the first part of the practice of these beasts which is their constancy in the service of God day and night 2. Of the harmony of these beasts 2. For the harmony of these beasts I told you that it consisted of six parts whereof the first is concerning the mystery of the Trinity Touching which before I proceed any further I must say with St. Augustine Vbi trinitas unitatis unitas trinitatis Aug. de Trin. lib. 1. Of the true knowledge of the mystery of the blessed Trinity Patris Filii Spiritus sancti quaeritur nec periculosius alieubi erratur nec laboriosius aliquid quaeritur nec fructuosius aliquid invenitur we cannot any where erre more dangerously we cannot seek for any thing more laboriously neither can we find any thing more profitable then the knowledge of this holy mystery and therefore as he saith Non pigebit me sicubi haesito quaerere nec pigebit me sicubi erro discere it irketh me not to inquire where I stumble neither will I be ashamed to retract and to learn where I erre And so to proceed The holy Evangelist in this harmony of these beasts setteth down these two principal things Two things set down 1. 1 Of the Trinity of Persons The Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of Gods Essence 2. The Vnity of Gods Essence in the Trinity of Persons For the first To declare the Trinity of persons the Evangelist saith these beasts cry three times Holy holy holy as if they should have said Holy Father holy Son and holy Spirit and yet they say not holy Gods but holy God and to shew the same truth the very phrase and loquution or the like manner of expressing this mystery is used in divers places of the holy Scripture as where Moses saith Creavit Elohim coelum et terram God created the heaven and the earth where the Verb singular creavit doth manifestly declare the unity of Gods Essence and the Noun plural Elohim doth as plainly shew the Trinity of persons And again where he saith Faciamus hominem ad imaginem nostram let us make man in our Image where the Verb plural faciâ—mus declareth the plurality of the Persons and the Pronoun singular nostram sheweth the unity of the Essence even so here the word sanctus three times repeated doth manifestly declare the Trinity of persons and the word Deus God in the singular number doth as plainly shew the unity of Gods Essence And so the whole sum of all is 1. Quod Deus sit unus quoad essentiam that God is one That God is but one Essence and three persons and but one in respect of his Essence 2. Quod Deus sit trinus quoad subsistentiam that in the Vnity of that Essence there are three Persons in respect of their subsistence or manner of being And this will appear most evidently if you do compare together the 6. Deut. 6.4 Matth. 28 29. of Deut. and the 4. ver and the 28. of St. Matthew and the 19. ver For in the former place it is said Dominus Deus tuus Deus unus est the Lord thy God is one God and in the later place our Saviour commandeth his Disciples to go and to baptize all Nations in the Name and not in the names of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost therefore there is a Trinity of persons that is the Father the Son and the holy Ghost in the divine Nature Et una est numero essentia and yet there is but one Essence because no diversity can be given whereby these persons differ in regard of the Essence And therefore in regard of this identity and unity of essence in the three Persons our Saviour said Ego sum in patre et Pater est in me I am in the Father and the Father is in me and yet as St. Cyril saith Non est dicendum Pater est à filio vel in filio continetur we may not say the Father is from the Son or contained in the Son Nec est filius in patre ut nos in Deo esse et vivere dicimur Neither is the Son in the Father as we are said to be and to live in God Quia de ejus essentia nos non sumus because we are not of the essence of God but in and by the vertue grace and power of God But here it may be some will demand from whence have we the name of Trinity About the name of Trinity when as we cannot find the same in all the Scripture I answer that we have the word three from whence the word Trinity is derived for St. John saith There be three that bear witness in heaven and therefore as unity is derived ab uno from one so Trinity may as justly be derived from three and the Church of God Penes quam usus et forma loquendi to whom the phrases and forms of speech are committed hath power to use such words as may best express the Truth and confute the Hereticks so the same be not contrary to the sense and meaning of the holy Scriptures Now the difference between essence and person is this The difference betwixt the Essence of God and the Persons in the Godhead that the essence is the nature which is indivisible and common to the three Persons but a person Est subsistentia in natura divina as the Schools speak a subsistence or the manner of the persons subsisting in the divine Nature when the one person is distinguished from the others distinguished I say and not divided because there is no division in the divine Nature And the difference betwixt each Person is twofold The difference betwixt each Person and the others twofold 1. Difference internal 1. Internal and 2. External 1. The internal difference between the Persons is and consisteth in their internal operations and proprieties whereof the Divines say that Opera Trinitatis ad intra sunt divisa The internal operations of the Trinity are severed and divided because as St. Augustine saith Hoc est proprium patris quod solus est pater et quod ab alio non est nisi à seipso It is proper to the Father that he only is Father and that he is not from any other but from himself Et hoc est proprium filii quod do patre genitus est solus à solo coaeternus et consubstantialis genitori And it is the property of the Son that he is begotten of the Father the Son alone from the Father only coeternal and consubstantial to his begetter Et proprium est Spiritus sancti quod nec genitus nec ingenitus est sed à patre et filio aequaliter procedens It is proper to the holy Ghost that he is neither begotten nor created but equally proceeding both from the Father and the Son And this difference is not essential because the Essence of all three is the same
of all Seek ye first the Kingdom of God 1. The act injoyned is Seek ye 1. The act that is injoyned and if Christ had said no more but seek ye all men would have readily obeyed his command for all men seek And now they say we have a Sect of Professors that are called Seekers but as those silly women whereof the Apostle speaketh That they are ever learning 2 Tim. 3.7 and yet never come to the knowledge of the truth So our Saviour saith That many men will seek but they shall not find because they seek amiss and that is Either Why men find not what they seek for 1. What they ought not to seek Or 2. When they should not seek it Or 3. Where it is not to be found Or 4. Not so carefully as they ought to seek it 1. What we ought not to seek for 1. The worldlings seek indeed But what do they seek Quaerenda pecunia primum and for the wealth of this world Currit mercator ad Indos And so the Lawyer seeks the Physitian seeks the Divine seeks and every man seeks for something and too many seek for that which should not be sought for for revenge or for their neighbours goods and therefore they shall not find this Kingdom of God 2. When it is too late to seek 2. Others seek for what they should seek for i. e. the Kingdom of God and yet they find it not because that with those foolish Virgins whereof our Saviour speaketh they seek to enter when the door is shut Matth. 25.10 for as it is too late to shut the door when the steed is stollen so many times it is to no purpose to knock when the door is shut or to seek when it is too late for so Dives Qui negavit micas interris rogavit guttas in poenis which denied the crums to Lazarus on earth desires a drop in hell but he is denied and so shall all they be denied Qui quaerunt salutem in medio Gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae which seek for salvation and help in the midst of Hell or of Purgatory which was wrought in the midst of the earth and should be sought after while we live on earth And therefore the Prophet Esay biddeth us To seek the Lord while he may be found and that is now in the Church Esay 55.6 and not hereafter in Purgatory for now is the time acceptable now is the day of salvation 3. Others seek it and find it not 3. Where it is not to be found because they seek it in the place where it is not to be found for as they that seek for counsel among Fools and honesty among Knaves and truth among Hereticks may seek long enough and yet miss to find them so they that seek for the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of Christ in the Dominion of Antichrist or among unrighteous Rebels shall hardly find it And therefore we must seek it where it may be found and that is in the true Church of God and in his Holy Scripture and not in the Synagogue of Satan or in the Fanatique Conventicles of our upstart Sectaries or in any Popish and absolete Traditions of the Church of Rome 4. Others also seek the Kingdom of God and yet find it not 4. When they seek it so carelesly because they seek it so coldly and so carelesly as they do for great things cannot be had without great labour And therefore Solomon saith he that would find Wisedom must search for it as for Silver Prov. 2.4 and seek for it as we seek for hidden Treasure And you see the worldling cannot get a little wealth without labour the Lawyer cannot understand the Law without study and do you think with our foolish Enthusiasts that we shall understand the Holy Scripture without paines-taking Surely How no great nor good thing can be had without labour they that cannot understand Terence without a Comment shall never be able to expound the deep Mysteries of the Scripture and to reconcile the repugnant Texts thereof without Books and without Labour for as St. Aug. speaketh Quidquid est crede mihi in Scripturis illis altum divinum est Whatsoever is in those Scriptures believe me it is high and Divine and though in some places it is like a shallow Foord wherein a Lamb may wade and the meanest man may understand what he should do and the main points of his belief yet in many other places you shall find it like the deep Ocean wherein the greatest Elephant may swim and the best Wits fail to understand it And if the Câ—tizen cannot get his Wealth nor the Scholler his Learning without labour and pains do you think to find and to attain to the Kingdom of God by a â—old and careless seeking after it No no that cannot be Quia non dormientibus sed pugnantibus adveniet regnum Dei the Kingdom of God falleth not into the Sleepers lap but they that strive for it shall obtain it and therefore our Saviour bids us Luke 13.24 strive to enter in at the narrow gate and he saith that the Kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it away And so you see how we ought to seek for any thing that we would find when and where and how it may be found that is with such pains and care as it ought to be sought Now 2. The thing that we ought to seek for 2. Our Saviour thinking it not enough to bid us seek lest we should mistake the thing that we should seek and passing by all other things that are scarce worth the seeking or much looking after he setteth down that Vnum necessarium and that Pearl of invaluable price which we ought to seek that is the Kingdom of God And who would not seek a Kingdom Truly if Christ had said no more but seek a Kingdom I think enow would have been ready enough to seek it for it is strange saith Camerarius Camerar l. 5. c. 8. to consider of the inordinate desire that men have had to reign and to rule as Kings what Villainies they have committed to become Kings and what Execrable things they have don to continue Kings The ambitious and inordinate dâ—sire of men to reign as Kings for Amurath the Third caused five of his younger Brethren to be strangled in his presence and Ismael the second Son to Techmas King of Persia did put to death as many of his Bretheren as he could find and all the Princes that he suspected to have any desire to his Kingdom that so they might reign and rule without fear and Soliman mistrusting his own Son Mustapha when he returned Victorious from the Persian War and was received with such general applause caused him presently to be strangled and Proclamation to be made throughout all the Army that there must be but one God in Heaven and one Emprour
learning coldly and carelesly as indifferent whether they get little or much but as the woman that lost her groat lighted a Candle and swept the house and sought diligently for it till she found it so must we seek for this kingdom with all diligence and never leave seeking till we find it for Non mollis est via ad astra the way to heaven is not easie nor strewed over with sweet flowers but we must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of Heaven How easie a matter it is to slide into hell Indeed the Poet can tell you that facilis descensus averni the way to hell is very easie and you may soone slide thither by any sin Sed revocare gradus superasque evadere ad auras Hic labor hoc opus est but to climb up to heaven requires labour and pains and they that think otherwise do but deceive themselves because there are many hindrances and rubs and obstacles in our way to keep us back from this kingdom as this present world that made Demas careless of the world to come How difficult to climb to heaven and our own flesh that like Dalilah lyeth in our bosome and is more dangerous than the world and the old Serpent the Devil that goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And therefore seeing it is so hard a matter to pass through the Pikes of these enemies Abjicienda est omnis desidia ignavia Chrysost hom 3. in Johan We must cast away all sloth and idleness saith Saint Chrysostom quia angusta via robustâ animâ opus est and because our enemies are so mighty we must be strong and of good courage that we may overcome the world subdue the flesh and resist the Devil who is Leo inter formicas a Lion among those that fear him but formica inter Leones a coward among Lions running away like Thyrsites before Achilles James 4.7 for if you resist the Devil he will flie from you saith the Apostle 2 Chron. 9.18 Six especial steps to the kingdom of heaven And if you strive to pass through these dangers and desire to know the way to Gods Kingdom you shall understand that as the ascent to Solomons Throne was Per sex gradus by six stairs so we have six special steps to ascend to the Throne of grace 1. Regeneration The first is by Regeneration Quia nascimur ad laborem renascimur ad salutem because we are born the children of wrath to labour and to miseries and therefore we must be born again that is by the washing of water and the working of Gods Spirit if you would walk towards this kingdom for Except you be born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven saith our Saviour The second is by Outward profession that is 2. Outward profession Cant. 1.8 as Solomon saith by following the steps of the fleck unto the tents of the Shepherds and as they do to profess the Faith and never to be ashamed of the Cross of Christ The third is by Hearing Gods Word 3. Hearing Gods Word i. e. the truth of the holy Scripture and not the dreams and traditions of men for my Sheep hear my voyce saith Christ and if you hear his voyce your souls shall live saith the Prophet Isaiah Jer. 23.16 and c. 12.6 Deut. 13.3 John 10.5 Matt. 7.15 but the hearing of old newly revived Heresies is not the way to this kingdom but the way from it and therefore we are flatly forbidden to hear the doctrine of all such deceitfull teachers The fourth is by Believing Gods Word 4. Believing Gods word and giving credit unto his sayings even as Abraham credidit Deo believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness for otherwise if we believe not what we hear our hearing of it will avail us nothing but rather be a witness against us and yet as the Prophet Isaiah demands Isai 53.1 Who hath believed our report So I fear that of many which come to hear Gods word there be but few that believe what we say when as we have too many men like those whereof Tertullian speaketh Qui credebant Scripturis ut crederent adversus Scripturas i. e. to believe what they pleased out of the Scripture and many more that do lead their lives so lewdly and so dissolutely and follow after the vanities of the world so eagerly as if they believed there were neither heaven nor hell The fifth is By continual Prayers 5. By continual prayer and constant invocation upon God that he would open our ears that we might hear and so work in our hearts that we might believe the truth of God for so our Saviour biddeth us Ask and you shall have seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you and S. Augustine saith If any man would find out the truth agant orando et quaerendo et bene vivendo ut inveniant Let them pray to God and study hard and live holily and God will help them to understand the truth The sixth and last step of this Ladder that reacheth up to the Kingdom of Heaven is by doing the will of God and leading our lives according to Gods Laws for so the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law but the doers of the Law shall be justified And Christ saith Not every one that saith Lord Matth. 7.21 Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven So that to hear Sermons to understand Gods Word and to pray to God is all in vain unless we do study and strive withall to do our best endeavours to live according to Gods will And therefore 2. Our Saviour desirous to shew unto us the readiest way to come to this Kingdom of God Matth. 6.33 saith Seek ye the Kingdom of God and his righteousness that is the righteousness which is acceptable in his sight and that is as St. Paul saith To follow peace with all men Heb. 12.14 and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord And you must observe that righteousness here is to be referred to God and not to the Kingdom because as Cajetan well observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the feminine Gender and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the masculine Cajetan in loc and therefore must be referred ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto God and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God The which thing together with infinite such other doubtful and obscure places of Scripture doth sufficiently shew unto you that ignorant unlearned men that have neither Arts nor Language neither Greek nor Latine but do run to teach others before they have learnt any things themselves like those in the Canticles who watched over others but kept not their own flock are but blind
Guides of the people fitter to lead them into the ditch then to resolve them of any doubt or to convince any learned Heretick The righteousness of God taken four wayes And further you must observe that although the righteousness of God is specially taken four wayes in Scripture and signifieth 1. That distributive righteousness which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Way 1 or jus Dei whereby he punisheth the wicked and delivereth the innocent and whereof the Prophet saith Psal 9.4 Psal 119.137 Thou art set in the throne that judgest right And again Thou art just O Lord and righteous is thy judgement 2. That uprightness which is in God and is opposed to Way 2 iniquity as where the Prophet saith The Lord is righteous and loveth righteousness his face beholdeth the thing that is right 3. The truth of God as where himself saith I the Way 3 Lord speak righteousness that is nothing but the truth Esay 45.19 4. The mercy of God in Christ and through Christ towards Way 4 us as where the Prophet saith Psal 31.1 Deliver me in thy righteousness And again Psal 71.1 Judge me according to thy righteousness that is according to thy mercy and goodness shewed to us in Christ Jesus who is as the Prophet saith Jer. 23.6 Jehova justitiae nostra the Lord our righteousness and so the righteousness of God to us because as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we might be freely justified before God through faith in his righteousness Yet by the righteousness of God here in this place we are to understand it saith St. Chrysostom in none of the foresaid significations but for Quid odit et quid amat What God loveth as just and righteous and what he hateth as wicked and unrighteous that so we might do what he loveth and shun what he hateth because as Aretius saith Aret. in loc there is a righteousness besides our justifying righteousness that is plainly necessary for the obtaining of the Kingdom of God for though as our Divines say Fides sola justificat Faith only justifieth us and we are freely justified by our faith in Christ that layeth hold on his righteousness which is imputed unto us yet Fides justificans nunquam est sola aut solitaria The iustifying faith is never alone separated from the works of that righteousness which is the inseparable adjunct and concomitant of the justifying faith And therefore if you desire to be Citizens of Heaven and Inheritors of the Kingdom of God you must be just and righteous men and your righteousness must not be like the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees in ostentation to deceive the world but in deed and verity in the sight of God for so Christ tells you plainly Except your righteousness that is not only the righteousness of Christ which is yours by imputation and which all men know doth by many thousand degrees exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees but except your own inherent righteousness which is wrought in you by the Spirit of Christ exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God James 3.18 And truly the want of this righteousness and just dealing among men is the cause of all mischief and of all the greatest miseries of this world and of eternal damnation in the world to come and the performance of this righteousness would make all men happy both in this life and in the life to come For What is the cause of all mischief 1. What brings Wars the greatest of all the Plagues that are here on earth but unrighteous dealing For righteousness and peace have kissed each other saith the Prophet and thou saith St. Augustine dost love and desire peace which is the Crown of all worldly happiness though now the crown is fallen from our head woe unto us that we have sinned Sed justitiam non amabis Lam. 5.16 but thou wilt not follow after righteousness therefore peace shall be far from thee because there is no peace to the wicked Esay 48.22 saith my God no peace to them that shed innocent blood no peace for unrighteous dealing to them that take away a mans right and hold it still perforce But their unrighteousness will destroy them as indeed injustice and unrighteous dealing will undo any people when a Kingdom shall be translated from Nation to Nation because of unrighteousness and when the same shall be as it was said of Carthage fuller of sins then of men as we see the Monarchy of the Assyrians was translated to the Medes and Persians and the most famous Republick of the Romans spoiled when forgetting their pristine equity and just dealing whereby they became so great they began to be unjust and as the Poet saith Mensuraque juris Vis erat And they measured the Law and equity by their strength and he had the best right that was most powerful as the wicked proclaim it in the Book of Wisdom Let our strength be the Law of justice which hath been the ruine and subversion of many a Nation And so it will be with us of this Nation if we cast away all Justice and hold the truth in unrighteousness because God is no respecter of persons and we have no reason to think that he will deal any otherwise with us then he hath done with his own chosen people the Jews or with any other unrighteous Generation And as unrighteousness is the mother of wars and the bringer of destruction to Nations and Kingdoms so it is the nurse that breedeth strife and increaseth contentions and Suits of Law among neighbours and so becometh the greatest enemy to brotherly love which is the greatest vertue and the chiefest grace of all Christianity 1 Cor. 13. ult as Saint Paul sheweth And as unjust dealing thus pulleth down upon us all the plagues of Heaven so you may see Therefore let men take heed of maintaining wrongs and oppressions in the fifth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom and in Saint Paul and many other places of the holy Scripture how it excludeth all unrighteous men out of Heaven But 2. On the other side if you look upon righteousness and just dealing Plato The praise of just dealing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the divine Plato All men cry out with one mouth How beautiful a thing is temperance and righteousness Cicero calleth this righteousness the Lady and Mistress of all vertues Pindarus saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden eye and a golden countenance are alwayes to be seen in the face of Justice And Theoguis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even as the Latine Poet saith Justitia in sese virtutes continet omnes Justice is that vertue which comprehends all vertues in
it self For he that is a just man wrongeth no man And Solomon saith Prov. 16.12 The Kings throne is established by righteousness And again he saith Prov. 14 34. That Righteousness exalteth a Nation so that both King and Kingdom shall prosper through righteousness And he saith further That although evil pursueth sinners yet to the righteous good shall be repaid Prov. 13.21 And when the house of the wicked shall be overthrown Prov. 14.11 Chap. 3.33 the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish because God blesseth the habitation of the just And therefore the very Heathens erected a Temple unto Justice and ascribed divine worship unto Astraea which they termed the Goddess of Justice How just and righteous the Heathens were to the shame of our Fanatick and Cromwellian Christians in Ireland and many of them were very just most singular observers of justice for Homer saith That Sarpedon preserved the Kingdom of Licia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through justice and fortitude And Herodian saith of Pertinax That he was both loved and feared of the Barbarians as well for the remembrance of his vertues in former battels as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because wittingly or willingly he never did wrong or injustice to any man Plutarch ascribeth the like vertues to Lucullus Cicero to Pompey Ovid to Erictthaeus Virgil to Aeneas Suetonius to Octavius Augustus his Father and many others of the Heathens are recorded to have been like Aristides exceeding just And I would to God all those that say they are Christians were as just aâ— these Heathens were or as righteous as the Scribes and Pharisees for they were so strict in their lives especially in shew and made so great account of justice that they would tythe Mynt and Rue and the rest of the very smallest things and therefore S. Paul saith that they were the strictest Sect of all the Jewish Religion and yet our Saviour saith Except your righteousness doth exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So you see the way that leads you to the Kingdom of God is to be just and righteous and so honest men without which it is in vain to pray to God it is in vain to believe in Christ and in vain to rely on him because as the Prophet David saith you must offer to God the sacrifice of Righteousnes Psal 4.5 and then you may trust in the Lord. But wherein doth the sacrifice of Righteousness consist Q. or how shall we become just or righteous men Rsep and so acceptable in the sight of God I answer that to be just and righteous and to offer the sacrifice of righteousness is reddere unicunque quod suum est That is to render 1. To God 2. To our King 3. To our Neighbours 4. To our selves what belongs to each of these 1 Branch of Righteousness and these are like the four Rivers of Paradise watering the whole Garden of God that being well observed will make it a Paradise indeed 1. What belongs to God Our Fanatique Enthusiasts and Sectaries think that as God is a Spirit so he requires no more but to be served in Spirit and truth for as the Prophet saith If he be hungry he will not tell thee because all the Beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the cattel upon a thousand hills And therefore the Lord saith my Son give me thy heart and so worship me with Faith Hope Love and the like spiritual affections which are most correspondent to me that am a Spirit That God will be worshipped with all that we have But you must know that they are very much deceived for as God hath made both Body and Soul and hath given us all that we have Houses Lands Riches and whatsoever else we do possess so he will be served and worshipped by all that we have with our Hearts to love him with our Tongues to praise him with our Eys lifted up to behold his wonders with our Knees bowed down to submit unto him with our Hands to do the work that he requireth and with our Wealth and Riches to honour him as the Wise man commandeth Honour God with thy riches And so our Saviour when he biddeth us to render unto Caesar what was Caesars and to God what is Gods meaneth it of our Wealth and Riches that we ought to render unto God and not of these internal services and spiritual worship that we do likewise owe to God for here the question was of the Tribute and Mony that the Jews were to pay to Caesar and therefore the true sense of our Saviours answer was secundum materiam subjectam according to their question give that part of your Wealth and Riches to Caesar which belongs to Caesar and that part of it to God which is due to God that Caesar himself may not have that which belongs to God Q But then you will demand what is that part and portion which belongs to God out of that All which God gives unto us Resp Levit. 27.30 I answer that they are first the Tythes which God requireth to be payd unto him and secondly the Donations which his people do freely offer unto him and God doth most graciously accept them which is an unspeakable favour that the great God and creator of all things the giver of all things that owns all things and wants nothing should so graciously accept the small gifts of us his poor creatures far beyond the Clemency of Xerxes that did so curteously accept a little cold water that was presented unto him by a poor subject that had nothing else to offer him But when any Lands Houses or Monies or any other part of our Goods is offered unto God let us not be so unjust as to rob God thereof for you may see what the Prophet saith will a man rob his God yet you have robbed me Mal. 3.8 in Tythes and Offerings that is in converting the Tythes to your own uses which I commanded to be paid to uphold my services and taking those Lands and Houses into your own possessions which most pious men had offeâ—ed to maintain my Religion Or if we do this as I see it commonly don in Ireland and in too many places in England then let us take heed lest that quorum flagitium imitamur eorum exitum inveniamus we find not the like success as they found that had don this before us And what is that I will shew you some examples of good note And I will not insist upon the punishment inflicted upon Achan Gehezi Shisake King of Egypt Johas King of Israel Sennacherib King of Assyria and Belshazzar King of Babylon and others for their Sacriledg and Injustice against God because you may read the same at your leasure in the holy Scripture But I shall desire you to remember what Seneca Sen. de Benefic l. 5. c. 12. a man that
vengeance in his anger so when the Jews were grown incorrigible he saith Jer. 21.7 He will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their life and they shall smite them with the edge of the sword and shall not spare them nor have pity nor have mercy upon them and such a sin is murder and the shedding of innocent bloud whereof the Lord saith Deut. 19.13 21 Et vide Ezek. 8.17 18. Thine eye shall not pity him but life shall go for life And such a sin is the sin of Rebellion which is as the sin of Witchcraft and spreadeth it self like a Gangrene and infecteth many millions of men and therefore the resisting of authority deserveth more severity and less clemency than any sin as you may see it in the punishment of Corah Dathan and Abiram who in the judgement of God himself deserved no less than to be consumed with fire from Heaven Rebellion how horrible a sin or to be sent down quick to Hell which in the judgment of Optatus is so fearful and unparallel'd a vengeance shewing the transcendent odiousness of rebellion that the like cannot be found since the creation of the world because rebelling against lawful Authority is no less than fighting against the divine Majesty and therefore the most holy Saints of the Primitive Church that were most innocent in all their lives would notwithstanding suffer the most cruel death rather than they would resist this ordinance of God or otherwise if they had so impudently reviled their Heathen Judges and so rebelliously resisted their persecuting Kings as you see many have done of late against the most gracious Princes the Church had never canonized them for godly Martyrs but had registred them among the most wicked Malefactors 3. Contempt of the Priest was the last The third sin of the Israelites Ver. 10. but not the least sin whereby the Israelites lost the Lord when they hated him that rebuked in the gate and abhorred him that spake uprightly that is the Prophet or Preacher saith Cornelius à Lapide because the Jews had their Tribunals and Judgements in the gates of their Cities as Moses sheweth and therefore Jeremy Amos Deut. 21.10 and the rest of Gods servants sate also in the Gates as you may see * Jer. 17 19. Esdras l. 2. c. 8. to rebuke the wrong Judgements as St. Hierom and Lyra note and to speak uprightly that is Perfectum sanctum sermonem a perfect and a just Judgement as the Septuagint and Symmachus render it and this the people hated and abhorred which is the height of all iniquity to reject the Prophet and to exclude his counsel from our judgements Sinners that reject their Teachers and Pastors are incurable for as the Gout is the shame of the Physitian because he cannot cure it so this is the plague of the soul and a sin that is incurable for though a man commits many and great sins and leads a very dissolute life yet if he will dutifully hearken unto counsel and patiently bear with his rebukes there is great hope of his amendment but as the diseased that is deadly sick and yet like Harpaste that would not be perswaded that she was blind though she could see no more than a milstone will not believe that he is sick and cannot indure the sight of his Physitian runs on a pace to death without any hope of life so the Judges that hate the Prophets company and abhor the assistance of the Priests in their judgements as the Israelites now did and that sinner who doth hate his Teacher and shuns the society of him that seeks to save his soul have little sign of grace and as little hope of eternal life and therefore the Scripture describing the deadly estate of the most desperate sinners such as with Ahab had sold themselves to work wickedness saith they are like those that contend with their Priests Hos 4.4 of whom there is little hope and less good to be expected any waies for is it possible that a blind man should find his way when he beats away his Leader Or that a child should thrive when he bites and beats away his nurse that gives him suck So it is impossible that they should do well which hate the light or that they should ever learn any good which abhor the Teachers of all godliness Gem. de coelo l. 1 c. 22. Job 9 9. The Preachers like the Hyades Geminianus tells us thâ—t the Ministers of Gods word are like the Hyades whereof Job speaketh 1. Because the Hyades or Pleiades as we translate them are watry stars so called from their effects the word Hyades of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying nothing else but rain So the Preâ—chers pour Respect 1 out the showers of heavenly doctrine upon the barren ground of our souls to make them fruitful even as Moses saith My doctrine shall drop as the rain Deut. 32 2. and my speech shall distill as the dew Respect 2 2. Because that as when the Pleiades do arise the daies lengthen the Sun is hotter and the Earth produceth more plentiful fruits so by the preaching of Gods word the light of truth is increased the heat of Christian love and charity is kindled and the holy fruit of all good works is increased Therefore if the Preachers be as the rain to make us fruitful as the light to direct our waies as our Fathers to instruct us and as the Angels of God to bring us into heaven as the Scripture testifieth that they are then I beseech you tell me what holy fruiâ— what heavenly light or what Christian good can be in them that despise their Teachers and expell their fathers from their societies Yet this was the sin of the Israelites and I fear we cannot free our selves from it for how have they been used since the beginning of this Parliament Was not he most cried up that cried most against the Church and Church-men And men of no note became famous in the House by making invective speeches against the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4.13 Heb. 11.38 and 37. and he was deemed most eloquent that was most bitter against them and how hâ—ve they been handled ever since Voted out of all their means and not any thing left them to buy them bread graviora morte and being thus made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things unto this day as the Apostle speaketh they are either cast with Joseph into the dungeon or driven to wander in desarts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth being destitute afflicted tormented And I may say of some of them with Jeremy Jer. 5.9 they that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets they that were clad in scarlet embrace dunghils they sigh and seek bread and have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve their souls Lam. 4 5. 1.11 And shall I not
by-word among the Heathens and our enemies laugh us to scorn Therefore as the good Physitian first seâ—rcheth out the cause of the disease and then prepareth a potion for the cure and as Joshuah when God turned away from the children of Israel and delivered them up into the hands of their Enemies never left searching Josh 7.18 2 Sam 21.1 till he had found out the accursed thing that was the cause of their destruction and David also when there was a famine three years year after year inquired of the Lord what should be the cause thereof so we must inquire and search out the cause why the Lord hath overthrown all our hedges and given us as a spoyle unto our Neighbours And herein as Demodacus said of the Milesians We have committed the same sins and more sins and more hainously than the Israelites did they were no fools but they did the same things that fools did So I say we are no Israelites but I fear we have committed the same sins as the Israelites did Idolatry injustice and contempt of our Teachers nay have we not added unto these Sacriledge Perjury Drunkenness Luxury and all kind of uncleanness Yea have we not made injustice and perjury and sacriledge and contempt of the Ministers and rebellion against the Ordinance of God and many other sins that formerly were but personal sins now to become national when they are committed continued and maintained by the Representatives of the whole Kingdom And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this saith the Lord Vers 19. Yes saith our Prophet wee shall be to them that desire the day of the Lord for it is darkness and not light and it shall be as if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him that is to escape the least and to fall into the greater punishment because the Lion is a more noble enemy than the Bear when as the Poet saith Parcere prostratis scit nobilis ira Leonis But the Bear is a most ravenous raging Beast Hos 5.12.14 that will tear us all to pieces so it is to escape the Sword and to die by Famine to provide against Famine and to be destroyed by the Pestilence which shall follow one another so long as we continue in our sins and the wrath of the Lord shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still As in Levit. 26. after many plagues he addeth I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins And therefore if you would turn away the wrath of God you must turn away from these sins that have provoked him to wrath Quia sublata causa tollitur effectus And then 2. If you would find the Lord 2. The place where God may be found you must go to the place where he resideth for though Enter praesenter Deus est ubique poten or in respect of his omnipotent Essence the spirit of the Lord filleth all places If we climb up into Heaven he is there if we go down to Hell he is there also and as the Schools say he is Supra coelos non elatus subter terram non depressus intra mundum non inclusus extra mundum non exclusus yet in respect of his favourable presence he is not to be found in every place How God filleth all places for if you seek the righteous God among unrighteous men the faithful God among lying perjurers as the Grecians sought for Helen in Troy when she was with Proteus in Egypt we shall be sure to miss him because the holy spirit of discipline fleeth from deceit and dwelleth not in the body that is subject unto sin and therefore the place is to be considered where we must seek him and that is principally 1. The Church of Christ among the faithful And God is found 1. In the Church among the faithful 2. The holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles 1. As Joseph and Mary when they lost Christ found him not in the waies among their friends and acquaintance but in the Temple among the Doctors so we shall find him not in the factious confederacies of private Conventicles but in the publique assemblies of Gods holy Church Psal 26.8 which is the place where his honour dwelleth not among Perjurers Lyers Rebels and the like but among the faithful and among those that fear the Lord for The Lord is with them that fear him and put their trust in his mercy and with such he may be found And therefore if you would find the Lord you must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful you must have nothing to do with the stool or seat of wickedness which imagineth mischief and doth countenance their wickedness by a Law but where you see the righteous gathering themselves in the name of Christ and joyning their forces in the fear of God there is the Lord in the midst of them Lev. 26.12 even as himself hath promised I will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be my people 2 In the holy Scriptures 2. As we may find the Lord in the Church of the righteous so we may find him in the holy Scriptures not in the Turks Alcoron nor in the Popes Canon nor in mans Tradition nor in any like unwritten verities which are the muddy inventions of distracted brains and the idle vanities of seduced souls we send you to no such places to seek the Lord whatsoever the malice of our adversaries saith of us but we direct you to the pure Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thy Word is truth and the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 17.17 John 5.39 Aug. Confes l. 11. c. 2. 2 Tim. 3.13 Hieron in ep ad demetriad testifie of me saith our Saviour and therefore Deliciae meae scripturae tuae thy Scriptures are my delights saith S. Augustine and the reason is rendered by S. Hierom because they are able as the Apostle sâ—ith to make us wise unto salvation and all wisdom without this is but meet foolishness for Quid prodest esse peritum periturum what will it boot a man to be wise unto perdition to be subtle to play the Rebel to be a crafty Traytor and to go to Hell with a great deal of wit and learning Aug. quo sup as St. Augustine speaketh Psal 120.4.5 Therefore though you should be constrained to dwell with Meshec and to have your habitation among the tents of Kedar among the Egyptians or Babylonians among them that are enemies unto peace as God knows how soon any of us may be taken by such enemies yet if we leave them and take the holy Scriptures there we shall have the Lord to be our companion though we should be shut up with Jeremy in the dungeon But 3. For the
time of seeking God 3. The time when God may be found you must remember that the Prophet bids us Seek the Lord while he may be found and many men seek salvation in medio gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae and therefore mistaking their time they miss to find it for God allowed us no time to seek him but the time present during this life and no other time and you know the first Aphorism of Hippocrates is that Ars longa vita brevis Art is long and our Life is short yea so short Seneca de brevitat vita c. 1. that as Seneca saith Aristotle Theophrastus and others quarrelled with nature for giving beasts and plants so long an age and to man so short a time which as the Prophet saith is but a span long Psal 90.10 a dreame a thought a nothing so soon passeth our time away and we are gone And yet it is strange to see how men do spend that little time which they have to live aut nihil agendo aut malè agendo either in doing nothing or that evil which is indeed far worse than nothing for though you see no man willing to part with his money yet you may find how lavish every man is of his time which is more pretious than all wealth And Seneca tels us of divers men in his time Senec de bâ—evit vit c. 12. that spent every day an hour or two in the Barbers shop to cut down those hairs that grew the night before and were more curious of their locks than they were careful of the Common-wealth and others worse than these spend their time in gaming drinking and oppressing their poor Neighbours and they are very loath to consider how vainly and how wickedly they do wast their dayes for he that hath desired with ambition conquered with insolency cozened with subtilty plundered with covetousness and mis-spent all by prodigality must needs be affraid to review those things which must needs make him ashamed or if these men have so much grace to look back to see what they have mis-spent before they have spent all then shall you hear them say that if they were young again they would change their course and Seek the Lord that they might live and not lose their lives in following after lying vanities but alas that cannot be for as Plato saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time and tyde stay for no man and as the Poet saith nec quae preteriit hora redire potest that which is past cannot be recalled again and Seneca saith that the greatest Poet that ever was tells us our happiest daies do pass from us first Eccles 12 1. And therefore I say to you young men remember your Creator in the daies of your youth and as Timothy had known the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was nursed up in the fear of the Lord so do you for what will it avail you to compose your speech according to the rules of Lilly and the Rhetorick of Cicero and not to have your lives answerable to the rules of charity and the precepts of the holy Scriptures to learn out of Aristotle the nature of the creatures and to remain ignorant of the will of the Creator and to have learned that whereby you may live richly here for a while and to neglect that whereby you may live happily hereafter for ever And I say to you old men that nunquam sera est ad paenitendum via it is never too late to repent if you can but truly repent for he that requireth your first fruits refuseth not your last age And I say to you all to day if you will hear his voice Psal 95. harden not your hearts for now is the time acceptable now is the day of Salvation semper nocuit differre vocatis When we ought most especially to seek the Lord. But though we ought at all times in all places to seek the Lord yet there are some times wherein we ought more especially and more earnestly to seek after him than at all other times and those are the times of troubles and adversities when God scourgeth us for losing him Psal 50 15. Mat. 11.28 for so God biddeth us call upon me in the time of trouble and Christ saith come unto me all you that travel and are heavy Laden and so the Brethren of Joseph sought unto God in their troubles and the Mariners that transported Jonas Jonas 1.5 7. though but heathens yet will they call every man upon his God when the Sea was ready to swallow them up Mat. 8.25 and the Disciples being in the like danger came crying unto Christ and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord save us me perish and they that will not seek the Lord in their distress will never seek him for the Prophet speaking of the wicked saith fill their faces with shame Psal 83.16 that they may seek thy name and of them that will not then seek him the Lord saith Why should ye be stricken any more as if he had said Isa 1.5 you are now past all hope when your afflictions cannot make you seek the Lord but that you will revolt more and more and prove like Pharaoh that the more the Lord plagued him Exod. c. 8 c 9 c. 10. the more he hardened his own heart And therefore seeing the Lord hath now bent his bow like an enemy and set us as a mark for the arrow he hath set our necks under persecution and turned our songs into mournings and our happy and long continued Peace into cruel Wars though heretofore we have past our time in vanities and have neglected to seek the Lord yet if we have any grace let us now seek unto the Lord and say with the Prophet O Lord Lam. 5.23 21. wherefore dost thou forget us for ever and forsake us so long a time turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned renew our daies as of old And 4. For the manner how we ought to seek the Lord 4 The manner how we ought to seek the Lord. 1 Totally with all parts 1 of our bodies 1 Cor. 6.20 it must be 1. Totally with all our parts 2. Carefully with all diligence 1. With all our parts of body and soul externally and internally with outward profession and with inward obedience For 1. Externally we are to glorifie God in our body that is with our members with bended knees with our eyes lifted up to Heaven and with our tongues praising God and confessing our own sins that God may be justified in his sayings and clear when we are judged otherwise as many ask and receive not because they ask amiss Rom. 3. â— James 4. â— that is aut praeter verbum aut non propter verbum either not according to Gods will or not for Christ his sake so many men do seek and find not because they seek
celerity moving into a thousand thousand places as it were in a moment And so in these two respects they have abundant and in a manner infinite knowledge and that not only about the Creatures and all the secrets of Nature and all the actions yea and sometimes the secret motions of all men but also concerning God himself and his divine Mysteries as they know that there is a God Aug. de regulis verae vitae Orphaeus apud Just Martyr Mark 1.24 Athâ—nas in vitae S. Antonii and they know him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one God of himself and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one God in all things and they know him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most high God and they know Christ to be the holy one of God and so they know the Scriptures for they alledge them unto Christ and oftentimes to St. Anthony as Athanasius writeth in his life And therefore it is not knowledge that many men abuse and maketh many men proud that can make any one happy unless they do rightly use their knowledge to the glory of God the edifying of their neighbours and the saving of their own souls for you see the Devils have more knowledge then any of us all and his knowledge doth but make him liable to the greater torments Quia corruptio optimi est pessima The abuse of the best things is the worst thing of all Respect 5 5. In respect of their power the Devil is called potestas aeris the power of the Air Principalities and Powers and the Prince of this world And that we might the better understand the greatness of his power 1 Pet. 5.8 Apoc. 12.9 Job 40.20 he is called the roaring Lion the great Dragon the great Leviathan and the like all names of power But yet here you must observe a twofold property of their power As And they have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Zanch. de operibus Dei l. 4. c. 2. 1. That it is Potestas data concessa non propria atque innata a power given them of God and not their own proper innate power from themselves for all the power they have they have it given them from God and not from themselves And therefore as our Saviour saith of Pilate so I may say of them That they had had no power at all except it had been given them from above by God 2. That it is potestas limitata non absoluta a power limited Their natural power which they have from God from their creation is very exceeding great but now since they sinned it is abridged bridled and they said to be held in chains and not absolute for as God saith unto the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further here shalt thou stay thy proud waves so he saith unto the Devils Thus far shall you molest oppress and persecute my servants but no further â—or as Saint Augustine saith si Diabolus tantum nocere posset quantum vellet aliquis justorum non remaneret If Satan might do what he would do not a righteous man should remain upon the face of the earth And therefore whatsoever he can do he can do the same but by the leave and permission of God for he is like a Bear in a Chain and without Gods leave he could not touch Job with the least of his fingers John 2.16 Matth 8 41. nor enter into the Swine without the permission of Christ and therefore much less can he enter into any man or woman and so possess them without the leave and licence from God But when God gives him leave and suffereth him without stop then his power extendeth it self to do very much upon the creatures And God gave him leave at Hickham to throw me down upon the pavement of Flint stones but not to destroy me as he caused the winds to meet together and to smite the four corners of the house of Job's Son and so to overthrow the same and so likewise with this leave and permission of God his power reacheth to the raysing of storms and tempests clouds and darkness and the sinking of Ships to the destruction of Men and Women as he threw down the house to destroy all the Children of Job and so he can enter into men or women and drive them as he did the swine to hang drown or do any other mischief unto themselves as here to cast the Possessed oft time into the fire Matth. 17.15 and oft into the waters For though he hath no power to work upon the Celestial bodies because an inferior substance or a lower cause vim nullam habet in superiora corpora have no power at all to work upon superior bodies as the Philosophers do affirm yet we see plainly that his power extendeth unto all sublunary and elementary creatures And therefore seeing the power of the Devil is so great What the former point of doctrine teacheth us as both his names and his doings do declare and yet that all his power can do just nothing not so much as to shake the leaf of an Aspen Tree without the leave and permission of God it should teach us 1. To pray to God 2. To relie on God 1. To pray to God to preserve us and to put a hook in his nostrills to stop him from his malice 2. Doing this to be as bold as Lions to do our duties without fear of all the Devils in hell for if God be with us what need I care what Men or Devils can do unto me quia non plus valet ad dejiciendum inferna poena quam ad erigendum divina tutela because all the power of darkeness is not so able to cast me down as the assistance of God is to hold me up or to raise me when I am fallen We read of other names of the Devil according to the distinct places and offices that they have among themselves to do mischief and to tempt wretched men to sin and to offend their God as Lucifer and Beelzebub that tempt the young Gallants unto pride and to murther each other in a single Combate rather then they will abate an inch of their reputation And Leviathan that is the arch Doctor of all Hereticks and filleth their heads with such itching curiosities as makes them leave the true light and fall away to erronious darkness and Asmodeus that inticeth young men and maids unto wantonness and fleshly lusts Judg. 8.33 and c. 9. 4. 3. Of the number of the Devils Arist Physicor l. 8. Metaph l. 12. Text 48. and Bal-bereth that we read of in the eighth and ninth of Judges and tempteth men to quarels and contentions and Baalim and Astaroth and many more too tedious to rehearse and which were the gods of the Gentiles but the names of Devils for dii gentium Demonia but 3. To pass from their Names unto their Number Aristotle is of opinion that
was risen in Cheshire and was so near the time that I expected and foreshewed his Majesties restauration I took a young Philly that I had of three years old and in a very cold snow and frost in January I went soft and fair towards London hoping that now so many men looking after the coming in of our King and Collonel Monk expected to assist him I should have my Great Antichrist published yet still the Rump was so strong that it could not be therefore I was fain to retire towards Wales again and going from my house by Tocester where I had left my Mare some ten miles in a frosty morning a foot I afterwards went a horse-back but had not rid one quarter of a mile but my Mare whom all my Neighbours there said she was great with foal lay down under me and I fearing she would cast her Foale and so perhaps lose my Mare or forced to leave her behind me was resolved to lead her in my hand and so I did from that place which was Daintry to my house in Wales about seven score miles the way being somewhat fair in the latter end of March. Then having some occasions to go to Ireland being at Holy Head I had notice with the Post from London that the Parliament according as I found in Scripture had voted the coming in of the King and I landing in Dublin about seven of the Clock the next morning being Sunday preâ—ched at St. Brides and publickly prayed for the King I am sure the first man in the Kingdom of Ireland and the next morning went towards Kilkenny and going to Donmore to present my service to my Lady of Ormond I found her as she was ever the most honourable of all the Ladies that ever I knew and taking me aside informed me of the state of Kilkenny and of all things thereabouts so I went to Kilkenny and preached there and publickly prayed for his Majesty the next Sunday after I had done the like at Dublin and then hasted back to Dublin and from thence without stay to Holy Head and resting but one night in mine own house I rode as fast as I could to London and having left all the Lands that I had in Ireland in pawn for 100 li. which mine own self carried to London I agreed for the Printing of my Great Antichrist and immediately after his Majestiâ—s happy arrival in London having the same printed in three Printing-houses and my self paying for the printing of it with ready money I got it presently done and presented it to his Majesty who very graciously accepted thereof But one of my Countrymen had begg'd of his Majesty the Deanery of Bangor yet when I informed his Majesty that my good King and gracious Master his Father had conferred it upon me to hold it in commendum so firm as Law could make it his Majesty was most graciously pleased presently to send to Sir Edward Nicholas to recall the Grant that he had made to Mr. Lloyd but the same being past to the Great Seal my Lord Chancellour to whom I ever was very much obliged knowing my Faithfulness to my late King and best Master and my sufferings for him did most honourably stop it before I could come unto his Lordship and so by his Majesty and my Lord Chancellours goodness I still enjoyed my Masters favour Then things being somewhat setled I went to live upon my Bishoprick in Kilkenny where I found the Cathedral Church and the Bishops house all ruined and nothing standing but the bare walls without Roofs without Windows but the holes and without doors yet I resolved presently to mend and repair one Room and to live in the Bishops house and as I had vowed that if I should ever come to my Bishoprick I should wholly and fully bestow the first years profit for the reparation of the Church so my witness is in heaven that I have done it and have since bestowed more as forty pound the last Summer for repairing the Steeple of the Cathedral * And this Summer six score pounds for to make a Bell worth they say 200 l. and yet a thousand pounds more will not sufficiently repair that Church which I vowed to bestow If I recover the Bishops house and live to it and a great deal of cost more I laid out upon the Bishops house Yet now began my Oppression which grieves me much more than my Persecution because my persecution was personal and concerned my self alone but mine Oppression doth now reach to the dishonour of God and the robbing of Jesus Christ of his service and the destruction of his Servants when as the Church of Christ cannot be ruled without Governours nor instructed without Teachers and neither of them can subsist without maintenance And yet now Noblemen and Gentlemen Souldiers and Citizens and all think no Bread so sweet no Wine so pleasant as that which they snatch from the Altar and no Land so fertile as that which they hold from the Church and keep it by force from the Church-men and to give you a taste of this truth I have printed a Narrative and a true Relation of a Law proceeding betwixt my self and Sir George Ayskue a civil Gentleman I confess and one that hath been Vice-Admiral to the Long Parliament but now is very faithful to our present King and sorry for what he hath been as I verily believe and is a man of a very fair carriage and of very good parts yet bewitched with the disguised spirit of Sacriledge to hold fast in his hands the Lands of the Church and not only he but many others are sick of the same disease as appeareth by the subsequent of this relation A true Relation of a Law-proceeding betwixt the Right Reverend Father in God Griffith L. Bishop of Ossory and Sir George Ayskue Knight c. Sheweth THat the Lordship of Bishops Court alias upper Court belongs to the Bishop of Ossory And as I am informed Jo. Bale Bishop of Ossory dwelt in the Mannor house thereof and was from thence driven by the Tories in Queen Maries daies to flee to Geneva to save his life when he looking out at his Window saw his Steward that was with his Hâ—y-makers killed before his face and he being fled to Geneva Jo. Tonery was made Bishop of Ossory and he made away divers Lordships and among the rest this Bishops Court in Fee-farm as they pre end to one Rich. Shea Bishop Bale being yet alive and lived in Queen Elizabeths daies after Tonery came Bishop Gafney and Bishop Bale still alive and after Gafney came Bishop Walsh and he finding the invalidity of the Fee farmes made by the Popish Bishops while the right Bishop was alive petitioneth to Queen Elizabeth and had her Letters to the Lord Lieutenant and Council to hear the Cause and to relieve the Bishop according as they found the equity of his Cause but before he could have any redress he was killed by some Irish man to
aide and free will offering to do the same they were ready and so willing every man beyond his power to bring in their oblation in such abundance that Moses was fain to tell them they had brought enough and too much and therefore forbade them to bring in any more he like a good man and just being not desirous to make any gain of their bounty And you may read in 1 Chron. 29.3 1 Chron. 29.3 when King David resolved to have the Temple built what great provision he left for the erecting of it and how Solomon his Son did most gloriously finish the same in seven years 1 Reg. 6.37 and furnished the same with all things necessary for the service of God and after that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it the Jews under Zorobabel did most readily beyond the ability of captived men newly released contribute and offered their free-will offerings towards the re-edifying of the same which they finished in the ninth year of Dâ—rius Histaspes Joseph lib. 11. c. 4. that made it to be forty six years in building from the second year of Cyrus who began it according as the Jews say to our Saviour Christ And because these newly released Jews that had scarce taken root in the Land of Jury and were but scarce seated and unsetled in Jerusalem were not able to make this their Temple answerable in glory and sumptuousness to that most rare and admirable Temple which those two mighty Kings and Kings of all Israel David and Solomon had joyned their wealth and strength together to make it a most glorious house for the most glorious and Almighty God therefore Herod that was but an alien an Idumean knowing that great and glorious things are to be offered ascribed and dedicated to the great and glorious God re-edified and finished the same most sumptuously in eight years Joseph l. 15. c. ult as Josephus writeth and he built the same so exceeding excellent and more admirable than the Egyptian Pyramides that Cheops builded of rare Theban Marble so that for the rareness thereof the Disciples shew it our Saviour Christ saying Master see what manner of stones Mar. 13.1 and what buildings are here And the Jews generally were so zealous of Gods service and so ready to build and erect houses for his service that besides this glorious great and magnificent Temple they had many Synagogues that is other lesser houses like unto our Parish Churches dedicated and consecrated for the worship of God and he was counted a very good man and worthy of all love and respect that had built one of these as they tell Christ that the Centurion was worthy to have that favour shewed him by Christ as to heal his Daughter Luk. 7.5 because he had loved their nation and had built them a Synagogue that is a house for the people to meet in it to pray and to serve their God in it And it is most likely they began to build these Synagogues when the Tribes were setled in the Land of Canaan because the Ark that remained in Shilo and afterwards the Temple that was erected in Jerusalem Why the Synagogues of the Jews were built were so far distant from them that dwell in the remotest parts of the Land that they could not come so often as they would unto it therefore they built to themselves Synagogues to pray to God and to serve him in them instead of the Temple for so we read that Moses of old time probable I say from their very first beginning of their settlement Acts 15.21 had in every City them that preached him being read in their Synagogues every Sabbath day where by the way you may observe that of old time contrary to the conceit of our new Fanaticks the reading of the holy Scriptures was accounted the preaching of Gods word though I deny not but after it be read and so preached Luk. 4.18 it may be further explained as Christ did that place of Isa 61.1 And you see they had these Synagogues in every City so they must have as many Synagogues as there were Cities in all their Land The number of their Synagogues and Sigonius writeth that there were four hundred and eighty of these Synagogues in Jerusalem and the Scripture sheweth that in other Cities and Provinces there were many other Synagogues as in Galile in Damascus in Salamis and in Antiochia and Maymonides one of their prime Doctors saith the tradition of their Elders was that wheresoever ten Families of Israel were they ought to build them a Synagogue And shall the Jews that were under the Law and burdened with such infinite Taxes and Ceremonies of their Religion as were more than they were able to bear Acts 15.10 as the Apostle testifieth be so zealous so religious and so ready to part with their wealth and the best things they had to build so sumptuous and so glorious a Temple and so many Synagogues to perform those services that God required of them which notwithstanding were but the types and shadows of that true Religion which we have and do profess to embrace it and shall we that have the substance of those shadows which they had and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which they never had but in aenigmate preached so clearly and so amply among us and are freed from all the legal Ceremonies and Ordinances of the Law be so cold and so careless as we are to repair the houses of Jesusr Christ I fear then that these Jews shall rise in judgment against us Nay more than this if you look into the stories of the Gentiles Grecians or Barbarians that knew not God but knew that there is a God which all men ought to worship you shall find how zealous they were to build Temples and Oracles to their unknown Gods that were no other than the devils as the Oracle of Delphos Amphiaraus Hamonium Dodonaeum the Temple of Diana at Ephesus of Vesta Ceres Minerva and other Goddesses of the Gentiles and the many many Temples that the Romans and other Nations built to Jupiter Apollo Mars and the rest of their false and faigned Gods and Goddesses that were indeed but very devils Quia dii gentum daemoâ—ia and how sumptuously they erected and gloriously adorned and beautified those houses of these deceitful Oracles and were so exceeding bountiful almost beyond belief in their oblations and donations to these holy places as they deemed them as it appeareth in Herodotus Herodotus l. 1. by the large gifts of inestimable value that Cresus sent to the Temple of Delphos and other Temples of those Gentile gods And because they knew no otherwise but that these infernal devils were Celestial Gods and so worshipped them as gods with Temples Altars Sacrifices Prayers and Oblations dedicated unto them which do only and properly belong to the true and eternal God therefore Horace saith to them that neglected the erecting and beautifying of these