he followed him that even into the high Priests Hall Where it is true hee told them he knew not the man but this also is as true that he did tell them so The other Disciples knew not the man and were so fearefull that they durst not come neere to tell them so but Peter is so couragious that hee stands out a threefold deniall In his very deniall he was valâ—anter then all the rest Let us therefore ascribe unto St. Peters God for St. Peters faith for St. Peters love for his valour for his doctrine for his life for his repentance for his death and martyrdome all which are set up as so many Sea-markes to guide us into the Haven of eternall rest as due is all praise honour power majestie c. Amen THE FOVRTH SERMON PREACHED Upon St. John Baptists Day LVK. 1. Part of the 66. verse What manner of Childe shall this be I Cannot tell whether I should more commend the former Ages of the Church or lament our owne they in the Primitive times were so carefull to take all possible occasions to glorifie God in Himselfe in his Sonne â—e his holy Spirit in his Saints that they did dedicate set dayes on purpose for his worship as the day of the Nativity of our Saviour the day of his Passion of his Resurrection which was indeed the great day of the yeare which did quite abrogate the Jewish Sabbath the day also of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost wherein the Comforter was sent to the Disciples Nor did their devotion stop here but because they might let slip no occasion to praise the Lord they also did set apart certaine dayes wherein God should be glorified in the anniversarie memory of his Saints At ipsa sanctitas sanctorum simul memoria frigidis his nostris temporibus exulant But our times frozen with a certaine new upstart discipline blowne from Geneva are so farre from affording any honourable mention of Gods Saints that many of us quarrell the very name And indeed to say the truth what have they to doe with the word when the thing which the word signifies is banished from them I doe acknowledge that the Church of Rome is something too ceremonious too complementall in regard of the Saints and doth bestow too much honour upon them many times even to the prejudice of Gods glory But shall we therefore like fooles or mad men in a wilde desire of opposition erre farther on the other hand because they honour them a little too much therefore shall wee dishonour them God hath beene pleased to glorifie them in heaven like the Starres in the Firmament The just shall shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father saith our Saviour in the 13. of Saint Mathew ver 43. And therefore certainely these are not fit objects of our scorne and neglect But to give if it be possible some satisfaction to the froward and ignorant concerning these dayes dedicated to the Saints If Antiquity would satisfie them I could send them to â—ertullian St. Ierome St. Augustine and of later times to Baronius Annales to Bellarmine who are not much branded for bearing false witnesse of the ancient times For certaine it is that this dedication of dayes unto the honour of the Saints or to the honour of God in the Saints choose yee which is of great Antiquity The Romanists have indeed abused this custome and have multiplied the number of their Saints beyond the number of their dayes it may bee have put in some into the number of their Saints when there hath beene neither such Saints nor such men But it is no good argument from the abuse of a Thing to conclude against the lawfull use But I will leave Antiquity which they care not for and will deale with them by reason I was too blame to tell them so I doubt my arguments will fare the worse for comming to them in that livery Carnall reasoning as they call it they cannot abide O that such people would but heare without prejudice For what is he who hath not lost all that is man about him when hee shall heare the reasons which are alleadged for the dedication of these dayes but must needes mee thinkes retract his lunacie and folly and call the former Ages wise and our selves happy them for first instituting and us for enjoying those blessed occasions and meanes to build us up in devotion The dayes therefore dedicated to the memory of the blessed Virgin St. Mary the holy Apostles and Martyrs have many profitable and religious uses First That upon those dayes wee might joyne our rejoycing with theirs communicate together in our joy and praises of God And for this it is that we beleeve and confesse in our Creed A communion of Saints Secondly that we might shew our thankfulnesse both unto God and to them who are so solicitous for our good and doe so thirst after and rejoyce at our salvation and glory There is joy in heaven for one sinner that repents Thirdly That wee contemplating their vertues and graces might be provoked to an imitation of their godly lives Fourthly That our Faith and Hope might by the consideration of them be established that as we verely beleeve that they are now glorified in Heaven who were once mortall men here on Earth subject to the same passions to the same infirmities with our selves so wee following their steps in vertuous and religious living shall one day also be removed from this earth and enjoy with them an everlasting vision of glory Fifthly That God thereby might be honoured For if we so honour the memory of the Saints certainly this very action of ours must needs acknowledge him to be more glorious more honourable who both made them men and made them Saints Sixthly That by meditating upon their happinesse and the beauty which they are now possest of we might be perswaded unto a hate of all earthly things and onely let our thoughts bee taken up with Heaven which while they lived here was their study now is their habitation And lastly That by the celebration of these Feasts meeting at Gods house as we ought to do praising and raying unto the Lord hearing his holy Word read or preached we might be builded up to further degrees of knowledge and devotion And were there no other reason but this me thinkes it might move a good Christian But I shall make a monster of this Childe of mine this discourse in making the head too bigg for the body so that I am afraid you will get to the Text before me and say of my Sermon as the people did here of St. Iohn the Baptist What manner of Child shall this be I therefore make haste to the Text. And all they that heard these things laid them up in their hearts saying What manner c. Our whole discourse at this time shall bee nothing else but an answer to this question And to whom is this question directed I perceive
yee the words of an Author of no small repute amongst them speaking of the very same comparison of the difference of faces and mindes Alii aliis non omnino assimulantur ideo privatim de anoquoque meminit Ecclesia sine aliquo mendacio Non est inquit similis illi c. Therefore saith hee doth the Church and that without any imputation of lying say of every Saint His like is not to be found Mat 22.30 Wee shall be in Heaven saith our Saviour Math. 22. as the Angels of God and the more holinesse there is in us the neerer we approach to the nature of Angels even while we live here upon earth Now Aquinas tells us that quilibet Angelus constituit speciem Every Angell doth make a severall species So that there is no numericall distinction of the Angels but a specificall And the reason of this is because those things which agree in the species and differ onely in number doe agree in the forme and are distinguished onely in regard of the matter But seeing the Angels are not compounded of matter and forme but are without that principium fundamentum distinctionis that beginning and foundation of numericall distinction which is matter therefore it is impossible that they should be distinguished any other way but in the species And the species are compared unto numbers Yee cannot say that one number is equall to another number the number of 6 is greater then the number of 4 and lesse then the number of 8. For as well in the species as in numbers there is no linea à latere but only the upwards the downward line which implies greater and lesse So it is in the Saints no equality one must needs be greater another lesse And therefore S. Chrisostome concludes substantially and subtilly If no man be greater then Iohn the Baptist all Saints compared amongst themselves are either greater or lesse therefore he who hath none greater then himselfe must needs be greater then all But I have bin too long amongst these School delicacies Here is one thing remains to be explained concerning his last greatnesse the greatnesse of his glory For our Saviour addes in that 7. of S. Luke Luk. 7.28 Neverthelesse hee who is least in the Kingdome of God is greater then he There be two answers given First That this spoken in comparison of the Angels who were onely yet the inhabitors of the Kingdome of God For say they when Christ spoke these words the Kingdome of Heaven was not open unto the soules and spirits of men the Key of that was the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ till then there were no men in Heaven As if our Saviour should have said neverthelesse all this greatnesse of Iohn which I have made mention of the least in the Kingdome of God i. the least amongst the Angels is greater then hee because Iohn notwithstanding all these commendations is but a man but the Angelicall nature is far greater then the nature of man But this answer carries along with it a point in controversie not yet determined amongst us as granted and therefore cannot fully satisfie Secondly The answer is That he who is the least in the Kingdome of God is greater then Iohn the Baptist meaning that hee is greater pro nunc greater while Iohn lived upon the earth And this greatnesse arises a securitate fruitione from security and fruition For hee who rides in his triumphant Chariot must needs be said to be greater and happier then he who is yet in the heate of the Battell although this last be farre the worthier and the valianter because this is yet in dubio certamine but the other being freed from the malice of his enemies weares his Garland upon his head in security and therefore it is not said here that he who is least in the Kingdome of God is holier or better then Iohn but is greater then hee which greatnesse proceedes from a present possession of happinesse Wee have hitherto Preached unto you of the greatnesse of this blessed Saint St. Iohn the Baptist And what harme I pray yee is there in all this now There be a Generation of People whether it be out of envie or ignorance or pride or from what other root it should proceede I know not who cannot endure to have any of the Saints of of God spoken well of No the mention of the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary who was the Mother of our Lord and Saviour a rich Cabinet containing in it a farre richer Jewell whom the Angell of the Lord accosts with this strange salutation Haile Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women This holy name I say if it comes in usherd by the word Saint is distastfull to many of them such is their madnesse affording a more honourable mention of some of their new Saints in a Funerall Sermon then of her who was the Mother of Him who redeemed the World But these people certainly if they knew my thing must needs know that the greatnesse of the followers doth redound unto the greatnesse of their Lord who is able to make and to keepe such followers And when wee heare of the the greatnesse of St. Iohn the Baptist me thinks we should all be carried up into a consideration of his greatnesse who made St Iohn For if St. Iohn was so great that by the Testimony of Christ himselfe there was not a greater then hee amongst all who were begotten of Women O how much greater then must he needs be who was and is the Lord and Master of St. Iohn whose Herald whose forerunner whose Minister he was and as he himselfe confesses whose Shoo-latchet he was not worthy to unloose Let such of us therefore who have bin any whit faulty in this kind learne hereafter to have a more honourable esteeme of Gods Saints and of the holy dayes which are dedicated to their memory and not suppose with too many that they are dayes set apart onely for licentiousnesse and drunkennesse No the good intent of the Church was that there might be preserved an Anniversary memory of the Saints of their vertues and graces of their lives and deaths to the glory of God and our owne instruction who following their good examples shall one day come to be Saints our selves amongst them This was and is the religious use of holy dayes not excluding the Civill which is to permit honest and lawfull recreations only with this caution First serve God and then take thy honest and Christian liberty Let us then make an end of this discourse with praise and thanks-giving to Almighty God for all Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Fathers whose lives and doctrine God hath set up as lights to guide us unto the Kingdome everlasting but especially as this day calls to our memory for the blessed Saint Saint Iohn the Baptist who was great in his conception great in his nativity great in his
his Nobles his servants though yee have not yet I hope yee have fancies to conceive it And without all doubt wee shall account him the most honourable amongst his Princes whom wee behold the neerest to the person of the King and whom the King peradventure admits to goe in rancke with himselfe Now all the Fathers the Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament did walke before Christ our great and eternall King who came in solemne Procession into the world a spectacle to men and Angels and all the rest of his Court of his Traine who have lived since his Incarnation have followed after him And therefore of Abraham who was one of the Pracurfores of the fore-runners of Christ saith the Lord in the 17. Gen. 17.7 of Gen. 1. I am God all-sufficient walke before me and be upright And Hezekiah praies unto the Lord Isay 38.3 and saith in the 38. of Isay ver 3. Remember I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth But concerning those in the new Testament we shall finde the phrase altered Sequimini me follow me To Peter and Andrew in the 4. of St. Matthew Follow me and I will make â—ee fishers of men To Matthew sitting at the receipt of Custome in the 9. of his Gospel Follow mee and he arose and followed him and to us all in the 9. of St. Luke ver 23. If any man will come after mee let him deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow me But the holy Baptist was neither of the company that went before nor that followed Hee was the end of the old Law and the beginning of the new All the Prophesies of Christ before his comming runne in this straine Veniet Rex ecce Dominus veniet the King will come behold the Lord will come So Isay David and the rest All they who have writ of him since say Venit Rex misit Deus Filium suum The King is already come God hath sent his Sonne into the world But St. Iohn the Baptist who was à latere regio waited upon the body of his Prince and was never found farre distant from him to shew the greatnesse and the honour which Christ vouchsafed him in permitting that neernesse to his owne Person his voice is neither with the Prophets hee will come nor with the Apostles hee is already come but like the Index in the margent of a booke holding out his finger hee points to him and saith Ecce agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi Behold the Lambe of GOD which taketh away the sinnes of the world Great hee was also in his death being a Martyr dying for the Testimony of the Truth and after all these greatnesses on earth for never was there man who had so many and so great Testimonies given him wee cannot choose surely but beleeve that he must needs be great also in his glory But I finde some small difference amongst Expositors concerning this greatnesse of Saint Iohn which they will have to be not a greatnesse or rather majority of Prophecy or revelation but of holinesse And it is occasioned by the doubtfulnesse of the exposition of those words of our Saviour in the 11. of St. Matthew named to yee before Mat. 11.11 I say unto yee that amongst them who are begotten of women arose there not a Greater then Iohn the Baptist The quarrell although it bee of no great moment is betwixt no meane Authors no lesse then St. Ierome and St. Chrysostome both ancient learned and religious Fathers and it is this St. Ierome by these words There hath not arose a greater then Iohn will by no meanes have it to follow that therefore Iohn was greater then all the sonnes of men but that which naturally followes from hence saith he is that none of the sonnes of men were greater then Iohn And so by his rule although none arose greater then Iohn yet there might be some who were his equalls But Saint Chrysostome in his 27. Homily in that which is called His imperfect worke upon Saint Matthew contends and mee thinks very subtlely and strongly to prove from hence that by naturall consequence St. Iohn the Baptist must needs be greater then all that were begotten of women To give yee his owne words Cum tanta sit Iustitiae altitudo ut in illa nemo possit esse perfectus nisi solus Deus c. Seeing that so great is the height of Justice or righteousnesse that it is a thing impossible for any but God to be perfect in it I thinke saith our Father that although according to the pâ—rblinde judgement of men wee may guesse at an equality in the sanctity of severall Saints yet in the all-discerning Eye of God in the Divine scrutiny and this is Gods censure of Iohn and not the opinion of men it is impossible but there should bee a difference in degrees of sanctity and righteousnesse From whence it followes saith Saint Chrysostome that if none arose amongst the sonnes of men who were greater then Iohn then Iohn must necessarily be the greatest of all the sonnes of men For we are to consider of the way to Heaven as of a narrow passage cut in the side of some steepe and rigid mountaine to the Top of which we are to travaile which passage is so strait Sâ— â—n hâ— Gâ—spel that it will not admit two a breast and therefore there can be no equality in ranke or line Narrow is the way that leadeth to life and fewe there be that finde it Say then of any one that travailes that strait way that there is none before him and this speech necessarily implies that he is before all and all behinde him And the reason is Non datur alia linea nisi sursum deorsum Because there is no right hand or left hand line given here but onely the line of upwards and downe-wards As it is in the faces of men Thou mayest travaile the whole world over ere thou finde two faces which answer one another directly in all parts I will not deny but thou mayst pick out one who may have a lippe or an eye or a cheeke or some particular grace of carriage like to an other but that two should agree so in all parts that a judicious eye should not distinguish was never yet heard of So it is in the soules of men they may in some graces in some peeces of Sanctity seeme to goe hand in hand but it is impossible they should be equall in all things And where there is a difference there must needes be degrees majority and minority And this is the ordinary excuse which they of the Church of Rome doe make for that Chorus which they commonly sing in their private Masses to any of their Saints Non est inventus similis illi qui conservaret legem Excelsi His like is not found who keepes the law of the most High And this they sing to any of their meaner Saints I will give
debitor exactor non peccator judicem videmus non supplicem venit jubere non succumbere eripere non manere What terrible armed man have wee here Who is this who is clothed with light and majesty as with a garment and lookes more like an invader then a debtor a punisher of sinners then a sinner who hath rather the face of a Iudge then of a supplicant the end of whose journey hither is not to obey but command not to stay here as a prisoner but rather to carry along with him even Captivity it selfe captive O Princeps noster hiccine est ille de cujus tibi semper futura morte plaudebas O Lucifer our Prince is this hee concerning whose future death thou hast so much comforted and applauded thy selfe Is this hee in whose destruction thou hast promised us so many and so ample spoiles at whose death thou didst hope the whole world should bee added to thy Empyre Ecce â—am tot as tibi tenebras suo fulgore fugavit omnes tuos carceres fregit captivos ejecit ligatos solvit luctus eorum in gaudium commutavit Behold now his presence hath let in the day into this place of darknesse which never knew the Sunne till now All thy prison walls are broken downe thy captives set at liberty and all their mourning and lamentations are turned into the voyce of joy and gladnesse Quid est quod facere voluisti What is it that you have done in pricking Iudas and the Iews forward to hang this man upon a tree thou hast wrought the destruction of thine owne Kingdome O yee mountaines fall on us Hell it selfe is not deepe enough to hide us from his presence What have wee to doe with thee O thou Sonne of the most High Art thou come to torment us before our time How terrible is his voyce Thunder doth but whisper to it and an inraged Sea is lowe as the breath of Eunuches Many other the like speeches doth Saint Augustine at the sight of Christ in hell bring in the devills uttering I am not ignorant that there be many who will by no meanes understand this Article of our Creed concerning Christs descension into Hell to be literall but some of them by Hell will understand the Grave because they doe finde the word Infernum taken many times for the Grave in holy Scripture But Calvin himselfe who was not very sound in this opinion as wee will shew yee after hath sufficiently confuted such as these from the very order of the Articles in the Creed his descension into Hell being mentioned after his buriall Inst lib. cap. 16. sect 8. Quantae enim oscitantiae fuisset rem minime difficilem c. For what a negligent oversight had that beene saith he in this compendium and briefe of our Christian faith to have explained or rather gone about to have explained a sentence which is plaine enough already by another that is more difficult For when ever two Speeches expressing the same thing doe follow one another the latter of those ought to be the Exegesis or Interpretation of the former Thus much Mr. Calvin But there be others and amongst these Calvin himselfe who by Hell in that Article of our Creed doe meane those many torments iratum Deum and bitter pangs such as they who bee in Hell doe feele which Christ endured in his Agony but especially on the Crosse when he cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And Calvin excuses for them the infringing of the order of the Articles here in these words Inst lib. 2. cap. 16. sect 10 Nimis frivola adeoque ridicula est eorum exceptio qui dicunt hoc modo inverti ordinem quia absurdum est Sepulturae subjici quod praecessit ubi enim quae in hominum conspectu passus est Christus exposita fuerunt opportune subjicitur invisibile illud incomprehensibile judicium quod coram deo sustinuit There is something I acknowledge in this but neither doe I finde weight enough in this nor in any thing that Calvin or Beza or Brentius can say for their opinion to lye in ballance against all those great names in Antiquity and learning who are all strong for the contrary such as Cyrill Catech. 4. Ambrose lib. de mysterio Paschae cap. 4. Hilary lib. 10. Trinit August 99. Epistle ad Evod. Chrysostome Eusebius and others I will not trouble yee with any of their arguments which yee shall finde fully answered by others Onely there is one argument which that much admired Catechisme written by Master Vrsine doth hugge as a pretious thing not to be answered and of that a word If Christ did descend into hell saith hee it must needs be by his humane soule for as for his body that was all this while in the Grave and for his Godhead in respect of that he could not be said to descend because that was as well in Hell as in Heaven filled all places before It could not be by his humane soule because he had before upon the Crosse committed that into the hands of his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit But this is nothing As though Gods arme were shortned Or to be in hell were to be out of his hands Psal 139. If I make my bed in hell thou art there also To this I confesse that the Catechisme doth reply that it is cavill A very easie way of Confutation they have and it may satisfie some onely for my selfe I crave leave to be out of that number But these are but the opinions started by some of our new men the ancient Fathers stand stiffe for a locall descension and not onely for a vertuall It is to no great purpose for us to know the exact time when this Article of Christs descension into hell which before was but implicitely there was expresly interposed in our Creed for by a generall consent of all sides it is agreed that at the first it was not in all Churches For Irenaeus who was a neighbour unto the Apostles times who being a child did heare Policarpus in Asia which Policarpus was a Disciple to Saint Iohn the Euangelist in his first booke Adversus haereses Cap. 2. repeating the Apostles Creed makes no mention at all of this Article but directly goes from the Passion to the Resurrection No more doth Tertullian in the beginning of his bookes Contra Praxeam and in his booke De velandis virginibus no more doth Origen in the beginning of his bookes De Principiis no more doth S. Aug. in his book De fide Symbolo all which Fathers did both repeat expound that rule of Faith delivered to the Vniversall Church by the Apostles and yet name not that Article at all but passe immediatly from the Sepulture to the Resurrection so doth the Nicene Creed But let not this trouble us for although it was not there expressed yet it was necessarily implied it being convenient that as the body of Christ