Redemption and by the Right of Marriage and therefore is the Head of the Church in regard of Order as being the First-born among his Brethren In regard of Perfection both for his sublimitie fulnes of Grace and in regard of Vertue for that a certaine influence is deriued from him to all the members of his Church And Hee is called Lord not Denominatiuely but Essentially to the right conceiuing whereof is required a stedfast beleefe of his God-head against those execrable Heretickes Ebion Cerinthu◠Berillus Samosatenus Marcianus Photinus Arius Seruet Francis Dauid the Anti-trinitariās of this time And here obserue how honourably this woman thinkes of Christ Shee cals him Lord the Iewes Beelzebub Math. 10. 25. Yet she was an Heathea they Circumcised 1. Cor. 1. 28. Shee an Out-cast they of Israel shee nuzled vp in grosse Idolatry they trayned vp in the Law from their child-hood she but of small and slender knowledge they learned men and subtle Disputers Good Lord how strong art thou in weaknesse and how thou choosest the things that are not to bring to passe the things that are Aug. Cons Etiam sic Domine etiam sic Euen so ô Lord because it is thy will whose dealings are often secret alwaies iust Now where shee salutes Him by the name of the Sonne of Dauid it is euident that shee takes him to bee the promised Messiah For all Iurie rang of this Iohn 7. 42. that The Christ should come of the linage of Dauid Which shee hearing at an outside assisted by the Spirit of God and weighing all circumstances aright concludes that This is He. Which declares her faith to bee holy and aduised well grounded vpon the promises of God and not a fleeting and vapourous imagination This is that which is written in the very beginning of the Gospell The Booke that is the Catalogue or Register Math. 1. 1. of the Generation of IESVS CHRIST the Sonne of DAVID As if Saint Mathew like Iohn Baptist should point with his finger to the Messiah and cry Behold this Man so poore and so contemptible in shew is lineally descended from the Kings of Iudah and is the onely Redeemer of Israel A wonderfull Mysterie that GOD should be manifested in the flesh 1. Tim. 3. 16. yet is it the staffe and pillar of our comfort Therefore Saint Paul affirmes Rom. 1. 3. that Christ was made of the seed of Dauid Not that the Virgin Mary conceiued Him through the pleasure of carnall desire but through faith remaining still in her chastenesse and integrity euen as the Church in a kind of Imitation brings forth children to GOD and is yet a Virgin August Enchirid as Austin excellently noteth Then here is a Towell thrust into the throates of Valentine Marcion Manichaeus Apollinaris and other pestilent Heretickes who stand vp against the truth of Christs Humanity And more there is ministred a sweet Repose for a troubled conscience For what keepes me from dispaire when Satan claps hold on mee with his bloudy sleeue and his great Butchers knife a-crosse his mouth but this that my Sauiour is the Sonne of Dauid Heb. 2. 17. Gal. 1. 4. a mercifull and faithfull High Priest who hath giuen himselfe for my sinnes Hee hath Giuen Satan vnderstand'st thou that not receiued not exacted Hee hath giuen Himselfe Himselfe Satan mark'st thou that not Siluer not Gold not Paschall Lambes not Angels For my Sinnes Satan mind'st thou that Not for my Holinesse not for my Righteousnesse For My sinnes Satan hear'st thou that as well as for Paules or for Peters For though they were a thousand times more Sanctified then I yet were they neuer a whit more Iustified then I And the goodnesse they had came not from themselues but from GOD who hath put into my heart a great desire not of Heauen onley for so had Balaam Numb 23. 10. but of Faith and Repentance which the Reprobate cannot haue Thus if in our Agonies wee shall latch the blowes of our ghostly Aduersarie wee may boldly look for that Crowne of Righteousnes 2. Tim. 4. 8. which the Lord hath promised to those that loue his appearing The Summe of her Petition is set downe two waies Indefinitely and Determinately Indefinitely in these words Haue mercy on me Where shee sues in forma Pauperis and pleades for Mercy not Merit though she was one of the godliest women in all the world Yet you know Beloued who stand vpon the Merit of Condignity affirming and that from their Councell of Trent Concil Trid. Sect 6. cap. 11. 1. Cor. 9. 16. that they haue Faculty giuen them perfectly to fulfill the Law Nay the Rhemists go further and will stand to it that they are able to doe more then the Ten Commandements require They talke of Puritans but if these be not pure pute Sycophants and the white sonnes of Novatus the ROMAN Presbyter who are To whom notwithstanding to doe them a fauour wee will chaine the Anabaptist after whom shall come the Brownist in a string who is halfe an Anabaptist as the Tadpole is halfe a Frogge Well for vs poore Publicanes wee will not trust to our deserts which will shelter vs no more then an Arbour in Winter but to GODS tender compassion What though my sinnes bee as red as bloud as blacke as Haire-cloth as Pitch as Hell Yet are they not Infinit as is GODS Mercie Onely I must Repent that is confesse and forsake my sinnes and turne with my whole heart not faynedly to the Lord. For our Sauiour chargeth his Disciples to Preach Repentance and Remission of sinnes Luke 24. 47. So that no Repentance no Forgiuenesse of sinnes I know the Gospell is a Booke of Mercie I know that in the Prophets there are many aspersions of Mercy I know that Out of the Eater comes Meat and out of the Strong comes Sweetnesse Iudg. 14. 14. and that in the Ten Commandements which bee the Ministration of Death 2. Cor. 3. 7. there is made expresse mention of Mercy I will haue mercy vpon Thousands Yea the very first words of them are the Couenant of Grace I am the Lord THY God Yet if euery Leafe and euery Line and euery Word in the Bible were nothing but Mercy Mercy it nothing auailes the Presumptuous sinner that lies rotting in his iniquities Our GOD is not an impotent GOD with one Arme but as Hee is slow to anger so is Hee great in Powre Nahum 1. 3. and will not surely cleere the wicked O but he is Mercifull Gracious slow to anger aboundant in goodnesse and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquity and transgression and sinne Is not here Mercy mentioned nine or ten times together It is But reade on to the very next words And not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the Fathers vpon the children and vpon childrens children vnto the third and fourth generation Is not this the terrible voyce of Iustice
But stay in the hundred thirty and six Psalme Psal 136. there is nothing but His mercy endureth for euer His mercy endureth for euer His mercy endureth for euer is the foote of the Song and is found six and twenty times in six and twenty verses It is Yet harko what a ratling thunder-clap is heere 15. 17. 18. 19. 20. And ouerthrew Pharoah and his Host in the Red Sea and smete great Kings and slew mighty Kings Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan Therefore Beloued if wee will haue mercy at the Tribunall Seate of GOD let vs humble our selues for our manifold and bloudie sinnes Cypâ— Nec quisquam peccatis retardetur aut annis saith Cyprian And let no man hold off for that his offences are heynous and that hee is old and mosse-growne in them onely let him beware of Hypocrisie and Delay which will cheat the soule and bring it to destruction That Part of the Petition which is put downe Determinatly is in these words My Daughter is miserably vexed with a Deuill Where shee instantly beseeches Christ euen in the bowels of compassion to behold her Child her little Child as Saint Marke hath it Marke 7. 23. and to dislodge an vncleane and raging Spirit who had taken vp her body as a Cabin to rest in Where first obserue that she makes her Daughters misery her owne Haue mercy on ME my Daughter Acknowledging withall that GOD in chastening the fruit of her wombe had laid his scourge vpon her also Againe take notice how it is the nature of loue to Descend and how the affection of Parents to their Children is farre more deere then that of Children to their Parents We reade heere in this and in sundry other places of the Gospell how carefully Parents made meanes to Christ for the chasing away of Deuils and diseases from their Children but where reade yee that the Children did the like for their Parents In the eighth of this Gospell Verse 21. there 's a sonne intreates our Sauiour that hee may go bury his Father that he may throw Moulds on him and make him sure but he neuer once prayed him to heâ—le him when hee was sick or raise him when he was dead Marke further how sore and strange afflictions befall sometimes GODS dearest children Woe and alas here 's a furious Deuill that possesseth the body of this womans Daughter If he had onely haunted the house or outwardly wrought vpon her child the chastisement had beene grieuous but to enter into her with his very substance is most lamentable to thinke on And yet the Lord thus correcteth her in Loue Heb. 12. 6. in Loue I say howsoeuer it seeme a Paradox to Reason O it 's an heauy iudgement of GOD when a man thriues in sinne and when in the midst of his rebellions hee spreads himselfe against the Sunne like an Apricock When the anger of GOD waxed hot against the Israelites hee threatens that hee will plague them How plague them in not plaguing them Hos 4. 14. I will NOT visite your Daughters when they are Harlots nor your Spouses when they are Whores Certè tunc magis irascitur Deus cum non irascitur saith Bernard Bern. Certainely GOD is then most angry when hee seemes not angry at all Misericordiam hanc nolo For mine owne part saith he I would none of this mercy Moreouer note how all things worke together for the best to them that loue GOD. Rom. 8. 28. Heauen Earth Fire Water good Men bad Men wilde Beasts tame Beasts Calmnesse Tempests Peace Warre Freedome Thraldome Wealth Want Healthfulnesse Crazinesse Life Death Angels Deuils Aug. de Ciu. Dei lib. 14. cap. 13. Etiam peccata Domine Euen our sins also ô Lord saith Austen Audeo dicere saith the same Father superbis esse vâ—ile cadere in aliquod apertum manifestumque peccatum I dare bee bold to speake it that it is good that proud men do fall into some grosse and open sinne that so Shame may driue them to remorse This Doctrine is true But let no Spider suck poyson thence One wold haue thought that this woman who was not long before coÌ„uerted to Christ wold haue laid the blame on her Religion and thought hardly of GOD thus to single her out for a spectacle of misery and scarse to shake his rod at her fellow Gentiles but see how this correction brings her neerer to GOD and how the Deuill himselfe is a meanes to further her saluation Lastly it is obserueable that Sinne is the most fearefull thing in the world The body of Man was made to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost but sinne makes it a Stie and Plauncher for Satan who teares it wallowes it and torments it piteously as here Verse 20 and in the ninth of Saint Marke Shall I in one word set out the vilenesse of it It is a Deuill And why not worse For what makes the Deuill a Deuill but Sinne Take that away and hee 's a good creature Besides here 's a single Deuill in this Childe without a partner but sinne is so congregable that it is impatient of solitude Our Father Adam eates the forbidden fruit we would thinke it but one sinne but what sayes Austine Aug. Enchir. Superbia est illic SacrilegiuÌ„ HomicidiuÌ„ Fornicatio Spiritualis FurtuÌ„ Auaritia Pride was at the fact Sacriledge Murder and Spirituall Fornication and Theft and Couetousnes This is the Diuell that reignes at this day in the ChildreÌ„ of Disobedience with which yet they play as with a feather and take pleasure in Pleasure O Sinne thou art delightfull at the first but at last thou stingest like a Bee like a Waspe like an Hornet like a Scorpion O Pleasure thou hast a Honey-suckle in thy mouth but a bitter branch sticking at thy heart I would name Rue but that thou hast nothing to doe with Hearbe of Grace And this of the PROTASIS The EPITASIS followes wherein we are to weigh the sundry Repulses and Discouragements to weigh the sundry Repulses and Discouragements of this good Woman together with the constant prosecution of her cause as they lye in order For the first Repulse the Evangelist sayes that He answered Her not a word What not vnfold his lips to giue one word O wonderfull temptation For what might shee thinke Is this Hee in whom all the Nations of the earth should bee blessed Gen. 12. 3. Isaiah 55. 1. 65. 24. Is this He of whom Proclamation was made Ho Euery one that thirsteth come yee to the Waters Is this He that will heare his seruants while they speake and answere before they call No no I see my labour is lost my hopes degraded and my thoughts frustrate I haue look't vp to the Sunne and can see no light I haue hied me to the Fountaine and can finde no water I haue runne and cried after the GOD of All comfort and He
answered and said It is not good to take the Childrens bread and to cast it to Dogges Here our Sauiour answeres to her Lord help me but more roughly and seuerely then euer Hee did before for now Hee beginnes to chide and sneap her as if shee were an vnmannerly Puppie The purport of his speech is this Woman I pray thee hold thy tongue and shew not thy selfe so violent and vnreasonable What grace soeuer is giuen me of my Father to bee dispensed is to be exhibted distinctly to the Iewes lest they bee defrauded of their proper right for my Father is the Father of Abrahams posterity onely Truth it is that the very Infidels find him by his Prouidence to be a Father but Adoption and other spirituall benediction is to be conferred peculiarly on the Israelites Now verily it were an vnseemely deed to take the priuiledges of children and to cast them to such as thee who being without GOD in the world art to bee kenne'ld vp mongst Dogges Howbeit if thou hadst not dealt so preposterously much might haue been if thou hadst staid till the Children had dined happily thou mightst haue light vpon some fragments but to snatch of the dishes in the midst of dinner betokens a shamelesse malapertnesse and a presumptuous rudenesse See heere Beloued what we Gentiles were before we knew Christ Let it not offend your eares wee were no better then Curre-dogges and so are all at this day that liue and die without Him Husbandmen Yeomen Gentlemen Noble men Learned men Valiant men all Dogges without Christ Now what more ignominious and opprobrious then the name of Dogge Am I a Dogges-head 2. Sam. 3. saith Abner to Ishbosheth that thou accountest of me so basely Within the circuit of this our Church are found certaine Dogges that trouble and annoy her The first are those Pricke-ear'd Curres of Rome that Barke at the Moone Nay at Him that made the Moone to whom if you offer the Gospel Math. 7. 6. Prou. 30. 31. they will turne againe and all to rent you Yet as if they were those well-going Grey-hounds that Salomon speakes of they haue veluet collars richly studded They would bee look't to for they are the true Scholers of those false Apostles whom Saint Paul calls Dogges Phil. 3. 2. in the third to the Philippians and the second verse Another Dogge who is like to leape short of the Kingdome of Heauen Reu. 22. 15. is the outragious Swearer who vpon euery small occasion leapes at the throat of GODS most sacred Maiesty and giues him a shake by the bosome O Iudges ô Magistrates why doe yee tyth Mint and Annise and Cummin Math. 23. 23. and leaue the weightier matters of the law condemne the Starueling for stealing sheepe and let the Blasphemer go vntouch't who sets vp the cocke and discharges his Pistoll in the face of Christ These things ought yee to haue done and not haue left the other vndone Ah noble Prince HENRY whose very name still makes my heart to bleede afresh wee may thanke our Court-oathes as one chiefe cause of thine vntimely death But that God that in wrath thinketh vpon mercy hath from thy ashes rais'd vp another Phoenix Deut. 33. 16. The good will of Him that dwelt in the Bush come vpon his head euen vpon the top of his head Another Dogge is he that causelesly railes on men in Authoritie and this is no yelping Beagle no little Whippit but a deepe-mouth'd hound or baying Mastiue Thus Shimei bids Dauid 2. Sam. 16. Come out come out as if he were a Dogge when Shimei indeed was the the Dogge as the sonne of Zeruiah calls him Another Dogge is the licentious liuer who vpon some touch goes softly for a while 2. Pet. 2. but anone returnes vnto his vomit Thus the stinking Drunkard for so the Prophet Hosea termes him Hosea 4. 18. inflamed with Wine neighes and whinnies after his neighbours wife to vse the phrase of the Prophet Ieremy Ier. 5. ◠and blesses himselfe very desperately in his sinne Tush saith he GOD doth not see me or cannot punish me or will not trouble me by the first making him a blind GOD by the the second a lame GOD by the third an vnrighteous GOD. At last God visits him with a sharpe disease that wakens vp his conscience and then sicke sicke and then if GOD will repriue him vntill a longer day oh what a Christian course he vowes to take GOD proues him he mends In body yes in manners no no more the Pharaoh after then plagues remoouall Another Dogge we finde in the Prophet Esay and this is the Dumb Dogge Isaiah 56. 10. A Dogge and Dumb Hem Dromo Dromo come hither to the beame with him What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeper of the house and not giue warning of the Theefe This Dogge is the vnconscionable Minister that opens not his mouth for the safegard of his people who knowes not the very first words of the Accidence for were he but acquainted with IN SPEECH it were iniustice to charge him with dumbnesse A very vnprofitable member For there are Three things which if they want tongues are good for nothing a Minister a Dogge and a Iewes-Trumpe It remaineth now that we consider how this Woman digests this vngentle answere of Christ And she said Truth Lord yet the Dogges eate of the crumbes that fall from their Masters Table In moe words thus Lord I am a Dogge I willingly confesse it nay more I confirme it and with all my heart I acknowledge the Iewes to be thy children fed at thine owne Table with variety of Heauenly Dishes Neither do I enuy them Let me poore soule but gather vp the scrappes that fall from their Table at all aduenture I craue no more No man in the world could deuise a fitter ananswer for the grace of God was neuer dam'd vp so strictly from the Gentiles but that some droppes ouer-flowed to them as may be seene in Rahab Ruth Naaman the Niniuites And here againe the vnfatigablenesse of her Faith presents it selfe to our view She followes and cries and cries and followes but what The Solicited is silent the Disciples grumble she is not of the Fold she is a Dogge Who is a Dogge A deuout and sanctified Woman And who calls her Dogge Christ the Sanctuary of Soules It 's nothing to swim in a warme bath but to endure the Surges and tumbling billows of the Sea that 's the man To beleeue that GOD is thy GOD and loues thee as the Apple of his eye when he calls thee Dogge and grindes thee to powder that 's the Faith To end this second part this Woman suckes hony out of gall and like a good Logician presses him with this Syllogisme The Dog is to haue the crums of his Masters Table I am the Iewes Dogge Therefore I am to haue the crummes of their table The Maior is taken from the law of Nature the Minor from