolisht Truth can winne no eie to view it no tongue to aske so much as What will it cost me Oh yee sonnes of men how long will ye loue vanitie and seeke after lies Secondly though Truth in it selfe be alwaies excellent yet the issue of it is not seldome distastefull Veritas odium There is one Michaiah whom I hate Am I become your enemie because I tell you the truth And this is the cause that Frier Menot alleages why Truth in his Time was so vnwelcome to the court But if truth be the mother of Hatred shee is the daughter of Time and Truth hath learn't this of Time to deuoure her owne brood So that in Time Truth shall consume hatred and at the last a galling Truth shall haue more thanks than a smoothing supparisitation In the meane time Veritas nihil erubescit praeterquā abscōdi Truth blusheth at nothing but secrecy as Tertull. How euer then fond or false hearts value the Truth let vs that should be wise Christians esteeme it as the pearle hid in the field which the man sold all that euer he had to purchase Would it not set any heart on fire with an holy anger to see wha the enemies of Truth bid and giue for falshood for faction Their liberty their country the life of their Soueraigne the eternall state of their soules hath not seemed too deare to cast away vpon an ill bargaine of mis-religion and shall not we bid so much as our zealous well-wishes our effectuall endeuours our carefull obseruances for the vndoubted truth of our Maker and Redeemer What shall I say to the miserable and stupid carelesnesse of these thriftlesse and godlesse times wherein euery thing is apprised euery thing is bought saue that which is most precious most beneficiall Truth Yee great ones are made for precedents to the inferiour world your example is able to bring either good or euill into fashion For Gods sake for your soules sake what euer transactions ye make for the world lay your plots for the blessed purchase of Truth Oh let not your fickle honours your vnsatisfying pleasures your worthlesse profits yea your momentany liues seeme deare to you in comparison of heauenly Truth It is no shame in other parts for great Peeres to be Merchants Mercatores tui erant principes saith the Angell concerning Babylon Reuel 18. Thy Merchants were the Princes of the earth And why should not yee great ones be the Merchants of Truth Blessed be the God of Truth yee are so It is no proud word to say that no Court vnder heauen hath so rich a stocke of Truth as this of Great Britaine yet let me tell you the very Angels knew not so much but they desired to know more Ephes 3.10 And if ye had already that vespertine knowledge of the Saints which ye shall once haue in heauen yet know that this Bargaine stands not more in the iudgement than in the affections What euer our speculations may be if our hearts be not set vpon Truth we may be Brokers we are not Merchants Brokers for others not Merchants for our selues As our Sauiour then when he bids vs sell all forsake all holds it done when in preparation of minde we are ready to abdicate all for his name though we doe it not so doth God hold vs to buy Truth when we bestow our best thoughts our dearest wel-wishes vpon it though we haue it already Oh stirre vp your languishing zeale ye noble Courtiers rouze vp your drouping loue to diuine Truth Giue your hearts to it ye cannot but giue all for it And if ye doe not finde the sweet gaine of this Bargaine in this lower Region of error and confusion ye shall once finde it in those eternall and empireall habitations of Truth where the God of Truth shall make vp the Truth of his promises with the euerlasting truth of his glorious performances where Mercy and Truth shall so meet and embrace one another that both of them shall embrace the faithfull soule for euer and euer This for the Bargaine of Truth The forbidden sale followeth sell it not Commonly what we buy we may sell Alexander not the Great but the good sold Miters Keyes Altars the verse giues the reason Emerat ille prius Hee bought them So Saint Austen of Simon Magus Volebat emere spiritum Sanctum quia vendere volebat spiritum Sanctum He would buy the Holy Ghost because he meant to sell it Giue me a man that buyes a Seat of Iudicature I dare not trust him for not selling of Iustice he that sits in the chaire of Symonie will not giue Orders will not sticke to sell soules Some things wee may buy to sell as Ioseph did the Egyptian corn some things wee must sell if wee buy as an Israelites inheritance Leu. 25. But here wee are charged to buy what it is a sinne to sell Buy the Truth and sell it not There is many a good thing ill sold Esau sels his birth-right for pottage Hanun and Shechem sell their Countrey for loue Dalilah sels her louer for a bribe The Patriarchs sell their Brother for twenty siluerrings Haman sels the Iewes for nought The Gentiles sell the Iewish girles for wine Ioel 3.3 Israel sels the righteous for siluer and the poore for shooes Amos 2.6 Their Iudges sell sins or innocencie for rewards Esa 5.23 Ahab sels himselfe to wickednesse Iudas sels his master Demas sels the Truth All these make an ill market And in all it is a sure rule the better the commodity is the more pernicious is the sale The indefinitenesse of the charge implies a generality Buy
with his verie pen hath so laid error vpon the backe that all the world cannot raise it what a shame were it to be wanting to him to Truth to our selues But perhaps now I know some of your thoughts you would buy Truth ye thinke you would hold it if ye could be sure to know it There are many slips amongst the true coyne Either of the mothers pleaded the liuing childe to be hers with equall protestations oathes teares True yet a Salomons sword can diuide Truth from falshood and there is a test and fire that can discerne true metals from adulterate In spight of all counterfeiting there are certaine infallible marks to know Truth from Error Take but a few of many whether in the originals in the natures in the ends of both In the first Truth is diuine Error is humane what is grounded vpon the diuine word must needs be irrefragably true that which vpon humane Traditions either must or may be erroneous In the second Truth is one conforme euer to it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one said Omne verum omni vero consonat All Truth accords with euery Truth as Gerson and as it is pure so peaceable Error is full of dissonance of cruelty No particulars of ours dissent from the written verity of God We teach no man to equiuocate Our practise is not bloudy with treasons and massacres In the third Truth as it came from God so is referd to him neither hath any other end than the glory of the God of Truth Error hath euer some selfe-respects either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthy lucre or vaine-glory profit or pride We doe not pranke vp nature we aime not either to fill the cofers or feed the ambition of men Let your Wisdomes apply and inferre and now if ye can shut your eyes that you should not see the Truth and if ye care not for your soules when ye see it sell it Let no false tongue perswade you there is no danger in this sale How charitably so euer we thinke of poore blinded soules that liue in the forced and inuincible darknesse of error certainly Apostasie is deadly How euer those speed that are robbed of Truth you cannot sell Truth and be saued Haue mercy therefore on your own soules for their sakes for the sake of him that bought them with the deare ransome of his precious bloud And as God hath blessed you with the inualuable treasure of Truth so hoard it vp in your hearts and menage it in your liues Oh let vs be Gens iusta custodiens veritatem Esa 26. A iust nation keeping fast the Truth So whiles ye keepe the Truth the Truth shall keepe you both in Life in Death in Iudgment In life vnto death in death and iudgement vnto the consummation of that endlesse and incomprehensible glory which the God of Truth hath prepared for them that ouercome To the happy possession whereof he that hath ordained in his good time as mercifully bring vs and that for the sake of the Son of his Loue Iesus Christ the Righteous To whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit one infinite God be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT THE RECONCILEMENT OF THE HAPPILY-RESTORED and reedified Chapell of the Right Honourable the Earle of EXCETER in his House of S. IOHNS ON SAINT STEPHENS DAY 1623. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for GEORGE WINDER and are to be sold at his shop in Saint DVNSTONS Church-yard 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY SINGVLAR GOOD Lady the Lady ELIzABETH Countesse of Exceter RIght Honourable this poore Sermon both preached and penned at your motion that is to mee your command now presents it selfe to your hand and craueth a place though vnworthy in your Cabinet yea in your heart That holy zeale which desired it will also improue it The God whom your Ladiship hath thus honoured in the care and cost of his House will not faile to honour you in yours For me your Honour may iustly challenge mee on both sides both by the Druryes in the right of the first Patronage and by the Cecils in the right of my succeeding deuotions Jn either and both that little J haue or am is sincerely at your Ladiships seruice as whom you haue merited to be Your Honours in all true obseruance and duty IOS HALL A SERMON PREACHED AT THE REEDIFIED CHAPEL OF THE RIGHT HONOVRAble Earle of Exceter in his House of Saint Iohns HAGGAI 2.9 The glory of the latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I giue peace saith the Lord of Hosts AS we haue houses of our owne so God hath his yea as great men haue more houses than one so hath the great God of Heauen much more more both in succession as here the latter house and the first and in varietie He hath an house of flesh Ye are the Temples of the liuing God An house of stone Salomon shall build me an house An house immateriall in the Heauens 2 Cor. 5.1 Wherfore then hath God an house Wherefore haue we ours but to dwell in But doth not he himselfe tell Dauid and so doth Stephen the Protomartyr vpon whose day we are falne tell the Iewes that He dwels not in Temples made with hands True He dwels not in his House as we in ours by way of comprehension he dwels in it by testification of presence So doe we dwell in our houses that our houses containe vs that we are only within them and they without vs. So doth he dwel in his that yet he is elsewhere yea euery where that his house is within him Shortly God dwels where he witnesses his gracious presence that because he doth both in the Empyreall heauen amongst his Angels and Saints and in his Church vpon earth therefore his dwelling is both in the highest Heauen in perfect glory and on Earth in the hearts and assembly of his children As of the former our Sauiour saith In domo Patris mei In my Fathers house are many Mansions So also may we say of the latter There is much variety and choice in it There was the Church of the Iewes the Church of the Gentiles There is a materiall and a spirituall house In the one Salomons Zorobabels such piles as this In the other so much multiplicity as there are Nations yea Congregations that professe the Name of Christ One of these was a figure of the other the Materiall vnder the Law of the Spirituall vnder the Gospell Yee see now the first house and the latter the subiect of our Text and discourse The latter commended to vs comparatiuely positiuely Comparatiuely with the former Maior gloria Positiuely in it selfe In this place will I giue peace Both set out by the stile of the promiser and a vower saith the Lord of Hosts All which challenge your
sinne is as ill as the Deuill can make it a most loathsome thing in the eyes of God and his Angels and Saints and we grant to our griefe that among so many millions of men there may be found some thousands of Lepers Good Lawes and censures meet with some others escape It is not so much our fault as our griefe But that this Leprosie infects all persons and things is shamefully ouer-reacht Plague and Leprosie haue their limits beyond which is no contagion If a man come not neere them Certè nullius crimen inaculat nescientem Aug. Epist 48. if he take the wind in an open aire they infect not such is sinne It can infect none but the guilty Those which act or assent to or beare with it or detest it not are in this pollution But those which can mourne for it and cannot redresse it are free from infection How many foule Lepers spiritually did our Sauiour see in the publike aire of the Iewish Church wherewith yet hee ioyned and his not fearing infection so much as gracing the remnants of their ruinous Church Were those seuen thousand Israelites 1 Reg. 19.18 whose knees bowed not to BAAL infected with the Idolatry of their Neighbours yet continued they still parts of the same Church 3. Hierarchie But this yet exceeds Not onely all persons but all things What Our Gospell Our Heauen Earth Sea Our Bookes Coyne Commodities Behold you see the same Heauen with vs you haue no Bibles but ours our aire in his circular motion comes to be yours the water that washeth our Iland perhaps washeth your hands Our vncleane Siluer I feare maintaines you Our commodities in part in rich your Land-Lords and yet all things amongst vs infected you are content to take some euill from your neighbours The third is our blasting Hierarchie which suffers no good thing that is no Brownist no singular fancy for what good things haue we but yours to grow or prosper amongst vs but withers all both bud and branch would to God the root also The last 4. Seruice-booke is a daily Sacrifice of a Seruice-booke an Incense how euer vnsauoury to you yet such as all Churches in Christendome hold sweet and offer vp as fit for the nostrils of the Almighty we are not alone thus tainted all Christian Churches that are or haue beene present the same Censers vnto God But ours smels strong of the Popes Portuise See whether this be any better than triuiall cauilling If â—ither an ill man or a Deuil shal speake that which is good may not a good man if it If a good Angell Patres nostri non selum ante Cyprianum vel Agâ—â—ppinum sed pâ—stea salubeâ—rimam consuetudinem tenueâ—unt vt quicquâ—d diu nil atque legitimum in aliquâ— haeresi vel si bismate inâ—egruÌ„ reperâ—ent â—pprobent potius quà m negarent August or man shall speake that which is euill is it euer the better for the Deliuerer If Satan himselfe shall say of Christ Thou art the Sonne of the liuing God shall I feare to repeat it Not the Author but the matter in these things is worthy of regard As Ierome speakes of the poysoned Workes of Origen and other dangerous Treatisors Good things may bee receiued from ill hands If the matter of any Prayer be Popish fault it for what it containes not for whence it came what say you against vs in this more than Master Smith your from Anabaptist saith of our baptizing of Infants Both of them equally condemned for Antichristian Still therefore we bâ—ast of the fâ—ce and cleere aire of the Gospell if it bee annoyed with some practicall euills we may be foule the Gospell is it selfe and our profession holy neither can we complaine of all euills while we want you SEP That all Christendome should so magnifie your happinesse as you say is much and yet your selues and the best amongst you complaine so much both in word and writing of your miserable condition vnder the imperious and superstitious impositions of the Prelates yea and suffer so much also vnder them as at this day you doe for seeking the same Church Gouernment and Ministerie which is in vse in all other Churches saue your owne The truth is you are best liked where you are worst knowne Your next neighbours of Scotland know your Bishops Gouernment so well as they rather chuse to vndergoe all the miserie of bonds and banishment than to partake with you in your happinesse this way so highly doe they magnifie and applaud the same Which choice I doubt not other Churches also would make if the same necessitie were laid vpon them And for your graces we despise them not nor any good thing amongst you no more than you doe such graces and good things as are to be found in the Church of Rome from which you separate notwithstanding We haue by Gods mercy the pure and right vse of the good gifts and graces of God in Christs Ordinance which you want Neither the Lords people nor the holy Vessels could make Babylon Sion though both the one and the other were captiued for a time SECTION LVI THat which followeth is but words a short answer is too much The iudgment of our owne and our neighbours of our Church Socrat. l b. 1. c. 4. Constant Alex. Ario. Ac tamet si vos inter vos vicissim dere quapâ—am mâ—mini momenti dissentuis siquidem neque omnes de omnibus rebus idem sâ—ntimus nihilominus tamen fieri poterit vt eximia concordia sincere inter vos integreque seruetur vna inter omnes communio consocâ—atio custoâ—atur That all Christendome magnifies the worthinesse of our Church in so cleare euidences of their owne voices you cannot denie and now when you see such testimonies abroad lest you should say nothing you fetch cauills from home Those men which you say complaine so much of their miserable condition vnder the Prelates impositions haue notwithstanding with the fame pens and tongues not onely iustified our Church but extold it you haue found no sharper aduersaries in this very accusation for which you maliciously cite them How freely how fully haue they euinced the truth yea the happinesse of the Church of England against your false challenges and yet your forehead dare challenge them for Authors So hath their moderation opposed some appendances that they haue both acknowledged and defended the substance with equall vehemence to your opposition neither doe they suffer as you traduce them for seeking another Church gouernment looke into the Millenaries petition the common voice of that part I am deceiued if ought of their complaints sound that way much lesse of their sufferings deformitie in practise is obiected to them not indeauour of innouation That quarrell hath beene long silent your motion cannot reuiue it would God you could as much follow those men in moderate and charitable carriage as you haue out-run them in complaint It pleaseth you to deuise vs
so Romish as our Baptisme If therefore Romish because they came thence we haue disproued it If therefore Romish because they haue beene vsed there wee grant and iustifie it That ancient confession of their faith which was famous through the world wee receiue with them If they hold one God one Baptisme one Heauen one CHRIST shall we renounce it Why should we not cast off our Christendome and humanitie because the Romans had both How much Rome can either challenge or hope to gaine in our Clergie and Ministration is well witnessed by the bloud of those Martyrs eminent in the Prelacie which in the fresh memories of many was shed for God against that Harlot and by the excellent labours of others both Bishops and Doctors whose learned pens haue pulled downe more of the walls of Rome than all the corner-creeping Brownists in the world shall euer be able to doe while Amsterdam standeth It is you that furnish these Aduersaries with aduantages through your wilfull diuisions Take Scilurus his arrowes single out of the sheafe the least finger breakes them while the whole bundle feares no stresse wee know well where the blame is our deseruings can be no protection to you you went from vs not we from you Plead not our constraint you should not haue beene compelled to forsake vs while CHRIST is with vs But who compells you not to call vs brethren to denie vs Christians your zeale is so far from iustifying the wicked that it condemnes the righteous SEP And for the suspition of the rude multitude you need not much feare it They will suspect nothing that comes vnder the Kings broad seale They are ignorant of this fault Though it â—ere the Masse that came with authoritie of the Magistrate they for the most part would bâ— witâ— out suspition of it so ignorant and profane are they in the most places 1 Sam. 10.10 It is the wise hearted amongst you that suspect your dealings who will also suspect you yeâ— more in your vnfound dealing shall be further discouered SECTION LVIII The Brownists scornefull opinioo of our people HOw scornefully doe you turne ouer our pooâ—e rude multitude as if they were beasts not men or if men not rude but sauage This contempt needed not These sonnes of the earth may goe before you to Heauen Indeed it was of old said that all Aegyptians were Physitians So may it now of you All Brownists are Diuines no Separatist cannot prophesie No sooner can they loose at the skirts of this hill but they are rapt from the ordinarie pitch of men Either this change is perhaps by some strange illumination or else your learned paucitie got their skill amongst our profane and rude multitude we haue still many in our rude multitude whom wee dare compare with your Teachers neither is there any so lewd and profane that can not pretend a scandall from your separation Euen these soules must bee regarded tho not by you Such were some of you but yee are washed c. The wise-hearted amongst vs doe more than suspect finde out our weaknesses and bewaile them yet doe they not more discouer our imperfections than acknowledge our truth If they be truely wise wee cannot suspect them they cannot forsake vs Their charitie will couer more than their wisdome can discouer SEP Lastly the terrible threat you vtter against vs that euen whoredomes and murders shall abide an easier answer than separation would certainely fall heavy vpon vs if this answer were to be made in your Consistorie Courts or before any of your Ecclesiasticall Iudges but because we know that not Antichrist but Christ shall be our Iudge we are bold vpon the warrant of his Word and Testament which being sealed with his bloud may not be altered to proclaime to all the world Separation from whatsoeuer riseth vp rebelliously against the Scepter of his Kingdome as we are vndoubtedly perswaded the Communion Gouernment Ministerie and worship of the Church of England doe SECTION LIX The Conclusion from the fearefull answ of Separation Troub and excom at Amst G. Ions professes he found better dealing in the Bishops Consistories might haue found better in the Inqusition Ierom. Cypr. de simplit praelat Ad pacis praemium venire non poterunt qui pacem Domini discordiae furâ—re ruperunt Ibid. Inexpiaebilis grauis culpa discordâ—a nec passione purgatur MY last threat of the easier answers of whoredomes and adulteries than Separation you thinke to scoffe out of countenance I feare your conscience will not alwayes allow this mirth Our Consistories haue spared you enough let those which haue tryed say whether your corrupt Eldership be more safe Iudges If ours imprison iustly yours excommunicate vniustly To be in custodie is lesse grieuous than out of the Church at least if your censures were worth any thing but contempt As Ierome said of the like it is well that malice hath not so great power as will you shall one day I feare finde the Consistorie of Heauen more rigorous if you wash not this wrong with your teares That Tribunall shall finde your confidence presumption your zeale furie You are bold surely more than wise to proclaime wee haue no need of such cries doubtlesse your head hath made Proclamations long now you hand beginnes What proclaime you Separation from the Communion Gouernment Ministery and worship of the Church of England what need it Your act might haue saued your voice what should our eyes and eares be troubled with one 〈…〉 But 〈◊〉 â—eparate you from these Because they rise vp rebelliously against the Scepter of Christ The Scepter of Christ is his Word he holds it out we 〈◊〉 and â—sse it That one sentence of it doe we wilfully oppose Away with these follish 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 into your Sauiours hand and say Haile King of the Iewes and will needs perswade vs none but this is his rod of yron Lastly vpon what warrant Of his will and Testament You may wrong vs But how dare you fasten your lies vpon your Redeemer and Iudge What clause of his hath bid you separate We haue the true Copies As we hope or desire to be saued we can finde no sentence that soundeth toward the fauour of this your act Must God be accused of your wilfulnesse Before that God and his blessed Angels and Saints we feare not to protest that we are vndoubtedly perswaded that whosoeuer wilfully forsakes the Communion Gouernment Ministery or worship of the Church of England are enemies to the Scepter of Christ and Rebels against his Church and Anointed neither doubt we to say that the Mastership of the Hospitall at Norwich or a lease from that City sued for with repulse might haue procured that this separation from the Communion Gouernment and worship of the Church of England should not haue beene made by IOHN ROBINSON FJNJS A TABLE OF ALL THE SECTIONS CONTAINED in this BOOKE THE entrance into the Worke. 549 The Answerers Preamble 550 The
ep 13. Nullo concordia glutine aut vnitatis vinculo copulari possunt and that rabble of Opinions which they haue raked together so opposed that it cannot by any glew of concord as Cyprian speaketh nor bond of vnity be conioyned That which Rome holds with vs makes it a Church That which it obtrudes vpon vs makes it hereticall The truth of principles makes it one the error and impiety of additions makes it irreconcileable Neither do 〈◊〉 this late and spurious brood of traditions more oppose vs than it doth those very Principles of Religion which the authors themselues desire to establish Looke on the face therefore of the Roman Church she is ours and Gods Looke on her back she is quite contrary Antichristian More plainly for it is no disputing in Metaphors as Clemens said well Rome doth both hold the foundation and destroy it she holds it directly destroies it by consequent In that she holds it she is a true Church howsoeuer imputed In that she destroyes it what-euer semblance shee makes of piety and holinesse she is a Church of malignants Psal 26.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If shee did altogether hold it she should be sound and Orthodox If altogether she destroyed it she should be either no Church or deuillish but now that she professes to hold those things directly which by inference of her consequences shee closely ouerthrowes she is a truly visible Church but an vnsound In what shee holds the principles we embrace her in what she destroyes them we pitty her error and hate her obstinate The common bond of Christianitie neuer ties vs to fauour grosse errors so much as with silence there is no such slauerie in the deare name of a sister that it should binde vs to giue either aid Eph. 5.11 or countenance to lewdnesse Haue no such fellowship saith S. Paul but rather reproue So wee haue done both modestly and earnestly The same is befalne vs which befell the blessed Apostle we are become their enemies for telling the truth Gal. 4.16 Behold now we are thrust out of doore spet vpon rayled at and when opportunitie serues persecuted with most curious torments And lest any mischiefe should be wanting obstinacie is now at last added vnto error and a cruel rage arising from impatience and now their wickednesse began to please them the more because it displeased vs. And what should we now doe in such a case wee the despised and reiected Patrons of this spirituall chastitie To let fall so iust a cause wee might not vnlesse wee would cast off that God who challenges this plea for onely his To yeeld and giue in were no other than to betray the truth of God and damne our owne soules No course remaines but this one and here is our onely safety with all our courage and skill to oppose the wicked Paradoxes and Idolatrous practises of the Romish Church till either she be ashamed of her selfe or repent that euer she was SECT II. The Commodities and Conditions of Peace BEAVTIFVLL is the name of Peace as Hilary speaketh and truly sacred Hilar. cit a Cal. de vera pacific Iudic. 6.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Sam 18.29 Iud. 19.29 1 Chr. 12.18 Luc. 2.14 Ioh. 14.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 13.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iam. 3.18 Rom. 14 19. 1 Pet. 3.11 and such as scarce sauoureth of the earth Neither did the Hebrewes by any other terme choose rather to expresse all happinesse and perfection of liuing Neither is there any thing which the Angels did more gladly congratulate vnto men or which Christ did more carefully bequeath or the Apostles more earnestly enioyne How oft and how vehemently doth the Spirit intreat and command vs to haue peace But this thou sayest is euery mans wish to haue peace but what if peace will not be had Loe then Saint Iames charges vs to make peace by our endeuours by our patience Once made and had what if it will not stay with vs Then Saint Paul bids to follow those things which concerne peace What if it will needs away and hide it selfe yet then Saint Peter commands to follow and inquire after it What if once found it refuse to come as Abrahams seruant presupposed of Rebecca Euen then study to be quiet saith Saint Paul or as the word implies Be ambitious of Peace 1 Thes 4.11 So let the Author of Peace loue vs as we loue Peace Socr. l. 1. c. 4. Socr. l. 3. c. 21. Who is there that would not rather wish with Constantine quiet daies and nights free from care and vexation It was a speech worthy of an Emperour and a Christian that fell from Iouianus about that querelous libell of the Macedonians I hate contention and those that are inclined to concord I loue and reuerence Our aduersaries would make vs beleeue they professe and desire no lesse with an equall zeale of charitie and agreement God bee Iudge betwixt vs both and whethersoeuer persists to hate peace let him perish from the face of God and his holy Angels Yea that this imprecation may be needlesse he is already perished Cypr. de simplic prae l. Ad Pacis praemium venâ—re non possunt qui pacem Dâ—mini discordiae furore ruperunt In Psal 28. For as Cyprian according to his wont grauely they cannot come to the reward of Peace which haue broken the Peace of God with the fury of discord And surely what but the flames of hell can determine the ambition of these fiery and boyling spirits Basil obserues well that Gods fire gaue light and burned not contrarily the fire of hell burneth without light and therefore is well worthy of those who despising the light of truth delight themselues in the flames of contentions Those are the true haters of Peace which doe wilfully patronize errors contrary to the Christian faith So long as wee must dwell by these tents of Kedar wee shall too iustly complaine with the Psalmist Psal 120. I loue Peace but in the meane while they are bent to Warre And as for vs which professe our selues the ingenuous clients of Peace since wee must needs fight it is not for vs to doe nothing For that blessed Quire of Angels before their Peace vpon earth Luc. 2.14 Iam. 3.17 well sung Glory to God in the highest Heauens and Saint Iames describes the wisdome of God to bee first pure then peaceable And that chosen vessell implies no lesse when to his charge of Peace hee addes If it bee possible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.18 That is as impossible to euery good man which ought not to be done as that which cannot bee done neither indeed as the rule of Lawyers runnes can we be said to be able to doe that which we cannot honestly doe God saith S. Paul is not the Author of confusion but of Peace It is a wicked peace it is no peace that necessarily breeds confusion That Peace is worthy of a
perfited euen of the sonnes of Priests and if the number of Angels be of them to be repayred those that indeuour to procure that they should not be doe what in them lies destroy the supernall City and labour that the number of Angels may not be perfited then which what can be more peruersely done For this is done against the will and predestination of him which hath done those things which shall be for he hath done in his predestination those things which shall be in effect whosoeuer therefore goes about to procure that God may not in effect doe those things which he hath done in his predestination goes about to make void the very predestination of God If then God haue already in his predestination decreed that the sons of Priests shall once be in effect he that goes about to procure that they may not be in effect endeuours to destroy the work of God because he hath already done it in predestination and so striues to ouerthrow Gods predestination and to gain-stand that will of God which is eternall For God would from eternity and before all worlds create all men in the world in that certaine order wherein he pre-conceiued and predestinated to create them He doth nothing disorderly he createth nothing in the world which he hath not fore-ordained by disposing it in the predestination of his mind that went before all worlds Whatsoeuer therefore is by him created in this world doth necessarily follow the predestination of his mind predisposing and preordaining all things because it is impossible that should not be done which God from eternity hath willed and fore-ordained to be done It is therefore necessary that all men should be created in that very Order wherein he willed and from eternity fore-ordained Or else all men are not created as God would haue them nor as he fore-ordained them But because this is inconuenient it must needs bee that they are created as hee willed from eternity and fore-thought and fore-ordained because he hath done all things that he would and neuer did any thing which he willed nor from euerlasting and hath fore-conceiued in his certaine and vnchangcable Decree For neither can his will be frustrated nor his fore-thought deceiued nor his fore-ordinations altered Which since it is so needs must it be that as Laicks so Priests also of whom men are created should yeeld their seruice to the diuine will and preordination to the creating of them For parents are not the authors of the creation of their children but the seruants who if they should not yeeld their seruice they should if it were possible make void the fore-thought of God and resist his ordination which if they should wittingly doe they should offend the more if ignorantly the lesse not onely against God the Father but also against the heauenly Ierusalem the Mother of all Saints because what in them were they should not suffer those to be created of whom it is to be builded and those things to be prepared whereby that Celestiall Country is bestowed But from this offence their impotence frees them because they cannot resist the will of God and crosse his preordination For the will and predestination of God is that eternall Law in which the course of all things is decreed and the patterne wherein the forme of all ages is set forth which can by no meanes be defaced Not to yeeld our seruice then hereunto is euill because to yeeld it is good and especially if it be done with a good intent which is then done when as Parents meet together in a desire of propagation of issue not in an appetite of exercising their lust Of propagation I say that both the present Church may be multiplyed and the celestiall City built and the number of the Elect made vp none of which could be done without such coniugal meeting For if the first Parents of the Saints had continued all either continent or virgins no Saint had beene borne of them in the world none of them had beene crowned with glory and honour in heauen none of them ascribed into the number of Angels But since it is an inestimable good that Saints are borne in the world that they are crowned with glory and honour in heauen and that they are ascribed into the number of Angels thereupon the fruitfulnesse of Parents is more blessed and their meeting holier So then it is better for them to haue begotten such children then not to haue begotten them and to haue brought forth such fruit of mariage then to haue beene continent or Virgins without fruit Although it is good for some to be continent or virgins namely for them whom God eternally willed and preordained to be so created in the world that they should remaine either in Continence or Virginity For as he hath eternally willed and fore-ordained that some should be so created in the world as that they should yeeld the fruit of mariage and beget children so also hath he willed and from eternity fore-ordained some to be so created that they should continue in Continencie or Virginity And as those other yeeld their seruice to the will and preordination of God in the creation of children so these also serue the will and preordination of God in conseruing their continence and virginity and hereupon is both the fruitfulnesse of the one and the Virginity of the other good and laudable which if it did not yeeld seruiceâ— the will and preordination of God would be neither good nor laudable For whatsoeuer is contrary to the wil and preordination of God is neither good nor laudable If therefore God willed and predestinated some to be Virgins others to yeeld the fruit of mariage for if all were virgins no Saint that now is or shall bee borne should either bee now or hereafter borne in the world neither should those virgins be at all because they should not be borne for of the fruitfulnesse of the one arises the others virginity therefore is fruitfulnesse a great good from which holy virginity hath proceeded now that there should be some virgins and others that should beare the fruits of mariage the word which God soweth in their hearts teacheth vs. For in the hearts of some he soweth the word of good fruitfulnesse yeelding the encrease of mariage and in the hearts of others he sowes the word of virginity Those then in whom hee sowes the the word of virginity they desire to keepe virginity but those in whom hee sowes the word of mariage they desire to yeeld the fruit of mariage WHERETO I WILL ADDE FOR Conclusion the wise and ingenuous iudgement of Erasmus Roterodamus The rather because it pleased my Refuter to lay this worthy Author in our dish Jn his Epistle to Christopher Bishop of Basil Habetur Tomo nono Op. Eras pag. 982. concerning humane Constitutions Thus he writes Nam in totum quae sunt humani iuris quemadmodum in morbis remedia c. FOr those things which are
day light the first If man had been he might haue seene all lightsome but whence it had comne he could not haue seene as in some great Pond we see the bankes full we see not the Springs from vvhence that water ariseth Thou madest the Sunne madest the Light vvithout the Sunne before the Sunne that so Light might depend vpon thee and not vpon thy Creature Thy power will not be limited to meanes It was easie to thee to make an Heauen without Sunne Light vvithout an Heauen Day without a Sunne Time without a day It is good reason thou shouldest be the Lord of thine owne workes All meanes serue thee vvhy doe we weake vvretches distrust thee in the want of those meanes vvhich thou canst either command or forbeare How plainly wouldest thou teach vs that we Creatures need not one another so long as we haue thee One day we shall haue light againe vvithout the Sun Thou shalt be our Sunne thy presence shall be our light Light is sowne for the righteous The Sun and Light is but for the World below it selfe thine onely for aboue Thou giuest this light to the Sunne vvhich the Sunne giues to the World That light which thou shalt once giue vs shall make vs shine like the Sunne in glory Now this light which for three daies was thus dispersed through the whole heauens it pleased thee at last to gather and vnite into one body of the Sun The whole Heauen was our Sun before the Sun was created but now one Starre must be the Treasury of Light to the Heauen and E rth How thou louest the vnion and reduction of all things of one kind to their own head and centre so the Waters must by thy command be gathered into one place the sea so the vpper Wâ—ters must be seuered by these Aerie limits from the lower so heauy substances hasten downeward and light mount vp so the generall light of the first dayes must be called into the compasse of one Sunne so thou wilt once gather thine Elect from all coasts of Heauen to the participation of one glory Why doe we abide our thoughts and affections scattered from thee from thy Saints from thine anointed Oh let this light which thou hast now spread abroad in the hearts of all thine once meet in thee We are as thy Heauens in this their first imperfection be thou our Sunne vnto which our light may be gathered Yet this light was by thee inter-changed with darknes which thou mightst as easily haue commanded to be perpetuall The continuance euen of the best things cloyeth wearieth there is nothing but thy selfe wherin there is not satiety So pleasing is the vicissitude of things that the inter-course euen of those occurrents which in their own nature are lesse worthy giues more contentment then the vn-altered estate of better The day dyes into night and rises into the morning againe that we might not expect any stability here below but in perpetuall successions It is alwayes day with thee aboue the night fauoureth only of mortality Why are we not here spiritually as we shall be hereafter Since thou hast made vs Children of the light and of the day teach vs to walke euer in the light of thy presence not in the darknesse of error and vnbeliefe Now in this thine inlightned frame how fitly how wisely are all the parts disposed that the Method of the Creation might answer the Matter and the Forme both Iâ— hold all purity aboue below the dregs and lees of all The higher I goe the more perfection each Element superior to other not more in place then dignity that by these staires of ascending perfection our thoughts might climbe vnto the top of all glory and might know thine imperiall Heauen no lesse glorious aboue the visible then those aboue the earth Oh how miserable is the place of our pilgrimage in respect of our home Let my soule tread awhile in the steps of thine owne proceedings and so thinke as thou wroughtest When we vvould describe a man vve begin not at the feet but the head The head of thy Creation is the heauen how high how spacious how glorious It is a wonder that we can looke vp to so admirable a height and that the very eye is not tyred in the way If this ascending line could be drawn right forwards some that haue calculated curiously haue found it fiue hundred yeares iourney vnto the starrie Heauen I doe not examine their Art O Lord I vvonder rather at thine which hast drawne so large a line about this little point of earth For in the plainest rules of Art and experience the Compasse must needs be six times as much as halfe the height We thinke one Iland great but the Earth vnmeasurably If wee were in that Heauen with these eyes the whole earth were it equally inlightned would seeme as little to vs as now the least Starre in the firmament seemes to vs vpon earth And indeed how few Starres are so little as it And yet how many void and ample spaces are there beside all the Starres The hugenesse of this thy worke O God is little inferiour for admiration to the maiesty of it But oh what a glorious heauen is this which thou hast spred ouer our heads With how precious a Vault hast thou walled in this our inferiour world What vvorlds of light hast thou set aboue vs Those things which we see are wondrous but those which wee beleeue and see not are yet more Thou dost but set out these vnto view to shew vs what there is within How proportionable are thy workes to thy selfe Kings erect not cottages but set forth their magnificence in sumptuous buildings so hast thou done O King of glory If the lowest pauement of that Heauen of thine be so glorious what shall wee thinke of the better parts yet vnseene And if this Sun of thine be of such brightnesse and maiestie oh what is the glory of the Maker of it And yet if some other of thy Starres were let downe as low as it those other Starres would be Sunnes to vs which now thou hadst rather to haue admired in their distance And if such a skie be prepared for the vse and benefit euen of thine Enemies also vpon Earth how happy shall those eternall Tabernacles be which thou hast sequestred for thine owne Behold then in this high and stately building of thine I see three stages This lowest Heauen for Fowles for Vapours for Meteors The second for the Starres The third for thine Angels and Saints The first is thine outward Court open for all The second is the body of thy couered Temple wherein are those Candles of Heauen perpetually burning The third is thine Holy of Holâ—â—â— In the first is Tumult and Vanity In the second Immutability and Rest In the third Glory and Blessednesse The first we feele the second wee see the third we beleeue In these two lower is no felicitie for neither the Fowles nor Starres are
wood which now before-hand burnt inwardly with the heauenly fire of zeale and deuotion And now hauing kissed him his last not without mutuall teares he lifts vp his hand to fetch the stroke of death at once not so much as thinking perhaps God wil relent after the first wound Now the stay of Abraham the hope of the Church lyes on bleeding vnder the hand of a father what bowels can choose but yearne at this spectacle which of the sauagest Heathens that had bin now vpon the hill of Moriah and had seen through the bushes the sword of a Father hanging ouer the throat of such a sonne would not haue been more perplexed in his thoughts then that vnexpected sacrifice was in those briers yet he whom it neerest concerned is least touched Faith hath wrought the same in him which crueltie would in others Not to be moued He contemnes all feares and ouerlookes all impossibilities His heart tels him that the same hand which raised Isaac from the dead wombe of Sarah can raise him againe from the ashes of his sacrifice with this confidence was the hand of Abraham now falling vpon the throat of Isaac who had giuen himselfe for dead and reioyced in the change when suddenly the Angell of God interrupts him forbids him commends him The voice of God was neuer so welcome neuer so sweet neuer so seasonable as now It was the tryall that God intended not the fact Isaac is sacrificed and is yet aliue and now both of them are more happy in that they would haue done then they could haue been distressed if they had done it Gods charges are oft-times harsh in the beginnings and proceeding but in the conclusion alwayes comfortable true spirituall comforts are commonly late and sudden God defers on purpose that our tryals may be perfect our deliuerance welcome our recompence glorious Isaac had neuer been so precious to his father if he had not been recouered from death if he had not been as miraculously restored as giuen Abraham had neuer beene so blessed in his seed if he had not neglected Isaac for God The only way to finde comfort in any earthly thing is to surrender it in a faithfull carelesnesse into the hands of God Abraham came to sacrifice he may not go away with dry hands God cannot abide that good purposes should be frustrate Lest either he should not doe that for which hee came or should want meanes of speedy thanksgiuing for so gracious a disappointment Behold a Ram stands ready for the sacrifice and as it were proffers himselfe to this happy exchange Hee that made that Beast brings him thither fastens him there Euen in small things there is a great prouidence what mysteries there are in euery act of God! The onely Sonne of God vpon this very hill is laid vpon the Altar of the Crosse and so becomes a true sacrifice for the world that yet he is raised without impeachment and exempted from the power of death The Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the World is here really offred and accepted One Sauiour in two figures in the one dying restored in the other So Abraham whiles he exercises his faith confirmes it and reioyces more to foresee the true Isaac in that place offered to death for his sinnes then to see the carnall Isaac preserued from death for the reward of his Faith Whatsoeuer is dearest to vs vpon earth is our Isaac happy are we if we can sacrifice it to God those shall neuer rest with Abraham that cannot sacrifice with Abraham Of LOT and Sodom BEFORE Abraham and Lot grew rich they dwelt together now their wealth separates them Their societie was a greater good then their riches Many a one is a loser by his wealth who would account those things good which make vs worse It had been the duty of yong Lot to offer rather then to choose to yeeld rather then contend who vvould not here thinke Abraham the Nephew and Lot the Vncle It is no disparagement for greater persons to begin treaties of Peace Better doth it beseeme euery sonne of Abraham to winne vvith loue then to sway with power Abraham yeelds ouer this right of his choise Lot takes it And behold Lot is crossed in that vvhich he chose Abraham is blessed in that which vvas left him God neuer suffers any man to leese by an humble remission of his right in a desire of peace Wealth hath made Lot not only vndutifull but couetous he sees the goodly Plaines of Iordan the richnesse of the soyle the commoditie of the Riuers the situation of the Cities and now not once inquiring into the conditions of the Inhabitants hee is in loue with Sodom Outward appearances are deceitfull guides to our iudgement or affections they are worthy to be deceiued that value things as they seeme It is not long after that Lot payes deare for his rashnesse He fled for quietnesse with his Vncle and finds Warre with strangers Now is he caried prisoner with all his substance by great Enemies Abraham must rescue him of whom hee was forsaken That vvealth which was the cause of his former quarrels is made a prey to mercilesse Heathens That place which his eye couetously chose betrayes his life and goods How many Christians whiles they haue looked at gaine haue lost themselues Yet this ill successe hath neither driuen out Lot nor amended Sodom hee still loues his commoditie and the Sodomites their sinnes wicked men grow worse with afflictions as vvater growes more cold after an heat And as they leaue not sinning so God leaues not plaguing them but still followes them with succession of iudgements In how few yeares hath Sodom forgot she vvas spoiled and led captiue If that wicked Citie had been warned by the sword it had escaped the fire but now this visitation hath not made ten good men in those fiue Cities How fit was this heape for the fire which vvas all chaffe Onely Lot vexed his righteous soule with the sight of their vncleannesse Hee vexed his owne soule for who bade him stay there yet because he was vexed he is deliuered He escapeth their iudgement from whose sinnes he escaped Though he would be a ghest of Sodom yet because hee would not entertaine their sinnes he becomes an Host to the Angels Euen the good Angels are the executioners of Gods iudgement There cannot be a better or more noble act then to doe iustice vpon obstinate Malefactors Who can be ashamed of that which did not mis-beseeme the very Angels of God Where should the Angels lodge but with Lot the houses of holy men are full of these heauenly Spirits vvhen they know not they pitch their Tents in ours and visit vs when we see not and when we feele not protect vs It is the honour of Gods Saints to be attended by Angels The filthy Sodomites now flocke together stirred vp with the fury of enuy and lust and dare require to doe that in troops which to act single
fore-seeing that which hee should not bee able to auoid Foolish men giue away their soules for nothing The itch of impertinent and vnprofitable knowledge hath beene the hereditary disease of the sonnes of Adam Eue How many haue perished to know that which hath procured their perishing How ambitious should wee bee to know those things the knowledge whereof is eternall Life Many a lewd Office are they put to which serue wicked Masters one while Sauls seruants are set to kill innocent Dauid another while to shed the bloud of Gods Priests and now they must goe seeke for a Witch It is no small happinesse to attend them from whom we may receiue precepts and examples of vertue Had Saul beene good hee had needed no disguise Honest actions neuer shame the doers Now that hee goeth about a sinfull businesse hee changeth himselfe hee seekes the shelter of the night hee takes but two followers with him It is true that if Saul had come in the port of a King the Witch had as much dissembled her condition as now hee dissembleth his yet it was not onely desire to speed but guiltinesse that thus altered his habit such is the power of conscience that euen those who are most affected to euill yet are ashamed to be thought such as they desire to be Saul needed another face to fit that tongue which should say Coniecture to me by the familiar spirit and bring me vp whom I shall name vnto thee An obdurate heart can giue way to any thing NOTVVITHSTANDING the peremptory edict of Saul there are still Witches in Israel Neither good Lawes nor carefull executions can purge the Church from Malefactors There will still bee some that will ieopard their heads vpon the grossest sinnes No Garden can be so curiously tended that there should not bee one Weed left in it Yet so farre can good Statutes and due inflictions of punishment vpon offenders preuaile that mischieuous persons are glad to pull in their heads and dare not doe ill but in disguise and darknesse It is no small aduantage of Iustice that it affrights sinne if it cannot be expelled As contrarily wofull is the condition of that place where is a publike profession of wickednesse This Witch was no lesse crafty than wicked shee had before as is like bribed Officers to escape inditement lurke in secrecy and now shee will not worke her feares without securitie her suspition proiects the worst Wherefore seekest thou to take wee in a snare to cause mee to dye Oh vaine Sorceresse that could bee wary us auoid the punishment of Saul carelesse to auoid the iudgment of God Could wee fore-thinke what our sinne would cost vs wee durst not but be innocent This is a good and seasonable answer for vs to make vnto Satan when hee sollicites vs to euill wherefore seekest thou to take mee in a snare to cause mee to dye Nothing is more sure than this intention in the tempter than this euent in the issue Oh that wee could but so much feare the eternall paines as wee doe the temporary and bee but so carefull to saue our soules from torment as our bodies No sooner hath Saul sworne her safetie than shee addresseth her to her Sorcery Hope of impunitie drawes on sinne with boldnesse were it not for the delusions of false promises Satan should haue no Clients Could Saul be so ignorant as to thinke that Magick had power ouer Gods deceased Saints to rayse them vp yea to call them downe from their rest Time was when Saul was among the Prophets And yet now that he is in the impure lodge of Deuils how senselesse hee is to say Bring me vp Samuel It is no rare thing to lose euen our wit and iudgement together with graces How iustly are they giuen ouer to fottishnesse that haue giuen themselue ouer to sinne The Sorceresse it seemes exercising her coniurations in a roome apart is informed by her Familiar who it was that set her on worke shee can therefore finde time in the midst of her Exorcismes to binde the assurance of her owne safetie by expostulation She cryed with a loud voyce why hast thou deceiued mee for thou art Saul The very name of Saul was an accusation Yet is he so farre from striking his brest that doubting lest this feare of the Witch should interrupt the desired worke hee encourages her whom hee should haue condemned Be not afraid Hee that had more cause to feare for his owne sake in an expectation of iust iudgment cheeres vp her that feared nothing but himselfe How ill doth it become vs to giue that counsell to others whereof wee haue more neede and vse in our owne persons As one that had more care to satisfie his curiositie than her suspicion hee askes what sawest thou Who would not haue looked that Sauls haire should haue stared on his head to heare of a spirit raised His sinne hath so hardened him that hee rather pleases himselfe in it which hath nothing in it but horror So farre is Satan content to descend to the seruice of his seruants that hee will approue his fained obedience to their very outward sences What forme is so glorious that hee either cannot or dare not vndertake Here Gods ascend out of the Earth Else-where Satan transformes him into an Angell of light What wonder is it that his wicked Instruments appeare like Saints in their hypocriticall dissimulation if wee will bee iudging by the appearance wee shall bee sure to erre No eye could distinguish betwixt the true Samuell and a false spirit Saul who was well worthy to bee deceiued seeing those gray haires and that Mantle inclines himselfe to the ground and bowes himselfe He that would not worship God in Samuel aliue now worships Samuel in Satan and no maruell Satan was now become his refuge in steed of God his vrim was darknesse his Prophet a Ghost Euery one that consults with Satan worships him though hee bow not neither doth that euill spirit desire any other reuerence than to be sought to How cunningly doth Satan resemble not onely the habit and gesture but the language of Samuel Wherefore hast thou disquieted me and wherefore dost thou aske of mee seeing the Lord is gone from thee and is thine enemy Nothing 〈…〉 pleasing to that euill one than to be solicited yet in the person of Samuel hee can say Why hast thou disquitted wâ—â—e Had not the Lord beene gone from Saul hee had neuer coâ—ne to the Deuillish Oracle of Endor and yet the counterfetting spirit can say Why dost thou arke of 〈◊〉 seeing the Lord is gone from thee Satan cares not how little hee is knowne to bee himselfe he loues to passe vnder any sonne rather than his owne The more holy the person is the more carefully doth Satan act him that by his stale hee may ensnare vs. In euery motion it is good to try the spirits whether they be of God Good words are no meanes to distinguish a Prophet from a Deuill
that Story whereon the faith and saluation of all the World dependeth Wee cannot so much as doubt of this truth and bee saued no not the number of the moneth not the name of the Angell is concealed Euery particle imports not more certainty than excellence The time is the sixth moneth after Iohns Conception the prime of the Spring Christ was conceiued in the Spring borne in the Solstice Hee in whom the World receiued a new life receiues life in the same season wherein the World receiued his first life from him and hee which stretches out the dayes of his Church and lengthens them to Eternitie appeares after all the short and dimme light of the Law and inlightens the World with his glory The Messenger is an Angell A man was too meane to carry the newes of the Conception of God Neuer any businesse was conceiued in Heauen that did so much concerne the earth as the Conception of the God of Heauen in Wombe of earth No lesse than an Arch-Angell was worthy to beare this tydings and neuer any Angell receiued a greater honour than of this Embassage It was fit our reparation should answer our fall an euill Angell was the first motioner of the one to Eue a Virgin then espoused to Adam in the Garden of Eden A good Angel is the first reporter of the other to Mary a Virgin espoused to Ioseph in that place which as the Garden of Galile had a name from flourishing No good Angel could be the Author of our restauration as that euill Angell was of our ruine But that which those glorious spirits could not doe themselues they are glad to report as done by the God of Spirits Good newes reioyces the bearer With what ioy did this holy Angell bring the newes of that Sauiour in whom wee are redeemed to life himselfe established in life and glory The first Preacher of the Gospell was an Angell that office must needs be glorious that deriues it selfe from such a Predecessor God appointed his Angell to be the first Preacher and hath since called his Preachers Angels The message is well suited An Angell comes to a Virgin Gabriel to Mary He that was by signification the strength of God to her that was by signification exalted by God to the conceiuing of him that was the God of strength To a Maid but espoused a Maid for the honour of Virginitie espoused for the honour of Marriage The marriage was in a sort made not consummate through the instinct of him that meant to make her not an example but a miracle of women In this whole worke God would haue nothing ordinary It was fit that she should be a marryed Virgin which should bee a Virgin-mother Hee that meant to take mans nature without mans corruption would bee the Sonne of man without mans seed would bee the seed of the woman without man and amongst all women of a pure Virgin but amongst Virgins of one espoused that there might be at once a Witnesse and a Guardian of her fruitfull Virginity If the same God had not bin the author of Virginity and Marriage he had neuer countenanced Virginity by Marriage Whither doth this glorious Angell come to finde the Mother of him that was God but to obscure Galile A part which euen the Iewes themselues despised as forsaken of their priuiledges Out of Galile ariseth no Prophet Behold an Angell comes to that Galile out of which no Prophet comes and the God of Prophets and Angels descends to bee conceiued in that Galile out of which no Prophet ariseth He that filleth all places makes no difference of places It is the person which giues honour and priuiledge to the place not the place to the person as the presence of God makes the Heauen the Heauen doth not make the honour glorious No blind corner of Nazareth can hide the blessed Virgin from the Angell The fauours of God will finde out his children wheresoeuer they are with-drawne It is the fashion of God to seeke out the most despised on whom to bestow his honours we cannot runne away as from the iudgements so not from the mercies of our God The cottages of Galile are preferred by God to the famous Palaces of Ierusalem he cares not how homely he conuerse with his owne Why should we be transported with the outward glory of places whiles our God regards it not We are not of the Angels diet if we had not rather be with the blessed Virgin at Nazareth than with the proud Dames in the Court of Ierusalem It is a great vanitie to respect any thing aboue goodnesse and to dis-esteeme goodnesse for any want The Angell salutes the Virgin he prayes not to her Hee salutes her as a Saint he prayes not to her as a Goddesse For vs to salute her as he did were grosse presumption For neither are we as he was neither is she as she was If he that was a spirit saluted her that was flesh and bloud here on earth it is not for vs that are flesh and bloud to salute her which is a glorious spirâ—t in Heauen For vs to pray to her in the Angels salutation were to abuse the Virgin the Angell the Salutation But how gladly doe we second the Angell in the praise of her which was more ours than his How iustly doe we blesse her whom the Angell pronounceth blessed How worthily is she honoured of men whom the Angell proclaimeth beloued of God O blessed Mary hee cannot blesse thee he cannot honour thee too much that deifies thee not That which the Angell said of thee thou hast prophesied of thy selfe we beleeue the Angell and thee All Generations shall call thee blessed by the fruit of whose wombe all Generations are blessed If Zachary were amazed with the sight of this Angell much more the Virgin That very Sex hath more disaduantage of feare if it had bin but a man that had come to her in that secrecie and suddennesse she could not but haue bin troubled how much more when the shining glory of the person doubled the astonishment The troubles of holy mindes end euer in comfort Ioy was the errand of the Angell and not terrour Feare as all passions disquiets the heart and makes it for the time vnfit to receiue the messages of God Soone hath the Angell cleared these rroublesome mists of passions and sent out the beames of heauenly consolation in the remotest corner of her soule by the glad newes of her Sauiour How can ioy but enter into her heart out of whose wombe shall come saluation What roome can feare finde in that brest that is assured of fauour Feare not MARY for thou hast found fauour with God Let those feare who know they are in displeasure or know not they are gracious Thine happy estate cals for confidence and that confidence for ioy What should what can they feare who are fauoured of him at whom the Deuils tremble Not the presence of the good Angels but the temptations of the euill
the fact as of the message There are busie spirits that loue to cary newes though thanklesse though purposelesse such was AhimaaZ the son of Zadock who importunately thrust himselfe into this seruice wise Ioab who well saw how vnwelcome tydings must be the burthen of the first post disswades him in vaine hee knew Dauid too well to imploy a frieÌ„d in that errand An Ethiopian seruant was a fitter bearer of such a message then the son of the Priest The entertainment of the person doth so follow the quality of the newes that Dauid could argue a far off He is a good man he commeth with good tidings Oh how welcome deserue those messengers to bee that bring vs the glad tidings of saluation that assure vs of the foile of all spirituall enemies and tell vs of nothing but victories and Crownes and Kingdomes If we thinke not their feet beautifull our hearts are foule with infidelity and secure worldlinesse So wise is Ahimaaz growne by Ioabs intimation that though hee out-went Cushi in his pace he suffers Cushi to out-goe him in his tale cunningly suppressing that part which he knew must be both necessarily deliuered and vnpleasingly receiued As our care is wont to be where our loue is Dauids first word is not how fares the host but how farâ—â— the yong man Absalom Like a wise and faithfull messenger Cushi answers by honest insinuation The enemies of my Lord the King and all that rise against thee to doe thee hurt be as that yong man is implying both what was done and why Dauid should approue it being done How is the good King thunder strooke with that word of his Black-more who as if he were at once bereaued of all comfort and cared not to liue but in the name of Absalom goes and weepes and cryes out O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom Would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son What is this wee heare that hee whose life Israel valued at ten thousand of theirs should be exchanged with a traitors that a good King whose life was sought should wish to lay it down for the preseruation of his murtherer The best men haue not wont to be the least passionate But what shall we say to that loue of thine O Sauiour who hast said of vs wretched traitors not Would God I had died for you But I will dye I doe dye I haue died for you Oh loue like thy selfe infinite incomprehensible whereat the Angels of Heauen stand yet amazed wherewith thy Saints are rauished Turne away thine eyes from me for they ouercome mee Oh thou that dwellest in the Gardens the companions hearken to thy voyce cause vs to heare it that we may in our measure answer thy loue and enioy it for euer SHEBAES Rebellion IT was the doome which God passed vpon the man after his owne heart by the mouth of Nathan that the sword should neuer depart from his house for the blood of Vriah After that wound healed by remission yet this scarre remaines Absalom is no sooner cast down into the pit then Sheba the son of Bichri is vp in armes If Dauid be not plagued yet he shal bee corrected First by the rod of a son then of a subiect He had lift vp his hand against a faithfull subiect now a faithlesse dares to lift vp his hand against him Malice like some hereditarie sicknesse runs in a blood Saul and Shimei and Sheba were all of an house That ancient grudge was not yet dead The fire of the house of Iemini was but raked vp neuer throughly out and now that which did but smoke in Shemei flames in Sheba Although euen through this chastisement it is not hard to discerne a Type of that perpetuall succession of enmity which should be raised against the true King of Israel O Son of Dauid when didst thou euer want enemies How wert thou designed by thine eternall Father for a signe that should be spoken against How did the Gentiles rage and the people imagine vaine things The Kings of the earth assembled and the Rulers came together against thee Yea how doe the subiects of thine owne kingdome daily conspire against thee Euen now whiles thou enioyest peace and glory at thy Fathers right hand as soone shalt thou want friends as enemies vpon earth No eye of any traitor could espie a iust quarrell in the gouernment of Dauid yet Sheba blowes the trumpet of rebellion and whiles Israel and Iudah are striuing who should haue the greatest part in their re-established Soueraigne hee stickes not to say We haue no part in Dauid neither haue wee inheritance in the son of Ishai and whiles he sayes Euery man to his tents O Israel hee calls euery man to his owne So in proclaiming a liberty from a iust and loyall subiection he inuites Israel to the bondage of an vsuâ—per That a lewde Conspirator should breathe Treason it is no wonder but is it not wonder and shame that vpon euery mutinous blast Israel should turne Traitor to Gods anointed It was their late expostulation with Dauid why their brethren the men of Iudah should haue stolne him from them now might Dauid mâ—re iustly expostulate why a rebell of their brethren should haue stolne them from him As nothing is more vnstable then the multitude so nothing is more subieâ—â— distastes then Soueraignty for as weake minds seeke pleasure in change so euery light conceit of irritation seemes sufficient colour of change Such as the false dispositions of the vulgar are loue cannot bee security enough for Princes without the awfulnesse of power What hold can there bee of popularity when the same hands that euen now fought for Dauid to be all theirs now fight against him vnder the son of Bichri as none of theirs As Bees when they are once vp in a swarm are ready to light vpon euery bow so the Israelites being stirred by the late commotion of Absalom are apt to follow euery Sheba It is vnsafe for any State that the multitude should once know the way to an insurrection the least track in this kind is easily made a path Yet if Israel rebell Iudah continues faithfull neither shall the son of Dauid euer be left destitute of some true subiects in the worst of Apostasies Hee that could command all hearts will euer bee followed by some God had rather glorifie himselfe by a remnant Great Commanders must haue actiue thoughts Dauid is not so taken vp with the embroiled affaires of his state as not to intend domesticke iustice His ten concubines which were shamelesly defiled by his incestuous son are condemned to ward and widowhood Had not that constupration been partly violent their punishment had not been so easie had it not also beene partly voluntary they had not been so much punished But how much so euer the act did partake of either force or will iustly are they sequestred from Dauids bed Absalom was not more vnnaturall in his rebellion then in his
of true and lawfull pleasures 337 Pleasures are but paine in their losse 887 Poetry Notable examples of godly poets and a fearfull one of a prophane Poet. 153 Policy Lewd men call wicked policy wisedome 864 Lawfull policies what they haue 867 The safest policy is alwayes to be at peace with God 1062 Nothing worse then to make Religion a stalking horse for policy 1121 The policy of wicked men befooles them at the last 1261 Policy Religion how they may meet 1335 Pope or popery vid. Rome The causes and meanes of its increase 361 Wherein popery destroyes the foundation 388 Of the Popes writing of holinesse where it is not and blotting it out where it is 445 Of his horrible pride in challenging Headship 541 A serious disswasiue from poperie 613 Popery pictured 620 Popularitie It is hatefull 12 Possessions Earthly possessions are not alwayes accompanied with wit and grace 1102 Sinne giues the deuill possession 1286 Pouerty Of popish voluntarie pouerty 695 696 How many in feare of pouerty seeke to gaine vnconscionably and yet dye beggers 1003 Of feeding the poore 1026 Prayer How acceptable 457 How not ibid. Often prayer what it doth 871 Prayer without means is but a mockery of God 894 about the vertue of the place of prayer ibid. Whose prayer is acceptable 895 Concerning long and short prayers ibid. Feruent prayer how it holds Gods hand 902 926. Impatient praiers often heard 929 It is better sometime in our prayers to haue gracious denials then angry yeeldings 933 Prayers want of successe may cause suspicion of want of heart 971 Prayer the vniuersall receipt of all euils 1030 A rule to bee heard in our prayer ibid. God will rather worke miracles then our prayers shall returne emptie 1031 The prayers of the wicked sometimes heard 1066 If any thing can auert iudgments it is prayers 1144 Praiers resemblance with incense 1160 Delay of effect may not discourage vs from prayer 1162 Prayse A censure for praysing of Princes 480 Preaching or Preacher of doing it by roate what 37 Powerfull preaching how defamed 506 How God preacheth as well by actions as by words 885 He is no true Israelite that is not distressed at the want of a Samuel 1062 1063 The preacher of the Gospell was an Angell 1164 Plausible preaching is not fit for Regeneration 1189 1189 Prelacie Whether ours bee Antichristian 578 Preparation of preparation for hearing 896 For any of Gods seruice 897 God euer prepares his seruaÌ„ts for imployments 1035 Presence Concerning the reall presence 657 Of the difference of Gods presence to sinners and saints 871 The with-drawing of Gods presence is the presence of his wrath 915 The awefull respect we owe to Gods presence 949 A good mans losse better found in his losse then in his presence 970 Presumption Its character 195 Presumption doth the same in wicked men which faith doth in the holiest 1036 Presumption and boldnâ—sse in vndertaking hoâ—y callings and touching holy things punished see in Vzzah 1128 The iust iudgment of God vpon presumptuous sinners 1146 Pride vid. Ambition a proud man prettily described 52 699 700 And what iudgment follows iustly ibid. Alwaies enuious to all ibid. The folly of pride 701 Euer discontent and looking high 829 Gods indignation against it 830 Pride the ground of sedition 914 Deformity a fit cure for pride 915 A remedy for pride 921 Pride and malice care not so much for safety as for conquest 931 Proud men haue seldome contentment 965 That which pride hath proiected it will finde meanes either by bribes or fauours to effect 985 986 Princes Their peril or portion 884 The Princes sinnes are a iust stop to the people 913 The reciprocall respects between Princes people 1058 Where Prince and Priest combine not together see what followes 1062 No Prince safe without a Prophet ibid. The neere relation of Prince and people 1117 Nothing can bee worse then for yong Princes to meet with ill Counsellers 1135 No disparagement to Princes to take counsell of their Ministers 1257 Their honour to Ministers ancient 1261 Princes Prophets both necessary in Iudgement 1318 Prodigall He is described 221 Professors An excellent speech and caueat to professors 416 Profit The loue of it how powerfull 849 Promises Gods promises most faithfull 3 yea as if they were of Ioane or debt or desert 46 Prophane His character 189 Extremitie will send the prophanest vnto God 1109 1110 Prophet A good prophet is a coÌ„mon treasure-house 1102 The seduced prophet 1319 Of all others the sinne of a prophet shall not goe vnreuenged 1321 Prosperitie There is no more hatefull sight to the wicked then to see the prosperitie of the godly 863 The wicked in their prosperitie will hardly giue God his owne 873 In prosperitie how iocund and deuout 886 Wickednesse can seldome brag of any long prosperitie 1020 No measuring Religion by outward prosperitie 1044 1337 God is often angry with those that doe outwardly prosper 1054 Outward prosperitie a false note of the Church 1337 Prouidence That Gods prouidence doth ouer-rule and dispose in the least action and euent is no detracting from his Maiestie 48 Of reliance on Gods prouidence 94 Of prouidence what it is what are her obiects what her effects 212 The comfort of his prouidence 1331 Prouocations We must beware of them 848 Prudence vid. Wisedome Psalmes Their vse 1080 A torment to the Tempter ibid. Publike The maine care of a good heart is for the publike good 976 Publican called 1290 Described 1291 Punishment There is no lesse Charitie then Iustice in the punishment of sinners 904 No policy in a sudden remouall of a iust punishment 916 A madnesse to runne from punishment and not from sinne 922 As the sinnes of great men are exemplary so are their punishments 937 How often the infliction of a lesse punishment hath auoided a greater 939 It is to no purpose to pray against punishment while the sinne continues 955 A Magistrates pace in punishments must be both slow and sure 957 God doth in iustice make one sinne the punishment of another 971 God punisheth when men least thinke of it 1059 Of punishment deferred 1073 There can be no euill of punishment wherein God hath not a hand 1248 The delay of punishment is neither hinderance to Gods iustice nor comfort to our miseries 1261 Purification Of Maries purification 1173 The contempt of womens purification censured ibid. The law of purification proclaimes our vncleannesse 1174 Purgatorie concerning Romes errour in it 651 Purposes Wicked purposes are easily checked but not so easily broken off 1099 How farre God lookes beyond our purposes 1105 Q QVailes of the Quailes and Manna 886 Quarrels Of going into the field on quarrels 338 An ill quarrell once vndertaken shall bee maintained euen with blood 1119 Question Of a short answer to a weighty question 26 Quietnesse What and wherein it consists 73 74 Seneca's rules of tranquillitie abridged 74 Reiected as insufficient 75 The enemies of quietnesse ibid. The
subordinate rules of tranquillitie 92 R RAhab Of her 945 The Authors censure of her whether an harlot in respect of filthinesse ibid. Her house a token of the true Church 947 Her deliuery with the vse of it 953 Rarenesse It causeth wonder with the application of it 49 50 Rebels Vengeance against theÌ„ may sleepe but cannot dye 1263 Regeneration it must make way for our glorification 466 Rehoboam 1311 His taking counsell with the yong ones 1313 Reioyce How easily we can reioyce in that which we shall find the iust cause of our humiliation 1057 Relapse vide reuolting It is desperate 888 Religion Of the feeling of the power of it in our selues 37 Who is the greatest enemie to Religion 141 A discourse of the tryall and choyce of true religion 319 Dissentions in religion an insufficient motiue of vnsetlednesse in it What both a priuate publike person is compared vnto that is vnsetled in his religion 481 Nothing reputed so superfluous as religious duties 865 A reproofe of our not being willing to be at cost with religion 901 The pompous shewes of the false religion 936 The care of religioÌ„ must haue the first place 968 Religion gone humanity wil hardly stay long after 986 Where no respect is giuen to Gods Ministers there is no religion 1017 No measuring of religion by outward glory 1044 It is no small priuiledge to dwell where religion is 1054 Nothing worse then to make policy a stalking horse for religion 1121 The Princes first care to aduance religion 1127 If Ministers be meal-mouth'd in the scornes of religion they may not bee counted patient but zealelesse 1130 Religion makes not men vnciuill 1134 Want of religion is the way to disobedience 1314 Religion and policy how they must meet 1335 God hates nothing more then a neutrality in religion 1337 Remembrance the remembrance of former fauors how it heartens our faith 894 Reprehension that there must not be one vniforme in reprehension 24 Reprehension better then flattery ibid. Corruption checked growes mad with rage 865 A galled heart impatient of reprehension 868 What a wicked man lookes to in hearing reprehension ibid. Where sinne is not ashamed of light God loues not that reprehension should bee smothered 915 Reprehension makes way for consolation 975 It is signe of a horse galled that stirres too much when he is touched 1030 In vaine doe wee reprehend those sinnes abroad which we tolerate at home 1033 An easie reproofe doth but encourage wickednesse 1034 Of the choice of seasons for reproofe 1060 Reproouers should striue to be innocent ibid. Resolute wickednesse is impatient of reprehension 1318 Repentance an excellent inducement to it 68 The character of a true penitent 180 A vniuersall Antidote for all the iudgements of God 916 In vaine to professe repentance whilst wee continue in Idolatry 1051 Oâ— the maruellous power of repentance 1143 Repentance cannot alwaies turne a temporall iudgement 1248 Rephidim Its rocke 891 Reproaches Such as are cast vpon vs in the causes of God may safely be repayed 1130 Reubenites Of their Altar 967 Reprobation a fearfull signe of it 1110 Reuenge vide vengeance God alwaies takes his part that seekes not to reuenge himselfe 914 God can reuenge with ease 922 Euery creature reioyceth to execute Gods vengeance 929 There is no euasion where God intends reuenge 966 Reuolter vide Relapse much difference betweene him and a man trained vp in error 143 An Epistle to new reuolter a Minister 275 Reynolds commended 287 Riches vide Wealth Rich men are not Gods treasurers but his Stewards 26 How a vertuous man esteemes of riches 28 Hard to bee rich and righteous 33 A notable argument to draw yea dâ—iue men froÌ„ the desire of riches 35 The way to bee rich indeed 36 Rich mens misery in this that they cannot know their friends 59 A rich maÌ„ may go to heauen but hardly a couetous 137 The rich that speake with command must also be commanded 694 How rich man was in his innocency 695 Who is rich indeed 696 What wee should doe to bee rich 697 The strangenesse of a rich mans being proud and that in two respects 699 A rich man prettily descrybed ibid. The confidence that some put in riches 701 What riches cannot doe 702 A pretty rule how to vse riches ibid. Riches vncertaine ibid. c. What should bee the rich mans stay 704 A strait charge to rich men 707 Righteous righteousnesse of our iealosie of a mans being suddenly righteous 3 Rome vide Popery the state of the now Romane Church 633 The obstinate and auerse opposition of the Romanists 636 The impossibility of being reconciled with Rome 639 663 The Romish errour concerning Iustification 643 Freewill 645 Merits 647 Satisfaction 648 Purgatorie 650 Pardons 651 Mortall veniall sins 652 The Canon of the Scripture 653 The insufficiency of the Scripture 655 Transubstantion 656 The MultipreseÌ„ce of Christs body 657 The sacrifice of the Masse 658 The number of Mediators 659 Their ridiculous worship of Rome 661 Ruth and Naomi 1022 S SAcraments when they haue their true effect 954 Sacrifice A three-fold sacrifice acceptable to God First Poenitentiae Secondly Iustitiae Thirdly Laudis 456 Hearty sacrifices are the Angels feast 997 We must not dare to sacrifice vnsanctified 1078 Sacriledge The largenesse of its punishment 957 Saints of innouation of Saints 659 Salomon Of his beginning 1258 His dutifull cariage to his mother 1260 His choice and iudgement on the two harlots 1264 The experiment of Salomons wisedome in saying Diuide the child 1266 His building the Temple 1266 His defection 1273 Samaria Its famine 1394 Sampson Conceiued 994 His mariage 998 His victory 1002 His end 1005 A pretty passage about Sampsons leauing his wife 1002 Sampsons victory with the Iawbone of an Asse applied to a weake Christian 1005 Samuel vid. Saul His contestation 1059 Of Samuels harbouring Dauid 1090 Satisfaction The Papists errour concerning it 648 Saul and Samuel their meeting 1052 Samuels kinde entertainment of Saul 1055 Sauls faire beginnings 1056 Sauls Vnction ibid. Sauls inauguration 1057 Sauls sacrifice 1061 Hee reiected of God is no more a King but a Tyrant ibid. Sauls sacrifice prettily set out 1063 Sauls oath 1064 Saul and Agag 1073 An excellent expostulation on Sauls doings with the Amalekites 1075 Sauls reiection and Dauids choice 1076 Saul the very character of hypocrisie 1076 Sauls madnesse had not bereaued him of his craft 1087 Saul in Dauids caue 1099 Of him and the Witch of Endor 1109 Sauls hardinesse at the raising of Samuel prettily described 1111 Sauls death 1116 A pretty description of the messenger that brought tydings to Dauid of Sauls death 1117 1118 Scandall A good heart is no lesse afraid of scandall then of sinne 1027 Scribes Their name and sorts vid. Pharisees 408 Schismes how bred fostered and confirmed 29 30 Scriptures whether the Apocryphall bookes are to be receiued as scripture 614 Which of the translations are most to be adhered to 615 Whether