our Saviours manner of reproofe Richard de Sanct. victor Viegas which may be a patterne vnto vs all in that behalfe first to take notice of then ingeniously to confesse Gods graces in any if any be found at all before we bee too busie with the imperfections of our brethren For this puts the faulty out of suspition of bitternesse in the Reprouer it encourageth men to doe more when somewhat is commended and keepes them from desperate resolutions by retaining them in a hope of a possible recouery It breeds a loathing of sin by ranking it by vertue Aretius whence it's vglinesse is the more discovered and his judgement the sharper censured that embraceth so foule a monster to the blemishing of those good parts which otherwise might highly grace him Those that will fish for mens soules must looke how they bait their hookes and too harsh an increpation saith Gregory is like an Axe Ferrum de manubrio prosilit cum de correptione sermo durior excidit c. Curae Past part 2. cap. 10. that flyeth from the handle it may kill thy brother when it should only cut downe the bryers of sin But this I note only by the way not purposely follow as not so necessary for these soothing times wherein most are rather too pleasing then piercing Ephesus here so commended and yet excepted at so plainely directs vs more vsefully to this observation That the best Churches may be subiect and are lyable to exception 6 It is vsuall with the Fathers to compare the Church to the Moone Ambros lib. 5. Epist. 31. Aug. in Psal 10. 104. in regard of her visible changing like to the others waxing and waning But the similitude holds as well in respect of her borrowed light and spotted face all the beames shee reflecteth to the world are darted vpon her by the Sunne of righteousnesse and yet by reason of her vnequall temper in her brightest shining shee appeareth spotty Her selfe acknowledgeth so much Cant. 1.5 I am blacke but comely O yee daughters of Ierusalem as the Tents of Kedar as the Curtaines of Salomon Lib. 3. de Doctrin Christ c. 32. Wherevpon Saint Augustine commendeth this rule of Ticonius the Donatist which hee calleth De permixta Ecclesia Whereby saith he the Scripture by reason of the temporall communion between the godly and wicked attributeth that promiscuously to either which originally groweth but from the one Solomons Curtaines indeed belong to the Church but Kedars Tents are Ismaels who may not inherit with the free borne yet the Beloued consisting of both hath the titles of both those spots will not out there will be such a speckled breed as long as the flockes cast their eyes on motly vanities in the gutters of this world All the types in holy writ whereby the Church is shadowed vnto vs most evidently shew so much The floore hath in it Wheat and Chaffe Math. 3.12 The net good fish and bad Math. 13.47 See but into the nuptiall banquet of the Sonne is not there one found without a wedding garment Was there not a Cham and vncleane beasts in the Arke Mat. 22.11 Gen. 7. Mat. 25.2 Ibid. ver 32. foolish Virgins amongst the Brides Attendants Goates in the great Shepheards flocke And in his stately Palace vessels as well to dishonour as service and glory So that 2 Tim. 2.20 that of the Angell to Esdras may here passe for Canonicall 2. Esd 8.2 when thou askest the earth it shall say vnto thee that it giueth much mold whereof earthen vessels are made but little dust that gold cōmeth of even so is the course of this present world and the Churches case in this present world 1. Cor. 5.1 Ibid. cap. 15. Thus the Corinthians were polluted with an incestuous person and troubled with Sadduces Gal. 3. Rom. 12.2.16 Coloss 3.8 2. Thes 3.6 ver 6. 15. ver 9. 13. ver 14.20 ver 24. cap. 3.1 cap. 3.16 the Galatians bewitched the Romans Colossians and Thessalonians had haughtie spirits brabling Sophisters brethren that walked disorderly crept in amongst them But what need I looke back so farre Appeare there not here amongst these seven Asian Churches an odious company of Nicolaitans Hath not Satan here his Synagogue and seate Balaam and Iezabel their Bawds and Panders Reade we not of depths of Satan Names of those that make a shew to liue without life Luke-warmnesse and vaunting and senslesnesse among so many especiall commendations The Fathers testimonies for this point are not sentences but volumes It is the maine scope of Saint a Tom. 2. Orthodox Luciferian Dial. Hierome against the Luciferians and of Saint b Tom. 2. Ep. 164. ad Emeritum Donatist Tom. 7. contra epist Parmen lib. 3. tom 7. cont Crescon grammat lib. 3. cap. 37.38 lib. 1. de civit Dei ca. 35. passim alibi praecipuè tom 7. Can. 2.2 Augustine against the Donatists and Pelagians to proue that it is a poore pretence to make a Schisme in the Church in regard of some dislikes which might and should bee amended For at what time was it ever so free that no exceptions could be taken As a Lilly among thornes so is my loue among the daughters Non dictum est saith Saint c In Psal 99. Augustine in medio alienarum sed in medio filiarum It is not said amongst strangers but amongst the daughters The sonnes of her mother against her d Esaiah 9.21 Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim in one Nation the e Mat. 10.35 father against the sonne and the mother against the daughter in one house f Gen. 25.22 Esau struggling with Iacob in one wombe nay the g Rom. 7.23 naturall man against the spirituall in the same members And yet if wee would goe farther wee may chance to meet with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iames 1.8 a double-soul'd man if I may so speake by reason of vnstable distractions in the same minde To such a lunacie are subject all things vnder the Moone Whiles we dwell with Mesech as David complaineth some enemies to peace will be sure amongst vs. Psal 120.5 There will be alwaies tares to be weeded vlcers to be cured ruines to be repayred rents to be amended sinkes to be purged Leapers to be clensed manners to bee reformed controversies heart-burnings to be taken vp and composed And the reasons for it are divers that the Elect might be imployed tried Reprobates left vnexcuseable 1. Cor. 11.19 Rom. 2.1 Gods strength appeare in our weaknesse and his mercy and Iustice in such variety of obiects Otherwise how should the Church be militant without an Adversary Or why should it daily pray Forgiue vs our trespasses if here it might attaine to be freed from all exceptions Goe therefore saith the Lord to Ezechiel and set a marke vpon the fore-heads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done not
the Psalmist When the Lord turned againe the captivity of Sion Psal 126. then were wee like vnto them that dreame As old Iacob at the relation of his sonne Iosephs being aliue Gen. 45. the newes was beyond expectation so good that he tooke it for a dreame rather then a true narration Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with ioy Then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them yea the Lord hath done great things for vs already whereof wee reioyce The ground whereof is this whereof I am now to speake Christ is risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made become not in acceptation only in regard of Gods mercy in admitting his sufferings for our sinnes but by desert also in satisfying the Iustice of God the Father and paying the vtmost farthing wherein mankinde had runne into arrerages Become the first fruits Like vnto that is the old Testament sanctifying all the after-harvest Leu. 23. Rom. 11. not of all without a difference lying vnder deaths custody but of thē that slept in expectation of him before this Resurractiō those that follow who shall awake by vertue thereof as mēbers follow the Head Our bones lay scattered before the pit saith David like as when one breaketh heweth wood vpō the earth Psal 141.8 And now Sonne of man Ezech. 37.3 thinkest thou that these bone can liue I haue warrant to prophecy vpon them that they shall liue and to make good what I say out of this ground of our Apostle Christ is risen from the dead and by vertue of this resurrection they shall surely liue You know B. by that which hath beene spoken the antecedent being cleared that Christ is risen againe the consequent might be called in question De Christo Servat p. 2. cap. 3. is by Faustus Socinus how thence it should follow that wee shall also bee raised This the Apostle wisely foresaw and therefore maketh it good by three invincible arguments Two are couched in these few words Hee is become the first fruits of them that slept As the first fruits are accepted so the whole masse speedeth and those only that sleepe shall haue a time to awake The head aboue the water the members can never bee drowned The third argument in the two next verses following is of like force As by man came death so by man came the resurrection and if in Adam mans nature offending became the prisoner of death why in the same restored by the Son of God that assumed it to that purpose should not all in the like sort be made aliue It is true that some bodily rose againe before this Resurrection of Christ as in the old Testament the widowes sonne of Sareptaraised by Elias the Sunamites son by Elisha and another also at the touch of the same Prophets bones in the Sepulcher long after he was buryed as also in the New the Centurions daughter the widow's sonne of Naim putrified Lazarus the brother of Martha and Mary But the case betweene their Resurrection and Christs is much different First in the Effect these rose not to liue immortally but to die againe as the Schoolemen giue the reason Secondly in the efficient Christ rose by his owne victorious power but these by vertue of this Resurrection of Christ as our reformed Writers more fully haue declared 9 The order in which this shall come to passe and how the dead shall bee raised what difference there shall bee betweene these corruptible carcasses of ours and the same refined by this Resurrection how in the Resurrection one starre shall differ from another in glory and what shall become of those that are found liuing vpon the earth at the Lords comming is fully added by our Apostle in that which followeth my text but without the compasse of my intended scope These texts sufficiently illustrate the point I haue now in hand Christ is the beginning the first borne Colos 1.18 the first begotten of the dead Apoca. 1.5 The fayth in whose Resurrection shall saue vs Rom. 10.9 And therefore if wee beleeue that Iesus died and rose againe even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him Which conclusion is in the words of the Apostle 1. Thes 4.14 And this he so insisteth vpō in all his trialls as though the Creed of a Christian had consisted of no more articles In his tossing betweene the Pharisees Sadduces Men and brethren saith he I am a Pharise the sonne of a Pharise of the hope Resurrection of the dead I am called in question Act. 23.6 After before Felix the Governor I haue hope towards God which they themselues allow that there shall bee a resurrection of the dead both of iust and vniust Act. 24.16 before Festus and Agrippa Why should it bee thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Chap. 26.6 And hauing therefore obtained helpe of God I continue this witnessing both to small and great saying none other things then these which Moses and the Prophets did say should come that Christ should suffer and that hee should be the first that should rise againe and should shew light vnto the people and to the Gentiles verse 22.23 Hee had reference no doubt to that of Isaiah Thy dead men shall liue together with my dead body shall they rise awake sing yee that dwell in dust for thy dew is as the dew of hearbs and the earth shall cast forth her dead Ch. 26.19 But what seeke we a surer discharge then the Master himselfe of this first fruits Office affords vs I am the Resurrection and the life Hee that beleeueth in me though hee were dead yet shall he liue Ioh. 11.25 10. For farther amplifying of this point I will not spend much time to take notice of the ancient heresies concerning it reduced to fiue heads and refuted by Alphonsus de Castro The first granting the soules immortality denyed onely the bodies restoring as Simon Magus and his adherents the Ophytes Valentinians and Carpocratians The second admitting the Resurrection of the body imagined it to bee so altered and turned to a Spirit that it could not bee said to be the same To refute this fancy wherewith Eutychus Bishop of Constantinople much troubled the Church Gregorius before hee had the title of Great or Pope made a journey thither from Rome and handled the matter so wisely before Tiberius the Emperour that Eutychus's book de Resurrectione was adjudged to the fire A fit dispatch also for the Divellish pamphlets of Ostorodius and his damnable associates which now in this Sunneshine of the Gospell among diuers farre worse set abroach the same opinion And the Arminians as the world seeth are too ready to take after them The third heresie is laid to the charge of Origen by Theophilus Alexandrinus Paschal 2. as though hee should hold the
whereof by no triumphs laud and thankesgiuing can bee sufficiently expressed O thou therefore that of stones canst raise vp children vnto Abraham and reviued'st Lazarus when hee stanke in his graue make our dead hearts sensible of the vertue of thy Resurrection that seconding thy first fruits with a serious awaking to righteousnesse wee may triumphantly meete death in the face with this happy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O death where is thy sting ô graue where is thy victory Heare vs ô Lord for his sake who died for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification to whom with thee and the blessed Spirit be all praise and glory both now and ever Amen Gowries Conspiracie A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES IN OXFORD the fifth of August By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. GOVVRIES CONSPIRACIE 2. SAM 20.1 And there happened to be there a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the sonne of Bichri a Beniamite and hee blew a trumpet and said Wee haue no part in David neither haue wee inheritance in the sonne of Ishai Every man to his tents O Israel THere is no state so setled vnder the Sunne but subiect it is to manifold alterations St Ambrose giues the reason in his sixt booke and 39. Epistle because true Rest and security keepe their residence in heaven onely and not here on earth and therefore as Saint Augustine writes to Celestinus in his 63. Epistle in this world are not any way to bee expected If any might presume to speed better then others Kings might plead their Prerogatiue but being in the same ship with their inferiours they are forced to runne the hazard of the same tempests So generally that old verse falleth out to be true Interdum pax est pacis fiducia nunquam Aboue many others a man would haue thought King David a King of Gods owne making a man after his owne heart so beloued at home so feared abroad so compassed on every side with inward and outward blessings had at length beene sufficiently guarded from any extraordinary attempts of traitours or treason Hee had so miraculously escaped Saul subdued the Philistims recouered Ierusalent from the obstinate Iebusites the finger of God appeared in all his actions and victories he wanted not friends and kindred his Captaines and Souldiers were terrible his sonnes many and towardly his treasure boundlesse and his owne valour and experience famous amongst his subiects and borderers so that desperatnesse it selfe might haue trembled to haue giuen him the onset Yet the text here sheweth that as the best men haue their faults so Gods dearest children want not their crosses In the matter of Vriah David in three respects had beene scandalously to blame in murder adultery and the vnder hand betraying of a poore Innocent The first where of God repayed by the murder of his owne sonne Amnon and the death of the childe begotten in adultery The second by the deflowring first of his daughter Tamar by her owne brother and then of his owne wiues by his incestuous son Absalom whom as he raised out of his own bowels to turne traytour against him as appeareth in the fiue former chapters so here he ordereth the malice of Sheba to rayse another commotion justly punishing sinne by sinne and working his owne ends by such perverse instruments The brand therefore of Absalom is scarce here quenched whē Sheba steps forth to blow new coales of rebellion Of which treacherous attempt of a disloyall false hearted subject against his most religious lawfull Soueraigne I haue taken in hand vpon this day and occasion especially to treat of 2. Where not to burden you attentions with vnnecessary curiosities obserue I beseech you with me in the generall These three circumstances 1. The occasion giuen by a contention betweene the Israelites and the men of Iuda in the former Chapter and here accidentally embraced by a treacherous disposition And there happened to be there 2. The traytour liuely deciphered in his colours a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the sonne of Bichri a Beniamite 3. The treason it selfe first confusedly breaking out in the doubtfull sound of a Trumpet And he blew a Trumpet Secondly distinctly vttered in expresse rebellious termes hee said We haue no part in David nether haue we inheritance in the son of Ishai Euery man to his tents O Israel The occasions advantagious the traytour malicious the treason perilous As the occasion vnexpectedly drawes on the traytour so the traytour violently sets on foot the treason Whence wee may easily gather the danger of occasions the rancour of disloyalty and the vnconstant leuity of an incensed multitude And for memory we may thus connect it When occasion is offered howsoever they otherwise striue to appeare good subjects traytours will be ever ready to vent their treasons Of all which whiles I shall plainely discourse according to my tumultuous provision I trust my occasions shall priviledge mee from those sinister censures which passe vpon matters without due notice of circumstances But bee the manner of propounding taken as it may bee the doctrine I am sure will not bee gaine said being occasioned by this dayes celebration against Traytours and Treasons of which my Text containeth a notable example with the occasion intimated in the first words 3. And there happened to be there Casu saith Iunius with the Chaldy paraphrase Accidit saith Castalio Forte fortunâ saith Vatablus The Greekes haue a double rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called hither as it were by chance as some would haue it which others expresse by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occurrit as being an adventure which was occasionally met with Whether this Sheba were a party in Ahsaloms rebellion and then came in with Amasa vpon the ouerthrowe in the wood of Ephraim Chap. 13. or that afterward hee thrust in among the tenne Tribes at Gilgal to congratulate the Kings victories to conduct him backe with honour vnto Ierusalem the Text expresseth not and I hunt not after conjectures Once this is manifest that here hee was for so runne the words in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibi evenit vel casu erat there he happened to be as Arias Montanus with Pagnine expresseth it word for word which intimates that his being there was meerely accidentall And howsoeuer Saint Augustine mislike in his writings the name of chance and fortune in regard it might bee offensiue by a customary heathenish interpretation Yet the Scripture applied to our capacities often hath it forasmuch as things most certaine by Gods disposition and providence in respect of mans circumspection may be termed casuall God out of doubt here had a purpose as Brentius and Peter Martyr well obserue either to make a further triall of Davids fayth and patience or to curbe him from being too presumptuous vpon the strange recouery of his state and Kingdome or to lesson him
thesis That subjects may rebell against those whom God hath advanced to bee their lawfull Kings they come in with the hypothesis to inueigle the weake or malecontents that Kings excommunicated by the Pope are devested of that dignity as Sampson was of his strength by the shauing of Dalilah and therefore they may be dealt with as other men who are publique enemies to Christianitie Thus they cease not most diuelishly to spread in their slaunderous pamphlets virulent libels and secret whisperings which must goe by tradition from hand to hand to mislead simple women and worke on desperate humours who discontented that all things runne not as they would haue it assure themselues of redresse in any change whatsoeuer Now what is this in effect but to preach on Sheba's text We haue no part in David nor any inheritance in the sonne of Iesse What other conclusion doe they driue at in all their Volumes against the Kings Supremacy and subjects Oath of allegiance but to make their followers conceit that they haue no part in King Iames nor any inheritance in the lawfull Successour of blessed Queene Elizabeth This doctrine it should seeme the Earle Gowrie had learned and brought from Italy who in many things may be paraleld with Sheba to make vp the conclusion 10. As Sheba was vnus ex proceribus according to Strigelius Nobilis and celebris saith O siander Nobly and Honourably descended so was Gowrie Sheba liued in a place of note and credit amongst those of his Tribe and Countrey Gowrie herein was not much inferiour There neuer appeared other then good correspondence before betweene Sheba and King David the like was betweene Gowrie and our Soueraigne For after the just execution of his father in his Majesties minoritie he restored this traytour his sonne his lands and dignities advanced two or three of his Sisters to wait on the Queene in her privie chamber vsed that wretch Alexander graciously who so wretchedly was the chiefe actour in the plot But fauours rather exasperate then winne where a poysoned heartturnes all to the worst For as Sheba as it should seeme ever bore a secret grudge to David for a wrong conceaued offered to the house of Saul So did Gowrie to the King for the death of his Father Thus both played the hypocrites both watched but the opportunity both violently tooke it being offered both attempted and both by the providence of the King of Kings were wonderfully defeated Sheba is set down in my text to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dissolute son of Belial moulded in gall and venome without conscience to vndertake any villany And what can we make better of Gowrie a meere Atheist without any sense or touch of Religion as Sprott afterward confessed at his arraignment 1608 his complices Rashtiltaig Bowre of the same stamp his recourse to Necromancers and inchanted characters found at his death about him testifie no lesse So that Sheba here comes behind him for ought we finde as being not linked to Belial in so firme a band Last of all as Sheba sped afterward so Gowrie had his due at the first onset King Iames being deliuered as David to magnifie the Deliverer in the imitation of David which he there did presently vpon his knees in the midst of his owne servants they all kneeling round about him in the place of his deliuerie and hath celebrated this day ever since for a thankfull remembrance And now Beloued what remaineth for vs but to vnite our hearts and prayers in a thankfull congratulation David will well helpe vs to expresse our selues as in most of his Psalmes of thanksgiuing so most compendiously for this purpose in the 21. The King shall reioyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation His honour is great in thy salvation glory and great worship shalt thou lay vpon him And why Because the King putteth his trust in thee O Lord and in thy mercy we trust he shall never miscarry Let all his enemies O Lord feele thy hand let thy right hand finde out them that hate him Make them like a fierie ouen in the time of thy wrath Thou Lord shalt destroy them in thy displeasure and the fire shall consume them Their fruit shalt thou root out from the earth and their seed from among the children of men For they intended mischiefe against thine Anointed imagined such adevice as they were notable to performe Therefore hast thou put them to flight and the stringes of thy bow were made ready against the faces of them Bee thou therefore exalted O Lord in thy own strength that wee may ever sing and prayse thy power To whom three persons in one Deity Father Sonne and Holy Ghost bee ascribed all Honour and Glory Might Majesty and Dominion both now and evermore Amen Higgaion Selah FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE POWDER-PLOT A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES IN OXFORD the fift of November By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter College OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. HIGGAION ET SELAH PSALME 9.16 The Lord is knowne by the iudgement which hee executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands Higgaion Selah THere is no man that compares the words of my text with the occasion of this dayes assembly but-will straight-way acknowledge the fitnesse of this acknowledgement as at all times never to bee forgotten so especially vpon this day and occasion with an Higgaion and Selah to be remembred The Lord is knowne by the iudgement which hee executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands This perchance will receiue the more life when it snall appeare that David in this whole Psalme may well bee made our spokes-man as composing it for a celebration of some extraordinary deliuerance and leauing it to the Church as a patterne for imitation And so much may bee collected from the title it selfe that in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our last Translators as you may see frame to the chiefe Musician and his instrument Iunius to the tune of treble or countertenor an excellent applying of such faculties which now most commonly are abused But others either by disioynting the words or straining the poynts or taking vantage of inversion of letters and divers significations of the same roote as n = a In hunc locum Moller and Lorinus at large informe bring it about either to be a thankesgiuing for Pharaoh's destruction and the first borne of Egypt or Goliah's overthrow or Nabals fall or Hanun's discomfiture for abusing Davids messengers or according to Saint Hierome and Aquinas expressed in the vulgar edition out of the Septuagint pro occult is filij for the discouering and punishing of the secret plots of Absalom his sonne For those that expound it of Christs Victory over death and Satan mistake an application for an interpretation as Burgensis well taxeth Lyra And others obserue not the
these protestations should be performed But what was the issue the Bryer so spread his prickles fild vp the garden that there was no accesse to him without scratching or scarse by his stopping of the passages to any of the other trees I need not adde the morall before so vnderstanding an assembly every one soone apprehends how easie it is for greatnesse to forget from whence it came which is neither from the East nor from the West nor yet from the wildernesse which comprehends North and South but perpendicularly from him that setteth vp one plucketh downe another Psal 75. A hoppe will soone start vp to overlooke the pole by which it climb'd How quickly the braine not vsed to it groweth giddy on a sudden by looking from high place What a churlish answer did Nabal giue to Davids ingenuous Messengers because hee had some pelfe about him 1. Sam. 25. and the other stood in distresse What is David and who is the sonne of Iesse And what are these little ones say our worldlings that such adoe is made about them Senselesse and forgetfull proud man these little ones belong to our Saviours little flocke they carry his Image appertaine to his Court of Wards haue his stamp vpon them therefore must not be despised where favour is expected from him that protects them Hath God made thee great to contemne that which is little Or is it wisedome to make t hem the obiect of thy disdaine who should be fauourably sheltred vnder the shadow of thy protection If all things were well in this behalfe Beloued why is there more respect giuen oftentimes to a beast rather then to our poore Christian brethren Iam. 2. or as S. Iames speaketh to gay cloathing or a whispering Sycophant rather then to a faithful admonisher High buildings had need of a firme foundation and sure buttresses Nabuchadnezzor when he vaunted he had gotten all vpon the sudden lost his wits and degenerated into a beast And wormes will tell Herod he is but a man when applauders would make him beleiue that he spake like a God All this maketh well for little ones when superiours are staued off from contemning them But is all right on the other side with these little ones who take vpon them to be such and beare the world in hand that they are so in very deed This too often is rather desired then found by the most impartiall and syncere inquisitors by reason of the bewitching hypocrisie that beares vp still in the world bids faire to be counted in the list of these litle ones These with Diogenes tread down Plato'es pride but with greater pride in a slyer way with that Abbot looke demurely on the ground till they haue gotten the keyes of the Abbey then advance as pertly as those who are most supercilious 7. Now if the case of these little ones bee so happy as our Saviour here shewes it to be and we are bound to belieue it how comes it about that most are not content with being in the happy case of these little ones but will ever bee tampering to overtop the greatest Surely there is too much of old Adam in most of his posterity For if thy lot be falne in a good ground and thou haue a goodly heritage in the station that God hath set thee what need so much casting about and farther adoe to iustle competitours aside and goe before them Every man is ready enough to censure the fore-mentioned Bryer for his overspreading prickles but who thinks on the Thistle of Lebanon that would needs haue a match betweene his sonne and the Cedar's daughter This parable is Canonicall and therefore I may propose it with the lesse offence and greater confidence it is in the 2. of Chron. the 25. and the 18. You shall haue it in the very words of the text The Thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the Cedar that was in Lebanon saying giue thy daughter to my sonne to wife and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trode downe the Thistle Here you see the match was mar'd and so it often falls out with Hypocriticall little ones who will needs swell with the Toad to be as great as the Oxe and then burst in the midst of their foolish attempt Beloued let every one amend one and then all will be well Preferment may be religiously taken so it be not ambitiously affected or procured by synister meanes Ioseph Daniel and Nehemiah refused it not but improued it to the honour of their Advancers and the advancement of the Church state wherein they liued The greatest therefore in dignity may be little ones by their true humility Little ones by their submission to God though the greatest by commission from God And this is the eminency of goodnesse to be such little great ones or great little ones To compose and set all as it should be If the great may be brought to professe syncerity with David Lord I am not high minded I haue no proud lookes Ps 131. I doe not exercise my selfe in great matters which are too high for me I would not by any meanes despise one of thy little ones but I refraine my soule and keep it low like a child that is weaned from his mother yea my soule is as a weaned child Ps 131. In all humility and submission and singlenesse of heart the little ones on the other side should haue also by heart S. Pauls lesson I knowe how to be abased and I knowe how to abound every where in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need For I haue learned in what estate soever I am therewith to be contented Philip. 4.12 12. Last of all let me make but one collection more from this passage and then an end of this point If Superiours are enjoyned to take heed that they despise not one of Gods little ones then a maiori ad minus and so reciprocally a minori ad maius these little ones are likewise bound to respect honour and obey in all submission and syncerity their lawfull superiours But the antecedent is our Saviours Therefore these little ones who expect salvation should make good the consequent They haue a reason to doe it heartily willingly truly by the true faith of a Christian as God helps them and affords them the protection of his holy Angels which reason is giuen here in my text now followes in order to be discussed 8 For I say vnto you that in heaven their Angels doe alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In points of beliefe that which is extraordinary and not heard of before is not lightly to bee receiued without good ground That the Angels in heaven had such especiall charge of litle ones here vpon earth was more then was ever plainely taught before our Saviours comming For as the