but his illumination Wherefore the Church by way of external testimony was ever the best approved and most faithful witness of Christ yet this testimony so much beneath his Person were unauthorized and fruitless but that it is always governed by the inward Spirit of the Father Aquinas in a certain Sermon upon the Pentecost hath drawn up those things which bear witness of Christ into a certain number and that the verdict is given from twelve the most principal things in the world God the Father in this Proclamation God the Son in his own Confession God the Holy Ghost in the Dove-like Apparition the Angels at his Nativity the Saints that rose from the dead the Miracles which he wrought the Heaven which was darkned at his Passion the Fire when he sent the Comforter in that Element upon his Disciples the Air when he commanded the winds to be still the water when he made the Seas to be calm the Earth when it shook and quak'd at his Resurrection and lastly Hell it self when the Devils did acknowledge him calling him Jesus of Nazareth and saying We know thee who thou art But above all this testimony in my Text enforceth credence upon us more than any other as St. Ambrose thinks Si dubitatur de filio paterno non creditur testimonio If there be any spice of unbelief in your heart run hither to take it out for will you not take the Fathers word for the excellency of his Son that this is the Sacrifice in whom he is well pleased Shew us thy Father says Philip and it sufficeth Joh. xiv 8. Much more resolutely might the Church say Let us hear thy Father and it sufficeth We ask no surer warrant to confirm our faith For as Abraham answered the rich man concerning his brethren that did not believe If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the dead So I may say to all that receive not the faith If they will not believe the Father in whom all the treasures of knowledge are hidden then they may question if there be light in the Heavens perspicuity in the Air life in their own souls every thing that flesh and bloud can alledge must be dark and doubtful to their capacity God spoke from above through the air and it received his voice and when he speaks in our hearts shall not we receive his testimony Thus St. Ambrose in a sweet strain upon it Credidit mundus in Elementis credat in hominibus credidit in exanimis credat in viventibus credidit in mutis credat in loquentibus The rude Elements of the world were taught to admit the doctrine of Faith then much more let men embrace it inanimate things took the Symphony from the Fathers mouth let things which live much more receive it the dumb things of nature were taught to embrace the voice let those things which have tongues much more praise God for glorifying his Son To the upshot of the Point I add this and have done John Baptist did bear witness to our Saviour but his witness was too mean for so great a Person Quo ad nos in regard of our apprehension the testimony and approbation of holy men is a great matter but in regard of the honour of Christ it was fit that the Father who is coequal should testifie of the Son and so doth the Son of the Father which is excellently knit up in one Text Joh. v. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true So by the voice of the Father we know the excellency of the Son and by the preaching of the Son we know the truth of the Father This is their mutual testimony In the second place the manner follows how the Father testified to the honour of his Son and that is by a voice Every Creature whether it live or whether it be inanimate every season of the year every blessing for our use that the earth brings forth though it be dumb yet I am not ashamed to say that it speaks aloud how there is a God that made us and preserved us To this purpose St. Paul spake to the Lycaonians Actc xiv 17. The living God left not himself without witness in that he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Since therefore all the Elements continually are dumb witnesses of the glory of God how easie is it for the Father Almighty to put a tongue into the air and make it speak I will not argue upon the strict terms of Logick how this can be called a voice being not uttered by the Throat and Palate and other Instruments of a rational Creature God is a transcendent above all the Arts in the world and many things proceeding from him are not to be examined by such rules this I may definitively say it was sonus articulatus an articulate intelligible sound of words as if it had come from the tongue of man And I would pass by this Point but that two things come in my way 1. How properly the Father is known by a voice 2. How well it expresseth the comforts of the Gospel Upon the first the School doth distinguish Efficientia vocis erat à totâ Trinitate declaratio spectat ad solum patrem Every effect belongs equally to the whole Trinity therefore this voice was as well the work of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as it was of the Father For so St. Austin beat down the blasphemy of the Arians who taught that the Father gave some honour to the Son which he had not nay says he Ille transeuntium verborum sonus non sine filio factus est alioquin non omnia per ipsum facta sunt That transient voice which was intended to glorifie the Son was made by the Son otherwise the Scriptures had not said All things were made by him and without him nothing was made But though the efficiency of the voice be common to every Person of the Trinity yet the signification of it was appropriated to the Father for he said the word and by it he made the worlds he spake and all things were created The Lord said indeed let the Firmament be made let the light be made and all things else not by oral prolocution but by the Decree of his holy will and as one said Facilius est Deo facere quam nobis dicere God can sooner make all things visible and invisible than we speak of it therefore the Phrase runs as if all things were existent at the uttering of a word And I know not if any similitude do speak that ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity better than this from the manifest pronunciation of a speech wherein are these three things together which cannot be parted The voice begets a word spoken and there is truth in that word which was spoken by the voice
do all that God bids Give me a contented heart ready to endure all that God imposeth and then as thou shalt be an heir with Christ in the inheritance of heaven so thou shalt share with him in his sweetest title upon earth Thou art my beloved Son c. The last part of the Testimony comes now to my hand to be be dispatch'd that Christ is Filius complacentiae in whom and through whom the Father is well pleased O delicious words fit to be uttered by a voice from heaven and at the appearance of the Holy Gbost Partem aliquam venti Divum referatis ad aures We have delighted our hearts in the former Treatises to consider that from Servants we are become Sons from a People justly hated we are become beloved but to whom do we owe all this Surely as Mary and Martha said to Christ If thou hadst been here my brother Lazarus had not died So may we turn it and say if thou hadst not been here we had all died in our sins Therefore the voice points upon him that we may take notice how he is worth the knowing Hic est quem quaerimus hic est This is he that hath turned anger into reconciliation and enmity into peace As who should say I was once pleased at the making of the first Adam and I said all was very good for he was endued with original righteousness that he might have done all things well How much better am I pleased with the second Adam who hath done all things well and though it repented me afterward that I made man my Son yet now I am pleased with all that repent for my Sons sake Therefore thou art he for whose sake I will give heaven to them who have deserved the nethermost Hell thou art he by whom I have ordained to execute my pleasure to save the world To whom therefore do we owe our Salvation Or what moved our Father which is in heaven to elect us to the fruition of his glory If you will have an answer both clear according to Scripture and befitting our own humility it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good pleasure of the Father whose will is the true and only cause that can be given for the happiness of all things that shall enjoy him who hath predestinated us to himself unto the adoption of Sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will Eph. i. 6. To ascribe our Election to any thing discerned in our selves as I apprehend it shakes the foundation of the Gospel which in every passage makes Salvation the free gift of God by grace in Christ But Christ is both the exemplary the final and the meritorious cause of our Salvation The exemplary for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. viii 23. From whence Aquinas fetcheth it that Christ is the true Pattern by which we are predestinated respecting the manner by which we obtain that infinite good which is by mere grace For as the humane nature was united to the Godhead by no precedent merits so by his mere good pleasure without any thing precedent in us to attract him we shall be united to his glory 2. He is the final cause of our Election for to what end are we beloved To what end pluckt out of the jaws of Hell like a brand out of the fire But that he might be glorified among his Brethren God ordained his Son to be head of the Church and then he gave unto him a portion to be members of his body Wherefore the Church most aptly is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulness of him that filleth all in all Eph. i. ult As if Christ had not esteemed his own glory to be full and perfect without us But 3. He must also be acknowledged the meritorious cause of our Salvation For God so loved the good of his Creature that he did not forget to see his own justice satisfied by the obedience and death of Christ which satisfaction the Father lookt upon as the meritorious cause that we should be ordained to adoption of Sons God lookt upon the ransom of this Sacrifice when he did predestinate us to Salvation which surely is the sense of this voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Therefore this clause of my Text was St. Pauls warrant for so much as he wrote to the Colossians Chap. i. 20. It pleased the Father to reconcile all things unto himself by him by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven The self-same three things which are considerable in my Text and not yet opened are here likewise in their proper notions 1. That peculiarly above other Persons of Trinity the Father is said to be pleased with us and the Father reconciled 2. That it is assigned to the Office of the Son by it self to please and reconcile 3. That the Father is pleased in all things both in heaven and earth by the reconciliation of the Son cursorily of each For the first still the Scripture speaks that the Sacrifice placatory was offered up to the Father that he might draw us to himself who were aliens and castaways When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. v. 10. Believe it that every sin is committed against the whole divine Majesty and as every person in Trinity was dishonoured in the offence so we have need of pacification with all in the reconcilement But that the Scripture makes us rather take notice how the Father is reconciled unto us there are two reasons One that the Father is the Fountain of all Divinity the first person in order against whom we sin yet we sin against all So the first Person in order that is reconciled unto us yet we are reconciled to all 2. Though every work belonging to the Church be the conjunct act of the Trinity yet there are proper Offices belonging to several Persons to make our conceit more methodical So we know it by the phrase of Scripture that it is proper to the Father to receive us into grace proper to the Son to pay the price of our redemption and proper to the Holy Ghost to seal it to our hearts and to beget assurance in us It follows secondly that it belongs to the Office of the Son to make us pleasing and to reconcile us to God There is no other name under heaven but his in which Salvation can be hoped for Acts iv 12. for should the Angels or should men be appointed to such an Office to knit us into amity again with God and to reduce us to that eternal concord who were become open enemies It could not be For Angels and men owe as much obedience for their own part as they could perform Neither ought it to be for it was not fit that man should owe his Redemption to any other than to whom he owed his Creation
Eve were first placed in Paradice he may have a Society of holy Servants without the Word taught and proclamed by the organ of a Tongue as the Angels are illuminated to know his will by immediate inspiration but with reverence let me speak it I cannot see which way the Lord can have a Church without the Gift of the Holy Spirit God may be known by his wonderful works and effects without his special grace but can he be present in the soul of man and make it blessed by knowing his Divine will to please him without his special grace Praesens est in quantum praesentem facit beatitudinem if he make all his good to pass before us it must be by these means I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious Exod. xxxiii 19. Those creatures that seek no higher perfection nor greater good than a temporal being and that which is found within the compass of their own nature they may attein thereunto by the strength of nature without any other help but Men and Angels that seek an infinite and Divine good that is everlasting happiness which consisteth in the vision of God they cannot attain their wished end which is so much removed from them and so far above them unless they be lifted up unto it by a supernatural force of grace Eternal felicity is the Haven to which they sail and it is no ordinary wind but the stiff gale of the Holy Spirit that must bring them to the Port of endless glory that is they cannot ascend of themselves they may be lifted up to the Vision of God especially Man since his woful fall they are the words of the tenth Article of our Church can have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing him that he may have a good will and without the same grace working with him when he hath a good will Natural habilities and inclinations at the best reach no further than to dispose all things well for the honor and preservation of the natural being but when we are put to it and become content yea and rejoyce to lay down our life for Christs sake which is the abolition of the natural being this vigor and strength must come from a supernatural influence that is from the fire of the Spirit which is predominant above the breath of nature This hath given you satisfaction I suppose that it did more import the Church to receive the Spirit than any other benefit I draw forward to a more distinct inspection of it and the first scruple about which I find a difference is this Whether the very Person of the Holy Ghost be meant in this place or only certain impressions of his Gifts and Graces I will streighten my self to a short answer both the Person of the Holy Ghost was here and the virtue of the Holy Ghost that which sat upon the head of each of them in cloven tongues as it were was the infinite Majesty of the third Person of Trinity in that apt and visible similitude but that which filled them was not the very essence but the operation of the Spirit Implet non seipso formaliter sed dono quod producit say the Schoolmen he that filleth all things with his presence cannot be said formally to fill one thing more than another but he that blows where he listeth with his inspiration is said to fill those whom he sanctifies not with his essence but with that inspiration The Founder of School Divinity is noted for one error above the rest that he makes the Grace of God to be no effect of the Holy Spirit but the essence of the very Spirit to purifie the thoughts and mind He stuck too litterally to St. Austin and so wandred from the right way For thus that Father preaching upon my Text Christ was present with his faithful Servants this day not by his Visiting Grace but by his Personal Majesty atque in vasa non jam odor balsami sed ipsa suba sacri defluxit unguenti their vessels were not only perfumed with the odour of the sweet Ointment but that fragrant Balsam the very Unction it self did flow abundantly into them To this it is most proper to rejoyn that St. Austin meant it of the extraordinary Apparition of the Holy Ghost upon this day not of his ordinary inspiration For in the same Sermon he says that the immortal Spirit is vicarius successor redemptoris the Deputy to succeed our Saviour in the Church now he is gone away on high But how is he Christs Deputy not as if by his personal communication he wrought his gifts in us but thus quod Salvator inchoavit peculiari virtute Spiritus Sanctus consummat the faith which Christ did begin in his Apostles by teaching them daily the Holy Ghost did perfect by the special virtue of sanctification No Text doth more evidently convince that the infinite and increated essence of the Spirit is to be distinguisht from the finite and created qualities which he infuseth then those words Jo. vii 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters but this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those are all the words in the Text for the Holy Ghost was not yet we make it up for the Holy Ghost was not yet given But stand we to the words of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost was not yet This will never hold without differencing the third Person of Trinity from his sanctifying effects the Person was before and had no beginning but nondum erat manifesti muneris efficacitate says Theophylact as yet he was not revealed in his plentiful efficacity The close of the Point is thus the very Person of the Holy Ghost came down into the place where they were gathered in an external visible form and his effects or efficacy was breathed into them in wonderful gifts But concerning those gifts wherewith they were filled there 's another scruple whether they were saving graces such as are collated upon them that are the Elect of God or whether they were only miraculous assistances as Prophecies Gifts of Tongues Gifts of Healing and the like which are impressions indeed of the Holy Ghost not that they sanctifie him which hath them but they are given to men for the confirmation of the holy Faith That which brings this into doubt is a Tradition that hath no good founder that some Apostates and Revolters as Nicolas the Deacon from whom the Nicolaitans are derived were some of this Assembly that are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and it is not to be contradicted but that gratiae gratis datae habilities to work miracles may be in those that make shipwrack of a good conscience Yet that Exception though it may hold in others yet it is not to be applied to
England One Month in the long Vacation retiring with his Pupil afterwards Lord Byron into Nottingham-shire for fresh air there in absence from all Books and having no other more serious studies he made Loyola which needs no other Commendation than to remember that it was twice acted before King James and what an ingenious Pen says in a Prologue You must not here expect to day Leander Labyrinth or Loyola After his return to the Colledge from this Diversion he began to set himself wholly to the study of Divinity being egregiously skilled in the preparatory learning of Logick Physick Metaphysicks and Ethicks with which he had most largely informed his mind and adorned his soul and then as Diers having dipt their Silks in colours of less value do afterwards give them the last Tincture of Crimson in grain So our young Scholar having given his mind a large dip of Secular Arts and Sciences became more fit for Divine Speculations therefore though but a very young man his first Sermons at St. Maries and at the Vicarage of Trumpington which he held with his Fellowship were so singular and like himself that as the learned Bishop Creighton told me the eyes of the whole Vniversity were cast upon him as a Star that would be as bright as any in the Constellation beside He received his holy Orders by the hands of John King Bishop of London in December Anno 1618. This good Bishop had a singular affection and kindness for him which he expressed upon all occasions once by accident his Lordship passed through St. Pauls Cathedral where old Mr. Hacket was walking as the custom then was his Gentleman who attended him whispered to his Lordship that the goodly old man who was walking there was young Mr. Hackets Father of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge The Bishop thereupon beckoned him to come to him and gave him joy of his hopeful Son at Trinity Colledge and bid him when he wrote commend him likewise to him and let him know in due time he would be a means to bring them two together again So the matchless Andrews that great Rewarder of all learning and worth would oftentimes send him Commendations and Counsel and Money to buy Books sometimes ten Pieces at a time But above all others he was taken notice of by that Renowned Prelate John Williams Dean of Westminster and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Anno 1621. a Prelate of incomparable learning and knowledge not only in Divinity and the Tongues but in all Laws Civil Canon and Common who presently upon his receiving the Seal sent for Mr. Hacket of Trinity Colledge and admitted him to be his Chaplain whom of all his Chaplains he ever most loved and esteemed And on the other side our Bishop would to his last breath acknowledg the Bishop of Lincoln to be the most happy Instrument of Divine Providence that made him known to the world and to his death bore a most grateful memory to his great deserts and dignity notwithstanding all his eclipses and slanders cast upon him When Mr. Hacket was now a great Tutor and the very Darling of the Colledge generally beloved and so contented as like to have long there continued my Lord Keeper would have him to his Service saying withal As his Majesty King James had been blamed by many for making so young a Keeper so he expected to be Censured for chusing so young a Chaplain but his Lordship knew his abilities very well and would trust no body with the choice of his Servants but himself Two years he spent in the Keepers Service before his time was come to Commence Batchelor in Divinity but then begg'd leave to go down to Cambridge to keep the Publick Act Anno 1623. upon the two following questions Judicio Romanae Ecclesiae in Sanctis canonizandis non est standum Vota Monasticae perfectionis quae dicuntur sunt illicita The former question was given very seasonably for the year before Anno 1622. Pope Gregory XV. had Canonized Ignatius Loyola the Father of the Jesuits Franciscus Xavier the Indian Apostle Philip Nereus the General of the Jesuits and Madam Teresia a Spanish Virtuosa who had built twenty five Monasteries for men and seventeen for women He cast his Position into three parts 1. Because the holy Scripture saith The memory of the Just shall be blessed that all Canonization of Saints is not to be accounted superstitious but by Canonization he meant only a publick testimony of the Christian Church of any eximious Members sanctity and glory after death 2. That this testimony ought to be given by General or Provincial Councils at least of their own Members 3. By no means to be left to the breast of the Roman Pontiff and Colledge of Cardinals 1. Because they especially attended to false qualifications which they made undoubted signs of Saintship which were not such 2. Consequently had already Canonized unworthy persons not beatified in Heaven but rather damned in Hell 3. For perverse and impious ends which they ever thought to establish by their Canonization In all these respects the Pope of Rome who is their Virtual Church was apparently a most partial and unmeet Judg very apt to be imposed upon himself and likewise to impose upon others After his return to the Keepers service he preferr'd him to the Court to be Chaplain to King James before whom he preached several times to the great good liking of that most learned King and once upon the Gowries Conspiracy for which a Thanksgiving was continued all that Kings Reign upon August 5. and though some people have denied the Treason yet our good Bishop was assured that the most Religious Bishop Andrews once fell down upon his knees before King James and besought his Majesty to spare his customary pains upon that day that he might not mock God unless the thing were true the King replied Those people were much too blame who would never believe a Treason unless their Prince were actually murdered but did assure him in the Faith of a Christian and upon the Word of a King their Treasonable attempt against him was too true Anno 24. he was prefer'd by the Lord Keeper to be Parson of St. Andrews Holbourn About 12 at night the Keeper sent to speak with him when he came his Lordship told him he was not then watching for his own study but for his The Living of St. Andrews Holbourn was fallen and in the Kings disposal by reason of the minority of Thomas Earl of Southampton to which upon the mediation of the Bishop he was presented the next morning by King James The same year his Lordship procured for him the Parsonage of Cheam in Surrey fallen likewise into the Kings gift by the promotion of Dr. Senhouse to the Bishoprick of Carlisle the Keeper telling him that he intended him Holbourn for wealth and Cheam for health these two Livings being within a small distance of ten miles he held till the Troubles came and though he
had often heard from credible Witnesses it was too usual with the discontented at their Meetings to charge the Church of England with those consequences which they did terminis terminantibus deny as the making of indifferent Ceremonies to be Sacraments and in kneeling at Sacrament to worship the Bread and thereupon be so furious against that reverend posture as though Kneeling were Popery and Sitting Protestancy when the Pope himself ever Communicates sitting These things were only spoken to make our Church odious to ignorant people and being permitted must needs in time destroy our Foundations again and therefore he wished that as of old all Kings and other Christians subscribed to the Conciliary Decrees so now a Law might pass that all Justices of Peace should do so in England and then they would be more careful to punish the depravers of Church Orders In matter of Doctrine he embraced no private and singular opinions as many great men delight to do in vetere viâ novam semitam quaerentes says the Father but was in all points a perfect Protestant according to the Articles of the Church of England always accounting it a spice of pride and vanity to affect singularity in any opinions or Expositions of Scripture without great cause and withal very dangerous to affect precipices as Goats use when they may walk in plain paths In the Quinquarticular Controversie he was ever very moderate but being bred under Bishop Davenant and Dr. Ward in Cambridge was addicted to their Sentiments Bishop Vsher would say Davenant understood those Controversies better than ever any man did since St. Austin but He used to say he was sure he had three excellent men of his mind in this Controversie 1. Padre Paulo whose Letter is extant to Heinsius Anno 1604. 2. Thomas Aquinas 3. St. Austin but besides and above them all he believed in his conscience St. Paul was of the same mind likewise yet would profess withal he disliked no Arminian but such a one as reviled and defamed every one that was not so and would often commend Arminius himself for his excellent wit and parts but only tax his want of reading and knowledg in Antiquity and ever held it was the foolishest thing in the world to say the Arminians were Papists when so many Dominicans and Jansenists were no Arminians and so again to say the Anti-Arminians were Puritans or Presbyterians when Ward and Davenant and Prideaux and Brownrig were Anti-Arminians and also stout Champions for Episcopacy and Arminius himself was ever a Presbyterian and therefore much commended the moderation of our Church which made not any of these nice and doubtful Opinions the resolved Doctrin of the Church this he judg'd was the great fault of the Tridentine and late Westminster Assemblies But our Church was more ingenuous and left these dark and curious points to the several apprehensions of learned men and extended equal Communion to both There is another Controversie that hath been much vexed in our times concerning the case of Divorce and Marriage afterwards in which it is confessed our Bishop did dislike all those Churches or Polities that were facile to allow separation in Marriage and much more Marriage after yet allowed the question was intricate and such a one as the Pharisees sought to entangle our Saviour withal and that the Church of England had doctrinally determined neither way but for practice only judg'd it better that neither party should marry again after Divorce while the other liv'd and therefore in the Canons of Queen Elizabeth Anno 97 and in 107 Canon of King James Anno 1604. required Caution by sufficient Sureties to that purpose He condemned not other Churches that allowed it otherwise but prefer'd our own Caution before them and for this he wanted not many more reasons than were wrot in a hasty Letter to a Gentleman his Neighbour and published without leave after his death together with his own Answer but it is no credit to conquer the dead says the old Proverb While living He would urge for the indissolubleness of Wedlock the Authority of Divine Institution how God was pleased to make them Male and Female and first one and then two out of one and then again two to become one by a Divine Institution saying Whom God hath once joyned let no man put asunder 2. The Dignity of Marriage which represents the mystical Union that is betwixt Christ and his Church and His Union with our humane nature both which are indissoluble and perpetual 3. The excellency of that love that one ought to bear to the other in Marriage For this cause shall a man leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife therefore it is a stronger relation then between Father and Son but the Son while his Father lives can never cease to be a Son much more while the Wife lives can the Husband cease to be an Husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall cleave to his Wife signifying a glutinous conjunction that will sooner break any where than be parted there 4. The manner of the conjunction one flesh that is according to the Hebrew Idiom one Man which supposes the Woman to be the Body and the Man to be the Soul so that none can part these but He alone that can part Soul and Body 5. And therefore though he conceived Eve did Adam a far greater injury than when a loathed Strumpet does defile the Bed of Marriage yet God nor Adam thought of no rupture in the case but God only pronounced her future sorrow in Conception indeed Paludanus and Navar Roman Casuists maintain if one party be indangered to be drawn into mortal sin by the other it is sufficient occasion to separate and therefore probably would have cited Eve into their Courts and proceeded accordingly against her but from the beginning it was not so 6. In the New Testament he observ'd our Saviour's answer seem'd strange to his own Disciples insomuch that they replied If the case were so it were better not marry at all which shews how they understood him 7. To be sure St. Paul would not allow it in a Bishop but strictly required him to be the Husband of one Wife that is having repudiated one to take no other without exception of any case 8. He was sure he had in the New Testament six places of his side to one against him one only carrying an outward face for it Matth. 19.9 Whosoever shall put away his Wife except it be for fornication and marrieth another committeth adultery But Matth. 5. 32. Mark 10.11 Luke 16.18 all sound another way Whosoever putteth away his Wife and marrieth another committeth adultery Rom. 7.2 The Woman that hath an Husband is bound as long as her Husband lives 1 Cor. 7.10 Let not the Wife depart from her Husband and if she depart let her remain unmarried and again the 27. verse Art thou bound to a Wife seek not to be loosed he held it safer
went out of Babylon to repair Hierusalem arose in the night and went their way Nehem. 2.12 And thirdly the great Redeemer who should pluck us out of the mire and draw us out of the bondage of Sin his fame is spread abroad when the Shepherds kept watch over their Flocks by night Nay almost no work of extraordinary worth and efficacy toward and after the time of the Passion but it fell out when darkness was upon the face of the earth To let his Birth alone and to say no more than my Text doth Excubarunt noctu the poor men heard of it that lay abroad in the night His Agony in the Garden took hold on him by night when the world was in a dead sleep his own Disciples drowsie and could not watch with him one hour He suffered when the Sun was darkned and the Stars gave no light Finally He arose out of the Sepulchre before any body was stirring in the morning What is the meaning of this Even to shew that we were dumb and still passives in all the work of our Redemption we slept and thought not of help and succour when it was plentifully supplied for our salvation when no soul awoke to think of blessing in the dark night of Ignorance Christ was born We are supine in our sins like men stretcht upon their bed when he sweat drops of bloud We regarded not his Passion when he suffered we were careless when he arose for our justification But of the time let this suffice to be spoken That which made up the fourth and fifth parts of my Text is concerning the persons they were Shepherds and they were many Shepherds so many as made a Plural number And there were in the same Country Shepherds c. The heathen make much ado and relate it not without admiration by what mean and almost despised persons the deep knowledge of Philosophy was first found out and brought to light As Protagoras earning his living by bearing burdens of wood and Cleanthes no better than a Gibeonite fain to draw water for his liberty Chrysippus and Epictetus mere vassals to great men for their maintenance yet these had the honour to find out the riches of knowledge for the recompence of their Poverty but the day shall come that these Philosophers will wonder that they found out no more than they did and be astonished that silly Shepherds were first deputed to find out one thing more needful than all the World beside even Jesus Christ Tiberius propounded his mind to the Senate of Rome that Christ the great Prophet in Jury should be had in the same honour with the other Gods which they worshipt in the Capitol The motion did not please them says Eusebius and this was all the fault because he was a God not of their own but of Tiberius invention So lest great men and Rulers of the earth should disdain at a Saviour which was not of their own discovery but found out by servants that kept their flocks I will make it good by reason that the Angel pickt out very choice persons for the business the Shepherds of the Field It is truly and modestly observed by Tolet Causa cur pastores visitantur est Dei beneplacitum multae autem congruentiae Why shepherds were visited by the Angel rather than men of another trade or calling and in particular why these Shepherds rather than all besides of the same Vocation no cause can be assign'd but the meer will and favour of God but his pleasure having done the deed much may be said to approve it why it is fit and convenient To be a Shepherd is a life of great servitude and poverty as Job says they spend their time desolate and solitary in the Wilderness and for vile company they are set with the dogs of the flocks and these were fit to be the first partakers of the Gospel because it is powerful in Spirit but base and contemptible according to the Flesh A sapientibus non quaerit testimonium qui parvulis se revelat he baulks the Pharises and Princes of the people and seeks the testimony of Shepherds because he reveals himself unto those that are lowly in their own eyes and poor in Spirit none more unlikely than they to do a message for Almighty God When Samuel came to Ishai and askt for his Sons that he might pick out the man whom the Lord had chosen Ishai presented the most likely as he thought indeed all but one There is one more says he in the field that keepeth sheep O says Samuel let that David be sent for from following the Ews great with young Surely thinks the Prophet because he hath been despised and neglected he is the man whom God hath in store to govern Israel Weak and impotent means are the fittest for the Lords choice that men of action and authority may not attribute that unto themselves which is only the doing of the Lord. Praevalet imperitia in rusticitate Pastorum says S. Austin When such ignaroes as these were sent abroad to tell in the City what they had heard and seen the world could not say they were enticed by Eloquence the enemies of the Faith could not say that crafty Philosophy got ground upon the simple but as the Devil chose a Serpent a wise creature above all the Beasts of the field and all that are in the water to destroy the world by subtlety so Christ chose Shepherds out of the Field and Fishermen out of the Water as the chief means to repair the world by innocency and simplicity 1 Cor. 1.26 Brethren says St. Paul you see your calling for so Erasmus will read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense because the thing was open to all mens knowledge and perspicuous but what did they see so plainly not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but foolish things were chosen to confound the wise c. Two things are to be drawn from hence first that we distort not the Scripture as if it pronounced nothing but confusion to the rulers of the earth let not the honourable person hang down his head as if power and wisdom and noble blood and dignity were causes of rejection before God no beloved Isaiah foretold that Kings should be nursing Fathers and Queens should be nursing Mothers of the Church but it is often seen that the benignity of nature and the liberality of fortune are made impediments to a better life and therefore Nobles and Princes are more frequently threatned with judgment I adjoyn moreover that the Scriptures speak more flatly against illustrious Magistrates than the common sort for if God had left it to men whose tongues are prostituted to flattery they had scarce been told that their abominable sins would bring damnation 2. The comfort of the poor is never to be forgotten in this point the servile life of a poor Shepherd is as fortunate as great exaltation when it
bad to pry as far as to the highest and most secret Ark of glory above Secondly Sometimes the heavens are said to be opened Non reseratione elementorum sed spiritualibus oculis says St. Hierom not by a real apparition in the heavens but the intellectual fancy travels in child-birth with a divine passion and it seems to be opened to our soul when it is wrapt as it were with an extasie sent from God So Ezekiel being ravisht from himself in the Spirit saw the heavens opened and the visions of God In like manner Paul was wrapt up into the third heavens and saw unutterable strange things but he could not resolve himself whether he were in the body when he saw them This is intellectual Vision which cannot agree with my Text for the rarity of the wonder is that divine things became obvious to men in a visible manifestation the Son of God in the flesh the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove the voice of the Father brought sensibly to the ear Then surely this apparition of the heaven opened came not secretly to the understanding but openly to the eye of man They that go the third way bind themselves to the plain Letter of the Scripture that some part of the heaven was drawn open like a Curtain that a prospect of glory might be seen to enamour the soul of all Spectators Others reject it and say that it were superfluous to make a rupture in the heaven if not impossible Thou hast molted the heavens and founded them like brass Job xxxvii Suppose that true in the Literal sense it follows that it is therefore inviolable to be broken asunder by any natural cause howsoever God can crack their solidity and rent them asunder Yet hear with what subtilty it is pleaded that this were superfluous for Heaven is a Diaphanous body you may see through it we behold the Sun and fixed Stars so many thousand thousand cubits distant from us above the Spheres why then should the junctures of the Orbs be opened to shew an Object when they are more transparent than the air But admit the heaven is opened what shall fill the Hiatus or vacuity All the Element of fire and air would not suffice to replenish a breach from the concave of the Moon to the highest Orb. You must not say the space is left void Vacuum was never heard of in nature besides unless the space of the rupture were filled up no species could be conveyed unto the eye to make an Object visible For when some Philosophers delivered that if it were not for the interposition of the Element of Air a Fly might be seen as far as heaven Aristotle shews their error that if it were not for the medium of the air no man could see a Milstone at the distance of an inch These reasons according to nature are undeniable that the heavens need not be really opened to discover any thing above but if God would have it so to make it a complete evident sign that by our Saviours mediation the heavens shall open and receive our bodies hereafter into glory then is it frivolous in man to dispute that it must be superfluous Fourthly Lira when he had studied upon it how the heaven was opened says it was no more but that the Air was disparted by a great glance of lightning The Heathen indeed called that the opening of the heaven Ruptoque polo micat igneus aether It was a lightning from heaven that cast Saul upon his face unto the ground Acts ix 3. And among other terrors of Gods Majesty David rehearseth this Psal xviii 13. The Lord thundred from heaven his lightnings gave shine unto the world the earth saw it and was afraid By the rule of these instances this opinion should be discarded because this opening of the heaven was sweet and amiable to the beholders no ways terrible yet since it is obvious in heathen Writings especially among their Poets to allow some flashes of bright lightning for fortunate and auspicious therefore I do not disprove nor yet greedily embrace this conjecture Fifthly The Air is so often taken for the lowest heaven as nothing more usual he rained Manna upon them and gave them food from heaven Psal lxxviii 25. And when the Deluge did drown the world it is said when the Air poured forth rain that the windows of heaven were opened Gen. vii 11. Wherefore a mutation in the Air above might be a representment in this place that the heavens were opened as thus a fair and delightful passage might seem to be spread abroad by the condensation or thickning together of the upper part of the Air making it a shining body and by the rarefaction of the lower part of the Air through which the object might be conveyed with much grace and beauty to the beholders Now out of these three last conjectures how the heavens were opened choose ye which ye will The first is literal but full of difficulty the second not improbable the last without exception and above all the rest most usual Being past the first consideration what is meant by the opening of the heavens which I acknowledge is not clear from all uncertainty the next Point I am sure is most certain what did procure such a Miracle that the glory from heaven did appear to men upon earth for it is evidently certified Luk. iii. 21. Jesus being baptized and praying the heaven was opened Elias shut up the heaven by the word of the Lord and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain unto the earth If the supplication of the Servant was in such force with the Master then how forcible must the Prayer of the Son be of the well beloved Son before his Father He shall not only bring down the rain upon us like Elias but the waters above the heavens to fall down upon our heads all the searching graces of the Holy Ghost But from each of those examples you may see what part of Religion that is which is clavis coeli the Key to open the gate of heaven it is Prayer For how should God open the heaven to you if you will not open your lips to God I return to the pattern of Elias whose words were commendatory to close or unclose the skie according as he made intercession to God Well did Elisha entitle him the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof Quia magis juvabat Israelem oratione zelo quà m magna curruum equitum multitudo Out of the Chaldee Paraphrase for his Prayer and Zeal did stand Israel in better stead than a multitude of horsemen and Chariots Observe with me two things most remarkable in his Prayer and then think if he were not a man like to prevail in his intercessions 1. He cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees as if by that strange humble miserable gesture he would compel God to hear him 2. He rose from his Prayers
unnecessary daring Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God then Cast thy self down from a Pinacle of the Temple is unauthorized albeit the Promise goes He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee c. To dispatch this out of hand the misconstruing the Word of God is the beginning of all strife the true Allegation of it is the end of a Controversie Therefore upon the surging of Heresies the holy Fathers were wont to convene in Councils or great Assemblies Positis in medio sacris Scripturis the holy Scriptures ever lying in the midst they were the Center of all their opinions and by them they built up the Church in unity which was divided before By them the Faithful stopped the mouths of Lions that they could rore no more And as Socrates says when Babylas the Martyrs bones were buried near to the Oracle of Apollo the Oracle spake no more so the clamours of all Satanical men are husht by the sound of the two silver Trumpets By one blast of the Trumpet Satan was outed from his first tentation and by another blast in these words from a second tentation Rursus scriptum est Again it is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God I pass from these few gleanings in the first part of the Text to the full sheaves in the second A Medicine works upon a Disease to expel it partly by similitude partly by contraries So our Saviour provided an Antidote against the Devils pernicious counsel partly by similitude giving him like for like Again it is written partly by contraries resisting presumption with modesty with fear and reverence Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God This Precept is so full of cases and instances that it is like a thick over grown Wood and the ambiguities so many that I can light upon no man that hath made a clear path to go through and the reason is that there are such multiplicious significations in this phrase to tempt God that you cannot describe it in one Proposition The great Schoolman was fain to shuffle it up thus Tentare Deum est explorare an Deus sciat velit aut possit id quod ei proponitur To tempt God is to enquire unnecessarily what God hath folded up in his Knowledge or laid up to do in his secret Will or comprehended in his mighty Power You perceive plainly this is not to draw one straight Rule but to spread an ambiguous thing into many branches I am purposed therefore to impart my apprehensions upon the point unto you on this wise First how many ways God may be tempted without offence Secondly how many ways it is sin to tempt him Thirdly wherein the trespass doth consist to tempt the Lord. From hence the ordinary hearer shall learn some instances for his share and the intelligent Auditor may apply all cases which I must omit for brevity to these general Rules The first Doctrine to be pass'd over is how many ways the Lord may be tempted without offence One and the prime instance is when we cannot help our selves by any natural means where all the possibilities which humane Providence can imagine have failed us therein to cast our burden upon the Lord and to look for some extraordinary deliverance from his protection is a tentation of Faith and not of Presumption This Psalm xci from whence Satan drew his Text to inveigle our Saviour He shall give his Angels charge c. I say this Psalm goes very far to strengthen my observation for if you mark it those perils from which the most High hath promised to deliver us are not such things which we may avoid Proprio Marte by our own Arm but they are things quite out of our own defence as the snare of the Hunter the Pestilence the flying Arrow What good can we do our selves against such invisible mischiefs If we had means to help our selves thank God for that supply but his Omnipotency is for that time discharged But the Promise of the Psalm doth extend to them who fly to extraordinary Providence when ordinary industry will not serve the turn Luther says very well therefore that the Contents of that xci Psalm are not for every mans humour now adays he means it is not for those who will expect what the Lord is able to do for them in some strange way when necessity doth not thrust them upon it to have such expectation The usual similitude of the School is this he that gallops an horse only to mark how swift he is of pace Tentat equi virtutem he doth it to find out the metal of the horse but he that puts him to his speed upon a journey doth it not to find out the worth of the horse but to rid the way for his business So one man leaves the event of his affairs totally to Gods especial succour that he may try his goodness or his omnipotency another man flies to the same goodness and omnipotency because necessity hath inclosed him about the former tentation cannot be approved the latter cannot be condemned I will fit the Point with an example to make it easier Every sickness is not unto death and therefore the Lord hath appointed Drugs for the maladies of the body Altissimus creavit medicinam says the Son of Syrach The most High hath created Medicines and a wise man will not despise them therefore they chose an ill matter to commend who praised St. Agatha that she would never take any remedy for the infirmities of her body Habeo Dominum Iesum qui solo sermone restaurat universa this was rash adventuring Far otherwise that woman in the Gospel diseased with an Issue of bloud twelve years and had spent all her means upon Physicians when no receipt of mans skill would do her good she put her faith in a Miracle and came near to touch Christ to explore if she should be cured by laying her finger upon the fringe of his Garment and so it came to pass First the course of Nature had failed and then the Lord blessed her for relying upon a supernatural Medicine When we have nothing and see nothing like to fall unto us we may resolutely say with Abraham God will provide and as Jehosaphat said There is no strength in us to stand against this great multitude now we know not what to do our eyes are toward thee 2 Chron. xx 12. This is the declaration of the first instance that it is no unlawful tempting of God when it is not wantonness or curiosity but the last and most extreme necessity that puts us upon it The next instance is thus framed such as had commandment or Prophetical instinct from God to ask a sign from heaven or to look for some wonderful effect these did not offend by unlawful tentation The Disciples when they were sent abroad two by two to preach in several Cities had a Rule given them by Christ To take no provision with them for their journey they did so
wrong opinions that offend against it For whatsoever things they are to which men do offer religious worship and service beside the Lord let them distinguish that they do it improperly with a less religious worship with reference to Almighty God let them slick it over with what gloss of wit they please I am on the Lords side and in his behalf I plead that they run into some kind of Idolatry But first plainly and affirmatively without rubbing against the adversary's errors that God only is to be worshipped and served In the first place I must not conceal from you this word upon which we stand so much and good reason for it but this word Only is not to be found in that verse which is quoted by our Saviour Deut. vi 13. the margent of your own Bible and indeed all Expositors ancient and modern hold that to be the very Scripture which Christ doth here apply and thus you find thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his name I but 't is not written there thou shalt serve him only Hath He added to the word put case He should add to the word as in this instance He did not but put case He should it were free for him but for none else to do it He may do what He will with his own After Moses had finished the Law and the Lord had said thereupon cursed is he that addeth unto it yet the book of the Psalms and the Prophets were put to it and after all these the Gospel and the whole New Testament was added yet none of those were the patches of mans wit but the increase and supply which God himself gave to his own eternal Oracles Yet I give not this answer as if Christ had thrust one syllable into the Law to give it more sense and authority than it had before He came to fulfil the Law but not to overfil it For first Christ said nothing but that which is written if not here yet in another Prophet and one spirit is in all the Prophets consult with Samuel 1 lib. chap. 2. v. 3. Prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only that 's down right as my Text hath it I need not give it a grain to make up weight Then there 's for Satan he cannot say but he was refuted with very Scripture Secondly let us keep unto those words of Deuteron for surely those were intended and the word only is there in effect the next verse makes it good that it could not be excepted Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him Well but will God admit any partner otherwise we must serve him alone just so for it follows ye shall not go after other Gods of the Gods of the people that are round about served him and no other God whatsoever Why then it is a clear aequipollencie in Logick thou shalt serve him only The Devil is most perverse and litigious yet he never denied it Thirdly be satisfied yet further that the 72 Translators so called having the right understanding of the Text that God commandeth all glory and worship and divine service to himself without comperes or sharers they render the Hebrew in those Greek words which our Saviour quoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him only shalt thou serve Now all do yield that the five books of Moses were translated by those 72 Jews of great learning whom Eleazar the High-Priest sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus for that purpse So much both Philo and Josephus acknowledge though they speak of no more Occasion is taken from hence by some to cry up that Greek Translation of the Old Testament because our Saviour alledgeth these words as those Septuagint have made them up and not as they are in the pure original Hebrew I will not stand upon this Theme any long time but say much in brief First that St. Paul layes a firm ground how the Jews had the Oracles of God committed to them it was one of their National Privileges therefore their tongue is the matrix and fountain from whence we are to expound what the Holy Ghost hath delivered in the Old Testament I deny not but the Jews themselves might use the Copies of the Greek Language for there were many of them and some conjecture that where we read of certain Hellenistae Greeks that came to our Saviour in the Gospel they were those Jews that rather used the Greek Translation than the Hebrew perhaps being more easie to their capacities for their common speech in those daies was Syrian and Hebrew was taught in Sholes as we teach Latin therefore some suppose there was a Faction of Hellenists among them they and the Scribes who damned all Scripture which was not in their own Hebrew tongue being upon all occasions at hot variance So you find there was a murmuring of the Graecians against the Hebrews Acts vi 1. To return to my conclusion some Jews did not abhor to read their own Law in the Greek tongue yet these were but a Faction for when St. Paul saies the Oracles of God were committed to them and by way of high privilege he must mean it of that idiom which their Fathers spake wherein it was first wrote and whereof their learned men for the present were the Doctors Secondly though the Hebrew was and is the authentique language for that part of Scripture yet there was a most venerable Translation of it into Greek which our Saviour the Evangelists and Apostles used it kept the sense yea the words of the Hebrew for the most part so exactly that our Saviour who taught the Law according to it did say one jot or title of the Law should not perish St. Hierom says if that Translation had been purely extant he would have spared his own pains and not have undergone so laborious a task to turn the whole Old Testament out of Hebrew into Latin Thirdly that pure Greek Translation was used by our Saviour though not in Greek words but in Syriac not as preferring it or matching it with the original authentique Hebrew but partly because it was most frequent and most known for they all spake the Greek tongue in all the hither parts of Asia after Alexander the great had exalted the Graecian Monarchy partly to import that a door of faith was now opened to the Gentiles and that they should reap those heavenly things since the Jews thought themselves unworthy of them Fourthly this Greek Translation which at this day goes under the name of the 72 is of far less value and authority than that which was so honour'd with our Saviours mouth for I will believe St. Hierom in this case being a most exact Linguist rather than those Fathers that took languages upon trust but thus He. Germana illa antiqua translatio corrupta est violata ac pro varietate regionum diversa feruntur exempla That old genuine Translation was corrupted and violated and several Copies of it
it from the Persians remember how powerful and wonderfully God made the Philistins restore the Ark again but far from any purpose to have it religiously worshipped The material Figure of the Cross was never in common use till Constantine's days then it was reared up as the Trophy of Christ who had subdued all things to himself Indeed the transient Sign of the Cross stricking their hand or finger thwart through the air was in great use in very ancient times that you know being a transient whiffing of the hand could not be adored but they used it to keep safeguard over every member of their body and to drive away Devils They had some cause I suppose to make an operative sign of it in those days when God was present with them by miracles Our reason and experience tells us that now they are ceased so that we step not after them in that imitation And being but an adiaphorus Ceremony they are too blame that affect it in our Church further then where it is commanded in Baptism for I do ever guide my self in this case by that rule which St. Austin saies St. Ambrose taught him use such Ceremonies and no other as that particular Church hath appointed wherein you are there are no banks to keep us in order if that be contradicted This may suffice to be spoken against them that deceive themselves in voluntary humility and worship toward the Cross of Christ to maintain which superstition the Pontificians contend sharply with words to uphold the next Idolatrous Tenet they have fought against us cruelly with fire and sword 't is their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their adoring the Bread or Wafer-cake consecrated but they say transubstantiated in the Lords Supper This opinion is their Basilisk that hath murdered so many holy Martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that set their hearts against it To make their Divinity seem devout and plausible it walks upon two crutches First it claims right from the new Philosophy of Transubstantiation saying that Christ in his whole manhood is carnally and corporeally there under the species of the Elements Secondly that the Lords Supper is not only a Sacrament wherein Christ gave himself in bread and wine to his Disciples but also a Sacrifice offering himself under those Elements or their species to his Father at that time upon which far-rooted error the Priest doth offer Christ every day to God in the Mass and having it in his belief that it is an Expiatory Sacrifice both for quick and dead all that are present fall down at the Elevation and worship the Hostia But if there be neither Transubstantiation nor any such external Expiatory Sacrifice in the Lords Supper their practice without more question is confessed Idolatry I will not take a large swing to dispute upon such copious matters but briefly by what conjecture or divination can the wit of man make a Sacrifice of it Did Christ do any more than give thanks and bless the Elements and then brake and gave to his Disciples to eat and bad them do the like for ever in remembrance of him upon which of these clauses can a Sacrifice be grounded St. Paul says it is appointed unto men once to die so that is by death Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Attend saies the Adversary He offered himself but once the Priest may offer him oftner nay but if he offered himself to his Father in his last Supper and again at his death upon the Cross He must offer himself twice and that 's repugnant to Scripture But we are told the Paschal Lamb was both Sacrament and Sacrifice it is not denied yet thus it is truly resolv'd As the Paschal Lamb was ordeined to be eaten in remembrance of Deliverance and Redemption so it answers to the Lords Supper but as the Beast was a bloody Sacrifice slain to God so it answers to Christ on the Cross the Scripture confirms it for when Christ was dead before the Souldiers came to break his legs the Type of the Paschal Lamb is called to mind not a bone of him shall be broken But were it a Sacrifice as it is but the Commemoration of a Sacrifice yet it proves not adoration it hangs all upon the slender thread of Transubstantiation which will quickly break as when a spark of fire lights upon a thread of Flax. For St. Paul calls it bread five times in one Chapter after Consecratian This doth not evince us say the Romanists for there are examples to match this that many things converted into new substances carry their former names Aarons rod which became a serpent is yet called a rod. Adam saith of Eve she was bone of his bone The Governor is said to taste of the water which was made wine so St. Paul calls the Host bread because it had been bread yet after consecration it is not Well I say these instances are not matches First Eve was made out of the bone the serpent of the substance of the rod the wine of the substance of water and therefore propter materiam ex quâ they are called Synechdochically what they had been but is Christs body made of the bread productivè so they were wont to speak indeed then it is not that Christ who was made of the substance of the blessed Virgin for their Christ is made out of bread No now they philosophize that it is adductivè all the substance of bread is annihilated and Christ's body fills that place which it had Secondly in the rod in that bone in the water when the substances were changed new accidents resulted from the new form but here are the accidents of bread and wine palpable to all the senses Surely if God by his omnipotency would cause the colour and taste and scent and moisture and thickness of bread and wine to be there without their substances He would have given that gift to the faithful receivers that they should have tasted none of those creatures to contradict his mighty work which were a far less miracle than the other And how can they so abstract but they shall terminate religious worship to the external species of bread if they look upon it and thereby remember Christs Passion and fall down to glorifie him for his benefits so will we but they profess Christs body to be in the Priests hand and there they worship him then the accidents of the Elements which remain are part of the Object which they adore a man may idolize meer colours I am sure where there is no substance as a Rainbow which is nothing but shadows of colours by reflexion may be idolized The word which we hear preacht is to be reverently received yet not adored now the Sacrament is but verbum visibile the Gospel of faith as well made visible to the eye as audible to the ear and God forbid but we should receive it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul saies worthily with due expression of outward
fell down to Images in Churches whereupon he took them down and brake them to pieces about the year 600 He writes to Gregory the first to know how he liked it Gregory answers you do very well to teach your people not to worship those Images but you might have let them remain for Ornament Thus Pope Gregory the first but before 160 years after Pope Gregory the third maintain'd tooth and nail against the Eastern Bishops they were to be worshipped What 's answered to all these authorites why the Fathers condemned the using Images after an unlawful manner they might even distinguish as well of lawful lying and lawful treason and adultery as to tell us a tale of lawful idolatry No Scripture no Tradition no Antiquity stands for them and verily no Reason for why is not every man adored for being the true Image of God as well as a Statue hear a subtilty man is capable of some civil reverence in himself if he were worshipped it would fall out the worship would be terminated unto him for himself but a portable God of mettal or stone deserves no honour for it self therefore it cannot likely be mistaken how all the veneration done to it is done for Gods sake what will they say then to such Images and Crucifixes as have moved their head and eyes miraculously such as have sweat like men spoke like men such things are often done by tricks and jugling is not that a scandal to the ignorant to make them bend the whole act of worship to the very Image as the Gentiles were often deluded by the Devil when he made his Idols and Oracles speak Thus they lay baits to destroy the soul of their weak brother to advance their own inventions And for the credit of all Miracles wrought before Image-worshipping let Biel speak sometimes such things are effected by the working of Satan to delude superstitious Devotaries Deo permittente exigentâ— talium infidelitate God permits it for their destruction and their own infidelity deserves it I am almost concluding mark what honour God hath peculiarly call'd for to himself and that 's to worship a thing religiously to impart it unto it He bad his Church of Israel kneel toward the Ark of his glory and worship him The people did not see the Ark for it was within the Veil but they were bidden to worship the Lord before his Footstool or before the Ark. Now to translate this manner of adoration to their own Will-worship to worship God before Images as He willed that himself in the Old Law should be worshipped looking towards the Ark is all one as if they had sacrificed to their Images which is confest idolatry But I pray you what satisfaction shall be made to my Text it satisfied the Devil and put him to silence Thou shalt worship c. Thus they shuffle with it when Christ says exclusively God only is to be worshipped all persons are excluded that claim latria but not appertinences or concomitances such as Images that are adored for the example sake Belike by this answer it must be so his Devilship must not be served or cringed but if he can turn himself into the shape of an Image of Christ or one of the Saints he might have his asking You see into how many shapes he turned himself in these Tentations he can change himself into an Angel of light and why not as easily into as fine an Image as ever Nebuchadonoser's was Thus their own wit may bring them to do the fowlest act in the world to fall down and worship the Devil How much better are our souls and our Religion in safety when we ascribe all praise glory service and worship to him only that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for evermore AMEN THE TWENTY FIRST SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 11. Then the Devil leaveth him and behold Angels came and ministred unto him THat Conquerour that had given his Enemy a great overthrow was wont to set up a signal of his Conquest in the same place for every Passenger to look upon and it bore the name of a Trophee Therefore I will call this Text the Trophee of our Saviours Victory which he got of the Devil A Trophee advanced by the Holy Ghost to let us see the Adversary whom we chiefly fear is vanquishable and may be put to flight Never was such an Enemy subdued never were the weapons of holy Scripture used so skilfully before never did such fruit and benefit redound to the whole world from any victory and yet with what little ostentation is this great enterprize concluded Then the Devil leaveth him and behold Angels came and ministred unto him This is the way of God to do famous acts and not to noise it to men with all circumstances of exaggeration as we do now adays They are praised in these times that are Animalia gloriae that desire to do things worthy of renown that they may be praised And better let them spunge up fame than things famous should be omitted Yet there is a more Christian way than this For that divine learning which we gather from the Gospel leaves such impressions of modesty upon all worthy actions of Christ or of the Saints that their good works are never set out with the trappings of eloquence to adorn them barely related to be imitated and never garnish'd to be applauded This Text and every story which the Evangelists have recorded touching the miracles of Christ shall justifie this saying of his Joh. viii 50. I seek not mine own glory as Ennius said of Scipio Affricanus quantam columnam faciet populus Romanus quae res tuas loquatur What a great Pillar must the people of Rome make if all thy noble exploits were engraven upon it So I may say What a great Volume must the Holy Ghost have written if every Miracle of our Saviours had been amplified with a due compensation of glory That labour as I said is spared to teach us to be prodigal in doing good and thrifty in seeking praise Let a man do things laudable for vertue 's sake and no other respect and honour will follow him when his carkass is rotting as hair and nails and excrementitious parts of the body will grow when that body is dead and consuming So this Trophee of the great victory against Satan so I call'd my Text is as plain and modest terms as could be endited But as I doubt not but the Angels glorified our Saviour for it then so we will speak of the might of those marvellous acts now as the four and twenty Elders do Rev. xi 17. We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee great power and hast reigned and let us add because thou hast subdued our grievous enemy in all his tentations And according to that great humility and modesty which I said was very notable in this report of our
to place safe enough in their own Country Once indeed they were scared with a great tempest upon the Lake of Genezaret which might have faln out upon any other occasion and then they cry out desperately Lord save us we perish But upon their haughty demand Christ askt them Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of It was a cup of wormwood and tribulation such as Moses and Elias drank of to the very lees and those are they that appear with him in glory those are they that sit in his Kingdom the one at his right hand the other at his left Their countenances have been sad now they smile for ever they have worn sackcloath and ashes and mingled their drink with weeping now they appear bedeck'd with Majesty For if none might enter into King Ahasuerus Gate cloathed with sackcloath Esth iv 2. Then much more all that are deigned the presence of the King of heaven shall shine triumphantly in glory Thirdly The objects of Moses and Elias standing conspicuously before the face of these three men would instill into them the imitation of their holy life and impectorate to them those good examples whereby they themselves should become mirrours and examples to after Ages Their Justice their Prayers their Temperance their Constancy to true Religion their hatred of Idolatry all these were texted in their face all their noble acts were remembred by seeing them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Chrysostome The history of the Saints warms out hearts within us to read it Historiae sacrae inspectio est quasi compendium resurrectionis ante oculos habere says one To entertain our time in reading the Sacred History is to cast our eyes upon a model of the Resurrection But to be brought in place where there was an ocular Apparition of Moses and Elias was to gain both a model of their Resurrection and a Chronicle of their History It is a good thing to call the dead into consultation with the living where God promiseth to send the former and the latter rain to the earth many apply it mystically to this purpose The Examples of the Patriarchs and Prophets well digested into our use are the first showers of rain or the dew of the morning The Examples of Christ and his Apostles and such as have shined like burning lights since their days are the latter rain or the dew of the Evening but these drop down one after another and fill the Church with spiritual encrease No observation more appertinent than this which I find attributed to St. Hierom. Moses was first inspired to write the Book of Genesis which contains the acts of the old World before he published Exodus which contains the Law A fair method which came from heaven First instructed to write the History of Antiquity before he Penn'd a Pandect of Laws for the use of Posterity lest he should rashly proceed to teach the Children before he had wisely learnt the Examples of the Fathers I will set my rest upon this Text of Scripture that there is not a pithier Precept in all the Sacred Volume Deut. xxxii 7. Remember the days of old consider the years of many generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee It is a very satisfying thing when a truth comes to us by a good descent as the Poet bragg'd of his stories Quae Phoebo pater omnipotens mihi Phoebus Apollo God did inspire Moses and Elias to know what sufferings his Son should undergo at Jerusalem they preach'd it before the Disciples the Disciples to their Scholars they to the next and so from Generation to Generation it is an Heir-loom to the latest Posterity Alta mysteria per majores ad alios debent devenire Let great mysteries be devolved from the mouths of famous forerunners such as Moses and Elias The Devil himself was ashamed of upstarts when they came to be broachers of their own fancies Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye Sometime it is as hard to know who were the broachers of new Doctrine as to understand the Doctrine it self As Tiberius scoft at a conceited Roman proud enough but of no good Parentage Curtius Rufus videtur mihi ex se natus Curtius Rufus did beget himself he had no Progenitors So ignominious it is to press any thing for current which is a brat of yesterdays invention and doth not bear a pass from the example of our fore-fathers Beware of novel Doctrines and observe it when you will if they do not beget new Vices as a Mill-stone new-peck'd fills the meal it grinds with more gravel than one that is smooth with use Therefore gather such Manna as fell very early in the Morning Enquire for the old I mean for the oldest way but habete salem be sure it be salted with Apostolical Doctrine and then it will not be tainted with corruption That we might not only fetch our Examples so far as the Apostles but a reach beyond them likewise here were two old Sires of great authority and veneration that came to Mount Thabor Moses and Elias Fourthly I had occasion the last day to make a difference between these two Saints thus far that the body of the one was always living the body of the other that is of Moses came from the dead which is an improvement to the truth of that Article of our Creed that Christ shall bring all to judgment both the quick and dead before him The dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds How many applications may be deduced from thence likewise that the dead and the living came to teach that Christ should die upon the Cross and live again unto the glory of the Father Or thus to teach us Mortification and Vivification that we should die unto sin and live unto God But referring your memories back to that which is past I stay my self upon this Notion that Moses and Elias come from the other world unto this to let us see and that it is undeniably true that there is a life remaining after this is ended and of a much happier condition a life of glory It is the complaint of them who dispute stifly for their own infidelity Nullus de mortuis resurgit None come from the dead to teach us that are living but since we mean the Apparitions of them that should come from the other world they should say none come from the living to us who in comparison to them may be called the dead But to answer to the meaning of the objection words may be reformed with ease Have none been sent with tidings to us from the habitation of the other world Yes twice apparently to go no farther At the first bout Moses and Elias from Mount Thabor at the second bout a witness without all exception our blessed Saviour who rose the the third day from
inward man must exceed all natural similitudes lavabis me dealbabor supra nivem thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow We come into the world odious and defiled therefore we wash in the Sacrament of Baptism that we may be cleansed yet again we grow obscene and wallow in the mire of this world therefore we do often crave the bloud of Christ in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to cleanse and purifie our conscience and after all this he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled he that useth this world shall be contaminated therefore repentance which sometimes I hope brings tears with it must stand us often in stead to purge out the spots of uncleanness and this is our pureness before God that we sorrow for our impurity But remember I beseech you to keep your vessel chaste and undefiled for as this Angel appeared white as snow when Christ rose from the dead so let us go to our Graves as white as Doves in innocency and simplicity of heart that 's the colour of hope and purity belongs to all those that have hope of a glorious resurrection Secondly this snowy resplendent Vesture in the Angel is the Ensign of great joy for joy had never so good reason to break out heartily and redundantly as that Christ was risen from the dead The Sun and Moon in the Firmament do set every day and rise again no great joy to see those bright Lamps again because we certainly expect them but all that retein'd upon Christ thought when he was crucified such was their little faith that he was lost for ever and therefore when he came unto them and shewed them his feet and hands they believed not for joy and wondred Luke xxiv 41. and afterward being throughly perswaded of it they returned to Jerusalem with great joy v. 52. O Lord who is able to express what triumphs there were in Heaven when the Souls of the Saints perceived that Death was overcome that Hell had lost the victory and that they should be cloathed with their bodies for ever on Good Friday the Heaven and the Earth mourned the Eclipse put all in black on Easter day the colour is changed Heaven and Angels are all in white From this great Festival to the end of the next Lords day they that were baptized went all in white for the ancient Church took a delight to be ceremonious in these things and therefore the next day called Low Sunday by us the Low Sunday in respect of this the highest day in all the year with them was known by this name Dominica in albis the Sunday for wearing of white Garments and this colour was so constantly observ'd for the figurative signification of exceeding joy When Israel came out of Egypt and the House of Jacob from a strange language the Mountains skipped like Rams and the little Hills like young Sheep Psal cxiv And why is that one of the proper Psalms appointed to be read on this day because if the joy could not be expressed but by such strange Hyperboles when the People of God came out of the Bondage of Egypt then what unutterable gladness it is that the Son of God broke the bondage of death asunder and by his own victory brought us all out of the captivity of the Grave for ever It was a Proverb in their Heathen Entertainments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a sign of good welcom when the Porter which lets you in is chearful the Cherubins are the Porters of Paradise in former times holding an Instrument of minacy in their hands to keep us back now they appear gladsom and will conduct us with joy to Christ I told you before that in all the other Evangelists the pious women that came with spices to the Sepulcher to embalm Christs Body did not see the afrightful rutilancy in the Angels face but only this fair gladsome Robe he lookt like a Priest to preach Christs Resurrection pur âque in veste Sacerdos a good decorum in the Heathen Poets verse although some are so foolish now-a-days that they had as live see lightning as a white Garment upon his back that supplies the place of the Angel But the Angel himself were not able to satisfie all such quarrelsom consciences therefore I let it pass The use of his coming was to stir us up to joy to rejoyce in God In the world we shall have tribulation but this is a blessing of which neither fire nor water nor any tyranny can prevent us we shall have a joyful resurrection And as the Jews had the Law written in the Fringe of their Garments so we may read this observation likewise in the long Robe of the Angel which was white as snow that it was idaea gloriae the Idaea of that triumphant glory which shall be in the bodies of the Elect when they are raised up in immortality Indeed if no such reason should be assigned it would be hard to answer this objection Quid facit indumentum ubi tegendi necessitas non habitat What should a Garment do where there is no need of covering neither heat nor cold Summer nor Winter Whether they that rise from the dead shall be naked in their bodies is a captious question to be propounded Nakedness had no shame in it I am sure in the days of innocency before Adam fell and then indubitably it will have less cause to blush in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the opinion of the Greek Fathers and therefore the white Robe of this Celestial Messenger was rather figurative of the brightness of our glory than a description of our Vestiments And the Scripture is constant to that phrase to make us constant in our expectation Those few names in Sarda which had not defiled their Garments shall walk with me in white Revel iii. 4. and the President of all Patterns our blessed Saviour at his Transfiguration in which he shewed what manner of Citizens we should be in the Heavenly Jerusalem the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering The Pharisees required a sign and Christ told them they should have no sign but that of the Prophet Jonas for Jonas rose as it were out of the Whales belly to preach destruction against Nineveh so all that the Souldiers knew by Christs rising should be lightning to burn them up but the godly women that saw this Angel over and above the sign of the Prophet Jonas saw this glorious Apparel to betoken the dainty and delicate part of the resurrection In these our evil days our Soul is full of rebellious concupiscence and therefore our Body is made miserable hereafter the Soul will be enlightned with all kind of grace and the Body shall be changed to be incorruptible Equal or like to the Angels the Elect shall be Christ hath so promised and in a mutual assurance these Angels that came in white were made like to us Like to us I say but
gave me not my outward senses to delude me I am sure that Christ is there and I partake the meritorious Passion of his Body crucified and his Bloud shed upon the Cross all that men controvert more than this is to beget sorrow to the Church and laughter to the Devil My soul dwelleth among them that are enemies unto peace but I am content to say this is my Saviour who offered himself up for me therefore I will not let thy truth forsake me Lastly In that great Controversie of Justification there is a way in which the mists of errour cannot arise and there is a way in which the substantial food is lost by striving to comprehend the shadow with it By vertue of the Law I know my duty that I must be a Doer and thereby I discern my infirmity that I must be a Debtor By vertue of the Lords Prayer I find my self arreraged in iniquities that are past my flesh trembling at tentations to come my soul and body gasping for deliverance from evil round about me I find not one line wherein I may obtest unto God by any part of my own Sanctification Thirdly By vertue of my Creed I find that my Saviour was incarnate suffered and rose again to purchase Redemption unto us and Remission of our sins The Angels are not more sure of their incorruptible glory than we may be to say As many as walk in this rule peace be to them and mercy and on the Israel of our God Cogita de Deo quicquid meliùs potes de teipso quod deterius vales says St. Bernard and then thy truth is like Mount Sion which cannot be removed But to go a little further and to creep into the Mediatorship of Jesus Christ there is no likelihood but it should prove an unthankful blasphemy Being rooted in this most holy Faith and in our active Mercy toward the whole body of Christs Church there remains for us a passive mercy which will not forsake us the sure mercies of David in our blessed Redeemer who is called Amen and in whom are all the Promises And there is a truth which will stick to us as fast and answer for us against the slanders of Satan who is the Reviler of the Brethren For he that confesseth me before men there is truth on our part I will confess him before my Father which is in heaven there is truth on Gods part to which God Father c. A SERMON UPON THE RECHABITES JEREM. xxxv 6. But they said we will drink no Wine AT the first hearing of these words I may conjecture that some men thought of no such Scripture and that most men look for a strange construction and you shall have a construction to mollify the Paradox since it was ever safe to decline extremes in all opinions for they are like Jehu in his furious march what have they to do with peace Indeed if you will recount among many who they were that have professed so much austerity as those that say in my Text We will drink no wine you will neither commend them for wisdom nor for piety Lycurgus in the Luxury of his Country cut up every Vine by the roots and destroyed the Vineyards like those inconsiderate men in our dayes superexcessive Reformers of Religion who think there is no way to amend that which is abused but with Hezekias Justice against the Brazen Serpent utterly to consume it The Manichees would not endure to taste the Cup at the holy Communion as if Christ had been too prodigal to bestow Wine at his last Supper upon his Disciples And you know who they are that want not much to be Manichees Tertullian mentions a most harsh Discipline among the Romans that no Woman might know the taste of Wine sed sub Romulo quae vinum tetigerat impunè à marito trucidata est that it was lawful for the Husband to shed his own Wifes bloud if she tasted of the bloud of the Grape So likewise there were certain Christians called Severiani by a nick name that grudged the whole World St. Pauls allowance that Modicum which he granted unto Timothy and Pharaohs Butler with these men had been kept for ever in prison had he pressed a few Grapes into the Kings own Cup. But for all these men who grudg Cato his draught of wine when he is wearied with the affairs of the Common-wealth I say their abstemious life is perverseness and such were not the Rechabites that say in my Text We will drink no wine In which Text barren as it may seem there are many things very Religious and profitable to make up my Treatise at this time And as boldly as Prudentius said by a Catachresis that there were jejuniorum victimae many Sacrifices offered up to God by fasting and abstaining from meats so say I that this Text is abstemiorum racematio there is a fruitful Vintage to be gathered out of non bibemus We will drink no wine This whole Chapter is but of one entire piece like the silver Trumpets of Moses Numb 10. so is the discourse thereof without interruption or almost without full point from the beginning to the end First God is provoked to wrath by the rebellions of Judah False Prophets were crept in that had taught strange Doctrin and the People had itching ears and were worse Disciples Now what instrument should the Lord choose to lay open his indignation whom but Jeremy the Propher and him God knew to be fit for the Errand not as he knew Nathaniel under the shade of his Fig-leaves sed sub carnis umbraculo in his Mothers Womb. Jeremy sets himself to the Task and lays open their sins not by revilings by menacies by zeal as hot as fire and who could do less they made Moses the meekest Soul alive throw stones at them and break the Tables but setting before them the Example of the Rechabites promising their obedience should be had in an everlasting remembrance and Judah his stubborn Son should see their happiness and want it Et spectet nostros jam plebs Romana triumphos Will it not grieve them to see Strangers and Aliens bear the Bell away and themselves look on and be quite neglected Lastly what was the Obligation that kept the Rechabites under such aw and duty for Jeremy spread a Table entreated them courteously and set Flagons of wine before them Why nothing but this their Father Jonadab had made them protest to take this austere life upon them that they would drink no wine A hard case between God and Israel if you mark it What was Jonadab or who was it that gave him wisdom no stedfast faith could be put in his Laws nor certainty in his Statutes nay upon this Text it is Calvins opinion laudatur obsequium filiorum non legi approbatum fuisse consilium paternum 't is true that Jeremy commends the Sons of Jonadab for their obedience but the Holy Ghost did no where commend Jonadab for making such
it had been dried before the fire now that and bread made of Barley had need to be washed down But what said the Roman Captain to his Army Nilum habetis vinum quaeritis they that had the whole River of Nile before them need not complain of thirst so they that were near to the Sea of Tiberias took no thought for any other Beverage it was a Lake of wholsom and fresh water which after the custom of the Jews is called a Sea if it be large and spacious and with that they were contented to quench their thirst Our Saviour furnished them once with wine at the joyful Solemnity of Marriage they lookt not for the like at every occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a pleasant liquor says the Poet but it is the Milk of Venus They declined all incentives of lust and lived almost after Daniels rate with pulse and water When Christians lived among the Heathen they were detected by their parsimony and moderation of diet though it were to save their lives they could not gurmandize like Epicures Nos oleris comas nos siliqua faeta legumine paverit innocuis epulis says Prudentius by temperance and fasting they got the mastery of the concupiscence of the flesh But above all Christians especially sobriety descended from the Apostles upon Ecclesiasticks it deserved a censure in them to exceed in delicious fare the Canons are extant and the proofs are authentique that the great and solemn Fasts of the Church well known to us were observed by them a good while before they were admitted by the People None know better than we says St. Austin that when temperance directs us to deny our selves those things that are lawful we are the better instructed to shun the sinful works of the Devil which are altogether unlawful The Apostles are our Forerunners in this frugality or rather austerity of food and yet to see that for all this they were scandalized for riotous libertines The imputation against them according to St. Matthew is this that they did not fast when the Disciples of John did In St. Luke more palpably spiteful they tell our Saviour that his Disciples did eat and drink why not would they have them macerate themselves with wilful famishment but could envy it self lay excess or intemperance to their charge I would we were as clear from the fault as they we that abuse the fertilness of our Land to rankness of gluttony we that pay more to the belly than we owe to the whole body who almost is not an Apicius that can maintain it what sin did ever grow up in any State to a more prodigious extremity but if the droughts of three years successively threatening dearth and scarcity will not affrighten this sin from our Table it is not a piece of a Sermon that will beat it down Yet I pray you remember that sharp Epiphonema of the Parable These three years have I come and found no fruit cut it down Nay God defend Why then expiate your surfeitings with Apostolical abstinence and forget not what a thrifty pittance they had in store even five barley loaves and two fishes And was this all and were they pleased that Christ should take that little from them and give it away to strangers yes it appears by Andrews answer they did not grudg it We have no more it is as good as nothing to feed such a multitude This implies as if he spoke the rest they shall have it all and much good do them if that will content them And was he so willing to part with that which was necessary for his own sustenance he had no more And will not we bestow our superfluities upon them that want Every luxuriant Vine must be largely pruned and he that hath much must scatter bountifully The Vine doth not miss the redundant branch and a rich mans Purse is like a River that doth not fall for a spoonful of contribution But when a poor man conjects heartily to any pious use his faith is proved as well as his charity is exercised for it is a sign that he believes that God will sustein him though he have emptied himself of all his substance in a small Oblation There are three things says Gregory that are most holy Sacrifices castitas in juventute sobrietas in ubertate liberalitas in paupertate liberality in poverty chastity in youth moderation in plenty And St. Chrysostom infers it from the readiness of the Disciples to part with all their homely Viands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maunder not that you are scanted and have but little he that hath any thing hath somewhat to spare to lend to the needy When the poor Widow had conferr'd two Mites no less than all her living unto the godly uses of the Temple Christ avouched it in her praise it was more than all the rich ones had bestowed That is not by absolute but by proportionable quantity as Aquinas states it not measuring the magnitude of the Gift but the sincereness of the Charity Non perpendit quantum sed ex quanto proferatur says Bede God doth not estimate how much was given but out of how much it was taken It was more for her to give two mites than for Zacheus to give a talent So it was more for these Disciples to surrender up their five loaves and two fishes than for another to keep open house for all the poor in Jerusalem And these shall be the limits of the first point our Saviours bodily preparation to the ensuing Miracle accepit he took the loaves And what more beside accepit For the Miracle came not off without another preparation and that is Ghostly Postquam gratias egisset after he had given thanks Best take it with the full allowance as the other Evangelists have enlarged it that beside giving thanks he looked up to heaven and blessed So then before he brought the sign to pass he glorified his Father three ways with his Eye he looked up to heaven with his Tongue he gave thanks and with his Spirit he blessed If you will scan the value of an action by the rarity of it in holy Scripture and by the incidency upon none but great occasions then both these do concur in this that Christ looked up to heaven I call it to mind that it hapned three times that is not often now at this instant when he was about the miracle of the Loaves Once again when he raised Lazarus to life Joh. xi 41. And once more when he began his Prayer to his Father but a few minutes before he was apprehended to be crucified Joh. xvii 1. And the Tradition is of long continuance that he lifted up his eyes to heaven the fourth time when he consecrated the Elements at his Last Supper The Liturgies ascribed to St. James and St. Mark do remember it and upon the credulity of the example the Canon of the Mass in the Church of Rome commands it At all times you
with all Christian Churches throughout the World We write our selves Christians and nothing else The name of Protestant as it was ever harmless so properly it concerned but the pleading of some grievances upon one day when a Diet of the Princes was held at Spire and when Sects were sprung up among Christians to be a Protestant was no more than to be a good Christian If our ill-willers call us by any other by-word the sin is theirs we have not the tongues of wicked men in a string that they shall give us no attributes but such as are worthy of us Non sumus Pauliani non sumus Petriani sumus Christiani Pastors must beget Children to Christ and not unto themselves therefore we are neither of Paul or Cephas but the Off-spring of Christ say the Divines of Doway and I would their deeds were suitable to their Annotation More smartly St. Hierom if you take the name of Marcionite or Valentinian you cease to be a Christian Not so will some say I can take the name of some excellent man upon me as a subordinate Servant to Christ But Ignatius goes on if you do take the name of man upon you you do lose the name of the Lord. A whole hour is not enough for all that can be said upon this point but this is enough for them that will learn how the faithful of the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision were in danger to be divided therefore they were both enclosed in the identity of one blessed name And c. So I have shewn what my Text speaks of fell out in a ripe season and a profitable opportunity now all times are capable of that which follows what this name imports and what it imposeth Our dear Redeemer having wedded the Church unto himself and having given it an interest in his precious bloud here and a lively hope to possess his glory hereafter it was meet that his Spouse should be called by his name and then either from Jesus or from Christ Jesus He was called for his Divinity for He that is Man could not save us from our sins unless He were the offended Party as well as the Ransom God and Man Christ he was called from being Man for he was anointed to execute the Offices of his Mediatorship in his humane nature Now judg in your selves whether we that are partakers of flesh and blood should have our nomination from his Godhead or from his Manhood rather only the Jesuit some Divine creature I warrant you is not contented with the common name of Christian but after much opposition of Courts of Parliament in France or Consistories in Rome he calls himself by the dear remembrance of the Epithet in which our salvation is sealed unto us But save us good Lord from such Saviours What will suffice them whom the Roialty to be called a Christian will not suffice In quo omnium sublimium nominum communionem adipiscimur says Nyssen whereby we have our share in all Titles that have sublimity in them as he that holds the fastning links of a Chain in his finger draws on all the rest to use the same Fathers Similitude The Heathen that looked for the signification of the word in their own learning and not in the Scriptures surnamed us Chrestiani à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say benign and gentle So Tertullian Cum perperam Chrestianus a vobis pronunciatur de suavitate vel benignitate compositum est when you miss our right name and pronounce us Chrestians it imports sweetness and benignity It seems there was a placidness and facility of nature in the Disciples which was far from giving just offence and won it self the affections of others And is not much better than a jarring harshness which is prone to discords and contentions The spirit of wisdom it courteous and humane Wisd vii 23. Yet this fell short of the true notation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who knows it not is unctus The Anointed not every Anointed but The Anointed as if it were written in capital letters whom the old Testament in the same sense calls the Messiah and the Hellenists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Caninius says that the wrathful Jews who will not own him for their Messias call him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not unctum but delibutum as you would say not anointed but stained and besmeared To whom I rejoyn videbunt quem transfixerunt they shall see him whom they have pierced with their blasphemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Anointed of the Lord He is our Chief from whom we derive our nomination He was a King as the Psalms stile him Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion and so anointed He was a Priest a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech and so anointed He was a Prophet that Prophet whom God promised to raise up to Israel among their Brethren Deutr. xviii and so anointed Ter Christus a triple anointed a triple Christ that sacred one to whom God giveth not the Spirit by measure but he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows and so is an infinite Christ from his superabundant unction we are replenished of his fulness we have all received some drops have trickled down from the head to the skirts nay to the feet and ancles to the lowest parts of the body and by the power of his Christhood we are transformed to be Christian Aptly hath St. Bernard ratified all this from that of Solomon Cant. ii 3. Oleum effusum nomen tuum Thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee Christianus then to put good Greek into bad Latin is all one with Vunctianus anointed with the sprinkling of water in Baptism for the remission of sins and therefore Crism or Oil hath been applied as a significant Ceremony to the Infant baptized not only abroad but in our own Church I mean since it was reformed After this of Baptism follows the Unction of true Doctrin Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye know all things 1 Joh. ii 20. To these is added the Unction of Grace that we may be a sweet savour of life unto life and above all these the bloud of Christ is anointed upon the posts of our doors that the Destroyer may pass by and spare us and all these Lines meet in this one Center to call us Christian Is it not a grievous case that this Name so musical to the ear so melodious to the heart should be almost obscur'd to bring in another Catholick a word to be very well approved of it finds more acceptance with some than Christian These words of St. Luke in my Text are not more authentick with them hardly so much as those of Pacianus Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen illud me nuncupat istud ostendit Christian is my name Catholick my surname the indignity is
from thence he assists his Sacraments sanctifieth his Ministry gives grace unto his Word And if they did not escape who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn from him that speaketh from Heaven Secondly Our Jerusalem is above not only in the Head but in the Members I do not say in all the Members for the Church is that great House in which are Vessels of honour and dishonour Terms of Excellency though indistinctly attributed to the whole are agreeing oftentimes only to the chiefer or more refined part Some there are in this Body whom though we salute not by the proud word of their Sublimity yet in true possession which shall never be taken from them they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are above Witness that the Angels make up one Church with us being the chief Citizens that are reckoned in the triumphant part fellow Servants with us under one Lord adopted Sons under one Father Elect under one Christ This is the language of the Scripture and surely Members of one Mystical Body for the same Jesus is the Head of all Principality and Power Colos ii 10. Of this Family also are the Saints departed even all those holy Spirits that obey God in heavenly places and do not imitate the Devil and his Angels This is that Church which hath neither spot nor wrinkle for when I speak of such a Church says St. Austin in his retractations I mean none but those in Heaven After these that make the front and first File of our March there are many among us I trust who have their part in this description Jerusalem which is above the Elect of God the Church invisible invisible I say not for their persons but for their qualites for who can see who hath an internal union with Christ the Head Who can tell whether this or that may be filled with his Grace and quickned with his Spirit Cusanus says very well that there is no certain judgment to be made by the outward fruits who are living Members of the Church but in Infants that are newly baptized With the mouth we confess the truth but with the heart man believes unto righteousness and only God can see the heart But these whose integrity their Master knows and loves no matter in what base condition they wander here they are greater by far than the ungodly that over-peer them in promotion they are above indeed for they are as high as the pinacle of blessedness and their names are written in the Book of Life for their sakes God hath dropt down the beautiful style of Jerusalem upon the Houshold of Christ but without these no name were so fit for it as Sodom or Samaria Such as will wrangle where no occasion is offered have carped at this as if we removed all from the Church but such as are Israel in occulto and have their sins forgiven in Christ It was never our meaning neither can we help it but that we must keep communion with all those that profess the common Faith But if the Church had known Hypocrites it had not admitted them into the Portion of the Lord or else it had excluded them Et quid prodest non ejici coetu piorum si mereris ejici says St. Cyprian What the better is it for an Hypocrite that he is not cast out of the Congregation since he deserves to be cast out he may abide with us in the outward Society of them that call upon Christ praesumptivè non veraciter as Spalatensis says because we presume he is faithful though indeed he is the Child of the Devil numero non merito he makes up one of the Multitude that go in the broad way he is none of the few that strive to enter in at the steight gate he keeps the formality of a Christian with others beneath he perteins not to Jerusalem which is above Thirdly We have obtained this dignity to be ranked as them that are above because our calling is very holy He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. i. 9. called to Doctrin which is above which flesh and bloud did not reveal but the Father that giveth wisdom plentifully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Theophilact upon my Text God did preach the Gospel from on high with his own voice for take a Breviary of it and it is no more but that which he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased We are called to obey the truth by illumination from above from thence is sent the spirit of them that are baptized the spirit of the Apostles and Martyrs the spirit of Bishops and Doctors the spirit of all those that have lived in the Truth and shed their bloud for the Truth 's sake We are called to that Religion which consists in celestial Functions in Faith and Hope in Prayer and Charity not in a Religion which presseth them down that observe it with an insupportable weight of Shadows and Ceremonies but the hour is come when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth Beware of those of the Concision says St. Paul and among bad marks which they carry this is the conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they mind earthly things that is they are pleased with carnal Ordinances with these low and beggerly Observations of the Levitical Priesthood but immediately turning himself to the Fundamentals of the Gospel and the practice thereof says he nostra politeia our way of serving God our manner of worship is in Heaven So Bernard says that the Synagogue moved in a low Orb. But Solomon speaking of the New Testament says Quae est ista quae ascendit Cant. iii. 3. Who is she that cometh up from the Wilderness perfumed with mirrh and frankincense with all the powders of the Merchant Above all we are called to holy actions which savour not of mans passions and purposes but are qualified from above Our fortitude is heavenly fortitude our temperance heavenly temperance our liberality to the poor heavenly liberality but the moral deeds of the Heathen living out of the Church that had the best gloss upon them were smutcht with some bad vapour below and every grane of vertue that grew out of their stalks did abound with the chaff of vanity And what exceeds all that I have said beside to make our calling heavenly and holy God is so gracious to those things which are done in the Church in the name of his Son that where an unfit instrument may seem to marr all by his extravagant profaneness by his impenitent conscience nay by his heretical pravity yet Christs presence and assistance are not wanting to his Word and Sacraments but their efficacy is free and current to the people though they be performed by a crooked and an adulterous Generation As the Posterity of Jacobs Handmaid had a Princedom among their Brethren in the Land of Canaan