TEN SERMONS PREACHED VPON SEVERALL SVNDAYES AND SAINTS DAYES 1 Vpon the Passion of our Blessed Saviour 2 Vpon his Resurrection 3 Vpon S. Peters Day 4 Vpon S. Iohn the Baptists Day 5 Vpon the Day of the blessed Innocents 6 Vpon Palme Sunday 7 and 8 Vpon the two first Sundays in Advent 9 and 10 Vpon the Parable of the Pharisee and Publicane Luke 18. TOGETHER WITH A Sermon Preached at the Assises at Huntington BY P. HAVSTED Mr. in Arts and Curate at Vppingham in Rutland LONDON Printed for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDCXXXVI TO THE WORTHY AND VERTVOVS Knight Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON Knight of the honorable Order of the BATH NOBLE SIR I Have made bold to borrow your faire name to grace the Front of my Book It will passe for currant I hope now it hath your Superscription stampt upon it Nay doe not sweat for the matter I will not put the sweetnesse of your modesty to the torture of a blush I protest were I necessitated to one of thē I would rather choose to bee rough with you then to flatter you The first I acknowledge is an incivility but yet the second though Courtly carries with it the greater danger and the juster anger I know the roads of Dedications well enough It is expected there should be fucus and cerusse in them but if a man could find it there is a nearer and a cleaner way I will bee plaine with you I stuck a while at the very word Dedication because they doe malè audire are something out of credit by reason of the daubing that is in many of them Nor had I adventured upon any especially to you who I know would receive an Inventory of your owne good parts in line with a challenge but that I was confident to my selfe that I had purchased already in the world the opinion of a blunt man and therfore shot-free from the imputation of a flatterer I beseech you suppose me not so weak to think that I beleeve any thing here which is mine worthy of the noyse of a Dedication and that to you They who know you know you deserve greater Presents my hope in this is they who know you not but in Landskip a farr off and mixt with other faire peeces of variety which make up a beautifull prospect will certainly divine that there is something more in you then in ordinary men and that you deserve wel of the Church and Clergy when they shall see one of the surliest of our Tribe leave the pursuit of Lions Wolves Tygers a game he takes delight in to stand still onely to observe you and glory to stile himselfe who otherwise under his gracious God and King is free as the ayre which circumscribes him Your servant PETER HAVSTED To the Christian Reader SOmthing must be said to you Christian Reader although it be but for Formes sake and it shall not be much I have put forth some Sermons here you see rude and just according to the first draught I could have proceeded I confesse to the second and third sittings have added the lights and the shadowes the graces and the rellishes which make peeces beautifull but the same reasons which made me expose them to the world would not allow me time to pollish them I am not yet so meanly conceited of my selfe but that I will think there is somthing in them nor yet so in love with what is mine owne that I dare affirme that somthing to be any great matter Qui se mirantur in illos virus habe The Age we live in is full of Knowledge so that should the spirits of our dead Ancestours returne to view their old habitations they would finde by a strange Metempsychosis the soule of learning wandred even into places where they left nothing but Barbarisme behold great Clarks in russet coates and an University even at the Plow Bookes are dayly multiplied and with those the desperate Censurers and therefore I cannot be ignorant of the danger I have put my selfe in by this open way It is very likely that I may repent the publishing of them when I see the entertainment they shall have in the world but it is also as probable that I may make some good uses of that repentance I have already tasted of the successe of the Presse in some of my younger studies and therefore desire thee to be so faire as not to interpret it vain glory or an itch of being read in Print No my intent and end is good and honest neither of which Titles can belong to thee unlesse thou provest so charitable to beleeve me Whether it be necessity in me being in a low Fortune the common calamity of us Schollers whether it be a perswasion of the good which may accrue to the Reader or whether it be to feele the Pulse of the Times that knowing the temper of their acceptance I may hereafter or expose or suppresse some other things or what other ayme soever I have doth not much concerne thee to know and I shall make it a suit that I may still keepe it private to my selfe I am naturally an enemy to Apologies otherwise I might tell you that most of these were sudden births borne in a private Auditory without any intent of ever shewing their heads abroad but it is my fault to force them into a crowd who would have beene farre better pleased still to have enjoyed a quiet and chast solitude The yeares I have past I acknowledge are not many but my desires to benefit Gods people and to communicate those few good things the Lord hath beene pleased to bestow upon me are farre above the number of my yeares or abilities There is good to be learnt from these Sermons if thou readest them with candour but come with prejudice and the best food is turned into poyson If thou wilt needs be finding fault with me as there be a generation who suckt that humour from their Mothers be so kinde I entreate thee to let the censure thou layest upon me be milde If thou apprehendest that I am somthing too bold in adventuring things of this nature to the publique eye not having haire enough to plead a fulnesse in me while other men of profounder learning and larger reading like deepe streams passe silently on be advised and that for thine owne sake for feare there be other men who wil censure thee even for that very act and call thy judgement into question let the Title thou fastenest upon my offence reach no farther at the most then to the tearme forwardnesse and then it is likely wee shall not quarrell for that for two or three good words it may be will make me confesse as much and withall grieve that I have occasions offered me to prick me on to that forwardnes which for ought thou knowest is contrary to my nature how ever my out-side may appeare to those who are not well versed
ire to rise up in a Contemplation unto such things as are above their owne nature For the first orders therefore to reade the greatnesse the wisedome and providence of God in any of the inferiour orders or in subjecta creatura in the Fabrick of the world hoe descendere potius quam saltus dare this is rather to goe downe then to leape To view the greatnesse and majestie of God in themselves in looking into their owne pure nature hoc illorum est per planum ire this is their plaine way they neither rise nor fall in doing thus But they are said to leape when they ascend into a simple and naked Contemplation of the Power the Wisedome the Majesty of God as he is in himselfe and so behold with admiration that Fountaine of beauty of goodnesse of order of proportion The second and third Hierarchies they are onely said to leape when they doe rise in a speculation into the orders above them and from thence are furnished with matter of admiration concerning the Divine power and wisedome For although it be granted that these inferiour orders have also their simple contemplations doe behold the face of God too enjoy the beatificall vision as well as the other yet this may be called illorum volatus potius quam tripudium rather their flight then their leaping because wee know hee that leapes doth not multum elongere se à stationis suae loco removes not himselfe farre from the place he was in before which we finde contrary in a flight when the thing that flies works it selfe many times into a vast distance Therefore because those orders of Angels which are here set out unto us by the name of rammes in their leapes doe never use but a simple Contemplation and the other inferiour orders never but a speculation most fitly hath the Psalmist laid his comparison together Montes exultaverunt ut arietes colles sicut agni ovium For the mountaines then to skip like rammes is when Contemplative men in a kinde of sacred extasie and overflowing of the soule doe climbe up into pure notions of the Deity abstracted from speculations doe behold the face of God not in the glasse of the creature but as he is in himselfe all splendor all glory all brightnesse all goodnesse And for the hills to skip like lambs is when speculative men doe climbe up into an admiration of God by beholding the works of his handâ— as St. Paul to the Romans 1.20 For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene in the creation of the world being considered in his workes Pensemus ergo c. Let us therefore conceive if we be able what a mighty prerogative and grace it is for our humane and fraile natures to be likened in the motions of our minds unto the glorious Angels And let us therfore praise the GOD of Angels and men who hath made us a little lower then the Angels to crowne us with glory and worship O blessed soule and truely happy who can take such leapes as these who leaving the dull senses asleepe can secretly steale from the body and mount up in a moment unto the familiarity of Angels bee partakers of their joyes be present at their spirituall delicates and with them leape from one degree of knowledge and illumination to another and with infinite delight and admiration still bee knowing of that immensity which can never bee fully knowen Lord let my soule ever leape after this manner and I shall not envie all the flattering courtship that the world can shew me But I make haste to the Quare the cause of this leaping What aile yee O yee mountaines c. reade but the next verse and the Question is answered A facie Domini mota est terra for so good Translations as I told yee reade it The earth was moved at the Face of the Lord. Hugo set downe foure severall faces of Christ Facâ—m 1 Viventis The face of Christ living or the face of his Poverty And this face did he shew in his Nativity and after in his whole life being made poore for our sakes so that hee had not so much as whereon to lay his head 2 Morientis The face of Christ dying or the face of his Griefe And this face did hee shew us upon the Crosse which seemed to becken to all Passengers and to say in the Prophet Ieremies words Lam. 1.12 Have yee no regard all yee that passe by this way behold and see if there bee any sorrow like unto my sorrow 3 Iudicantis The face of Christ Iudging or the face of his Anger And this face will he shew to the wicked ones in the day of judgement 4 Regnantis The face of Christ reigning or the face of his Glory and pleasure And this face will hee onely shew to the Saints in the Kingdome of Heaven But I must make bold in the midst of these foure to insert one face more of Christs which Hugo Cardinalis did not thinke of and that is Facies resurgentis The face of Christ arising from the dead subduing the grave and leading Captivity captive And this is the face of Christ meant here at the sight of which the Earth was moved The Mountaines skipped c. And what thing is there so heavy that could sit still and behold this face O let not us then be more insensible then the Mountaines and Hills to which wee are compared for we must know that the strength of the comparison doth not lie in the ponderousnesse of the Mountaines No wee ought not to imitate them in this but it doth consist in the height in their neernesse to heaven and their distance from the common roades of men Lift up your heads therefore O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory will come in First then O yee mountaines of the earth who doe enjoy a vicinity and kinde of familiarity with God and heaven Yee men of contemplation who by the advantage of your height have a far clearer and neerer prospect of God and of the wonders that are in him then they who are upon the little Hills and Plaines of the earth below O lift up your heads on high in a thankfull acknowledgement and admiration of the wisedome the power the mercy of our God who sent his onely Sonne in whom he was well pleased into the world that he by his poverty his ignominie his obedience his death might make an atonement for our sins And this is the day wherein that gracious worke was perfectly finished this is the day wherein our Saviour Christ having entred into the house of that strong man Death and bound him like a Giant refreshed with wine issued out of the Grave in triumph Or once This is the day which the Lord hath made let us reioyce and be glad in it For be sure that the Lord lookes for greater higher and more frequent leapes from you for purer and
on earth The greatest Saints of God we see are not without their rainie dayes and tempests a perpetuall calme is onely to be found in heaven Nay Peter who to his inward gifts and graces of the spirit had also an outward competency of corporall goods he was full he wanted nothing hee was newly risen from a Feast he enjoy'd the company of his friends and his companions were round about him no small blessing Nay hee had the bodily presence of Christ himselfe Nor was hee furnished onely for the present but hee had also provision for many dayes no lesse then a Stock of an hundred fifty and three great fishes for hereafter so that hee might have said with the rich Foole in the Gospell Soule take thy rest thou hast goods enough layd up for thee No all this cannot shut griefe out of the heart of Saint Peter Peter for all this was sorie Let us learne therefore from hence to know that true joy which is without any mixture of griefe is not to be found in any earthly good whatsoever not in thy riches not in thy dainties not in thine honors not in the multitude and greatnesse of thy friends No Seeke for that in any other place except it be in heaven and bee sure that thou shalt lose thy labour 2 But why is Peter sory because his Master asks him whether he loves him or no What could there be in this which could grieve Saint Peter One would have thought that this should rather have made him joyfull to heare his Lord and the Lord of the whole world to talke so familiarly with him to take such particular notice of him and of his love No this is not all For wee finde our Saviour saying the very same words unto him twice before and yet he was not a whit mov'd at it then but now he sayes unto him the third time lovest thou mee As if some secret influence had beene wrapt up in those words and so convay'd into his soule yee may discerne a suddaine alteration in the man What should the meaning of this be Shall wee say that there is any Magick or Witchcraft in the number of three Wee must not say it But this wee may say A hidden vertue or power there was in those words of our Saviour repeated thrice unto him Alas at the first and second speaking of them Peter did not know the meaning of our Saviour but no sooner doth he come upon him with that question the third time but then hee begins to recollect himselfe and verily beleeve that there is something in it more then ordinary As if Peter had dialogued thus with himselfe What should this meane that my Lord and Master doth so often repeat these words to mee Lovest thou mee lovest thou mee lovest thou mee Would not this once named have served the turne Is it possible that Christ can affect empty repetitions which are like clouds without water Certainly all his words are ponderous nor doth a syllable fall from his blessed lips but what is full of meaning and mysterie No lesse then thrice together lovest thou me O my tormented conscience I have it One deepe calls upon another because of the noyse of the water pipes Now our Apostle begins to dive a little into the mystery of the number 3. and thinks with himselfe what he can call to mind within the compasse or intimation of that number which may concerne himselfe And sure he shall not need to be long in meditation about it If hee chance to bee forgetfull wee 'l bring the Cocke againe to waken his memory and that shall crow but once to tell him that hee hath denied his Master thrice O it was this which touched him to the quicke his mind presently upon Christs third repetition ran backe to his threefold deniall Now Peter understands the intent of his Master but yet sure not all his intent for then hee would never have grieved for the matter He fixes onely upon that part of it which did respect the hainousnesse of his former sinne and called that backe to his memory it is likely he never thought at that time upon the other part of Christs intention which was the good and honour of St. Peter that by this threefold open confession of his Lord and Saviour hee might as much as in him lay expiate his threefold deniall of him This was certainly the chiefest reason why our Saviour urges this to Peter the third time that hee might give him an occasion to redeeme the honour which hee had lost before Hee denied him thrice before and now to make amends for that he confesses him as often But it runnes in the Text And Peter was sory because hee said unto him the third time lovest thou mee which implies that Peter was not so much grieved for the sinne of his deniall it selfe as hee was at the unkindnesse as hee supposed of our Saviour who first seemes to make it a great doubt whether Peter loved him or no in asking him so often And well hee might doubt of it although to speake properly Christ could not doubt of any thing because he knew all things for Peter by his former denialls had given him sufficient cause to doubt And secondly by this threefold Question seemes to upbraid Peter with the same businesse that the Cock told him of before And this is the nature of us all who commonly doe thinke so well of our selves that we account it a great disparagement to have our faith or hope our love or our religion called in question No let us alone wee are well wee love God and wee love Christ wee hope for heaven and wee know all shall bee well with us To what purpose are all these questions With Peter we are sory if any one asks us whether we love Christ or no In the next place wee are of the same nature with St. Peter too by any meanes we doe not love to heare of our sinnes We doe not reade here that CHRIST was any whit plaine or open with Peter Hee did not tell him of his sinne in a diameter in a straight line for wee finde not a word of any denials mentioned but onely tacitely and insinuatingly doth hee by his threefold confession bring backe to his memory his threefold deniall which hee knew could not chuse but do it It is likely that the rest of the company who were present with them at this discourse tooke no notice at all of his meaning it was onely knowne to Peter himselfe who had a vigilant monitor within him his conscience quickning his apprehension and yet for all this Peter is grieved And it was well he was but grieved hee was not angry as many of us will bee now adayes when we heare our darling sinnes a little touched O yee will hug us of the Clergy so long as wee let yee alone so long as wee doe not bring backe your sinnes to your memory wee are quiet and honest men so long as
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
Christ He was not that light saith St. Iohn in his 1. Chap. but was sent to beare witnesse of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man who commeth into the world Iohn was but as a Torch-bearer before that Bridegroome who came out of his Chamber rejoycing like a mighty man to runne his race But to leave this sacred mysterie with admiration being a Theame fitter for the pen or tongue of an Angel then of a weake man let us come unto our selves And what shall wee render to the Lord againe for all this now I will tell yee Since it hath so pleased God so to love the world as to give his only begotten Sonne to us let us thinke nothing too good nothing too deare for him let us so love him againe as to dedicate our selves unto him Since Christ hath vouchsafed to take such a leape for us to come from heaven to earth let us in all thankfulnesse leape from earth into heaven to him But ye will aske me how Hic labor hoc opus est This is a thing indeed desired of all for who would not be in heaven but it is full of difficulties I answer therfore the more noble the more to be desired The way to honour is up hill the passage craggy and thorny but bee not dismayed for this journey which I speake of is not a corporall but a spirituall journey Take thou no care how thy body which must bee laid downe in the dust nor how thy soule when it is separated from thy body shall bee carried into those heavenly habitations trust thy Saviour with this who will take custody of thy soule when thou layest downe thy Tabernacle and in his good time raise up thy body too to immortalitie If thou whilest thou art herein the body canst take thy thoughts from the earth and send them on a holy Ambassage to heaven if thou canst raise up thy thankfull heart to a blessed acknowledgement of the mercy of God in thy Saviour Iesus Christ who came downe thus to thee I dare say in this thou hast leapt from earth to heaven which moving and stirring of thy soule like a troubled boxe of pretious Oyntment whose vertuous odours slept till they were awaked by stirring shall make thee smell sweet in the nostrills of God Thy lips O my spouse saith Christ in the 4. Chapter of this Song drops as honey combes honey and milke are under thy tongue the savour of thy garments is as the savour of Lebanon Camphyre and Spikenard and Saffron and Calamus and Cinamon with all the Trees of incense Which is nothing else but to shew us by the similitude of these earthly things these odoriferous delicacies which are most acceptable to our sense how pleasing and gratefull are the lips i. the confessions the prayers the thankesgivings of his whole Church in generall or of every faithfull soule in particular unto God Wee have a saying amongst us and it is a true one Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris Name but the ingratefull person and thou namest every thing that is bad But alas how truely may wee quite invert this saying and inverted apply it our selves Omnia si dixeris ingratum dixeris Name all things name all the benefits all the bounties all the mercies which God with a liberall hand hath heaped upon mankinde without weight without measure without number Nay name this mercy of all mercies So God loved the world that hee gave us his onely begotten Sonne Yet for all this thou mayest call man ingratefull For where is our wedding apparell at the Celebration of these Nuptialls Where is our faith where is our charity where is our newnesse of life in these dayes of preparation where are our praises our Songs of deliverance Vox quoque Maerim Iam fugit ipsa lupi Maerim videre priores Wee are Pythagoreans now Harpocrates or the Woolfe hath seene us such a heavie silence is fallen upon us If yee aske mee how yee shall honour this time truly Saint Augustine shall tell yee Cogita Deum Patrem mittentem cogita Deum Filium venientem cogita teipsum immerentem Thinke upon God the Father in mercy sending his Sonne thinke upon God the Sonne in mercy come being sent of the Father and when thou hast done this thinke upon thine owne unworthinesse and doe this seriously and it cannot choose but worke in thee a love towards God a hating of thy selfe and thy sinnes a charity to thy poore brethren and once adorne thee with all the graces fitting the celebration of so blessed a time Our third leape was de Praesepe ad Crucem from the Manger to the Crosse from Beast to the curse due to sinne Cursed is every one who hangs upon a tree But doth Christ leave us here No. Hee leapes after us hither too No sooner are the two theeves upon the Crosse but lift up thine eyes and thou shalt finde him in the midst of them crying to the penitent This day thou shalt be with mee in Paradise And doe but reade that speech of Christ to Iudas in the 13. of Saint Iohns Gospell And then tell me whether we may not truly call this a leape of his or no a leape of joy a leape of an earnest desire The consideration of which me thinks cannot choose but make our hearts leape within us too at the 27. verse And after the sop Sathan entred into him That which thou doest doe quickly What should this bee which Iudas was about that we find our Saviour wooing him to such a speed in the execution of it That which thou doest doe quickly Why if yee will needs know it was to betray him to the death of the Crosse This was the action to the performance of which our blessed Saviour courts his betrayer Of such a love as this can no Stories make mention Had it beene to receive a Kingdome to have had his browes begirt with some imperiall Diadem to have mounted a triumphant Chariot and from thence to have beheld all his enemies dragd in fetters after him wee should not then have wondered that hee had leaped towards it and murmured at the heavie paces of time but when we consider that that which he made love to was death more an ignomâ—nious death the death of the Crosse the company be so longed to be with no better then Theeves Hee was numbred with the transgressours when we consider that the best welcome he could expect besides the pangs of death would be the bitter taunts of his enemies the banquet they entertained him with composed by those two harsh and unequall-handed Confectionaries Cruelty and Scorne no better then gall and vineger that he should leape towards this and be so desirous to have this done quickly here is the wonder I should here describe unto yee those thornie mountaines and craggy passages which Christ overcame in this leape of his from the Manger to the Crosse but this is an Antheme fitter for Good Friday
how when from â—ence and by whom they were brought into our Church in a meere opposition and contempt of the Booke of Common-Prayers But why then brought in and why still continued in contempt of that I acknowledge I understand not for if we looke into the Order Method and Disposition of that Booke we shall finde it sweet and harmonious if into the sufficiencie of it rich and full for what thing is it thou would'st name in thy Prayers whether it bee by the way of Confession or thy sinnes or of Thankesgiving for Benefits received or of Petition for the future but thou mayst furnish thy selfe with there more perfectly lively and more compendiously exprest then all thy wit can possibly contrive They went both to pray And whether went they Why into the Temple Private Prayers are good thy Closet-Devotions when none are admitted into the Dialogue but onely God and thine owne Soule are good and acceptable to the Lord the Prayers of thy Family are pleasing to God too but the publike Prayers of the Congregation which are put up to God in the Temple in the place dedicated to his Worship are more pleasing more availeable for we know that he has promised his presence in a more especiall manner where two or three be gathered together which place may bee most fitly interpreted of the gathering together of the Congregation in Gods House For a Family cannot proproperly be sayd to be gathered together because they are but as one body which is compact and contiguous which needs no gathering A Gathering does presuppose things that are scattered and separated But now the Pharisie and the Publicane must here shake hands and it is to bee fear'd that they will never meet againe no not in Heaven FINIS THE SECOND SERMON Continuing the Discourse upon the same words The Pharisee stood I This is done like himselfe indeed he comes into the Temple to Worship and when he is there he stands He is too good it seemes to bow his Knee before the Lord. Thus did not MOSES and AARON who fell both upon their Faces before the Lord. Numb 16. Saying O God Numb 16. the God of the spirits of all flesh hath one man sinned and wilt thou be wroth with the whole Congregation Thus did not DANIEL who in his 6. Chap. no lesse then three times every day was downe upon his Knees praying to God Thus did not CHRIST himselfe who in the 22. Luke 22. of Saint Luke Kneeled downe and prayed And yet this sinfull proud Pharisee a worme of the Earth he comes into the presence of the Lord and out-faces him as it were in his owne House stands in a peremptory confidence of his owne merits with a daring countenance a stretched-out Necke and a Knee stiffer then the Pillers of Heaven for IOB tels us in his 26. Chap. That they tremble and quake at his reproofe O that we had not too many such Pharisees now adayes who come into the Church stiffe as the Pillers which underprop it For whom they reserve their Knees I cannot tell certaine I am they are very sparing of them towards God and whether the Lord has deserv'd to have their Knees or no I will put it to their owne judgement Hee made our Bodyes as well as our Soules and sure we owe him Reverence with them both But our bowing before the Altar towards the East end of the Church troubles our standing Pharisees very much If I could suppose that their prejudicate opinions would give them leave to hearken to reason I should endeavor to give them what satisfaction I am able The first thing then which they must grant whither they will or no is That God must bee worshipped with the Body as well as with the Soule And therefore that Argument is but frivolous to say that God is a Spirit and he must bee worshipped in Spirit and in Truth It is true God is a Spirit and he must be worshipped in Spirit but how Fundamentalitèr non exclusire Fundamentally the Foundation of thy worship must bee layd in the Spirit without which all the bowing in the world I acknowledge is worth nothing in the Eyes of God but not exclusively excluding the bodily Worship Nay it is impossible that thou shouldst worship God in Spirit and in Truth except it bee also exprest in the body never tell me of thy inward and bare Spirituall worship Can precious Oyntment be conceal'd Can fire in the midst of combustible matter lye hid The Body is but the Instrument and Servant of the Soule and followes her Dictates This being granted the next thing we must force yee to grant is that this bodily Worship is to bee given especially in the Church for therefore come we to Church and therefore were Churches built for the Worship of God Now what is Externall worship The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Congeniculo vel in genua procumbo to bow or to fall downe upon the Knees will tell us And yee shall finde that in most places where the vulgar Latine Translation renders it Adoravit it is as much in the Hebrew as Incurvatus est he was bowed or hee was bended in his body To Worship then outwardly is to boâ— the Knee or the Body and this ought to bee done and this ought to bee done in the Church especially But why then towards the East I will strive to satisfie yee in that too I hope yee will yeild that if we doe it at all we must needs doe it with our faces pointed to one particular place and why to that place rather then to an other the reasons are excellent and they be reasons which the Primitive â—nes â—ad The Heathens were all great worshippers of the Sunne and therefore they us'd to worship towards the East the place of the Sunnes Rising where their God appear'd to them first in the Morning But the Lord because he would not have his people the Iewes to imitate the Heathen therefore by his command the Arke was set in the West part of the Tabernacle and afterwards of the Temple when it was built in the holyest place of all And Aquinas gives another reason which he calles the Figurative reason and it is this Because the whole State of the former Tabernacle was ordain'd to signifie the Death of CHRIST and this is figured out unto us by the West according to that in the 68. Psalme Sing praise unto Him who rideth upon the Heavens as upon a Horse For so it is in the English but the truth of the Interpretation according to the Originall is Qui ascendit super occasum Dominus nomen illi Who rideth upon the West the Lord is his Name Who rides upon the West that is who tryumphs over Death signified by the West the place where the Sunne sets And indeed if yee observe yee shall finde almost all the Ceremonies all the Sacrifices of the old Law