good effects Then the will of man according to that free liberty it hath which is helped toward good works not taken away doth all things with that indifferency that it may cast away this initial grace or embrace it work fruitfully with it or unfruitfully This is that qualification and condition of grace which some wicked ones are said to resist this is that Spirit which other sensual men are said to grieve They will not understand they will not be gathered together they will not follow their Leader through the servile liberty of their own concupiscence It is this first pittance and portion of a good life that many are said to begin in the Spirit and to end in the flesh In the work of conversion though a man hath power to resist it being founded in the natural liberty of the will yet no man doth actually resist the grace of conversion yet this grace of preparation many do resist out of the pravity of their will in which respect they are said to quench the Spirit I cannot speak so much as I might in this subject but because the understanding of Gods favour and justice and the provocations of our own duty depend much upon it therefore I will give you some short rules and corollaries to bear away 1. I do not say all men but as many as are invited by the preaching of the Word are made partakers of some preparatory grace for as a Vein and Artery run together in the body natural to convey bloud wherein the life consists so the Word preacht and some measure of supernatural grace go hand in hand in the mystical Therefore St. Paul says We are Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit It is told to no man in vain that Christ died for him the possibility of apprehending the benefit of that sacrifice is offered him if he do not hinder the work of God 2. In this previous grace and for the good use of it we apply unto you the exhortations comminations invitations of all the Prophets and Apostles giving you truly to wit that God hath given you the means to be saved if you do not reject them The last end at which we drive in all our Sermons is your conversion and regeneration that is the Crown of all diligence in this world but the immediate and next end that we labour is that men and women do their diligence to make good use of this preparatory grace 3. This grace of preparation before convertion is shorter in some than in others God did presently hasten the conversion of Paul of Lydia of the Jaylor Why may he not do what he will with his own And give a Peny to them that have laboured one hour as soon as to them that have laboured ten But usually there is large trial and with some this preparatory grace continues alone till anon before they end their life 4. God forsaketh no wicked man within the Church till he hath quenched this grace and interrupted the chain of those means which were prepared for his conversion Prius quam deseratur neminem deserit multos desertores saepe convertit says Prosper which is in part thus Englished 2 Chron. xxiv 20. Because ye have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you Solomon was an excellent Divine as well as a Philosopher Prov. i. 24. Because I have called and ye refused ye have set at nought my counsel they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord therefore I will mock at their calamity but though he forsakes none untill they forsake him yet he forsakes not all that forsake him So said Prosper Multos desertores saepe convertit Peter and Judas both did reject this grace of preparation and fall from it yet the one hath efficatious grace given to convert him the other hath not This inequality is from the pure pleasure of God and no man can sound the depth 5. Some are much more largely watered with this heavenly dew of preparatory grace all may drink their fill but some have their cup brim full some are endued with more patience proved with fewer tentations Yet none can justly grudge why hath he five talents and I but three Why doth God stand longer at the door to knock for him than he will for me God is not bound to follow men with all manner of grace 6. If these works of preparation be not hindred if this grace be not quenched God will follow the soul with saving grace Not that any man in the world did ever use this precedaneus help so well but that it deserved to be taken from him How many sins do we incur How stubborn how disobedient is the heart of every man Here we might be for ever forsaken according to our misdeeds but the Lord will accept of small endeavours as great accomplishments In a word the good use that we can make of this gift of God is no way meritorious to salvation the ill use of it in those that perish is demeritorious and makes them justly undeserving to be called to salvation This I am perswaded is the true doctrine of this Point to stop the mouth of them that are lost and to shew the plenteous riches of Gods mercy in the vessels of Election Fourthly I labour for the easiest notions I can invent to make these intricate things plain the fourth Point will require an intelligent Auditor with what great and mighty power the Spirit doth lead the children of God in converting grace I have spoke of the first preparation of grace and the will prepared so I must speak distinctly of the act of renovation and the will renewed and the nature of renovation or conversion is best conceived in these six heads 1. What this converting grace adds above that preparatory help 2. God doth work it alone and the will doth passively receive it 3. It doth infallibly attain its effect 4. It is no violent compulsion upon the will 5. It is more than a moral perswasion 6. This is not repugnant to the Promises to the comminations or to the exhortations of God First It adds this above preventing initial grace that it doth but dispose a man to life but after this act we may say justly this man is born of God That is common to them that are lost who quench the first beginnings of divine assistance by their own evil will this is only given to the elect servants of Christ God works by several quantities and doses of Sanctification 1. That they can resist if they will as in Adam before his Fall 2. In others that they will not though they can as in those in whom he doth conserve his preparatory grace 3. In others that they will not nor cannot in the introduction of that act as in them whom he doth actually convert 4. In others that shall never can nor will as in the Angels and Saints of heaven God foresaw if he should only give this grace of preparation all
Altar you see the strength and mightiness of his power in the Goats that he bore the similitude of sinful flesh in the Ram his Principality that he governed the Flock in the Lamb his meekness and innocency but before the Law this in my Text is the first by name which the Fathers took notice of as a type of the Sacrifice upon the Cross Quis in ariete figuratus nisi Christus spinis Judaicis coronatus of this Type St. Austin is bold to say this Ram in the Thicket was but a rellish and pregustation of him that was compelled to weare a Crown of thorns It is the first praise that Pliny gives to this harmless Creature Magna huic pecori gratia in placamentis Deorum among other attonements it was very gracious to please and pacifie the divine powers how could Idolaters confess so much unless with Caiaphas they prophesied and knew not what they said Indeed we can say omnis huic pecori gratia in placamentis Domini All our attonement all our reconciliation all our pardon it rests upon the head of this Oblation the principal of the Flock Who can think upon the innocence of the Sheep and not remember this spotless Sacrifice without sin Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. ii 22. Non Petrus erat qui haec dixit adulatus Magistro sed Esaias praedixit says Cyril Peter did not say this of himself to flatter his Master he had it from an Evangelical Prophet Isaiah foretold it under the name of an innocent sheep led unto the slaughter The Pharisees called him Carpenter in disgrace but they could not call him Sinner Clamant habet damonium non Clamant habet peccatum they cry out he had a Devil and yet their tongue would not let them say there was a fault in him Our Saviour proclaimes it Quis vestrum Which amongst you doth accuse me of sin Again who can think upon the meekness of the sheep and not remember this Sacrifice that was led dumb before the Shearer Moses was meek yet he commanded that the Adulteress should be put to death Christ was meeker his sentence was clemency every jot Joh. viii Go and sin no more Moses was meek yet he brought Mandatum lapideum a stony Law to the People Christ was meeker and turned those stones into bread at his last Supper he set before them Mandatum triticeum Take and eat in remembrance of me At his Baptism a Dove sat upon his head Columba super agnum a Dove upon a Lamb meekness upon meekness What heart could be more intenerated and mollified than that which prayed for his Persecutors Yet once more let me speak who can think upon the profitableness of the Sheep and not remember this Sacrifice that did yield commodity both in life and death He liv'd in innocency of life for our imitation he suffered in the bitterness of death for our redemption ut afferret remedium in passione mortis ut praeberet exemplum in innoecntiâ vitae says Leo Innoceny Meekness Utility all do correspond that the Angel should take one of the Flock rather than any other Beast to prefigure the Sufferings of Christ And we must not omit that among all the Flock the Ram was cull'd out to be substituted for Isaac propter masculam virtutem never was there more need of a masculine courage and a spirit heroick than to tolerate and endure so much as our Saviour did this day stripes and strokes blasphemies and buffetings thorns and nails to drink up all the bitterness of the Cup to fight with God himself and his wrath in that Agony in the Garden every vein of the body vented bloud quia de toto corpore id est de Ecclesiâ emanaturae sunt passiones martyrum says Prosper because the Martyrs should suffer in every part of his Body which is the Church Such a Samson we had need of that could break the green wit hs and snap the cords in sunder Such a Lion we had need of sprung from the Tribe of Judah and it falls out I know not whether by art or by arbitrary imposition that the Latin word Aries for a Ram comes from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Lion come to his growth and vigour I am sure he that is the Ram in my Text is likewise the strong Lion of the Tribe of Judah Very appertinent is that which I find related in Ortelius concerning the Christian King of the Abyssens that he gives for his Crest a Lion holding a Cross in his paw notifying that Christ stuck to his Passion and his Cross with that power and fortitude like a Lion that no tentation nor Devil nor infirmity could pluck him from it An Angel came to strengthen him says St. Luke I pray you did the Ram give back then was the Lion frighted did weakness creep upon him not so but because in the very gall of affliction he had strength and courage therefore he did merit to be strengthened by the ministery of Angels For example in this Militant state of the Church they that couragiously endure their trial at length shall not want Divine consolation This Exposition likes me best which ascribes all masculine courage to the Ram which was caught in the Thicket Ecce aries behold a Ram why John Baptist makes him younger above a thousand years after Ecce Agnus Dei behold the Lamb of God Nay in one mystical verse Gen. xlix 9. Judah is called a Lions Whelp and a strong Lion and an old Lion great diversity of age in so few words I must say of these places as St. Austin did reconciling the Prophesies of Esay and Jeremiah To us a Child is born says Esay Mulier circumdabit virum says Jeremiah A woman shall compass a man and both speak of Christ Why time says the Father doth not make him older than he was before the beginning of the world sed insinuant ei nunquam defuisse virtutem but if the Child be call'd a man it is to insinuate that full strength and perfection was alwayes in him Now you have seen the thing which was bestowed upon Abraham The Wife of Manoah could say if the Lord were pleased to kill them he would not accept a Burnt-offering at their hands neither would he have told them of a Son to be born much more may I say if the Lord were not pleased with Abraham and his Seed he would not have given us a Burnt-offering nor told us of him that was to come in the ends of the World as it is in the first mark which is upon this Ram He is Aries post eum Abraham saw a Ram behind him For long it was indeed long after Abrahams days that the manifestation of this Shadow was revealed in the death of Christ My father says Isaac in the 7. verse of this Chapter behold the Fire and the Wood but where is the Lamb Isaac spake of no more than the present
all intermeddle with the disposition of earthly Kingdoms either to restrain or depose Princes though tyrannical or heretical or blasphemous Their conversion is to be zealously prai'd for in the mean time their yoke is to be born with patience and we must kiss the scourge of God The Sorbon Divines of Paris do generally carry this badge and the Protestant Churches unanimously speak this Language The second Tenent is that the Temporal Soveraignty of the whole world is inherent in the Office of Christs Vicar as they call him to give change alter or confirm the Titles of particular Princes as his infallible judgment shall lead him Let every brain that is not distempered judge what a Doctrine this is Non sani esse hominis non sanus juret Orestes The third Tenent which Cardinal Bellarmine and the Jesuitical Pack maintain is a modification of the former The Pope hath no temporal Soveraignty at all annexed by vertue of the Papacy but Indirectè in ordine ad spiritualia indirectly and to remove the impediments of the common good especially of the Church he might send to the people by his Briefs that they owe no subjection to a wicked King that he could take off their Oath of Fealty and free them from Perjury that he hath power to excommunicate such Princes and translate their Kingdoms from them to such as he shall adjudge to be more Catholick Whether he will arm the Son against Father the Brother against the Brother a Rebel against his true King all these have been done why it lies In scrinio pectoris he may collate the Dominions of such Princes on whom it liketh him Pray you how much doth this opinion differ from the second You may easily find it is but white money turned into Gold and comes all to one payment For the Bishop of Rome is made the Judge himself when a Kingdom wants a fit Governour for the good of the Church for the wholsom administration of Justice since therefore all Regal Authority hangs upon Papal discretion it comes all to one pass with that most impudent second opinion which says the Power and glory of the Kingdoms in the world are absolutely in his donation It is no toying in so main a cause as this which concerns the Crowns and Scepters of all Sacred Princes therefore I will demonstrate that I plead against them according to the charge of their own Bill Thus Baronius to begin with him who speaks his mind in these words for his holy Father whom our Lord Jesus Christ the King of glory hath constituted a Prince over all the Kingdoms of the world Augustinus Triumphus All Power and Royalty is subdelegated from the Pope to other Princes No man can give him any Soveraignty which he had not by right before Nec Constantinus dedit quicquam Sylvestro quod non prius erat suum says he The Canonists talk of Constantines donation to Sylvester giving him the temporal Principality of Romania he gave him nothing but that which was his own before that and all beside was St. Peters Patrimony And some of them stake Scripture to prove it but most untowardly as that all power is from God therefore all power Regal and Imperial from Christs Vicar Yet more sinistrously from those words If I be lifted up I will draw all men after me that is if I had an Army strong enough I would recover all the Seigniories of the earth into mine own hand Practice is a plainer Argument than Book-words I will satisfie you then in that Alexander the Sixth a giver that will do but small credit to the gift but such as he is take him with all his faults he bestowed the whole West-Indies upon Ferdinand King of Spain Ex merâ liberalitate motu proprio as the Patent ran Their own Histories say that Athabaliba King of Peru maintained his Royalty by fighting against that Grant till he was taken Prisoner in Battel and then cried out that Pope could have no vertue or reverence to the God of heaven that gave away another mans Dominions from him but I will bring the case home That Bull which Pius the Fifth signed with his own Seal wherein he excommunicated the most blessed Queen Elizabeth hath this Line in it touching his own authority to use that incomparable Lady so unchristianly Hunc unum super omnes gentes omnia regna principem constituit God had constituted him over all Nations and over all Kingdoms O what vaulting spirits are these which run in the Veins of wretched man This forgetful Prelate grant him his own asking from whence his original came and it is from a most humble Apostle whose actions being all of them recorded not any one do lean toward Soveraignty or Principality Yet his Successor in challenge exalted above all that is called God will be a parallel Line and side with him in my Text who makes nothing to dispose of all the Regal Dignities in the world All this power will I give thee c. Let this be enough which I have said to have been discoursed upon the immensity of that honour which Satan challenged to be in his Jurisdiction I proceed to shew upon whose shoulders he would be content to lay it upon our Lord and Saviour Tibi universam hanc potestatem As for the thing it self he wisht that Christ had it in good earnest I make no doubt of it namely that his fortune had been to be an earthly King to be a Caesar Caesarum the Conquerour of all the Dominions in the world rather than such a one he suspected him for that Messias that came to redeem his People and to invite the Nations far and wide over all the earth to the fear of the Lord. Let him be all in all in a temporal Kingdom rather than Saviour that came to erect the spiritual Kingdom of faith to the subversion of the powers of darkness Conceive now unto your selves as if he had spoken more largely on this wise to Christ I find you hungry and forlorn in this Wilderness neither train to attend you nor food to cherish you Alas that such a one as you should be thus negglected 't is pity you are not honoured enough according to the great gifts of sanctity that are in you Why you are worthy to be Lord of the whole world if promotions went by desert And will you live in Famine and Scorn and Humility and at last be crowned with thorns and crucified Nay follow my directions and you shall be crowned with Gold and sway the whole Universe with a Scepter All this power will I give thee and the glory of them It came to pass with our Saviour after this Proposition as it befell chaste Joseph in the house of Potiphar He would not be incontinent yet upon defamation of incontinency he was clapt up in Irons So Christ would no such Kingdom as Satan offered yet upon suspicion that he went about to make himself a King his
the Gospel could do no good for it was but one Talent upon the return but one single Petition will fructifie like a grain of Wheat into stalks and handfuls For as it is said of the nine Muses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 call but upon one by name and all her Sisters beside will assist the invocation so call but for one blessing piously and though you ask but for a drop much abundance of waters of comfort will gush out when the spout is opened Fear not Zachary says Gabriel when he came to tell him of the birth of John for thy prayers are heard Luk. i. 13. Why surely says St. Austin he prayed for the whole Congregation at that time and not for Children Not for Children for his Wife was old and barren he despaired of Issue What of that He prayed for the publick good and God gave him joy in particular he prayed for the Congregation as it was fit for the Father of a Flock and God made him the Father of a Son Such notice was taken of this solemn Prayer which our Saviour made for Lazarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome a Church was built from the ground in that place where the Monument of Lazarus had been before For who would not flock to pray in that place where Jesus had prayed unto his Father It was na Oratory wherby the Prelates of the highest state might learn to officiate by Christs example and execute in their place Alas of too much contempt to pray in the Congregation The proud Emperors of Rome did so perswade themselves Vt sibi viderentur Principes esse desinere si quid facerent tanquam Senatores They thought it did derogate from the Magnificence of a Prince to employ their pains toward the publick good like Senators So to mutter Mass once a year is enough for the Roman Bishop to bless the people with so much breath as to pray for them by the Book O it is too mean a Function for a dignified person What And was it a disparagement to the Son of God to pray among the people when he raised Lazarus The Arrians indeed did object against Christs Divinity in this place for making a Petition in the behalf of Lazarus Where was the vertue of his own Godhead Where was his Omnipotency Say those graceless Hereticks is it not a token of infirmity to ask that of another which we are not able to do by our own efficacy And doth this offend them that Christ should pray that he might conjoyn with us in our infirmities But to give a larger resolution to the doubt Says Martha in the 21 22 verses before Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died but I know even now whatsoever thou dost ask of God God will give it thee Christ then had no need to pray for Lazarus to support his own power but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to satisfie the desire and weakness of Martha he betook him to a prayer Says the Centurion Lord only say the word and my servant shall be healed Be it so says Christ and he went no further O says another Come and heal my daughter vouchsafe your presence to the sick person Why Christ came and healed her Could they ask any more Not only the diseases were remedied but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was done in what fashion or circumstance they pleased Will Martha have her brother raised with a formal supplication before She hath her will and Jesus prayed unto the Father It was not done then for Lazarus his sake it needed not not for Martha's sake only but for the people that stood by nay that 's not all not for them alone but for us and for as many as shall hear the Gospel preached to the ends of the world For as the beating of the wings and the crowing of the Cock raised up Peter when he was buried in the sins of the High Priests Hall so the knocking of the breast and the voice which cries unto the Lord before the morning watch is that which must raise us up from the luxurious beds of sensuality Some Orders of Mendicant Friers wander about and present themselves to the eyes of men but say not a word for an Alms to make themselves known to the ear of the charitable This is rather sharking than begging for benevolence Let them bear the badge of St. Francis but we the badge of Christ ask and pray for a quickning spirit if you would be raised up to newness of life Hezekiah having emptied his heart of some words which were well disgusted out an as if he had opened a vein in each eye to let out tears by that means saw fifteen years more after a desperate sickness Ahaziah's Child perchance had gained twice fifteen years if the Father had done as much but it lived not fifteen hours after the King had sent for Physick to the God of Ekron Like Coriolanus whom the people thought worthy of any favour if his proud heart would have stoopt and asked for favour Not long before the destruction of Jerusalem the great Gate toward the East fast barr'd and lock'd opened of its own accord says Eusebius This is good luck said the more confident Priests Deus aperuit nobis portam bonorum God hath opened unto us a gate of good fortune of his own accord Nay said the more wise Hostibus introitum patefecit He hath opened a gap for the enemy to come in and that proved to be the truest Divination Dearly Beloved if a blessing fall into your lap when you were dissolute irreligious and never thought of God to give it the gates of your heart being barr'd and fastned do you dream like the foolish people of Jerusalem that a gate of good fortune is opened of its own accord No no beware the after-clap It may be pleasant it may be rich which comes without a Prayer to usher it into the world but like a base-born child it is seldom prosperous Me thinks I should be very much afraid if God had sent me any blessing for which either in special or in general I had not earnestly prayed Whatsoever good thing you possesse and never pray'd for it I pity your title you came to it by robbery And so much for the first dignity of this work it had the preparation of a Prayer Jesus first cast up his eyes and opened his lips to heaven before he stoopt to the Corps beneath and opened the Monument before he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth He cried with a loud voice and that is the dignity of the publication When our Saviour issued out of the Grave the third day it was done early in the morning the stone was rolled away and no noise was heard that which was done was done with wonderful silence Why doth Lazarus come out with a loud voice Nay why shall the Angel at the Great Day call the dead out of the earth with the blast
usage that the souls were put to One at the wheel another drawing water some rowling stones and some twining cords every corner full of fretful industry For if Satan himself take no rest shall his instruments look for ease and softness Six days thou shalt labour God requires no more Nay thou shalt labour seven days Sunday and every day alike and break the Sabbath that is the Doctrine of the Tempter I speak to them that can judge of the secresie of States and the wisdom of the world what a Labyrinth Matchiavel hath put his disciples into to learn his mysteries and principles of treachery How many Centuries of Rules to be observed Which I know not but by the Index it will ask brains to dig and delve for that invention of iniquity but pure Religion and undefiled may be comprehended in the smalest Medal Love thy neighbour as thy self All Liquors that are wholsom for the sound are for the most part simple and unmixed but how many extractions go before how many distillations and decoctions follow after to make a Poyson Cariùs venenum quà m vinum bibitur It is an easie matter to tread the Vintage and press out the juyce of the Grape in great plenty but you must attend the fire and furnace to confect a drachm of poyson So the service of Baal is but vassalage his Priests roar from Morning to Evening they lance and wound their Carkasses fodiunt ad inferos they dig to Hell but the service of the Lord passeth away with joy and melody A sacrifice of Prayer at Morning and a sacrifice of praise at Evening an heart without guile towards men a stedfast belief in Jesus Christ this is all And yet will you say the ways of the Lord are grievous The forbidden fruit you know it was not planted in the skirts of Paradise near to the hedge where any man might reach it but in penetralibus in the midst of the garden as if God had hidden sin from man but that the Serpent made him industrious to find it out Quid irâ laboriosius says Seneca Look upon the pale face of anger and envy Is not that sin a labour Consider the loathing of surfeit and drunkenness is not that sin a labour Go to the Hospitals of incontinent lascivious persons see how their marrow and their bones are consumed is not that sin a labour Will you laugh a little at the pitiful object of a covetous man No we will not sport our selves with his vanity the Lord shall have him in derision but when he denies sleep to his eyes and meat to his belly and rest to his bones to scrape in a mite more to his heap is not that sin a labour Finally let us look upon our Parliament Pioneers such another Band as Judas brought from the High Priest with Lanthorns and Staves to betray Christ three years they kept this Fox in their bosom till at last it eat out their bowels Three years O Lord they did behold thy heavens above and all that time did never think of Hell that was within them Did they not plow up the Seas to and fro in conference with foreign Nations Did they not plow up the Land with their own arm and possessed vaults with all Munition as if they had belonged to the Devils Armory When were any Gentlemen daintily bread put more to labour What use shall we make now of all these instances But cast off the bondage of iniquity be not vassals to the Prince of darkness since Christ hath made you free O but you will say the work of Godliness is very great the Gospel is a yoke the way to glory is streight and narrow So it is And no question if you look not upon the reward to come every course in the world is painful Life and death the fear of God and the power of sin all are vexation of spirit in this corruptible flesh But Beloved who gave you feet and hands Who did frame your body woven with veines and strengthned with sinews What may God Almighty say that did all this As that Roman did to his Son Non te genui Catilinae sed patriae Since you needs must work either in my Vineyard or in the Devils Dunghil turn unto him that gave you limbs to work they were not made to dig into Hell but for my imployment and my glory And so much for the tedious labour to the which the ungodly do enthral themselves Now secondly digging doth imply that they cast about for conveyance and secresie a thing that God did always reprove ever since he divided between the light and darkness The Ferret the Mole and the Cony those creatures that dig into the ground were unclean food to Gods children Lev. xi Spiritus movebatur super expansum Gen. i. the face of the world lay open before God when the Spirit moved upon it but there are an evil sort of men whose Spirit never moves upon the face of the earth but live as if they were strangers in our Horizon and traded with our Antipodes close and subtle fearful of nothing but a revelation you can scarce fathom how deep their soul lies within their body When Saul enquired for the Prophet Samuel every Maiden whom he found carrying a pitcher of water could certifie him that the Man of God did sacrifice on the top of the hill 1 Sam. ix But he was fain to enquire and search over all the Land to find out the Witch of Endor Apemantus the Cynick says Plutarch never thought himself better than in the company but of one more his Partner Timon never thought himself more chearful than when he was quite left alone The face of man will ever carry so much reverence so much of the Image of God that outragious sins will turn away and be loth to appear before it Herodotus reports of certain Indians that were wont to blaspheme the bright Sun when it rose in glory as if the nights were too short to commit filthiness Why but our very name is enough to dispel darkness from our actions We are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Greeks as if men and day-children did not differ one letter and they that lurk and retire like Sisera in the Tent of Jael and live like Meteors the imperfect bodies of nature in a cloud they seem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to repine at their birth and creation which hath brought them to the light Besides that the substance of our nature is more naked from the womb than any beast without hair or feathers without scales or shell to cover us like the Fishes of the Sea Besides this I say Nature hath provided that the Countenance of no creature doth betray the inward disposition so much as the face of man Then let Herod the Fox know and the profound Craftsmen of our age that God hath half opened the heart of man in the complexion of his visage as Isaac did open the two Wells in the Valley