Tabor did but typically prefigure the glory of his passion so that here not there the standers by and since that the Christian world proclaimed him Mat. 27.54 what before was believed but by few that he was truly the Son of God Men on earth study to blazon their coats with Dogs Hogs Cats and the like and by these means think to traduce their names as famous to posterity though themselves never in their lives did an act worthy of a Dogs-taile whereas our most blessed Lord Christ who acted all things worthy the Son of the most high God and all for the good of mankind had no other coat-armour but the Crosse which his love procured and wrought and hath thereby made him justly to be adored and worshipped as the God of the whole world CHAP. VII Love transformeth the Lover into the thing beloved NOT onely some choice Philosophers but learned Fathers of our Church have deemed and called a friend a second self the half of the soule or the same And among them one saith he that loveth intirely is dead as to his own body and liveth in that body which he loveth for that love carrieth with it if not the whole substance yet the principall vigorous acting faculties of the soule This position in some sense is made good in the divine Lover by that of S. Paul when he saith Your life is hid Col. 3 3â— with Christ in God where love to God hath mortified the Lover as to the body and to the world and makes him live by and in Christ for truly the soule cannot be thought or said to live but where it appears to move or work Hereupon some wittily have pronounced that the beloved is become an homicide and guilty of murder if he return not love for love but robs the Lover of his soul not returning his again to the Lover And some Philosophers have conceived that the soul of a dead friend by a strange transmigration hath been secretly conveighed into the body of a friend living and there kept alive and operating and all this to be effected and brought to passe by the spirituall power of love S. Augustine comes somewhat neer to these conceits when he saith My love is as the weight in a clock or the magnetick virtue in the load-stone for whithersoever I am moved or caried that it is which carieth or moveth me and my soule Every one therefore it strongly behoveth seriously to consider before he setleth upon what he intends to set his love for if on earth he becomes earthly if flesh fleshly if heaven heavenly which agreeth well with those terms given in holy Scriptures to severall kinds of affectionate lovers Our most blessed Saviour prayeth for us that we may be in him and be one with him Joh. 17.21 as Christ is in and with his Father which holy residence and blessed union must be next to Gods goodnesse the work of love S. Paul saith of himself that he is crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 neverthelesse saith he I live and yet he adds it is not I that live but Christ liveth in me if you ask him how this can be he tells you in the words following the life which I now live I live by faith this is the instrumentall mean if you enquire into the cause of this life it is there mentioned when he saith by the son of God who loved me and gave himself and all his merits and benefits to work for and in me Our carnall and prophane loose lovers usually court their mistresses with these and the like unhallowed speeches You are my life my heart my soul which oft-times is more true then godly Divinely spoke King David O that we would imitate him God is my light and salvation Plato said that a friend is like a good looking-glasse in and by which the other friend may see himself and be seen by others for so it was in Jonathan and David that who saw the one discerned the other Or you shall find two friends united by true love to be like the mother and the child where if the child smile or weep the mother doeth the like and as the Chamelcon appeareth to be of that colour with the thing to which it is joyned so is it with good and true lovers who like Hippocrates twins looked laughed cried each as the other and were of like colour condition and passion each as other so that the union of friends made by sincere love is well compared and presented by inoculating a bud into another stock whereby it is made one with it Now in man there be three unions and each of them caused or bottomed on love the first is that of the soule and body matched together by a naturall love The second is the union of soules whether as among ordinary friends or as among Christs disciples Act. 2.1 who were of one heart and mind endevouring to keep the unity of the spirit as S. Paul speaks in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 the former of these is wrought by a naturall the other by a spirituall love The third union is that which is betwixt God and mans soule when as S. John saith God is in the righteous 1 Joh. 4.16 and they in him and the efficient cause of this union is Divine love Which union as of all other and above all things in this world it is to be most desired estemed and preserved so is the separation or divorce the most to be feared grieved for and most carefully to be prevented for as by that blessed union we are made partakers of all the best things that earth or heaven can afford so by that separation we not only lose all the blessings by that union acquired but we purchase to our selves all the miscries vexations and torments that hell the Devils and our owne conscience can afflict us with the cutting off a finger from the hand is painfull of the hand from the arm painfull and damagefull and of the head from the body painfull grievous and deadly but the dividing or divorcing the soule of man from God the life of the soule is a pain grief and losse not to be expressed no nor to be imagined fully no not by them that suffer and feel it Of all separations and divorces O my soule be fearfull and carefull to avoid this and O thou the God of my soule be gracious and mercifull unto me that through blindnesse of understanding or hardnesse of heart I never incurre the dreadfull sentence of such a divorce or separation CHAP. VIII Vehement love causeth extasies making the Lover besides or to rob himself of himself LOve saith the Wise man is strong as death and in this comes neer to death Cant. 5.6 in that it makes the Lover oft-times not to see what he fixeth his eye on not to answer what he hears or what he is demanded and indeed oft-times to put him into such trances as that he seems
incorruptible What is Musick but an harmony or consonancy of various discordant sounds What 's health but a temper or accord of the elements and parts of the body Some write that the stone Tuces if broken though then lesse weighty sinketh but so long as it is one whole and intire then and so long it swimmeth and keeps from sinking under water and the like power hath love and unity in all other bodies Consider and know that if the Almighty Architect of the world had not breathed or infused a spirit of unity into the upper and celestiall parts with the inferiour elementary that these had soon been scorched and indeed consumed by those Again the inferiour parts ever stand in need and crave the help benefit or influence of those above them as the earth of the water the water of the aire the aire of the fire and the fiery element of the Heavens in which if one Sphere should thwart and not gently yeeld to the others influence or motion they as the inferiour world would suddenly perish and be consumed The great Creator of these and all things in and under them Genesis 1.31 gave not the high praise and title of very good unto them untill himself by his most admirable power and goodnesse Gen. 1.31 had united them by love and so made them all one I cannot but acknowledge the saying of that Philosopher to be good and wise who called this kinde of love the Soul of the world For as the soule gives life and motion unto the body so doth love unto all other things and as the soule cherisheth and enlightens the bodie so doth love beautifie and inrich the world In a word there is no creature nor part of the world either great or small but hath if not all yet the greatest part of its perfection subsistence or continuance from this love But besides this kinde of love hitherto spoken of which in unreasonable creatures may more strictly be called inclination there is a love properly so termed which hath its working in the will both of God Angels and men Parmenides though an Heathen could say That love in God preceded the Chaos or the creation of the world as causing and making both Take this love as in man and then hear another Philosopher call it the Pilot a second the Sun a third the guide and director of the will of man and of all his choice actions CHAP. II. What love is and how it is the cause of all passions THings high and immense having some resemblance to infinity hardly come under the limits of a strict definition which hath caused the ancients to set forth love by Emblemes and Hieroglyphicks Yet so that some have in generall described it by negatives as that it is a thing which is I know not what affecteth and worketh I know not in what manner and which hurteth I know not how S. Gregorie calls it the fire in mans heart which according to the working thereof either cherisheth or destroyeth the Tabernacle of its residence and it may well be conceived that when the holy Ghost descended in the figure or shew of fire Act. 2.3 that that fire signified the love and accord to be amongst the holy Apostles being assembled together in one place which is the complement and blessing of all good Assemblies when they are all of one minde and one heart in a godly innocent love The fire which came from Heaven to consume the Sacrifice God commanded ever to be continued Levit. â— 13 that so it might never be extinguished or put out Isaiah saith Isa 31.9 That God hath his fire in Sion and his furnace in Jerusalem each Symbols of Gods love burning in the temple of our souls Now Philosophy teacheth that love is a passion both of complacency and such as fasteneth the thing or person beloved in the heart of the lover and it addeth That this love is the originall cause of all other passions in man according as they please or displease suit with or are contrary to our love and desire For the soule of man hath two great powerfull faculties called by Philosophers the concupiscible and the irascible In that are love hate desire fear joy and sorrow arising from the presence or absence of something or other which is either truly or apparently good And according as the concupiscible part is affected with grief want or losse of that which is desired so more or lesse the irascible part is inflamed or incensed to the prosecution or revenge of the affronts or bereavings of the souls desire S. Basil compared this passion unto the Shepherds dog more valued by him then many of his sheep not for that the dog hath any wooll or gives any milk but because by his watchfulnesse and barking he defendeth the flock from the wolf and so the concupiscible faculty or part of the soule proposeth to it self matter of delight and content and the irascible removeth or converteth the inconveniences and difficulties which crosse or oppugne this desire And these are the two wings wherewith mans soule flyeth in the pursuit of great Acts and without which she appears as a Galley unoared and a bird unwinged each unable to move or help it self A certain Philosopher hath compared the body of a man to a Coach drawn with two horses Conceive them to be love of good and hatred of evill But considering that they are disorderly and oft-times unruly God hath assigned them a discreet guide that is reason to rule and govern them Seneca the Philosopher calleth this the Guardian and S. Augustine termeth it the Author and Mover of all our actions be they good or evill as having tied at its girdle the keyes of all our wills and affections Betwixt love and concupiscence some put this difference 1. That concupiscense aimeth at a supposed good that is absent but love both at the absent and present 2. Concupiscence after the having and enjoying the thing desired as being satisfied groweth cold or ceaseth for the present to desire whereas love by possessing and injoying increaseth and is more ardent towards the thing beloved For the possession or enjoyment of the thing beloved serveth as fuell to continue and increase the flame or fire whereas things desired by a concupiscence being injoyed die and are often resolved into the smoak of disgrace or the ashes of hate CHAP. III. The power and force of Love SOlomon saith Love is strong as death But if we examine the strength of each we shall finde love to be the stronger â—antic â— 6 T is true that all earthly things submit to the power of death the young as the old the King as the Peasant the rich as the poor the wise as the fool Scepters and spades are both alike to death All know this truth would we did but half so well consider and prepare for it And as the jurisdiction of death so is that of love universall None ever escaped the
no God or with the Epicure he regardeth not our works below but that we may for all him eat and drink and die These and such like are the great causes of all our sinnes S. Paul professedly hath exprest so much when he saith The Gentiles have given themselves over unto all lasciviousnesse Ephes 4.19 to worke all uncleannesse with greedinesse Whereof the cause is exprest in the verse before when he saith this they did having their understandings darkened through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their hearts And the Prophet Hosea saith there is no knowledge of God in the land Hos 4. â— and what then follows but ver 2. swearing lying killing stealing adultery so that blood toucheth blood I may adde another cause or the ingenderer of love which is likeness Like will to like is seen among the beasts among whom sheep flock not with woolves nor will Harts heard with Lions And the like to this in man some Philosophers have attributed it to the complexion in men among whom we finde the company gesture voice and looks of some to be displeasing and distastfull to others for which the person disaffecting at first happily can give no sufficient reason Others and more neerly to reason and truth have given the cause of this love betwixt men to be the likenesse of their qualities and dispositions as the sinner hateth the righteous whatever the alliance is as it was seen in Cain to Abel Ismael to Isaac Esau to Jacob so on the other side the good just and wise love each other S. Paul hath determined this piece when he saith Be ye not unequally yoaked for what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse 2 Cor. 6.14 and what communion hath light with darknesse and what concord hath Christ with Belial The Pythagorean and Platonique Philosophers were of opinion that the soules of men had a kinde of harmonious concent each to other so that as in musick one string being struck another will quaver and offer to give the like sound though not touched so say they and not improbably fareth it with the souls of many men S. Ambrose giveth another cause or parent of love which is conversation when as he tells us that to this end God walked with man in Paradise and that it is said of Enoch that he walked with God and though God had given Adam all the goods of the aire earth and water yet with none of these or any or all of the Beasts took he any delight but onely in that consort which God gave him as a companion to his body and solace to his soule and to her he cleaves and so of two they are made but one by a loving converse and agreement If any aske how this comes to passe that likenesse and conversation should thus beget continue and increase love the reason is easie and plain for seeing every man naturally loves himself and the rather because he is ever conversant with himself therefore it must needs follow that whatever is neerest to or most like him that he most neerly loveth and most desireth Can any give any other reason why man or woman delights to see their face in a glasse but because it represents them and makes them as it were to see and know themselves by this representative whereby the imagination apprehends it self CHAP. XI Love is onely conquered and repayed with Love LOve that is the inward affection of the heart is the soul as it were of the soul of man yea of the whole world for by it the world continueth and without it it could not stand as was shewed before We thank not the water nor the aire nor any inanimate or animate thing for doing us good it this good proceed from a naturall disposition in themselves without an affection of doing good to us For this latter is it which truly is called love and he that thinks ro requite this with gold or other gifts of price returns scarce drosse for gold Our Saviour and his Apostles have summed up all the Law in this kinde of Love and after all their precepts and counsels call for this love as the fulfilling of all For he that hath this cannot but believe and endeavour to work according to what is required or desired by Christ and his Apostles Our blessed Saviour promiseth heaven to him that gives but a cup of cold water in his Name Mat. 10 4â— and for his sake and can any imagine that heaven is of so mean a value or water so much worth as that heaven should be given for a cup of water no not the cup of water nor all the waters under heaven can be valued with heaven but the cordiall love and affection of the heart this is that God esteems and therefore calls to every one for it when he saith My Son take all earth heaven and all as my gift and for all onely give me but thy heart Prov. 23. â— It was not Abels sacrifice nor the widows mite cast into the Treasury that God so highly prized and commended but the love of the sacrificer and giver which he esteemed more than all the worlds good For all these are his The earth is the Lords Ps â—4 1 and the fulnesse thereof And when we have these or any part thereof we receive and hold them as his gift and for all he onely requires our love which onely is ours to give If you tell me Prov. 21. â— the heart of Kings and so of all men is in the hand of the Lord he turneth it whither soever he will And that without God 2 Cor. 3.5 we cannot so much as think a good thought and therefore not love I answer that though all things in man are of him through him Rom. 11.36 and to him as the Apostle speaks yet of all things in man mans will is most his own and this so lest by God to man that for it when it freely loves God it may return him in recompence as it were his love again The free present of a paire of pigeons with man is more esteemed than the return of 100 l. which was lent and the borrower bound to repay God often expresseth his regard to the love of his servants when he asks them Am I delighted with the sacrifices of goats and bullocks Ps 50.9 and who requires these things at your hands Isa 1.12 and by his Prophet Jeremiah I spake not to your fathers Jer. 7.22 nor commanded them when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt concerning sacrifices to be satisfied or served therewith Save onely by these as outward testimonies of your inward affections which indeed as to me are the onely sacrifice and service And from hence iris that God and man repay love with love For love hath an Adamantine power that is able to draw the hardest heart of iron unto it self by a mutuall love For the very apprehension of
same causes and meanes that mans love decreaseth the love of God increaseth SOme Divines have propounded the question why Christ the second Person in the holy Trinity rather than either of the other persons was made man and among other reasons this they give in answer That our first parents sin 1 Cor. 1.24 in desiring to be as God knowing good and evill directly opposeth the wisdome of God which is Christ And to shew the infinite love of God to man that Person who most directly was offended came down from Heaven tooke mans nature and suffered more than man could do and all to redeem man So that he alone God that can draw good out of evill and light out of darknesse used mans sin as an occasion through his love to save mankinde The Prophet Zacbary describes the state of the world Zach. 6. and in especially of the Israelites by foure Chariots the first whereof had red horses which typified the bloody Babylonians the second had black horses which noted the Persians under whom the Jews were neer their utter extirpation the third had white horses by which may be meant the Macedonians who as Alexander and others were gracious and favourable to the Jews the fourth had grizled or horses of divers colours which figured the changeable various and mixed government of the Romans which first or last is destructive to a State And now under this power and rule which contained all the misrule and barbarous usage of the three other Governments came the Messias into the world and this by the Apostle is called the fulnesse of time Gal. 4.4 because when the sin of the world was at the full now was the time of our blessed Saviour to come into the world and by his unspeakable love to redeem it The Prophet Isaiah sets forth Jerusalem thus Their hands are defiled with blood and their fingers with iniquity Isa 59.3 their lips have spoken lies and their tongues perversenesse none calleth for justice nor any pleadeth for truth the act of violence is in their hands their feet run to evill and they make baste to shed innocent blood their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity wasting and destruction are in their paths The way of peace they know not yea judgement is turned backward and justice standeth afar off for truth is fallen in the streets and equity cannot enter and he that departeth from evill maketh himself a prey And the Lord saw and wondered that there was no Intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation For he put on righteousnesse as a breast-plate and vengeance for a clothing and according to their deeds he will repay fury to his adversaries but to Zion shall the Redeemer come And is there any thing in all this that savours but of the love of God to truth and justice to his people though laden with their sins and for this punished and oppressed by their enemies The love of Christ in this kinde is not to be uttered or any way expressed I will summe it up therefore in that one passage of S. Paul the same night that our Lord Jesus was betrayed he instituted the Sacrament of his body broken 1 Cor. 11.23 and of his bloud shed as a sacrifice fully and solely expiatory for the sin of the whole world And while the Jews cried to the Romans Crucifie crucifie him he for them more incessantly praies to his Father Father forgive them and though they said Let his blood be upon us and our children yet he tells them My blood is shed for you and for all that will take and apply it to the forgivenesse of their sins The Psalmist in a wonder and amazement of this excessive love Psal â— 4 exclaims Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him for what is there in himself as man but that is to be abhorred his body being at the best but a bag of bones a sinke of foule water and stinking dirt and his soule like a cage of uncleane birds or a forge of wicked imaginations and a storehouse of sinne To the Psalmists question Why Lord hast thou so visited man no other answer or reason can be given then this of the Apostle Job 3.16 So God loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son to be made saith the Prophet Isay Isa 9.6 as a childe as the Apostle Saint Paul saith as a Servant who emptied himself as it were Phil. 2.7 to a nothing and all this as the effect onely of his infinite incomprehensible Love CHAP. XIV Gods jealousie JEalousie in man is an excesse of love and for the most part is the attendant of some ill condition in him whereas in God it is the quintessence as it were of his love And this riseth in God and moves him to anger and punishment when he finds himself dishonoured or neglected by those he loves Moses not onely tells us Exo. 20.5 that he is a jealous God but adds Exod. 34.14 that his Name is jealous And such is his jealousie that although he suffered the rebellious murmurings of his Israel Exo. 34.14 yet when they committed spirituall whoredome in making and worshipping the golden calf he destroyed 33000. of them and had not his deare servant Moses interceded he had in his jealousie utterly destroyed them all Covetousnesse by S. Paul is called Idolatry Col. 3.5 and when God finds his people worshipping or setting their hearts on these it moves him to jealousie Yea God is jealous of the inordinate or overmuch love of the husband to the wife or of the wife to the husband For these may love each other so much that some part of the love and worship due to God is bestowed on the Creature And for this God oft times turns jealous and in his anger takes the one from the other or bereaves them of their delight which is children And it being so that God hath commanded us to love him with all our heart and with all the strength and powers of the soule the least alienation of our love from God and bestowed on vain delights moves God to jealousie and provokes his anger And as the least withdrawing of our love from God works jealousie in him so when he finds us persist in a daily revolt from him he ceaseth any longer to be jealous See this proved in Israels case where God for Israels multiplied departings from him threatens My jealousie shall depart from them Ezek. 16.42 and I will be quiet and will be no more angry And this is the saddest condition that a soule can fall into for then it is apparent that God hath sent a bill of divorce to that soul and hath removed his love utterly from it for where God loves he cannot but be jealous Chap. XV. Gods revealing his secrets is a great demonstration of his love to man DElilab useth this as an argument Judg. 16.15 that Samson
his life or his understanding or but an eye or any other member of his body how would he love that person who could and would cure free or deliver him and how much more then is he bound to love him who both gave the eye the other members reason and life and not only made them wonderfully but gave them freely with all manner of gracious endowments and not onely so made and so gave them but who hourly so preserveth them from all outward and inward dangers of corruption and destruction can any price or estimate be set sufficient for such a rare workmanship so bounteous a gift and so gracious a preservation and then can we render any thing lesse for them all than love to him that so made so gave and so preserves them all And yet hitherto I have told you but the least of what God hath done for the meanest part of thy self For when I shall adde that when thou hadst destroyed thy soule by sin and forfeited it with thy body and all the faculties and members of both to the Devill and everlasting hell fire that then thy God should descend from Heaven should be disgracefully used shamefully tortured and cruelly murdered and all this only to ransome and free both thy body and soul Can any price be set too high for this or canst thou repay any thing lesse then thy love Should God as he might justly for the least of his mercies and benefits have commanded thee to offer unto him all thy worldly wealth or to sacrifice thy children to him as some Heathens did and as once he tempted Abraham to do or with stripes or fasting to mortifie or kill thy body had it been too much for a compensation or requitall but in lieu of these what a mercy what a goodnesse what a love is it in thy God to require onely that which costs thee least which is easiest performed and is in the power of all sorts of people to give love which if thou keepest back and cheerfully renderest not how canst thou answer thine owne soule without blushing here or without confusion and condemnation of thy self at the last day of judgment If God had required of man almost any thing else but love some or other might have framed at least some probable seeming excuse for not performance as if God had commanded our bounty to Gods poor the poor man might have answered I have it not to give if fasting or labour the sick and infirm if knowledge or contemplation the ignorant or simple might have pleaded these are not in our power to do and therefore Lord I am to be excused But when God requires onely thy love neither the illiterate nor ignorant neither the poore nor the weak nor any other condition or sort of people have any shew or colour of excuse for not performance for it is in every mans power if he will to love I may adde that this sweet return of our love as it is generally easie for all men to give so is it as generally alwaies to be performed in all the actions studies or demeanours of our life Art thou eating drinking recreating thy self buying selling meditating loving of God hinders thee not but furthers thee in all these so in and with all these he hath but justly and graciously commanded thy love God by his Prophet thus reasons with his Israel Isa 43. â—3 as now with us I have not caused thee to serve with an Offering nor wearied thee with Incense but without these Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities And for all this I ask but that which without expence pain or labour thou mayest easily afford me thy love and for it receive heaven So easie and plain a way and so open a door to everlasting joy hath God prepared for us when he requires from us onely our love The Scripture is plentifull not onely in telling thee O man that God came downe from Heaven and was incarnate for thee but that he suffered died and rose again and all this for thee and it is as often repeated in holy Writ that he is thy Lord thy Father thy King thy God and if God in all be thine 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. the Apostle rightly infers then all that is Gods Angels Spirits and all that is in God power justice mercy all is thine And canst thou possibly think how to make a better purchase then to make God Heaven Earth and all thine wholly and onely by Love And when God is thus made thine then in loving him thou dost but love thine own and this is so common that it is naturall for a man to love what is his rather then what is another mans But further indeed to love God who by love is made thine is but to love thy self who by love art united to God and no man saith the Apostle hates Ephes 5.29 but rather cherisheth and loveth himself S. Paul reckoning up the fruits of Gods blessed Spirit in the first place sets love as being the source and spring of the rest Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit saith he is love peace joy long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance where the first as the parent of all is love From the consideration of somewhat here and elsewhere spoken of love some holy Fathers have profest that nothing can be accounted difficult hard chargeable or painfull to him that truly loves such are the fruits of an hearty active love and such are the sufferings of love from its beloved For if it reprehends it is gently if it burthens it is delightfully if it detains it is pleasantly if it restrains it is courteously if it rewards it is bountifully And therefore well may we with them conclude that love is the pretious pearle mentioned in the Gospell Matth. 13. â—6 for which the wise Merchant sold all to buy it as being of most value of all other pearls or heavenly vertues CHAP. XIX God must be loved with the whole heart GOd requires the heart 2. the whole heart 3. that none other may have part therein 4. no not man himself to use his heart any way against but altogether as tending to Gods service and glory All that God courts and wooes man for is for his heart Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart is the summe of his desire Which in another word is explained by that of the King of Sodome to Abraham give me the souls of the people the rest take to thy self Gen. 14.21 And for this as in war for the Citadell or chief place of strength is all the contention that I may so say betwixt the true husband and lover of the soule God and the adulterous and false lovers the world the flesh and the Devill And God to shew how ardently he affecteth this and how jealous he is of it he is not satisfied with thy heart unlesse as he hath exprest
and this is effected by love for love casts out hate and revenge and herein thou dost thy self and not thy enemy the good But again consider if thou wert to appear before a Judge whose Son thou hast killed wouldst thou shew thy hands to that Judge all reaking in his Sons blood The case is much alike in him who prays for mercy and forgiveness from Christ the great Judge while his heart and hands are full of malice and revenge to his brother who is the image and Son of the Father which is in heaven I shall not need to adde what Christ the Judge hath determined in this case Mat. 18.33 in that Parable of the merciless fellow-servant to whom when his Lord which is God had forgiven him his debt of ten thousand talents yet he would not forgive his fellow an hundred pence Now the sentence of this merciless wretch is pronounced by the just Judge of all the world in these words O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all not a part but all thy debt and shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee but sithence thou art so uncharitable hear thy unreversible doom Thou shalt be delivered to the Tormentors the Devils till thou hast paid all thy debt which thou canst never do But notwithstanding all this how many finde we profest Christians Rom. â— 4 5. who despising the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance and long-suffering after the hardness of their impenitent hearts treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and all through their hatred envy and revenge toward their brethren For have we not many too too many who not onely practise but profess their rancor to those that have offended them or to those whom without any just cause they love not and not onely profess this but have left it as apart of their last Will as David did to his Son Solomon to punish such as Joab and Shimei who had offended him We have read of Esaus malicious revengeful heart toward his brother Jacob when he said Gen. 27.41 The dayes of mourning will come and then will I slay my brother and of Saul who so long nourished a malicious thought to destroy David and that of Absolom who for two years space made fair professions eating and drinking with his brother Ammon 2 Sam. 13. whose direful soul never ceased boiling in revenge until he had killed him at a feast perhaps when he was full of wine and thereby as much as in him lay with his body destroyed his soul also S. Paul gives better counsel saying Be ye kinde one to another forgiving one another Eph. 4.32 as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you And not onely this but as a mean hereunto he premiseth Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away with all malice where you may by the way observe the generation production and growth of this hatred to our neighbour where the last in the text malice is the feed and matter of clamour and evil speaking as evil speaking and clamour arise from anger and wrath and these from a bitter sowre ill-leavened soul And why we should not be angry or malicious the Apostle gives us the reason when he saith Grieve not the holy Spirit who is the Spirit of love meekness long-suffering and hater of all those that hate their brethren A fourth reason to quench this hatred and revenge against our brethren may hence arise because God hath openly declared and given sentence against the same Observe S. Paul how large he is in one Chapter upon this Theme who bids us to Bless them that persecute us Rom. 12. Bless saith he and curse not V. 14. and not onely this not to curse but to bless which though they reach but to heart and tongue yet he goes further and extends his Counsel of Charity to the hand first negatively V. 17. Recompense to no man not therefore to thine enemy if he be a man recompense not to him evil for evil then affirmatively and positively In stead of evil do him good and which comes full home to our purpose If thine enemy hunger what V. 20. cut his throat no in no wise but feed him and why not rather cut his throat which is the roarers language To this the Apostle gives answer saying v. 19. Avenge not your selves but give place unto wrath Deut. 32.35 for it is written Vengeance is mine therefore not to be usurped by any nor to be practised but where I have given Authority And as it is my proper prerogative so I and I alone will repay saith the Lord for besides me none have that Power that Justice that Patience that Wisdome as I have except those whom I have constituted in my stead and given them part of my Spirit for the discharge of that office And this the Lord hath not onely spoken or threatned but practised and performed Cain we know was an hater and murtherer of his brother Abel and was the blood of Abel unrevenged for this because his father Adam would not or could not punish and execute Justice upon him no Gen. 9.6 but the same God that said Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed will by the hand of man revenge the cause of the murthered upon the murtherer This Cain found and said It shall come to pass for this my murthering my brother Gen. 4.14 that every one that findeth me shall slay me and so it came to pass that Lamech killed Cain for so that Text is interpreted Gen. 4.23 when Lamech saith I have slain a man and though Gods vengeance did seem in this act to sleep long for by computation Cain was the third great Grandfather to Lamech yet at last it did awake to prove that vengeance is the Lords who in his time will repay And I could be large in the proof of this assertion but I shall pass all by with that one piece of Gods just vengeance upon Amalek concerning whom God saith I remember what Amalek did to Israel 1 Sam. 15.2 how he laid wait against him which was above 300 years before this was spoken now therefore go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare none of them CHAP. XXV To pardon is a sign of honour and of pusillanimity to revenge THis is seen not onely in men and women but amongst the beasts also a Cur-dog is sooner provoked and follows the offender with barking and biting then a Mastiff whereas the Lyon unless very hungry or provoked seldome pursues a man to destroy him Julius Caesar that great Roman Emperor excelled more in pardoning then in conquering his enemies of whom Tully gave this high Elogy That he forgot nothing but injuries and it is written of the Lacedemonians That they desired of their gods not to be cruel to their enemies for that
inflamed and increased by the beauty comely proportion of the body and gracefull demeanor of the woman which hath been and so proved as a letter of recoramendation and superscription of favour to man and not only Christians but heathens have called this a divine gift as arising from the most excellent temper of the soul created and infused by God and thereupon they conjecture the internall disposition of the soul from the outward beauty of the body as judging Moses David Daniel Rachel Judith Esther all spoke in Scripture to be fair and godly accordingly to be fitted for great atchievements or severall excellent uses And this holds oft times so true that not only Poets seigned Ganymede the beautifull to be the cup-bearer and favorite of their great God Jupiter but the heathens as the Lacedemonians held their great sights like those of the Greek Olympiads in defence of their greater esteemed beauties and both Greece and Troy can speak much to this which lost so much blood about the beauty of one loose Helena The Civilians have gone so farre in the esteem of this beauty that they say if a man promise marriage to a fair woman and she prove deformed before the contract that he may forsake her as though she were not now the same woman although only changed in countenance and complexion and they add that beauty with gracefull proportion and demeanor in a poor man or woman is portion and estate sufficient to couple them to the less handsome though rich And this with other private thoughts and considerations hath taught women to amend that by filthy art which hath been denyed them by God or Nature and accordingly to bestow much care and cost in waters plasters and paintings to cure colour and daube over scurvy faces If you ask me how this comes to pass that beauty hath gained such a powerfull working upon men and women I confess I cannot readily say whether this ariseth from some secret disposition in the soul some temper in the brain or eye but certain it is that the man who hath the whole parts of a man is delighted with the beauty and comely composure of any creature but especially of a woman though but pictured in lively colours but then much more if her beauty and motion be living for her gracefull moving her warbling tongue and her sparkling eye oft times gives heare fire and life to this beauty but above all the eye Philosophers searching how the sight is made whether by the sending forth light and spirits from the eye or by taking the species and representations of the thing to be seen into the eye they conclude that it is done both wayes and so indeed in this case of beauty and love the eye is the witch and the thing bewitched it is the inlet and outlet the giver and taker of love upon beauties score In one word it is as dry wood to take fire and in an other like fire to set the wood on burning Some have gone so far in the extolling of beauty as to call it the image of God which is true of the souls beauty but cannot be so of the beauty corporally save only in a double reflexed sense But many and these not of inferiour rank in the Church of Christ have been of opinion that the words in Genesis The sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair Gen. 6.2 and they took them wives of all that they chose were spoken of the Angels who fell by the sight of womans beauty and hence they conclude how hard the resistance of this temptation is and teach us the more strongly to stand and labour against it Now although we cannot say that by the sons of God in this text are understood the created spirits in heaven but the sons of Seth who serving God are called his sons and that these saw and married the Daughters of men that is of those who sprang from Cain and earthly ungodly men yet this we may and do say that if sight alone for the text speaks no more wrought so much and so strongly upon the sons of God as to make such marriages as soon after brought the deluge and drowning of the whole world Then what may we conceive that talking walking conversing dancing touching and other dalliances with faire women may work with the cumbustible matter or touchwood of fleshly man my counsell is resist the beginning shut the door or the windowes for Death Jer. 9.21 as the Prophet speaks enters in at the windowes the eyes and it hath been the complaint of thousands I had never sumed had I not seen Thus fell our first parents and their whole race have tript stumbled and fallen in the like manner And to strengthen thy self against this temptation consider that as under fair and sweet flowers you oft times have found a venemous creature and under gilded pills a dram of poison so under beauty there may be as much which is more to be shunned and avoided then to be desired and imbraced For first consider that though as Poets feigned fair Narcissus and so women have fallen in love with their own beauty which hath cost them dear loss of modesty reputation honesty life and soul so it is of no worth or use to the possessor or to the beautifull but is as a picture or pageant made and set only for the Spectator so that if there be any reall good in it we may speak of it as of that good for which all creatures sensate and insensate were made which was for others and not for themselves But when both man and woman the possessor and beholder of this beauty shall consider the frailty and sodain fading thereof he may as well fall in love with a flower or shadow as with it for as it is like a tulip which is of no use but only for sight so is it oft times of as small a continuance So that we may speak of it as the Psalmist doth of mans life Ps 90. in the morning about the age of sixteen or eighteen yeares it is green about noon thirty years of age it begins to wither but at night at or before fifty it is out down and cast into the black smoaky oven that some in pity more in scorn may say as of Jezebel dead Is this Jezebel or is this that lately admired piece of beauty 2 King 9.37 so frail so vain a thing is beauty or a beautifull woman And not only is the beautifull woman fraile herein but as weak and frail to that which is good though strong and too strong to that which is evill For the eldest child of this fair mother beauty commonly is pride which is as a skin blowen up with self-delight and scorn of others the two naturall brats or attendants of pride as pride is of beauty And yet besides these fruits of beauty there are others not a sew like them For beauty seldome begets the best housewives but
which it hath in another of his Epistles where it is called a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 and by the words preceding he means a mind void or bereft of knowledge You shall heare the wise man saying that he who eates and drinks moderately hath his wits with him Ecclus. 31.30 from whence less cannot be concluded then he that doth the contrary eating and drinking immoderately is out of or in time will lose his wits Jer. 25.16 but the Prophet Jeremiah speaks it home and plain they shall drink and be moved and be mad Wine in former times in this as other nothern Countryes was sold only in Apothecaries shops and was drunk in small quantity to recover health but now being sold and drunk in large measures to the decay of our health and estate I could wish that the Vintners tavern might stand next to the house of mad-men that thereby the Drunkard might either reel or be carried to his cure for not only Poets but Philosophers called Drunkenness no less then madness And such a madness it is that makes a man forget him self in his two most desirable things in his health and life which two while he is in his wits he most highly esteems Physitians not only declaim against excess in eating and drinking as an enemy to health but profess and maintain that a simple uncompounded or a spare diet most conduceth to the maintenance thereof For that heat which will boyle or concoct a rabbet or pullet will not do the like to beef mutton capon pye custard and other compounded meats made by the sawcy Cook but much of these must lye raw on the stomach and the crudities corrupted and putrefied must necessarily turn to humours destructive to health Eccl. 31.20 The wise man tells us that sound sleep cometh of moderate eating but watching choler paines in the belly are with an insatiate man and the same writer saith expresly C. 31.30 Excess diminisheth health and makes wounds and if you will heare it rather in the Prophets words Jet 25.27 Drink and be drunk and spue and rise no more S. Paul knowing the manifold mischieses arising from excess in meat and drink useth a remedy which is worthily to be followed by all wise and good men 1 Cor. 9.27 I keep under or more properly as the word imports I make my body as my slave and I bringit into subjection that is as though by cudgelling and beating my dog I make him lye down when I bid him and run and go and do as I command him which otherwise my body would not do but as an over-fed colt or pampered jade it would kick against the feeder and cast down and trample upon the rider The body we must remember is a good servant to the soul thus kept under and brought into subjection as S. Paul dealt with his body but it is a most refractary and impetuous Master if by custome it get the dominion A wife an host of an Inn or Tavern and a Civet-cat have some resemblance in this that the wife if over cockered and too full fed is likely to fool or cuckold her husband the host if you ever give him his asking and not sometime find fault and rebuke him will grow careless and use you ill and the Cat unless beaten will yeeld no musk the application is easie and obvious to any understanding that the body will do the like if over fed and not kept under And as it doth in the point of health so of life it self for this life depends necessarily on that health a ship over-laden with merchandise or which hath taken in too much water will soon sink it fares alike with mans body for as feavers and other diseases are generally cured by fasting so they are increased and death followes upon fulness It is storied of a kind of Viper that comes not forth of the womb but by eating out the damms belly so that belly which seems to give the body life often takes away life from the body The wise man hath said it Ecclus 21.25 Wine hath destroyed many and the Prophet likewise for thy drunkenness desolation and destruction are come upon thee Isa 51 1â— and what they speak of drink is as true of meat excessively taken So that as before I wished that the Vintners house should be placed next the house of mad men so I hold it fit that the Cook should dwell betwixt the Apothecary and the Sexton for he makes work for these for as he kills and coffins the bodies of flesh and fish so he endeavours to do as much for the guests that feed thereon The wise mans counsell is worthy our learning Prov. 23 2 3. and imitation If thou be a man given to thy appetite put a knife to thy throate and be not desirous of dainties for they are deceitfull and so deceitfull they are that unless thou put thy knife to thy throate as affrighting thy throate from swallowing too much they will prove as a knife to cut thy throat and destroy thy life And not it alone but thy good name and honour S. Paul comparing mans life to a race or fighting saith 1 Cor. 9.25 every man that striveth for the mastery and the crown is temperate in all things where as temperance gains so excess loseth this crown S. Paul in the place before mentioned speaks it plainly Phil. 3.18 their glory is in their shame See Noah drunk and uncovered Lot drunk and lying with his daughters and in them see the shame of this sin And when you heare the rich Glutton in the Gospel say Soul eate drink take thy rest and be merry can you conceive it to be the speech of any but a beast like man and accordingly the Prophet comparing the earth to a drunkard calls it a field of beasts Is 24.20 The wise man bids eate as it becometh a man Ecclus. 31.16 and leave off for manners sake and devour not lest thou offend and in the same chapter he addeth Wine moderately drunk makes the heart glad v. 28. but immoderately taken makes bitterness of the mind with brawling quarrelling and rage S. Paul couples the drunkard and the rayler and in another Epistle the murderer and the drunkard and King Salomon saith 1 Cor. 15 11. Gal. 5.21 Prov. 2â— 21 The Glutton and the drunkard shall come to poverty and after poverty rayling quarrelling rage and murder what can follow less then shame and dishonour The old Testament mentions little more then bread in the feasts so called of the Patriarchs and Godly men and as Christ never invited or entertained any with more then bread and fish so he taught us to pray for all under bread in all which feasts as we read nothing of costly and daynty sauces so neither of pies tarts second courses and in all the Gospel we read but of one that fared sumptuously every day and if we remember his end I think
that all things considered as premised I would not wish the man to marry that woman that is confident of her wit beauty or birth nor the woman to match with him that presumes on his wisdome honour or power for where these are overvalued in either man or woman each is apt to undervalue the other to contempt or discontent In a word the durable contractor in marriage is the harmonious consent of soul manners and love and this will make and continue the mariage happy always provided that as in purchasing land or lending your money you look well to get good security and the best is the honesty of the person with whom we deal and good sureties that will see all performed as it is agreed Now the first part of this security in marriage is the grace and virtue of the espoused man or woman of which the wise Salomon speaks Prov. 18.22 He that findeth a good wise findeth a good thing which good thing is her inward goodness and this as in the words following is the favour of the Lord. And of all the virtues in a woman most to be desired Prov. 19.14 prudence and discretion are the chief for this will keepe her chast and modest this will teach her reverence to her husband and to give every one their due both within and without dores And this prudence saith the wise man here is the gift of the Lord. therefore let the wise sell all as the Merchant in the Gospel to purchase this pearle For without this jewell wealth beauty and such like are as I before cited but as a ring of gold in a Swines snout The other part of the security for a good wife or husband rests on the Surety and this is he that is the only best match-maker God the Lord. Therefore be sure before and at the consummating the mariage to invite and get Christ as he was at Cana to the wedding and then be as sure that if all the vessels be filled up to the brimme with water which in Scripture signifies afflictiton and sorrow yet this guest Christ will miraculously turn them all into wine that makes the heart merry which is consolation Which great change is instrumentally wrought by that great Mystery Ephes 5. v. 31. as S. Paul calls it where the conjunction is such that t is said the man shall be joyned the Greek is as much as he shall be glewed to her so that they two shall be as it were made into or be but one flesh and this is a great mystery or secret that as Christ and his Church so man and his wife shall of two be made one The Philosophers went further in their expressions when they said man and wife are not only one flesh 1 Cor. 7.4 so that each hath power over the others body but that they are but as one soul and but one fortune common to them both one fortune in good and bad insomuch that the Civill law holds that if the husband prove bankrupt and be cast into prison the wife may be sold if she be worth it to pay and release her husband and as it was in the primitive Christian Church Acts â— so here especially between husband and wife all things are to be common and this is partly signified on the mans part who is the chief proprietor when in our leiturgie the husband tells her with all my worldly goods I thee endow where we must note that although the Apostle and our Church speake it only of the man that he shall be so joyned to the woman and he shall endow her with all yet this is as truly and more necessarily intended to be true of the woman who is as it were a subject to her Lord her husband But expresly charged on the husband to take away all scruple from Jew and Gentile who gave themselves a greater liberty and indulgence herein then Christ doth But yet the greatest spirituall mystery in this mariage is that between the man and his wife who shall be but one soul that is though two in substance to animate two bodies yet but one in affection and desire or but one to desire and dislike to will and to nill the same things so that what the Holy Ghost spoke and made good of the Apostles Acts. 2. Râ—m 12. v. 10.15 16. that they were of one minde and what the Apostle commands Christians to be kindly affectionate one to the other in love and to rejoyce and weepe together and to be of one minde each to other this and more if more can be is here required in this conjunction and mutuall love betwixt man and wife and this completes the great mystery spoken of S. Paul in marriage which mystery though it held good and true from the beginning of the creation in the law and gospel and so is to continue as long as there shall be man and wife on earth yet as at the beginning that Envious one so he is called in the Gospel the Devil seduced our firsts parents so soon after the Sun-shine of the Gospel and to this day afresh he works both on man and wife infusing into them foul and dangerous doctrines which S. Paul therefore called doctrines of Devils For in the Apostles times be taught Simon Magus Acts 10. and in and by him he taught all Simons scholars therefore called Simoniani that women may be used promiscuously and without difference or respect had to Gods precept relating to man and wife after which filthy sect succeeded the Saturninians followers of Saturninus who profest and practised the like then followed the Nicolaitans Rev. 2. who used each others wife in commune then came the Gnosticks living among and glanced at by the Apostles after these the Adamites who both male and female read prayed and administred the Sacraments all naked Soon after the Apostolicks called by themselves Eucratites or Abstinents who admitted none into their assemblies who had wives After these were the Manichees called also Catharists the Eunomians Priscillianists Jovinianists and the Paternians who holding that the lower parts of man and woman were â—â—de by the Devil indulged to themselves all licence of uncleanness in those parts These and some more though professors of Christ grosly and filthily erred either in the prohibition of marriage or in the allowance of a beastly usage or gross community of women wives or single persons insomuch that I cannot say that there have been so many severall sects or heresies since the Apostles times erring so grosly about any one subject as these named about marriage and fleshliness such and so great a power the Devil hath over man tempting him in his weakest and most sensuall part of the flesh which in the most is so predominant that some Divines think that this was that which S. Paul meant by the thorn in the flesh and for that cause he bewayled his estate in those words Wretched man that I am 2 Cor. 12.7 who
not in others which pleaseth her not but it must be perfect and totall in all the husbands just and lawfull requirings therefore v. 24. as the Church is subject to Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing 4. It must not be a false eye-pleasing or counterfeit subjection before her husbands face only or in his hearing but as that of Sarah who called him her Lord 1 Pet. 3.6 and that as it is exprest to testifie her sincere and hearty subjection it is said Gen. 18.12 within her self or to her self in her heart she calls him Lord. And all this ought to be as fully performed by every wife as it is clearly exprest by the Apostle for it is not only the Apostle but the Lord that commands this subjection and obedience and therefore not the husband only but the Lord God is disobeyed when the wife submits not in all as required and exprest to her own husband I may I must adde that when S. Paul commands wives to submit to their husbands Eph. 5.22 as to the Lord it implies that by this submission with love fear reverence and obedience she should confide in depend and rely on him and on no other earthly creature before or comparatively to him for he is her head And certainly when all this is required by S. Paul 1 Cor. 7. â—3 â— Pet. 3.1 and by S. Peter of evill and unbeleeving wives much more ought the Christian good wives yeeld to this doctrine and be subject to their husbands and this as in Gods most holy word so in our sacred Leiturgie is required of the wife that as the husband must love comfort and give honour to his wife so she must love honour I and which is no where required of the husband she must serve and obey him And yet lest any husband should force the words too far he must remember that though the wife must be as the vine on the side and not on the top of the house so she must not be set in the Cellar or Cole-hole this is not her seat but on the side of the house And as she was not taken out of the head of man to rule or to be a ruler so she was not made out of the foot to be scorned abased or to be trod upon but out of the side as to be cherished and made much of as being in domesticall affairs in the Kitchen Parlor and bed-chamber coequall as taken out of the side of her husband and set with him on the side of the house S. Paul gives some additionall qualities requisite in a wife Tit. 2. as that she must be chast purely chast the word implies so much and that she must be devout holy and not phantastick or humorous in her habite or dress of attire Beauty in wives oft-times is a great enemy to those two and therefore though beauty be not to be despised or neglected being it is the gift of God so great care is to be had that this beauty prevail not over or against their pure chastity and decently holy attire for beauty oft-times and in too many begetteth pride pride costly dresses costly dresses gadding to be seen not at home to please the husband so much as to be seen abroad and this gadding is oft-times the mother of temptation temptation of being seduced to evill and lust for as many beasts are hunted taken and destroyed for their fair skins so it fareth with women Bathsheba's words to her Salomon are worth the fair womans remembrance and consideration Prov. 31 30. Favour is deceitfull and beauty is vain but the woman that feareth the Lord shall be praised let the fear of the Lord be in her esteem her chief beauty and then the beauty of her body shall not suffer prejudice but be as a gracefull outward ornament according to our proverbiall word gratior est virtus veniens è corpore pulchro more amiable is virtue which proceeds from a fair body and this may serve as a watch and guard over the wives beauty And for her habit and attire 1 Pet. 3.3 S. Peter gives good instructions and saving caveats when he saith Let not her adorning be that outward plaiting the hair and wearing of gold and pulting on costly apparell in which precept the Apostle simply condemnes not the wearing of costly rich apparell or the most comely dressing but the excesse herein which discovers the vanity and disease of a soul distempered with pride profusions superfluity inconstancy the too too much redundant and luxuriant humours to call them no worse which abound in women and the old adage hath a good reason in it ex veste hominem by a mans or womans attire or dressing you may give a great guesse what their soul is I would all great as good women Esther 14.16 would remember the words of Esther Lord thou knowest my necessity that I am to goe so richly attired for I abhor the sign of my high estate wherein I shew my self before the King and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag And if any tell me that such attire and dressings are not in themselves simply evill but things indifferent I must tell them that though the dressing and attire be such yet such attire and dressing mostly proceeds from a mind tainted with pride excesse affectation or desire to satisfie lust and these are not things indifferent but evill and such as the root is such will the fruit be and if the root be only fit for hell fire I know not how such fruit should reach or carry the body up to heaven S. Peter therefore having taxed the excesse in outward apparell he proceeds to teach women wherein their comely dressing should consist 1 Pet. 3. â— 3 4. which saith he should be inward in the adorning the hidden man of the heart for wise Cato hath told us long since that they who spend too much cost or time in adorning the body generally neglect the adorning of the soul the ornaments whereof S. Peter in the same place tells women should be of a meek and quiet spirit and this saith the Apostle is of great price in the sight of God and closely he implies the reason hereof when he addes that this ornament of the soul is not not like the beauty of a flower or a beasts skin which soon fadeth or is destroyed but it is saith he incorruptible it cannot be spoiled or vanish but will remain in esteem and honour with God and man for ever And S. Paul as he gives counsell to women from the same spirit so t is very near unto S. Peter in the expression of it when he saith 1 Tiâ— 2.9 v. 10. women must adorn themselves in modest apparell with shamefastnesse and sobriety not with plaited hair or gold or pearles or costly array but that which becometh women professing godlinesse with good works I must not say that here the Apostle forbids the
if he love her he wisnes her well he doth well for her he gives her what in justice and reason she â—n desire he suffers for her more then she would he is carefull not to displease and most willing to give her honour and all good content God when he gives lawes and precepts to man he concludes them all in this Love the Lord thy God and S. Paul Rom. 13 10. love is the fulfilling of the law And to this love as portrayed the husband is bound so saith S. Paul men ought so to love their wives Eph. 5.28 and this expresly proves it to be the husbands duty to love his wife Which S. Paul barely saith not it is his duty though his word as from God were a law and there needed no other confirmation for it but he proves it For the man to his wife is as Christ to his Church and Christ loved his Church and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ye husbands ought to love your wives Secondly the wife is not flesh of thy flesh but is made one flesh and one body and as it were one person with thee Eph. 5.28 so Ephes 5.28 and therefore man ought to love his wife And if you ask me how he ought to love her this the Apostle expresseth too and most plainly saying 1. as Christ loved his Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ye husbands ought to love your wives Where note that the Apostle means not by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to tell the husband that he ought to love his wife in that high measure and degree as Christ did love his spouse the Church this is not possible for man to do but as Christ did truly and heartily love the Church so ought mâ—n to love their wives And a second 〈…〉 should love his wife the Apostle adde in the same place when he saith he ought to love her as hit own and as himself and be it that the man love his wife so the woman covets too much that would desire more then that her husband love her as he doth himself for no man v. 29. except a mad one saith S. Paul hateth but rather cherisheth and nourisheth his own flesh Now S. Basil taking it for granted that the man according to this duty and rule loves the wife more then the wife her husband demands the reason for it and answers it thus That woman was made subject to the guidance of the man and therefore to make a compensation as it were the man by his love is made in some sort subject to his wife so that the husband though he be in his naturall capacity a Lord to his wife as Sarah called her husband yet in a sweet manner he is through his love become her servant so that though God gave the woman long haire which might be as reynes in the mans hand to guide her yet God gave her an eye that her husband may say as Christ to his spouse Cant. 4.9 thou hast ravished or taken away my heart with one of thine eyes and be the man the head of the wife yet the wife by her ravishmâ—nt of the man is become according to the place or part whence she was first taken the heart of the man and hereby it comes to pass that as Christ taught the man is to leave father and mother and cleave to his wife and all this is wrought by mans love to his wife Well therefore did S. Paul Ephes 5. speaking of this loving subject call it a mystery a mystery in nature and a mystery in grace and each applied by the Apostle to the husbands love for as Eve was taken out of Adam so the Church from Christ she from Adam cast into a sleep the Church from Christ sleeping in Death Eve was from the side opened the Church from Christs side pierced Adam therefore was to to love Eve as his flesh and bone Christ his Church as his blood and life and hereupon the Apostle concludes Men therefore love your wives as Adam did Eve and as Christ did the Church For man and his wife are coupled as in the bond of nature so in the covenant of grace and this is the mystery which S. Paul calls the love of man to his wife And another mystery there is couched in the words of the Apostle when be saith that the man and wife being two subjects or persons are made and become one for though two yet but one body and two but one soul and affection to love each other as himself Eph. 5.28 v. 33. so that two should be one in and by love and yet by the power of the same love this one to become two to help each other against all enemies adversaries or opponents and here is the mysterie and such a mysterie as love onely under God can and should make between man and wife Which love as it is strong as Death Can. 8.6 so it feares not nor stoopeth to death but undauntedly encountered for the object be it the wife or the spouse beloved S. Paul tells us it was so in that most divine love of Christ to his Church who gave himself even to death for her and so hath it been in many a man naturall love to do the like for his beloved He touch but one example of Tiberius who finding two snakes in his bed-chamber was told that if he killed the female his wife must die if the male himself whereupon to preserve his wife he chose rather to kill the malâ—â—â—nd himself to die and happy is that conjunction which is so cemented by love that each can say as Castor and Pollux as brethren vive tuo Coujux tempore vive meo live ô my spouse thy terme and live thou mine The Greeks though most abundant in expressions by words yet in this case of husband and wife seem defective and scanty For as Ephes 5. and Col. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5. Col. 1. which is in generall a man stands for husband so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in generall a woman signifies in the Apostle a wife which defect if it may be so called is supplied by our English when we translate that man and woman by husband and wife and not unfitly from the first creation of both for as the woman was made for the man to be a comfort unto him as a wife Gen. 2.18 so the man being alone and wanting any under God on whom to place his love and delight is to settle these on the woman his wife therefore saith the Apostle husbands love your wives Eph. 5.22 these being the objects of your solace and delight and as they were made helps to the husband Which word husband as it notes the man to be the band of the house and all therein so primarily and principally of his wife by which he is put in minde to keep her from shattering as the band in sheaves or as the band of
is the key to thy worldly blisse and happinesse and the fruit of a well grounded and holy mariage Which happinesse appears and is evidenced on the mans part 1. When it is said thy wife shall be as a vine Ps 128.3 which is both pleasant and profitable pleasant on the sides of thy house for shade and refreshment and profitable because fruitfull Fruitfull two ways 1. Bringing that forth which makes thy heart merry being as she was made a help and comfort unto thee 2. Fruitfull in children And not onely brings she pleasure and profit to her husband but honour too for so we read a vertuous wife is a crown to her husband Prov. 12 14. For as the lewdnesse of the woman turns to the husbands shame witnesse the word Cuckold so her discreet and good life becomes his honour and as the crown of gold is to the Kings head such is a virtuous wife to her husband for an ensign of his honour and not an externall temporary windy honour placed begot or setled in the opinion of men but that intrinsick during reall honour which is the fruit of Gods favour for so Who findeth a wife findeth a good thing Prov. 18.22 where good the adjunct to the subject wife is necessarily to be understood else the thing that he findeth would scarce be good And would you know how this wife becomes such a good thing then read Proverbs 19.14 where you shall find that a prudent or good wife is from the Lord and Prov. â—â— 14. if a present from God the Lord then sure she is a good thing especially if yee adde what is before to that of Proverbs 18.22 he that findeth this good thing the wife obtaineth and receiveth her not only as a gift but as a gift of honour and favour from the Lord. I might surfeit an husband with a glut of happinesse if I should here repeat and inlarge the manifold blessings redounding to him from a good wife of whom I may speak as the Philosophers and Fathers did of health saying it is bonum such a good as without which there is scarce any sublunary thing good unto him God said at the first It is not good that man should be alone without society and company that is to be without a woman his wife therefore good it is to have her 2. It was not good to be without an help meet for him which is mans case without a wife therefore it is good to have her Thirdly it is not good for a man to be without arrowes the weapons of defence against his foes now these arrowes are his children which honestly cannot be had without a wife therefore it is good to have her I could adde to these 600 more goods attending an husband with a good wife But that I may not clog you Ireferre you to that which I might here repeat and inlarge Prov. 31. from the 10. v. to the end of the Chapter and to these places in Ecclesiasticus ch 7.19 ch 25.8 and ch 26. v. 1 2 3.13 14 15 16.22 23 24 25 26. and ch 36. v. 14. and ch 40.23 so that I may say merrily yet truly an egge is not so full of good meat as a virtuous wife is of good things And as to the husband such a wife is a blessing and a good thing so no lesse good and blisse is acquired to the wife who hath found a good husband I have heard women jestingly I hope say that if the husband be the head the wile shall be the Cap and surely the wife hath no readier means to attain this then by her discreet subjection to her husband according to that of our Saviour in severall places repeated by the Evangelists He that humbleth himself shall be exalted and this accords with that before mentioned a vertuous wife is a crown to her husband Prov. 12.4 now the place for a crown to be set is his head and as the crown is to the bearer an ensign of honour so honour we know is in honorante formally and efficiently in the giver of honour which in this case is the virtuous wife and hereby she acquireth to her self the just title of honour and this she hath gained by being a wise wife But if this satisfie not all women then let them hear and find other blessings and good things arising from mariage which single she neither had nor well could have for hereby she hath not only the society but the love the union the body the soul the all things of the man her husband and what greater or more good can she wish or desire under heaven Again when Adam had all the world given him yet it was not said for these or for all these thou shalt leave thy father and thy mother but when he had his wife then and not till then was it spoken Thou shalt leave father and mother and all things except God and shalt cleave to thy wife and is not this a blisse or a good thing to a wife May I not without offence say that a woman before mariage was as it were an headlesse thing for as the man was said without her to be without an help or helplesse so she without him to be without an head headlesse for so S. Paul speaks The husband is the head of the wife Eph. 5.28 2. Whereas before mariage she was but half an one now by wedlock she is made a whole and perfect one for her husband and she as Christ and his Church so S. Paul saith are made one 3. S. Paul goes further when he saith that he the husband as Christ is the head Eph. 5.23 and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saviour of the body which word Saviour Zanchius the learned and judicious expositer doubts not to refer as to Christ so to the husband and if so then the wife by mariage not only gets an head but a Saviour under which word as in the Greek more is included saith Cicero then can well be exprest yet so much at least is evident and easie that the husband may well be called the wives Saviour not only in that he labours and travailes for her maintenance of life and security against all harm and danger but because he it her guide and teâ—cher in the ways to her salvation for so much S. Paul implies when he saith if the wife will learn any thing for the benefit of her soul 1 Cor. 14 35 let her aske her husband who as be is her head to guide so he is in part and in a saving sense her instrumentall Saviour And not singly in this but that by this husband she may receive another blessing that is children Ps 128.5 6. for so it is proclaimed The Lord shall blesse thee in seeing thy children where they are a blessing from the Lord Ps 127.3 ver 5. and children are an heritage and reward of the Lord yea blessed is the man that hath his quiver
wished to forget their cunning if ever they forgat Jerusalem yea they wished that their tongue might cleave to the roof of their mouth and that they might never speak if they did not remember nay if they did not prefer Jerusalem above their Chief or choice joy And as their grief was such for the losse now see if as great joy were not conceived by them for the regaining of their beloved country for now they say being returned we rejoyce indeed and not only rejoyce but our joy is such as if it were a dream which coming suddenly and unexpectedly makes men lâ—ughor sing or exult as not knowing for joy what they do which we express when we say mad for joy and such was this joy of Gods Israel upon their return to their own country as the Psalmist there expresseth If you beleeve not me hear themselves speak their own joy when they say Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing insomuch that among the Heathen they said The Lord hath done great things for us that is our return home to Judea is such an act that none could have wrought for us but the Lord and thereof we are glad The Grecians held that to be their country where they thrived best and got most yea it was a Proverb among both Greeks and Romans That is a mans country where it is well with him or where he doeth well Now if this terrestriall country of smoaky unsavory earth below be so sweet and pleasing to the corporall what then must that other heavenly glorious country above be unto the spirituall man for man as he consists of two parts body and soul and in that regard man may be termed a double that is an earthly and a spirituall man which agrees with that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 15 so he hath two countries answerable and fitted to the double inhabitant therefore as for the earthly man God hath prepared this eaâ—thly habâ—â—ation so for the spirituall he hath pâ—â—vided that heavenly and glorious country for to speak truth and as the Scripture speakes this below is not properly our country but as we are here but travellers strangers and pilgrims so we have here no abiding city nor place and therefore this cannot be our country but our Inne or guest-châ—mber wherein to lodge in the time of our passe or travail from this place of traffique or trade to our own country whence we came All this and much more will be evident to any ordinary understanding that will read the Apostle where he thus speaks Abraham when he was sent by God from his own to a strang country Heb. 11.9 obeyed for he looked for a city confessing himself a stranger pilgrim on the earth ver 10. ver 13. he declareth plainly that he sought a country and this country is called the better and the heavenly country and in this country God hath prepared for Abraham and all his faithfull seed ver 16. saith the text a city a City saith the Apostle which hath foundations as though this of the earth were instable and such foundations as whose builder and maker is God And if you will further know and see the glory of this city in this heavenly country with the excellent company and joy there to be found then read forward where the Apostle faith Yee are now in the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 12.22 where you shall find an innumerable company of Angels the Spirits of just men made perfect yea God the Judge of all and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant or testament whose bloud speaketh better things for us to the Judge then the bloud of Abel And this being our country indeed and that we may expresse our love thereunto Let us saith the same Apostle go forth out of this vale of misery Heb. 13.13 iniquity and country of Devils unto him Christ Jesus For here we have no continuing City but seek one to come And that this we may seek aright and so find God of his infinite mercy grant unto us for Jesus Christs sake to whom be all glory and honour Amen The End ERRATA PAge 39. Line 14. rea 3000. p. 115. l. 25. dele above l. 31. for to love him r. be loved p. 123. l. 18. for as r. for p. 125. l. 16. r. matter p. 126. l. 23. r. shew l. 34. r. no p. 129 l. 27. r. it is like the gravâ— p. 138. l. 19. r. he did cure and. p. 142. l. 7. r. to seventy p. 156. l. 13. r. to this p. 168. l. 17. r. for p. 170. l. 5. r. certain p. 183. l. 10. r. have p. 203. l. 16. r. who as p. 210. l. 1. r. and the new that p. 240. l. 21. r. man