COMFORT TO THE AFFLICTED DELIVERED IN A SERMON preached at PAVLS-Crosse the xxi day of May M.DC.XXVI Being the last Sunday in Easter Terme By ANTONY FAWKENER Mast of Arts of Iesus Colledge in OXFORD LONDON Printed for ROBERT MILBOVRNE 1626. ET VSQUE AD NVBES VERITAS TVA P. S. To the right Worshipfull Master EVERARD FAWKENER my beneficent good Vncle Grace mercy and peace in Christ IESUS SIR IT is the providence of Nature to necessitate a retribution of her gifts unto her self Her matter shee lends neuer fayles her it may indeed be in some sort corrupted but no way annihilated Though man be corrupted nature looseth no substance but what was lately hers in a humane body will still be hers though but in dust and ashes If nature can be so frugall to saue her owne t is pity that piety should be a looser The riuers restore unto the Ocean what they have received from her themselves And by an imitating gratitude wee are bound to devote our selves to the sources of our fortunes As of the passed you are next God the patron of my succeeding happinesse Wherefore in stead of my selfe I am bold to present unto you this off-spring and indeed in respect of so generall an audience my first borne which according to the Law I have already dedicated unto the Lord. A worke of purpose proportioned to the hearers benefite not a Criticks censure So plaine that the simple may understand and yet I hope not altogether so unpolished that the friendly and iudiciously curious may scorne it Briefly what I have consecrated to God I may boldly present to man Therefore in confidence of your imitation of him in accepting a good will I rest Your Nephew in all Christian dutie to be commanded ANTONY FAWKENER A SERMON PREACHED AT Pauls-Crosse IOB 19.21 Haue pitie vpon me haue pitie vpon me O yee my friends for the hand of God hath touched mee AS the great Vniuerse so the small World Man is composed of and diuided into two parts Spirit and Body The soule expresseth creatures immateriall Angells The body is the character of things materiall and corporall The world was pure till man fell the sinne of the little world cursed the greate one No sooner was Adam found guilty but the earth was cursed and that receiued punishment before the delinquent yet not for its owne but his sake Man sinned not the earth the earth was cursed not for its owne but mans punishment The ground must be cursed ere man can be punished the earth must be barren ere Adam can sweat As of sinne so is man the chiefe subiect of calamitie each creature else for his sake he for his owne Their punishment is not theirs but his and their vnhappinesse onely in order to his misery The earth indeed was curst man more barrennesse seised on it death on him Rarò antecedentem scelestum Deseruit pede poena claude Punishment is light-footed and will as soone reuenge God as man can iniure him Transgression is sometimes punished with the obiect it desires Adam indeede by eating the forbidden fruit knew good and euill but 't was a lamentable knowledge He knew euill but first in himselfe the first science he had was of his owne infirmity for He saw that he was naked Gen. 3.7 Sometimes 't is punish't by the contrary Adam would no sooner haue beene as God but he was as man ambitious to be equall with the Almightie he became inferiour to himselfe By his owne power he would haue liued for euer and therefore died presently for By sinne death entred into the world Loe then he was no sooner sinfull than miserable no sooner the subiect of transgression than of affliction As then we deriue sinne from our parents so it 's punishment and misery is as much ex traduce as guilt What man then liues and oft-times sinnes not what man oft-times sinnes and is not sometimes scourged As then our affliction may be common so our compunction should be mutuall Our brother is corrected to day to morrow may be our course Iob was afflicted in this Chapter he knew his friends might be ere long as indeed they were in the last Chapter where he was faine to sacrifice for them and therefore exhorts them to bestow that vpon him in his calamitie which they would be glad to beg of him in theirs at least that weake mercy of commiseration and that small solace Pitie Haue pitie vpon me haue pitie vpon me c. Man and wife are one by a matrimoniall vnion Body and Soule make one by a naturall constitution Each man hath in himselfe a state Oeconomicall Eue was married to Adam the Body to the Soule Adam then is both Adam and Eue Soule and Body The Serpent first beguiled Eue then shee Adam Vanity first cheats sense then shee deceiues the soule As both haue sinned so both are punished in the same order First Eue was chidden then Adam First the body is punished in this world then the soule in the life to come The whole world of man transgressed in its parts Adam and Eue who were it and by a law of paritie each of them is punished in their parts soule and body which make vp them The whole man then is afflicted in his parts looke but vpon this verse and behold this afflicted man My Text is the Embleme of a wretched wight where by a method Syntheticall the sacred limmer proceeds from the parts to the whole First there are two petitions correspondent to two parts Haue pitie vpon me and againe Haue pitie vpon me Pitie my body pitie my soule Both grounded vpon foure implicite reasons two taken à Posse for you may doe it because 't is Easie and Lawfull and two à Debito for you most doe it because 't is commanded by Nature and by God Secondly the parties petitioned O yee my friends Thirdly the reasons expressed on the petitioners part moouing and perswading to the grant of his request which in generall are three 1. taken from the causes of his affliction which here are two Instrumentall s The hand prime Efficient s Of God 2. taken from the action concrete with its manner s Hath touched 3. from the patient the whole man and but a fraile man s Mee First then of the double petition Haue pitie vpon me haue pitie vpon me Such was the loue of God to vs that he would not make vs according to any image but his owne he would haue had vs no sooner men than sonnes and the Creator vouchsafed to be the prototype of his creature Yet the madnesse of our ambition fluttered to soare aboue the wisdome of his mercie Coelum ipsum petimus stultitiâ To be dust and ashes was as much as by our owne nature we could be yet to be but a little inferiour to God was to be lesse than wee would be How faine we would haue beene as God himselfe and nothing could satisfie the stupide pride of our finite nature saue to be absolutely
it be naturall and can aswell make a vertue as sense a vice The flesh is weake I but the spirit is willing an intemperate body may desire badly but a well guided soule makes the action vertuous Mercie Aqui. 22 ae q. 30. Art 3. as a sensitiue passion may be meere triuiall and idle Mercie as a motion of the minde guided by reason is a beautifull vertue Now because vertue hath its extreames and the Deuill can turne himselfe from blacke to white from the extreame to appeare the meane from the Prince of darknesse to seâ—me an Angell of light we must seeke how to finde the meane and refuse the extreames to entertaine the Angell and cast out the Deuill To the performance of which we must first define Pitie shewing what it is then manifest the persons whom it respects But before we proceede to define let Logicke moderate vs for because of the ambiguous terme Misericordia Mercie t is best to diuide T is taken then two waies as only intimating commiseration or withall implying succour In 4. Psalm poenitent S. Gregorie makes the diuision and proportions fit termes to the diuiding members Per misericordiam miserentis affectum intelligimus per miserationem verò misericordiae exhibitionem signamus The word is either taken for a naked pitie onely commiserating misfortunes without giuing reliefe or for a compassion attended with a beneficence which implies an actuall exhibition of succour The first is most properly meant in my Text the second is a naturall consequent both may be handled but to auoyde confusion and tediousnesse the first onely in the doctrine Pitie then is defined to be Alienae miseriae in corde nostro compassio S. Aug. de ciu dei lib. 9. cap. 5. a deepe and hearty fellow-feeling of anothers miserie From which obserue these foure Canons First there must be a feeling or sorrow Thus in the extremity of commiseration the Prophet cryeth My bowells shall sound like an Harpe for Moab mine inward parts for Kirharesh Isay 16.11 Secondly there must be a fellow-feeling compassion as well as passion for we must slere cum flentibus weepe with those that weepe Rom. 12.15 Thirdly we must haue a respect to Miserie Misericordiae propriasedes miseria est saith S. Bernard De conuers ad Cler. ser cap. 10. Felicitie requires no pitie but miserie is the only seate of mercy Lastly it must be Alienae miscria of anothers vnhappines Our pitie hath respect to others not our selues and if we are sad for our own miserie 't is Dolor not Compassio Anguish not Pitie Sothen if we haue not feeling we are not passionate if we haue not fellow-feeling we are 〈◊〉 coÌ„passionate The definition then includes a reâ—â—on that respect brings vs to the persons The consideration of whom swayes the ballance and makes our pitie either friuolous or discreet Now the persons to be itied are to be considered in respect of their coniunction to the parties pitying The coniunction may be three-fold 1. Naturall as of a Kinsman to a Kinsman Aqui. 22. ae q. 31. Art 4. Ciuill as of a Countriman to a Countriman 3. Spirituall as of a Christian to a Christian We ought indeede to pitie all but these per prius Charitie begins at home we owe it to each man but first to the nearest Vertue and Grace 't is Aquin as his simile imitate Nature the fire first warmes what is like it and next it The ayre can sooner participate of the fires heate than the water and the flame soonest heats that which naturally is most propense and inclining to warmth So though our Compassion extends to all it first respects the nearest Religion and policie prescribe an order to our loue and naturally our affection is as neere as nature In Cant. Tom. 3. Puto quidem esse vim charitatis vnam multas tamen habere causas multos ordines diligendi saith S. Origen We may loue and consequently pitie all yet some first and most and one commiseration may haue diuers degrees The beautifull and deformed may be both beloued yet the fairest best I may commiserate a friends case yea and an enemies too yet my friends first Ioseph fed all Egypt but he placed his father and his brethren in the best of the land Gen. 47.11 He sold foode to the Egyptians verse 14. but hee nourished them vers 12. S. Paul suffered persecution for the Gentiles but he could wish himselfe separated from Christ for his bretheren his kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 Israel was commanded to entertaine strangers gently Leuit. 19.33 but they wept bittery for the destruction of their countrimen the Beniamites 2. Sam. 21.3 Iudg. 21.2 Dauid indeed pitied and reuenged the soiourning Iebusites But Ieremy compiled a whole booke of Lamentations for his natiue City Ierusalem Gen. 19.4.6 Briefly Abraham may be kinde to Hagar but he must loue Sarah It was grieuous in his sight to part with Ishmael yet he must not be heire with his sonne Isaack Gen. 21.10.11 For we must doe good to all men but specially to those that are of the houshould of faith Gal. 6.10 These three things then Religion Kindred and Country claime the first title in our affection and consequently in our compassion and that commiseration which orderly respects them is naturall lawfull and sanctified These indeed inferre a priority in mercy but insinuate not so clearly the legitimacy of Pitie it selfe Now this lawfulnesse we may collect from the motiues to commiseration and the causes of affliction The motiues are of two sorts 1. A parte miserentis 2. à parte eius cuius miseremur the one is grounded in the party pitying the other proceeds from the person pitied The causes of compassion in respect of the person pitying are three 1. Dilectio 2. Coniunctio 3. Assimilatio Loue Kindred and equalitie or likenesse The first is Loue There is a body as well by loue as by nature the difference is that two naturall bodies make but one by friendship As one naturall body hath onely its owne sense so two bodies made one by friendship hath but one feeling So that pitie is as naturall as sense and compassion as proper to friends as passion to men All things are common amongst friends then so is miserie for affliction is as selfe-communicatiue as happinesse My friend is as mine owne soule Deut. 13.6 Thus if I loue my friend I am but penè alter scarce another so that I account his paine my griefe and what he vndergoes properly I must suffer at least by reputation The second motiue is Coniunction and nearenesse which we haue before touched The third is Assimilation or likenesse If the winde can scatter dust then à simili why cannot the breath of Gods nostrills scatter vs which are but dust If one man be in miserie we are men too but men and may be iust so afflicted Aetas parentum peior auis we are all no better than our
iniquitie cannot loue himselfe For he hates his owne soule Psalm 11.15 Cum ergo edissem animam meam S. Aug. ad Mart epist 155. de verâ amicitiâ verum amicum quomodò habere poteram ea mihi optantem in quibus ipse meipsum patiebar inimicum saith S. Augustin If in louing sinne I hate my soule how can my vicious friend be my true friend which onely can wish that content vnto me the desire of which makes me an enemy to my selfe If then our selues be bad we cannot loue our friends wel again if our friends be bad they cannot loue vs well The wicked is alwayes conscious of his owne vnfaithfulnesse and iealous of his fellowes constancy by his guiltinesse of his owne inconstancy he loues without trust as if he would one day hate and his friendship is alwaies startled with suspition The vicious then cannot loue for they dare not trust though they be confederate and ioyned by company they are diuided in heart so that religion onely and goodnesse can vnite the soules A vertuous friend-ship corrects Nature and what shee hath diuided in bodies it makes one in affection Wherefore the Poet liuely insinuates the nearenesse of friends by diuiding their soule as though there were not two soules Hor. Od. lib. 1. Od. 3. but one parted so that himselfe had but Animae dimidium halfe a soule his friend had the other part Confes cap. 6. and they two had but one life S. Augustine commends this most significant and expressiue description of true friendship by sharing of spirits and the Scripture properly exemplifies in two religious friends for the soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of Dauid 1. Sam. 18.1 So almost were they one that they could not be absolutely two and the only difference between them was that each might be but halfe the other This amitie is as constant as neare and cannot be dissolued vnlesse the friend should be vnioynted from himselfe If Iobs friends had beene such his petition would haue beene granted before framed and as soone as he had felt affliction he might haue demanded pitie by the title of a Symphathie But they are not so affectionate as to condole nor so neare as to haue a fellow-feeling Wherefore if he will require compassion he must pleade for it which he doth in the next place by shewing the causes of his affliction and first the instrumentall For the hand of God hath touched me The hand De serm Dom. in mont lib. 1. Quemadmodum in oculo contemplatio sic in manu actio intelligitur saith S. Augustine The eye and the hand are the principall instruments of sense The one of seeing the nobler sense of discipline The other of feeling the most necessarie to the simple being So that as we vnderstand contemplation by the Eye In lib. Reg. cap. 1. Hom. 2. so we intimate power and action by the hand Per manus intelliguntur opera saith S. Origen The hand is the most operatiue instrument of the will and what we doe by it commonly we expresse by it So that nature hath established it a custome and in most common-wealths at any publicke election Hist lib. 4. the motion of the hand declares the assent of the will Vultu manuque assentiebantur saith Tacitus Isidorus lib. 1. In the Romane Senat they manifested fested their consent by holding vp their hands and in their Armies too to auoide the confusion of vocal suffrages it was a militarie custome to signifie their mindes by their hands withall intimating by that instrument of vigour and force not onely their approbation but also their constancie and readinesse to the maintaining their resolution so expressed The Scriptures are as copious of testimonies as their authors of customes We will vrge a few First God himselfe in a solemne Protestation is said to lift vp his Hand Num. 14.30 insinuating the maintenance of his decree by his power The light of his countenance can blesse his people but when he miraculously deliuers them and plagues his enemies 't is with a mightie Hand Psal 136.12 The signe of strength is in a stretched out arme and if Israel will conquer Amaleck Aaron and Hur must stay vp Moses Hands Exod. 17 12. Alas weake Iob If the Hand of God be his power and that wholly vpon thee thy friends had neede pitie thee The hand that can span the Heauens must needes squieze a worme The Finger of God was enough to plague a whole great nation Aegypt Exod. 8.19 Was it then possible that one miserable man should sustaine the weight of his whole hand Qui dat pati dat posse pati He that sends affliction will send patience God is merciful as well as iust and it was the Hand of God Yet that might be a question God if it were not an axiome and be disputed as but probable if the Holy Ghost did not warrant the necessitie God approued of Iob whom the Deuill slandered Satan smote him with boiles Iob. 2.7 Then was that the Hand of God Malignus spiritus malâ voluntate nocere appetit tamen nocendi potestatem non accipit Ad Simpl. l. 2. q. 1. nisi ab illo sub quo sunt omnia certis iustis meritorum gradibus ordinata Thus S. Augustine answeres The Deuill would hurt but he wants the power God must giue him leaue else he cannot execute his will Satan hath the will in himselfe but he cannot performe it vnlesse God lend him power The cause is Gods and Satan cannot persecute till he will prosecute God of himselfe is iust and Satan malitious vnlesse God wil execute his iustice Satan cannot actuate his malice So that Gods permission is his action and the power that he lends is stiled his Hand God is Iudge Satan the executioner 't is the Deuills will but Gods power Now the Lambe is mercifull but the Dragon is cruell and though Satans malice would crush vs yet the hand of God will but Touch vs. Hath touched Touched And 't is enough for at the touch of the Lord the mountaines smoake and are the wicked any thing saue an heape of transgression is the world of man ought else saue a mountaine of sinne We are nothing saue a lumpe of disorder a Babel of contumacie built so high that our rebellion may reach to Gods cares and need not with the bloud of Abel crie but whisper for a vengeance a fraile masse of confusion on which if he doth but blow he puffes vs into a nothing and if he wil but touch this Babylon our smoake must ascend for euermore Yet is he not more iustice than mercie can expresse himselfe to be both at once So that the Scripture attributes to him a three-fold touch s Tactum iusticiae tactum misericordiae tactum medium or tentationis He confounds by the touch of iustice when hee will reuenge So the Lord of hosts shall touch the land and it shall melt away