service Those that will goe no further then they are dragged in their Religious exercises are no whit of kin to her whom all Generations shall call blessed The childe Jesus in the minority of his age went up with his Parents to the holy solemnity not this year only but in all likelihood others also He in the power of whose Godhead and by the motion of whose Spirit all others ascended thither would not himself stay at home In all his examples he meant our instruction This pious act of his nonage intended to lead our first years into timely Devotion The first liquor seasons the vessel for a long time after It is every way good for a man to bear God's yoke even from his infancy it is the policie of the Devil to discourage early holinesse He that goes out betimes in the morning is more like to dispatch his journey then he that lingers till the day be spent This Blessed Family came not to look at the Feast and be gone but they duly stai'd out all the appointed daies of unlevened bread They and the rest of Israel could not want houshold-businesses at home those secular affairs could not either keep them from repairing to Jerusalem or send them away immaturely Worldly cares must give place to the sacred Except we will depart unblest we must attend God's services till we may receive his dismission It was the fashion of those times and places that they went up and so returned by troups to those set meetings of their holy Festivals The whole Parish of Nazareth went and came together Good fellowship doth no way so well as in the passage to Heaven much comfort is added by society to that journey which is of it self pleasant It is an happy word Come let us goe up to the house of the Lord. Mutual incouragement is none of the least benefits of our holy assemblies Many sticks laid together make a good fire which if they lie single lose both their light and heat The Feast ended what should they do but return to Nazareth God's services may not be so attended as that we should neglect our particular callings Himself cals us from his own House to ours and takes pleasure to see a painful Client They are foully mistaken that think God cares for no other trade but devotion Piety and diligence must keep meet changes with each other Neither doth God lesse accept of our return to Nazareth then our going up to Jerusalem I cannot think that the Blessed Virgin or good Joseph could be so negligent of their Divine charge as not to call the child Jesus to their setting forth from Jerusalem But their back was no sooner turned upon the Temple then his face was towards it He had businesse in that place when theirs was ended there he was both worshipped and represented He in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily could doe nothing without God his true Father led him away from his supposed Sometimes the affairs of our ordinary vocation may not grudge to yield unto spirituall occasions The Parents of Christ knew him well to be of a disposition not strange nor sullen Stoicall but sweet and sociable and therefore they supposed he had spent the time and the way in company of their friends and neighbours They do not suspect him wandered into the solitary fields but when evening came they go to seek him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance If he had not wonted to converse formerly with them he had not now been sought amongst them Neither as God nor man doth he take pleasure in a stern froward austerity and wilde retiredness but in a milde affableness and amiable conversation But O Blessed Virgin who can express the sorrows of thy perplexed Soul when all that evening search could afford thee no news of thy Son Jesus Was not this one of those swords of Simeon which should pierce through thy tender breast How didst thou chide thy credulous neglect in not observing so precious a charge and blame thine eyes for once looking beside this object of thy love How didst thou with thy careful Husband spend that restless night in mutual expostulations and bemoanings of your loss How many suspicious imaginations did that while rack thy grieved spirit Perhaps thou mightest doubt lest they which laid for him by Herod's command at his birth had now by the secret instigation of Archelaus surprised him in his childhood or it may be thou thoughtest thy Divine Son had now withdrawn himself from the earth and returned to his heavenly Glory without warning or peradventure thou studiedst with thy self whether any carelesness on thy behalf had not given occasion to this absence O dear Saviour who can miss and not mourn for thee Never any soul conceived thee by faith that was less afflicted with the sense of thy desertion then comforted with the joy of thy presence Just is that sorrow and those tears seasonable that are bestowed upon thy losse What comfort are we capable of whiles we want thee What relish is there in these earthly delights without thee What is there to mitigate our passionate discomforts if not from thee Let thy self loose O my soul to the fulness of sorrow when thou findest thy self bereaved of him in whose presence is the fulness of joy and deny to receive comfort from any thing save from his return In vain is Christ sought among his kindred according to the flesh So far are they still from giving us their aide to finde the true Messias that they lead us from him Back again therefore are Joseph and Mary gone to seek him at Jerusalem She goes about in the City by the streets and by the open places and seeks him whom her soul loveth she sought him for the time and found him not Do we think she spared her search The evening of her return she hastes to the Inne where she had left him where missing him she inquires of every one she met Have you not seen him whom my soul loveth At last the third day she finds him in the Temple One day was spent in the journey towards Galilee another in the return to Jerusalem the third day recovers him He who would rise again the third day and be found amongst the living now also would the third day be found of his Parents after the sorrow of his absence But where wert thou O blessed Jesu for the space of these three daies where didst thou bestow thy self or who tended thee whiles thou wert thus alone at Jerusalem I know if Jerusalem should have been as unkind to thee as Bethleem thou couldst have commanded the Heavens to harbour thee and if men did not minister to thee thou couldst have commanded the service of Angels But since the form of a Servant called thee to a voluntary homeliness whether it pleased thee to exercise thy self thus early with the difficulties of a stranger or to provide miraculously for thy self I inquire not since thou revealest not only this I
upon but discursive In matters of faith if reasons may be brought for the conviction of the gain-sayers it is well if they be helps they cannot be grounds of our belief In the most faithful heart there are some sparks of infidelity so to believe that we should have no doubt at all is scarce incident unto flesh and blood It is a great perfection if we have attained to overcome our doubts What did mislead Zacharie but that which uses to guide others Reason I am old and my wife is of great age As if years and drie loines could be any let to him which is able of very stones to raise up children unto Abraham Faith and reason have their limits where reason ends faith begins and if reason will be encroaching upon the bounds of faith she is straight taken captive by infidelity We are not fit to follow Christ if we have not denied our selves and the chief piece of our selves is our reason We must yield God able to doe that which we cannot comprehend and we must comprehend that by our faith which is disclaimed by reason Hagar must be driven out of doors that Sara may rule alone The authority of the reporter makes way for belief in things which are otherwise hard to passe although in the matters of God we should not so much care who speaks as what is spoken and from whom The Angel tells his name place office unasked that Zacharie might not think any news impossible that was brought him by an heavenly messenger Even where there is no use of language the spirits are distinguished by names and each knows his own appellation and others He that gave leave unto man his Image to give names unto all his visible and inferiour creatures did himself put names unto the spiritual and as their name is so are they mighty and glorious But lest Zacharie should no lesse doubt of the stile of the messenger then of the errand it self he is at once both confirmed and punished with dumbness That tongue which moved the doubt must be tyed up He shall ask no more questions for forty weeks because he asked this one distrustfully Neither did Zacharie lose his tongue for the time but his ears also he was not onely mute but deaf For otherwise when they came to ask his allowance for the name of his Son they needed not to have demanded it by signs but by words God will not passe over slight offences and those which may plead the most colourable pretences in his best children without a sensible check it is not our holy entireness with God that can bear us out in the least sin yea rather the more acquaintance we have with his Majesty the more sure we are of correction when we offend This may procure us more favour in our well-doing not lesse justice in evil Zacharie staied and the people waited whether some longer discourse betwixt the Angel and him then needed to be recorded or whether astonishment at the apparition and news withheld him I inquire not the multitude thought him long yet though they could but see afar off they would not depart till he returned to blesse them Their patient attendance without shames us that are hardly perswaded to attend within whiles both our senses are imploied in our divine services and we are admitted to be co-agents with our Ministers At last Zacharie comes out speechlesse and more amazes them with his presence then with his delay The eyes of the multitude that were not worthy to see his vision yet see the signs of his vision that the world might be put into the exspectation of some extraordinary sequell GOD makes way for his voice by silence His speech could not have said so much as his dumbness Zacharie would fain have spoken and could not with us too many are dumb and need not Negligence Fear Partiality stop the mouthes of many which shall once say Woe to me because I held my peace His hand speaks that which he cannot with his tongue and he makes them by signs to understand that which they might read in his face Those powers we have we must use But though he have ceased to speak yet he ceased not to minister He takes not this dumbness for a dismission but stayes out the eight daies of his course as one that knew the eyes and hands and heart would be accepted of that God which had bereaved him of his tongue We may not straight take occasions of withdrawing our selves from the publick services of our God much lesse under the Gospel The Law which stood much upon bodily perfection dispensed with age for attendance The Gospel which is all for the Soul regards those inward powers which whiles they are vigorous exclude all excuses of our ministration The Annunciation of CHRIST THE Spirit of GOD was never so accurate in any description as that which concerns the Incarnation of GOD. It was fit no circumstance should be omitted in that Story whereon the faith salvation of all the World dependeth We cannot so much as doubt of this truth and be saved no not the number of the moneth not the name of the Angel is concealed Every particle imports not more certainty then excellence The time is the sixth moneth after John's Conception the prime of the Spring Christ was conceived in the Spring born in the Solstice He in whom the World received a new life receives life in the same season wherein the World received his first life from him and he which stretches out the dayes of his Church and lengthens them to Eternitie appeares after all the short and dimme light of the Law and enlightens the World with his glory The Messenger is an Angel A man was too mean to carry the news of the Conception of God Never any businesse was conceived in Heaven that did so much concerne the earth as the Conception of the GOD of Heaven in Womb of earth No lesse then an Arch-Angel was worthy to bear this tydings and never any Angel received a greater honour then of this Embassage It was fit our reparation should answer our fall An evil Angel was the first motioner of the one to Eve a Virgin then espoused to Adam in the Garden of Eden a good Angell is the first reporter of the other to Mary a Virgin espoused to Joseph in that place which as the Garden of Galilee had a name from flourishing No good Angel could be the Author of our restauration as that evil Angel was of our ruine But that which those glorious Spirits could not doe themselves they are glad to report as done by the God of Spirits Good news rejoices the bearer With what joy did this holy Angel bring the news of that Saviour in whom we are redeemed to life himself established in life and glory The first Preacher of the Gospel was an Angel That office must needs be glorious that derives it self from such a Predecessor God appointed his Angel to be the first
begin a worse this Heavenly flame should but kindle that of Hell Thus unconceivably heavy was the revenge but what was the offence We have learned not to think any indignity light that is offered to the Son of God but we know these spiritual affronts are capable of degrees Had these Samaritans reviled Christ and his train had they violently assaulted him had they followed him with stones in their hands and blasphemies in their mouths it had been a just provocation of so horrible a vengeance Now the wrong was onâ—ly negative they received him not And that not out of any particular quarrell or dislike of his Person but of his Nation onely the men had been welcome had not their Country distasted All the charge that I hear our Saviour give to his Disciples in case of their rejection is If they receive you not shake off the dust of your feet Yet this was amongst their own and when they went on that sacred errand of publishing the Gospel of Peace These were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel This measure was not to Preachers but to Travellers only a mere inhospitality to misliked guests Yet no lesse revenge will serve them then fire from Heaven I dare say for you ye holy sons of Zebedee it was not your spleen but your zeal that was guilty of so bloody a suggestion your indignation could not but be stirred to see the great Prophet and Saviour of the world so unkindly repelled yet all this will not excuse you from a rash Cruelty from an inordinate Rage Even the best heart may easily be miscarried with a well-meant Zeal No affection is either more necessary or better accepted Love to any Object cannot be severed from hatred of the contrary whence it is that all creatures which have the concupiscible part have also the irascible adjoined unto it Anger and displeasure is not so much an enemy as a guardian and champion of Love Whoever therefore is rightly affected to his Saviour cannot but finde much regret at his wrongs O gracious and divine Zeal the kindely warmth and vitall temper of Piety whither hast thou withdrawn thy self from the cold hearts of men Or is this according to the just constitution of the old and decrepit age of the world into which we are fallen How many are there that think there is no wisdome but in a dull indifferency and chuse rather to freeze then burn How quick and apprehensive are men in cases of their own indignities how insensible of their Saviour's But there is nothing so ill as the corruption of the best Rectified zeal is not more commendable and usefull then inordinate and misguided is hatefull and dangerous Fire is a necessary and beneficial element but if it be once misplaced and have caught upon the beams of our houses or stacks of our corn nothing can be more direfull Thus sometimes Zeal turns Murder They that kill you shall think they doe God service sometimes Phrensie sometimes rude Indiscretion Wholesome and blessed is that zeal that is well grounded and well governed grounded upon the word of Truth not upon unstable fancies governed by wisdome and charity Wisdome to avoid rashnesse and excesse Charity to avoid just offence No motion can want a pretence Elias did so why not we He was an holy Prophet the occasion the place abludes not much there wrong was offered to a servant here to his Master there to a man here to a God and man If Elias then did it why not we There is nothing more perillous then to draw all the actions of Holy men into examples For as the best men have their weaknesses so they are not priviledged from letting fall unjustifiable actions Besides that they may have had perhaps peculiar warrants signed from Heaven whether by instict or speciall command which we shall expect in vain There must be much caution used in our imitation of the best patterns whether in respect of the persons or things else we shall make our selves Apes and our acts sinfull absurdities It is a rare thing for our Saviour to finde fault with the errous of zeal even where have appeared sensible weaknesses If Moses in a sacred rage and indignation brake the Tables written with Gods own hand I finde him not checked Here our meek Saviour turns back and frowns upon his furious suitors and takes them up roundly Ye know not of what spirit ye are The faults of uncharitablenesse cannot be swallowed up in zeal If there were any colour to hide the blemishes of this misdisposition it should be this crimson die But he that needs not our Lie will let us know he needs not our Injury and hates to have a good cause supported by the violation of our Charity We have no reason to disclaim our Passions Even the Son of God chides sometimes yea where he loves It offends not that our Affections are moved but that they are inordinate It was a sharp word Ye know not of what spirit ye are Another man would not perhaps have felt it a Disciple doth Tender hearts are galled with that which the carnal minde slighteth The spirit of Elias was that which they meant to assume and imitate they shall now know their mark was mistaken How would they have hated to think that any other but God's Spirit had stirred them up to this passionate motion now they shall know it was wrought by that ill spirit whom they professed to hate It is far from the good Spirit of God to stir up any man to private revenge or thirst of blood Not an Eagle but a Dove was the shape wherein he chose to appear Neither wouldst thou O God be in the whirlwinde or in the fire but in the soft voice O Saviour what do we seek for any precedent but thine whose name we challenge Thou camest to thine own thine own received thee not Didst thou call for fire from Heaven upon them didst thou not rather send down water from thy compassionate eyes and weep for them by whom thou must bleed Better had it been for us never to have had any spirit then any but thine We can be no other then wicked if our mercies be cruelty But is it the name of Elias O ye Zelots which ye pretend for a colour of your impotent desire Ye do not consider the difference betwixt his Spirit and yours His was extraordinary and heroical besides the instinct or secret command of God for this act of his far otherwise is it with you who by a carnal distemper are moved to this furious suggestion Those that would imitate Gods Saints in singular actions must see they goe upon the same grounds Without the same Spirit and the same warrant it is either a mockery or a sin to make them our Copies Elias is no fit pattern for Disciples but their Master The Son of Man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them Then are our actions and intentions warrantable and praise-worthy when they accord with
in his own sense onely let our hearts and tongues and hands conspire together in peace with our selves in warre with our common enemies Thus far have I Right Honourable in a desire of peace poured out my self into a plain explication and easie accordance Those whom I strive to satisfie are onely mistakers whose censures if some man would have either laught out or despised yet I have condescended to take off by a serious deprecation and just defence It is an unreasonable motion to request minds prepossessed with Prejudice to hear Reason Whole Volumes are nothing to such as have contented themselves onely to take up Opinions upon trust and will hold them because they know where they had them In vain should I spend my self in beating upon such anviles but for those ingenuous Christians which will hold an eare open for Justice and Truth I have said enough if ought at all needed Alas my Lord I see and grieve to see it it is my Rochet that hath offended and not I in another habit I long since published this and more without dislike it is this colour of innocence that hath bleared some over-tender eyes Wherein I know not whether I should more pity their Errour or applaud my own Sufferings Although I may not say with the Psalmist What hath the righteous done let me I beseech your Lordship upon this occasion have leave to give a little vent to my just grief in this point The other day I fell upon a Latine Pamphlet homely for style tedious for length zealously uncharitable for stuff wherein the Author onely wise in this that he would be unknown in a grave fierceness flies in the face of our English Prelacie not so much inveighing against their Persons which he could be content to reverence as their very Places I blest my self to see the case so altered Heretofore the Person had wont to bear off many blows from the Function now the very Function wounds the Person In what case are we when that which should command respect brands us What black Art hath raised up this spirit of Aerius from his pit Wo is me that zeal should breed such monsters of conceit It is the Honour the Pomp the Wealth the Pleasure he saith of the Episcopal Chair that is guilty of the depravation of our Calling and if himself were so overlay'd with Greatness he should suspect his own Fidelity Alas poor man at what distance doth he see us Foggie Air useth to represent every Object far bigger then it is Our Saviour in his Temptation upon the Mount had only the Glory of those Kingdomes shewed to him by that subtile Spirit not the Cares and vexations Right so are our Dignities exhibited to these envious beholders little do these men see the Toiles and Anxieties that attend this supposedly-pleasing eminence All the revenge that I would wish to this uncharitable Censurer should be this that he might be but for a while adjudged to this so glorious seat of mine that so his experience might taste the bewitching Pleasures of this envied Greatness he should well finde more danger of being over-spent with work then of languishing with ease and delicacy For me I need not appeal to Heaven eyes enough can witness how few free hours I have enjoyed since I put on these Robes of Sacred Honour Insomuch as I could finde in my heart with holy Gregory to complain of my change were it not that I see these publick troubles are so many acceptable services to my God whose Glory is the end of my Being Certainly my Lord if none but earthly respects should sway me I should heartily wish to change this Palace which the Providence of God and the Bounty of my Gracious Soveraign hath put me into for my quiet Cell at Waltham where I had so sweet leisure to enjoy God your Lordship and my self But I have followed the calling of my God to whose service I am willingly sacrificed and must now in an holy obedience to his Divine Majesty with what chearfulness I may ride out all the storms of Envie which unavoidably will alight upon the least appearance of a conceived Greatness In the mean time whatever I may seem to others I was never less in my own apprehensions and were it not for this attendance of Envie could not yield my self any whit greater then I was Whatever I am that good God of mine make me faithfull to him and compose the unquiet spirits of men to a conscionable care of the publick peace with which Prayer together with the apprecation of all happiness to your Lordship and all yours I take leave and am Your Lordships truly devoted in all hearty Observance and Duty JOS. EXON TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD THOMAS LORD Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield MY Lord may your leisure serve you to read over this poor sheet of Paper and to censure it Your Name is left out in the Catalogue of some other famous Divines mentioned in the body of it that you might not be forestalled I suffer for that wherein your self amongst many renowned Orthodox Doctors of the Church are my partner As if you had not already said it enough I beseech your Lordship say once more what you think of the true Being and Visibility of the Roman Church Your excellent and zealous Writings have justly wone you a constant reputation of great Learning and no less Sincerity and have placed you out of the reach of suspicion No man can no man dare misdoubt your decision If you finde any one word amiss in this Explication spare me not I shall gladly kiss your Rod and hold your utmost severity a favour But if you here meet with no other then the words of a commonly-professed Truth acquit me so far as to say there is no reason I should suffer alone And let the wilfull or ignorant mistakers know that they wound Innocencie and through my sides strike their best friends I should not herein desire you to tender my Fame if the injury done to my name did not reflect upon my holy Station upon my well-meant Labours upon almost all the famous and well-deserving Authors that have stood for the Truth of God and lastly if I did not see this mistaken Quarrell to threaten much prejudice to the Church of God whose Peace is no less dear to us both then our Lives In earnest desire and hope of some few satisfactory lines from your Reverend hand in answer to this my bold yet just suit I take leave and am Your much devoted and loving Brother JOS. EXON TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD My very good Lord and Brother JOSEPH Lord Bishop of EXON these RIght Reverend and as dearly beloved Brother I have I confess been too long in your Lordships debt for these Letters which are now to Apologize for me that although I had my payment ready and in numeratis at the first reading of your Reconciler yet I reserved my Answer untill I had perused