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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57327	Confirmation revived, and, Doom's-day books opened in two sermons, the one preach'd at Coventry before the Right Reverend Father in God, John, Lord Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, upon his first performance of confirmation in that city, June 23, 1662 : the other preach'd at Warwick before the Right Honourable the judges of Assize for that circuit upon the 2d of July next following / by John Riland.	Riland, John, 1619?-1673.; Riland, John, 1619?-1673. Doom's-day books opened.	1663 (1663)	Wing R1518; ESTC R26991	41,777	76

6th Chap. to the Hebr. ver 1 2. there treating of the principles of Christ's doctrine amongst the rest presently after Baptism we find mention of the laying on of hands whereby it is not to be doubted but this Solemnity was signified as Anselme upon this place Laying on of hands that is saith he Episcoporum in Confirmatione Neophytorum Ansel in Ep. ● Hebr. S. Cyprian his testimony you have heard already hear him also who was before him and whom he calls his Master Tertullian as he is worthily styl'd That great Depositary of Church-Antiquities Caro manus Tertullian Lib. de Resur impositione adumbratur ut anima Spiritu Illuminetur Imposition of hands saith he shades the Body that the Descent of the Spirit may Enlighten the Soul Which Solemnity as is judged was also received by our Saviour himself the Divine feet of the holy Dove descending and standing on his head being in Lieu of the Laying on of John Baptists hands or what other Creature he might have advanc'd to that honour Secondly It 's Sacredness and Solemnity Confirmation in the Primitive style is known by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the complete Consummation of a Christian Indeed for the esse of a Christian as Schoolmen speak we were Compleat by Baptism but for the Bene esse the Bettering of that being it was ever thought that Confirmation was very requisite In reference whereunto it had the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which made and Perfected other Christian mysteries In short so Sacred and Solemn a Rite this was ever held that so far as I can find the Christian was not accounted perfectly Consummated without it if he might have it But most desperate was the condition of all despisers Thirdly for the great Expediency hereof First if any Christian should have received a vain or improper name at the Font I think the Bishop has power to take Cognizance thereof and as he sees good to change it into one that is fitter and of a more Christian significancy Besides this hereby triall is made how Children and the younger sort have improv'd their time and what progress they have made in knowledge and practise of that doctrine which is according to godliness And therein also we take a view of the Care of the Natural and the Conscience of the Spiritual Parents in the discharge of their duties And in many other respects if duly perform'd and receiv'd it cannot suddainly be said of what advantage it would be to the truth and power of Religion In particular how would it stop the mouths of Anabaptists that fatal affliction of these Western Churches Insomuch as that Great Ornament of the English Church affirms Ad perenne Christi obsequium ●r Hammond c. Nothing in the world if well perform'd does more strictly and strongly Oblige a Soul to the perpetual Service of Christ Jesus but if miserably neglected or slightingly receiv'd Hinc magna pernitiosa pietatis dispendia c. Hence saith He arise those great and undoing Decayes in Christian Religion which have so far provoked Gods judgments upon us that no wonder it is to have such turnings and Over-turnings amongst us when Confirmation it self could not stand I should now in method proceed to the third generall Branch of this Tree i. e. the Fruitfulness thereof and therein consider it's Proportion Propriety and Tempestivity But what might grow upon this Branch the small allowance of time remaining has made it a kind of a Forbidden Fruit yet so that whereas Adam and Eve Tasted and the Eyes of them both were opened Gen. 3. 7. If you that have Freely Eaten of the Former should but Tast what grow's upon this Branch your Eyes might be shut and your Eares closed For as through an unavoidable longsomness in reference to my self The Daughters of musique would be brought low so I doubt Those that look out at your windows would be darkned and the Doors shut in the streets Therefore our Subject being a Fruit-bearing Tree lest the Immoderate Droppings thereof by a too tedious discourse should of Fruitfulness cause Barrenness as they say it will I shall here take leave of my former Road and make a short Turn toward you in a few words of Application wherein amongst other things I may speak somewhat of Fruitfulness in generall and so conclude Some we read have been perswaded to become Beasts that 's nothing any Circean Sensuality can do that yea many Souls can with too much easiness perswade themselves into such a Brutish Transformation God forbid I should attempt any such Metamorphosis as to Sollicite men to turn Bruits yet pray pardon me if I perswade men to turn Trees such Blessed ones as this Text yeilds Trees of Gods own planting In particular I beseech you all emulate Trees in these four properties their Straightness Firmness Unitedness and Fruitfulness First Straightness God never Plants but he Guards and Fences his young Plant from forein violence For that we may observe here our Tree is planted by the Water-side not by the way-side for then it would be apt to be wrencht and writhed by every Passenger And such is the Condition of our ordinary Hedge and High-way Christians that cannot endure any Retirement to the Rivers to Sit down and weep there as they did but presently cast themselves into any Company ●sal 137. mixt with any multitude and so carelesly expose themselves to the violent wrestings and distortings of every temptation whereby they lose their straightness and come for ever to be Crooked Souls The which quality as it has a natural but much more a Spiritual deformity so on the contrary the Straightness we now speak of is so Graceful and Becoming to a Christian that Christ himself is willing to be compared to an Arrow He hath made me a polished shaft A shaft for his Smoothness as well as Swiftness ●sa 49. 2. and as there it is for his Politeness no less than his Piercingness Not only as swift but as straight as an Arrow And as was the second so was also the first Adam at his first making Though the Rows of Eden stood all upright and even Not one Bow-backt plant in all Gods Orchard yet at first Adam himself was the Straightest Tree in all Paradise His Soul and body both pointed directly toward heaven according to that of Solomon God made man upright but they have Eceles 7. ●9 sought out many Inventions Him that Overcomes will I make a Pillar in the Rev. 3. 12. Temple of my God We know Pillars are upright and proper for Houses as there the Temple is God s house though any Bowed or Crooked Timber may happily serve in a Ship or Sea-vessel which will not serve at all in the Supporting of a house and those Rumpled pieces which will not be usefull for Pillars for those must be straight may yet be put into Plow-timber and such low kind

hand and that I hope without much violence He shall be like a tree planted c. From the third General our Spiritual Fructifying we shall take notice first of the Proportion secondly of the Propriety thirdly of the Tempestivity thereof After all these plantings and waterings somewhat it must yield worthy the name of Fruit and this his own fruit and that in his own Season Lastly we should exhort all to those never-withering ornaments and unfading Flourishings of a holy Christian Conversation and so conclude We begin with the First our Implanting and there first consider the Supernaturalness of the thing 'T was the practice of Rufus an old Philosopher alwaies Arrian Epict. to begin with some Apotrepticall discourses to his Scholars still disswading them from Philosophy using that as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ingenuous and dis-ingenious amongst them The same method must we use even with our best-natur'd Disciples though we need not much Dehort them from Philosophy yet from vanity and folly anger and pride c. from all those sins which have gotten the early possession of their Souls we must dehort them For as it was with Christ at his coming in the Flesh The Inne was full of other Company so is it still with his coming in the Spirit he finds the Soul full of Ignorance full of averseness and perversness yea so full of all manner of wickedness that untill he makes it himself There is no Room for him in the Inne Luc 2. 7. And this has so universall a vote in Antiquity that concerning the Preparatives for the first Reception of grace Aquinas himself resolves it Nemo potest per Aquin. 1 a. 2 ae Iu. 109. a. 6. Seipsum praeparari c. No one without the help of grace can of himself prepare himself to receive grace Grace is a plant that grows not on every ground and where it does grow it grows not of it self but must be Engraffed and that by the Hand the Right Hand of God Almighty The Vineyard which thy own Right hand hath planted Psal 80. 15. So that planted Psal 80. 15. it must be and this also by the High hand of Heaven else the Richest Soyl in nature will never yield it Nature is productive of the man but somewhat else above nature must give the Fiat to the Christian Therefore in the office of Baptism our Church exhorts us to pray that God would grant to these Children that thing which by nature they cannot have For after nature's planting we must be transplanted into some Fresh Mould of Grace else we can never prosper to any perfection And so we have it in Isa 5. 1 2. Though it be a choice vine and a choice plot of ground A vineyard in a Isa 5. 1. very fruitfull hill yet the vine grows not of it self upon it No but first God must Fence it and pick it and plant it too then and not till then he expects to receive some good Grapes from it Verse 2. Grace indeed may be engraffed upon the stock of Parentage Advanc'd by Education and good examples but it grows not naturally upon any the Best stumps in nature For the Kernel of the best fruit if from a Crab-stock some say brings forth nothing but a Crab-tree because the best stocks have still somewhat of a Natural Crabbishness within them and so it is with the best of men 'T is true we read in the worlds beginning of the Earth bringing forth Trees and Trees bringing forth fruit after their kind before the Sun and Moon were in Being and so without the Ayd of any of those Prolifick Influences of Heaven But yet we find an Almighty Dixit went before that fructifying even that Word of God which was far more warming and more working than ten thousand Suns or Moons And God said Let the earth bring forth Grass and fruit Trees c. Gen. 1. 1● To this purpose it is that the Church i. e. every Gracious Soul is resembled to an Orchard a Garden an enclosed Garden 't is not the Lord's wast-ground Can. 4. 12 13. or a large Common where Nature wildly sprouts up at her own pleasure No though the Grass Herbs and Trees of themselves grow out of the ground yet when Moses speaks of Paradise a Type of the Church he comes with another distinct expression and sayes The Lord God Planted a Garden Eastward Gen. 2. 8. c. which Garden as beforesaid was a peculiar Figure of the Church of Christ And as it is with the fruits of the Earth some she Nurses her self at home as those which come of Kernells and such are good for nothing but stocks and stocks if not Engraffed are fit for little else but the Flames Others again she Nurses not her self Immediately but puts them forth to Nurse as Graffs and the like and yet the fruit that comes of a Graff is far more pleasant than that which comes of a Kernel Sir Fr. Bacon's Nat. Hist for all natures care in Nursing it her self because as that Learned man observes the nourishment which feeds the Graff receives some little chewing and preparing from the stock whereas the other comes altogether Crudely from the cold Earth and so must needs render the fruit more Raw harsh and unkind than the former So is it with all mankind those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Nature undertakes to Nurse her self as Heathens c. who know no other nourishment but what flowes immediately from those Fontinels of Nature Others again are set forth and sent abroad to Nurse such as are Engraffed into other stocks and live at some distance from the Bosom of their own Mother Such are all true Christians whose Souls are as weaned Children whose nourishment comes not from Raw Earth but from the Stock of the Cross from Scriptures Sacraments Faith in Christs blood and such other heavenly conveyances which God has appointed to purify and prepare our feeding for us And therefore whereas the Former are like the Prophets Naughty figs so bad they cannot be Eaten Jer. 24 2. these Later are like the fruit of the Vine which Glads the heart of God and man and has this one distinct property the Earlier it is taken the more Tastfull and Pleasant it is Which brings us to the second thing proposed i. e. the earliness of the Time which now comes to be spoken of Secondly He shall be planted i. e. tender and young before it be too deeply Rooted in that other Soile wherein it grows by nature For Christianity is not a mere Implanting but a kind of Transplanting whereby the Soul is taken out of Natures Nursery and Removed into the Orchard and Paradise of Grace Now we know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is past into a Proverb for its perilousness There 's no stirring of an Old Tree if you do as you shall have much adoe after all

about Forty years a Coming i. e. when He Came along with Titus and the Romane Army to the final Ruine of Jerusalem Christ I say was Forty years in so Coming and S. Iohn was as long a waiting and tarrying for that Coming yet at last Christ he is Come and S. Iohn he is Gone and that the same way as Ioshua and all went before him Even Jos 23. 14. the Way of all the Earth Notwithstanding Others could not Destroy him for 't is say'd such was the Icie chastness of the Soul and Body of this Beloved Disciple That he Quench'd the Violence of the Fire Chill'd and Allay'd the Scaldings of the Liquor so that it could not hurt him But albeit as I say'd before they could not Take away his Life yet when Old Age comes he can Lay it down and when Others cannot Kill him at last This Long-liv'd Eagle himself makes a shift to Dye The Vivacity of whose Quills they say had quite Consum'd all the Other Feather-bunch of his Twelve Brethren and not so much as left behind him the Pen of One surviving Apostle to Write his Epitaph But as Love S. Iohn's Dear and Darling Vertue Outlives 1 Cor. 13. ● all her Sister-Graces so the great Preacher of Love the Loving and most Beloved Disciple outlives all his Brother-Apostles Howbeit a long life is but a long Forbearance and the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arr. Epict. ● Stoick Laughs at those our self-contradicting desires whereby we would have our friends Live long and yet not see death when that 's the surest way to it The Principal is still owing besides the use-money of Sicknesses and Sorrows and though nature delayes the Peremptory demanding thereof and so the Debt is sometimes a long while ere it be Discharged yet at last a full and entire Payment must be made As it was here with this Apostle whom the slow but sure hand of Death did at Length retrieve from the furthest Banishment of his Life 'T is the opinion of an Ancient Father that it pleased ●ctan God to shorten man's life on purpose after the Floud lest by the former allowance of a longer time the sin of man might again rise up and call for a second deluge For no wonder the Waters of God swell above the highest Mountaines when the sin of man stretcheth to the highest Heavens And whereas the Psalmist sayes Thou hast made my dayes as a span long and now such are the sins of ●●a 39. 5. men that the Good Old Span is shrunk and contracted to an Inch long and that Inch too often Snapt asunder in the midst by an untimely death due to sin yet for all that we are grown such huge Husbands with these our Inches that we can drive as great a Trade of Impiety as they could do with thir Larger spans and so sin our selves into a capacity of a second deluge and bid as frankly for it under Fourscore as others could do at two hundred yeares Therefore as our dayes are Evill that 's of mans making so 't is well they are short and contracted that 's of God's good contriving We shall not onely dye hereafter but now we dye presently and within a few years What the Egyptians say'd hastily we may say soberly We be all dead men ●●od 12 33. Old men are called Tripodes and sometimes Quadrupedes because counting their Crutches they have Three or Four Feet to Carry them to their Graves But it is not for Every man to Live so long as to Run with three or four Legs to his Long Home Though in Searching for the Silver Cup Ioseph's Steward began at the Eldest and left off at the youngest Gen. 44. 1● yet when Angels come to Rifle and make Search for a Precious Soul they Observe no such Order but on the Contrary oft-times begin at the Youngest and leave off at the Eldest For as S. Iohn came first to the Sepulchre but Joh. 20. 4. ● S. Peter Went in before him so albeit your Old man comes first to the Grave's Mouth and there stands a long while lingring and wayting by a weary painfull life and with his Crutches is continually Rapping at the Gates of death yet many times the Young man that comes after him makes a shift to goe in before him However first or last In we must all of us as S. Iohn you see there enters the Sepulchre as well though not so soon as S. Peter Death they say keeps no Calendar Many years with him are but as one day and one day as many years If some do not live out Half their time Half Psal 55. 23. a day to others may be their whole time Every Soul must not think to dwell in such a Ripe slip-shel'd Body as this old Apostle had Nor are Gray hayres those Church-yard-Flowers designed to grow upon the turf of every Green head The holy Templar call's them the harbingers of death That King of Terrors sent aforehand as it were Mr. Herbert to Mark and Score his lodgings yet how often have we seen King Death with all his black retinue March in afore any of those his Messengers Our Clay-houses alwayes stand open to death who too frequently like that Evil Spirit comes in with confidence without any Knocking or notice giving As Elisha heares the ● King 6. 32. Sound of the Masters feet before the Messenger came nigh to give him warning Some few Souls indeed like full-fledg'd Birds when they take Wing and be gone leave an old Body like a tottered rumpled Nest behind them whereas Christ arose Early in the Morning and left his Sepulchre whole and unbroken So the best if not the most like good Travellers are going betimes they take the Wings of the Morning fly away and be at rest Surguntque cadavere Toto they spring out of an entire and Un-battered body while the Breasts are full of Milk and the Bones of Marrow Go but into the Church-yard measure and see how many shorter graves there be of those who never lived to attain our age nor Stature And now we are speaking of Church-yards what need we trouble Scripture or other Arguments to make further proof of our Mortality For the fuller evidencing if need be and determining whereof instead of Fathers and Councils we may repaire to Church-yards and Charnel-houses which are therefore called the common dormitories of the dead the general seed-plots of mankind because though we lye and sleep there awhile yet the time will come when we shall all be awakened and being sowne there rather then buried at the last day we shall be sure to Spring up and rise again Which brings me to the Second Proposition containing the Universal Resurrection implied here in the word stand I saw the dead c. Stand before God That a Resurrection if it be must be in order to Prop. 2. the fuil attainment of man's Final happiness is generally agreed upon by all

and Luggage of Mortality But you see I could not fairly come to this but by making a rude and immethodical climbing over those other Heads and time will not allow of that just discourse due unto all Therefore since we now cannot come so farre as the opening of these Books and a most dangerous thing it is to goe away and leave them shut Let us heartily beseech God to open them unto us in mercy here before He opens them to all the world in judgement hereafter Concerning which Judgement I have some few words of Application as to this dayes business and so I shall conclude We have spoken all this while of a Iudgment to come but what 's that may some say to this present day of judgment I answer thus We all profess to believe That Christ shall come again to Iudge both the Quick and the Dead c. yet did we indeed really believe those there would not be so much need of these Assizes Truth is they are for the most part a sort of Infidel certainly more than half-Heathen Christians that put our Honourable Judges to all this trouble Well but if those General Assizes must be in that Day as surely as These of ours are at this Day of what mutuall concernment are they one to another Briefly thus These should mind us of Those Those should guide us in These the Present should serve as a Prospect of the Future the Future should serve as a Patern of the Present Judgment Thus as Deep Calls unto Deep and One Dolefull Creature Cryes unto Another such Correspondency ●sa 34. 14. there might be betwixt This and That Judgment to come that by a good improvement The Lesser may be Blessed of the Greater For the First viz. that These should mind us of Those Who can hear mention of a Publick Gaol-delivery and the Iudges approach for that purpose and not think of the Resurrection in the One and the Coming of the Day of Iudgment in the Other Who can hear the Triumphant Sounding of the Sheriffs Trumpets or the Sad Clinking of the Prisoners Fetters but must needs make some reflections upon The Trump of God in the One and the Clattering of Those Everlasting Chains in the Other Who can be by at the Arraigning of the Prisoners and the Reading of their Indictments and not Contemplate what S. John here saw viz. The Dead Stand before God and the Books Opened In a word How can any one Stand and Observe the Witnesses Evidence the Prisoners Plea c. at This day without some apprehensions of Those our Thoughts Accusing or Excusing one another in That day ●om 2. 15. Or is it possible one should be present in Body at Mans Pronouncing of Iudgment upon Condemned Prisoners and at the same time not be present in Spirit at Gods Finall Sentence upon Damned Sinners Goe ye Cursed c Whoever he be that has the Advantage of the One and yet receives no Benefit by the Other is nothing more than a mere Idol that has Staring Eyes but Sees not wide Gaping Ears but Hears not and which is yet more an Immortal Soul but Understands not For the Second viz. that Those should Guide us in These To keep then to our Patern here before us First Let Judgment be done Universally Solomon denies not the doing of Justice to Harlots 1 King 3. 16 nor does God refuse to hear the pleadings of the Devil Job 1. 10. 'T is not well that Judgment should drop down like the Rain in Amos One peice was rained upon and the Amos 4. 7. piece whereon it rained not withered And yet as one of our reverend Bishops observes considering those infinite numbers of evil thoughts plots and purposes c. which go unpunisht of those many hundreds of sins that cry daily unto God scarce one or two are condemned by man Let our Judges make as clean work as they can 't is certain God and his Angels will find somewhat to Glean after their sickles else what need there Another Judgment if this were altogether exact and perfect But yet as the House of that Romane Magistrate stood continually open for all that came for Justice so should there ever be in the Frame and purpose of your Wills a readiness to Justice a Willingness to Mercy and in those regards the doors of your hearts should still stand open to receive all Commers That 's for the Generality Secondly Let it be done Impartially Of the Levites it is said Nec dextram nec sinistram cognoverunt Levitae Utinam nec Iuristae It were well if Lawyer Levite and all were unconcerned in this Right and Left hand Knowledge In works of Charity the Left must not know Mat 6. 3. what the Right hand does but in Works of Justice there should be neither right hand nor left and therefore with them of old the statue of a Judge was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a meer handless statue for what reason it is not hard to conjecture This we are sure of Better Herodot is it for us to Enter handless into Heaven then having two hands full of Corruption to be cast into Hell fire That 's the second Circumstance Let all be done Impartially Thirdly Let all be done Authoritatively I magnify mine office saith S. Paul As he did his Apostolical 't were well if all would magnify their Iudiciall Rom. 11. 13. Proceedings Nothing but sin can Vilify them Facinus quos Inquinat aequat Sin is the greatest Lucan Leveller in the world It brings down the Bench and layes it even and level with the Lowest Barre If the giving of a Testimony may fetch down a Justice and set him amongst the Witnesses the Committing of Iniquity hales him yet lower and claps him up among the Prisoners Conscience Impleading the One all the while the Law Arraigns the Other That 's the third Circumstance Fourthly Let all be done Deliberately and with a convincing Legality together with what other merciful and holy considerations may be taken in by the opening of these Books there we have them both in one Psal 36. 6. Verse Thy Righteousness is like the Great Mountains Thy Iudgments are a great deep i. e. In all Gods proceedings there is a leisurable stilness like the great deep yet withall a Solid and Apparent Legalness like the great Mountains I 'l only speak of the First Do but observe here the Throne is prepared the Judge is come the Benches set the Boards filled the Barrs made ready witnesses prisoners and all brought forth yet no further proceedings till the Books be opened He that believes makes not haste nor does a Isa 28. 16. Wise man make too much haste in beleeving much less does a good man in condemning He dares not give credit much less Sentence without Book And in this the Iudges sword may learn of the Mowers Sythe which however as you come along you may hear them Whetting and Whetting again