the Bench begins to usurpe that Authority which hath been formerly peculiar to consistoriall proceedings This is our misery and this misery wee have pulled upon our selves partly by insinuation partly by negligence partly by pusillanimity principally by our owne discords Quot Capita tot Dogmata So many Opinions almost as Pastors and Factions as Congregations One is for Paul another for Apollo another for Cephas This man is a Calvinist That a Lutheran and a Third a Carth-writhian Insomuch that Religion begins to looke asquint and hath one cast for Geneva another for Rhemes another for Amsterdam Euseb de vita transitu sanct Hieron Multi hodiè in Ecclesia saith Saint Ierome non pastores sed destructores sed Lupi sed Mercenarii ad quos nihil portinet de Ovibus nisi ut devorantur There are many at this day in the Church of Christ under the name of Pastors which come to you in Sheepes clothing but inwardly they are Ravening Wolves They pretend feeding but the event is devouring the flocke Nihil abominabiliùs quà m cùm Ille qui custodire debet dissipat saith the same Father There have beene a long time clustering about this Vineyard of the Lord the Brownist the Anabaptist the Familist and of late the Perfectist and that wee may lay all the heads of Faction upon one shoulder the Catharist a Sect long since cried downe by the Fathers for Hereticall but now Buttress'd and Back'd up as the maine Pillar of Religion the polished corner of the Temple and he that is not hewed out for that Garbe hath the spittle of the multitude throwne in his face weares the aspersion of a Libertine and of late the broad Livery of a Sycophant or Knave Good Lord that glow-wormes and rotten Stickes which were wont to glimmer only in the darke should thus shine more and more unto the perfect day That this dull candle which hath beene so long hid under a Bushell should at length bee set on a candlesticke and give so proud a light to all that are about him There was a time when Faction was neither so strong nor so bolde when the chiefe Patriarches and Founders of it had for their Cities of refuge only Woods and Barnes and their Disciples but the Suburbs and Offall of the people But now forsooth the Firre Tree must bee a dwelling for the storke and the lofty Cedars spread their boughes over them great men are become both their Proselytes and Protectors Insomuch that the Vultures have their nests and the little Foxes their holes They Earth themselves in Corporations Peculiars where they are shot-free of the power of a Consistory an injungendo mandamus cannot reach them or if it doe a common purse defends them both from bruize and battery So that the mouth of the Canon cannot reach them the Thunder-bolt of Excommunication not so much as scarre them and then Ceremonies and the Surplice and the Rochet and the Myter too are no better then remnants of Superstition weeds Babylonish and Apocryphall But oh that Aaron would remember he had a Rod as well as Oyle Discipline as Instruction that where the one cannot supple and make pliable the other may bridle and restraine Schismaticall and contentious Spirits that so his Rod may be ever budding his Authority greene and blossoming to the Glory of God the flourishing of his Church the conformity of her Sonnes the concord of her Pastors and the Peace of us all Vnity Vnity Vnity the Church groanes for O let this Dew of Hermon dropp plentifully on the little Hill of Syon Let this precious Oyntment so overflow the head of Aaron that it may runne downe his beard and from thence to the skirts of his cloathing That so there may be a perfect Harmony in the Church that wee may sing joyfully together the song of Syon in our owne land that we may be all Pastors as wee should bee Pastors after Gods owne Heart Pastors feeding his flocke in love feeding it as it ought to bee fed with Knowledge and Vnderstanding which is my last part Pascent vos They shall feede you with Knowledge and Vnderstanding THere is no Pastor properly without a Flocke Pars 3. no Flocke without feeding it no true feeding without knowledge and understanding which like Salomons two Pillars are to bee set in the Porch of the Temple in the very front and entrance of our Ministery 1. Kings 7.21 Knowledge directs our feeding and Vnderstanding doth wield our Knowledge and God enlightens our understanding so that the Pastor after his heart must both scire and intelligere and he that doth not feeds not a flock but betrayes it In that Dabo tibi claves of Christ to Saint Peter there is a double key left for the Goverment of the Church the one of power the other of knowledge and both these by Divines resembled to Zachary's two staves Zach. 11.7 Beauty and Bands Doctrine and Discipline of power and Discipline the Pastor had his share in the last part of Knowledge and Doctrine hee challengeth in this which is so essential to the condition of a churchman indeed that without it he is not a Pastor truly but an impostor or deceiver Insomuch that Saint Paul carefully distinguishing betweene Apostles and Prophets Ephes 4.11 and Prophets and Evangelists and Evangelists and Pastors sets Pastors and Doctours together without their difference Ephes 4.11 And the reason Saint Augustine gives to his Paulinus Cum praedixisset Pastores subjunxit Doctores ut intelligerent Pastores ad Officium suum pertinere Doctrinam D. Aug. Epist 59. ad Paulinum in his 59. Epistle Ad Paulinum he joyneth Pastors and Doctours so neere together because Doctrine is required to the Office of a Pastor And indeed blinde Obedience is but an ill Nurse for the people to the spirituall perfection there is necessarily requir'd a growing up from knowledge to knowledge from one Vertue to another And therefore Ignorance is so farre from begetting Devotion that it strangleth it 'T is the mist and fog and dampe of the multitude the darke Lanthorne of the seduced Church which is not onely close shut to it selfe but to all that are about it Stella in cap. 6. lucae v. 39. Ridiculum est ut qui speculator est caecus sit Doctour inscius 'T is beyond common absurdity to make a blinde man an Overseer an illiterate one Doctour of the chaire Prophets of old you know were called Seers and Rulers of the people Men of good Eyes Insomuch that when Moses was to incampe in the Wildernesse hee desired Hobab not to depart from him Because he should be to him instead of eyes Numb 10.31 Numb 10.31 A Pastor or Governour with the people is as the eye in the body or the apple in that eye or the quicknesse and cleernesse in that apple 'T is the Organ by which they see and are indeed blind without it Hence they have their double Title of Seekers and Watchmen
first set up by Saint Ambrose in Millaine according to the custome of the Easterne Churches D. Aug. lib. 9. confes cap. 7. Ne populus maeroris taedio contabescat so that it was not only a speciall in ducement to the mortification of those which otherwise had been still secularly dispos'd but a maine cordiall and solace for them also which under the sword of Arrianisme were set apart of old for the Fiery Triall Some Philosophers are of opinion that the Spirit knoweth and understandeth onely by the help and service of the Sences Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit prius in sensu which if it bee generally true our eares doubtlesse are as trap-doores to our mentall faculties which as they are shut or open so shut or open to their spirituall operations But Aristotle here was too much a Naturallist and somewhat injurious to the soule in so beslaving it and setting it a begging of the senses as if it had not vertue and wisdome enough of it selfe to exercise her functions without the speciall administration of outward Adjuncts knowing that the Senses apprehend onely the simple Accidents and not the Formes and Essence of things much lesse the secrets in or above Nature which are a journey and taske for our contemplative and intellectuall powers and these also puzled sometimes in their inquisition and well nigh lost in the windings and turnings both of metaphisicall and naturall speculations And therefore doubtlesse in spirituall affaires where the Soule chiefely is imbarqu'd we are or should be more elevated to God by Reason than by Sense when we ascend to him by serious Meditations deepe Penetrations of his Word Tho. Wr. ut supra Majestie Attributes Perfections which chiefely transport those that are truely grave that are mortified indeed when this overtickling of the Sense by the plausibility of sounds this courting and complementing with the Eare by the elegance and raritie of some well-run-voluntary or descant are for Punies in devotion to whom notwithstanding they are as sensuall objects to ascend to God in Spirit to contemplate his sweetnesse blessednesse eternall felicitie though even in those also that are most pure and sanctified to whom the most curious Ayre that ere was set is not halfe so harmonious as one groane of the Spirit doe not alwayes attend those deeper cogitations but now and then intermingle their devotions with this sacred sensualitie which as a pleasant path leadeth to the Fountaine of spirituall joy and endlesse comfort And therefore let the Psalmist bee once more our remembrancer and as a remembrancer an informer too Laudate Dominum in Psalterio Psal 150.5 laudate eum in Cymbalis Iubilationis let our outward praises of the Lord so runne with those within that our Soule may magnifie him and our Spirit rejoyce in him that sav'd us and then no doubt wee may sing cheerefully of his Power and sing aloud of his Mercy so sing and sing aloud that our Psalterie may bare a part with our Cymball our heart with our tongue our sincerity with our profession our actions with our words Saint Augustine paraphrasing on that of the 104. Psalme Sing unto the Lord sing Psalmes unto him makes a criticisme betweene Cantate and Psallite Singing unto God singing Psalmes unto him Verbo Cantat Psallit Opere hee sings to God that barely professes him he Psalmes it that obeys him the one is but Religion voyc'd the other done and 't is this doing in spirituall businesse that sets the crowne on Christianity Profession onely shewes it and oftentimes scarce shewes it truly like an hypocriticall glasse which represents a feature as it would be not as it is as it desires to seeme not as it lookes Againe Psalterium pulsatur manibus D. Aug. ibid. Ore Cantatur Manibus Psallitur he that Sings makes use of the mouth hee that Psalmes it doth exercise the hand so that the mouth it seemes onely expresseth our faith the hand our good workes the one doth but tattle Religion the other communicates it And therefore our Prophet no sooner mentions his Cantate and his Psallite but immediately there followes a Narrate and a Gleriamini First Sing unto the Lord and sing Psalmes unto him and then in the next verse Talke of his wondrous works glory in his holy name So that belike He that onely sings unto God the vocall professor he doth but talke of his wondrous workes but he that Psalmes it the realist in Christianity he glories in his holy Name And to this purpose the Father doubles on the Prophet Psal 67. Sing unto God D. Aug. in Psal 67. sing praises unto his Name Cantat Deo qui vivit Deo Psallit nomini ejus qui operatur in gloriam ejus hee sings unto God that lives unto God and hee sings praises to his Name that doth something for the glory of his Name And happie is that man that so sings and sings praises that both lives and does to the glory of GODS Name And how can Gods Name be better glorified than in his House and how better in his house than by singing of his Power and Mercy his Mercy in so drawing us that wee can live unto him his Power for inabling us to doe something for his Glory And 't is well that Those whom God hath enabled to doe will doe something for Gods Glory for the Glory either of his Name of House A President this way is but Miracle reviv'd and the Thing done doth not so much beget Applause as Astonishment 'T is somewhat above Wonder to see the One without Prophanation or the Other without Sacriledge I meane not and I say I meane not to forestall the preposterous Comments of others which sometimes injuriously picke knots out of Rushes that Sacrilege which fleeces the Revenewes but the Ribbes and Entrailes of a Church defaces Pictures and rifles Monuments tortures an innocent peece of Glasse for the limme of a Saint in it Razes out a Crucifice and sets up a Scutchion Pulls down an Organ and advances an Houre-glasse and so makes an House of Prayer a fit den for Theeves And indeed this malicious dis-robing of the Temple of the Lord is no better than a Spirituall Theft and the Hands that are guilty of it are but the Hands of Achan and for their Reward deserve the hands Gebazi God is the God of Decency And Ornaments either In his House or About it as they are Ornaments are so farre from awaking his Jealousie that they finde his Approbation He that hath consulted with the Iewish Story cannot want instance this way nor illustration The Law of old required the Altar cleane the Priest wash'd the Sacrifices without blemish and this when there was yet not onely a Temple not built but not projected but this once enterpriz'd straightway stones must be choicely hewed from the Mountaines Artificers fetch'd from Tyre Cedars from Libanus Silver from Tharshish Gold from Ophir 1 King 6. 7. 2
surprisall here but in a church triumphant where the Palme and the Crowne and the white Robes are layd up and insteed of Drums and Ensignes Hallelujahs to the Lambe for ever I have done now with the text Applicatio ad Magistratum and the two lawes there lex Dei and lex peccati But the occasion of this meeting listen's after a third law and that 's lex Regni which though it be grounded or at least should bee on the lex Dei yet it sometimes fall's unhappily upon the lex peccati Now a warre there is in this law as betweene the former two Inveterate sometimes Irreconciliable and not to be decided but by Deaath war much of the nature of the other between Spirit Flesh a proud spirit for the most part and a stubborne peece of flesh for if there were either humility on the one side or patience on the other the noise of discord would not bee so loud in our streets but the voyce of the turtle would bee heard better in our land There would bee more peace within our walls I am sure more plentiousnes within our habitations What in the first institution was intended as a shield or buckler is us'd at length as a semiter or sword That which should defend mee from the blowes of another is the engine by which I wound him at last and my selfe too The law which in case of in jury or trespasse was ordain'd of old for a Sanctuary is made sometimes little better then a house of correction If I malice another 't is not I must seourge him but the law though it be in mine own power to chastise him with whips yet the law doe it with more state and more fury too for that shall chastise him with Scorpions when all this while the lash falls not so much on the back of the transgressor as his purse and the bleeding of that as the world goe's is as fatal as the other Sed hominum sunt ista non legum the fault is not in the law but in some of her touchy and waspish votaries or if it bee in the law I am sure it is not in the lex Dei nor I hope in this lex Regni but in the lex peccati 'T is the law of sin is to blame here the mighty Holofernes as Castrusian tolde S. Ierom that rebellious lust of ours which thus plaie's the tyrant with our selves and others Ille criminum leno Ille par asitus vitiorum that bawd and parasite of vices which in one act flatters and betraies us This is the Fox with a Fire-brand in the taile that burnes up the corne field of the Philistines the prime wheele and stirrer of all our turbulent motions our unpeaceable proceedings which first sets our pride a-gog and then our malice and at length our revenge and in such a high way of distaste that no sorrow of the partie offending no mediation of friends no tender of sitisfaction no interposing of the Magistrate himselfe can attone or pacifie But as if there were no Gospell upon earth or else no mercy by that Gospell they are still Jewishly bent with their crucifige crucifige the Law the Law And let such implacable Spirits have their fill of it let it enter like water into their bowels and like oyle into their bones let the Law at last be their comfort and not the Gospell let justice have her full swindge and not mercy and so if they will needs have it so Currat Lex let the Law goe on á lege ad legem from one Law to another from the Lex Regni to the Lex Dei from the Court of Common Pleas here below to the great Starre-chamber above where every man shall receive either doom or recompence according to his works The Law all this while is unreproveable you heare no staine nor blemish there but either in the malicious Clyent or Sollicitor or both It being true in this case what Saint Paul spake in another Lex quidem spiritualis illi vero carnales venundati sub peccatò Rom. 7. v. And here some may expect that I should have a fling at the Gowne or at least as the custome of this place is instruct or counsell it But this were to bring drops to a River offer a few mites or pence to a Treasury that is full for no charity can be so barren as to conceive that those should be ill husbands in counselling themselves that so abundantly dispense and communicate to others And indeed how or to what purpose should they receive instructions in a Church here that are taking so many in a Chamber How make use of the Doctrine of the Preacher that are so busie with the breviat of a Clyent But by their leave for I must have leave to tell them so God is herein dishonour'd and the solemnity both of this time and place disparag'd if not prophan'd They are not I presume so straightned with time nor so throng'd with the multitude of affaires but they might sequester one solemne houre for the service of the Lord The hearing of a Sermon can be no great prejudice to the debating of a cause if it bee just and honest and a few Orisons first offer'd in the Temple are a good preparative and prolog to a conscionable and faire pleading at the Barre As for any error else either in their practise or profession I have not to obtrude here or if I had I would not Every man or at least every good man is a Temple to himselfe and hath a Pulpit in his owne bosome where there is a continuall Preacher or Monitor a conscience either accusing or excusing him and one lash of that toucheth more at the quicke than a thousand from the tongue or pen of another Cor hominis saith Saint Augustine aut Dei Thuribulum aut Diaboli every mans heart is an Altar for God or for the Divell and according to the nature or quality of the Sacrifice so it smoakes either to his doome or glory and this is enough for an understanding eare without farther boring it And indeed it is not my practise to pull Gravitie by the beard bring backe the grey haire to the Rod and the Ferule Schoole as some doe a Magistrate and catechise a Judge nay traduce him too with their borrowed and affected Epithites Rampant Couchant Dormant and the like unreverent and saucie follies which are nothing else but the leakings of bottles which are not sound the noyse of Caskes which are both foule and emptie fragments of that broken vessell Salomon speakes of which can containe nothing no not the droppings of their owne vanities For mine own part I have been taught what the word Iudge meaneth both by representation and by office a King one way and a God another and what is that but a God and a God and therefore a God shall admonish him not I and one God I presume may speake roundly to another Hearke then what the God Iekosaphat
and veines and the joynts swimming with marrow and fatnesse there is a kinde of macelency and famine and leannesse in the soule all goodnesse is vacant and banish'd then and Lust keepes her revell and rendevouz A fit caution and mements as I conceive for this place and meeting that those dayes which the Church hath of Old solemnely consecrated to the service of the Spirit we devote not another way in making provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof That the time shee hath set apart for Fasting and Prayer whereby we should magnifie the Lord upon the strings and pipe and so make the tongue Cymbalum jubilationis A wel-tun'd Cymball wee over-lavish not to feasting and excesse and so make our throate Sepulchrum apertum An open sepulchre I know that Noble assemblies require something extraordinary both for State and Multitude and let them have it But withall I beseech them to consider what Lent is Preached in Lent ad Magstratum and with what devout strictnesse observ'd by the Christian Church for many hundred yeeres together though in these dayes of Flesh cryed downe by some pretenders to the Spirit as a superstitious observation of our blinded Ancestours But let them know or if they doe not let them reade reade Antiquity in her cleere though slow streamings unto us not the troubled and muddy waters novelty hath cast upon our shore and then they shal know that it is a time of Sackcloth and Ashes and casting earth upon the Head for the humbling and macerating of the Sinner not of putting on the glorious apparell your vaine shinings in silkes and trssues for the ruffling of the Gallant A time like that in the mountaine of restraint and scarcity when a few barly loaves and some small Fishes should suffice a Multitude Ioh. 6.9 Not of pomp or magnificence when the stalled Oxe and the pastur'd Sheepe and the fallow Deere 1 King 2.4 and the satted Fowle are a service for the Lords Anointed For mine owne part I am not so rigid either in practise or opinion or if I were in both it matters not where a higher judgement and authority overballac'd me to deny sicknesse or age or in respect of travell or multitude of imployments the publike Magistrate what in this case were either convenient or necessary or enough however I desire them to remember that both the Sword and the Keyes have a stroke here and so that they would feed onely not cloy nourish not daintie up the body knowing that when it is cocker'd and kept too high the Soule it selfe is manacled and more than lame and heavie in sacred operations And therefore let us not be altogether men of Flesh but as the Father hath it occasionally on this Text D. Aug. 43. Ser. de verb. Dom. Vincat spiritus carnem aut certè nè vincatur a carne let the spirit have a sway too and though not wholly a Conquerour yet make her not a captive let our Devotions goe along with our entertainments our Acts of Charity with our Acts of Iustice Foeneratur Domino qui miseretur pauperis saith the Wiseman He that hath pitty upon the poore lendeth or as the Latine implies putteth to use unto the Lord Prov. 19.17 Now Qui accipit mutuum servus est foenerantis The borrower is a Servant to the lender Prov. 22.7 So that the Lord is as 't were a Servant unto him that hath pitty on the poore because in that pitty hee lendeth to the Lord. And indeed who would not be a lender to the Lord when his interest may be a Crowne and his reward everlastingnesse who would not exchange a morsell of bread for the celestiall Manna and almes for the food of Angels a few earthly ragges for the white Robe of the Saints Since most of these are not so properly a lending or benevolence as a due The gleanings of the Cor-field Levit. 23.22 and the shakings of the Vintage were a Legacie long since bequeath'd the poore man by the Law when the Gospel was yet in her non-age and minoritie But now it is not onely the crums and fragments from thy Table and so feed the hungry or the courser shearings of thy Flock and so cloath the naked But visit the sicke too and those which are in prison Mat. 25.26 So that our charity should not onely reach the impotent and needy but the very malefactor and legall transgressor The groanings of the prison should bee as well listned to as the complainings in the streets and at this time more specially more particularly that those bowels which want and hunger have even contracted and shrivel'd up and those bodies which cold and nakednesse have palsied and benumm'd not finding it seemes so much pitty as to cloath and feed them as they should whilst they were alive may at last meet with such a noble and respective charitie as to shroud and interre them like Christians when they are dead In the meane time I have that humble suit to preferre to the Gods of Earth here which David had of old to the God of Heaven Oh let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before you Psal 79.12 according to the greatnesse of your power have mercy on those which are appointed to dye Let your Vinegar be tempered with Oyle Iustice suger'd o're with some compassion that where the Law of God sayes peremptorily Thou shalt restore and not dye let not there the Law of Man be writ in blood and say except to the notorious and incorrigible offender Thou shalt dye and not live There will a time come when wee shall all appeare before the Iudgement seate of God 2 Cor. 5.10 And what then what The Sinners Plea will bee generally then Job 9.3 Lord I cannot answer thee one for a thousand And what if I cannot yet O Lord with thee there is mercy and plenteous redemption Psal 130.7 But now and then it falls out so unhappily at the Judgement seate of Man that parties arraign'd though they answer a thousand in one multitudes of inditements in one innocence yet sometimes naked circumstances and meere colourable conjectures without any solid proofe at all shall so cast them in the voyce of a dazled Iury that there is neither hope of mercy nor redemption Gen. 40.22 Esther 7.10 but Pharohs Baker must to the Tree and Haman to the Gallowes fifty cubits high But in this case Bee learned and wise yee Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce to him in reverence Psal 2.10 But I have here digress'd a little and perhaps a little too sawcily in this point of charity let charity have the blame if shee have deserved it whilest I returne where I formerly left you and that was at a feast in time of fasting Good LORD how preposterously nay how rebelliously and in one act crossing both the civill and ecclesiasticke power which prohibite it And therefore since nature saies for the better
maintenance and support of these fleshly tabernacles thou shalt eate and drinke ad necessitatem and the church to take downe the frankenesse of nature and tame the wildnesse of the flesh for in point of fasting there is as well a religious as a civill or politicke respect saies thou shalt not eate and drinke ad intemperantiam let us so eate and drinke that we may live and not lust and so live that thus eating drinking we care not if we die to morrow The cause why Moses so long fasted in the Mount was meere divine speculation the cause why David did humiliation so that the way to mortify the flesh and to advance the spirit is by the doore of abstinence whereby wee may undermine the pallaces of lust and wantonnes plant parcimony as nature where riotousnes hath beene study Hooker Eccles pol. lib. 5. that whereas men of the Flesh eate their bread with joy and drinke their wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 The man of the Spirit may be contrite and wounded and so humble his soule with fasting Psal 35.13 Beware then of this Ingenuosa Gula this kick-shawed luxury when the braine turnes Cooke for pleasing both of the eye and palate let 's not court appetite when we should but feed it not feed excesse when we should strangle it Moderation and sobrietie are the best Governours of our meetings and where these are as they are not too often in the meetings of a multitude the example of our Saviour will allow us to turne Water into Wine and the advice of his Apostle to drinke it also for our stomacks suke and doubtlesse sometimes for our mirths sake too if we exceed not the bounds of temperance nor flye out into superfluity or Epicurisme which are the blot and staine of Societie and a hinderance of that true joy and comfort which otherwise might smile in our publike meetings when invitations are turned into riots feeding into suffocation clogging the body and damping the spirits and thereby those blessings which else happily might have shower'd upon us A Soule drown'd in meat as the Father phraseth it can no more behold the light of God than a body sunk in puddle can behold the light of the Sun For as fogs and mists arising from the Earth and hiding the light of the Sunne from us debarre us for the present of the vertue of those heavenly influences which otherwise we might partake of So the fumes and vapours of an over-charg'd stomacke ascending to the brain cause a cloudinesse in the soule hindring and darkning those heavenly speculations which the Spirit would else mount to in God and his Son Christ Iesus To conclude then it should be our principall care to keepe the whole man brush'd all sluttishnes swept-of as well within as without not only those outward spots and blemishes which bestain the flesh but even those smaller dusts and atomes which over-spred the soule Remember it is the white robe which is the dressing of the Saint and that the hand which is wash'd in innocency is accepted at Gods Altar The haire that is unshaven is not for his congregation nor the fowle and uncleane thing for his kingdome We read that Solomons Temple had two altars the one without Vbi animaliū caedebatur Sacrificium 1. Kings 6.20 22. where the bullocke was flaine for sacrifice The other within Vbi Thymiamitis offerebatur incensum where incense and perfumes were offered the best mirrhe and the onyx the sweet storax Ecclus. 24.15 And we know that this temple of the holy Ghost hath two altars also the one without in the flesh where the bullocke should bee slaine the Hecatomb of our hundred beasts offered our beastly lusts and corruptions which fight against the soule The other within in the minde where the fumes of mirrhe and frank incense ascend the incense of prayer and gratulation that spirituall holocaust that viall of the Saints full of odours which reacheth the very nostrils of the Almighty On these two altars D. Aug. 256. serm de temp God requires a two fold sacrifice munditiem in corde cleanesse in the heart which David so vehemently desired create in mee a cleane heart O God Psal 5 1. and castitatem in corpore chastity in the body S. Bern. inter sententias which S. Bernar calls martyrium sine sanguine a martyrdome without bloud where there is a death of the flesh without the death of the body a death of her lusts and a death of her corruptions by mortifying and subduing all carnall rebellions And this martyrdome of the flesh S. Paul glories in I keepe under my body or as the Greeke hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus contundo Paulin. Ep. 58. et Lividum reddo soe Paulinus reades it to S. Augustine I Bray as it were and macerate my body and marke what followes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In servitutem redigo I bring it into subiection 1. Cor. 9.27 And in subjection indeed it must be brought in subjection to the soule which as it gives the other forme so it should steere and master it Vnumquodque sicundum hoc vivat unde vivit saith S. Augustine let every thing live according to the rule and platforme of that by which it lives Vnde vivit caro tua De anima tua unde vivit anima tua De Deo tuo unaquaque harum secundum vitam suam vivat Whence lives thy body from thy soule whence lives thy soule from thy God Let both then live according to that Life which gave them life The world was made for man and man for his soule his soul for God Tū rectè vivit carosecundū animā D. Aug. Serm. 13. deverb Dom. cùm anima vivit secundum Deum The sweet Saint Augustine still then the body lives rightly according to the soule when the soule lives rightly according unto GOD. Let the body then so live after the soule and the soule after GOD that both body and soule may live with God in his eternall kingdome and that for his deare Sons sake Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory ascrib'd both now and for ever Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo FINIS Jehovah-Jireh GOD In his PROVIDENCE And OMNIPOTENCE Discovered A SERMON PREACHED Ad Magistratum at CHARD in Sommerset 1633. By Humphrey Sydenham Laudate Dominum de omnimoda potentia ejus Laudate eum secundum multitudinem Magnitudinis ejus Psal 150.2 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TOMY HIGHLY HONOUR'D FRIEND Sr. JOHN STAVVELL Knight of the BATH THIS SIR IUST promises are just debts and debts though delayed ever come acceptably if they come with advantage I long since promised you a transcript of this Sermon which was the Principall and now I send it you with a Dedication which is the Interest and such an Interest I
at the very heeles by the Hue and cry of two foule sinnes Murder and Adultery is at length brought unto the barre and after arraignment and conviction done calls for his Psalme of mercy and insteed of an Exaudi me Domine hee comes with a miserere mei Deus 'T was before Heare me O Lord for thy righteousnesse sake as if hee stood upon termes of justification but now both the Tune and the Plea is alter'd And therefore have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodnesse according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my offences Psal 51.1 Here we finde Saint Bernard againe with his Magna misericordia and his Multitudo miserationum great sinnes require great goodnesse offences that are not common the multitude of Gods mercies the multitude of his tender mercies and according unto those Have mercy upon mee the Psalmist cryeth upon mee thy servant thy Prophet the man after thine owne heart My sinnes are such that they require thy goodnesse thy great goodnesse my offences so capitall that they looke for thy mercies thy tender mercies the multitude of thy tender mercies for their sake and onely for their sake blot out these my foule corruptions which if they should still continue in that uglinesse which they now are whither O whither should I flye No flesh is righteous in thy sight nay no righteousnesse in me as man meerely but is as flesh in thy sight fraile imperfect rotten not able to indure the touch of thy judgements If thou shouldest marke what is done amisse who should be able to abide it Psal 130.3 Surely not flesh blood not I I that am the miserablest of flesh and bloud I cannot answer thee one for a thousand Job 9.3 not one for a thousand thousand so desperate are my sins without thy goodnes thy great goodnes so hainous my transgressiōs without thy mercies thy tender mercies the multitude of thy tender mercies And this ever was will be the plea of Gods Children in their great extremities all their thoughts words endeavours then tread no farther the way to heaven than a miserere mei Deus If any brain-sick or upstart speculation have found out a newer cut or a neerer for mine owne part I give it the Pasport and good speed that Constantine did the Novatian Hereticke Tollescalas Acesi Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 7. in coelum solus ascendas let Rome suggest me it is in him that willeth or Geneva in him that runneth Saint Pauls miserentis Domini carryes the Palme at last It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 Those vaine-glorious opinions of merit and perfection here are but the dreames or delusions rather of two opposite and wayward Sisters Popery and Puritanisme Non sum dignus Nonsum dignus was the true and ancient ensigne both of sanctity and martyrdome And therefore the great Patriarch of the Romish Church was inforced at last to come in with his Tutissimum est It is most safe most safe Cardinall Bellar. de justif lib. 5. cap. 7. most just In sola Dei misericordia only in the mercy of God to repose our hope our confidence our eternall exectation And to this purpose one of the candles or rather stars of the same Church speaking of the mystery of our redemption Stella in 1. Lucae calls it mercy Quia tale tam divinum opus sub nullo merito comprehenditur sed sola divena misericordia factum est He that hath heard of Bellarmine or Stella knowes where the Quotations lie Heere then mercy and mercy only is embrac'd and those old presumptions of merit casheird by some of their greatest Rabbies Now if I could but reade or heare of so much modesty or so much mercy from some Perfectists of ours men so pretendingly immaculate and pure as if their hands and hearts were wash'd in innocence and they could goe boldly to Gods Altar as if they rather dar'd his justice then implor'd his mercy I might at length beleeve as I doe not yet that it were possible for a sincere or a learned or a not discontented man to turne Chatharist and so finde out a new way to Heaven by the spirit of opposition and singularity If any such Pharisees there be here standing about the Temple which yet dare vaunt in their plumed righteousnesse and tell God sawcily to his face that they are not as other men Extortioners vnjust Adulterers no not as this Publican let them enjoy the fruite of their insolent and uncharitable devotions whilst others and my selfe addresse our Orizons to God in his pensive and humble posture where wee may find a heart more stooping then a knee and a looke then either an eye so dejected and intent that it dares nor so much as glaunce where it offended as if one cast of it towards heaven were enough not only to dazzle but confound him Besides a hand so trembling or rather so feeble that it moves only to the striking of a sinfull breast no higher thoughts so mortified and gesture so lowly and language so modest that wee can discover nothing but penitence and submission and these rather express'd by groanes then words or if words broken ones Luke 18.13 God be mercifull to mee a sinner And here by the way we must remember that as mercy and truth meete so peace and righteousnes must kisse too nay righteousnes and mercy God is as well a righteous as a compassionate God a God of justice as of mercy nay his mercy sometimes shines the cleerer for his justice as the Sunne doth neere a storme or thunder-clapp His mercyes saith the Prophet are above all his workes All his workes Psal 145.9 That as you have heard is without Quaere not all his attributes too No though the Apostle seemeth to intimate so much Misericordia Dei super-exaltat judicium mercy doth super exalt or gloryes above or as some reade it Against judgement James 2.13 There is nothing in God majus or minus His attributes as I tolde you are himselfe and therefore to make one lesse or greater then another were to make God lesse or greater then himselfe God is summe simplicissimus not only one but very onenesse and therefore whatsoever is in himselfe must be himselfe and if himselfe therefore infinite infiinite then his justice as well as mercy and all his attributes as either and yet though mercy and justice as they are referr'd to God may bee styled infinite and are yet in relation to his workes they have such a reason of their magnitude as the worke it selfe is either proceeding from mercy or justice And therefore when God suffers sinnes to passe by unpunished as sometimes hee does hee is sayd to bee exceeding mercifull But when hee doth scourge a little his justice was not home to the desert of the offender so that his mercy is said to be greater than his justice though both be infinite
chapter Well then is Ignorance a Darkenesse and that Darkenesse tending unto Death Doe sinnes of affected weaknesse and simplicity leade man blinded to the ditch and there grovell him not only dangerously but without an infinite compassion Irrecoverably too What shal we thinke then of those that dwell in the light that have the golden candlesticke before them the knowledge of Christ and his Gospell shining cleerely and yet both they and all their practises driving amayne to the Land of Darkenesse and the shadow of Death Surely there is a Vaetibi Corazim recorded against such and the Tyrian and Sydonian in respect of divine justice have a more colourable Plea than those Woe unto thee Chorazin wee unto thee Bethsaida It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Iudgement than for you Luke 10.14 Againe are Iustice Temperance Sobriety Patience Chastity and the rest of those morall Rarities in the Heathen because not divinely illuminated as they should now swimming in the burning Lake And doe we thinke which daily heare the voice of the Turtle in our Land that Corruption and Dissolutenesse and Riot and Lust and Bloud shall without de epe Repentance passe by that Floud of Brimstone those Coales of Iuniper the flaming of that Tophet which was prepared of Old Doe our ignorant mistreadings drag us to a strict Arraignment And shall those of Premeditation and Will and Malice and Presumption escape the Tribunall of the Great Iudge Hearke the dreadfull Thunderelap of the Apostle Voluntariè peccantibus non relinquitur Hostia If any sinne willingly after they have received the knowledge of the Truth What then What Horrenda quaedam expectatio Iudicij There is no more Sacrifice for sinne remaining but a fearefull expectation of judgement and fiery indignation Heb. 10.27 A place I confesse loaded with Terror and as with terror so with Obscurity and Doubt enough to strike the presuming Sinner into a Sound or a cold sweat 'T is a Hammer for the breaking of the Stone an Iron rod for the bruizing of the mountaine able to batter and beate into shivers a rockie and Adamantine Heart Againe Is there such vengeance due to those that know not God and his Son Christ Iesus What is there then to those that know him and yet crucifie him Nay what to Vs that crucifie him afresh daily That kisse him by our treacherous sinnes of Disloyalty and Revolt That Sell him by our greedy sinnes of Rapine and Avarice That spet upon him by our scornefull sinnes of Pride and Contumelie That Mocke him with our cogging sinnes of Hypocrisie and impure Purity that buffet him with our churlish sinnes of Rigour and Incompassion That Scourge him by our bloud-fetching sinnes of rigid malicious uncharitable censures That crowne him by our thorny sinnes of Oppression Depopulation Sacriledge That Revile him by our foule-mouth'd sinnes of Oathes Prophanations Blasphemies That Naile him to his Crosse by our implacable sinnes of Choler Revenge Fury And lastly that pierce him to the very heart by our javeline sinnes of Cruelty Rebellion Patricide and the like which cry louder now against the Christian than that Christi-cidium of old against the Iewes because the heinousnesse of their fact was somewhat abated by the Ignorance of the Agents And so insteed of the rushing of that mighty winde Confunde Domine confunde Let them be confounded and brought to nought They meete with the whisperings of the soft and the gentle Voyce Pater ignosce ignosce Father forgive forgive for they know not what they doe And indeed if they had knowne him truely as many amongst us Glory that they doe what could be the Reward of their matchlesse Butchery but the Hailestone and the Coale of fire the Lightning and the hot Thunderbolt Once more if ignorance of it selfe had such a priviledge that it could totally excuse yet as the times goe there is no plea for ignorance I confesse there was a time here to fore both of ignorance and bloud when superstition hang dilike a darke Cloud over us and Martyrdome at the heeles of it as a fatall Comet I meane those Mariana tempora when there was no other Dilemma for a distracted Church but either Rome or the sury of her fagot but those times are gone into Ashes and some of those Ashes I presume into Glory and no ground lest us now either for ignorance or feare Our Church is full cramm'd with Pastors and our Pastors with the Word and our Congregations with both and our Parlours sometimes with all three more Preachers now a dayes than we have either Churches or Pulpits our Shops and Cloysters and Barnes ring aloud of them Insomuch that for some of these there is still a full maintenance in the Church and that as they pretend Iure Divino only the poore Pastour instead of cramming others hath scarce a competence to feed himselfe and that's no doubt Iure humano where Sacrilege hath got the authority to flay that revenue which the other in all equity should fleece But notwithstanding the rapine of such Corâ—â—orants our Lampe is still burning in the Tabernacle and magnified bee the great GOD of Israel still like to burne burne like a vestall Flame that will never out and cursed be they that labour to extinguish it or not labouring cursed be those which mutter that they would 'T is a kinde of rifling of the Arke or at least a busie prying into it to meddle with those Arcana Religionis imperii Mysteries of Religion or State are not a businesse for the multitude to champe on who because they cannot have a Church and Common-wealth at their owne fancie will be a Church and Common-wealth to themselves and so lift the heele against an Old England for a New But ô height of folly and presumption Nay of madnesse What hath Vzzah to doe with the touching of the Arke What a Lay-Schismaticke with the Hierarchy of a Church Obedience of old was better than Sacrifice and now then saucinesse And therefore let such looke home to their Axe and their Hammer to their false Ballance and the unjust measure to the factious Loome and Shuttle let not the Cobler out-goe his Last nor the Tinker his Budget But Tractent fabrilia fabri To shut up all you must know that every corrupt Conversation is a darknesse the continuing in any customary sinne a great darknesse Seeing then that the night is past and the day is at hand Let us therefore cast off the workes of darknesse and put on the Armour of light even that Arniour which Saint Paul in the close of this Epistle prescribeth his Ephesians that Girdle and Breast plate and Shield and Sword and Helmet Truth and Righteousnesse and Faith and Salvation and the Spirit and then no doubt wee shall be able to withstand all the fiery darts of the wicked And to this purpose let the incontinent make a covenant with his eyes the proud man with the loftinesse of his looke the over-credulous with his
shall be opened And lee a Vision saith the Text such a Vision as had alwayes God in it or his Angell A whirle-wind and a fire Ezeck 1.4 To shew belike that the true Prophet of the Lord must have Light with him aswell as Noyse Vnderstanding as Reproofe And thus addressed he is now sent to the house of Israel That house of stubbornnesse and rebellion where he must set his fore-head against theirs bid them reade in it the Prophet of the true God tell them that the gods which they blindly worship are no gods but their owne fancies the Prophets they dote on no prophets but their own Lyes And for their better unmasking and discovery hee doth first blazon them by their attribute Foolish then by their properties and they are two 1. Headstrong lead by their owne spirit 2. Ignorant see nothing for these he sayes there is an Woe denounced not meerely from himselfe but the very mouth of God Sic dicit Dominus Deus Thus saith the Lord God Here is all the businesse of our Prophet to the Israelite and mine to this reverend and learned Throng which by reason of some late distraction through my secular imployments I shall be enforc'd to present you in a broken discourse peec'd up from the remainders of my former more elaborate endeavours presuming that where there is so much Piety and Worth there is not onely an attentive patience but some charity A weake man wants all I beg them And now Woe to the Foolish prophets that follow their owne spirit and have seene nothing Which words are literall to the Hebrew text to the Greeke not so where we finde no mention at all of the Foolish prophet nor the Spirit which he followes onely the Vaticination of the heart and the Blindnesse which attends that Vae his qui prophetant de corde suo omninò non vident so S. Ierom reades it from the Septuagint Woe unto them which prophecy from their heart and see not at all It seemes the Father there understands the heart for the spirit and the wild conjectures of that he rivals with the folly of those which too much indulge the other the Blindnesse is alike in both so that the sence runnes the same way though the words doe not the Prophet after his owne heart being as Foolish as the other after his owne spirit and the non vident of the same latitude in both except the Omninò make the difference and so we divide between a Prophet that sees nothing and one that sees not at all And now the words being thus at peace for the matter of the Text Loe what warre in the manner of it Not seeing and yet a Prophet Following a Spirit and yet Foolish A Prophet and a Spirit at one and yet an Woe denonunc'd How can this be This word Propheta is no more than videns no lesse neither S. Bernard tells me and I am sure Prophets of old were call'd seers How comes then the Blind here to have his eyes unscal'd and the Non videns in the Text to be a Prophet Besides All wisedome and knowledge is from the Spirit saith Saint Paul How is it then that our Prophet is subject to Malediction and he that followes his Spirit to be thus entitled to Ignorance and Folly Saint Ierome labours the answer but not home Non quempiam meveat quod Prophetae appellantur Let it not trouble any that they are called Prophets for 't is the custome of the Scriptures Vnumquemque vaticinationis suae sermonis Prophetam nuncupare Every vision or Divination though delusive is a kinde of Prophecy and he that hath either a Prophet doubtlesse But a Prophet by way of restriction with his reproachfull Epithites of Falsus or Vanus or Insipiens They are all three in this Chapter though not in the Text in the Chapter within foure verses of the Text at the sixth verse we finde a lying Divination there is the falsus Propheta at the seventh a vaine Vision there is the vanus too And if we weigh the dependances of words with matter we shall bring this Vanus and Falsus within the verge of the Text too and so make the foolish Prophet the vaine and the Lying all one For whatsoever is false must be vaine and what is vaine is Foolish too Novit Deus homines vanos God knoweth vaine man Job 11.11 Vanus there is in the roote Naboüb which is as much as Concavum or Vacuum any thing that is hollow or empty a word which the Rabbines usually bestow on fooles who have nothing in them solid and compact and therefore in Scripture resembled not onely to an empty but to a broken vessell In the like manner the French as their Bolducus tells mee hath the word Folls quasi Follis Bolducus in Iob c. 2. metaphorically borrowed from a paire of Bellowes which as they take in Ayre so they give it and when they are full are nothing else Hence is that word of contumely and disgrace mention'd by the Evangelist Racha or more properly Richa from the Hebrew Rick Evacuare or offandere so that it seemes Folly is nothing else but a leaking or pouring out or spilling on the ground as Expositors glosse that place Mat. 5.22 And indeed meere simplicitie is but the poverty or emptinesse of the mind and therefore to bee empty and poore and foolish sounds one Omnis stultus eget saith Saint Augustine omnis qui eget stultus est every foole wants and every one that wants is a foole The Father doubling on the words doth at last distinguish them Egestas est verbum non habendi and Stultitia verbum sterilitatis habet egestatem aliquis habet non habere habet stultitiam habet nunquam habere Folly and poverty are names of barrennesse and want the one may have some expectation or at least hope of supply the other never Folly is not capable of alteration poverity is Folly will be folly though you bray it in a Morter 't is not onely feebts or shallow but perverse and thou shalt sooner beare it into Atomes than breake it of that course in which it is a driving 't will be alwayes following her owne Spirit the worst of Spirits Spiritum Eratoris where once captivated it can see nothing neither indeed desires to see And therefore the Father tells us that 't is not Quaevis but Vitiosa ignorantia such an ignorance as is not onely darke or pur-blind but refractory impatient as well of direction as restraint head-strong will not endure the curbe nor the snaffle but the Reynes loose on the necke gallops where it list not where it should carried meerely by the precipitation of the will without any guide or convoy of reason or understanding A Ship without Sterne or Rudder unman'd unballac'd without Pole or Compasse the scorne of every blast and billow Hence it is that the Holy Ghost puts the foole on those that are the Lackeys and Slaves of their owne
strongly the Applause of the multitude If I would juggle a little with Divinitie turne Impostor in my calling make Errors in judgement scruples in conscience call Fury zeale and Faction purity leave all wayes of learning to follow mine owne Spirit Ravish Scriptures to force out doctrines for mine owne ends empty my Rancor by turning them to uses give off my Charity to devoure widowes houses leave the Field of my spirituall adversary to leade women captive and their lusts call wilfull Sectaries holy professors Open Conventicles Sabbath-Repetitions Braine-sicke Mechannickes the Generations of the just Presbyteriall Ornaments the Dresses of the whore the Rochet and the Ephod Raggs of Antichrist In a word would I leave the commendable Rites of an established Church for the new-fangled fancies of mine owne braine turne Rebell to that Discipline which I haue suck'd from the Breasts of uncorrupt Antiquitie and grow Separatist abroad Damne all practices of Orthodoxe predecessors by a new forme of Sacramentall vowes pull downe Ceremonies and build up Anarchy Leave an old Church in this Land to plant a new one in another and all this under the pretence of an immediate calling when it is nothing but the heart-burning and proud discontent of mine owne Foolish Spirit Sublimi feriari sidera vertice Earth is too vile to containe mee then my zeale knockes at the starres and though my personall imperfections weigh mee downe and the knowledge of my thousand thousand weaknesses clogg and depresse mee even to the gates of hell yet the Magnificats of the People shall keepe mee on my wings and as their voice shal elevate or mount me so I must Soare be my rebellions to God or his Church never so intolerable And this proceeds at first from a popular facility in some who receiving entertaining whatsoever is propos'd but in a colour of Truth for Orthodoxe and Authentique not sifting the kernell and depth of things but pre-occupated by a hasty beliefe of particular men and their opinions subscribing wholly to their bare asseveration or negation without more adoe by a loose and idle lightnesse and precipitation of their judgement feed themselves with Lies versat nos et praecipitat traditus per manus error et malumus credere quà m judicare Error if it bee once Traditionary doth strangely waft transport the hearts of the Simple which are more prone rashly to consent then judge which is a maine Symptome of Spirits emasculate and sicke indiscreetly and womanishly zealous that are carried along with Beliefes meerely not out of choice and Judgement but a partiall Opinion of him they fancy The times are growne so perverse and peevish and is there no cure O God for this stubborn Phrenzie That as I will forsooth so I am opinion'd as I am opinion'd so I please to understand and as I please to understand so I must bee edified and as I am edified so is my zeale inflam'd when he that understands any thing knowes that this way is both preposterous and false For my will should follow my understanding my understanding assist my Judgement my judgement guide my opinion and my opinion thus guided direct my zeale and then I cannot but looke on men compleatly harnessed full of Sappe and vigot and not carried about with Shells and Rattles things turbulent and empty made only for the torture of the eare and the perplexity of ingenuous congregations But oh the Phanaticke wilfullnesse of some who though they meete with a Prophet of the Lord indeed one richly clad with the prime endowments both of grace and nature the perfections and Rarities of both men insomuch that their owne consciences if not perversly erroninious must needs tell them that this man hath his vocatus sicut Aaron yet their Fancy shall sit above their Iudgement and as they please to humour another or hee them so he onely shall edifie the other not though all this while hee be no better then the Prophet in the text heere A foole that followes his owne Spirit Charron lib. 1. cap. 43. and hath seene nothing That learned Scepticke in his voluminous discourse of Wisedome and the nature of in speaking of the vanity of men and of their Spirits doth Analize the whole world into three sorts of People and so proportions them three conditions or degrees of spirits In the first and lowest are the weake and plaine Spirits of the world of slender and course capacity borne only to obey serve and be lead who in effect are but simply men These as the bottome lees and sinke of mankind he resembles to the earth which doth nothing but suffer and receive that which is powr'd down from above In the second loft or story are such as are of an indifferent and middle judgement making profession of sufficiency knowledge dexterity but doe not fully understand and judge as they should resting themselves upon that which is commonly held without farther enquiry of the truth and source of things And these he resembles to the middle Region of the Ayre where are form'd all the Meteors thunderings and alterations which after fall upon the Earth In the third and highest Stage are men endued with a quicke and a cleere Spirit of a firme and solid judgement which doe not settle themselves in Opinions popular but examining all things that are propos'd naturally sound the causes motives of them even to the roote These hee resembles to the Firmament it selfe where all is cleere pure and peaceable The Morall or application I make up thus The spirits of the multitude are in themselves earthy and dreggish and all their infusions and distillations of knowledge they receive from your middle region'd men where all the thundring and the noise is all those hot meteors and exhalations in the braine which so embroile the church these are the maine Botifewes and Incendiaries in religion the common blow coales in ecclesiasticke tumults carrying the people after them in a distemper'd zeale as that wilde Syrian in Florus did fourtythousand with a nutshell of Sulpher betweene his teeth Flammam inter verba sundebat Flor. lib. 3. cap. 19. when on the other side the man of judgement and solidity hath his spirit calme and temperate sits downe to the rites and injunctions of his church knowing that many eyes see more then one and a learned Synode to bee lesse erronious then the Fancies of a private spirit To this purpose Saint Augustine paraphrasing on that of the Psalmist Depluet super improbos laqueos God shall raine snares upon the wicked Psal 11.6 plaies on the word depluet and to make the Allegorie and his Fancy kisse call's generally all Prophets nubes clouds but more particularly the Pseudo-prophet the brother of the foolish here in the Text who are ordained by God saith the Father ut de his laqueos super improbes depluet so that it is the property of false prophets you heare to bee as clouds by which there are snares rain'd snares on the