word of God as it is written which here I must change and say Hearken unto the word of God as it writeth For to the Angel of Thyatira the second Person which is the Word of God thus writeth Write It is a great honour to receive a letter from a noble Personage how much more from the Sonne of God St. d Eâ— 40. Quid est aliud Scripture sacra n â—i quaedam epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad creaturam suam Gregorie excellently amplifieth upon this point in his epistle to Theodorus the Physician If your excellencie saith he were from the Court and should receive a letter from the Emperour you would never be quiet till you had opened it you would never suffer your eyes to sleepe nor your eye lids to slumber nor the temples of your head to take any rest till you had read it over againe and againe Behold the Emperour of heaven the Lord of men and Angels hath sent you a letter for the good of your soule and will you neglect to peruse it Peruse it my son studie it I pray thee meditate upon it day and night Where letters passe one from another there is a kinde of correspondencie and societie and such honour have all Gods Saints they have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne O let us not sleighten such a societie whereby we hold intelligence with heaven let us with all reverence receive and with all diligence peruse and with all carefulnesse answer letters and messages sent from the Sonne of God by returning sighes and prayers backe to heaven and making our selves in the Apostles phrase commendatorie letters written not with inke but with the Spirit Thus saith the Son of God Not by spirituall regeneration as all the children of promise are the sonnes of God but by eternall generation not by grace of adoption but by nature Who hath eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brasse Eyes like a flame of fire piercing through the thickest darknesse feete like brasse to support his Chuch and stamp to pouder whatsoever riseth up against it like fine brasse pure and no way defiled by walking through the midst of the golden candlestickes Wheresoever he walkes he maketh it holy ground Quicquid calcaverit hic rosa fiet There are three sorts of members in holy Scripture attributed to our head Christ Jesus 1 Naturall 2 Mysticall 3 Metaphoricall Naturall hee hath as perfect man Mysticall as head of the Church Metaphoricall as God By these members wee may divide all the learned Commentatours expositions They who follow the naturall or literall construction of the words apply this description to the members of Christs glorified body in Heaven which shine like flaming fire or metall glowing in a furnace But Lyra and Carthusian have an eye to Christ his mysticall eyes viz. Bishops and Pastours who are the over-seers of Christ his flocke resembling fire in the heat of their zeale and light of their knowledge whereby they direct the feet of Christ that is in their understanding his inferiour members on earth likened to fine brasse to set forth the purity of their conversation and described burning in a furnace to expresse their fiery tryall by martyrdome Alcasar by the feet of fine brasse understandeth the Preachers of the Word whom Christ sendeth into all parts to carry the Gospel Those feet which e Esay 52.7 Rom. 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace Esay calleth beautifull Saint John here compareth to the finest brasse which f Beda in Apoc Pedes sunt Christiani in fine seculi qui similes erunt orichalcho quod est aes per ignem plura medicamina perductum ad auri colorem sic illi per acerbissimas persecutiones exercebuntur perducentur ad plenam charitatis fulgorem Beda and Haimo will have to bee copper rendring the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the most resplendent brasse such as was digged out of Mount Libanus but Orichalchum that is copper and thus they worke it to their purpose As brasse the matter of copper by the force of fire and strong waters and powders receiveth the tincture of gold so say they the Christians that shall stand last upon the earth termed in that respect Christs feet shall by many exercises of their patience and fiery tryalls of their faith be purified and refined and changed into precious metall and become golden members of a golden head I doe not utterly reject this interpretation of the mysticall eyes and feet of Christ nor the former of the naturall members of his glorified body because they carry a faire shew and goodly lustre with them yet I more encline to the third opinion which referreth them to the attributes of God For me thinkes I see in the fiery eyes the perfection of Christ his knowledge to which nothing can bee darke or obscure as also his vigilant zeale over his Church and the fiercenesse of his wrath against the enemies thereof Bullenger conceiveth our Saviour to be pourtrayed by the Spirit with eyes like a flame of fire because hee enlighteneth the eyes of the godly but Meyerus because he suddenly consumeth the wicked both the knowne properties of fire for in flaming fire there is both cleare light and intensive heat The light is an embleme of his piercing sight the heat of his burning wrath Where the eye is lightsome and the object exposed to it the eye must needs apprehend it but the Sonne of Gods eyes are most lightsome nay rather light it selfe in which there is no darknesse and g Heb. 4 13. all things lye open and naked before him yea the h Apoc. 2.23 heart and the reines which he searcheth In Courts of humane justice thoughts and intentions and first motions to evill beare no actions because they come not within the walke of mans justice but it will not be so at Christs Tribunall where the secrets of all hearts shall be opened Let no man then hope by power or fraud or bribes to smother the truth or bleare the eyes of the Judge of all flesh For his eyes like flames of fire dispell all darknesse and carry a bright light before them Let not the adulterer watch for the twi-light and when hee hath met with his wanton Dalila carry her into the inmost roomes and locke doore upon doore and then take his fill of love saying The shadow of the night and the privacy of the roome shall conceale mee For though none else be by and all the lights be put out yet he is seen and the Sonne of God is by him with eyes like a flaming fire Let not the Projector pretend the publike good when he intends nothing but to robbe the rich and cheate the poore Let not the cunning Papist under colour of decent ornaments of the Church bring in Images and Idols under colour of commemoration of the deceased bring in invocation of Saints departed under colour
complexa gremio jam reliquà naturà abdicatos tum maximé ut mater operiens nomen prorogat tiâ—ulis c. Pliny calleth the earth our tender mother which receiveth us into her bosome when wee are excluded as it were out of the world and covereth our nakednesse and shame and guardeth us from beasts and fowles that they offer no indignity to our carkasses Now because it is to small purpose to bestow the dead in roomes under ground if they may not keep them Abraham wisely provided for this for hee laid downe a valuable consideration for the field where the cave was Were laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a summe of money As Abraham here bought a field out-right and thereby assured the possession thereof to his posterity so by his example the Synagogue under the Law and the Catholike Church under the Gospel especially in dayes of peace secured certaine places for the buriall of the dead either purchased for money or received by deed of gift and after they were possessed of them sequestred them from all other and appropiated them to this use onely by which sequestration and appropriation all such parcells of ground became holy in such sort that none might otherwise use or imploy them than for the buriall of the dead without sacriledge or profanation As the holy oyle ran from Aarons head to his body and the skirts of his garments so holinesse stayeth not in the Chancell as the head but descendeth to the whole body of the Church and the Church-yard as the skirt thereof Mistake mee not brethren I say not that one clod of earth is holier than another or any one place or day absolutely but relatively only For as it is superstition to attribute formall or inherent holinesse to times places parcells of ground fruits of the earth vessell or vestments so it is profanenesse to deny them some kind of relative sanctity which the holy Ghost attributeth unto them in Scripture where wee reade expresly of holy ground holy daies holy oyle and the like To cleare the point wee are to distinguish of holinesse yet more particularly which belongeth 1. To God the Father Sonne and Spirit by essence 2. To Angels and men by participation of the divine nature or grace 3. To the Word and Oracles of God by inspiration 4. To types figures sacraments rites and ceremonies by divine institution 5. To places lands and fruits of the earth as also sacred utensils by use and dedication as 1. Temples with their furniture consecrated to the service of God 2. Tithes and glebe lands to the maintenance of the Priests 3. Church-yards to the buriall of the dead Others come off shorter and dichotomize holy things which say they are 1. Sanctified because they are holy as God his name and attributes c. 2. Holy because they are sanctified 1. Either by God to man as the Word and Sacraments 2. Or by man to God as Priests Temples Altars Tables c. Of this last kind of holy things by dedication some are dedicated to him 1. Immediately as all things used in his service 2. Mediately as all such things without which his service cannot be conveniently done and here come in Church-yards without which some religious workes of charity cannot be done with such conveniency or decency as they ought The Church is as Gods house and the yard is as the court before his doore how then dare any defile it or alienate it or imploy it to any secular use for profit or pleasure To conclude all Church-yards by the Ancients are termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dormitories or dortories wherein they lye that sleep in Jesus Now it is most uncivill to presse into or any way abuse the bed-chamber of the living and much more of the dead What are graves in this dormitory but sacred vestries wherein we lay up our old garments for a time and after take them out and resume them new dressed and trimmed and gloriously adorned and made shining and Å¿ Mar. 9.3 exceeding white as snow so as no Fuller on earth can white them These shining raiments God bestow upon us all at the last day for the merits of the death and buriall of our Lord and Saviour Cui c. THE FEAST OF PENTECOST A Sermon preached on Whitsunday THE LXIII SERMON ATCS 2.1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all together with one accord in one place SAint a Hom. in die ascens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome comparing the works of redemption with the works of creation observeth that as the Father finished the former so the Sonne the later in six dayes especially in memorie whereof his dearest Spouse the Catholique Church hath appointed six solemnities to be kept by all Christians with greatest fervour of devotion and highest elevation of religious affections These are Christ his 1. Virgin birth 2. Illustrious Epiphanie 3. Ignominious death 4. His powerfull resurrection 5. His glorious ascension 6. His gracious sending downe of the holy Ghost The day of 1. His incarnation by which he entred into the world 2. His manifestation on which he entred upon his office of Mediatour 3. His passion on which he expiated our sinnes 4. His resuscitation by which he conquered death the grave 5. His triumphant returne into heaven on which hee tooke seizin and possession of that kingdome for us 6. His visible mission of the holy Ghost in the similitude of fiery cloven tongues on which he sealed all his former benefits to us and us to the day of redemption This last festivall in order of time was yet the first and chiefest in order of dignity For on Christs birth day hee was made partaker of our nature but on this wee were made partakers after a sort of his in the Epiphany one starre onely stood over the house where hee lay on this twelve fiery tongues like so many celestiall lights appeared in the roome where the Apostles were assembled on the day of his passion he rendred his humane spirit to God his father on this hee sent downe his divine spirit upon us on the resurrection his spirit quickened his naturall body on this it quickened his mysticall the Catholique Church on the ascension he tooke a pledge from us viz. our flesh and carried it into heaven on this hee sent us his pledge viz. his spirit in the likenesse of fiery tongues with the sound of a mighty rushing wind After which the Spouse as Gorrhan conceiveth panted saying b Cant. 4.16 Awake O North wind and come thou South blow upon my garden that the spices therof may flow out let my Beloved come into his garden eat his pleasant fruits The wind she gasped for what was it but the spirit and what are the fragrant spices shee wishes may flow but the graces of the holy Ghost which David calleth gifts for men in the eighteenth verse of the 68. Psalme the former part whereof may furnish the feast we
are his How should hee not know them whom he fore-knew before the world began and wrote their names in the booke of life Apoc. 13.8 Phil. 4.3 With my fellow labourers whose names are in the book of life Exod 28.21 A glorious type whereof was the engraving the names of the twelve Tribes in twelve precious stones with the point of a Diamond never to be razed out To seduce any of the Elect our Saviours a Mat. 24.24 And they shall shew great signes and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. If supposeth it to be impossible for this were to plucke Christs sheep out of his hand b Joh. 10.28 29 They shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them 〈◊〉 is greater than all and no man is able to plucke them out of my Fathers hand which none can do All the Elect are those blessed ones on Christs right hand to whom he shall say at the day of Judgement c Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the kingdome prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid they are the Church of the first borne which are written d Heb. 12.23 in heaven Now although all that yeeld their assent to supernaturall verities revealed in Scripture may not presume that their names are written in the booke of life for Simon Magus beleeved yet was he in e Act. 18.13 23 the gall of bitternesse and bond of iniquity nay the f Jam. 2.19 Divels themselves as St. James teacheth us beleeve who are g Jude 6. reserved in chaines of darknesse unto the judgement of the great day yet they who beleeve in God embrace the promises of the Gospell with the condition of denying of ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and living godly righteously and soberly in this present world and lay fast hold on Christ have no doubt attained that faith which Saint Paul stileth h Tit. 1.1 the faith of Gods Elect and Saint i Act 13.48 15.9 Luke maketh an effect of predestination to eternall life for such a k Rom. 3.28 Joh. 1.12 faith purifieth the heart justifieth before God putteth us into the state of adoption worketh by love and is accompanied with repentance unto life which gifts are never bestowed upon any reprobate if we will beleeve the ancient l Greg. l. 28. in Job c. 6. Extra Ecclesiae mensuras omnes reprobi etiamsi intra fidei limitem esse videantur Aug. cont Pel. l. 1. c 4 de unit eccl c. 23. Hoc donum propâ—ium est eorum qui regnabunt cum Christo Plin. nat hist l. 21. c. 8. Postquam dâ— ficere cuncti flores mâ—defactus aqua reviviscit hybernas coron is facit Fathers The seed of this faith being sown in good ground taketh deepe root downeward in humility and groweth upward in hope and spreadeth abroad by charity and bringeth forth fruits of good workes in great abundance it resembleth the true Amaranthus which after all the flowers are blowne away or drop downe at the fall of the leafe being watered at the root reviveth and serveth to make winter garlands even so a firme and well grounded beliefe after the flowers of open profession of Christ are blown away by the violent blasts of persecution and temptation being moistened with the dew of grace from heaven and the water of penitent teares reviveth againe and flourisheth and furnisheth the Church Christs Spouse as it were with winter garlands unlooked and unhoped for The third pillar The love of God is not more constant than his decrees are certaine nor his decrees more certaine than his promises are faithfull Therefore in the third place I erect for a third pillar to support the doctrine delivered out of this Scripture the promise of perseverance which I need not hew nor square for the building it fitteth of it selfe For it implieth contradiction that they who are endued with the grace of perseverance should utterly fall away from grace Constancy is not constancy if it vary perseverance is not perseverance if it faile And therfore S. m Aug. de bono persev c. 6. Hoc donum suppliciter emereri potest sed cum datum est contumaciter amittti non potest promodo enim potest amitti per quod fit ut non amittatur etiam quod possit amitti Austin acutely determines that this gift may be obtained by humble praier but after what it is given it cannot bee lest by proud contumacy for how should that gift it selfe bee lost which keepeth all other graces from being lost which otherwise might bee lost When I name the gift of perseverance in the state of grace I understand with that holy Father such a gift * Aug. de correp grâ—t c. 12. Non solâ— n ut sine isto dono persevâ—rantes essâ— non possunt verum etiam ut per hoc donuÌ„ non nisi perseverantes sint Gratia qua subventum est infirmitati voluntatis humanae ut indeclinabiliter insuperabiliter ageretur quam vis infirma non deficeret nec adversitate aliqua vinceretur sed quod bonum est invictissimè vellet hoc differere invictissimè nollet not onely without which wee cannot persevere but with which we cannot but persevere Such an heavenly grace whereby the infirmity of mans will is supported in such sort that it is led by the spirit unfailably and unconquerably so that though it be weake yet it never faileth nor is overcome by any temptation but cleaveth most stedfastly to that which is good and cannot by any power bee drawne to forsake it This gift of the faithfull is shadowed out by those similitudes whereto the godly and righteous man in Scripture is compared viz. of a a Psal 1.3 tree planted by the river side whose leafe shall not wither Of the hill of Sion which may not be removed but standeth fast for ever Psal 125.1 Of a b Mat. 7.24 house built upon a rocke Quae Obvia ventorum furiis expostaque ponto Vim cunctam atque minas perfert coelique marisque Ipsa immota manens Upon which though the raine descended and the flouds came and the windes blew and beat on it yet it fell not for it was founded upon a rocke but it is fully plainly and most evidently expressed promised in those words of c Jer. 32.40 Jeremy I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good and I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Which Text of the Prophet is by the d Heb. 5.10 Apostle applied to the faithfull under the Gospel and thus expounded by S. Austin e Aug. l. de bono persev c. 2. Timorem dabo in cor ut non recedant quid est aliud quam talis ac tantus
to blow us out of the heape than the breath of Christ himselfe to keep us in l Luke 21.31 32. Sathan hath sought to winnow you like wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Upon which words Saint a Aug. de correp grat c. 8 Quando rogavit Christus ne Petri fides deficeret quid aliud rogavit nisi ut haberet in fide liberrimam fortissimam perseverantissimam voluntatem Austin thus enlargeth himselfe When Christ prayed for Peter that his faith might not faile what did hee pray for else but that he might have a most free a most firme a most constant will to continue in the faith Yea but it may be excepted that this praier of Christ is a good protection for St. Peter but not for us he is thereby secured from Apostacy not we Why so Peter is not here considered as the first precious stone in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem shining in spirituall graces above his brethren but as one graine or seed among others to bee winnowed by Sathan which is the common case of all the faithfull therefore what Christ prayed for Peter he prayed for all of the same heape that then were or hereafter shall be winnowed by Sathan Thus Saint b Aug. de correp grat c. 12. Dicente Christo rogavi pro te ne deficiat fides tua intelligamus ci dictum qui aedificatur super petram ita homo Dâ—â— in Domino gloriatur non solum quia misericordiam consecutus ut esset fidelis sed etiam quia fides ipsa non deficit Austin conceiveth of our Saviours prayer when Christ said I have prayed for thee Peter that thy faith faile not let us understand it to be spoken to him that is built upon a rocke for hereby the man of God boasteth in the Lord not only because he hath obtained mercy to become a beleever but also because faith it selfe faileth not Nay our Lord himselfe thus expoundeth himselfe c John 17.20 21 23. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word that they may be also one in us I in them and thou in mee that they may bee made perfect in one c. I will close this straine with a quaver like to that of d Plin. in panegyr lurat is per quem juramus Pliny to Trajane What a favour is this what security what happinesse he sweareth by whom wee all sweare so may I say with farre greater reason What a favour doth God vouchsafe unto us what security doth he give us what a happinesse is it for us Orat is per quem oramus Hee prayeth for us by whom wee pray nay to whom we pray by whom we pray as our Mediatour to whom we pray as God and in whose name we obtaine all that we pray for The sixth pillar is a pillar of brasse as strong as a castle of Diamond to secure the person of the faithfull the safegard of Gods protection This pillar is thus erected by Saint e 1 Pet. 1.4 5. Peter Those that are begotten againe to a lively hope are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation and therefore cannot be drawn away through infidelity to perdition The Patrons of the apostacy of Saints cannot infringe this argument unlesse they could weaken or shorten the arme of the Almighty who is f 2 Tim 1.12 able to keep that which is committed unto him against that day and not able only but g 2 Thes 3.3 faithfull also to establish us and keep us from evill and confirme us not for a time only but to the end that we may be h 1 Cor. 1.8 blamelesse in the day in the Lord Jesus which according to his gracious promises hee most certainly performeth two manner of wayes 1. Partly by arming us continually with new strength of grace to resist temptation in what kind soever 2. Partly by inhibiting and restraining the assaults themselves both in respect of 1. The violence 2. The continuance of them To the first point Saint i Greg. l. 28. moral in Job c. 7. Novit pro custodia nostra restringere quod contra nos egredi pro justitiae â—xercitio permittit ut saeviens nos diluaâ— procella non mergat Gregory speaketh pertinently Our gracious God for our health and safety knoweth how to keep that within bounds which hee suffereth in justice to goe out against us in such sort that the raging storme shall wash us all over but shall not drowne us The second point Saint a Ambr. comment in 1 Corinth 10. Non plus permittitur ei imponi quà m scitur ferre posse ut quarto die pati non permittatur qui scitur ultra triduum non posse tolerare Ambrose fully hitteth God saith he doth so proportion the burthen to our shoulders that hee suffereth not more to bee laid upon any than he knoweth may be borne so that he permitteth not a man to be in durance the fourth day whose patience he knoweth cannot hold out beyond the third The Apostles words reach home to both b 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithfull who will not suffer you to bee tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to beare it Hoc est scutum Vulcanicum This is armour of proofe indeed against darts arrowes bullets swords or push of pike If we shall never be tempted above our strength we shall alwayes be strengthned above temptation and consequently never bee overcome of it c Plin l. 12. nat hist c. 9. Fluctibus pulsatae resistunt immotae quin pleno aestu operiuntur apparetque argumentis asperitate aquarum illas ali Pliny writeth of a strange kinde of trees growing in the red sea which being beat upon by the waves stand immoveable yea sometimes when in a full sea they are covered over with water and it appeares by many arguments that they are bettered by the roughnesse of the waters even so a Christian planted in the red sea by faith in Christs bloud resisteth all the waves of temptation and the more hee is beat upon yea and overwhelmed also sometimes with the billowes of troubles and afflictions the better he thriveth spiritually in grace The seventh and last pillar to uphold the doctrine delivered is the judgement of the ancient Church upon record in the authenticall writings of the ancient Fathers that flourished within sixe hundred yeeres after Christ I will onely alledge such passages as upon this occasion I had time to examine Origen for antiquities sake shall begin the verdict It is the manner of the Scripture to begin with those things which are sad and dreadfull and to end with those things which are chearfull and comfortable God saith not d Orig. in Jer. homil 1. Non dicitur vivificabo occidam sed occidam
Prophet Elias did savory meat from the impure bill of a Raven 2 We absolutely deny that Heretiques either first made this signe or introduced it into baptisme For though it be most confidently affirmed by Cartwright Parker and other Authors of schisme amongst us that the signe of the Crosse was first devised or cryed up by the Heretiques above named yet Irenaeus whom they alledge for it saith no such thing he speaketh not a word in the places quoted by them of the signe of the Crosse but of the name of the Crosse nor of Christs Crosse but of Valentinus his God Aeons Crosse All that he hath in his declaration against those Heretiques touching this point is that Valentinus the Heretique called one of his fantasticall Aeons by two names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is bound or definition and Crosse Now if we may not use the signe of the Crosse because that Heretique called his feigned God Crosse by the like reason we may not make definitions in Logicke nor keepe bounds in our fields because he called his Aeon Horon that is bound or definition Had the Valentinians used the signe of the Crosse as they did the name yet that is no sufficient proofe that they devised this signe or brought it first into the Church It is certaine that this signe was by many Aeons that is ages ancienter than Valentinus his Aeons or his heresie We find some print of it in t Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. Justine Martyr his Dialogue against Tryphon Nazianzen and other Fathers note an expression of it in Josuah's fight with Amaleck Sozomen sheweth solid characters thereof in the Temple of Serapis in the ruines whereof amongst other Hieroglyphickes the Crosse was taken up at the sight whereof many of the Egyptians were astonished and partly induced thereby to embrace the Christian faith The first is therefore a limping objection and the second halteth downe-right It was this Papists have horribly abused the signe of the Crosse ergo we may not use it To argue in such sort from the abuse to the taking away of all use of a thing is an abuse of arguing and a meere non sequitur as u Rhet. l. 1. c. 1. Aristotle teacheth for there is nothing in the world that may not be abused save vertue What creature of God hath not beene abused by Gentiles to Idolatrie What ordinance of God is not at this day abused by Papists to superstition be it the Church or Communion Table the Pulpit nay the Scriptures and Sacraments themselves The Papists abuse lights in the Church must wee therefore sit at Evensong in the darke They abuse Frankincense offering it to their Images may not wee therefore use it in a dampish roome They abuse Godfathers and Godmothers to make a new affinity hindering marriage in such parties will they therefore christen their children without witnessâ—s Excreate sodes Papists abuse spittle mingling it with chrisme and putting it in the mouth of the childe when they baptize it will they therefore never spit It is not the Valentinians first use or the Papists abuse or any thing in the Crosse it selfe savouring of superstition but a crosse humour in themselves which stirreth them up to cavill at and alwayes quarrell with the warrantable and decent rites and commendable constitutions of their Mother the Church of England to whose censure I leave them and come to our selves Use 5 Suffer I beseech you a little affliction of the eare it is a time of penance You have heard of Jesus Christ and him crucified many wayes Contra prof vit in the garden before his death on the crosse at his death and since his death also by the persecutors of the Church and scandalous livers in the Church and foure professed enemies of his crosse 1 Jewes 2 Gentiles 3 Separatists 4 Papists And shall wee fill up the number and adde more affliction and vexation to him by our unkindnesse and ingratitude and neglect of his word and prophane abuse of his sacraments shall wee that are Gospellers by our reproachfull lives put Christ to open shame and crucifie the Lord of life again shall wee whom hee hath bought so deerely loved so entirely provided for so plentifully and preserved so miraculously returne him evill for good nay so much evill for so much good hee hath fed us with the finest wheat flower and the purest juice of the grape shall wee in requitall offer him gall and vinegar by our gluttony and drunkennesse feasting and revelling even this holy time set apart for the commemoration of Christs passion and our most serious meditation thereupon shall wee spit upon Christ by our blasphemous oathes and scoffes at his word and ministers shall wee put a worse indignity and disgrace upon his members than the Jewes or Romanes did by making them the members of an harlot shall wee strip Christ starke naked by our sacriledge sell him by simony racke him by oppression teare him in pieces by sects in the Church and factions in the state u Hom. Id. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc Ithacus velit magno mercentur Achivi It is that our enemies would spare for no gold to buy it at any rate that whilest the shepheards are at strife they might send in their wolves to make havocke of the flocke * Eras adâ—g Pastores odia exercent lupus intrat ovile If any here present at the hearing of these things shall bee pricked in heart x Act. 2.37 as the Jewes were at * Saint Peters Sermon upon this subject and shall demand of mee as they did of him and the rest of the Apostles quid faciemus what shall wee doe I answer in his words y ver 38. repent and be baptised every one of you not in the first which is already past but in the second baptisme which is of teares z Psal 4.4 stand in awe and sin no more commune with your owne heart in your chamber and bee still crucifie the world and the pompes the flesh and the lusts thereof breake off your sinnes by righteousnesse and your iniquities by almes to the poore humble your soules by watching and praying fasting and mourning Prostrate your selves before Jesus Christ and him crucified and after you have bathed your eyes in brinish teares and anointed them with the eye-salve of the spirit looke up with unspeakable comfort on your Saviour hanging on the crosse stretching out his armes to embrace you bowing downe his head as it were to kisse you behold in his pierced hands and feet and side holes to hide you from the wrath of God behold nayles to fasten the hand-writing against you being cancelled to his crosse behold vinegar to search and cleanse all your wounds behold water and blood and hyssope to purge your consciences and lastly a spunge to wipe out all your debts out of his Fathers tables Which the Father of mercy and God of all consolation
ancient as now shee is For she was made so at Christs death cum è terra sublatus fuero omnes ad me traham like Eve shee was formed out of the second Adams side whence issued the two Christian Sacraments the water of baptisme and the blood of the holy Eucharist At the first she was fed with the sincere milke of the word in the Apostles time came to her perfect growth strength and full dimensions in the Fathers dayes when shee valiantly encountred all persecutors abroad and heretickes at home After 600. yeeres she began apparently to breake and in every latter age decayed more and more and now in most parts of the Christian world except onely where by reformation her age is renewed shee is become decrepit dimme in the sight of heavenly things deafe in the hearing Gods word stiffe in the knees of true devotion disfigured in the face of order weake in the sinewes of faith cold in the heart of love and stouping after the manner of bowed old age to graven Images Wherefore it may bee doubted that Cardinal Bellarmine was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 participated somewhat of the infirmities of old age in his bookes of the notes of the Church where hee would have o Bell. de not Eccles l. 4 c. 5. Secunda nota est antiquitas antiquity to be a proper marke of the true Church He might as well have assigned old age to bee the proper note of a man which neither agreeth to all men nor to man alone nor to any man at all times no more doth antiquity to the Church What neede I adde any more sith the truth himselfe hath dashed through this marke againe and againe Matth. 5.21.27.31.33.38.43 teaching us that the essayes of the auncients are not the touch-stone of truth but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say you have heard that it was said by them of old time c. But I say unto you c. Yea but say our adversaries of Rome Christ himselfe elsewhere argueth from antiquity both affirmatively o Mat. 19.4 He which made them at the beginning made them male and female and negatively p ver 8. From the beginning it was not so And Saint John also q 1 Joh. 2.7 This is the message which ye heard from the beginning And r Tertul. contra Prax. Id vertum quod prius id adulterinum quod posterius Tertullian That is true which is first that is counterfeit which is latter And Saint ſ Epist ad Pomp. Nonne ad fontem recurritur c. Cyprian saying If the pipe which before yeelded water abundantly faile suddenly doe we not runne to the spring And the councell of Calcedon crying with one voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the auncient rites and customes prevaile and before them the Prophet Jeremy t Jer. 6.16 aske for the old paths and walke therein All which allegations make strongly for the prime and originall antiquity not for any of later standing The old pathes which the Prophet Jeremy speaketh of are the pathes of Gods commandements laid downe by Moses and the Prophets there wee are to aske where is the good way and to walke in it not because it is the old way but because it is the good way For there are old wayes which are not good wayes which God forbids us to walke in * Ezek. 20.18 Walke not in the statutes of your Fathers nor observe their judgements And u Psal 49.19 David forewarnes us of He shall follow the generation of his Fathers and shall never see light A fit poesie to be written upon the doore of every obstinate recusant among us The councell of Calcedon cryeth up ancient customes and ordinances and so doe wee such as are descended from the Apostles or at least are not repugnant to their doctrine and practice Saint Cyprians advice is good If water faile in the pipe or conduit or runne muddily to have recourse to the spring but what spring doth he there point unto fontem dominicae traditionis the fountaine of the Lords tradition that is the scriptures Tertullians observation is true 'T is good coyne that 's first stampt and afterward that which is counterfeited the husbandman first sowed good seed and then the envious man sowed tares Let the Romanists prove their Trent doctrine to be Dominica and to have in it the Kings stampe wee will admit it for currant After Christ and his Apostles had sowne the good seede which wee yet retaine pure in our reformed Churches they by their additions have sowne upon it tares Saint John draweth an argument from the beginning of the preaching of the Gospell and Christ from the beginning that is the first promulgation of the law in Paradise Let the Romanists fetch an argument from antiquity so high and we will soone joine issue with them And to this antiquity we might strictly tye our adversaries as Saint Cyprian doth his opposites u Cyp. ep 3. Non debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putaverit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus Wee must not respect saith hee what any hath done before us in the matter about which wee contend but what Christ did which was before all When they pleaded ancient tradition hee demands x Epist ad Pomp. Unde est ista traditio utrumne de dominicâ evangelicâ autoritate descendens c. si in evangelio praecipitur aut in apostolorum epistolis aut actibus continetur observetur haec sancta traditio whence is that tradition is it derived from the Gospel or Acts of the Apostles or their Epistles then let such a holy tradition bee religiously kept And Saint Augustine * Aug. contra lit Petil. l. 3. c. 6. standeth at this ward against the Donatists whether concerning Christ or concerning his Church or concerning any thing that pertaineth to our faith and life wee will not say if we but as he going forward addeth if an Angel from heaven shall preach unto you but what you have received in the Scriptures of the Law and Gospell let him bee accursed Yet wee give them a larger scope even till the beginning of the seventh age wherein Mahumetanisme began to spread in the East and Antichristianisme in the West For the first sixe hundred yeeres they cannot finde any Kingdome Commonwealth Country Province City Village or Hamlet under the cope of heaven professing their present Trent Faith Wherefore as Phasis while hee was highly extolling the Emperours proclamation for placing men of quality in the Theater according to their ranke was by that very edict thrust out of the place hee had got there by Lectius the Marshall x Mart. epig. l. 5. Edictum domini deique nostri Quo subsellia certiora fiunt Et puros eques ordines recepit Dum laudat modo Phasis in theatro Phasis purpureis ruber lacernis c. Illas purpureas arrogantes Jussit surgere Lectius
Jud. 5.23 Curse ye Meros curse yee bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord against the mighty accurseth all those in the name of Meros that refuse to come in their best equipage to aide the Lord against the mighty r Magdeburg Cent. 5. Pomp. Laetus compend hist Rom. Anastasius the Emperour for his luke-warmnesse in the Catholicke cause and endevouring to reconcile the Arrians and Orthodoxe or at least silence those differences was strucken to death with a hot thunder-bolt No Sacrifice is acceptable to God that is not salted with the fire of zeale which guided by wisedome quickneth and enflameth all the inward desires as well as the outward actions that appertaine to religion for the chiefe seat of zeale is the fountaine of heat and that is the heart there it ſ Psal 45.1 bubbled in David there it t Luk. 24.32 Did not our hearts burne when hee opened to us c. burned in the disciples it u Psal 22.15 My heart is dried c. consumed and dryed up the very substance of the heart in Christ If our zeale burne not inwardly as well as outwardly as well upwards towards God as downewards towards the world if it enflame not our charity as well as incense our piety if the heat of it bee cooled by age or slacked by opposition or extinguished even by floods of bloody persecution it is no true Vestall fire nor such as becommeth Gods altar for that might never this did never go out sincerity it selfe is not so opposite to hypocrisie as zeale Sincerity without zeale is a true but a cold and faint-hearted zeale is an eager fierce hot and couragious enemy of all hypocrites whom shee brandeth with an eternall note of infamy But because all fires are in a manner alike to the eye how should wee know holy fire from prophane heavenly from earthly that is zeale from enraged hypocrisie pretending with Jehu that hee is zealous for the Lord of hostes I answer as a precious Diamond is valued by three things 1 Inward lustre 2 Number of caracts 3 Solidity of substance and thereby is distinguished both from counterfeit gemmes and those that are of lesse value so true zeale is distinguished from hypocriticall by 1 Sincerity 2 Integrity 3 Constancy all which notes are discernable in holy * Psal 119.2 Davids zeale 1 Sincerity I have loved thy testimonies with my heart ver 6. yea my whole heart 2 Integrity I have had respect unto all thy commandements ver 34. all false wayes I abhorre 3 Constancy I have kept thy lawes unto the end ver 44. When the face and hands and outward parts burne as in a feaver the heart is so cold that it quaketh and shivereth so it is with the hypocrite his tongue alwayes and his hands too sometimes burne x Persius satyr Sed pone in pectore dextram Nil calet If you could put your hand into his bowels you should finde his heart like Nabals as cold as a stone True zeale if it bee transported it is in private devotion to God si insanimus Deo insanimus in outward carriage towards men it proceeds resolutely indeed and undauntedly but yet deliberately and discreetly it burneth within most ardently it scarce ever flameth or sparkleth outwardly like those bathes in the Pythecusian Ilands whereof y Balnea in Pythecusiis insulis fervent supra modum calore vi igneâ nec tamen flammam emittunt Vide Aristot mirabilium auscult Aristotle writeth that they are hot above measure and of a fiery nature yet send forth no flame Secondly as insincerity discries the hypocrite so also want of integrity Take the hypocrite that maketh the fairest offer to zeale though hee outstrippe some it may bee in some works of piety and duties of the first Table you shall take him tardy in most acts of charity and duties of the second Table Peradventure he will slay smaller sinnes with the sword of the Spirit like the meanest of the Amalekites but hee will spare Agag and the principall his gainefull sinnes of simony sacriledge usury and oppression hee is never Totus teres atque rotundas Goe he as upright as hee can you shall perceive him to limpe and halt with God or man or both If the point of controversie in the Church no way touch his free-hold hee takes it no more to heart than z Act. 18.17 Gallio did the uproare about Saint Pauls preaching then difference about articles of faith are but contentions about words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if it rubbe upon his profit or credit with his owne faction then hee never leaveth crying out great is a Act. 19.28 Diana of the Ephesians You may finde an hypocrite zealous against Idolatry but you shall finde him very moderate against sacriledge if he have a moneths minde to Rome he will stickle for the authority of the Church but the scripture is very cheape to him hee will deliver prayers by tale to God the blessed Virgin and Saints but for Sermons hee holds it a kinde of merit to heare few of those of his owne sect and none of any other On the contrary if hee hath beene brought up at the feete of Cartwright or Brown then he is all for Scriptures and nothing at all for the Church all for preaching and nothing for prayer unlesse it be an abortive issue of hi◠owne brain an extemporary indigested incomposed inconsequent ejaculation in which he is never out because he is never in As for the premeditated penned advised and sanctified forme of Service appointed by the Church it is to him like the white of an egge that hath no tast in it But the most certain and infallible character of an hypocrite and his zeale is the soon cooling and abating thereof and in the end evaporating into ayre like a blazing starre he glareth for a time but in a short space playes least in sight like fire-works of danke powder hee never leaves shooting off on these and the like watch-towers whilest his matter lasteth but when that is spent goeth out in a fume or stench True beauty beareth off all weathers but paint is washed off with a shower or discovered by the fire Saint Basil's embleme was columna ignea a fiery pillar fiery there 's his zeale a pillar there 's his constancy I doubt whether nature can present such a stone as the name Asbestus in the original signifieth that is a stone of fire that nothing can extinguish but I am sure grace can and that is this jewell of zeale I have beene so long in describing for it burneth alwayes in the heart and can never be quenched I would bee loath to be thought to goe about to quench the smoaking flaxe or discourage any man in whom there is a sparke of this fire covered with ashes yet I should deceive them or suffer them to be mis-led with an ignis fatuus if I should
of the Martyrs sepulchres when she had no Churches but caves under ground no wealth but grace no exercises but sufferings no crowne but of martyrdome yet then she thrived best then she spread farthest then she kept her purity in doctrine and conversation then she convinced the Jewes then she converted the Gentiles then shee subdued Kingdomes whence I inferre three corollaries 1 That the Roman Church cannot be the true Church of Christ For the true Church of Christ as she is described in the holy Scriptures hath for long time lien hid beene often obscured and eclipsed by bloudy persecutions but the Roman or Papall Church hath never beene so her advocates plead for her that she hath beene alwayes not onely visible but conspicuous not onely knowne but notorious And among the many plausible arguments of perswasion and deceiveable shewes of reason wherewith they amuse and abuse the world none prevaileth so much with the common sort and unskilfull multitude as the outward pomp and glory of the Papall See For sith most men are led by sense and judge according to outward appearance the Church of Rome which maketh so goodly a shew and hath born so great sway in the world for many ages easily induceth them to beleeve that she is that City whereof the Prophet speaks x Psal 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God What more glorious and glittering to the eie than the Popes triple crowne and the Cardinals hats and their Archbishops Palls and their Bishops miters and crozures their shining images their beautifull pictures their rich hangings their gilt rood lofts their crosses and reliques covered in gold and beset with all sorts of pretious stones These with their brightnesse and resplendency dazle the eyes of the multitude and verily if the Queenes daughters glory were all without and the kingdome of Christ of this world and his Church triumphant upon earth all the knowne Churches in the Christian world must give place to the See of Rome which hath borne up her head when theirs have beene under water hath sate as Queene when they have kneeled as captives hath braved it in purple when they have mourned in sackcloth and ashes But beloved y Rom. 10 17. faith commeth not by sight but by hearing and we are not to search the Church in the map of the world but in the Scriptures of God where we find her a pilgrim in Genesis a bondwoman in Exodus a prisoner in Judges a captive in the book of Kings a widow in the Prophets and here in my text a woman labouring with child flying from a red Dragon into the wildernesse I grant that Christ promiseth her a kingdome but not of this world and peace but it is the peace of God and joy but it is in the Holy Ghost and great glory but it is within z Psal 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within c. 2 That none ought to despise the Churches beyond the seas under the Crosse but according to the command of the blessed Apostle a Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversitie as heing our selves also in the body Their turne of sorrow is now ours may be hereafter God hath begun to them in a cup of trembling it is to be feared it will not passe us but we and all the reformed Churches shall drink of it Our Church in Queene Maries dayes resembled this woman in my text theirs now doth both never a whit the lesse but rather the more the true Churches of Christ because they weare his red livery and beare his Crosse 3 That we ought not to looke for great things in this world but having food and raiment as the woman had here in my text to be therewith contented and as she withdrew her self from the eye of the world so ought we to retire our selves into our closets there to have private conference with God to examine our spirituall estate to make up the breaches in our conscience to poure out our soules in teares of compunction for our sins of compassion for the calamities of our brethren of an ardent desire and longing affection for the second comming of our Lord when he shall put an end as to all sinne and temptation so to all sorrow and feare Amen Even so come Lord Jesu To whom c. THE SAINTS VEST A Sermon preached on All-Saints day at Lincolnes-Inne for Doctor Preston THE XXIV SERMON APOC. 7.14 These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe question which the Elder moved to Saint John in the precedent verse to my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what are these mee thinks I heare some put to mee at this present saying What are these holy ones whose feast yee keep what meane these devotions what doe these festivities intend what speake these solemnities what Saints are they Virgins Confessours or Martyrs whose memory by the anniversary returne of this day you eternize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence came they or rather how came they to bee thus honoured and canonized in our Kalendar My direct answer hereunto is my Text These are they c. and the exemplification thereof shall be my Sermon The palmes they beare are ensignes of their victory the robes they weare are emblemes of their glory the bloud wherein they dyed their robes representeth the object of their faith the white and bright colour of them their joy and the length of them the continuance thereof Yea but these holy ones you may object at least the chiefe of them had their dayes apart the blessed Virgin hers apart and the Innocents apart the Apostles apart and the Evangelists apart how come they now to be repeated why committeth the Church a tautologie in her menologie what needeth this sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or congeries of feasts blending of devotions thrusting all Saints into one day and that a short one in the rubricke It is that men may see by that which we doe what we beleeve in that Article of our Creed the communion of Saints Wee joyne them all in one collect wee remember them all upon one day because they are all united into one body admitted into one society naturalized into one Kingdome made free Denisons of one City and partakers of one a Col. 1.12 inheritance of the Saints in light In a word we keep one feast for them all upon earth because they all keep one everlasting feast in heaven the marriage b Apoc. 19.9 supper of the Lambe The Romanes beside severall Temples dedicated to severall deities had their Pantheon or all-gods temple See wee not in the skie here single starres glistering by themselves there constellations or a concourse of many heavenly lampes joyning their lights do we not heare with exceeding delight in the singing of our Church
be no other than grace and he who hath a greater measure of grace must needs more love the Fountaine of grace Christ Jesus As Jesus therefore more loved John so John more loved Jesus hee followed him boldly to the high Priests hall hee never denyed him once as Peter did thrice hee with his mother attended him at the crosse and from that day tooke the blessed Virgin to his owne home and therefore though Christ promised the keyes of heaven to Peter first yet hee gave Saint John a greater priviledge to leane on his breast Which leaned on his breast Of Saint Johns leaning on Christs breast foure kindes of reasons are given 1 A civill by Calvin 2 A Morall by Theophylact. 3 A mysticall by Saint Austine 4 A tropologicall by Guilliandus Though saith a Calv. in Harmon Calvin for a servant to lye on his masters breast may seeme unseemly yet the custome of the Jewes being not to fit at table as we do but at their meales to lye on beds or carpets on the ground it was no more for Saint John to lye on Christs breast than with us to sit next to him unlesse with Theophylact we conceive that Saint John upon the mention of our Lords death and that by treason tooke on most grievously and beginning to languish through griefe was taken by Christ into his bosome to comfort him or wee interpret with Saint Austin and others of the Ancients Sinum Christi Sapientiae secretum the bosome of Christ the cabinet of celestiall jewels or treasury of wisedome and inferre with Saint Ambrose from thence b In psal 118. Johannes cum caput suum super pectus domini reclinaret hauriebat profunda secreta sapientiae That John when hee laid his head to Christs breasts sucked from thence the profound secrets of wisedome and with c Beda in Evang Johan Quia in pectore Christi sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae scientiae reconditi meritò super pectus ejus recumbit quem majore caeteris sapientiae scientiae singularis munere donat Beda That Christ revealed to Saint John as his bosome friend more secrets and that the reason why his writings are more enriched with knowledge especially of things future than the rest is because he had free accesse to Christs breast wherein all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge were hid Moreover as d Guil. com in Johan c. 21. Guilliandus observeth S. John lay upon Christs breast for the same reason that Moses appointed in the law the breast of all sacrifices for the Priest to teach us that wisedome and understanding whose seat is the breast and heart ought to be the speciall portion of the Priests Among so many ingenuous reasons of this gesture of Saint John if wee leane to Saint Austines opinion the use wee are to make of it is with reverence and religious preparation to read and heare all the bookes of holy Scripture and especially Saint Johns writings who received those hidden and heavenly mysteries in Jesus his bosome which Jesus * Joh. 1.18 No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father hath revealed him heard in his Fathers bosome All Scriptures are given by e 2 Tim. 3.16 divine inspiration and are equally pillars of our faith anchors of our hope deeds and evidences of our salvation yet as the heaven is more starry in one part than another and the seas deeper in one place than another so it is evident that some passages of Scripture are more lightsome than others and some books contain in them more profound mysteries and hidden secrets and most of all S. Johns Gosspell and his Apocalypse wherein by Saint Jeromes reckoning the number of the mysteries neare answereth the number of the words quot verba tot sacramenta If wee like of Theophylact his reason wee are from thence to learne not to adde affliction to the afflicted not to vexe them that are wounded at the heart but to stay with flaggons and comfort with apples those that are in a spirituall swoune and by no meanes to withhold from them that faint under the burden of their sinnes the comforts of the Gospell to support them especially considering that hee as well killeth a man who ministreth not to him in due time those things which may hold life in him as hee that slayeth him downe right Lastly if wee sticke with Calvin to the letter it will discover unto us the errour of many among us that contend so much for sitting at the Communion and a table gesture as they speake whereas Christ at his last Supper neither sate nor used any table at all In eating of the Passeover wee read f Mat. 26.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 14.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 22.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Christ with the twelve fell down or lay downe after the Jewish manner which was nearer to kneeling than sitting But what gesture precisely hee used in the delivery of the holy mysteries it is not expressed in Scripture most probable it is that he kneeled or at least that the Apostles kneeled when they received the sanctified Elements from him For no doubt they who in the first ages immediatly succeeded the Apostles received the Communion as the Apostles maner was and that they kneeled the heathen cavill against them that they worshipped bread and wine maketh it in a maner evident For had they sate or stood in the celebration of the Sacrament the Gentiles could have had no colour to cast an aspersion of bread-worship on them but because in receiving the sacred elements of bread and wine they kneeled downe and religiously called upon God the Paynims conceived that they adored the creatures of bread and wine And they among us who cannot distinguish betweene kneeling at the Sacrament and kneeling to the element bread worship and the worship of Christ in religiously and reverently participating the holy mysteries of his body and blood are as grossely ignorant in Christian rites as the ancient heathen were Verely did they consider seriously who it is that under the forme of bread and wine offereth unto them his body and blood even Christ himselfe by his Spirit and what they at the same time in a thankfull love offer to God their bodies for a holy and living sacrifice and what then they receive a generall pardon of all their sinnes under the seale of the King of heaven I perswade my selfe their hearts would smite them if they strived not to receive so great a benefit from so gracious a Majesty as in the most thankfull so in the most humble manner But it is not the position of your bodies but the disposition of your mindes which in this rare patterne of my text I would commend to your Christian imitation The best keeping the Feast of a Saint is to raise him as it were to life by expressing his vertues and
graces in ours doe you desire my brethren to be Johns gracious in the eyes of your Redeemer make much of those things for which hee was so much made of love those vertues above others which made him beloved above others decke your soules with those jewels the beauty whereof enamoured the Sonne of righteousnesse which are three especially 1 The Emerauld the embleme of chastity 2 The Ruby the embleme of modesty 3 The Carbuncle the embleme of love Chastity is resembled by the Emerauld which as g Rueus lib. de geminis cap. de smaragd Rueus writeth hath a singular vertue to coole the heat of lust and in this stone was the name of Levi engraven who revenged the wrong done to the chastity of his sister by the h Vid. infr Shechemites Modesty is resembled by the Ruby in whose colour the hue of that vertue appeareth And who cannot see in the glowing fire of the Carbuncle the ardencie of love Saint Jerome attributeth the overflowing measure of Christs love to Saint John to his chastity Saint Chrysostome to his modesty Aquinas to his love of Christ Saint John lived and dyed a Virgin and if wee will beleeve the Ancients the cleerenesse of his complexion answered the purity of his conversation and beauty of body and minde met here in one The beauty of the body is faire and brittle like chrystall glasse but if the gift of spirituall chastity bee incident to it like the beames of the sunne it is most lovely in the eyes of God and man Eriphile was so taken with the sparkling of an orient jewell exhibited to her that for it she sold her loyalty to her husband a farre more pretious jewell Take heed Beloved lest for favour of great ones or worldly honour or earthly treasure you put away that jewell which if you once part withall you can never recover againe There can bee nothing more hatefull to him that was borne of a pure Virgin continued a Virgin all his life and now in heaven is attended by Virgins i Apoc. 14.4 These are they which were not defiled with women for they are Virgins these are they which follow the Lambe whithersoever he goeth than to make his members the members of an harlot Wee have had the glympse of the Emerauld let us now view the Ruby Saint Johns modesty who though hee might glory truely if any in the spirit For he had seene with his eyes and heard with his eares and handled with his hands the Word of life hee was an eye-witnesse of Christs transfiguration one of the three k Gal. 2.9 pillars mentioned by Saint Paul he was a Prophet an Evangelist and an Apostle and in greater grace with his Lord and Master than any of the rest yet hee will bee knowne of no more than that hee was a Disciple hee concealeth his very name The modest opinion of our knowledge is better than knowledge and humility in excellency excelleth excellency it selfe That stone is most resplendent which is set off with a darke foyle modesty is the darke foyle which giveth lustre to all vertues How many saith Seneca had attained to wisedome if they had not thought so and therefore given over all search after it how many had proved men of rare and singular parts if they had not knowne them too soone themselves Moses face shined but he knew not of it the blessed of the Father at the day of judgement shall heare of their good workes but they shall not acknowledge them but answere saying l Mat. 25.38.39 Lord when saw we thee hungry or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sicke or in prison and ministred unto thee If wee take no knowledge of our good parts God will acknowledge them but if like Narcissus wee know and admire our owne beauty this very knowledge will metamorphize us and make us seeme deformed in the eyes of God and man Wee have viewed the Ruby let us now cast a glaunce on the Carbuncle the third precious stone Saint Johns love to Christ The maine scope of his Gospel is Christs love to us and the argument of his Epistles our love one to another As he is stiled the beloved so he might well be called the loving Disciple as hee was one of the first that came to Christ so hee was the last that left him hee was never from his side I had almost sayd out of his bosome Out of confidence of his loyall affection to his Lord when neither Peter nor any of the rest durst hee was bold to enquire of our Saviour m Joh. 13 25. who is it that shall betray thee Hee followeth Christ to the high Priests hall to the judgement seat and to the crosse where our Lord commended his n Joh. 19.26 Woman behold thy sonne Ver. 27 Then sayd hee to the Disciple behold thy Mother Mother to him and him to his Mother and his soule to his Father Love is the load-stone of love that love that drew Saint Johns heart to Christ drew Christs to him If thou desire above all things that Christ should love thee love him above all things love him with all thy heart whose heart was pierced for thee love him with all thy soule whose soule was made an offering for thee love him with all thy strength who for thee lost not onely his strength but life also Yea but you may say how can wee now shew our love to Christ he is in heaven and our bounty cannot reach so high wee have him not here to offer gold myrrhe or frankincense as the wise men did or minister to him of our substance as some religious women did or breake a boxe of precious oyntment and poure it on his head as Mary did or feast him as Simon did or wrap his corps in fine linnen as Joseph did wee have not his mother with us to keepe cherish or comfort her as Saint John did yet wee have his Spouse his Word his Sacraments his Disciples his mysticall members and if out of sincere love to him wee honour his Spouse the Church wee frequent his house the Temple wee delight in his Word the Scriptures wee come reverently and devoutly to his board the Communion Table wee give countenance and maintenance to his Meniall servants the Ministers of the Gospell and relieve his afflicted members the poore and oppressed among us wee shall bee as Johns to him gracious in his eyes Disciples nay which is more beloved Disciples yea so beloved that to our endlesse rest and comfort wee shall lye in his bosome not on earth but in heaven Which hee grant unto us who o Apoc. 1.5.6 loved us and washed our sinnes in his blood and made us Kings to command and Priests to offer our dearest affections unto him To whom c. THE ACCEPTED TIME OR THE YEERE OF GRACE THE XXXI SERMON 2 COR. 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time Behold now is the day of salvation AS at the Salutation of the
in Here I might take occasion to congratulate our Churches of great Britaine which alone among all the Reformed have preserved from sacriledge ransacking holy things under pretence of zeale against Idolatry some remaines of Ecclesiasticall preferments and sacred ornaments as it were borders of gold But the time and your expectation call mee from the explication of this Scripture to make some application thereof to this present exercise Whereto I would presently addresse my selfe if I were not arrested by a new action repetundarum commenced justly against those who before mee have repeated in this place It is alledged against them that they have turned recensere into censere or censuram ferre rehearsing into censuring and contraction of Sermons into detraction from the Preachers This is utterly a fault and I hold it most necessary at this time and in this place to reprove it that the plaster may be applyed where the wound hath been given It is no better than in stead of wine to offer to Christ on this Crosse the sharpest vinegar after which if any thirst here I thinke fit to send him packing on Martial the Poet his errand Vaticana bibas si delectaris aceto non facit ad stomachum nostra lagena tuum Can a fountaine out of the same place send forth bitter * Jam. 3.11 waters and sweet can a man with the same breath blesse God and scandalize his Ministers glorifie him and disgrace their brethren If any Rehearser hereafter shall turne Satyrist and take delight in spilling much wit and reading in this kinde I desire him seriously to consider that as y Ausonius in epig. Autorem feriunt tela retorta suum Achyllas was hurt in the eye by the rebound of that very stone which hee inhumanely coited at a skull so that they cannot cast any contumelious aspersion in this kind upon their brethren in the Ministery but that it will rebound backe upon themselves and wound them in the eye of their discretion to say no more For even they who most applaud their pregnancy or rather luxuriancy of wit secretly condemne their want of judgement as Tully did his who wonderfully pleased himselfe in that Paronomasie Videte patres conscripti ne circumscripti videamini whereby he offended all the Senate Ego verò non tanti fecissem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would not have set so much by a figure or cadency of sentence as for it to fall out with the Councell of State z Lib. 6. instit Orator Nimium risus pretium est si probitatis impendio constat Quintilian gravely schooles such telling them that â—e buyeth a witty conceit or jest at too deare a rate who pawneth his honesty for it Much more he who pawneth Christian charity for it The Ministers of the Gospel who are stiled a Rev. 1.20 angels in holy Scripture ought to resemble the Cherubims in the Arke which cast a gracious aspect one upon the other and Rehearsers should be like the golden snuffers of the Temple not like extinguishers of baser metall they ought to take away the superfluity and cleere the light of their brethrens labours not put it out as some have done of late and left a loathsome savour behind them or to make use of the similitude which I find in my Text they should be like studs of silver in borders of gold receive and give a mutuall lustre one to the other Thus having given a law to my selfe as well as others I proceed to speak of the worthy Speakers whose resounding eccho the redoubled command of authority hath made mee at this present who like the Romane b Cic. divinat in Ver. Quemvis ut mallem eorum qui possunt quà m me me ut mallem quam neminem Orator in his divination in Verrem had rather that any should have undertaken this taske than my selfe my selfe rather than none If as the Proverbe is tria sunt omnia so it might be said truly quatuor sunt omnia I should not doubt but to fit the foure Speakers whose remembrancer I must be with a similitude running upon foure feet But it is far otherwise there are few quaternians in nature and these have been laid out for and anticipated long agoe Besides as c Nat. hist l. 28. c. 8. Camelion salutaris est parturientibus si sit domi si verò inferatur pernitiosissimus Pliny writeth of the flesh of a Camelion that it is very wholesome for women in labour if the Camelion were bred in the country but very unwholsome if it be brought from forraine parts so it may be truely said of allusions and applications If they are home borne as it were and taken from things neere at hand they are in request but if they be farre fetched they lose their grace Howsoever they who never meane to touch this heavie burthen so much as with a little finger should forbeare to censure those who in these later yeeres are to furnish this exercise yea though we send farre for our provision in this kind sith our just apology may be that Pliny and Solinus their markets have bin fore-stalled and there is nothing to be had neere at hand The foure Postes have long agoe rode their foure stages The foure parts of the World have been traversed The foure rivers of Paradise have been drawne dry The foure winds have breathed out their last gaspe The foure rich Merchants have sold their commodities The foure Embassadours have delivered their embassages What shall I adde more Heaven it selfe hath been ransacked and from thence foure Angels have been called down to sound the foure last Trumps Nay Hell it selfe hath been raked for similitudes and from thence Proteus was conjured up to turne himselfe into foure shapes This as I conceive occasioned my immediate predecessour with whose praises the Crosse yet rings to chime the Rehearsers knell with foure Bells in this place where there was never yet any one hung Nothing remaineth for mee who am to fish for allusions after all these but to make use of the words of my Text according to the seventies Translation faciamus similitudines to set forth a new Pliny and forge new similitudes of things that never were nor will be But see as Apelles when hee had often tryed to paint the d Plin. nat hist l. 32. Apelles cum spumam pingere vellet saepiùs frustrà expertus esset iratus arti spongram impegit in viso loco tabulae illa reposuit ablatos colores qualiter cura optabat fecitque in picturâ fortuna naturam foming of a horse and could never come neere it at last in a rage flung his spunge carelesly upon his worke and chance expressed that which art could not so after much labour taken in devising an embleme and pourtraying a lively draught of these foure Speakers at last unsatisfied with any I threw downe my pensill upon my worke and behold quod ars non potuit casus expressit I
faire to behold and the fruits of their lips sweet to taste 4 In the midst of Paradise was the tree of life in our Church Christ crucified on whom whosoever feedeth by faith shall live for ever So that what Jacob spake of the place where he was may be sayd of our Church This is no other than the house of God For albeit there be many plants in this Garden which the Lord hath not planted many wild branches that need pruning many dead not enlived by Christ many poysonous weeds many flowers faire in shew but of a stinking savour and no marvell for in the Arke there was a Cham in Abrahams house an Ishmael in Jacobs family a Reuben in Davids Court an Absalom in the number of Christs Disciples a Judas nay in heaven a Lucifer Yet sith our Church striveth to pluck up these weeds and unsavourie or unfruitfull plants and desires to be freed of them it may truely be called the Garden of God For as St. i Ad Felician Austine saith The Goats must feed with the sheepe till the chiefe shepheard come Ille nobis imperavit congregationem sibi reservavit separationem ille dabit separare qui nescit errare 2 Touching our Rulers and Governours resemblance to the man Adam whom God appointed Ruler over all the creatures was furnished with gifts agreeable God made greater lights to rule the day and night so should they be great in wisdome and great in goodness that are to enlighten others I am not to flatter you nor to reprove you happy is that Church whose Rulers are so qualified 3 Touching the comparison of Adams placing in Paradise with our calling 1 I note that God was not wooed with friendship nor won with mony nor swayed with affection to place Adam in Paradise but of his own voluntary motion he placed him there Let us tread in the steps of our heavenly Father When k Omph. in vit Clem. Clement the fift Bishop of Rome was importuned by his kindred and offred mony to conferre a benefice upon an unworthy man he answered Nolo obtemperare sanguini sed Deo let us take on us the like resolution For what an uncomely thing is it to set a leaden head upon a golden body to make fooles rulers of wise men 2 I note that Adam did not ambitiously affect this place nor by indirect means sought to winde himselfe into it but God tooke him by the hand and placed him there but now I feare St. Jeromes speech is true of divers Presbyteratus humilitate despectâ festinamus episcopatum auro redimere 3 I note Adam was not created in Paradise but by his maker placed in it Let mee apply this to you the right worshipfull Governours of this Citie You were not born but brought by God to this rule and governement though as clouds you soare aloft yet were you but vapours drawne from the earth it is God that hath lifted up your heads as he raised David from the sheepefold and Joseph from the dungeon Wherefore in acknowledgment of your owne unworthinesse and Gods goodnesse to you say you with l Gen. 32.10 Jacob With my staffe passed I over this Jordan Say you with David m 1 Sam. 18.11 Quis ego sum aut quae est cognatio mea Ascribe the glory of your wealth and honour to God kisse the blessed hand that hath lifted you up and consider with me in the next place why God placed you here 4 Touching Adams dressing and keeping Paradise and your charge St. Ambrose well observeth that though Paradise needed no dressing yet God would have Adam to dresse it that his example might be a law to his posteritie to dresse and keepe the place of their charges It is not enough for you to be good men ye must be good rulers He that hath an office must attend upon his office it is opus oneris as well as opus honoris Yee must not be like antickes in great buildings which seeme to beare much but indeed sustaine nothing neither must ye lay the whole burden upon other mens shoulders sith the key of governement is layd on yours Now in dressing the Garden three duties are especially to be required 1 To cast and modell the Garden into a comely forme Of which I need to speake nothing Your forme of governement may be a president to other Cities of this kingdome strangers have written in praise of it 2 To root up and cast out stinking weeds Among which I would commend two to your speciall care 1 Papisme 2 Puritanisme I deny not but that it belongeth to the speciall care of our Bishops to plucke up these weeds yet as Judas sayd to Simon Helpe thou me in my lot and I will helpe thee in thine so ought both Spirituall and Temporall Governours joyne hands in rooting out these weeds 1 Of Papisme In the dayes of Jehosaphat that good King it is recorded that the high places were not taken away because the people did not set their heart to seeke the God of their Fathers The Papists seeke to their God of Rome the n Distinc 96. Pope as the Canonists stile him not to the God of heaven nor the God of their Fathers Did their Forefathers in the Primitive Church equall traditions with Scripture consecrate oratories to Saints pray in an unknown tongue mutilate the Sacrament adore the wafer and call it their maker did they sell indulgences to free men from Purgatorie Saint Peter taught us to bee subject to o 1 Pet. 2.13 every humane ordinance St. Paul commandeth every p Rom. 13 1. soule to be subject to the higher powers The Primitive Christians in q Tert. ad Sâ—p Tertullians time though they were cruelly persecuted by the heathen Emperours and had power and strength enough to revenge themselves yet they never lifted up their hands against any of those bloudy Tyrants Heare their profession in Tertullian Nos nec Nigriani nec Cassiani sumus we are no Nigrians no Cassians no Rebels no Traitors we fill all your Cities Islands Townes yea your Palace and Senate What were we not able to doe if it were not more agreeable to our Religion to be killed than upon any pretence to kill On the contrarie the Papists teach that it is not onely lawfull but a meritorious act to lay hands upon the Lords annointed if hee favour not their Idolatries and Superstitions witnesse Cardinall Como his instructions to Parry and Sixtus his oration in defence of the Jacobine that murdered Henrie the third Had the Apostles preached this faith to the world should they have converted the world Was this the practice of the Primitive Church Is this Religion to make murder spirituall resolution to eate their God upon a bargaine of bloud Cannot God propagate his truth but by these wicked and damnable meanes Origen writeth that some unskilfull Emperickes dealt with their Patients not to consult with learned Physicians lest by them their ignorance should be
winde The heavenly doctrine of the Preachers powred downe in great abundance like great showers of raine from heaven they themselves were as golden spouts at whose mouth though I set my pitchers as close and steady as I could yet many silver drops went besides them notwithstanding you see they are full and runne over Take you yet another similitude that you may have similitudines according to the letter of my Text as the Seventy reade it The foure Sermons were like foure Garlands crowning the Spouse of Christ out of which I have culled some of the chiefest flowers and howsoever in the plucking of them and sorting them many leaves are shattered and some flowers lost yet there are more left than can bee contained within the handfull of the time allotted Wherefore now I will leave gathering and fall to making up my Posie winding up all the flowers orationis meae filo with the remainder of the thrid of my discourse upon the Text. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver As out of the branches of trees there shoot first buds then blossomes and last of all fruit so out of Texts of Scripture which are branches of the tree of life issueth first the literall sense which because it groweth immediatly out of the barke and stocke of the letter resembleth the bud and then the spirituall which because it is most pleasant and beautifull to the eye of the soule may bee likened to the blossome and thirdly the morall sense which because it is most fruitfull and immediatly profitable for our instruction may be termed the fruit To illustrate this by the words of my Text or rather the words of my Text by it The literall sense is of Solomon his Queen richly decked the spirituall is of Christ his Church rarely furnished the morall is of sacred vowes religiously to be performed You see 1 The bud of the literall 2 The blossome of the spirituall 3 The fruit of the morall sense But herein you are to observe a remarkable difference between the tree of life and other trees for their buds are but a degree to the blossomes and the blossomes to their fruit neither bud nor blossome beare fruit but in the tree of life both the bud which I compared to the literall and the blossome which I called the spirituall and the fruit which I termed the morall beare severall and distinct fruits For instance the bud yeelds this fruit That it is lawfull for noble and honourable women especially Kings wives daughters to weare rich attire and costly ornaments The blossome yeelds this fruit That as Gods goodnesse hath abounded to the Church under the Gospel so all Christians ought to abound in love and thankfulnesse to him Lastly the morall sense which I termed the fruit yeeldeth over and above this fruit That what the friends of the Spouse here promise all godly pastors and people ought to performe that is these out of the riches of their learning they out of their worldly wealth ought to adorne and beautifie the Church and in different kindes make for the Spouse of Christ borders of gold with studs of silver To gather first the fruit of the bud or literall sense If costly apparrell and precious attire were an abomination to the Lord if cloth of gold and silver and borders of pearle and precious stones were as great a deformity to the minde as they are an ornament to the body the Scripture would not set out b Gen. 24.22 Rebecca in bracelets and abiliments of gold nor c Ezek. 6.11 12. Ezekiel in the person of God upbraid the Synagogue as he doth I decked thee with ornaments and I put bracelets upon thine hands and a chaine on thy necke and I put a jewell on thy fore-head and eare-rings in thine eares Ver 13. and a beautifull crowne upon thy head thus wast thou decked with gold and silver and thy raiment was of fine linnen and silke nor Solomon described his d Psal 45.9 Queene in a vesture of gold of Ophir neither the Prophet e Esay 61.10 Esay have compared the Spouse of Christ clothed with the garments of salvation and covered with the robes of righteousnesse to a Bride adorned with jewells And therefore howsoever Saint f 1 Tim. 2.9 Paul and Saint g 1 Pet. 3.3 Peter forbid women to aray themselves with gold or pearles or costly aray and Saint h De habitu Virg. Cyprian is yet severer against costly apparrell saying Nullarum ferè pretiosior cultus est quà m quarum pudor vilis est and Serico purpurâ indutae Christum induere non possunt auro margaritis monilibus ornatae ornamenta pectoris perdiderunt which I spare to English in favour of that sexe yet as I conceive the holy Apostles the devout Father in these the like wholsome and necessary admonitions condemne not simply Gods servants for the use but rather prophane persons for the abuse of these beautifull creatures of God they seek to abase the pride of the heart not abate the price of these merchandizes They taxe and that most justly three vices too common in these luxurious times 1 Vanity in the garish forme of apparrell 2 Excesse in the costly matter or stuffe 3 Indecency and immodesty in both or either Or they speake comparatively that women should not so much desire to i Antiph Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adorne their out-side with resplendent pearles as their inward parts with jewells of vertue and grace We have gathered the fruit of the bud come we now to the blossome that is the beautifull allegory or spirituall sense which containeth in it a gracious promise made to the Church either of larger bounds and limits likened to the borders of gold or of a greater measure of knowledge in holy Scriptures quae sensibus aureae sunt eloquii nitore argenteae Rupertus Isidorus and Gregorius or abundance of the gifts of the spirit which no otherwise adorne the Church with their variety than a golden chaine or border wrought about with studs or specks of silver Now if God hath made good these his promises to us shall we make frustrate our holy vowes to him the better he hath been to us the worse shall we prove to him hath hee made more of us than any Nation upon the earth and shall we make lesse of him No the more we have received at his hands the more let us lift up our hearts and hands unto him or else for our unthankfulnesse hee will take the chaines and borders of gold from our Church and put them on some other that will more thankfully accept them O let us resemble these resemblances in my Text the borders of gold with studs of silver which as they receive lustre from the Sunne-beames so they gild them and reflect them backe with clearer light and greater heat Sacriledge hath already picked out and plucked away many Oe's and Spangles of
after what order our Popist Priests are made whether after the order of Aaron or Melchizedek If after the order of Aaron then are they to offer bloudie sacrifices and performe other carnall rites long agoe abrogated if after the order of Melchizedek then they are very happie For then they are to be Kings and Priests then they are not to succeed any other nor any other them then as hath beene shewed they are singular everlasting and royall Priests We may put a like interrogatorie to many of our Brownists or Anabaptisticall Teachers who run before they are sent and answer before they are called being like wandering starres fixed in no certaine course or wilde corne growing where they were not sowne or like unserviceable pieces of Ordnance which flie off before they are discharged If men though endowed with gifts might discharge a Pastorall function or doe the worke of an Evangelist without a lawfull mission St. Pauls question had beene to little purpose u Rom. 10.15 How shall they preach unlesse they be sent What calling have these men ordinarie or extraordinarie If ordinarie where are their orders if extraordinarie where are their miracles If Christ himselfe would not take upon him the Priesthood till he was called thereunto as Aaron what intolerable presumption is it in these not to take but to make their owne commission and to call men by the Gospell without a calling according to the Gospell It is not more unnaturall for a man to beget himselfe than to ordaine himselfe a Priest But because these men will not be ordered by reason I leave them to authority and come to the Sixth observation which is the Prerogative of Christ Obs 6. who was ordained a Priest of Melchizedeks order whereby he was qualified to beare both offices Kingly and Priestly For that Christ alone may execute both charges besides the faire evidence of this Scripture Uzziahs judgement maketh it a ruled case who presuming to burne incense to the Lord incensed the wrath of God against himselfe A rare and singular judgement and worthy perpetuall memorie he who not content to sway the royall Scepter would lay hold on the Censer and discharge both offices was for ever discharged of both and even then when he tooke upon him to cleanse the people was smitten with a foule and unclean x 2 Chr. 26.20 disease So dangerous a thing is it even for Soveraigne Princes the Lords Annointed to encroach upon the Church and assume unto themselves and usurpe Christs prerogative Whereof the Bishops of Roane and Rhemes were bold to bid their Sovereigne Lewis the then French King beware informing him Quod solus Christus fieri potuit Rex Sacerdos that it was the prerogative of Christ alone to beare both offices And Pope y Causab l. de libert Eccles Gratian. dist 96. cum ad verum Nicolas himselfe concurreth with them in judgement When the truth that was Christ saith he was once come after that neither did the Emperour take upon him the Bishops right nor the Bishop usurp the Emperours because the same Mediatour of God and man the man Christ Jesus distinguisheth the offices of each power assigning unto them proper actions to the end that the Bishop which is a souldier of Christ should not wholly intangle himselfe in worldly affaires and againe the Prince which is occupied in earthly matters should not be ruler of divine things viz. the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments To make a medley saith z Syn. â—p Synesius of spirituall and temporall power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is great difference between the Scepter and the Censer the Chaire of Moses and the Throne of David the tongue of the Minister and the hand of the Magistrate the materiall sword that killeth and the spirituall that quickeneth To the King saith St. a De verb. Esa Chrysostome are the bodies of men committed to the Priest their soules the King pardoneth civill offences and crimes the Priest remitteth the guilt of sinne in the conscience the King compelleth the Priest exhorteth the Kings weapons are outward and materiall the Priests inward and spirituall A like distinction St. b Hieron ad Heliod Rex nolentibus praeest Episcopus volentibus c. Jerome maketh betweene them The King ruleth men though unwilling the Bishop can doe good upon none but those that are willing the King holdeth his subjects in awe with feare and terrour the Priest is appointed for the service of his flocke the King mastereth their bodies with death the Priest preserveth their soules to life But the farthest of any St. c Bern. de consid ad Eugen. Reges gentium dominanturâ—â—s vos non sic aude ergo usurpare aut Dominus Apostolatum aut Apostolicus Dominatum Bernard presseth this point and toucheth Pope Eugenius to the quicke It is the voice of the Lord Kings of the Nations rule over them c. But it shall not be so with you goe to then usurp if thou dare either an Apostleship if thou art a Lord or Lordlike dominion if thou art an Apostle thou art expressely forbid both if thou wilt have both thou shalt lose both But why doe I prosecute this point Doth it concerne any now adayes Doth any one man beare both these offices I answer affirmatively the High-priest at Rome doth For he compasseth his Mitre with a triple Crown and as if he bare this name written upon his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords challengeth to himselfe a power to depose Kings and dispose of their Kingdomes Doth any one desire to know who is that man of sinne spoken of by the d 2 Thes 2.3 Apostle who opposeth and exalteth himselfe above all that is called God Let him learne of the Prophet who are called gods Dixi dii estis e Psal 82.6 I have said ye are gods and it will be no matter of great difficultie to point at him who accounteth that hee doth Kings a great honour when he admitteth them to kisse his feet hold his stirrop serve him at table and performe other baser offices prescribed in their booke of ceremonies I can tell you who it was that made the Emperour Henrie the fourth with his Queene and young Prince in extreme frost and snow to waite his leisure three dayes barefooted and in woollen apparell at the gates of Canusium it was Gregory the seventh otherwise called Hildebrand I can shew you who set the Imperiall Crowne upon the head of Henrie the sixt not with his hand but with his foot and with the same foot kicked it off againe saying I have power to make Emperours and unmake them at my pleasure it was Pope Coelestine I can bring good proofe who it was that would not make peace with Frederick the first till in the presence of all the people at the doore of St. Markes Church in Venice the Prince had cast his body flâ—t on the ground and the Pope
Prophet I rather gather from these words the great honour which Nathan the Prophet received from David the King than the direction or advice that David the King received from Nathan the Prophet The King said Though Kings are e Bils suprem p. 1. supreme Commanders for the truth yet they are not the supreme or sole directers unto truth for in scruples of conscience and perplexed controversies of Religion they are to require the law from the mouth of the Priest to aske counsell of the Prophets and generally in all matters appertaining to God to heare the Ministers of God declaring to them the will of God out of his Word Symmachus was bold to tell Anastasius the Emperour that as Bishops owe subjection to Gods Sword in Princes hands so Princes owe obedience to Gods Word in Bishops mouthes f Causab de lib. eccles Defer Deo in nobis nos deferemus Deo in te O Emperour heare God speaking by us and wee will feare God ruling by thee The same God who hath put a materiall sword in thy hands to smite malefactors in their body hath put a spirituall sword in our mouth to slay sinne in the soule The Magistrate is the hand of God but the Preacher is his mouth And for this cause all wise and religious Kings have given them their eares and taken some of them into their bosome as David doth here Nathan to receive instruction and direction from them how to sway the royall scepter within the walls of the Church Let it not seeme burthensome unto you my dearest brethren upon so just occasion as is offered mee in my Text to speake somewhat of the honour of that calling which calleth you all to God From whose mouth doe ye heare the glad tidings of salvation From whose hands doe ye receive the seales of grace Who have the oversight and charge of your soules Who are the meanes under God to reconcile God unto you by their prayers and bring you unto God by their powerfull ministerie but your faithfull and painfull Pastours who in performing these holy duties of their calling are termed g Prosp de vit contem l. 1. c 25. Hisunt Ministri verbi Adjutores Dei Oracula Sp. S. coadjutores Dei as it were fellow-labourers with God Per istos Deus placatur populo per istos populus instruitur Deo All other lawfull callings are from God but this was the calling of God himselfe other offices he appointed this he executed others he commends this he discharged When he tooke our flesh upon him and lived upon earth he would not be made a King nor sit as a Judge upon a Nisi prius of inheritance yet performed he the office of a Preacher through his whole life and of a Priest at his death offering himselfe by the eternall Spirit upon the high Altar of the Crosse where he was both h Confes l. 10. c. 42. Pro nobis tibi Victor Victima ideo Victor quia Victima pro nobis tibi Sacerdos Sacrificium ideò Sacerdos quia Sacrificium faciens tibi nos de servis filios Victor and Victima ideo Victor quia Victima as St. Austine playeth sweetly in a rhetoricall key May the civill Magistrates glorie in this that God calleth them gods and may not they that serve at Christs Altar take as great comfort in that God himselfe calleth his Sonne a Priest saying i Psal 110.4 Thou art a Priest for ever Wherefore if the glorious titles wherewith God himselfe graceth the Ministerie of Stewards of his house Dispencers of his mysteries Lights of the world Angels of the Church if the noble presidents in Scripture of Melchizedek King and Priest David King and Prophet Solomon King and Preacher suffice not to redeeme the sacred order from the scandall of profane men and contempt of the world yet methinkes sith the Son of God and King of glorie hath taken upon him the office and executed the function of a Priest all men should entertaine a reverend opinion of the Priesthood of the Gospel and not to use the word Priest as a reproach to man which was one of the three dignities of God himselfe much lesse seeke to disgrace their persons who are Gods Instruments to conveigh grace into their soules What shall I say more Nay what can I say lesse He that honoureth not the name of Christ which signifieth k Luke 4.18 Annointed to preach the Gospel is no Christian he that conceiveth basely or speaketh contumeliously of the sacred order of Priests is worse than an Infidell For the heathen l Ca sar Com. de bello Gal. French and English in Julius Caesars time placed their Priests which they called Druides above their Gentrie yea and most of the Nobilitie appointing the chiefe of them to beare on his breast the Image of Truth engraven in a rich Jewell The m Bodin de repub l. 3. c. 8. Turkes Moores and Arabians have their Priests which they call Mophtae in highest estimation and devolve the most important matters of State and doubts of their law to their definitive sentence and order The Syrians adorne their Priests with a n Philost de vit Apo. Tâ—â—â—nâ— 2. Crowne of gold the Brachmans with a Scepter of gold and Mitre beset with precious stones The Romans stiled their chiefe Flamen Regem sacrorum adoring that name in their Priests which they abhorred in their Princes and Consuls Lastly the Egyptians Athenians o Strab. geog l. 7. Josâ—ph l. 14. c. 15 Sub Dionâ—â—o Archonte principe Sacerdotum Apud quos Lycurgus Legislator Sacerdos erat Apollonis Virgil. â—â—n 3. Râ—x â—dem Anius Phoebique Sacerdos Liv. dec 1. Numa Sacerdos Nymphae Aegeriae Suet. in Aug. Tit. Ovid. â—ast l. 3. Caesaris innumeris quos maluit ille merei Accessit titulis Pontificalis honos Lacedaemonians and almost all the Heathen who either had Kingly Priests or sacrificing Kings shall condemne such Christians at the day of Christ then they shall see of that calling which seemed so vile darke and obscure in their eyes some glistering as Pearles in the gates others sparkling as Diamonds in the foundation and no small number shining as Starres in the arch of the heavenly Jerusalem and amidst them the Sunne of righteousnesse Christ Jesus exercising his royall Priesthood and making intercession to his Father for all those and those onely who honour his Priestly function here upon earth in his Ministers by maintaining and countenancing them and in themselves by sacrificing their dearest affections to him But I list not to dwell on this argument but rather with the Kingly Prophet in his house of Cedars I dwell in an house of Cedars In these words David findeth not fault with the beautifull roofe of his Princely Palace but the meane and vile covering of the Arke it troubled him not that he was so well provided for but that the Arke was so ill Princes may dwell in houses of
last of all by Antichrist and his adherents Yee see by this Epitomy of her story the reason of her complaints n Cant. 1.6 Regard mee not because I am blacke for the sunne hath looked upon mee the sonnes of my mother were angry against mee o Cant. 5.7 The watchmen that went about the City found me they smote mee and wounded mee and tooke away my vaile from me Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sick for love Hereby also you may give a fit motto to those emblemes in holy Scripture A lilly among thornes A dove whose note is mourning A vine spoyled by little foxes and partly rooted out by the wild bore of the forrest A woman great with childe and a fiery dragon pursuing her According to which patternes Saint Jerome frameth his p Rubus ardens est figura ecclesiae quae flammis persecutionum non consumitur sed viret magis Hier. in verb. Exod. 3.2 A bush burning yet not consuming and as fitly Saint Gregory draweth her with Christs crosse in her hand with her challenge there unto Ecclesia haeres crucis The Church is an inheretrix of the crosse And it appeareth by all records hitherto that she hath possessed it and if wee examine the matter well wee shall finde that Christ had nothing else to leave her at his death For goods and lands upon earth hee never had q Mat. 8.20 The foxes saith hee have holes and the birds nests but the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head His soule hee bequeathed to his father his body was begged by Joseph of Arimathea his garments the souldiers tooke for their fee and cast lots upon his vestments onely the crosse together with the nailes and gall and vinegar bestowed upon him at his death hee left her as a Heriot For these withall the appurtenances scourges cryes sighes groanes stripes and wounds hee bequeathed to her by his life time in those words r Joh. 16.33 Mat. 10.17 18. 24.9 10 11. Joh. 16.10 In the world yee shall have troubles they shall persecute you in their Synagogues and scourge you and yee shall bee hated of all men for my names sake insomuch that they that kill you shall thinke they doe God good service Yee shall weepe and mourne but the world shall rejoice Upon which words Å¿ Lib. de spectac c. 28. Vicibus res disposita est lugeamus ergò dum ethnici gaudeÌ„t ut cum lugere coeperint gaudeamus ne paritèr nunc gaudentes cum quoque paritèr lugeamus delicatus es Christiane si in seculo voluptatem concupiscis imò niâ—iâ—is stultus si hoc existimas voluptatem Tertullian inferreth God hath disposed of joyes and sorrowes by turnes let us mourne when worldlings rejoice that when they mourne wee may rejoice Thou art too dainty and choice O Christian if besides the joyes of heaven laid up for thee thou lookest for a liberall portion of delights and pleasures in this world nay thou art too foolish if thou countest there is any true pleasure in such things wherein they place their happinesse I need not presse many texts of Scripture which yeeld this sharp juice as t Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the righteous u 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution * 1 Pet. 4.17 Judgment begins at the house of God this verse alone which I now handle is sufficient to cleare Christs afflicted members from all note of heresie and imputation of reprobates For if afflictions are chastisements of Gods children and tokens of his love I rebuke and chasten as many as I love then are they not necessarily judgements for sinne messengers of wrath much lesse proper markes of heretickes and reprobates The kingdome of heaven is not necessarily annexed to earthly crownes nor is eternall glory any way an appendant to worldly pompe To conclude affluence of temporall blessings is no note of the true because store of afflictions is no note of the false Church Which truth is so apparent that many Papists of note have expresly delivered it in their annotations upon holy Scripture as u Stap. in verb Joh. In mundo pressuras habebitis Stapleton the Rhemists and x Mald. in Mat. 5. Facit solem orire supâ—r bonos malos unde perspicuum est hominum aut nationum prosperos successus nullum signum aut testimonium esse verioris aut purioris religionis Maldonate God causeth his Sunne to rise upon the just and upon the unjust whence saith the Jesuite it is evident that the prosperity of men or nations is no certaine signe or argument of the truth or purity of religion which they professe Howbeit as Praxiteles drew Venus after the picture of Cratina his Mistresse and all the Painters of Thebes after the similitude of Phryne a beautifull strumpet so Bellarmine being to paint and limme Christs Spouse took his notes from his own Mistresse the Romane Phryne the whore of Babylon and mother of fornications Looke upon the picture of that strumpet drawne to the life by Saint John Apoc. 17. and let your eyes bee Judges I saw saith hee a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast vers 3. full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten hornes vers 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and pretious stones and pearles what is this but Bellarmine his note of temporall felicity having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations of which it seemeth the Cardinall dranke deepe when he tooke the pencill in his hand to pourtray the true Church else hee could not be so out in his draught nor so utterly forget not only what others but himselfe also had formerly set downe in this point For in his solution of an objection of Martin Luther who stood in the opposite extreme affirming afflictions to bee an inseparable note of the Church hee confesseth freely that the Church in the beginning and in the end was in great straights and for this purpose to shew that persecutions though they eclipse the glory of the Church yet can never utterly extinguish it hee alledges such remarkable passages out of the ancient Fathers as these y Justin Mart. in apolog Persecution is but the pruning of Christs vine and z Tertul. in Apologet the blood of Martyrs is as seed and * Leo Ser. 1. de Pet. Paul the graines that fall one by one and dye in the earth rise up againe in great numbers If the Church runne into superfluous stemmes without the pruning knife of afflictions if the blood of martyrs turneth into seed to generate new Martyrs if the Church in her nonage had many sore conflicts and shall have greater in her old age certainly abundance ease pleasure and glory which make up temporall felicity are no notes of her for a L. 1. de
yet not willing to bee put to an infamous cruell and accursed death he became obedient to death even the death of the crosse The repeating the word death seemeth to argue an ingemination of the punishment a suffering death upon death It was wonderfull that hee which was highest in glory should humble himselfe yet it is more to bee obedient than to humble himselfe more to suffer death willingly or upon the command of another than to be obedient more to bee crucified than simply to die Hee was so humble that hee became obedient so obedient that hee yeelded to die so yeelded to die as to bee crucified his love wonderfully shewed it selfe in humbling himselfe to exalt us his humility in his obedience his obedience in his patience his patience in the death of the crosse His humility was a kinde of excesse of his love his obedience of his humility his death of his obedience his crosse of his death He humbled himselfe According to which nature divine or humane In some sort according to both according to his divine by assuming our nature according to his humane by taking upon him our miseries And became obedient It is not said hee made himselfe obedient because obedience presupposeth anothers command wee may indeed of our selves offer service to another but wee cannot performe obedience where there is no command of a Superiour parere and imperare are relatives To whom then became hee obedient To God saith Calvin to Herod and Pilate saith Zanchius the truth is to both to God as supreme Judge according to whose eternall decree to Pilate by whose immediate sentence hee was to suffer such things of sinners for sinners To death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether inclusivè or exclusivè whether is the meaning hee was obedient all his life even to his last gaspe or hee was so farre obedient that hee yeelded himselfe to the wrath of God to the scorn of men the power of darknesse the infamy of all punishments the shame of all disgraces the cruelty of all torments the death of the crosse The difference betweene these is in this that the former maketh death the limit and bound the latter an act of his obedience to which interpretation I rather subscribe because it is certaine that Christ was not onely obedient unto the houre of his death but in his death also and after his death lying three dayes and three nights in the grave Here then we have the sum of the whole Gospel the life and death of our Lord and Saviour his birth and life in the former words He humbled himselfe his death passion in the latter and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse He humbled that is took on him our nature infirmities became obedient that is fulfilled the law for us by his active satisfied God for our transgressions by his passive obedience Obedience most shews it selfe in doing or suffering such things as are most crosse repugnant to our wil natural desires as to part with that which is most dear pretious to us and to entertain a liking of that which we otherwise most abhor Now the strongest bent of all mens desires is to life honor nothing men fear more than death especially a lingring painful death they are confounded at nothing more than open shame whereby our Saviours obedience appeares a non pareil who passed not for his life nor refused the torments of a cruel nor the shame of an ignominious death that he might fulfill his fathers will in laying down a sufficient ransom for all mankinde Even the death of the crosse As the sphere of the Sun or Saturn c. is named from the Planet which is the most eminent part of it so is the passion of Christ from his crosse the crosse was as the center in which all the bloody lines met He sweat in his agony bled in his scourging was pricked in his crowning with thornes scorned and derided in the judgement hall but all this and much more hee endured on the crosse Whence we may observe more particularly 1 The root 2 Branches 3 Fruit. Or 1 The cause 2 The parts 3 The end of all his sufferings on it 1 Of the cause S. a Aug. l. 3. de Civ Dei c. 15. Regularis defectio non nisi in lunae fine contingit Austin demonstrateth that the Eclipse of the sun at the death of our Saviour was miraculous because then the Moon was at the full Had it bin a regular Eclipse the Moon should have lost her light and not the Sun so in the regular course of justice the Church which is compared to the Moon in b Cant. 6.10 Scripture should have been eclipsed of the light of Gods countenance and not Christ who is by the Prophet Malachy stiled c Mal. 4.2 Sol justitiae the Sun of righteousnesse But as then the Sun was eclipsed in stead of the Moon so was Christ obscured in his passion for the Church he became a surety for us therfore God laid all our debts upon him to the uttermost farthing The Prophet Esay assureth us hereof d Esa 53.4 5. He bare our infirmities carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him by his stripes we are all healed O the wonderfull wisdom justice of God! the just is reputed unjust that the unjust might be reputed just the innocent is condemned that the condemned might be found innocent the Conquerer is in bonds to loose the captive the Creditor in prison to satisfie for the debtour the Physitian taketh the bitter potion to cure the patient the Judge is executed to acquit the prisoner What did the welbeloved of his Father deserve that he should drink the dregs of the vials of wrath why should the immaculate Lamb be put to such torture in the end be slain but for a sacrifice why should the bread of life hunger but for our gluttony the fountain of grace thirst but for our intemperancy the word of God be speechlesse but for our crying sin truth it self be accused but for our errors innocency condemned but for our transgressions why should the King of glory endure such ignominy shame but for our shameful lives why should the Lord of life be put to death but for our hainous and most deadly sins what spots had he to be washed what lust to bee crucified what ulcers to bee pricked what sores to bee launced Doubtlesse none at all our corrupt blood was drawn out of his wounds our swellings pricked with his thornes our sores launced with his speare our lusts crucified on his crosse our staines washed away with his blood It was the weight of our sins that made his soule heavie unto death it was the unsupportable burden of our punishment that put him into a bloody sweat all our blood was corrupt all our flesh as it were in
Papists in their transcendent charity exclude Protestants out of all possibility of salvation See Wright his motives That Protestants have no faith no God no religion Fisher his Treat Out of the Romish Church no salvation Bellar. apol 8. Jacobus quia Catholicus non est Christianus non est W.B. his discourse entituled the Non entitie of Protestants religion deny them to have any Church any faith any hope of salvation any interest in Christ any part in God yet wee have learned from the Apostle to render to no man evill for evill nor rebuke for rebuke nor slander for slander wee deny them not to have a Church though very corrupt and unsound wee doubt not but through Gods mercy many thousands of our fore-fathers who lived and dyed in the communion of their Church and according to that measure of knowledge which was revealed unto them out of holy Scripture in the mysteries of salvation led a godly and innocent life not holding any errour against their conscience nor allowing themselves in any knowne sinne continually asking pardon for their negligences and ignorances of God through Christs merits might bee saved though not as Papists that is not by their Popish additions and superstitions but as Protestants that is by those common grounds of Christianity which they hold with us All that I intend to shew herein is that in some practices of theirs they may bee rightly compared to the Heathen as when the Apostle saith that he that provideth not for his owne family is worse than an Infidell his meaning is not that every Christian that is a carelesse housholder is simply in worse state than a Heathen but onely by way of aggravation of that sinne hee teacheth all unthrifts that in that particular they are more culpable than Heathen In like manner my meaning is not to put Papists and Heathen in the same state and ranke as if there were not more hope of a Papist than a Painims salvation but to breed a greater loathing and detestation of Popish idolatry and superstition by paralleling Baalites and other Heathens together I will make it evidently appeare that some particular practices of the Romane Church are no better than Heathenish See Hom. against the perill of Idolatry p. 3. Of this mind were they who laid the first stones of the happy reformation in England Our Image maintainers and worshippers have used and use the same outward rites and manner of honouring and worshipping their Images as the Gentiles did use before their Idols and that therefore they commit idolatry as well inwardly as outwardly as did the wicked Gentile Idolaters If any reply that these Homilies were but Sermons of private men transported with zeale and carry not with them the authority of the whole Church of England I answer that as those Verses of Poets alledged by the Apostle were made part of the Canonicall Scripture by being inserted into his inspired Epistles so the Homilies which are mentioned by name in the 35. Article and commended as containing godly and g His Majesties declaration We doe therefore ratifie and confrme the said Articles which doe containe the doctrine of the Church of Eâ—gland requiring all our loving subjects to continue in the uniforme profession thereof and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles wholesome doctrine and necessary for the times are made part of the Articles of Religion which are established by authority of the whole Convocation and ratified and confirmed by the royall assent Were not this the expresse judgement of the Church of England whose authority ought to stop the mouth of all that professe themselves to be her children from any way blaunching the idolatrous practices of the Romane Church yet were not the fore-heads of our Image-worshippers made of as hard metall as their Images they would blush to say as they doe that the testimonies which wee alledge out of Scriptures and Fathers make against Idols and not against Image-worship For the words are h Levit. 26.1 Yee shall make no Idoll or graven Images nor reare up any standing Image nor set up any Image of stone to bow downe to it The words are i Exod. 20 4. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any Pesel that is any thing carved or graven And if there may seem any mist in this generall word to any the words following cleerly dispell it Nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above nor in the earth beneath nor in the waters under the earth The third Text is thus rendered in their own vulgar Latine k Deut. 4.15 16 17. Take therefore good heed to your soules for yee saw no manner of similitude in the day which the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire lest peradventure being deceived Custodite sollicitâ— animas vestras non vidistis aliquam similitudinem in die quâ Dominus vobis locutus est in Horeb in medio igne ne fortè faciatis vobis sculptam imaginem vel similitudinem masculi vel foeminae ye make you a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth the likenesse of any winged fowle that flyeth in the aire the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the ground the likenesse of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth Neither is our allegation out of the Prophet Esay lesse poignant than the former To whom will m Esay 40.18 19 20. ye liken God or what likenesse will yee compare unto him The workman melteth a graven Image and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chaines Hee that is so impoverished that hee hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot hee seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven Image c. As tor the words Imago and Idolum if wee respect the originall they are all one for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the shape or species of any thing and therefore not onely Aristotle calleth the shapes of things which are received into our senses the idols of the senses but Cardinall n Com. in c. 20. Exod. Cajetan also the images of the Angels in the Arke Idola Cherubinorum If wee regard the most common use of the words they differ as mulier and scortum that is a woman and a strumpet For as a woman abused or defiled by corporall fornication is called a strumpet so all such Images as are abused to spirituall fornication are called Idols Thus Saint o Lib. 8. de orig c. 11. Idolum est simulachrum quod humanâ effigie est consecraâ—um Isidore defineth an Idoll An Idoll is an Image consecrated in an humane shape And at the first all Idols were such but after men fell into grosser idolatry and turned the glory of God not only into the similitude of a p Rom. 1.23
Joh. 6.10 11 12 13. multiplyed the loaves and fishes hee gave this sensible and undeniable proofe of the truth of this miracle both by saturitie in the stomacks of the people and by substantiall remnants thereof in the baskets When they were filled saith the Evangelist hee said to his disciples Gather the fragments that remaine that nothing be lost Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above to them that had eaten Cloven tongues The holy Ghost which now first appeared in the likenesse of tongues moved the tongues of all the Prophets that have spoken since the world began For the l 2 Pet. 1.21 prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Of all the parts of the body God especially requireth two the heart the tongue the heart whereby m Rom. 10.10 man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and the tongue whereby he maketh confession unto salvation the heart to love God the tongue to praise him Out of which consideration the Heathen as Plutarch observeth dedicated the Peach-tree to the Deitie because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart of man and the leafe his tongue And to teach us that the principall use of our tongue is to sound out the praises of our maker the Hebrew calleth the tongue Cobod that is glory as My heart was glad n Psal 16.9 30.13 57.9 Buxtorph Epit radic and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue also Hebrew my glory also rejoyceth They who glorifie not God with their tongue may be truly said to have no tongue in the Hebrew language and verily they deserve no tongues who make them not silver trumpets to sound out the glory of God And if such forfeit their tongues how much more doe they who whet them against God and his truth whose mouths are full of cursing and bitternesse direfull imprecations and blasphemous oathes These have fierie tongues but not kindled from heaven but rather as S. o Chap. 3.6 James speaketh set on fire of hell and their tongues also are cloven by schisme faction and contention not as these in my text for a mysticall signification Cloven Some by cloven understand linguas bifidas two-forked tongues and they will have them to be an embleme of discretion and serpentine wisdome others linguas dissectas slit tongues like the tongues of such birds as are taught to speake and these conceive them to have beene an embleme of eloquence For such kinde of tongues p Hieroglyph l. 33. Pierius affirmeth that the Heathen offered in sacrifice to Mercurie their god of eloquence and they made them after a sort fierie by casting them into the fire ad expurgandas perperam dictorum labes to purge out the drosse of vain discourses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tongues parted at the top but joyned at the roote and they represented saith q In Act. Quia in proximo debebant dividi in omnes terras Gorrhan the dispersion of the Apostles which after ensued into all countries These tongues were not of fire but As it were of fire The matter of which these tongues consisted was not grosse and earthly but aeriall or rather heavenly like the fire which r Exod. 3.2 Moses saw in the bush for as that so this had the light but not the burning heat of fire It is not said of fires in the plurall but of fire in the singular number because as the silver trumpets were made all of one piece so these twelve tongues were made of one fierie matter to illustrate the diversitie of gifts proceeding from the same spirit And it sate Sitting in the proper sense is a bodily gesture and agreeth not to tongues or fire yet because it is a gesture of permanencie or continuance the word is generally used in the originall for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ſ Chrys in Act. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to abide or reside and so it may expresse unto us the continuance of these gifts of the Spirit in the Apostles and may put us in minde of our dutie which is to sit to our preaching and continue in the labours of the ministrie Give t 1 Tim. 4.13 14 15. attendance saith the Apostle to reading to exhortation to doctrine Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecie with the laying on of the hands of the presbyterie Meditate upon these things give thy selfe wholly to them that thy profiting may appeare to all Upon each of them Whether these tongues entred into the mouths of the Apostles as Amphilochius writeth of S. Basil or rested upon their heads as S. Cyril imagined whence some derive the custome of u Lorinus in Act. c. 2. imposition of hands upon the heads of those who are consecrated Bishops or ordained Priests it is not evident out of the text but this is certaine and evident that it sate upon each of them It sate not upon Peter onely but upon the rest as well as him S. Chrysostome saith upon the * Chrys in act c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hundred and twentie that were assembled in that upper roome those who say least affirme that it rested upon all the Apostles For howsoever the Papists take all occasions to advance S. Peter above the rest of the Apostles that the Roman See might be advanced through him as Hortensius the Oratour extolled eloquence to the skies that hee might bee lifted up thither with her yet the Scripture giveth him no preheminence here or elsewhere for Christ delivereth the keyes of heaven with the power of binding and loosing into all x Matt. 18.18 Whatsoever ye binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever yee loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven of their hands he breathes vpon them all John 20.21 22. and sendeth them with as full commission as his Father sent him All their names shine in the y Apoc. 21.14 foundation and gates of the heavenly Jerusalem and here in my text fierie cloven tongues sate upon each of them And there appeared unto them c. As in the Sacrament of Christs body so in these symbols of the spirit we are to consider two things 1. The signes or outward elements 2. The thing signified by them Of the signes yee have heard heretofore hold out I beseech you your religious attention to the remainder of the time and yee shall heare in briefe of the thing signified by them Miracles for the most part in holy Scripture are significant the cloudie pillar signified the obscure knowledge of Christ under the Law the pillar of fire the brighter knowledge of him in the Gospell the renting of the veile at the death of our Saviour the opening of the way to the Sanctum Sanctorum into which our high
cognation or affinity 3. by nation or country 4. by love affection 1. common to all men the sons of Adam our father 2. speciall to all Christians the sons of the same mother the Church 1. Nature made Jacob and Esau brethren 2. Affinity our Lord and James brethren 3. Nation or country Peter and the Jewes brethren 4. Affection and obligation 1. Spirituall all Christians 2. Carnall and common all men brethren Thus the significations of brother in Scripture like the circles made by a stone cast into the water not only multiply but much enlarge themselves the first is a narrow circle about the stone the next fetcheth a bigger compasse the third a greater more capacious than it the fourth so large that it toucheth the bankes of the river in like manner the first signification of brethren is confined to one house nay to one bed and wombe the second extendeth it selfe to all of one family or linage the third to the whole nation or country the fourth and last to the utmost bounds of the earth No name so frequently occurreth in Scripture as this of brethren no love more often enforced than brotherly We need not goe farre for emblemes thereof b Plut. de amor fratr Plutarch hath found many in our body for wee have two eyes two eares two nostrills two hands two feet which are as hee termeth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brethren and twinne members formed out of like matter being of one shape one bignesse and serving to one and the selfe same use Nature her selfe kindleth the fire of brotherly love in our hearts and God by the blasts of his Spirit and the breath of his Ministers bloweth it continually yet in many it waxeth cold and in some it seemeth to bee quite extinguished Saint Paul prayed that the Philippians c Phil. 1.9 love might abound more and more Hee exhorteth the Hebrewes Let brotherly d Heb. 13.1 love continue but we need now-adaies to cast our exhortation into a new mold and say Let brotherly love begin in you For were it begun so many quarrells so many factions so many sects so many broiles so many law-suites would not be begun as we see every day set on foot Did we looke upon the badge of our livery which is mutuall e John 13.35 By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples if ye love one anther love we would cry shame of our selves for that which we see and heare every day such out-cries such railing such cursing such threatning such banding opprobrious speeches such challenges into the field and spilling the bloud of those for whom Christ shed his most precious bloud Is it not strange that they should fall foule one upon another who have bin both washed in the same laver of regeneration that they should thirst after one anothers bloud who drinke of the same cup of benediction that they should lift their hands up one against another for whom Christ spread his hands upon the crosse Let there be no f Gen. 13.8 falling out between mee and thee saith Abraham to Lot for wee are brethren Let mee presse you further touch you neerer to the quick Let there be no strife among you for you are members one of another nay which is more Yee are all members of Christ Jesus What members of Christ and spurne one at another members of Christ and buffet one another members of Christ and supplant one another members of Christ and devoure one another members of Christ and destroy one another It is true as Plutarch observeth that the neerer the tye is the fouler the breach As bodies that are but glewed together if they be severed or rent asunder they may be glewed as fast as ever they were but corpora continua as flesh and sinewes if any cut or rupture be made in them they cannot bee so joyned together againe but a scarre will remaine so those who are onely glewed together by some civill respects may fall out and fall in againe without any great impeachment to their reputation or former friendship but they who are tied together by nerves and sinewes of naturall or spirituall obligation and made one flesh or spirit together if there fall any breach between them it cannot be so fairely made up but that like the putting a new peece of cloth into an old garment the going about to piece or reconcile them maketh the rent worse When g Cic. famil ep l. 9. Noli pati litigâ—re fratres judiciis turpiâ—us conflictari Tully understood of a suit in law commenced between Quintus and M. Fabius hee earnestly wrote to Papirius to take up the matter g Cic. famil ep l. 9. Noli pati litigâ—re fratres judiciis turpiâ—us conflictari Suffer not saith hee brethren to implead one another For though suits about title of lands seem to be the fairest of any yet even these are foule among brethren wherefore my beloved brethren let us 1. Prevent all occasions of difference let there be no tindar of malice in our hearts ready to take fire upon the flying of the least sparke into it let us so root and ground our selves in love that no small offence may stirre us let us endeavour by all friendly offices so to endeare our selves to our brethren and so fasten all naturall and civill ties by religious obligations that we alwaies keep the h Ephes 4.3 unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace 2. If it cannot be but that offences will come and distract us if the Divell or his agents cast a fire-brand among us let us all runne presently to quench it let us imitate wise Mariners who as soone as they spie a leake spring in the ship stop it with all speed before it grow wider and endanger the drowning of the vessell 3. After the breach is made up and the wound closed and healed let us not rub upon the old sore according to the rule of i Coel. Rodig antiq lect l. 16. 19. Pythagoras Ignem gladio ne fodias let us not rake into the ashes or embers of the fire of contention lately put out As we pray that God may cast our sinnes so let us cast our brothers trespasses against us into the k Micah 7.19 bottome of the sea The Athenians as l Plut. lib. de fraterno amoâ—e Plutarch writeth tooke one day from the moneth of May and razed it out of all their Calenders because on that day Neptune and Minerva fell out one with another even so let us Christians much more bury those daies in perpetuall oblivion strike them out of our Almanacks in which any bloudy fray or bitter contention hath fallen among us For our Father is the God of peace our Saviour is the Prince of peace our Comforter is the Spirit of peace and love God who is m John 4.8 love and of his love hath begot us loveth nothing more
setting his foot on his neck advanced himselfe blasphemously wresting the Scripture and applying those words of the Psalmist to himselfe Psal 91.13 Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Basilisk it was Pope Adrian who was afterwards choaked with a flie I could relate unto you in what Councell divine majestie is ascribed to the Pope and a power above all powers in the Councell of Lateran under Leo the tenth But I tremble at such horrible blasphemies and leave the Authors and maintainers of them to the censure of the true Melchizedek who as he is a Prince of peace so he is also Rex justitiae King of righteousnesse and will one day right himselfe and all his servants and destroy the man of sin with the breath of his mouth and brightnesse of his presence 7. The next point in which this Text instructeth us is the strength and validity of an oath God when he would shew unto us the immutability of his decree concerning Christs Priesthood confirmeth it unto him by an oath thereby declaring that the greatest evidence of truth and strongest assurance of faith between man and man nay between God and man is an oath It is the soveraigne instrument of justice the indissoluble bond of amity the safest refuge of innocency the surest warrant of fidelity the strongest sinew of all humane society Detestable therefore and â—amnable is their doctrine and practice who straine and weaken the sinew which holdeth the members of all politike bodies together who cancell that bond which being made on earth is registred in the high Court of heaven and the three persons in the blessed Trinity are witnesses thereunto who either untye this everlasting knot by cunning equivocation or cut it asunder by Papall dispensation O my deare brethren hold not with them who breake with God sweare not to their doctrine who maintaine forswearing take not part with that religion which taketh away all religious obligation Is that thinke you the Orthodoxe faith which alloweth and in some case commendeth g Aug. de mendac ad consent perfidiousnesse and treachery Is their doctrine truth Qui dogmatizant mendacium who doctrinally teach the lawfulnesse of an equivocating lye anâ— that they may verifie their doctrine of lyes belye the Truth himself and endeavour to make that which I tremble to utter Jesum ipsum h See Parsons sober reckoning with Thomas Morton and the same L. Bishop of Duresme Tract de aequivocat Jesuitam Jesus himselfe in this point a Jesuit O ubi estis fontes lachrymarum Of all beasts we have those in greatest detestation which devoure their owne young What are our words and promises our vowes and oathes but the issue of our owne mouth which they who resume and recall what doe they other than eate and devoure their owne off-spring The first that brake his allegiance in heaven was the Divell and thereby became a Divell and the first that brake promise on the earth was likewise the Divell to Adam and Eve whose scholars they shew themselves who teach that the Pope can dispense with the oath of allegiance that oathes are better broken than kept with Heretickes Such was Julius the second who if we may beleeve i Bodin de rep l. 5. c. 6. Bodin was not ashamed openly to professe Fidem dandam omnibus servandam nemini Such was Alexander the sixth who when his son Borgias had drawne in the ring-leaders of the contrary faction by faire promises and deepest protestations and oathes of pardon and reconciliation and as soon as he had them all in his power put them to the sword his father applauded this his perfidious and barbarous act and cryed out O factum benè O well done and according to my hearts desire Such was k Cocleus hist Hussit l. 5. anno 1423 Noris te dare fidem haereticis non potuisse peccare mortâ—liter â—â— servaris Martin the fifth who when Alexander Duke of Licuania had sworne to protect the Hussites wrote to him in these words Know that thou couldest not nor mightest not give faith to Heretickes and that thou sinnest mortally if thou keepest thy word and oath with them Such was Hambertus the Embassadour of l Sleia l. 6. Anno 1527. Anno 1577. Charles the fifth who when the Lady Katherine the youngest sister of that Emperour was espoused to John Frederick Duke of Saxony the instruments were drawne and sealed as soone as ever there was a change of Religion in Saxony he perswaded the young Lady to break off the match affirming openly that faith was not to be kept with Heretickes Such were the Popish Divines of Paris who both in their Sermons and printed bookes taught openly that the m Aug. Thual hist l. 63. Aperto capitein concionibus evulgatis scriptis ad fidem sectariis servandam non obligari principem contâ—ndebant allato in cam rem Concilii Constantiensis deoreto Prince was not bound to keep faith with Sectaries and to that purpose alledged a decree of the Councell of Constance Such was Clemens the seventh who when Charles the fifth had resolved upon an expedition against the Moores to which hee had formerly bound himselfe by oath sendeth unto him a Bull whereby hee releaseth him of all oathes that hee had taken for the expulsing those Infidels notwithstanding any constitution Apostolicall statute ordinance or oath to the contrary yea though ratified by the See of Rome with an expresse clause of excluding any dispensation or relaxation whatsoever Such was Julian the Popes Legate who perswaded Uladislaus King of Hungarie Bohemia to undertake a wicked warre against Amurath the Turke contrary to oath assuring him that the Pope allowed of it and there is no doubt he did so but as n Loc. ant cit Bodin observeth religiously Pontifex probavit Deus immortalis non probavit Almighty God allowed not of it for Uladislaus the King was slaine in the battell his whole army put to flight Julian the Popes Legate mortally wounded to whom as he was now breathing out his last perjured breath Gregory Sarmosa exprobated his wicked counsell and pestilent doctrine saying o I nunc Juliane dic â—egi tuo apud inferos Haereticis fidem non esse servandam Goe to Julian and tell the King now in the other world or in hell that faith is not to be kept with Heretickes and Infidels You have heard how this Text thundereth against the Fathers of the Romane Church all who embrace or practice their perfidious tenets mark I beseech you now a while how it lighteneth upon the children of our Church and all who defend the certainty as well of morall as theologicall faith As when there came a p John 12.28 voice from heaven Jesus said This voice came not because of mee Ver. 30. but for your sakes so we may truly say of the oath in my Text God tooke not it so much because of Christ to secure him