twice awecke I giue almes to the poore and giue tythe of all I haue If you looke into their conuersations and obserue their vaunts with iudicious eyes eares O! what a rank shall you see of barren fig-trees and green bay-trees to whom Dauid compares the wicked O what a noise shal you heare of tynkling cymballs to which S. Paul compares them which haue a shewe of religion but no loue 1. Cor. 13. So little loue to their equalles haue these men that when the rod of God is shakē ouer our heads they make themselues the onely men that are fit to stand in the gappe they blaze the honour of their own preaching as though it were so full of life that they only knew the bloud and marrow of the Scriptures of their own praiers as though they were so effectuall that Elias his spirit were only redoubled vpon them and that euery one of them is a second Elizeus So little obedience haue they to their superiours that the reuerend fathers of the Church who may well borrow that saying of the Church in the Canticles The sonnes of my mother were angrie with mee are by these men scorned disobayed resisted Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe Luke 23. The sonnes of Sophocles being desirous to rule impleaded the Father for dotage that they might haue all matters committed to themselues but Sophocles presented to the Iudges his Oedipus colonaeus a tragedy which hee had penned in his olde age and bade them iudge whether that was the worke of a doting man or not which they all esteeming to come from a wit full of nimblenesse and actiuity condemned the sonnes and iustified the Father So these fiery spirits longing to haue the staffe in their owne hands haue by their words and in their writings traduced the Fathers of our Church but if we looke vpon their Oedipus colonaeus and marke with what discretion they gouerne and how behouefull their gouernment is for our times we shall surely finde them not to bee doting Fathers but their accusers to be wicked sons And here my brethren bemone with me the estate and calamity of our mother the Church which Rebekah like hath diuers opinions striuing in her wombe must not her pangs needs be great Amphisbena-like two heads one against an other striue for the soueraignty is not the body then like to breake O! how well doth it become the sonnes of oyle to nourish peace a fruite of him which is annointed with the oyle of gladnes aboue his fellows When wind blowes against wind schism against schism the Church may say as Iocasta somtimes said weeping ouer the malice of her two sonnes Eteocles and Polynices Tu times illum ille te ego vtrumque sed pro vtroque thou fearest him and hee feares thee and I feare you both because I feare the destruction of you both O you then that are too prodigall of enmity one towards an other let not the streets of Gath and Ascalonring your disgrace nor the daughters of the Philistines tune your shame to their tymbrells bee not the nayles and teeth of the Church to scratch and bite your brethren howsoeuer your sayles swell with a fauourable gale yet Lipsius in his fift booke of Politicks aduiseth you to take in at the harbour of peace it becomes not members of the same body to interfere and worke one vpon an other When there are iarres among you are not you carnall Yes for peace becomes those spirits which rellish and taste of him whose birth-day song was Peace vpon the earth Better sayth a learned Father vt pereat vnus quà m vnitas and therefore with inlarged bowelles I speake not now vnto Brownists and Barowists but vnto those vvho are neerer friends to our Church men for their diligence and other good partes worthy of much prayse and yet so impatient at the ceremonies of our Church that they be scarce willing in the obseruing of them to ioine with vs. I would pray them to remember that in the Canticles where the Church is compared vnto an army with banners displayed Now if there was euer army without order let them iudge if there ought not to be order in the Church let Saint Paul iudge who sayth Let euery thing be done decently and in order Seeing then there is one God the Father of vs all one Church the mother of vs all one Christ the elder brother of vs all one Baptism the seale of vs all one faith the hand of vs all one saluation the marke whereat we all shoot let vs striue to maintaine the vnity of the spirit and in the band of peace Let vs not be so conceited of our own holinesse as to distaste all mens company nor yet so lauish of our company as to mingle our selues amōg the wicked but be cautelous least we be like to Ephraim who mixt himselfe among the people and the effect of this mixture was lamentable he was as a cake on the hearth not turned Rawe on the one side and rosted on the other partly religious and partly idolatrous luke-warm fit to be spewed out of Gods mouth a sinne indeed to halt betweene two opinions to haue a knee for God and a knee for Baal and for Rimmon in the house of Rimmon to professe two religions to wooe the flames of persecution least they should indure the punishment of eyther If Dagon presume to stand by the arke of the Lord it is well worthy to fall there is no communion between Christ and Beliall Saint Iohn could not indure to be with Cerinthus in the bath Saint Ieromes pen like a launce was charged against Uigilantius and many others S. Austen in his disputations spake hot words coales of iuniper against the Arrians the Pelagians the Donatists and the Manachees Before all these Iosias whose name remaines vpon record in the kalender of the iust whose soule is bound vp in the bundle of life and his life hid in Christ with God could not indure idolatry while he raigned Therefore his name is like a perfume made by the art of the Apothecary It is remembred of a certain Souldan which dyed at the siege of Zigetum that being perswaded by the Muphti who holdes the place of a Bishop or Patriarke among the mahumetan turkes not to suffer so many religions as were in his dominions he answered that a nosegay of many flowers smelled more sweetly then one flower only which I confess to be true but the case with religions is neither the same nor the like for in a nosegay they may be all flowers but among religions they must be all weeds all heresies except one only flower which is the truth The spirit of God blames the Church of Ephesus for imbracing the doctrine of the Nicholaitans the Church of Smyrna for imbracing the doctrine of Balaam the Church of Thyatira
nouum after a newe maner but no other word then that which was from the beginning and they stand vpon the watch towers in your Churches to descry the danger giue you warning heare thē by their preaching together with the power of gods holy spirit a beam of the Sun of righteousnes you wil quickly perceiue your soules not to be virgins you wil see your own sins corruptions that you may amend as the beam of the sun shining in a house discouers many motes which before were vnperceiued woldst thou not be caught by the hooks of Satan then let not thy mind leap out of the poole out of the wel of the water of life at euery flie at euery wordly vanity wouldst thou haue thy affectiōs deep died in religiō so that thy mind clothed with thē may be taken to wear the liuerie of God then let thē stay long in the liquor let thy body stay in the Church thy minde besetled vpon the word that is read preached so by the hāmer of Gods word without and the fire of the holie Ghost working within thou wilt be beaten fashioned into a signet neer deer vnto God but if Coniah like thou being a signet on Gods finger dost rebell against him he will pull thee off But some will not be pleased when they marke but like Apes Monkies which break euery glasse they look into because euery glasse doth shew them their own deformitie so they quarel with al preachers and preaching because the truth deliuered cannot chuse but shew them their own ouglines They haue their galles in their eares whatsoeuer they heare turns into the gall of bitternes they loue to haue their ears sheaths for flattery they relish nothing but placentia if there be any sin that rules in them as who hath not one or other that is praedominant then they acknowledge no king but Caesar no ruler but that euill affection the word of God shal not ouerrule them by their good wils How much better were it for men when they are touched by sermons to giue God thanks for it because God hath sent a special messenger that day to take them aboue others as brands out of the fire like stinging spirits to bring them vnto God For such words bind kings in chaines and nobles in linkes of iron they carrie not away the eare vnto God for a present but a heart which he himselfe requires of all his sons O God may they say who are touched for their sinne I thank thee this day is saluation come into my house Some again be they pleased or displeased wil not obey Thogh the word of God like the Sun stāding stil in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Aielon hath beene a long time at the noone point and height that by the benefit of it wee might be reuenged of our greatest enemy yet I feare the Diuell may still walke in drie places as he delights to doe among those I meane that are not moystened with this well of liuing water or if they haue heard the word yet it takes little or no roote because it hath fallen in stonie or thorny places When Naaman murmured at Elisha saying that Abanah and Pharphar riuers of Damascus were better then either Iordan or any riuer in Israell the seruant of Naaman said vnto him If the man of God should bid thee doe a great matter wouldest thou not do it much more when he bids thee wash thy self seauen times in Iordan and be cleane So should wee doe any thing that God commands in his worde euen because hee commands much more when hee bids vs obey and bee saued The assurance that we haue for our saluation is in the word of God we know in whom to trust but God keepes a counterpane thereof hee is not ignorant but knowes whom wee must obey as he will on his so must wee on our parts performe conditions If hauing gone astray and being in daunger of Herod of the Diuel worse then Herod we will not with the wise men of the East returne home another way then God may say as Dauid sayde in the pang and burthen of his soule O my sonne Absalon O Absalon my sonne my son you would needes be rebels but as hee was hanged in his own haire so your lot is to perish by your own rebellion Heare the worde then as though the very message brought you wings to flye to God let not sinne that shot without noyse wound you vnawares and possesse you so strongly that you be loth to leaue it till it leaue you so that you say of it as Abraham sayd of the sonne of the bond-woman O that Ishmael might liue in thy sight And surely such is the nature of man that euerie one hath a sin which I may call a peculiar beloued with an extraordinarie loue for which he desires a dispensatiō though he can be cōtent to forgoe all other sinnes but that As Lot sayd of Zoar O Lord spare it it is but a little City so euery man saith of his be loued sin O lord spare that it is but a smal sin I am naturally inclined vnto it and therefore to be borne withall from other sinnes I am content to bee weaned Thus euery man would be so sawey as to passe a faculty with God if he were not both wise iust The diuell is like Nimrod a great hunter O Lord keep vs out of his chase yet men like the pleasures of sin and though they be in danger to be molested with many spirits and terrors who come within the compasse of sinnes inchanted circle yet are they neuer willing out of the Diuels by-pathes to follow their mother the Church by the steps of the flocke Cant. 1. 7. not from vertue to vertue from grace to grace which is the progresse of Christians to whom Christ saith Arise my loue my faire one and come away Moisture in the feet strikes vp into the head the sinne of the meanest member dishonours our head Christ. Let thē the girdle of verity be straight girt about your loins I meane obserue strictly that which God commaunds he sayth Prepare your selues for heauen say you O God my heart is ready my heart is ready he sayth Seek ye my face answere you againe and say Thy face O Lord will I seeke lay your noses open vnto the sweet sauour of life vnto life your eyes vnto the Day-starre that is sprung from on high your eares vnto the charmes of the wise charmer and seeing God by his word knocks at your doores Lift vp your selues you gates and be ye lift vp ye euerlasting doores that the King of glory may enter in Let not the Ministers of Gods word rowe any longer against winde and tide but seeing they are appointed to raise vp seed to their elder brother Christ Iesus by preaching as Gregory doth moralize that leuitical
of Hosea could bee rightly valued we should finde that herein is imbarked as great riches of grace as euer yet the word of God the siluer stream of the water of life hath landed vnto our soules since first we sinfull men had trafficke with that renowned King Whose dominion is from sea to sea and from the riuer vnto the end of the world Among all the Prophecies especially this of Hosea among the chapters of this Prophecy this the 7. and in this 7. these verses that I haue read vnto you doe ayme principally at the kingdom of Israel not of Iuda at the 10 tribes committed to the gouernment of Ieroboam not vnto the two tribes left with Rehoboam the son of Salomon In the handling of which words I desire your minds as well as your bodies and that my words may rather diue downe into your hearts then swimme in your eares therefore I wil not intangle you in the maze of any curious diuisiō but plainly I will obserue these three things 1. The sinne of Ephraim and al Israel 7. 8. which is 1. Bred at home All like an ouen Which sinne had 3. effectes 1. The deuouring of their Iudges 2. Slownesse in not returning 3. Their not calling vpon God 2. Borrowed abroad Ephraim mixt himself c. which borrowed sinne had one effect and that wss this he was as a cake on the hearth not turned 2. The dulnesse of Ephraim of which dulness I obserue 1. The arguments or euidences which were 1. Wilfull ignorance in not knowing ver 9. 2. Slownesse in not returning ver 10. 3. Simplicity and credulity in being ouerreached v. 11 2. The aggrauation that is by these circumstances or for these causes 1. Strangers deuoured their strength 2. Gray hayres were here there vpon him 3. The pride of Israel testifieth to his face 3. Gods alarum to rouze them out of their slumber and awake their dulnesse ver 12. but when they shall goe c. where I obserue these fiue things 1. Gods prouidence hee will see them as they goe 2. His wisdom he will spread a net 3. His power he will draw them down 4. His iustice he will chastice them 5. His truth he will make good what he hath sayd in the congregation As if the Prophet should haue sayd O ye men of Israel especially you of the house of Ephraim concupiscence boiling within you hath made you hot as an ouen Kings and Iudges haue been your fuell you haue not called vpon the Lord by reason of the mixture of your selues among the people you haue been tainted with idolatrie partly rawe and partly rosted you haue had a knee for God and a knee for Baal you might haue beene warned by the inuasion of strangers and by the approche of olde age yet you haue beene possessed with blinde and lame and lumpish spirits for I obserue your dulnesse and your slownesse and your simplicitie you haue beene without eyes not knowing without feete not returning without hearts and as a doue deceiued yet sayth God by the Prophet when you goe I wil see you by my prouidence and spread a net for you by my wisdom and drawe you downe by my power and chastice you by my iustice and make good the truth of that which you haue heard affirmed in your congregations They are all hotte as an ouen Which is a borrowed speech implying their sin bred at home There is a fire wherewith Christ baptizeth Matth. 3. and wherewithall the Apostles were inriched Acts 2. I meane the vertue of Gods holy spirit which when it takes possession of a man it makes his heart hot within him and while he is musing the fire kindleth and he speakes with his tongue But his words are like the words of Nepthali Who is like a Hinde giuing good words they are eyther prayses vnto his God or charitable comforts vnto his brethren or holy meditations vnto himselfe Yet the same diuel that had a floud of water to send out of his mouth to drowne the Church and her children Reuel 12. hath water also to quench this holy fire and in stead thereof hee hurls balls of wilde-fire into our soules hee fanneth them with the blandishments of the world that the sooner Lust might conceiue bring forth sinne that sinne when it is finished might bring forth death Such is the forme of an ouen that by reason of the vault and damming vp therof the inward parts therof are black and vnclean and the fire worketh more vehemently then in ordinary places so it is with sinne It takes possession of the heart the strongest holde which is the throne of the minde and by degrees surpriseth the other parts of the body The tongue by dropping the poyson of aspes vnder it the hand by making them the hands of iniquitie the feete by making them swift to shed bloud the eyes by making them swell with lust the wayes by making them exorbitant from the wayes of peace So that when God seeth the garment of righteousnesse which he hath bestowed rent and torne the work of sanctification out of reparations and his owne image canceld he may say as his sonne our Sauiour did once say of the Romane coyne Whose image and superscription is this It is Caesars then giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars and vnto God that which is Gods Whose image and superscription is this It is the diuels or the worlds or the fleshes then giue vnto them that which is theirs they are not stamped with my seale I acknowledge them not to bee mine owne When Caesar was wounded vnto death by the Senators of Rome it grieued him much but much more when hee perceiued himselfe to bee hurt by Brutus whome he loued aboue the rest therefore his dolefull tongue copied out of a more dolefull mind these words Et tu fili And thou my sonne also So no doubt but it grieues God to bee pierced through with the sinnes of Atheists and irreligious men but it grieues mee more may God say when thou that art my childe rebelst against mee thou whome as mine owne sonne I haue created vvhome I haue redeemed whome I haue iustified whome I haue sanctified whome I meane to glorifie For where the more debt is forgiuen there the most loue and obedience is due sayth Christ to Simon Luke 7. The world is olde and very sickly and one wee see is distempered with a consumption of enuy an other with a hotte feuer of malice another with lunaticke and rauing fittes of swearing an other with a tympany or swelling of ambition an other so loseth himselfe by drunkennesse that a man may seeke a man in a man and not finde him Yet if you in this sinne-sicke world can auoide the tinctures and staynings of concupiscence and make wrack neyther vpon the Rockes nor vpon the Sandes neyther vppon open nor secret sinnes then neyther the arrowe that flyes by day nor the Pestilence that
runne their race as the summer followeth the blowing of the figge-tree so the end followes these things it is the application of Christ himselfe O that I had the tong of the learned that I might cloath inrich with due lights of speech this point which was euer acknowledged by as many Philosophers as looking vpon the Sun of righteousnesse through the cloude of Nature held the immortality of the soule and not now denied by any but by that foole that saith in his heart there is no God He is a fool scorne him he sayth in his heart he is a dissembler trust him not hee sayth there is no God therfore he is a blasphemer abhorre him and roue not vpon these things in the tempest of your iudgements but let zeale the carefull nurse of Christianity whose warmth dooth much helpe the blowing of vertue maintaine in you these meditations So did it in Prudentius who framed a song vnto the crowing of the cocke whose noyse resembled the last trumpe which should awake men sleeping in their graues and giue warning of the great day So did it in S. Ierome who whatsoeuer he did thought he heard in his eares the sound of the last trumpe saying Arise you dead and come vnto iudgement The Pilot who gouernes the ship sitteth at the sterne which is at the hinder end of the ship if a man will gouerne his life well his meditations must be settled vpon the later end of his life Who so remembers his end can neuer do amisse And God knowes it is a needfull thing to bee remembred for miile modis morimur vno bene there be a thousand wayes to die and but one way to die well When Christ came first he came to vanquish the Diuel that Goliah that braued the host of the liuing God when he comes the second time hee will come to bee reuenged of those churlish Nabals who haue vnkindly rendred vnto him hatred for his good wil examine your selues of what ranke you be and as Christ aduiseth the man of warre in the Gospell to sit downe and take counsell whether hee be able with ten thousand to meete him that commeth against him with twenty thousand if hee bee not then while he is a great way off if he be wise he will send Embassadours and desire conditions of peace So think and know that you are not able to answere God one for a thousand therefore while he is yet afar off before the ends of the world come vpon you send your Embassadours to intreat a peace cast out the dumb spirit and pray vnto him the deafe spirit and heare his word the lame spirit and walke vnto him in your liues and conuersations the fearefull spirit and beleeue in him that you may sing victoriously as Debora did O my soule thou hast marched valiantly Let your thoughts be sublimed by the the spirit of God Arise vnto your selues arise in your selues arise from your selues and arise aboue your selues vnto your selues by knowing of your sinnes in your selues by acknowledging of your sinnes from your selues by forsaking your sinnes and aboue your selues by hauing your liues a conuersation in heauen God would haue you his sonnes to be as goodly plants and you his daughters to be as the polished corners of the Temple Therfore he doth in his congreations oft many a time perswade by his word therefore per haec lumina for the light of the Gospels sake suggest by his spirit therefore per haec lumina auras for the sake of the spirit of God that wind that is rushing mightie Gods iustice doth inforce therefore per genitorem oro for God the Fathers sake the mercy of Christ doth allure therfore per spem surgentis Iuli for the sake of God the Son in whom you hope I desire you that you will meditate vpon your day of account And while I sound out vnto you these things it becomes me like a Cocke to clap mine own wings vpon mine own breast rowse vp my self out of my slumber before I giue you others warning of the approach of the great day that you with me and I with you may all vpon Angels wings be carried vp to heauen like Larks sing merily while we are mounting Then there that at length I may take my worke out of the loomes and conclude shal we haue ioy of ourselues ioy of our friends ioie of the King of heauen and ioy of the ioyes of heauen Ioie of our selues for though one differ from an other in glory yet we shal be like pots ful of water one being greater then another he that hath least being brimme ful shall haue as much glory as he can haue or desire Ioy one of another for if the rich man in hell knew which was Abraham and which was Lazarus in heauen and if at Christs transfiguration being but a shadow of immortalitie Peter Iames and Iohn knewe Moses and Elias though they had neuer seene them before much more shal we I take it in the fulnes of glorie know one another who haue been acquainted vpon earth Ioy of the king of Heauen who shall be our light for euer at whose right hand there is fulnesse of ioy for euermore Ioy of the ioyes of heauen where we shall not hunger there is the tree of life nor perish with thirst there is the water of life nor be perplexed with melancholy there is a quire of Angels Archangels euer singing making melody which melody that we may be partakers of I desire of God let all the people say Amen and let Christ Iesus whose wordes are Yea and Amen that faithfull witnesse in heauen set to his seale and say Amen vnto it Euen so Lord Iesus Amen Amen LAVS DEO SOLI FINIS a Stulta est clementia cum tot vbique vatibus occurras periturae parcere chaâ—tae Iuuen. Sat. 1. b Plut. Symp. lib. 3. c Seneca in Troa d Math 10. 19 e Gen. 35. 18. f Cant. 2. 4 g Psal. 22. 10 h Iob. 29. 4 i Iam. 1. 17. k Iohn 14. 6 l Gen. 43. 14 a Zach. 9. 10 Ouen b Psal. 39. 4 c Gen. 49 d Iam. 1. 15 Vncleaut e Psal. 14. 5. f Mar. 12. 87 g Plut. Suct h Psal. 91. 5 i Luke 24. 32 k Iohn 2. 17. Psal. 69. 19. Violent a Ex. 18. 21 Iudges b 1. Reg. 22. 17 c Hos. 3. 4 d See Simon Patrichs answere to Mach. part 3. maxim 5. e 1. Cor. 15. 41 f Hos. 4. 2 g Iob. 38. 10 h Zecha 11. 10 i Psal. 81. 6. k Gen. 49. 6. Bribery l Acts 19. 18 m 1. Reg. 12 14 n Amos 6. 12 o Soph. 3. 3. p Arist. Metor 2. cap. 6. Partiality q Exod. 23. 3. r Matth. 27. 24 s 1. Reg. 10 18 t 2. Chr. 19. 6. Kings u Eze. 18. 2. * Ezech. 33. 11. t A booke called variance betweene