candle in a darke place did not Paul so and the holy men of old I could leade you to that noble armie of heauenly Martyrs that wash their garments in the bloud of the Lambe and now stand about the throne of God with crownes on their heads and palmes in their hands Though I know the encounter of my text is not outward and temporall but inward and spirituall Yet let mee call to mind one exploit for the word of truth when these generous Argonauts were transported to the Citie of the great King for the honour of God and the libertie of his seruants France Germanie Denmarke Italie with this our mother Iland sent forth their strength and were mooued with zeale towards the house of God and the place of his Sanctuarie The greatest Princes and most heroicall worthies of this European clime engaged their liues their persons their honors their fortunes to redeeme Sion to recouer Ierusalem from the miserable bondage of Turkish slauerie Beloued the remembrance hereof is as fire within my bones and I must needs recount with exceeding ioy and exultancie of spirit how they rode on for the word of truth as the Knights of Rhodes or of Malta till their right hand shewed them terrible things and neuer left before they had hewne the enemies of God in peeces and crowned themselues with honour and renowne The stars from heauen in their order fought against that man of sinne and euery Christian tooke vp that song of Deborah Thou hast marched valiantly ô my soule thou hast marched valiantly the Lord grant that we may still preuaile against Amalek by the inuiolable faith of Christian Princes that keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace and ride on daily for the word of truth and of meeknesse and of righteousnesse For its sake and by its power for it is the onely prop that beares vp the thrones of Princes and makes their crownes flourish Ferrum tuetur Principes melius fides The munition of armes doth well the armes of faith doe better Whereupon said Nestorius the Bishop to Theodosius the Emperour in the seauenth booke of Socrates Tuin profligandis c. Do thou see Gentilisme and impietie do not annoy the Church and wee will see violence and hostilitie do not hurt thee agreeable to that of Solomon mercie and truth preserue the King and his throne is establish by iustice I will not argue the translation yet let me tell you the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for the word of truth and of meekenesse and of righteousnesse but for the word of truth and the meekenes of righteousnesse for the word of truth there is the Law for the meeknesse of righteousnesse there is the Gospell The one as the Court of Iustice the other as the Court of Chancery that qualifies and mittigates the rigor of the former yet what is the word of truth but the word of Christ Hee is truth and in him are the figures verified what is the meeknesse of righteousnesse but the meeknesse of Christ He is righteousnesse and in him we are all iustified though he be true and iust it is not without the spirit of clemencie and of meeknesse that ye know is inseparable from a Lambe and must needs adhere to the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world If hee that walkt in the midst of the golden candlestickes had eyes like fire the head and the haire were as snow or as wooll It was not wine alone nor oyle alone which that good Samaritane poured into the hurt of the wounded neither was God in the fire nor in the earthquake nor in the wind that brake the rocks and tare the mountaines but in the still and soft voyce which is more powerfull then all the force of Periclean lightning and Pannicall execrations I remember in Plutarch a conspiracie betweene the Winde and the Sunne which should take away the trauellers cloake first the winde blowes cold and sharpe and makes him gather it close and hold it faster at length the Sunne pierceth with the subtle heate of his melting beames This makes him cast away both cloake and coate So that is often done by the mild insinuation of loue and gentlenesse which the blustering winds of terrible threats can neuer bring to passe How then do they recede from conformitie with our Sauiour in life and doctrine that speake stones and haue words as sharpe as arrowes that euer stand on the top of mount Horeb and breath nothing but thunder and lightning iudgement without mercie to their afflicted brethren well may they haue the word of truth they haue not the meeknes of righteousnes yet the Prophet ioynes them both Christ rides on for both and with both for we are not come to the mount that might not be toucht nor to the blacknesse and darknesse of a tempest where Moses said I feare I quake but to mount Sion the Citie of the liuing God and to that coelestiall Ierusalem and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust and perfect men and to Christ the mediator that rideth on for the word of truth and of meeknesse and of righteousnesse I haue done with Christ the substance I come to Solomon the type and yet what Solomon haue wee to mention saue onely the sonne of Dauid and the heire of peace that is gone forth and rides on full of glorie and honour that he may spread the truth of Christ as farre as the name of Christ beyond the pillars of Hercules and heale those waters of Ierico as with the salt of his most gracious spirit and incontaminate holinesse enuying the glorie of Iouinian Qui exercitum paganum fecit Christianum that made such Romans very good Christians as hee found heathenish and giuen to Idols Sure I am it is vpon the word of truth and of meeknesse and of power and of righteousnesse that sacred chariot I will not say of cardinall but heroicall and Princely vertues for they are the wings and the horses that aduance and lift him vp aboue his fellowes how can wee choose but wish him good lucke and send our prayers after him Good lucke haue thou with thine honour ride on for the word of truth and of meeknesse and of righteousnesse there is little Beniamin their Ruler the Princes of Iudah the Princes of Zabulon Good lucke haue ye with your honor c. O ye heauens resolue into showers and melt ye waters aboue the heauens into a dew of coelestiall benedictions crowne him with the blessings of Iacob and let all the gifts of the Patriarches descend on the top of him that was separated from his brethren from the vtmost bounds of these euerlasting mountaines say to him as to Zabulon reioyce in thy way as to Isachar reioyce in thy tents let him sucke the abundance of the sea and giue him the treasures that lie hid in the sands ô thou which sittest aboue the water-floud and treadest on
mortui sunt they are dead and there is no life in them But let the power and the courage and the vigour and the Spirit of Christ Iesus quicken and make ye vigetatiue in all goodnesse Anatomists do obserue there is a veine runnes from the heart to the arme and bounds on the finger where the ring is worne if Christ be our ring and seale he must be so on the arme that he leaue not the heart so on the heart that he reach vnto the arme for direction of faith and manners Here might I call heauen and earth to record and witnesse before God and his Angels how iniuriously we are traduced to despise the Law and not to care for the decalogue to rely vpon a naked faith without the fruite of holinesse or the obseruation of his precepts Oh thou which bindest thy words as signes vpon our armes and as frontlets betweene our eyes pleade our cause and vindicate vs from this calumnie tell these men thou art not onely as a seale vpon our hearts by the knowledge of thy truth but as a signet vpon our armes by the conformitie of life and the exercise of holinesse And so I hasten to the seale and closure of discourse which is the forme and semblance and that is a seale or a signet Put me as a seale and a signet Well may hee be tearmed a seale that is the brightnesse of his Fathers glorie and the engrauen forme of his substance but that which is here a seale or a signet is onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall A ring or a seale that as we haue borne the image of the earthly so we may beare the image of the heauenly by similitude and conformitie to our Sauiour whether in his obedience and his righteousnesse or in his patience and his sufferings For as no siluer is currant vnlesse it beare the image superscription of the Emperour so there is nothing auaileable before God without the stamp of his Sonne and the character of our Sauiour Thoughts vowes meditations prayers intentions actions are but vaine and friuolous and will neuer be able to purchase heauen vnlesse they be sealed in Christ and the assurance of his mercie in whom all the promises of God are yea and Amen This made the Church in her Liturgie seale vp her petitions in the name and mediation of Christ Iesus in all her supplications and intercessions she doth adiure God and bind him as it were by this seale Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum Through Iesus Christ our Lord through Iesus Christ our onely mediator and redeemer I will not draw my Text to the Crosse in Baptisme because it is not said he will be a seale but as a seale and there is a good meaning of that in Saint Austin Deus amat signorum suorum factores non pictores Yet let me tell the turbulent Schismaticke and factious Noualist that it is an ancient Ceremonie deriued from the Primitiue Church grounded vpon reason and obseruation For what is the signe of Christ but the Crosse of our Sauiour are not the Sacraments of God the seales of God wherein we are sealed and confirmed by the arrabon and witnesse of his Spirit As the doores and threshold were signed with the bloud of the Paschall Lambe so it is the bloud of Christ our true Passouer that doth seale both our hearts and foreheads I do not say with Austin Repellit exterminatorem si Christū inueniat habitatorem Though in his 50. Tract vpon Iohn it be twise repeated within the space of sixe lines Yet let me borrow so much from that learned Father Nihil olim in carne intolerabilius nihil modo in fronte gloriosius Heretofore there was nothing more bloudy and intollerable to the renting of our flesh and the tearing of our bodies Now there is nothing more glorious and honourable to the acknowledgement of faith and the beautifying of our foreheads But what meanes the seale of my Text And why is he desirous to be as a signet Take it actiuely take it passiuely for the impression that is made or the seale and ring that maketh the impression it is diuersly vsed and hath many singular effects Ad custodiam ad notificationem ad gratiam ad confirmationem For beautie and exornation that his glorie may shine in vs for distinction and notification that we might be knowne from strangers for custodie and preseruation that nothing go in nor out to annoy and hurt vs. For assurance and confirmation that we be not drawne from God or relinquish the truth of our profession Thus are wee become as an enclosed garden or a fountaine sealed vp like that Eastgate in Ezechiels Sanctuary which was shut and might not be opened lest any should enter Open locks tempt theeues but that which is sealed remaines inuiolate So if Faith and Truth and hope and ioy and the graces of the Spirit and the mysteries of our saluation be not sealed in Christ they may be stolne from our hearts and become a prey to the enemy But if they lie vnder this seale they are fast and sure No heresie no vanity no crueltie nor policie shall be able to rob and spoyle vs of our glorie Well may Satan come in like a theefe by the windowes and enter through the passages of our sence if once he espie this seale vpon the heart he will recoyle and fly backe It is a strong munition able to repulse and exterminate all the diuels in hell though multiplyed and banded in troopes and legions Now we haue the force of the Originall and the emphasis of Septuagint the one vpon the other about he will be vpon our hearts to suppresse the euill that is within and to preuent the danger that is without he will be about the arme that wee may be enuironed on euery side and secured from the inrode of spirituall wickednesse Should I distinctly prosecute the seuerall vertues of this seale you might call for a seale vnto my lippes and therefore I labour to be short Yet is there one meaning of this Embleme which I may not forget and that is loue and honour with a deare respect and most precious estimation Consider that of Ieremie If he were as the seale of my right hand yet would I plucke him thence Remember that of Haggai I will make him as the signet of mine arme because I haue chosen him what doth this sound but of grace and fauour It is the seale of our ring and the image of our friend whereof we are proud and boast Ventilat aestiuum digitis sudantibus aurum Thus will he be as the seale of our hand or as the gemme of our finger that he may be held more deare and pretious then thousands of gold and siluer For what is more sweete what more pleasing what more glorious what more honourable then Christ Iesus at whose beautie the Sunne and the Moone are abashed on whose face the Angels looke with admiration and astonishment His
text is spent in that double contemplation of the Physicks the one Motus the other Quies Yee that haue followed mee shewes there is a Motus Shall sit vpon twelue thrones shewes there is a Quies I wish that which deuides my text may deuide both speaker and auditor on your part quiet silence and religious deuotion whilst I begin with the diuine Motus and spirituall consectation in these words Yee that haue followed me Carefull imitation is a sure note of constant aspectation we euer loue those we desire most to follow Pride and Enuie step before Loue and Humilitie waite behind as Mary at the feete of Christ when shee made a bath of her teares and a towell of her locks Many suffer as Christ that shall neuer reigne with him many beare his crosse that shall neuer partake of his glorie Many drinke of the brooke that shall neuer lift vp the head Many grieue and mourne and sorrow and are afflicted that shall neuer be comforted and all this Quia sectari negligunt saith elegant Bernard because they are exalted in their minds and despise to come after Christ in the humilitie of their spirits For this cause will the Lord be followed and that with as much alacritie as the Scribe pretends Sir I will follow thee wheresoeuer thou goest Who so great with the Lord as Moses of a friend hee became a familiar of man a God so that hee is termed Deus Pharonis the very God of Pharoh Yet was he content to looke on the backe parts of his Creator and what Christ said to Mathew belongs to vs Veni sequere come and follow me Non passibus sed affectibus as Saint Austin hath distinguished not with the pases of our bodie but in the graces of our spirit in the loue of his truth and the practise of his vertues that came as a Bridegroome forth of his chamber and gloried as a Giant to runne his course That neither words or deeds thoughts or designes swerue or decline from the rule of his iustice for he is the way and the truth and the life The way that leades vs to the truth the truth that doth promise the inheritance of life the life that doth giue vs the fruition of himselfe not to follow the way is to bee lost not to follow the truth is to bee deceiued not to follow life is to perish and therefore we may say of his actiue obedience as the Apostle writes of his passiue obedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee suffered many things leauing vs an example Nay he did many things leauing vs an example and hee spake many things leauing vs an example that wee might tread and walke in the footsteps of his righteousnesse Wee reade of a noble Generall victorious ouer the Turks and famous among Christians that hee neuer commanded his souldiers any thing but that he would do himselfe we see the like in Christ they are no strange aduentures or new exploits which he layes vpon vs if we can but follow our leader or do that which he doth but act before vs tast of his cup or drink of the Baptisme wherein he is Baptized it is as much as can be looked for But who is able to find the way of a serpent on a stone or the path of an Eagle in the aire Is not the name of Christ wonderfull and are not his perfections inimitable Doth he not ride vpon a Cherub and make darknesse his pauilion Or if discernable and to be seene doth not hee sit vpon the hill of Sion and inhabit light which is vnapprochable Honour'd and beloued wee haue said it yet may wee follow as Peter did a farre off at least cry with the daughters of Ierusalem Trahe nos Draw vs and we shall runne after thee For that of Austin is most true Quod lex imperat fides impetrat Faith obtaining what the Law enioynes and prayer makes that easie which is most hard to the corruption of our nature Indeed there be some things in our Sauiour we cannot imitate wee may not emulate the glorie of his wisedome the magnificence of his power but his goodnesse is exemplarie and calls for obseruation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle it is manifest and hath appeared teaching vs to deny vngodlinesse and to liue righteously and soberly and godly in this present world Obsecro fratres I beseech you brethren do not loose an example so rare and pretious but fashion your selues vnto it and bee changed in the renewing of your minds remembring alwayes that of Nyssen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The profession of a Christian stands in the imitation of his Maker Seuerall qualities are gathered to my hand imitable and spectable in our Sauiour imitable with men spectable with the Angels First the contempt of outward vanitie for when they sought to make him a King he refused their honour and fled into a mountaine Secondly the meeknesse of inward patience for when they brought him as a Lambe to the slaughter he kept silence and opened not his mouth Last of all the temper and sweetnesse of a charitable disposition for when they would haue crucified the Lord of glorie hee prayed for his enemies and excused their malice with a nesciunt Quid faciunt they know not what they do these are the things wee ought to seeke and to follow to keepe and to practise with all dilligence and carefulnesse But that euery man is drawne away as Saint Iames speakes with his owne lust Et in iecore aegro Nascuntur Domini Our will is our master and wee haue as many lords ouer vs as we haue affections in vs. Alius libidini alius auaritiae saith that learned heathen one is a seruant vnto pleasure another to couetousnesse a third to vanitie all to feare that wee come short of our expectations and I would to God it were onely so but the Church hath euer beene pestred with sects and heresies strifes and diuisions scarce greater distraction among the Corinthians when they cryed I am of Paul and I am of Apollos I am of the world and I am of Christ then now is in many places of these kingdomes What phantasticall spirits so idle and ridiculous that hath not many disciples What schismaticall leader so new fangled and pernicious that hath not many sectaries What iugling imposter so despicable and infamous that hath not many followers What Atheisticall ruffler so execrable and nefarious that hath not many obseruers Quis Monachus Daemoniacus as S. Bernard speakes what Ignatian viper or diuellish Iesuite that worketh mischiefe by the Prince of diuels and seckes destruction of soule and bodie so prodigiously wicked and proditoriously audacious that hath not too many fauourites and adherents These are the men that draw legions after them to hell and may bee compared to him that was termed legion in the Gospell Ettam Diogenes habet suos parassitos the Cynicke is not without his attendants but hath a man or a mouse to be his
time yee should awake and returne with the Shunamite I would to God yee were as those Switzers who are ready to serue for the best pay If Satan bee able to giue more follow him If Satan be able to promise more follow him Quis fascinauit Who is it that hath bewitched you as the Apostle writeth to the Galatians had ye rather eate huskes and feede swine with the prodigall then haue bread enough and sit at table with the children Had yee rather lie in hell as sheepe that death may gnaw vpon you then raigne in heauen as Iudges that life may abide in you By how much it is better to sit in a throne and iudge the tribes of Israel then to stand at the barre and here the sentence of condemnation by so much is it more safe and comfortable to follow God then man Christ then Belial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazian Let vs flie the world and the Prince thereof but seeke Christ and sticke vnto his mercie the exhortation is enforced by that of Ambrose teneat clauus si reuocat infirmitas If the weaknesse of our flesh and the infirmitie of our nature draw vs from him let the remembrance of his death and the nayles of his crosse pin vs to him Who could make vs but hee who did saue vs but hee who but hee shall adorne vs with his grace and crowne vs with his glorie set vs in his presence where there is fulnesse of ioy and place vs at his right hand where there are pleasures for euermore how can yee neglect so great saluation how can ye leaue so great felicitie ye haue seene his starre in the East and hee that bringeth light out of darkenesse hath shined in your hearts to the light of knowledge in the face of Christ Iesus There is no excuse left but the stay of his promise and the expectation of his goodnesse that it is not yet but shall be hereafter in the second birth of the whole vniuerse which is the terme and point of this complement and perfection My last circumstance that knocks at the doore of your hearts and eares to keepe them open It is stored of a Romane that he neuer beheld the rubbish of old marble or lookt vpon the ruines of any ancient building but he wept and cryed Recordatione temporum meliorum ploro I grieue and lament to thinke of the dayes which are gone and past But wee are contrary and as he lookt backe with griefe and sorrow on that which is past so wee looke forward with ioy and comfort towards that which is to come the changing of our flesh the instauration of our nature the renewing of the world the transformation of the elements when the creature that trauels and groanes vnto this present shall bee deliuered from the bondage of corruption for then it is wee must enioy the right and seate of Iudicature and prehemmence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the regeneration Which some call the resurrection others call the redemption of our bodies when mortalitie shall bee swallowed vp of life and this corruptible shall put on incorruption For the first generation and birth of man is when hee comes into the world the second generation and birth of man is when hee is raised out of the world and taken into heauen Ad contemplandum lumen aeternitatis as Saint Gregorie speakes to contemplate the Lord and to behold eternitie and as there is a regeneration of the inward man after the image of God by grace and faith in the bloud of Christ and the lauour of Baptisme termed by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The lauour of regeneration where he is begot of the immortall seede and borne as it were anew of water and the spirit so must there be a regeneration of the outward man by the power of God Who shall change our vile bodies and make them like vnto his glorious body which extends to euery creature sublunarie as the elements coelestiall as the heauens Behold saith God I create a new earth and a new heauen Behold saith Iohn I see a new earth and a new heauen So that we may boldly cry with Peter Expectamus nouos coelos We looke for a new earth and a new heauen according to his promise wherein dwelleth righteousnesse For he shall change them and they shall be changed the earth shall be changed and cloathed with beautie the aire shall be changed and purged from obscuritie the fire shall be changed that is do not consume the water shall be changed that it do not putrifie the heauens shall be changed for they shall rest from motion and receiue a greater perfection of brightnesse and claritie the Sunne shall stand in the East and the Moone in the West where first they were created that wee may behold the faire beautie of the Lord and looke vpon his Sonne in a throne of glorie Sonne of God and yet Sonne of man for hee shall iudge as hee was iudged and returne in the same forme wherein he was despised that euery eye may see whom they pierst and be not affraid of him they crucified for the greatnesse of his power and the brightnesse of his presence Quid facturus saith that notable Moralist if his enemies went backe and fell to the ground when he came in weakenesse and humilitie to be iudged how shall they start and bee confounded when he comes in power and maiesty to iudge the world and to pronounce the sentence of condemnation against euery cursed malefactor Foelix trembled at the mention of it and these vnhappy Foelixes shall neuer be able to abide the sight of his glorious throne enuironed with a guard of heauenly souldiers At length wee see what our hope is and when it shall be reuealed not before the day of iudgement and the coming of our Sauiour Beware then lest yee bee ouer hastie to iudge before your time I speake onely of priuate censure vncharitable suspition malicious calumnie spightfull detraction which is not iudicium but praeiudicium not iudgement but preiudice Eagle-sighted in the faults of others and ready to sticke as flies in the sores and vlcers of their griefes and infirmities As for that golden pillar of publike iudicature The ground and basis of regular states and well ordered kingdomes it is strengthened in my text and ministerially with subordination deriued to such as are Apostolique For if wee shall iudge the tribes of Israel and the families of the earth nay the whole world together with the blessed Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much rather smaller things and such as pertaine vnto life the argument is not humane but diuine drawne from the mouth and pen of that great Doctor and vessell of election in the sixt Chapter and the first Epistle to the Corinthians Where hee speakes inclusiuely and makes himselfe a Iudge as well of things temporall as of things eternall and let all such as hold the sonnes of Zadocke most vnworthy of all iusticiarie function