twentieth Verse and in both He is a Beast that perisheth Marke how the Spirit of God paint's out this very Earth-worme this great Monopolist of pelfe and Rubbish He is ignorant Transitorie Sensuall He abideth not hee vnderstandeth not and anon he dieth Dieth no perisheth perisheth as a Beast doth as if the Soule rotted with the Body or his Memory with the Soule no Remainder either of Name or Fortune and which is worst of Honour so saith the Text What though rich and the Glory of his house increased yet He shall carry away nothing with him his Honour shall not descend after him verse 17. what carry nothing away with him not that Glorious Earth that Gaudy Luggage his Soule Doted on that shining Saint that Burnish'd Deity which he could at once both touch and worship what not the Cabonet he hug'd and clasp'd not the Gold hee Idol'd nothing of Treasure or Repute or Name Of neither All these false beames which were wont to dazle him shall bee now clouded in perpetuall darknesse where they shall neuer see light againe thus the Text doome's him at the nineteenth Verse of the same Psalme Seeing then All earthly Dependences are vaine and fragile and there can be no true peace but that which looke's vpward Take for Conclusion the aduice of Siracides Lay vp Treasures according to the Commandement of the most High Ecclus 39. and they shall bring thee more profit then gold Treasures of the most high What are These How laid vp and where The Commandement of the most High tell 's thee Lay vp for your selues Treasures in heauen Bags which waxe not old the good foundation against the time to come the hold of eternall life the Euerlasting Memoriall before God that Treasure which the Angell shewed Cornelius in the Vision euen thine Almes and thy Prayers not thy large-lung'd Prayers without Almes such as the old Pharisee bleated in his Synagogue or the New one in his Conuenticle but thine Almes and thy Prayers hand in hand with one cheerefulnesse and Truth thy hearty Zeale towards God and thy willing Charity towards Man and both these in secret and without noise Such and only such are Golden Vialls full of Odours sweet Incense in the Nostrils of the Almighty They shall yeeld a pleasant smell as the Best Myrrhe as Galbanum and Onyx and sweet Storax and as the fume of Frankincense in the Tabernacle Heere are Treasures which neuer faile where no Moth corrupteth nor Thiefe approcheth these shall fight for thee against thine Enemies better then a mighty shield or a strong speare If thou breake the Staffe of thy Bread vnto the hungry and afflicted God shall make fat thy Bones and satisfie thy Soule in Drought Thou shalt be like awatred Garden and like a spring whose streames faïle not Treasures thou shalt lay vp as Dust and Gold of Ophir as the stones of the Brooke Thy Pastures shall be cloth'd with flockes the Valleys also shall stand so thicke with Corne that they shall laugh and sing In fine Thou shalt take root in an honourable place euen in the portion of the Lord's Inheritance when thou shalt be exalted as a Cypresse-tree vpon the Mountaines of Hermon like a Palme tree in Engedy and as a Rose plant in Iericho And at length when the Glory of those Earthly Mansions must bee left when thou canst bee no longer Steward but art to passe thy strict Account before the Great House-holder at the Generall and Dreadfull Audit when the Booke of all our Actions shall be vnclaps'd thine shall be found square and euen and thou shalt receiue that happie Applause and Remuneration Well done thou good and faithfull Seruant Enter into thy Masters Ioy. Which the Lord grant for Christ Iesus sake Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo Rode caper vites tamen hic cùm stabis ad Aras In tua quod fundi cornua possit crit FINIS VVATERS OF MARAH AND MERIBAH OR THE SOVRCE OF BITTERNES AND STRIFE SWEETNED AND ALLAYED By way of Aduice Refutation Censure Against The Pseudo-zelots of our Age By HVMPHREY SYDENHAM Master of Arts late Fellow of Wadham-Colledge in OXFORD Disposui nasum secare faetentem timeat qui criminosus est quid ad te qui te intelligis innocentem De te dictum putae in quodcunque vitium stili mei mucro contorquetur HIERON ad MARCELLINVM LONDON Printed by Elizabeth Allde for Nathaniel Butter An. Dom. 1630. TO THE FRIENDS INDEEDE both of my Name and Fortunes Sir Ralph Sydenham and Edward Sydenham Esquire Seruants to his Sacred Maiestie My dearely honour'd WHilst I labour to ioyne you so closely in my respects let me not sunder you in your owne like two great men who the neerer they are in place the farther off in Correspondence I presume 't is no Solecisme to linke you together in one Dedication whom Nature hath twisted so fast in one Blood and Education in one vertue and Familiarity a knot I hope indissoluble in one heart It is not my lowest glory that I can boldly and in a breath speake Kinsman and Friend and Patron and these three in two and these two but one A rare harmony where Affections are so strung that touch them how and where and when you please they are still vnisons I haue hitherto found them so in all my wayes both of Aduancement and Repute and these set me vp in a double gratulation and applause in my Hosanna's for you to my God and then in my Reports to men This is my All of requitall yet and yours I beleeue of expectation which lookes no farther then an ingenuous acknowledgement of your Fauours such as the procliuity of your owne worth hath suggested not any industrious proseqution of mine which could haue beene contented to haue worne an obscurer Title but that it must now vaunt in a Rich one That of Your Seruant-Kinsman HVM SYDENHAM VVATERS OF MARAH AND MERIBAH TEXT Rom. 12.1 I Beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God to offer vp your Bodies a liuing Sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable seruice THe Text hath a double fore-head one lookes towards the Letter the other the Allegory that of the Letter glances on the Legall Sacrifice by the Iewe that of the Allegory on the Spirituall by the Christian the one was a carnall oblation of the Body onely the other a Misticall of the Affections That spake in the rough Dialect of the Law Horror Blood and Death This in the sweet language of the Gospell Brethren and Beseeching and Mercies of God Here then is no Hecatombe or slaughter of the Beast no Bullocke or Ram or Goate slaine for immolation as of old but the Sacrifice required here must be Liuing 't is a Body must be offer'd and not a Carcasse here 's no death but of in bred corruptions no slaughter but of carnall lusts and concupiscences Affections must be mortified and not the Body that subdued onely and chastis'd not slaine and yet still a Sacrifice
he will not so much as enioyne his Philemon but labours with an Obsecro when he might haue vs'd a Mando Though I might be much bold in Christ to enioyne thee yet for loue 's sake I rather beseech thee Phil. 7.8 So that where Loue is there is still an Obsecro where it is not there is commonly a Damno Hence 't is that the Pulpit is so often the Mount of Terror and of Vengeance the Throne of personall eiaculations the Altar where some belch nothing but fire and brimstone vomit the Ite maledicti too vncharitably and which is worst too particularly who scare and terrifie when they should entreat and in stead of Beseeching fall to Reuiling Rom. 12.11 who vnder a pretence of feruency of the Spirit and seruing the Lord sincerely ransacke God's dreadfull Artillery and call out all his Instruments of Iustice to assist them his furbisht sword and glittering speare his bowe of steele and sharpe-set arrowes his horse with warre-like trappings neighing for the battell his smoaking iealousie and deuouring pestilence his flaming meteors and horrid earth-quakes his storme his whirle-wind and his tempest flouds and billones and boylings of the deepe his cuppe of displeasure and vials of indignation his dregs of fury and besome of destruction his haile stones and his lightnings his coales of Iuniper and hot thunder-boles Thus in fearefull harnesse hauing muster'd vp all God's Iudgements in a sull volly they at once discharge them against the pretended corruptions of particular men whom their virulence labours rather to traduce then their Deuotions to reforme And this is but a spirituall-distraction a deuout phrenzy a holy madnesse through which like the Lunaticke in the Gospell they fall sometimes into the water Marke 9.22 sometimes into the fire Nothing will satisfie them but flouds and flames flouds to o'er-whelme the sinner or flames to martyr him But Quis furor ô ciues quae tanta dementia Publicke reproofes when they are cloath'd with Terror not onely disparage but dis-hearten They breake the bruizedreede Esay 42.3 and quench the smoaking flaxe run many on the shelues of despaire where they make an vnhappy shipwracke of their faith and not of their faith onely but of their body also exposing it to poyson or the knife to strangling or to the floud to the wilfull precipitation of some Towre or Cliffe or the vnnaturall butchery of their owne hands and so tormenting the body for the soule by a temporall death at length they feele the torments both of soule and body by an eternall death Thus if Incisions bee made too deepe in the vlcers of the Soule and the spirituall wound search'd too roughly it more relishes of cruelty then of Loue and he that doth it rather preaches his owne sinne then endeuours to cure anothers Qui delinquente superbo vel odioso animo corrigit Jsid lib. 3. de summo Bono cap. 91. non emendat sed percutit Rebukes which taste of enuie or superciliousnesse do not reforme but wound and in stead of lenifying and making more tractable indifferent dispositions they stubborne them knowing that reproofes too tartly season'd are the seruices of Spleene and not of Zeale 't is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeale from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seething and boyling of a pot Now a pot you know not temperatly fir'd boyles ouer and certainely if Moderation sometimes blow not the Cole but wee make virulence the bellowes of our zeale it not onely seeths and rises to passion and distemper but boyles ouer to Enuy and Vncharitablenesse And therefore our Apostle deuiding the properties of true Charity from a false zeale makes this one Symptome of that great vertue Charitas non aemulatur Estius in 1. Cor. cap. 13.3 Cyp. lib. de zelo Linore 1 Cor. 13.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall non zelat That is as Cyprian reades non inuidet enuies not for zeale in her perfection and as it leanes to vertue is but emulation but screw'd vp to vice 't is enuy Enuy Nay 't is fury Isid lib. 3. de summo Bono cap. 91. Quicquid proteruus vel indignans animus protulerit obiurgantis furor est non dilectio corrigentis saith the Father what in way of Admonishment passion produces is Reuiling and not admonishment and doth not touch so properly on sincerity as malice And therefore Enuies and Euill-speakings are link'd with Guile and Hypocrisie By Saint Peter Lay aside all guile Hypocrisies and Enuies and euill-speakings 1 Pet. 2.1 A temperate reproofe will mould and worke vs to reformation when an Inuectiue fires vs In cap. 5. Luae Illa pudorem incutit Haec indignationem mouet saith Ambrose That touches vs with remorce and slumbers and becalmes all passion This kindles our Indignation and with that our stubbournesse For certainely harsh speeches doe not so properly moue as startle vs and are like sharpe sawces to the stomacke which though they sometimes stirre the appetite yet they gnaw And for this Error some haue censur'd Saint Chrysostome himselfe That if He could haue moderated his zeale and temper'd his reproofes with a little mildnesse especially to the Empresse Eudoxia He might haue done more seruice to his Church and rescued his honour from the staine both of Imprisonment and Exile I presse not this so farre Beloued to fat and pamper vice or rocke and lull men in a carelesse sensuality Though I doe Beseech yet I would not fawne This were to kill our young with colling them and with the Iuie barren and dead that tree which we embrace I know a Boanerges is sometimes as well requir'd as a Barnabas a sonne of Thunder as of Consolation But these haue their vicissitudes and seasons There is an vncircumcised heart and there is a Broken Spirit There is a deafe Adder that will not be charm'd and there are good Sheepe that will heare Christ's voyce For these there is the spirit of Meekenesse for the other loud and sharpe Reproofes If Nabal's heart be stony the Word is call'd a Hammer let that batter it If Israel haue a heart that is contrite and wounded Gilead hath Balme in it and there is oyle of comfort for hïm that mournes in Sion Thus as our Infirmities are diuers so are the cures of the Spirit sometimes it terrifies sometimes it Commands sometimes it Beseeches But let not vs terrifie when we should but Command nor Command when wee should Beseech lest wee make this Liberty a Cloake for our Maliciousnesse 1. Pet. 2.16 In all exhortations first make vse of the still voyce and if that preuaile not Cry alowd vnto the Trumpet and if that be not shrill enough raise the Thunder-clap Aug. lib. 2. de sermone Domini in monte seâ—m 1. But this latter Rarò magnâ necessitate saith Augustine seldome and vpon great necessity Ità tamèn vt in ipsis etiam obiuâ— gatienibus non nobis sed Deo seruiatur intestinus If we must needs
delectant they taken with stones and shells of various colours found on the Sea-shore Sen. Ep. 119. we with pillars of Iasper and Porphirie from the Sands of Egypt or Deserts of Affrica to shoulder some Porch or Dyning-roome to banquet or reuell in All this Equipage of Greatnes is but a Glorious vanity and that which the Moralist call's Bracteata faelicitas a spangled happines Sen. vt supra a leafe of gold laid on Iron which for a time glitter's and then rust's a gaudie Vane or Streamer on the top of some Turret whiuer's and flicker's with euery blast a quaint Iewell hung loose in haire which as it dangle's fall's a verie Glassie Pompe cùm splendet frangitur like Bubbles which in their swelling breake Flattering and deluding Blessings and such as proue better to them that hope for them then to those that doe enioy them For insteed of that Contentment which should assaile them by the fruition of their desires here is nothing but Calamity new torment Care of their preseruation and doubt of their disposall and feare of their losse and trouble of their improuement to these leane watchfulnes broken thoughts hollow resolutions interrupted peace besides a whole Hoast of selfe-vexations and the wheele the Racke not halfe the Torture Thus Gold is a stumbling-Blocke to him that doth sacrifice vnto it and very fooles shall bee taken with it saith Iesus the son of Sirach shall be taken with it nay shall be taken from it euen when he doth sacrifice vnto it so saith Iesus the sonne of Dauid Foole this night shall thy soule be taken from thee taken from thee two wayes First thy soule from the riches of thy bodie and then thy soule from the bodie of thy riches And therefore there is a vae Diuitibus denounced against such Amos 6.1 Woe to you that are at ease in Sion and trust in the mountaines of Samaria which though the Marcionite would make a vae only of Admonition and not of Malediction yet Tertullian in the chasticement of that error saith that a Cauete is alwayes vsed in matters of Aduice but a vae neuer but in those thunder-claps of fury and malediction So we find only a Cauete against Auarice because That is the Semen and first matter as 't were of Riches Beware of Coueteousnesse for mans life consisteth not in Abundance Luke 12.13 But there is a fearefull vae against Riches as though they still cryed for diuine Castigations Woe vnto you that are rich why you haue receiued your consolation Luke 6.24 your consolation how Ex Diuitijs de gloriâ illarum secularibus fructibus of your riches and their glory and all secular content not otherwise So saith the Father in his fourth Booke against Marcion Cap. 5. What folly i st then to pursue that with violence and Intention which when wee haue gain'd is no satisfaction but a torment what madnes thus to macerate and crucifie the whole man for a few titular and opinionated riches of which hee that carouse's and drinke's deepest is euer thirstie Nothing quenches an immoderate appetite poculum respuit quia fluuium sitit saith Augustine Cataracts and riuers are but draughts competent for such concupiscences to swallow Habes Aurum habes Argentum concupiscis aurum concupiscis argentum Habes concupiscis plenus es sitis morbus est non opulentia the same Father in his 3. Sermon de verbis Apostoli How miserable are those desires which are not bounded by what wee doe possesse but by what wee can atchieue If a man suppose that Fortune hee is Lord of not voluminous enough although hee be Monarch of the whole world yet is hee wretched hee is not happie Sen. lib de paupertate that thinks himselfe happie hee that agreeth well with his pouertie is a rich man and hee that agreeth not well with his riches is a poore man hee is not rich that still lack 's something nor he poore that wanteth nothing vtrum maius habere multum an satis 't is the Stoicks Dilemma whether had'st thou rather to haue much or enough hee that hath much desires more which is an argument hee hath not yet sufficient he that hath enough hath obtain'd the end which neuer befals a rich man Seneca labour's to presse this home to his Lucillius Ep. 119. Set before me the reputed rich Crassus or Lucinius let him calculate his full Reuenewes what hee hath in present and hoped-for Possessions this man if thou beleeue me is poore or if thy selfe may bee poore whether is hee Couetous or Prodigall if Couetous he hath nothing if Prodigall he shall haue nothing The Gold thou cal'st his is but his Cabonet's Et Quis Aerario inuidet who would enuy a full coffer The man whom thou suppose'st to be Master of his treasure is but the bagge that shut's it vp Loe then the base Idolatry of these times and men which not onely raise their Hecatombs to their Golden Saint but Deifie the very Shrine that keepe 's it A peece of wrinckled prouidence or gray-hayr'd thrift nay worse a meere decrepit Auarice when for a little languishing and bed-rid Charitie they embalme the Honours and Memory of rich men with their precious Perfumes and Oyntments such as should cast only their Odours on the Monuments of good men And not onely so but they aduance their Statues and Pillars in our very Temples I know not whether more to the dishonour of our God or to the Immortalitie of their owne Name What 's this but to turne Israelite againe and take off from the glory of the Lord of Hoasts to worship a Golden Calfe By the Law of Nature saith the Epicure the greatest riches are but a compos'd pouertie and by the Law of God the greatest pouertie is but ill-compes'd riches for he that pile's them by fraud or violence builds Aauarice one storie higher to oppression and then not onely Pouerty but Iudgement followes God shall raine snares vpon them Psal 18 That which should otherwise cherish shall now intangle them and then Storme and Tempest shall bee their portion to drinke such a storme as will not be allaid without a shower of vengeance Hearke how it blowe's Woe vnto them That ioyne House to house and lay field to field till they be placed alone in the middest of the Earth This is in mine eares saith the Lord of Hoasts of a truth many houses shall be desolate euen great and faire without an Inhabitant Ten Acres of vineyard shall yeeld one Bath and the seed of an Omer shall yeeld an Ephah Is this all No the Thunder clap is behind Hell hath enlarged her selfe and opened her mouth without measure and their multitude and their Pompe shall descend into it Esay 5.14 There is no misery to vniust riches no leannesse of teeth like those which grow fat with the substance of another but to them which grind Pouertie by Extortion deuorant plebem
Diamonds nay all the Treasure the wombe of the Earth or bowels of the great Deepe haue swallowed yet euen in these flouds hee thirsteth in this surset he is hungry in these Riches poore O the Inexhaustednesse of Humane Appetite Quod naturae satìs est Homini nò est Sen Epist 119. Nature hath not in her vast store-house wherewith to supply our bottomlesse Desires those Desires I meane which attend our Choice For as they depend on the Imaginations of men which are fertile and euer blooming as this Power represent's the formes and Images of infinite Obiects so our desires multiply strangely to pursue all those things the Imagination hath propounded insomuch that we prosecute them oftentimes without Rule or Measure and there is sooner an end of vs then of our Couetousnes I know there are Desires Innocent enough if they had their Bounds But their Excesse and Restlesnesse doth blemish their pursuite the Chrysolite the Berill and the Saphire and all the sparkling and shelly Maiestie of Pearle and Stone are the Obiects of a harmelesse delight if we could vse them moderately But we suffer our selues to be transported with such violent Affections and we seeke them with such enraged heate that 't is rather Madnesse then Desire Nay of all humane Aspirations there are none so lawlesse and Exorbitant as those which wander after Riches For whereas the Rest aime only at the Ioy and Content which may arriue them by the possession of their Obiects and so lull and slumber like two loude and steepe Currents which meeting in a Flat kisse are silent Those of Riches grow more violent by Abundance like the flame of a great fire which increaseth by casting wood into it There can be no true Riches without Content and there can be no true content where there is still a Desire of riches will you haue the Reason the Moralist giue 's it Sen. Epist 112. but not home Plùs incipit habere posse qui plùs habet Hee that hath much begin's to haue a possibilitie to haue more and thus as our Heapes are inlarged so are our Affections and They once Inordinate the Heart is instantly rent asunder with the whitle-winds and distempers of various lusts sometimes it hunt 's for Treasure sometimes for Honours and Preferment and hauing gotten the possession of these still fight 's against her owne Satisfaction by desiring more Insomuch that if we could empty the Westerne Parts of Gold and the East of all her Spices the Land of her vndig'd and the Sea of her shipwrack't store if we could lay on our Masse to the very Starres yet Desire is as woman and the Graue as Death and Hell which will not bee satisfied Such are the restlesse wandrings of our Affections set once on Temporalls that They finde neither Banke nor Bottome there is no rest to man's Soule but in God's Eternall Rest for there being no proportion betweene Spirits and Bodies 't is impossible that the infinite desires of the Soule should be confin'd to Creatures heere below as Things too Languishing and Transitorie for such Diuine Substances to reside in with full satisfaction or finall Rest The heart of man not fixt in the contemplation of Eternitie is alwayes erraticke and vnstable Et omni volubilitate volubilius saith Augustine more voluble then volubilitie it selfe It trauel's from one Obiect to another seeking rest where there is none but in those fraile and fleeting Temporals in which our Affections are as 't were shackled and let bound It shall neuer find any Lasting and true Content For our Soule is of that vast comprehensiuenesse and our Desire of that wilde Latitude and Extent that no Finite Excellencie or Created Comfort can euer fill it but it is still tortur'd on the Racke of restlesse Discontent and Selfe-vexation vntill it fasten vpon an Obiect infinite both in Endlesnesse and Perfection only admit it to the Face of God by Beatificall Vision and so consequently to those Riuers of pleasure and fulnes of Ioy flowing thence and then presently and neuer till then It 's infinite desire expire's in the Bosome of God and lie's downe softly Bolt walke with God pag. 125. with sweetest peace and full contentment in the embracements of euerlasting Blisse And now O Earth Earth Earth heare the Word of the Lord. Thou whose Bodie and Soule and Desires are lumpish Earth meerely thrice Earth Raise thine Affections from this Dull Element where they now grouell and looke vp to the Hils from whence thy saluation commeth why do they flutter heere about corruptible Glories Why doe they stoope to false and vaine Comforts such as are not only open to Casualtie but to Danger Riches are to Both to Both in a triple way First in their Acquisition Secondly Possession Thirdly Depriuation In their Acquisition first As the Partridge sitteth on egges and hatcheth them not so He that getteth Riches and not by right shall leaue them in the midst of his Age and at his End bee a foole Ier. 17.11 Next in their Possession where Moth and rust doth corrupt them and where Theeues breake through and steale Math. 6.9 Lastly in respect of their Depriuation or Losse He hath swallowed downe Riches and Hee shall vomit them vp againe God shall cast them out of his Belly the Increase of his house shall depart and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath Iob 20.15 28. Loe how the Hand of Iustice houers heere and with a Double Blow strike's through the very Ioynts and marrow of the Worldling euen to the sundring and dissipation both of his Posteritie and Fortunes His goods shall flow away and the Increase of his house shall depart shall depart whither to the Graue with whom two lamentable Companions The Foole and the Beast that perisheth So saith the Singer of Israel in his 49. Psalme thrice in that one Psalme at the sixth verse He trust's in his wealth and glorie 's in the multitude of his Riches and at the tenth Verse He is a foole and brutish and leaueth his goods to others O vaine Insolence O transitorie height what After all those ouerflowings and swarmes of Treasure must he leaue his Substance to Others Yea to others perchance neither of his Tribe nor Countrey Please you to looke vpon him at the eleuenth Verse his very heart is transparent and you may discouer his inward thoughts Hee conceiue's his house shall continue for euer and his Dwelling-place to all generations and therefore cals his Lands after his owne Name yet view him againe at the fourteenth Verse He is a Beast a silly one a sheepe laid in the graue Death shall feed vpon him and the vpright shall haue Dominion ouer him in the morning and his strength shall consume in the pit from his Dwelling-place Once more He is twice in that Psalme stil'd A Man of Honour but 't is sauc'd with a Neuer thelesse He abideth not at the twelfth Verse and He vnderstandeth not at the
lighten and thunder let it bee as from God not vs who are to scourge the sinne not the person except vpon capitall offences open blasphemies Acts 15. wilfull prophanations Saint Paul then may call Elymas the Sorcerer the child of the Deuill and Peter say to Symon Magus Thou art in the gall of Bitternesse and the very bond of Iniquity Rebukes I confesse too mercifull for the grand Disciples of Sorcerie and Magicke and yet sowre enough for those other Nouices and Babes in the schoole of Christ Though such also are not onely open to the Checke but to the Rod Vultis vt in virgâ veniam Shall I come to you with the Rod or in Loue 1 Cor. 4.21 To wound and offend a little to profit much is to loue soundly Habet amor plagas suas Ambros super x. cap. ad Cor. quae dulciores sunt cùm amariùs inferuntur Loue it selfe hath her whips and thornes and the more they are layd on the lesse they wound to our Ruine tho' not our Smart There is a sharpnesse of speech vs'd to Edification not to Destruction saith Saith Paul 2. Cor. 13.10 A religious chastisement sometimes more profits then a partiall conniuence or remission This may perchance soften and melt a peruerse nature The other skums it There is as well a Cruell mercy in remitting offences which should be punished as a mercilesse Cruelty in ouer-punishing others which might haue beene remitted And therefore 't is an Euangelicall Commandement Si peccauerit in te frater tuus corripe eum If thy brother sinne against thee reproue him Reproue him how openly No Secretò corripe saith Augustine Reproue secretly Aug. de Verbis Dommi super illae verba Si peccauerit in te frater suus For if thou art knowing his offence and by way of a taunt or exprobration dost diuulge and blazon it Non es Corector sed proditor sayes the Father Thou art not a Corrector but a Betrayer or as Origen aggrauates it Non reprehendentis hoc sed infamantis Orig. in Leuit. cap. 23. This is no part of Reproofe but of Defamation A wholesome holy Reprehension may be viciously applyed especially not ballac'd by those two great weights Chaerity and Iudgement Iudgement to mould it and Charity to sweeten it otherwise we may Wound perchance when we desire to Heale and in stead of reprouing others condemne our selues And therefore that of Saint Augustine is very Energeticall Cogitemus cùm aliquem reprehendere nos necessitas coegerit vtrum tale sit vitium quod nunquà m habuimus Aug. lib. de sermon Domini in monte ser 1. tuâ—ne cogitemus nos homines esse habere potuisse vel quòd tale habuimus iam non habemus nunc tangat memoriam communis fragilitatis vt ill am correctionem non odium sed misericordia praecedat When necessity impels vs to reprehend another as the Father will haue no reprehension without necessity let vs consider whether it be such a vice as we neuer had and then welgh that we are but men and might haue had it or whether such a one as once we had and now haue not and then let it whisper to vs the common frailty of mankind that so Mercy and not Hatred may be the Rule and platforme of our Reproofe 'T is true the words of the Wiseman are compar'd to Goads and Nailes and the Reason or Morall rather Greg. Hom. 6. super Euang. in illa verba Gregory affords Culpas delinquentium nesciunt calcare sed pungere Lapses and deprauations they will pricke and not smother But take heed how they pricke too farre lest bleeding them they rankle Applications come too late when the part begins to gangrene And therefore sometimes our Balsames are opportune sometimes our Corrasiues How to time and qualifie them the Diuine Moralist will prescribe you Greg. Moral lib. 29. Regat Disciplinae vigor mansuetudinem mansuetudo ornet vigorem sic alterum commendetur ex altero vt nec vigor sit rigidus nec mansuetudo dissoluta Discretion must be the Guide to decline hatred and auoyde negligence to blunt and meeken Rigour and to edge and embolden Softnesse that so we may not onely rebuke Delinquents as men meerely but sometimes encourage them as Christians and not alwayes terrifie them as Aliens and enemies to the Church but now and then Beseech them as our Brethren so the Charity of our Apostle runs in the words following I beseech you Brethren Brethren Brethren how by Nature or Country Pars 2. or Allyance Neither For Aquin. parte 3. q. 28. Art 3. ad 5. the Romane Church was then a mixt Church a Throng of Iewes and Gentiles promiscuously And these could not be properly his Brethren either in respect of Parents or Nation or Consanguinity and therefore Brethren by Affection Singulari affectu saith Aretius Aretius in cap 12. Rom. Pareus Ibid. And so Pareus too Fratres compellat vt de amore eius frater no non dubitet He vses this sweet Compellation Brethren not perchance that they were so either by Grace or Nature but Brethren that they might not distrust his brotherly affection For though of old the word Fratres was a common Attribute and name to all Beleeuers yet not vsed to the Romanes here because Beleeuers Sed vt fraternam beneuolentiam Carthus in cap 12. Rom. v. 1. charitatem in illis declaret suam saith Carthusian Not so much to manifest their faith as his Charity For though many of them were strangers to him and some his sworne enemies yet notwithstanding their extremity of hatred hee would not refuse to call them Brethren that would be his Executioners Nay such were his ouer-flowings of Zeale and Loue Loue towards them for God's sake and Zeale towards God for theirs that he will not onely expose his Body to tortures for them but if it were possible his very Soule And lest this should be thought a Florish meerely He calls his owne Conscience to witnesse it My Conscience bearing me record that I could wish Rom. 9.3 that myselfe were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 Thus the great Lamps and Beacons of the Church as they haue abounded euer in Grace so in Loue too their Charity went hand in hand with their Zeale and sometimes out-stept it and indeed Charity is the very Salt of Religion the seasoner of all our Spirituall and Morall Actions without which euen our Deuotions are vnsauoury our Orisons distastfull and therefore to this great vertue some haue made three Stories or Ascents Polan Syrtag lib. 9. cap. 10. Dilection Loue Charity Dilection at the foote Loue in the mid-way Charity at top That the ground-worke or foundation Th' other the walls and body This the roofe and battlement Dilection say they includes the Iudgement of the Chooser and a separation of the thing chosen from others which are not