delicate fruits they who overcome not eat not x Apoc. 2.17 the hidden Manna as they partake not of the Spouse her graces so neither have they any right or title to her titles They are no Temples but rather styes no dove-cotes but cages of uncleane birds no habitations for the holy Ghost but rather haunts of uncleane spirits They indeed live and move in God for out of him they cannot subsist but y Gal. 2.20 Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Rom. 8 9. 2 Cor. 6.16 God himselfe liveth and moveth in the godly God is in all places and abideth every where yet hee z Ephes 3.17 dwelleth onely in the hearts of true believers For they and they onely are the Temple of the living God Doctr. 4 Are. In the Romane Kalendar no Saints are entred till many miracles be voiced upon them after death but in Gods Register wee finde Saints in the Church on earth among the a Rom. 1.7 Romanes b 1 Cor. 1.2 Corinthians c Eph. 1.1 Ephesians d Phil. 1.1 Philippians at e Act. 9.32 Lydda and elsewhere But what Saints and how Saints by calling Saints by a holy profession and blamelesse conversation Saints by gratious acceptation of pious endeavours rather than of performances Saints by inchoation Saints by regeneration of grace Saints by daily renovation of the inward man Saints by devotion and dedication of themselves wholly to God Saints by inhabitation of the holy spirit in them which maketh them a holy Temple of the living God In this life we are f 1 Cor. 3.23 Gods for all things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods in the life to come g Apo. 21.22 And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the Lambe are the Temple thereof God is ours In this life wee are Gods Temple but in the life to come God is g Apo. 21.22 And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the Lambe are the Temple thereof ours Now God dwelleth with us and is but slenderly entertained by us but there wee shall dwell with him and have fulnesse of all things yet without satiety or being cloyed therewith Doctr. 5 The Temple Not the Temples but the Temple Gen. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the learned Hebricians from the construction of the noune plurall with a verb singular as if you would say in Latine Dii or Numina creavit gather the trinity of persons in the unity of the divine nature so from the construction here of a singular adjunct with a subject plurall wee may inferre the plurality of the faithfull in the unity of the Church For wee that are many yet are truely one many graines one bread many sheepe one fold many members one body many branches one vine many private oratories or chaplets but one Temple The parts of the Catholike Church are so farre scattered and dissevered in place that they cannot make one materiall yet they are so neare joyned in affection and fast linked with the bonds of religion that they make but one spirituall Temple They are many soules and must needs have as many divers naturall bodies yet in regard they are all quickned guided and governed by the same spirit they make but one mysticall body whose head is in heaven and members dispersed over the earth Can unity bee divided If wee are rent in sunder by schisme and faction Christ his seamelesse coate cannot cover us all The Philosophers finde it in the naturall the States-men in the politicke and I pray God wee finde it not in the mysticall body of Christ h Cyp. de simplic prel A velle radium à sole divisionem lucis unitas non capit ab arbore frange ramum fructum germinare non poterit à fonte praecide rivum prorsus arescet That division tends to corruption and dissolution to death Plucke a beame if you can from the body of the sunne it will have no light breake a branch from the tree it will beare no fruit sever a river from the spring it will soone bee dryed up cut a member from the body it presently dyeth cast a pumice stone into the water and though it bee never so bigge while it remaines entire and the parts whole together it will swimme above water but breake it into pieces and every piece will sinke in like manner the Church and Common-wealth which are supported and as it were borne up above water by unity are drowned in perdition by discord dissention schisme and faction It is not possible that those things which are knit by a band should hold fast together after the band it selfe is broken How can a sinew hold steddy the joint if it bee sprayned or broken or cut in sunder Religion beloved brethren is the band of all society the strongest sinew of Church or Commonwealth God forbid there should bee any rupture in this band any sprayne in this sinew The husbandman hath sowed good seede cleane and picked in this Kingdome for more than threescore yeeres and it hath fructified exceedingly since the happy reformation of Religion in these parts O let no envious man sow upon it those tares which of late have sprung up in such abundance in our neighbour countries that they have almost choaked all the good wheat Let no roote of bitternesse spring up in our Paradise or if it bee sprung let authority or at least Christian charity plucke it up Wee are all one body let us all have the same minde towards God and endeavour to the utmost of our power to i Eph. 4 3. preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace that our spirituall Jerusalem may resemble the old Byzantium the stones whereof were so matched and the wall built so uniformely that the whole City seemed to bee but one stone continued throughout It was the honour of the k Psal 122.3 Jerusalem is builded as a City that is compacted together old let it bee also of the new Jerusalem that it is a City at unity in it selfe Doctr. 6 I have held you thus long in the Porch let us now enter into the Temple Glorious things are spoken of you O ye chosen of God yee are tearmed vessels of honour lights of the world a chosen generation a royall priesthood a peculiar people a celestiall society yet nothing ever was or can be more spoken to Your endlesse comfort and superexcellent glory than that you are Children of the Father Members of the Sonne and Temples of the holy Ghost Seneca calleth the world Augustissimum Dei Templum a most magnificent Temple of God David the heaven Solomon the Church Saint Paul the Elect in the Church and in a sense not altogether improper we may tearme the world the Temple of the Church the Church the Temple of our bodies our bodies the Temples of our soules and our soules most peculiarly the Temples of the
with a head of gold armes of silver bellie and thighes of brasse and legs of Iron yet thou standest upon feet of clay And what is now become of the head of gold which represented the Assyrian and armes of silver which resembled the Persian and the thighes of brasse which set forth the Grecian and the legs of iron which signified the Roman Monarchy Are they not all broken together and become like chaffe of a summers flower dispersed with the winde How proudly doth Sennacherib insult over those Nations whom his Ancestors had destroyed u Esay 37.13 Where is the King of Hamath and the King of Arphad and the King of the Citie Sepharvaim Hena and Ivah Little did he then thinke of a bird from the East Cyrus by name that after a short time should chirpe the like note at the Court of the great King of Ashur Where is the King of Shinar and the King of Babylon and the King of Damascus and the King of Nineveh and the great Monarch of Assyria Whereas he should with Nebuchadnezzar have x Dan. 4.34.35 honoured for these victories him that liveth for ever whose Kingdome is from generation to generation And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the armie of heaven and among the Inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou x Horat. l. 1. car od 34. Valet ima summis mutare insignem attenuat Deus hinc apicem rapax fortuna sustulit hic posuisse gaudet If the state of Kingdomes and Monarchies is so fickle what follie or rather madnesse is it for any private man to dreame of perpetuities and certainties and indefeisable estates As if a man might be safe in a small cabbine under hatches when the whole Ship is drowned under the water or a Spider secure in his web when the whole window is pulled downe or a young bird out of danger in the nest when the whole arme of the tree is torne off All private mens estates are ventered in the bottome of the Common-wealth and all Common-wealthes in the great vessell of the earth which was once swallowed up with a deluge of Water and shall be ere it be long with a deluge of fire A house infected with some kinde of Leprosie by the Law was to be pulled downe and burnt to ashes and when iniquitie shall so abound on the earth that the whole world shall be infected with the Leprosie of monstrous and enormous sins this great house which hath beene long tottered shall be burned and fall downe about our eares And verily if all other signes be accomplished as many of the learned in their commentaries upon the Apocalyps contend I should thinke the world cannot long stand for y Juvenal sat 1. Quando ubâ—rior vitiorum copia quando Major avaritia patuit sinus c Horat. l. 1. car od 35. Eheu cicatricuÌ„ sceleris pudet fratrumque quid nos dura refugimus caetas quid intactum nefasti liquimus Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit Every sinne is growne to the height Atheisme to the height even in men of high calling prophanenesse to the height even on the Lords Sabbaths and in his holy Temple Impuritie and immodestie at the height even daring the consistory Iniquitie at the height possessing the place and seat of justice Drunkennesse at the height reeling at noone-day Idolatrie Heresie and Superstition at the height advancing their followers to the highest preferments in the Church and keeping under pure Religion and the sincere Professours thereof It will be said though plagues fall upon all Egypt yet Goshen shall be free though the whole world be destroyed all Israel shall be saved Israel is Gods first-borne who shall dis-inherit him Israel is the Vine which the right hand of God hath planted who shall root it up Israel is the Signet on his finger who shall plucke it off Nay Israel is the apple of his eye who shall pull it out Let heaven and earth passe away yet Gods covenant with Israel shall stand fast his seed shall endure for ever and his throne shall bee as the Sunne before God If these promises stand good unto Israel this Prophecie of Israels downefall must needs fall to the ground For how can the Kingdome of Jacob and the captivitie of Jacob Israels gathering out of all Nations and Israels scattering abroad into all Nations Israels perpetuall standing and Israels falling and utter subversion stand together To compose this seeming difference betweene Gods promises to Israel and his threats against Israel we must distinguish of divers kindes of promises made to Israel and of divers Israels to which the promises may appertaine Israel sometime signifieth 1. Properly 1. Either the whole posteritie of Jacob 2. Or the ten tribes which were rent from Roboam 2. Figuratively The spiritual kingdome of Christ over the Elect. Againe there is a threefold Israel 1. According to the flesh onely of which the a Rom. 9.6 Rom. 11.25 Apostle speaketh expressely They are not all Israel which are of Israel And obstinacie is come to Israel b 1 Cor. 10.18 Behold Israel after the flesh 2. Israel according to the Spirit onely c Heb. 8.10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes I will put my Law into their mindes and write them in their hearts c. and so all d Rom. 11.26 Israel shal be saved for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sinnes 3. Israel according to the flesh and spirit which may rightly be called the Israel of Israel as Demosthenes termeth Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greece of Greece to Israel in this third sense Christ had a speciall commission I am not sent saith he but to the lost e Math. 10.6 Gâ—â— to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel sheepe of the house of Israel Saint Paul pointeth to this Israel when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in all f Rom. 10.26 Israel shall be saved And Saint John g Apoc. 7 4. There were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel Retaine these distinctions of Israel and put a difference betweene the promises whereof Some are 1. Absolute 2. Conditionall Some are 1. Temporall 2. Spirituall and you shall easily reconcile those texts of Scriptures which seeme to overthrow this prophecie concerning the utter overthrow of the Kingdome of Israel by which we are here to understand the ten Tribes which fell out not long after this Prophecie in the daies of Hosea their last King As for Judah the h Gen. 49.10 Scepter according to Jacobs prophecy departed not from it untill Shilo came but after he came and was rejected of that Nation and the sacred twig of Jesse was nailed to an accursed tree God cut it off root
Ministers of God but by the hand of their laye Elders or Borgomasters for feare of overlaying the Queenes vesture with rich laces of ceremonies they rip them off all cut off the fringe and pare off the nappe also But because the Spouse of Christ as things now stand is more afraid of losing her coat than of her lace or fringe I leave these men as unworthy upon whom more breath should be spent and come to the particular rite or ceremony of breathing used by our Saviour Hee breathed on them Here every Interpreter aboundeth in his owne sense q Barrad in Evang Flatus domini potestatem quam dabat remittendi peccata adumbrabat ut enim flatu nubes toâ—o aere pelluntur sic flatu domini id est Spiritu sancto peccatorum nubes disperguntur juxta illud Esa 44. delevisti ut nubes iniquitates nostras Barradius his sense is that this breathing shadowed forth the ghostly power of remitting of sinnes which Christ gave to his Apostles For as by a blast of wind clouds are driven out of the aire so by the blast of God that is the holy Spirit the clouds of our sinnes are dispersed according to the words of the Prophet Esay cap. 44.22 I have blotted out as a thicke cloud thy transgressions r Maldonat in Johan Christus per insufflationem declarare voluitipsam Spiritus sancti naturam est enim veluti flatus patris filii Maldonate his sense is that Christ by this visible ceremony of breathing declared the nature of the holy Ghost who is the breath of the Father and the Sunne Å¿ Musculus in Johan Commodè Spiritum per flatum dedit cum illis muneris Apostolici potestatem daret pendebat enim illa a verbis oris ipsius Musculus his sense is that Christ fitly used the ceremony of breathing when he invested the Apostles into their function because it hath a dependance upon the words of his mouth because it is a power of the word it was therefore given by breathing on them t Calvin harm Cumarcana inspiratione posset Christus gratiam conferre Apostolis visibilem flatum addere voluit ad eos melins confirmandos symbolum autem sumpsit à vulgari S.S. more qui Spiritum confert vento Calvin his sense is that Christ added this ceremony of outward breathing upon them to confirme their faith in the inward inspiration the symbole or signe hee tooke from the common custome of the Scripture which compareth the spirit to winde u Athana in Joh. In sufflando dedit animam quae est principium vitae naturalis Spiritum qui est principium vitae spiritualis ut idem quicreator agnosceretur renovator Athanasius his sense is that as God in the creation of man breathed into him his soule which is the beginning or principle of the naturall life so Christ here breathed into the Disciples his spirit which is the beginning or principle of the spirituall life that wee might know that the same God who is the author of the naturall life is also the author of the life of grace and that hee who first created the spirit of man reneweth all the faithfull in the spirit of their mindes But the most naturall genuine and generally approved reason and interpretation of this rite and ceremony is that which is given by Saint Austine and Saint Cyrill viz. that Christ by breathing on his Apostles when he gave them the holy Ghost signified that the person of the holy Ghost proceeded from him as that breath came out of his mouth For although Theophylact infected with the present errour of the Greek Church jeareth at this interpretation yet neither doth hee nor can hee give so apt and fit a one and in this regard Cardinall Bellarmine justly taketh him up for sleighting the judgement of two of the greatest pillars of the Church Verely saith he Theophylact is to be jeared at by all of the Latine Church if hee flout at Saint Austine and of the Greeke Church also if hee flout at Saint Cyril for what interpretation so naturall what reason so proper can be given of coupling this ceremony with the words Receive yee the Holy Ghost that is giving the holy Ghost by breathing as this that the holy Spirit proceedeth from his person And so I passe from the mysterious rite of breathing to the sanctified forme of words Receive yee the holy Ghost Not the person nor the substance of the holy Ghost for that errour the Master of the sentences was long agoe whipt by his schollars Sanctified the Apostles were by receiving the Spirit but not deified What then received they at this time some gift of the holy Ghost that takes not away the doubt but makes it untieth not the knot but fasteneth it rather For as Pythagoras when the question of marriage was put to him in his flourishing age answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not yet when in his decaying and withering age hee replyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not now so if the question be of the ordinary gifts of the holy Ghost it may be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostles were not now to receive them because at their first calling they were seasoned with that heavenly liquor But if the question be of the extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost or a fuller measure of the ordinary it may be replied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were not as yet to receive them For Christ * Joh. 16.7 must first ascend before he send the holy Ghost To take this pearle out of the eye of my text many medicines have beene applyed Theodoret thus offereth to remove it Our Saviour Joh. 16.7 said not that hee would not give the holy Ghost before his ascension but that he would not send him before at this time saith that Father Christ gave the holy Ghost secretly with grace but then he sent him in a visible shape with power x Calvin in Joh. Sic datus fuit Apostolis spiritus hoc loco ut respersi fuerint duntaxat ejus gratia non plena virtute imbuti Calvin helpeth it with a distinction of the receiving the holy Ghost in different degrees now the Spirit was but sprinkled as it were upon them but in the day of Pentecost it was powred out on them now they were gently breathed on and refreshed as it were with a small gale then they were all blowne upon as it were with a mighty winde y Chrys in Joh. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint Chrysostome thus expedites the difficulty some say that Christ gave not the holy Ghost at this time but that by his breathing on his Apostles he made them capable or fit to receive him but wee may safely goe farther and say that the Apostles at this time received some spirituall grace or power not of working wonders but of remitting sinne If you further aske why the power of forgiving sinnes or which comes all to one why remission
eleven Apostles or to more than five hundred brethren that saw him all at one time nay what to more than five millions of Confessors and Martyrs signing the truth of it with their blood and shewing the power of it as well by the wonders which they wrought in his name as the invincible patience wherewith they endured all sorts of torments and death it selfe for his name I might produce the testimony of Josephus the learned Jew and tell you of Paschasinus his holy Well that fils of his owne accord every Easter day and the annuall rising of certaine bodies of Martyrs in the sands of Egypt and likewise of a Phoenix in the dayes of Tyberius much about the time of our Lords resurrection rising out of her owne ashes m Lactant. in Poem Ipsa sibi proles suus pater suus haeres Nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi Ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia ipsa nec ipsa Eternam vitam mortis adepta bono But because the authours of these relations and observations are not beyond exception I will rather conclude this point with an argument of Saint n De civit Dei l. 22. c. 5. Haec duo incredibilia scil resurrectionem nostri corporis rem â—am incredibilem mundum esse crediturum idem dominus antequam vel unum horuÌ„ fieret ambo futura esse praedixit unum duorum incredibilium jam factum videmus ut quod erat incredibile credeâ—et mundus curid quod reliquum est desperatur Austines to which our owne undoubted experience gives much strength The same Spirit of God saith hee which foretold the resurrection of Christ foretold also that the doctrine thereof should bee publickly professed and believed in the world and the one was altogether as unlikely as the other But the latter wee see in all ages since Christs death and at this day accomplished in the celebration of this feast why then should any man doubt of the former The Apostles saw the head living but not the mysticall body the Catholike Church of all places and ages We have read in the histories of all ages since Christ and at this day see the Catholike Church spread over the whole face of the earth which is Christs body how can wee then but believe the head to bee living which conveigheth life to all the members I have set before you the glasse of the resurrection in the figures of predictions of the Old Testament and the face it selfe in the history of the New may it please you now to cast a glance of your eye upon the Image or picture thereof in our rising from the death of sinne to the life of grace All Christs actions and passions as they are meritorious for us so they are some way exemplary unto us and as none can bee assured of the benefit of Christs birth unlesse hee bee borne againe by water and the Spirit nor of his death unlesse hee bee dead to sinne nor of his buriall unlesse hee have buried his old Adam so neither of his resurrection unlesse hee bee risen from dead workes and continually walketh in newnesse of life See you how the materiall colours in a glasse window when the sun-beames passe through it produce the like colours but lesse materiall and therefore called by the Philosophers intentionales spiritales on the next wall no otherwise doth the corporall resurrection of Christ produce in all true believers a representation thereof in their spirituall which Saint John calleth o Apoc. 20.5 the first resurrection Saint Paul p Heb. 6.1 repentance from dead workes Sinnes especially heinous and grievous proceeding from an evill habit are called dead workes and such sinners dead men because they are deprived of the life of God have no sense of true Religion they see not Gods workes they heare not his Word they savour not the things of God they feele no pricke of conscience they breath not out holy prayers to God nor move towards heaven in their desires but lye rotting in their owne filthinesse and corruption The causes which moved the Jewes so much to abhorre dead corpses ought to be more prevalent with us carefully to shunne and avoid those that are spiritually dead in sinnes and transgressions they were foure 1 Pollution 2 Horrour 3 Stench 4 Haunting with evill spirits 1 Pollution That which touched a dead corpse was by the law uncleane neither can any come nigh these men much lesse embrace them in their bosome without morall pollution and taking infection in their soules from them 2 Horrour Nothing so ghastly as the sight of a dead corpse the representation whereof oft-times in the Theater appalleth not onely the spectatours but also the actours and yet this sight is not so dreadfull to the carnall man as the sight of those that are spiritually dead I speake of foule notorious and scandalous offenders to them that feare God Saint John would not stay in the same bath with Cerinthus and certainely 't is a most fearefull thing to bee under the same roofe with blasphemous heretickes and profane persons who have no feare of God before their eyes 3 Stench The smell of a carkasse is not so offensive to the nostrils as the stench of gluttony drunkennesse and uncleannesse in which wicked men wallow is loathsome to God and all good men 4 Haunting with evil spirits We read in scriptures that the men that were possest of the divel came q Mat. 8.28 out of the tombs and graves and we find by dayly experience the like of these rather carkasses than men that the devill hankereth about them and entereth into their heart as he did into Judas filling them with all wickednesse and uncleannesse After they have exhausted their bodies with incontinency their estate with riotous living and have lost first their conscience and after their credit they fall into the deepest melancholy upon which Sathan works and puts them into desperate courses r Psal 73.19 O how suddenly doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Me thinkes I heare some say wee heard of places haunted by evill spirits in time of popery are there now any such not such as then were solitary houses ruined pallaces or Churches in which fearefull noyses are said to have beene heard and walking spirits to have beene met For at the thunder of the Gospell Sathan fell like lightning from heaven and hath left those his old holds but places of a contrary condition such where is the greatest concourse of people I meane profane Theaters disorderly Tavernes Ale-houses places of gaming and lewdnesse yea prisons also which were intended for the restraint of wickednesse and punishment of vice are made refuges of Malefactors and schooles of all impiety and wickednesse Quis custodes custodiet ipsos As in the hot sands of Africa where wilde beasts of divers sorts meet to drinke strange monsters are begotten which gave occasion to that proverbe Å¿ Eras
word of God both conceived by the holy Ghost and brought forth in sacred sheets that as the one consisteth of two natures humane and divine visible and invisible so the other of two senses externall and internall externall and visible in the shadow or letter internall and invisible in the substance or spirituall interpretation either tropologicall or allegoricall or anagogicall as the learned distinguish Doth e Sen. ad Lucil. ep 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti experience teach us that the richest metals lie deepest hid in the earth Shall we not think it very agreeable to divine wisdome so to lay up heavenly knowledge in Scriptures that the deeper we dig into them by diligent meditation the veine of precious truth should prove still the richer Surely howsoever some Divines affect an opinion of judgement it is judgement in opinion onely by allowing of no sense of Scripture nor doctrine from thence except that which the text it selfe at the first proposing offereth to their conceit yet give me leave to tell them that they are but like Apothecaries boyes which gather broad leaves and white flowers on the top of the water not like cunning Divers who fetch precious pearles from the bottome of the deepe St. f L. 2. confes c. 31. Sensit omnino ille cogitavit cum ea scriberet quicquid hic veri potuimus invenire quicquid nos non potuimus aut nondum possumus tamen in t is inveniri potest Austine the most judicious of all the Fathers is of a different judgement from them herein For he confidently affirmeth that the Pen-man of the holy Ghost of purpose so set downe the words that they might be capable of multiplicitie of senses and that he intended and meant all such divine truthes as we can finde in the words and such also as we have not yet or cannot finde and yet by diligent search may be found in them Now as the whole texture of Scripture in regard of the variety of senses may not unfitly be likened to the Kings daughters g Psal 45.14 raiment of needle-worke wrought about with divers colours so especially this of the Canticles wherein the allegoricall sense because principally intended may be called literall and the literall or historicall as intended in the second place allegoricall Behold here as in a faire samplar an admirable patterne of drawne-worke besides King Solomon in his royall robes and his Queene in a vesture of gold divers birds expressed to the life as the white h Cant. 5.12 ver 11. â— 2.2 ver 13. c. 4.14 c. 2.1 c. 5.14 c. 1.17 c. 5.15 c. 1.10 Dove washed with milke and the blacke Raven divers trees as the thorne the fig-tree and the vine the myrrhe spikenard saffron calamus cinamon with all trees of frankincense divers flowers as the Rose and the Lilly divers precious stones as the Berill and the Saphir lastly divers artificiall woâ—kes as Houses of Cedar Rafters of Firre Tents of Kedar Pillars of Marble set in sockets of fine gold rowes of Jewels Chaines and here in my text Borders of gold and Studs of silver Sanctius and Delrio upon my text observe that Solomon alludeth to the i She shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold 13. verse of the 68. Psalme and what the Father prophesied of the Spouse the Sonne promiseth to her viz. to make her borders or as the Hebrew signifieth also k Brightman in Cant. Turtures aureas alii murenulas aliilineas septuaginta similitudines turtles of gold enameled with silver Howbeit it seemeth more probable that these words have a reference to the 9. verse of this chapter and that Solomon continueth his former comparison of a troup of horses in Pharaoh's Charriot and thus the borders and chains in the 10th and 11th verses are linked to the 9th O my beloved and beautifull Spouse as glorious within through the lustre of divine vertues and graces as thou art resplendent without in jewels and precious stones to what shall I liken thee or whereunto shall I compare thee Thou art like a troupe of milke white horses in Pharaoh's princely Charriot adorned with rich trappings and most precious capparisons For as their head and cheekes are beset with rowes of stones so thy cheekes are decked with jewels that hang at thine eares as their neckes shine with golden raines so thy necke is compassed with chaines of gold and pearle and as their breasts are adorned with golden collars quartered into borders enamelled with silver so that thou must herein also resemble them wee will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver to hang about thy necke and downe thy breast Thus much of the letter or rather letters of my text which you see are all golden flourished over with strikes or as Junius translateth the words points of silver now let us endevour to spell the meaning As artificiall pictures drawne by the pencill of a skilfull Opticke in the same part of the frame or table according to divers sites and aspects represent divers things looke one way upon them you shall see a man another way a lion so it is in this admirable piece drawne by the pencill of Solomon according to divers aspects it presenteth to our view divers things looke one way on it and there appeareth a man to wit King Solomon looke another way and there appeareth a lion the lion of the tribe of Judah looke downeward upon the history and you shall see Solomon with a crowne of gold and his Queen in her wedding garment looke upward to the allegory and you shall see Christ crowned with thornes and his Spouse the Church in a mourning weed and under the one written a joyfull Epithalamium under the other a dolefull Elegy Agreeable to which double picture drawne with the selfe same lines and colours wee may consider the chaines and borders of gold in my text either as habiliments of Solomons Queene or ornaments of Christs Spouse If wee consider them in the first sense they shew his royall magnificence and pompe if in the second either they signifie the types and figures of the Jewish Synagogue under the law or the large territories and rich endowments of the Christian Church under the Gospell k Faciemus tibi similitudines aurâ— cum puncturis argenti Origen who taketh the seventy Interpreters for his guide thus wadeth through the allegory The Angels saith he or Prophets speake here to the Spouse before her husband Christ Jesus came in the flesh to kisse her with the kisses of his lips and their speech is to this effect O beautifull Spouse wee cannot make thee golden ornaments we are not so rich thy husband when bee commeth will bestow such on thee but in the meane time wee will make thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
1. Lightsome knowledge 2. Perfect holinesse 3. In regard of the rule that God gave him over all creatures So St. Basil expoundeth those words Let us make man after our image adding imperiale animal es O homo quid servis affectibus to whom Chrysostome Athanasius Aquinas and all the Schoole-men assent And let this suffice to bee spoken of the man in the third place followeth Put him into the Garden of Eden 3. What he did with him Of this Garden two questions are disputed on by Divines 1. Whether this Garden were a reall place in the earth 2. Whether Paradise yet remaine To the first I answer that questionlesse Paradise was a true and reall Garden as S. Jerome and Chrysostome affirme against Origen Origines sic allegorizat ut historiae tollit veritatem non licet nobis ita nugari simpliciorum auribus imponere dicendo nullum fuisse in terris hor tum quem vocant Paradisum and Bellarmine proves it sufficiently against the fancy of Franciscus Georgius To the second I answer That the place of the earth remaineth in substance though it is not now a Paradise or hortus deliciarum for the beauty of it is gone The curse of the whole earth to beare thornes and thistles is come upon it As for the Paradise mentioned in Saint d Luk. 23.43 Luke and in the e Apoc. 2.7 Apocalypse it was celestiall and Saint f 2 Cor. 12.4 Paul maketh it plaine where having said hee was rapt up into the third heaven by and by hee nameth the place Paradise Upon which words Saint Ambrose thus commenteth Paradisum intelligit coelestem de quo Dominus dixit latroni hodiè mecum eris in Paradiso You have heard where the Lord placed him it remaineth that we enquire in the fourth place 4. To what end God placed him there To dresse and keepe the garden God had not yet cursed the earth neither were the wholsome hearbes degenerated into weeds Every plant and hearbe brought forth fruit according to their kind God that made them good could have preserved them in that state of goodnesse but man had need of some imployment and therefore God injoyned him to dresse this garden of pleasure in this place to make use of his gifts and by his reason and industry to modell it into some delightfull forme yet was his labour without all pain nay it was full of pleasure But why is it added to keepe it Surely saith St. Austine no invading neighbour was feared to put him out of possession nor thiefe to rob him of his choicest plants but God would have him therefore to keepe it to himselfe ne inde projiciatur This is wittily inferred by him but it seemes the naturall meaning of the place is this that he should not onely dresse it as at the first but with continuall care keepe it God would not have man idle no not in Paradise Thus briefly of his dressing and keeping now we are to consider in the fift place 5. Gods large permission That he might eat of every tree in the Garden Behold Gods bounty there was not onely the delicacy of all fruits but variety and Adam was not limited to some few he might eat of every tree neither was he for a short time to have enjoyed this if he had harkened to the command of his Lord. For in the midst grew the tree of life of which he might eat at his pleasure the other trees saith S. f Lib. 13. è Civit Dei Austine were given to him to satisfie his hunger and thirst but this to give vigour to him and keep him from infirmity age and death yet this grant was not so generall but that it had annexed unto it a restraint which we are to consider of in the sixt place 6. His restraint From the tâ—ee of knowledge It was not so called as g Antiq. â—udaâ—â— l. 3. c. 9. Josephus dreamed because it had a vertue in it to sharpen the understanding that man might know God the better For it was as the other trees of the Garden without sense or knowledge but it was intituled so in a double respect 1. Because joyned to the commandement it was an outward sign shewing what was good viz. what God commanded and what was evill viz. what God forbad 2. In respect of the event As the waters of Meribah or strife were so called because Israel there contended so was this tree called the tree of knowledge of good and evill because hereby Adam knew experimentally what good there was in obeying and what evill in disobeying what good in innocency and what evill in iniquity what good within the bounds of Paradise and what evill in the accursed world St. h Serm. 14. de verâ— Dom. Austine thus openeth the matter Doe not touch this tree Why What is this tree If it be good why should I not touch it If it be evill what maketh it in Paradise Doubtlesse it was good why then may be not touch it That father answereth sweetly quia obedientem te volo non contradicentem serve prius audi domini jussum tunc jubentis disce consilium God like a good Physician shewed Adam what was hurtfull Adam like an intemperate patient would not refraine it 7. Hiâ— punishment if he restraine it not In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye The same day thou forsakest mee in thy disobedience I will forsake thee in my justice thou shalt dye first the death of the body and after the death of the soule if thou beleeve not in the promised seed and not thou onely in thy person but all thy children stand and fall in thee they stand in thy obedience and in thy disobedience they fall and in the truth of this let all confesse to the glorie of God Iniquum est ut bene sit desertori boni it was sinne in Adam to forsake his Maker it was justice in God to punish him that in this manner had forsaken him Thus much for the opening of the Text. Let us now apply it to this honourable assembly 1 This Garden of Eden may well be compared to our mother the Church 2 This man to our spirituall and temporall Rulers 3 This placing man in Paradise to their calling that is of God 4 This dressing and keeping it to their labours in their charge 5 The eating of every tree to their reward 6 Their restraint from the tree of knowledg to that which is forbidden them 7 This threatned death to the punishment of all transgressours 1 Touching our Church and her resemblances to Paradise 1 As Paradise was separated from other parts of the earth so this Land the Poet calleth us Toto divisos orbe Britannos 2 As Paradise was beautified with the lights of nature so our Church with gifts of grace above nature 3 As Paradise was beset with faire trees that hare pleasant fruits so our Church with many Pastours whose lives are
of his discourse which was the promise of our Saviour I will ease you This indeed is Caput bonae spei the only Cape of good hope If these allusions seem defective and not so apposite as before I searched the land so now I will the sea for fitter and the fittest of all seem to mee to be these foure seas 1. Rubrum 2. Orientale 3. Mediterraneum 4. Pacificum The first because it ran all upon the bloudy passion of our Saviour I liken to the read sea The second I compare to the orientall Ocean not onely in respect of the immensity of matter in it depth of the authors judgment and rare pearles of wit and art but especially because Extulit Oceano caput aureus igniferum sol because out of this Easterne Ocean we saw the Sun of righteousnes Christ Jesus arising The third because it interveyned between the former the latter sea and passed through the whole continent in a manner of Divinity I call the Mediterranean or mid-land sea The fourth for the equall current of it but especially for the subject and matter resembleth mare del zur commonly called Pacificum for his whole discourse tended to this that though the life of a Christian be a sea yet that it is so calmed by Christs promise I will ease you that to every childe of God in the end it proves mare pacificum My peace I give unto you The still sea be not troubled nor feare Et si vultis accipere these judicious and methodicall Sermons foure in number are the foure rowes in Aarons breast-plate of judgement the jewels are their precious doctrines the imbossments of gold in which these jewels were set were their texts of Scripture Sed ubi spiritualis tabernaculi Å¿ Vincent Lerin advers haer Bezaliel qui pretiosas divini dogmatis gemmas exculperet fideliter adornaret sapienter adjiceret gratiam splendorem venustatem I know not how it comes to passe that as sometimes in Israel though there were much metall yet no Smith so at this time in this famous University though we have store of jewels yet there is none who will professe himself in this kind a Jeweller If the true reason hereof be the difficulty danger of this work wherein we fish as it were with a golden hook Cujus jactura nullâ piscium capturâ compensari potest then have all sorts of auditors great reason favourably to interpret their best endeavours who for their sake not only undertake so great a taske but hazzard so great a losse If the Rehearser acquit himself never so well what can he expect for all his pains but the bare commendation of a good memory but if he faile not only his memory but his judgement and discretion also are called in question In which consideration when authority first laid hands on mee I drew backe with all my might till the command for repeating being repeated againe and againe in the end the power of authority more prevailed with mee than the sense of mine owne infirmity Adamas ferrum à magnete tractum ad se rapit vehementiùs though the iron as Agricola observeth is drawn powerfully by the load-stone yet if a diamond be in place the load-stone loseth his force Artificiall memory as t Lib. 3. Rhet. ad Heren Constat artificiosa memoria ex locis imaginibus Cornificius saith consisteth of images and places We need not goe farre for them we have them both in my Text places Ver. 17. Thou shalt set it full of places for stones images most resplendent in the Verses following and very happy were I if as here I have the names so I had the naturall effects attributed to some of these jewels for 1. The Agat keepeth a man moist saith Dioscorides 2. The Beril sharpeneth the wit saith Ystella 3. The Carbuncle infuseth spirits saith Barraeus 4. The Chrysolite helpeth the breathing parts saith Rueus 5. The Emrald is good for the sight and memory saith Vincentius 6. The Onyx strengtheneth the whole body saith Albertus 7. The Saphir freeth a man from wrath and envie saith Tostatus but I perswade my self that many of these authors when they wrote these things had an Amethyst on their fingers the last jewell in the third row in Hebrew called ×”×ž×œ×—× from מלח u Buxtorf epit radic heb From a word signifying to dreame because they that weare it are much subject to dreaming Amethystus lapis pretiosus sic dictus quòd gestantibus eum somnia inducit and therefore leaving such incredulous relations to * Aben Ezra in Exod. 28.19 Rabbinicall and Philosophicall legends in a warrantable Scripture phrase I will pray to Almighty God to touch my tongue with a coale mentioned by the x Esay 6.6 7. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me having a coale in his hand and he laid it upon my tongue Prophet Esay which S. Jerome interpreteth a Carbuncle that I may enflame the hearts of this great assembly with a zeale of his glory and both now whensoever I am to speak to the edification of his people so to furnish mee with materialls and assist mee in laying them that upon the true foundation Christ Jesus I may build not hay and stubble but gold silver and precious stones such as shine in my Text which I divide according to the foure rowes into foure parts THE FIRST ROW And in the first row a Ruby a Topaze and an Emrald WHether the Ruby fit not the modesty of the Speaker the Topaze quae sola gemmarum limam sentit his limate and polished stile the Emrald the fresh and green verdour of his sentences I leave to your learned censures sure I am the green and ruddy stones some of them generated in the red sea lively set forth the green wounds and bloudy passion of the worlds Redeemer the subject of his discourse The Ruby hath a perfect colour of flesh whence it is called in Latine Carneolus but with a lustre and resplendency farre above the nature of flesh What fitter embleme of the rayes of divine majesty shining in the flesh of our Saviour which was the argument of the Preachers first part This Ruby nubeculâ quâdam offundebatur as the naturall to wit in his passion and then changed colour and resembled the other two gems death displaying its colours in his flesh which he suffered to pay the wages of sinne for us which was the scope of his latter observations The imbossment of gold in which these gems of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of JOHN 11.50 It is expedient for us that one man should dye for the people The first Sermon preached on Good-friday by Master Ozborstone Student of Christ-Church BEhold I bring you a prophesie but of no Prophet I present you lying malice speaking truth unwittingly unwillingly and savage cruelty providing a salve to cure the wounds of all mankind Out of one fountain bitter and sweet out of
ardebat cor vestrûm in vobis cùm exponeret vobis Scripturas The second jewel was a Saphir according to the Hebrew derivation from Sepher a booke wherein we may reade both the doctrine and graces of the second Speaker Hic lapis ut perhibent educit corpore vinctos saith Vincentius and was not his doctrine a Jayle-delivery of all deaths prisoners It is a constant tradition among the Rabbins that the tables of stone Bellar. l. 2. de Verb. Dei wherein the ten Commandements were written with the finger of God were of Saphir For although Pliny affirmeth Nat. hist l. 37. that the Saphir is a stone altogether unfit for sculpture yet this can be no just exception against this tradition sith the engraving of the ten Commandements was done by the finger of God above nature Moreover it is cleare out of this Text that the name of one of the Patriarchs was written in the Saphir Such a Saphir was the second Speaker having the Lawes of God imprinted in his heart The third jewell is a Diamond in Hebrew called Jahalom because it breaketh all other stones in Greek Adamas that is unconquerable because it can neither be broken by the hammer nor consumed in the fire nay the fire saith Zenocrates hath not so much power as to stain the colour much lesse impeach the substance of this stone Call to mind among the vertues of a Magistrate conspicuous in this divine Oratour his unconquerable courage unstained integrity and the comparison is already made Pliny reporteth Adamantem sideritem alio Adamante perforari thinke you not that if a man could have a heart as hard as the Adamant this Adamant pointed with sacred eloquence could breake it and make it contrite Lastly Pliny addeth that the Diamond is a soveraign remedy against poyson Et ideò regibus charissimus iisque paucis cognitus in high esteem with Princes if as our gracious Soveraigne hath so all Christian Princes had such Diamonds as this if such Preachers were their eare-rings they should be free from the danger of all poysoned and hereticall doctrine If as the stones placed in the second row agree with the gifts of the Speaker so they sort as well with the doctrines of his Text I am sure you wil all say that this second order of stones is not out of order A most remarkable story of the Carbuncle we have that cast in the fire among live coals it seemeth to have no grace in it but quench the other coals with water it shineth more gloriously in the ashes than ever before so our Saviour in the brunt of his passion while he was heat by the fire-brands of hell Scribes Pharisees Jewes Romans seemed to be dead and lose all his colour beauty nay was indeed dead according to his humane nature his soule being severed from his body but after the consummation of his passion and the extinction of the fiery rage of his persecuters with his bloud in his resurrection he shewed himself a most glorious Carbuncle shining in majesty burning in love After his resurrection in the day of his ascension hee taketh possession of his throne in heaven which Chap. 1. V. 26. in Ezekiel is said to bee like a Saphir stone now sitting at the right hand of God the Father having conquered sin death hell made all his enemies his footstoole he is become the only true orient Diamond in the world whether you take the name from the Greek ἄδαμασ ab ά δαμαω or the Hebrew ×להי from ×לה being invincible himselfe and overcomming all adverse power breaking his obstinate enemies in pieces like a potters vessell with a rod of iron The embossment of gold in which these gems of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of A Sermon preached by Doctor John King then Dean of Christ-Church and Vicechancellor of the University of Oxford afterwards Lord Bishop of London upon Easter day in Saint Peters Church in Oxford ESAY 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my body shall they rise awake and sing yee that dwell in dust for the dew is as the dew of herbes and the earth shall cast up her dead IT would aske the labour of an houre to settle this one only member I finde such a Babel of tongues at odds about so few words Variae lectiones Whereas we reade terra projiciet or ejiciet the earth shall cast up or bring forth as it doth her herbs and winter prisoners Junius hath Dejecisti in terram Castalio terram demoliris the Seventy Terra cadet S. Jerome Dejicies in terram the Chaldee paraphrase Trades in infernum and for mortuos in Hebrew * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephaim from a word signifying to cure per antiphrasin the Seventy reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked or ungodly S. Jerome Gigantes stout and robustious against God But to set you in a right and inoffensive way I reduce almost an infinity of distractions to two heads For all of them either speak of the resurrection of the dead indefinitely which they doe that say Terra ejiciet to wit postquam in terram dejecisti For the earth cannot cast up that it hath not and Manium terram demoliris or of the destruction of the wicked one only species of the dead which the Seventy call impios others Giants mighty to transgresse both senses as the Northern and Southern rivers running from contrary points meet in the Ocean so these from sundry and discrepant conceits run into one common place of the generall resurrection save that the latter adde a straine to the former of Gods vengeance and wrath prepared for the wicked Sense twofold Thus having set the letters of my Text together accorded the words it remaineth that their scope and intent be freed from question There is not one of the learned Scribes old or new Jew or Christian whose spirit and pen hath not fallen upon one of these two senses viz. that the Prophet either speaketh of the resurrection of the dead at the last day or of the restitution and enlargement of the people from their present straights in which say they calamity is a kind of death captivity as the grave Gods people as the seed in the ground Gods grace and favour as the comfortable dew to revive and restore them to their wonted being Of these two companies some goe after the literall grammaticall sense lending not so much as the cast of their eye toward the allegory as Strigelius Clarius Brentius Others on the other side of the banke standing for the shadowed resurrection are not so peremptory but si quis aliter sentire mavult per me liber hoc faciat and Calvin himself in his commentary layes out as it were a lot as well for the true as the typicall resurrection Falluntur Christiani qui ad extremum judicium restringunt Prophetatotum Christi regnum ab initio ad finem
Papists in their transcendent charity exclude Protestants out of all possibility of salvation See Wright his motives That Protestants have no faith no God no religion Fisher his Treat Out of the Romish Church no salvation Bellar. apol 8. Jacobus quia Catholicus non est Christianus non est W.B. his discourse entituled the Non entitie of Protestants religion deny them to have any Church any faith any hope of salvation any interest in Christ any part in God yet wee have learned from the Apostle to render to no man evill for evill nor rebuke for rebuke nor slander for slander wee deny them not to have a Church though very corrupt and unsound wee doubt not but through Gods mercy many thousands of our fore-fathers who lived and dyed in the communion of their Church and according to that measure of knowledge which was revealed unto them out of holy Scripture in the mysteries of salvation led a godly and innocent life not holding any errour against their conscience nor allowing themselves in any knowne sinne continually asking pardon for their negligences and ignorances of God through Christs merits might bee saved though not as Papists that is not by their Popish additions and superstitions but as Protestants that is by those common grounds of Christianity which they hold with us All that I intend to shew herein is that in some practices of theirs they may bee rightly compared to the Heathen as when the Apostle saith that he that provideth not for his owne family is worse than an Infidell his meaning is not that every Christian that is a carelesse housholder is simply in worse state than a Heathen but onely by way of aggravation of that sinne hee teacheth all unthrifts that in that particular they are more culpable than Heathen In like manner my meaning is not to put Papists and Heathen in the same state and ranke as if there were not more hope of a Papist than a Painims salvation but to breed a greater loathing and detestation of Popish idolatry and superstition by paralleling Baalites and other Heathens together I will make it evidently appeare that some particular practices of the Romane Church are no better than Heathenish See Hom. against the perill of Idolatry p. 3. Of this mind were they who laid the first stones of the happy reformation in England Our Image maintainers and worshippers have used and use the same outward rites and manner of honouring and worshipping their Images as the Gentiles did use before their Idols and that therefore they commit idolatry as well inwardly as outwardly as did the wicked Gentile Idolaters If any reply that these Homilies were but Sermons of private men transported with zeale and carry not with them the authority of the whole Church of England I answer that as those Verses of Poets alledged by the Apostle were made part of the Canonicall Scripture by being inserted into his inspired Epistles so the Homilies which are mentioned by name in the 35. Article and commended as containing godly and g His Majesties declaration We doe therefore ratifie and confrme the said Articles which doe containe the doctrine of the Church of Eâ—gland requiring all our loving subjects to continue in the uniforme profession thereof and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles wholesome doctrine and necessary for the times are made part of the Articles of Religion which are established by authority of the whole Convocation and ratified and confirmed by the royall assent Were not this the expresse judgement of the Church of England whose authority ought to stop the mouth of all that professe themselves to be her children from any way blaunching the idolatrous practices of the Romane Church yet were not the fore-heads of our Image-worshippers made of as hard metall as their Images they would blush to say as they doe that the testimonies which wee alledge out of Scriptures and Fathers make against Idols and not against Image-worship For the words are h Levit. 26.1 Yee shall make no Idoll or graven Images nor reare up any standing Image nor set up any Image of stone to bow downe to it The words are i Exod. 20 4. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any Pesel that is any thing carved or graven And if there may seem any mist in this generall word to any the words following cleerly dispell it Nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above nor in the earth beneath nor in the waters under the earth The third Text is thus rendered in their own vulgar Latine k Deut. 4.15 16 17. Take therefore good heed to your soules for yee saw no manner of similitude in the day which the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire lest peradventure being deceived Custodite sollicitâ— animas vestras non vidistis aliquam similitudinem in die quâ Dominus vobis locutus est in Horeb in medio igne ne fortè faciatis vobis sculptam imaginem vel similitudinem masculi vel foeminae ye make you a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth the likenesse of any winged fowle that flyeth in the aire the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the ground the likenesse of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth Neither is our allegation out of the Prophet Esay lesse poignant than the former To whom will m Esay 40.18 19 20. ye liken God or what likenesse will yee compare unto him The workman melteth a graven Image and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chaines Hee that is so impoverished that hee hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot hee seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven Image c. As tor the words Imago and Idolum if wee respect the originall they are all one for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the shape or species of any thing and therefore not onely Aristotle calleth the shapes of things which are received into our senses the idols of the senses but Cardinall n Com. in c. 20. Exod. Cajetan also the images of the Angels in the Arke Idola Cherubinorum If wee regard the most common use of the words they differ as mulier and scortum that is a woman and a strumpet For as a woman abused or defiled by corporall fornication is called a strumpet so all such Images as are abused to spirituall fornication are called Idols Thus Saint o Lib. 8. de orig c. 11. Idolum est simulachrum quod humanâ effigie est consecraâ—um Isidore defineth an Idoll An Idoll is an Image consecrated in an humane shape And at the first all Idols were such but after men fell into grosser idolatry and turned the glory of God not only into the similitude of a p Rom. 1.23