me I will therefore prepare my self to die That indeed is true Philosophie that is to be wise for eternity He that knows all Lawes sacred and Civil the courses of the heavens the causes of winds and weathers the subtilties of argumentation the bounds of the Globe the influence of Poetry and Prose and the universall harmony of things created in which circle all Learning and felicity of intellect is bounded knowes nothing uulesse he know how to leave the world contentedly and to assure his soul that death shall be not the beginning but the end of his misery Ah Learning thou art a Jewell which deservest the Cabinet of an Alexander thou art a Bird of Paradise which singest the choycest notes to him that giveth thee the charyest tendance Thou like a tender Vegetive thrivest not but in a good soil and a generous Sun the shades of obscurity like droppings on Quick-set spoil thy growth Thou delightest in no Throne but that of Ivory in which thy Solomon sate in no attendance but men tongued like Angels footed like Harts winged like Eagles hearted like Doves without gall ambitious to match the craft of the Serpent to the innocence of the Turtle Thou hast in fine what-ever Nature can desire for thou thy self art the perfection of this Microcosm which the Orator notably summs up Qui sapiens hic divitias calcat honores contemnit nullos fortunae impetus reformidat idem est nullis fortunae terroribus obnoxius nullis servit cupiditatibus semper beatus semper foelix cui nihil deest nihilque deesse possit There is no force conquers this but love It can evade if not ruine what intends its vassalage It hates nothing more then slavery 't is like other Delicates guilty of tendernesse It can die for desert and live to gratifie received civilities Unhandsome amputations and rough touches make it take the wing and post to Climates more benign And thereforee Hear O Princes hearken O Judges consider O people of England what a blessing God has continued amongst you these many hundreds of yeers in giving you Learning and learned Men of your own who have been your reducers from the power of Satan to God from the scorn and contempt of Ignorance to the noblest Culmen of Art and true Science from Cowardize to Valour from obscurity to eminence from Barbarism to Civility And do not think that without Arts and Artists you can be happy For Common-Wealths being great Families of men diversly addicted and disposed necessitated to amity converse and traffick with all Nations far and neer more or lesse must have Mediums proper to those ends and Instruments fitted to all words and works both of Peace and War both of an heavenly and mundane composure and this can no more be without Learning and Tongues then Fish can without Water Birds without Ayr Beasts without Earth or Vegetables without Sun Without Learning there will be no Priest no fear of God in the Land That people must needs perish where the vision ceaseth A good Church-man as a noble Cordiall is composed of many Rarities conjoyned hath all Arts to his completion Hee must have knowledg in Tongues how else will he be able to read Originals and thence Authours upon Originals How else will he be furnished able to gaine those that are without Or how shall they understand the message that the Minister brings if the Bringer speaketh in an unknown Tongue Christ the great Head of the Church when he was to send forth his Apostles to gather his Church out of all Nations sent his Spirit upon them to enable them to speak to all Nations in their own languages Acts 2. which abilitie of Tongues is in Acts 10. 45. reckoned a gift of the Holy Ghost for the Text saith They of the Circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost for they heard them speak with Tongues So Acts 19. 6. And when Paul had laid his hands on them the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with Tongues and Prophecied Tongues are the Keys of Science the inlet to knowledge of all sorts No instrument by God appointed to purposes of Piety and generall advantage beyond Tongues 't is the Cradle by the help of which we crawle to Maturity the Letter ushers in the Spirit therefore God hath placed in his Church amongst other things Tongues yea and Arts too else Tongues will but little avail It is the right ordering of Speech and the orderly manner of transferring that we have to say from our selves to others which gives life to Language Magnos modica quoque Eloquentiae parit fructus The Holy Ghost makes wise as well as learned Pen-men Men that know how and when as well as what to speak there are many Sophistries which the Divel disperses to puzzle Truth which will passe in the crowd of curiosities and New Truths if the man of God be not able to cast away the Tares though it be mingled with the Corn and come up with it yea though it be a Diabolical spirit in the body of Samuel 'T is true God can make the folly of man turn to his praise he can convert Stones into Bread and by absolute power make an Ass reprove the madness of a learned but blinded Prophet Such was Baalam But ordinarily his delight is amongst those that he either findes or makes really Learned The Pen-men of holy Writ were conducted by the infallible spirit to Truth but the Phrase and Dialect is various as was the degrees of Eloquence and Erudition in them more or lesse intense Iob Moses Esai Daniel Salomon S. Paul are transcendently for the Cortex and language of their Books more sublime then are the other Prophets and Apostles though all their writings are equally infallible The holy Scriptures like a goodly Garden contains things for delight and use as a rare Cabinet it lodges jewels of all sorts and sizes for all parts and persons it hath Truths like Stars of all degrees light and influences for all seasons 't is the Queens daughter not onely glorious within but covered with garments of needle-work smelling with Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia Psal. 45. 8. This is the light sprung from on high to visite us this is the sword of the Spirit by which Satan is worsted and the Church defended this is the Chamber of God as it were into which the soul is Courted to her repose till the indignation be over Hence may she suck the milk of consolation here see the beauties of holinesse and the rewards of weldoing Out of this ought she to gather her encouragements and from this not to swerve though an Angel should preach to her other Doctrine then what is therein revealed The dignity of this God not only commended to us by the admirableness of the delivery from his holy spirit to holy
semblances were true proofes of Vertue and Holinesse Christ would never have reproved those as unworthy his familiarity and acceptation who said Have we not in thy name prophesied and in thy name cast out Divels c. I will not follow the method of many men to right some with the wrongs of others I will exhort rather then recriminate Those which have most of Christ in their lips and lives shall be the Saints in my Kalender If the Gifted men as they are called are more holy more learned lesse leavened with pride and uncharitablenesse lesse versed in craft if they are more in Fastings Prayings Watchings Weepings Charitie If they discourse with more evidence and demonstration of the Spirit If they forgive more throughly converse with God more closely then the holy Ministers of the Church do or can then let them bee owned as the living Temples of the holy Ghost But if they which are good amongst them are as errable and imperfect not to say ought else as others yea if they do not abhor and declare against persons who in Iustin Martyrs phrase teach blasphemies and untrue things under the name of divine Truths when as indeed they are but the obtrusions of Satan upon their impure heart If they persist in disesteeming and undermining the Ministry which they ought to honour as Christs Ordinance and the Churches glory and comfort if they shew not a better warrant for their singularity then yet they have Let them pardon us if we follow them not though a multitude and I promise them they shall have my prayers that God would if they be not in it which they better know who say they have the Spirit then I shew them what is his good and acceptable way That 's all the harm I wish them that shall be all the Vinegar and gall I 'll give them As for their outward prosperity that they gather and increase that they can do great things in the world that they are Harbingers to make way for Christ these are no arguments to move my veneration of them Optatus tels us of men in his time who filled Africa with blood permitted no men to be quiet in their possessiōs infested the high-ways rifled Matrons of their modesty and lives yea terrified men by their Letters and Threats and all under the name of those Qui se duos sanctorum jactabant Were they ever the better because they had a stiffe gale of wind in their sayles or was not their case more desperate by how much the world tendred them and they were in the calme of outward prosperity Is not that true in a spirituall sense which Seneca said of the Romans their quiet times were most poor and lesse plentifull Is the soul ever leaner then when fed with royall dainties ever better then when commoning on pulse then when in stripes in imprisonments in tossings to and fro in afflictions distresses necessities is it not a mistak to judge the Marriage betwixt Christ and his Church provable by nothing more then by the Churches riches by her comfort in outward greatnesse as Tacitus pleadeth it in another case Non aliud probis quam ex matrimonio solatium I will not accuse prosperity because it is a gift of God to those that are good and use it aright Nor will I applaud it because I read it often a judgement and snare to men who misunderstand Gods finger and intendment in it Every thing is as it is used and though it be the Divels part to accuse not mine and more my delight to follow Christ in healing Malchus his ear then fierce Peter in cutting it off with his keen sword yet shall I not decline this declaration in generall that I judge men more by their operations then orations the praise of vertue ariseth from the motive to and manner of its working every crasie body creeps abroad in the Summer who dares not peep out in the winter Prosperity is no surer mark of a good man then bulk is of courage Low statur'd Zacheus stood firm in Christs approbation when self-confident Peter recidivated the harlot boasts of having peace-offerings with her when Rachel is in heavinesse I will judge truth by her ragged clothes and clouted shooes Saint Ierome is right when he sayes Mean rayment argues a precious mind a soul above the world though contemned by it to sit on Thrones judging and not here rather bee judged is somewhat besides Christs promise the truest judgement we can give of truth is from her agonies and passions which is notably set forth in that answer which Saint Anthony is said to make to the Divel who appeared to him in the likenesse of our Saviour in his transfiguration O quoth he I will not believe thee to be my Saviour except I see the wounds on thy side It shall be my course to mistrust that way and those persons as least making to Christ and his glory who partake with Babels builders in raising Towers as high as Heaven and who glory in externity of goods and greatnesse there is a story of Saint Martin or plain Martin chuse you whether I am content One time the Divel appeared to him clad in purple and richly be-decked yet in the likenesse of our Saviour as saith the story and spake to the holy man Martin own thy Saviour whom thou worshipest I am he who first manifest my self to thee Martin made no reply the Divel said Martin why doubtest thou to believe me thy Saviour whom thou seest to be him and none other O quoth Martin Christ said not he would come in Kingly apparel and worldly glory I know there are many godly and learned that are of opinion with those of Saint Ieroms time that Christ should personally reign upon earth a thousand years with his Saints in all worldly pomp and glory yet since many Counsels have condemned that opinion as dangerous if not hereticall and Saint Ierome himselfe not onely writes against it but concludes it Iudaicam fabulosam opinionem I may be pardoned if I mind the Saints to wait till their Master come and not to begin with the world before their time that is not to affect sole domination here till Christ who is their head doth appear then the children of the Bride-chamber shall onely appear with him in glory whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell In the interim let them and us all expect in the world tribulation and account it the preparatory for glory the Ordeall by which our faith patience courage constancy must be tried and let it not seem hard that we meet with fiery trials considering that it is the will of God that his must contend with Principalities and Powers and wickednesses in high places in their own souls and affections He is too delicate a Christian in Saint Ieroms judgement who would rejoyce with the world and after reign with Christ
into his party were enough to prepare and purchase our beliefs of its necessity the old Serpent fears nothing more then the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God brandished by a Master of the assembly he cannot away with one brought up at the feet of Gamaleel who discovers his falshoods and methods and can decorticate him for a Devil of darkness while he hath the garb of an Angel of light his engines are ever on work to keep men in ignorance but if not that to make them his pensioners he knows Fame and admiration to be wise as an Oracle and consulted with upon all arduous affairs answers the pride of Achitophel and he adapts a snare suitable to this enterprise he puts in hard for every purchase that 's worth ought he has so many Mercuries abroad that no sooner is any thing out of the thought and will pass'd into the fancy but he knows it and accordingly lyes in Ambush here he met with Tertullian a sharp Wit and stole away his heart from the truth making him become a Montanist corrupting the faith by many things which he delivered not onely besides but against that form of Doctrine which was delivered by Christ and his Apostles so also did he distort St. Cyprian though God recovered him by his grace and as I believe gave him the sight of and sorrow for his errors which he accepted of and put a Spirit into him fit for Martyrdome which he couragiously underwent the like danger since befel St. Augustine St. Ambrose and others of the ancient Fathers But chiefly Origen one whose light of intellect was like that of the Sun matchless a great Wit and as it proved a great temptation to the Church as Vincentius notes for he was grown to such veneration that no man of his age bore any breadth but he he encouraged his Father to Martyrdome he converted thousands to Christ wrote Infinite Books with noble art and upon noble subjects yet at length the Church gained nothing by this Lucifer but scandal and detriment for his authority being great and God permitting Satan to traduce and tempt him for his greater good I hope he having much after-sorrow every humour and conceit of his grew Dogmatical and was taken up as an article of faith as if he had not been a man subject to passions follies delusions seducements but a person immaculate and unerring such as could neither deceive nor be deceived But poor man he met with a Sophister of more subtilty and experience then hee was and his own weakness beguiled him of that grace on which onely he ought to have rested and now he starts aside and grows like Salt that has no savor fit to be cast out as execrable S. Ierom against Ruffinus calls him his beloved for the rarity of his wit not truth of his opinions and anon I admire Origen as an Interpreter not an Oracle as witty not Orthodox a as Philosopher not an Apostle yea this made that common saying of him Where he did well no man better where ill no man worse But what became of this titubating this touring mountain of snow did he outstand the warm beams of Divine grace could he by his wit and Satans to help steel himself into an obduration impenetrable nothing less God recovered him and brought him to notable remorse and the better to humble him and abase the pride of his Spirit reduced him to great poverty and want as Nicephorus relates it and in that he dyed in the 69. year of his age Nor rests Satan here his work is never at an end so long as there are good men to polish and bad men to pervert hence yet does he pursue his trade of chaffering for souls in the Christian Church how has he tampered with the profoundest Clerks with such as St. Thomas Bellarmine Cajetan Baronius Suarez and thousand others men of all hours and sciences like Saul higher by head and shoulders then all the people what choice wits culls he out and bribes to his services what a train of clients hath he of the curious frye who trifle out their time in science falsly so called as the Apostle saith in curious and vaine enquiries after things uncertain and diabolicall such as are magick and judiciall Astrology studies which holy Lactantius calls Inventions of the Divel I cannot I do not depretiate naturall Astrology as it is a piece of Astronomick Philosophy for so Aristotlâ—… reckons it and divides it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to Astronomy Analyt Poster lib. 1. c. 13. And so Cornelius Agrippa considers them as one c. 30. de Astronomiâ—… I grant it a knowledge ancient and laudably looked into so our end be to honour God in a modest observing the language of the Stars and Heavens The Psalmist tells us That the Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament shew his handy Work yet I find the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets skilled this something like Learning as Abraham Moyses Daniel c. My only aim is to decry Astrology judicial which I find stigmatized with brands of Infamy and dishonour in all good ages and all good authors Platina notes of Richard father to Pope Marcellus the second that he was a most noble Astrologer but a profest hater of that which is judicial And I desire to be pardoned if I use more liberty of speech and fulness of reproofe then ordinary yea sharpen mine arrowes that they may stick in the hearts of the King of heavens enemies and make them confess their wages doings not to be good while they prefer a cunning mans coÌ„sult beyond the advice either of God in his Word or his Ministers according to his word being in this in a kind heathens for Lactantius tells us that they averred That Philosophy was the true wisdom and to be preferred above the holy Scriptures As for judiciall Astrology and all other prestigiations they have been condemned in all ages God defies them 47 Esay vers 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy Counsels let now the Astrologers the Star-gazers the monthly Prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon upon thee vers 14. Behold they shall be as stubble the fire shall burn them they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame c. And the converted Ephesians Acts c. 19. brought in all their Magick Books and burnt them as unworthy to be kept by Christians The ancient Philosophers decryed this while they obtested against any perfect conclusive necessary Science in us Plato will allow man but barely opinion God onely has science Ptolomy saies that judgement of futurities is a kind of Medium between necessary and contingent nor ought any thing to be affirmed certainely and exactly which is future Avicen denies any credit to Astrologers because neither do they comprehend the latitude