oyle of Lyons If Magistrates would vse that sword which the Lyon the King hath put into their hands to Gods glory the wolues would be in more feare and quiet Let him that hath Episcopall Iurisdiction consider what S. Bernard writes to Eugenius that it is his office Magis domare lupos quà m dominari ouibus And as they say the Subiect of the Canon law is Homo dirigibilis in Deum et in bonum commune so that Court which is called Forum spirituale should specially consider the publike tranquillity of these Lambes to eneruate the furious strength of wolues Let them that are deputed Superuisors of Parishes Church-wardens remember that nothing in the world is more spirituall tender and delicate then the conscience of a man and nothing bindes the conscience more strongly then an oath Come ye not therefore with Omne benè when there are so many wolues among you If you fauour the wolues you giue shrewd suspition that you are wolues your selues Is there nothing for you to present Gods house Gods day is neglected the Temples vnrepaired and vnrepaired too neyther adorned nor frequented Adultery breaks forth into smoke fame infamy Drunkennes cannot find the way to the Church so readily as to the Alehouse and when it comes to the Temple takes a nap iust the length of the Sermon And yet Omnia benè still Let me say Security and Partiality are often the Church-wardens Conniuence and wilfull Ignorance the Side-men You wil say I take for the profit of the Commissary I answere in the face and feare of God I speake not to benefit his Office but to discharge my owne office VVhen all is done and yet all vndone still the lambs must be patient thogh in medio luporuÌ„ God wil not suffer our labors to passe vnrewarded Emittuntur non amittuntur agni VVhen we haue finished our course there is laid vp for vs a crown of righteousnes which the Lord the righteous Iudge shal giue vs at the last day Aristotle in his Ethicks affirmes vertue to be only Bonum laudabile making 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee the adiunct thereof but his Felicity to be Bonum honorabile and giues for the adiunct 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making it the most honourable thing in the world But Gods reward to his seruants surmounts all Ethicke or Ethnicke happinesse bestowing a Kingdome vpon his Lambes on the right hand whiles the wolues and Goates on the left be sent away to eternal malediction Now the Lambe of God make vs Lambes and giue vs the reward of Lambes his euerlasting comforts Amen FINIS THE Spirituall Nauigator BOVND For the Holy Land Preached at St. Giles without Cripplegate on Trinity Sunday last 1615. By THOMAS ADAMS Reuel 15. 2. 3. I saw as it were a Sea of Glasse mingled with fire and they that had gotten the victory ouer the Beast and ouer his Image and ouer his Marke and ouer the number of his name stand on the Sea of glasse hauing the Harpes of GOD. And they sing the Song of Moses the seruant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and marueilous are thy works Lord God Almighty iust and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints LONDON Printed by William Iaggard 1615. TO THE TRVLY-Religious M. Crashavv M. Milward M. Dauyes M. Heling with other worthy Citizens my very good Friends GEntlemen Because you haue iust occasion in your callings to deale often with Merchandise I haue beene bold to call you a little from your Temporall to a Spirituall Traffique and haue sent you a Christian Nauigatour bound for the Holy Land who without question will giue you some relations of his Trauells worthy two houres perusing You shall finde a whole Sea sailed through in a short time and that a large Sea not a foote lesse then the World You will say the description lyes in a little volume Why you haue seene the whole world narrow'd vp into a small Mappe They that haue beene said after many yeares at last to compasse it haue not described all coasts and corners of it Euen their silence hath giuen succeeding generations hope to find out new Lands and you know they haue found them You cannot expect more of two houres discouery then of seauen yeares I leaue many things to be descried by others yet dare promise this that I haue giuen you some necessary directions for your happiest voyage Ouer this glassy Sea you must saile you are now sayling Truth be your Card the Holy Ghost your Pilot. Your Course being well directed you cannot possibly make a happier iourney The Hauen is before your eyes where your Sauiour sits with the hand of mercy wafting you to him You cannot bee Sea-sicke but he will comfort and restore you If the Tempest comes call on him with Peter Lord saue vs and he will rebuke the windes and the Seas they shal not hurt you Storme and tempest winds and waters obey his voyce What Rocks Gulfes Swallowes and the danger worse then that is called the Terror of the Exchange the Pyrate one plague which the Deuill hath added to the Sea more then Nature gaue it of that great Leuiathan Satan and other perils that may endanger you are marked out Decline them so well as you may and consider what Prouidence guides your course this Sea is Before Gods Throne Keepe you the Cape of good Hope in your eye and what euer becomes of this weake Vessell your Body make sure to saue the Passenger your Soule in the day of the Lord Iesus What is here directed you shall be faithfully prayed for by him That vnfainedly desires your Saluation Tho Adams THE Spirituall Nauigator BOVND For the Holy Land Reuel Chap. 4. ver 6. Before the Throne there was a Sea of Glasse like vnto Chrystall I Haue chosen a member of the Epistle appointed by our Church to be read in the celebration of this Feast to the most Sacred Trinity There is One sitting on the Throne which is God the Father on his right hand the Lambe which was slaine onely worthy to vnseale the Booke which is God the Sonne and seauen Lampes of fire burning before the Throne the seauen-fold Spirit which is God the Holy Ghost Vnus potentialiter trinus personaliter Which blessed Trinity in Vnity and Vnity in Trinity inspire mee to speake and you to heare Amen Before the Throne c. The Reuelation is a booke of great depth containing tot Saâ—…menta quot verba as many wonders as words mysteries as sentences There are other bookes of the Gospell but Bullinger cals this Librum euangelicissimum the most Gospel-like booke a booke of most happy consolation deliuering those euentuall comforts which shall successiuely and succesfully accompany the Church vnto the end of the world It presents as in a perspectiue glasse the lambe of God guarding and regarding his Saints giuing them triumphant victory ouer all his and their enemies The writings of S. Iohn as I haue
in him then he was made sinne for vs which was onely by imputation So Luther Christiana sanctitas non est actiua sed passiua sanctitas extra nos est iustitia nostra non in nobis 3. His bloud excellent and of most transcendent vertue whether lauando or leuando we were maculati et mactati speckled with corruptions dead in sinnes Not onely as the Remists say Diseased but as Paul saith Deceased Ephe. 2 1. Dead in sinnes and trespasses His bloud hath recouered our life our health and washed vs as white as the snow iâ—… Salmon Thus he is in euery respect profitable to vs more then we could eyther expetere or expectare deserue or desire Satan is against vs behold Christ is with vs and wee ouercome him by the bloud of the Lambe Now is Christ a Lambe then must you be sicut agni as Lambes Christ is the principall and truest exemplar a generall rule without exception Imitation doth soonest come and best become Children and Schollers VVe are Children Math. 5. Loue your enemies c. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heauen VVe are Seruants to Christ. Io. 13. Ye cal me Maister Lord ye say wel for so I am Though we cannot tread in his steppes we must walke in his path As Virgil of Ascanius sonne to Aeneas Sequiturque patrem non passibus aequis Now our imitation is confined not to his miracles but to his moralls It is fitte the Disciple should follow his Maister Math. 16. If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take vp his crosse follow me Some follow him as Peter a farre off Some goe cheeke by iowle with him as the Papists confounding their owne merits with his and therein themselues Some out-runne Christ as Iames and Iohn Luke 9. 54. in a preproperous preposterous zeale as hot as Mount Hecla Let vs follow him close but in meekenesse Vis capere celsitudinem Dei cape prius humilitatem Dei We must be Lambes accordingly and that in 1. Patience VVe must take vp Christs crosse when we become his Schollers Not onely beare it but take it vp Tollere and Ferre differ An Asse beares man takes vp There is a threefold crosse Innocent perient penitent Christ bore the first the perishing theefe the second the repentant and wee all must beare the last The lambe whether he bee shorne or slaine is dumbe to complaints VVe blesse God that we are well freed from the Boners and butchers of these lambes but wee haue still fleecers enough too many that loue to see Learning follow Homer with a staffe and a wallet This we must expect Christ sends vs not as wolues among wolues or Shepheards among wolues or sheepe about wolues but as lambes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the middest of wolues as S. Mathew hath it If they cannot deuoure our flesh they will plucke our fleeces leaue vs nothing but the tag-locks poore vicaredge tythes whiles themselues and their children are kept warme in our wooll the Parsonage Nay and they would clippe off the tag-locks too rauen vp the vicaredges if the lawe would but allow them a paire of sheares Euery Gentleman thinkes the Priest meane but the Priests meanes hath made many a Gentleman VVell he had need be a lambe that liues among such wolues But as Doctor Luther was wont to say Mitte mundum vadere sicut vadit nam vult vadere sicut vadit Merry Latine but resolute Patience Let the world go as it doth for it will go as it doth Let vs comfort our selues as our Iewell did his friends in banishment Haec non durabunt aetatem This world will not last euer He that enters this holy Calling must be content as Paul to dye daily 1. Cor. 15. 31. To preach the Gospell boldly is to pull the world about our eares and to coniure vp the furies of hell against vs. But Frangit et attollit vires in milite causa Yet Patience is the best gamester for it winneth when it looseth Hee had neede bee a Iob that liues among the Sabeans Chaldeans of our times Are you disparaged suffer Are you despised suffer Are you impouerished suffer This same BulapathuÌ„ is the best hearb in the garden the hearb Patience It shall amase them after all wrongs to see your foreheads smoothe countenances milde lippes silent and your habites vn-moued The Wolfe in the Fable oh that it were but a fable when hee sees the Lambe drinking at the poole comes blundring into the water and troubles it then quarrels with the Lambe Quare turbasti aquam VVhy hast thou troubled the water Sic nocet innocuo nocuus causamque nocendi Quaerit So Ahab the wolfe told Elias the lambe that he troubled Israel As it is truely reported the Papists would haue laide the Gunpowder-treason on the Puritaines if it had beene effected Hebr. 10. Ye haue need of patience that after ye haue done the will of God ye might receiue the promise But I feare I haue incited your impatience by standing so long vpon patience 2. Time and your expectation call me to the Innocency of these Lambes It is not enough for them to suffer wrongs but they must offer none For he that doth iniury may well receiue it To looke for good and do bad is against the law of Retaile Dyonisius of Syracusa being banish'd came to Theodores Court a supplyant where not presently admitted hee turned to his Companion with these words Perhaps I did the like when I was in the like dignity VVhen thou receiuest iniury remember what thou hast giuen It is no wonder if those lambes be stricken that strike He that will be an agent in wrongs must be a patient How strange and vnproper a speech is this a contentious lambe a troublesome Minister How learned soeuer such men may seeme they are indeed illiterate They are bad writers that haue not learnd to ioyne simple Grammarians that haue not their Concords It is obserued of Lambes that Caetera animalia armauit natura solum agnum dimisit inermem Other liuing creatures Nature hath armed but the lambe she sent into the world naked and vnarmed giuing it neyther offensiue nor defensiue weapons The Dog hath teeth to bite the Horse hoofes to trample the Beare nayles to teare the Oxe hornes to dash the Lyon pawes and iawes to deuoure The Bore hath his tush the Elephant his snowt the Hinde and Hare haue swift feete to saue themselues by flight Onely the Lambe hath no meanes eyther to helpe it selfe or to hurt others Neyther is this our Innocency onely to be consider'd in respect immediately of man or of iniuries directed to him But these Lambes must bee innocent in regard of God in regard of their Calling The Priest in his brest-plate must not onely haue Vrim which is Science but Thummim which is Conscience VVe haue manifold weaknesse we must not haue manifest wickednesse
dangers of the sea of the world the fifth circumstance of this Comparison 6. In the sea there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fishes that eate vp fishes so in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that eate vp men Psal. 14. Haue all the workers of iniquity no knowledge who eate vp my people as they eate bread Hab. 1. The wicked man deuoureth the righteous Thou makest men as the fishes of the Sea The labours of the poore euen his whole heritage is worne vpon the proud mans backe or swallowed downe into his belly He racks rents wrings out fines extorteth inhaunceth improueth impouerisheth oppresseth till the poore Tenant his wife and children cry out for bread behold all buyes him scarse a sute of clothes he eates and drinkes it at one feast Oh the shrill cry of our Land for this sinne and the loud noise it makes in the eares of the Lord of Hoasts The Father is dead that kept good hospitality in the Country and the Gallant his sonne must liue in London where if he want the least superfluity that his proud heart desireth and how can he but want in the infinite pride of that City He coÌ„mits all to a hard Steward who must wrings the last droppe of bloud from the Tenants hearts before the Land-Lord must want the least cuppe to his drunkennes the least toy to his wardrobe If this be not to eate swallow deuoure men bloud and bones then the fishes in the sea forbeare it Heare this ye oppressers Bee mercifull you will one day be glad of mercy The yellings of the poore in the Country are as loud as your rorings in the City The Cups you drinke are full of those teares that drop from affamished eyes though you perceiue it not You laugh when they lament you feast when they fast you deuoure them that do your seruice God will one day set these things in order before you 7. The sea is full of Monsters Innumerable and almost incredible are the relations of Trauellers in this punctuall demonstration As of Estaurus a fish chewing the cudde like a beast of the Manate headed like an Oxe and of certaine flying fishes c. And are there not in this world Men-monsters I doe not say of Gods making but of their owne marring You would thinke it prodigious to see a man with two faces Alasse how many of these walke daily in our streetes They haue one face for the Gospell another for the masse-booke a brow of allegiance for the King and a brow of apostacy of treason for the Pope whensoeuer he shall call for it You would thinke it a strange defect in nature to see a man borne without a head why there are innumerable of these head-lesse men among vs who like brute beasts haue no vnderstanding but are led by the precipitation of their feet follow their owne mad affections Others redundantly haue two tongues dissemblers hypocrites the one to blesse God the other to cursse man made after his Image They haue one to sing in a church another to blaspheme and rore in a Tauerne Some haue their faces in their feete whereas God Os homini sublime dedit caelumque tueri iuss it gaue man an vpright countenance and framed him to looke vpwards these look not to heauen whence they did drop but to hell whether they will drop Insatiable earth-scrapers couetous wretches that would dig to the Center to exhale riches Others haue swords in their lips a strange kind of people but common raylers and reuilers euery word they speake is a wounding gash to their neighbours VVeigh it seriously Are not these monsters 8 On the Sea men do not walke but are borne in vessels vnles like our Sauiour Christ they could worke miracles In the world men doe not so much trauell of themselues as they are carried by the streame of their owne concupiscence So saith S. Chrysost. Hîc homines non ambulant sed feruntur quia Diabolus cum delectatione compellit illos in mala Here men doe not walke but are carried for the Deuill beares them vpon his backe and whiles he labours them to hell winde and tide are on his side VVhen he hath them in Profundis Abyssi vpon that bottomles depth he striues to exonerate his shoulders and doth what he can to let them fall sinke into the infernall lake So â—…aul saith that temptations and snares foolish and hurtfull lusts do no lesse then drowne men in perdition You thinke your selues on dry and firme ground ye presumptuous wantons Alasse you are on the sea an inconstant sea Digitis a morte remoti Quatuor aut septem si sit latissima taeda Soone ouer-boord The windes will rise the surges will beate you will be ready to sinke cry faithfully and in time with the Apostles Lord saue vs or we perish 9. Lastly the Sea is that great Cesterne that sends waters ouer all the earth conueying it thorow the veines the springs till those dispersed waters become Riuers then those Riuers run back againe into the Sea This vast world scattereth abroad her riches driues deriues them by certain passages as by Cunduit pipes vnto many men The rich man shall haue many springs to feed him with wealth the east west windes shal blow him profite industry policy fraud lucke shall contend to giue his dition the addition of more wealth At length when these springs haue made a brooke and these brookes a riuer this riuer runnes againe into the Sea VVhen the rich man hath sucked the world long at last absorbetur a mundo hee is sucked vp of the world VVhatsoeuer it gaue him at many times it takes away at once VVarre exile prison displeasure of greatnesse sutes of law death emptie that Riuer in one moment that was so many yeares a filling Mans wealth is like his life long a breeding soon extinct Man is born into the world with much paine nursed with much tendernes kept in childehood with much care in youth with much cost All this time is spent in expectation At last beeing now vpon the point a man the pricke of a sword kils him Euen so is our wealth piled so spoyled the world like some politick Tyrant suffering vs to scrape together aboundant riches that it may surprise vs and them at once Innumerable other relations would the World and the Sea affoorde vs. I desire not to say all but enough and enough I haue saide if the affections of any soule present shall hereby distaste the world and grow heauenly Oh what is in this Sea worth our dotage what not worthy our detestation The sinnes of the world offend our God the vanities hurt our selues onely the good blessings serue for our godly vse and to helpe vs in our iourney But we know that we are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickednesse Pray we that this Sea infect vs not especially drowne vs not Though wee lose like the Mariners in the