were no such great temptation where the wisest knowes but in part the rest see but a part of that part As there is no day without a night only that is the longest day which hath the shortest night so no minde of man without some clouds and shadowes of errour or of ignorance Optimus ille est qui minimis vrgetur That is the best which hath fewest Hee that thus sheweth you my brethren how farre you are behind doth as good as bid you mend your pace In all this I may perhaps striue to curbe the proud imagination God knowes I doe not God forbid I should at any hand attempt to stay the painefull search and pursuit of wisdom which in meÌ„ of our profession must admit no bounds but the common bounds of our mortality more especially because of these latter daies In the Primitiue time as S. Austen often obserueth Satan like a lion by persecuting Emperors tried altogether the patience now Kings are nursing fathers and Queenes nursing mothers like a Serpent in hereticks he trieth the wisdom of the Church Wherfore as you disdaine after so long training and experience in the Lords battels to bee surprized like naked maymed dead men without weapon hand or heart to make resistance hate with a perfect hatred al the counsels of your Antichristian enemies among whom simplicitie sometimes a sinne personal in the lay people for want of teaching is grown to a sinne cathedrall in the Rabbies whilest teaching appointed to remooue is abused to maintaine simplicity Wheresoeuer simplicity is commanded the sense of that commandement to the youngest reader of the Scripture can bee no stranger for either it respecteth affection for subject as Concerning maliciousnesse be children but in vnderstanding bee of a ripe age 1. Cor. 14. or else it respecteth euill things as obiects Rom. 16.19 rather then good I would haue you wise to that which is good but simple to that which is euill To conclude my brethren that this part may not trespasse on the rest if any want wisdome Christ and his word are wisedome two words are as good as twenty for direction no more but this Ora labora prayer and labour deuotion and diligence Now because as Augustine truly iudgeth Nemo rectè sapit nisi qui acceperit spirituÌ„ No man is truly wise but he that hath receiued the spirit pray that nothing may be left vncoÌ„prehended in your prayers for Christs spirit Would you briefly know the successe Ye haue it already promised Mat. 7.11 If ye which are euil can giue good gifts vnto your childreÌ„ how much more shall your heauenly Father giue the holy Ghost to them that desire him Christs Spirit will more surely teach Christs wisdome then Aristotles braine will make a man dispute like Aristotle Last of all that you may be wiser with Dauid then your fathers then your teachers then your enemies your labour must be bestowed in reading and obseruing the Scriptures wise you cannot bee without it Ieremie 8. They haue reiected the wordes of the Lord and what wisedome is in them That well knowen Epistle ad Demetriadem sheweth that you cannot choose but be wise with them Ama Scriptur as sanct as amabitte sapientia That wisdome may loue thee loue thou the Scriptures This of the Obiect Wisedome is iustified And that is the Action As often as the Scripture saith or the Church prayeth that Gods name may be magnified or sanctified because neither augmentation of quantitie nor intention of qualities can agree with an infinite nature we must conceaue no more then a notification or at the most a solemne celebration of his greatnesse and goodnesse none otherwise is wisedome iustified of her children For the Papists here may suffer vs to take it for graunted with lesse contradiction then where iustification is applied to mens persons that the word is legall or iudiciall Now wisdom being considered within the bounds of a consistory to iustifie must either importan act of a Iudge by sentence to pronounce it iust or an act of a witnesse by deposition or acknowledgement to declare it iust The former signification is I confesse receiued by them that interpret Christs words of the Iewes tropically to this effect Thus the Iewes forsooth may censure wisdome and children belike sit in iudgement to condemne their owne mother But the latter I should suppose more naturall comparing this place with that Luke 7.29 Then all the people that beard and the Publicanes iustified God that is confessed the wisedome of God in Christ and Iohn Baptists preaching I know no necessary reason on wisedoms part All this is onely for her childrens sake for if philosophicall vertue need not outward supportment and a meere morall man may rest vpon the center of his owne integrity without walking in the circumference of report abroad whereof the vilest vassall and basest groome is both condus and promus keeper and commander much more may wisedome take such solace in her selfe as God did take in her in and before the beginning She was daily his delight reioycing alwayes before him Prou 8. I receiue not the record of man Iohn 5. Neuerthelesse these things I say that yee might bee saued That we might be saued the most venemous malice of mortall tyranny neither hath beene nor euer shall be able to stop the breath of all wisedoms trumpeters together Herod cannot murder Iames and Peter at one blow when the three children are in the furnace Daniel is at libertie when Daniel is in the lyons denne the three children are in credit while Christ is scarce knowen Iohn giueth his testimony whiles he is almost opprest Nicodemus staÌ„ds vp when his owne sheepe are scattered behold of a wolfe a sheepe of a malefactour from the very brink of hell vpon the Crosse a confessour Yea the Lord will rayse in the latter times as Iohn did prophesie though not any great number yet at least sufficient to saue their euidence from the maine exception of singularitie two witnesses Apoc. II. This constant counsell of wisedome thus reuealed implieth in her children a necessarie duetie that they labour by all meanes for her outward iustification For the Apostles rule hast thou faith Rom. 14.22 haue it to thy selfe before God inioyneth an abstinence from scandalous vse of things indifferent and vndetermined it exempts not our obedience from those commandements which bind vs semper non ad semper alwayes for purpose though not at all times for performance I meane the iustification of wisedome by the most peculiar and heroicall effect of faith and â—haritie Martyrdome Doth Martyrdome sound harsh in our tender eares my brethren and seemes it for these peaceable times vnseasonable Therefore enlarge the signification and suppose it common vnto all times For as we learne of Saint Paul in the first to the Philippians of Cyprian in his ninth Epistle and of Cyprians imitator throughout the booke De duplici Martyrio there is a bloody martyrdome when Christ is magnified in
pottage and these profane persons for a little tickling of the palate and the taste of a running banquet hazard the fruition of the substance of eternity Do I displease any man in this coÌ„gregation Should I please men I were not the seruant of God Should I please men in beasts shapes I were Satans seruaÌ„t If a man saith Micah walke in the spirit Micah 2.11 and would lye falsly saying I will prophecy to thee of wine and strong drinke hee shall euen be the Prophet of this people As I trust you haue no will to be such a people so I thanke God I haue no skill to be such a Prophet Yet haue I learned of Dauid that wine is giuen to make glad the heart of man they that haue a Christian right may take a Christian delight in the creatures but when men drink not once alone for necessitie against drinesse which is allowed nor a second time against sadnes which is likewise tolerated but a third fourth time yea whole daies nights in spight of sobriety for madnes which by the lawes of God and man is intolerable they must abide this woe to the drunkards of Ephraim But their sturdy braines carrying their liquor without distemperature exempts them from the name of drunkards yet our Prophet in his fifth Chapter meetes with such spunges Woe vnto them that are mighty to drinke wine Isai 5.22 and to them that are strong to powre in strong drinke yea though some drinke not at all themselues onely setting others forwards by prescribing healths and pressing votiue salutation yet Abakuk hath a woe in store for them Abak 2.15 Woe vnto him that giueth his neighbor drink thou ioynest thine heate and makest him drunke they that laugh and clap their hands reioycing in this their brothers fall little thinke they reioyce in the diuels victory yet so you know it must bee and therefore a grieuous kinde of persecution some thinke the passion of Martyrs and of Christ himselfe receiued the name of a Cup from this distastefull custome of cramming and violencing mens appetites Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me The remembrance of this one Cup did not we like Ioseph and Marie lose Christ at our great feasts might season all our drinkings with abstinence especially at this time when it concernes your practice to ioyne with my doctrine wee doe not mislike the voluntary restraint of our inordinate appetites it shall be by and by the matter of mine exhortation more then this farre bee it from vs to speake against any ciuill ordinance for sparing set meats at set times for the benefit of a Country Farther yet God forbid we should once open our mouthes against religious fasting religious I meane not in it selfe immediatly but mediatly as it stands in reference to mortification and deuotion to which it is a wholsome preparatiue all that good is in fasting we receiue and imbrace most willingly vntill they cease to be such Fasts as the Lord hath chosen but we may not endure any Iewish opinioÌ„ of couÌ„ting that vnclean which the Lord hath clensed and we owe that seruice to the God of Truth that as long as we know there is but one Law-giuer who can saâ—e and destroy wee cannot brooke that ceremonious erroneous superstitious doctrine of diuels so doth the Apostle call it which out of the chaire of Rome sends forth imperious traditions Touch not Taste not with proposall of merit and saluation to such as obserue it to such as will not vnder no lesse penaltie then mortall sinne and damnation Imagine the Papists cannot in this hard case though I wrong his Holinesse facilitie by calling it a hard case Imagine the Papists wil not procure a dispensation what doe they eate how doe They keepe their fast wherin lies their abstinence they will not touch a peece of flesh throughout the Lent for any good not they yet the choisest fruits and shel-fish the strongest wine and spices the costliest conserues and electuaries by which the flesh in nature is most stirred vp to lewd and lustful prouocations these they can take eate and digest they find no stay or stop at all in their stomacks lesse in their consciences Thus doe they gull the Christian world with a lying profession of austerity whereas their fasts indeed are nothing else but a meere exchange of gluttony for their more variety But ye beloued brethren keepe Lent without equiuocation beating downe your bodies and bringing them into subiection mortifying the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof crucifying the carnall members heere on earth Set all those woes which you haue heard this day before you together with those conditions to base and beast-like for Gods Images detest both the sin and the sinners company and since the Kingdome of heauen is not meate nor drinke but righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost labour not for the meâ—te that perisheth nor be drunke with wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit and pray for the meat that endureth to euerlasting life Lord euermore giue vs this meat For his glorious beauty shall be as a fading flower Such similitudes as this of a flower illustrate most commonly the common frailtie of our mortalitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad flesh is grasse Hom. Isay 40. and all the grace thereof is as the flower of the field But here it notes a violent calamitie not of one or a few but both of Prince and people Now if men fading like flowers may remember vs that we are men kingdomes fading like flowers should teach vs that wee are wormes and no men and in a world where heauen and earth wax old as doth a garment no maruell though kingdomes come to ruine Sic omnia verti Cernimus atque altas assumere robor a Gentes That Image in Daniel doth preach it in plaine English This City Samaria and this kingdome Israel was emptied by deportation and captiuity the sudden inuasion the siege I must altogether omit It would aske too long time to stand vpon their banishment and losse of their sweet country their seruitude and losse of their sweeter libertie but the sweetnesse of all sweetnesses among them that bad any sparke of religion was the seruice of God well might they hang vp their harpes and weepe How should they sing a Song of the Lord in a strange Land Had a Gentile been banisht thither he had not been an exile but a Proselyte foelix exiliuÌ„ cuilocus ille fuit but for a Iew or a Samaritane t was far otherwise yet thus God remooueth his owne Candlesticks rather suspending his owne worship then suffering sinneâ— such as these are vnpunished his executioners were Salmanazar with a swarme of barbarous Assyrians See heere againe for I can but point at heads how such sinnes as these make men out-lawes depriuing them of Gods protection and subiecting them to Tyrants Isai 42. whose mercies are cruelties Who gaue Iacob
one Iudge faâ—le the King can ordaine another but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we saw we witnes now no Prince vnder the sunne can make mee see that which I did not see none can create a witnesse and when hee is made omnipotencie it selfe cannot destroy him because it implyeth contradiction to make a summarie collection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euery man can best iudge of that which he knoweth I might haue inserted without any fraud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For witnesses are Iudges of the fact Now they that are without know not what is done at home therfore there is roome in all consistories for houshold testimonies Such a case for all the world is wisedomes case 1. Cor. 2 14 The naturall man knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God there is a deniall of the act neither can hee know them the habite is there excluded A reprobate may lend wisedome sometimes a voyce but it is either fained with a damnable reseruation of some towzing equiuocation in his heart or if his heart be of his lips opinion it is only of Gods and Christs power after a conflict arrest racking coÌ„uictioÌ„ of coÌ„science forced extorted like that of Iulian Vicisti Galilaee or of the MagiciaÌ„s in Egypt Exod. 8.19 This is the finger of God but a true voluntarie confession of Christ their Redeemer proceeds from the mouth of children onely Matth. 16.17 Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Iona for flesh and blood hath not reuealed it vnto thee but my Father which is in heauen He which opened Simons heart to powre in that happie learning vntied Simons mouth to powre out that happie language Simon said Thou art that Christ the Sonne of the liuing God And as no man can see the Sunne without the Sunnes light 1. Cor. 12. So no man can say Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost which words I am not the first who with distinction of the manner hath restrained to the spirit of regeneration So that I may binde vp this point with an Historians censure touching the most honourable acknowledgement that euer was yeelded vnto mortall man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he said it Valâ—riuâ— Magnus honos sed scholâ tenus It is a great honour but within that schole the same in effect with this Wisedome is iustified but of her children We maruaâ—le not at all because as we neuer saw man distinguish right from wrong that had not either some rule in his hand or at least some notion of a rule in his minde so to speake in Tullies words Iudicare quis sit sapiens vel maximè videtur esse sapientis To iudge who is a wise man belongeth chiefly to a wise man Well is it then prouided by diuine dispensation that wisedome may take her deponents at home otherwise who would not feare abroad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that either she should proue non-suite for want of euidence or for lacke of compurgators excommunicate Such a vile and contumelious conceit hath that part of the world entertained of her and all her handmaides which hath most need of her all her handmaids What S. Paul 1. Cor. 14. interpreteth a strange language the Prophet Isai 28.11 called the flowtes and mockeries of a language Wee must not imagine that it fareth better with learning then with a language let it be strange be sure it will be ridiculous Aâ—t hath none other enemie to speake of but ignorance for when the first rudiments thereof can take no root in barren and vnblest vnderstandings difficultie doth beget desperation and desperation forsooth is turned into iudgement iudgement ends with condemnation E◠〈◊〉 3. cap. 12. Liciâ—ius his wide mouth is open to decree though his vnskilfull hand cannot subscribe to his owne decree That good letters are a venom and a pestilence but not to torment him heere who lyeth tormented elsewhere in our owne time that we may not insult vpon the common peoples simplicitie to whom Diuinitie seemes heresie and ministers a kind of coniurers nor yet discouer our owne bodily fathers nakednesse whose best definition of knowledge is a pretty shift fora yonger brother to liue by neuer were there more deuils in Iulian then there are Iulians in one of our English patrons who chose rather to â—eaâ—â— the blind for a little execrable gaine then to be led by them that can see which in Augustine his iudgement were their chiefest happinesse Non possunt stulti beatius viuere quam si seruiant sapientibus Fooles are neuer so happie as when they serue wisemen 12. De vtil credendi I am not my selfe beholding to the cunning of Apolonius for the Dialect of these Harpyes Yet many a sillie Leuite either imprisoned or indebted or impouerished bewraieth their vnconscionable couetousnes when a man hath serued for meat and drinke a suit of apparell and ten shekels of siluer his master Micah peraduenture brings him into some Benefice as Agrippa came into the world not after the common fashion yet must hee warne his seruants teach his children waite vpon his Iupiter and watch his Capitoll hauing no more tithe-corne himselfe then will serue to feede a poore goose of the Capitoll As I neuer read my selfe one line in my life why the grace of God or reason of a man should be subiected to such gracelesse and vnreasonable conditions so doe I not maruaile at you my reuerend elder brethren who weare out your seates and your selues in these Nurseries so long to the manifest reproche of all vnlettered Church robbers Heere would I stay were I as you like the Creeple by the poole side vntill Christ himselfe did come and cure me without water since none will throw me into the waters or rather since the waters haue lost their vertue and will doe no good now adayes except they be stirr'd by more Angels then one And you my brethren who notwithstanding such discouragements beyond these lower degrees ayme at an higher which they get to themselues 1. Tim. 3.15 whosoeuer minister wel think not the testimoniall of this renownd Vniuersitie nor any of the reuerend Bishops seales no nor the Donation of Ecclesiasticall graces from aboue which are enough to proue you wisedomes messengers an authenticall commendation to the people except besides all these you bring along an innocent and vnrebukeable conuersation which may professe by silence that you be Wisedomes Children The least experience may teach the youngest probationer in our calling as well as the Author De duplici martyrio in Cyprian Efficacius est vitae quà m linguae testimonium Men are sooner perswaded by our liues then by our words Would you see them both in one person at one time compared Looke vpon Fernando preaching by the way side neere Armagutium in the fourteenth booke of Petrus Maffeius his Historie where when a Barbarian did spit in his face and he notwithstanding onely wiping it away with his handkerchiefe held on his speach
The wickednesse of Elies house shall not be purged with sacrifice for euer the next Chapter Vers 14. The Apostle 1. Iohn 5. termes this sinne a sinne vnto death meaning vnto death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that fearefull addition I say not that a brother shall pray for it Of those it is said The Lord would slay them and if a man sinne as they sinned against the Lord Who shall intreate for him This generall Apostacie wherein a man and all that is in him totus fals from God and all that belongs to him à toto for a time beyond all times for all effects of sinfull perseuerance in totum shall neuer be forgiuen Matth. 12. The Schooles yeeld a reason of this vnpardonablenesse peraduenture though the speculation bee curious some may quickely conceiue it the defect is pardonable where the will may pretend feare of excesse A sinne of ignorance is pardoned as Pauls persecution was because a man may affect too much knowledge with Adam and a sinne of infirmitie as Peters deniall is pardoned because a man may affect too much power and soueraigntie with the Angels but a sinne of malice is vnpardonable because a man can neuer affect too much loue I remember Bernard vpon the Canticles hath a pleasing straine in proouing that there is nothing but loue wherein a man may contend with God himselfe But the plainest reason why this sinne is incurable is because it striues against the cure as a mad man wounded will not suffer his wounds to bee bound vp but fights with the Phisitian or Surgion To draw towards a conclusion The partition Wall is taken downe the Vaile of the Temple rent the Temple it selfe with all the discipline of the Temple is abolished Christians now are all Priests Apoc. 1. Witnesse their separation from the world they are a chosen generation witnesse their dedication vnto God They are saith Peter a royall Priesthood The very bridles of the Horses as we reade in the end of Zacharie haue vnder the new Testament the same inscription which was vpon the high Priests forehead Holinesse to the Lord. From the top of these high prerogatiues wee may fall if we doe fall more deeply and dangerously then euer did these sonnes of Eli these Priests of Israel yea Iulian and Latomus and Ecebolus and Franciscus Spiera and many hundreds more might wee send effectuall summons to the dead would quickly resolue vs that a man may proceed in sinne beyond all comfort in his owne conscience being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 damned of his owne selfe Tit. 3 11. Beyond all interest in the Churches deuotion Thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift vp crie or prayer for them neyther intreat me for I will not heare thee Ieremie 7. Beyond all claime vnto Christs satisfaction it shall neuer bee forgiuen Matth. 12. Wherefore with humblenesse of spirit and trembling consideration of all tentations keepe your selues betimes and a farre off beloued from the terrour and amazement of this hopelesse inquirie Who shall make request for vs Whether you pronounce iudgement as Iudges or assist and learne iudgement as Iustices or debate and open iudgment as Lawyers or enquire as Iurors or depose as witnesses thinke that your soules best health and spirituall constitution consists in your integritie the least cracke therein a great Diuine cals solutionem continui The Apostle before him called it a shipwracke when this shipwracke is once made out runnes all loue of God So much euery man weighes so much euery man is worth as hee loueth God Amor meus pondus meum When this is once gone and wee bee brought to the balance no wonder if like Baltasar we be found too light no wonder though the weight of Reuerence and the weight of Authoritie depart from vs no wonder if hee who powres contempt vpon Princes make vs though wee were as great as Antiochus euen such as hee is called Dan. 12. a vile person Therefore as you loue your liues and loue your soules throughout all the transitorie temporarie momentanie course of this world euermore preserue the life of your liues and soule of your soules your integritie You haue now heard the speech of a Iudge and Priest of Israel opened by a Priest before Iudges of Israel if I haue failed in shewing the dutie of a Iudge God I hope and you will pardon mine vnfained desire to doe the duetie of a Priest and as you are receiued in the common opinion right Honourable I speake it for your future incouragement not for any flattering incroachment as you are receiued and renowned for great learning and patience so I pray God direct your learning where I haue beene defectiue to your owne soules instruction But for your patience let my freedome and boldnesse of speech this once so farre forth ingrosse it that there may bee none left in store for those offences against which I haue spoken and I haue spoken Most gracious God louing Father grant that thy holy Word may teach vs grant that thy holy Spirit may work thy word into vs grant that thy holy Son who sits at thy right hād may make intercession and assure vs of that intercession which hee makes for vs that wee may put a difference twixt sinne and sinne that wee may make a conscience of all sinne that we may preserue our integritie that we may neuer bee brought to this comfortlesse perplexitie Who shall intreate for vs A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLS CROSSE ZACH. 5.4 I will bring it forth saith the Lord of Hostes and it shall enter into the house of the thiefe and into the house of him that falsely sweareth by my Name and it shall remaine in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber therof and stones thereof AMongst those diuers manners wherein God at sundry times spake by the Prophets of olde doctrine vocall predictions were vsually sealed either with ocular or spirituall representations And though wee might imagine Zachary who succeeded in the later times altogether vntaught by predecessours other Seers in Israel yet his owne personall experience could not choose but acquaint him with this liuely methode of Illumination For being as Iustin Martyr truely iudgeth transported in an extasie First he beheld a man riding on a redde Horse doubtlesse Christ himselfe readie prest and vp in armes for his Church then foure hornes foure belike of the Churches chiefest enemies next a man with aline in his hand a type of the Cities building after that a contention betweene our High Priest Iehosuah and Satan his and our maine aduersarie In the Chapter immediately precedent the riches of Gods Spirit vnder the similitude of a golden Candlesticke Thus as Argus his head in the Poet was full of eyes in the face and former part of this prophecie wee finde nothing almost but visions The last and neerest in affinitie to my present message is the semblance of a flying Booke not like the bookes wee reade bound vp
you know is generall and therefore when Malachy concluding his Prophesie sends vs to the Law we may not rashly conceiue that hee â—oncludes the Prophets since by it is meant as Saint Austen noteth 15. de Trinitate 17. and wee finde it true many times the whole Testament Galath 4. Genesis is the Law Iob 15. the Psalter is the Law Rom. 3. both it and Esay is the Law all is but eyther a repetition or exposition or application of the Law therefore all is and may be termed the Law the Gospell it selfe the Law of Faith whose true propertie is to reioyce the heart not at all excepted Psal â—9 But Hoseah may some reply was too early vp to brooke this acception in the dayes of Vâ—iah long before much of this ample Law was written Therefore obserue that you finde the word originall in the future time and Enal age indeed yet not a bare Enallage without signification but importing in generall sentences as I am taught by the best Hebricians Drusius Tremelius vse and continuance of the matter in such a sort vttered so that by I will write instead of I haue written is vnderstood the course that God hath taken his custome of writing which customarie manner of disclosing diuine knowledge vnto mankinde howsoeuer licensed enough at the first choise yet by the successiue practise of men inspired from aboue may farther appeare more and more authorised more and more sanctified For Moses Samuel Esdras with the rest the same men who for their own times were Gods holy Spokes-men approued themselues likewise for the perpetuall benefit of aftertimes his full Secretaries And the same Spirit which did perswade Ieremy to receiue that which God did command moued Baruch no doubt to write that which Ieremy did dictate That I may not single out the Prophets one after another but ground the declaration hereof vpon some consent I take that modest collection in Caluins Preface vpon Esay to be very probable that it was their familiar vsage as hee there and others elsewhere from Abac. 2. and Esay 8. coniecture to fasten the summe and abridgement of their errands to the dores of the Temple which after some few dayes view was taken downe laid vp and kept in the treasurie for a sacred monument Heere might I stand vpon the brinke of this former couenant would I but listen with affection to some mens glosses vpon Gods promise Ier. 13. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts vsed indeed for assurance of pentifull grace vnder the Gospell which the Spirit maketh the administration of righteousnes giuing with the precept power of performance farre aboue the letter of the Law the ministration of condemnation but they abuse it as contayning an extreme difference in respect of writing betwixt them both or rather if it be any ground of their argument a plaine opposition From the strict seuerity whereof it would follow that nothing should bee inuisibly written in the old nothing visibly written in the new Testament wheras contrariwise Saint Paul is a witnesse aboue exception that the very Gentiles Rom. 1. had the Law of God written in their hearts And this blessed draught of truth written in inke and paper without except all Christian experience be but a delusion hath been and still is not an enemy to the Spirits secret printing but a subordinate meanes to ingraue the same Characters more deepely in the mind and conscience For which cause the Apostle 1. Cor. 3. writeth outwardly of this inward kinde of writing wherefore I trust we may fairely proceede ouer hence to the new Testament as from strength to strength notwithstanding this barrelesse barre of seeming separation betwixt them The writers accounted the first on this side are the Apostles who in the most ancient Synode and therefore not vpon the motion of any priuate braine sent letters vnto Antioch by Iudas and Silas who went with Paul and Barnabas and therfore not for want of trusty messengers wherin this was part of their stile Act. 15.28 It seemed good vnto the holy Ghost and to vs therfore the Spirit of Christ was among them The last in all mens account and suruiuor of all the rest is Saint Iohn who is commanded to write aboue tenne times in the Apocalips and towards the end of the Gospell he telleth vs that these things were written that wee might beleeue and that beleeuing wee might haue life through his Name From the first to the last as well for direction in the manner as suggestion of the matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God Not to betray distrust in a case apparent by the multitude of allegations or my mistake of you beloued c. whom I knowe to be farre from a froward Auditory let mee not looke so many learned iudgements againe in the face without blushing if I dare affirme that the Christian world hath deuised hitherto any instrument in reason fitter then letters cither for preseruation or propagation of Religion The first of these ends the Poets mistooke not though he appeale to Fame for Author of the deuice it selfe Phanices primi famae si creditur ausi Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris And our owne experience it grieues mee in this case that I should vrge experience our owne experience doth daily teach vs that the best Preachers words are but fleeting sounds mouing more perhaps for the present yet no sooner spoken but gone and almost forgotten vnlesse they bee taken aliue as it were while they are flying in the snare of this most profitable inuention then indeed the losse of the eare is restored to the eye and the certaine patterne of truth becomes secured in mens memories When I found in some Antiquaries that the Reede hath been vsed for a pen and that the Canes which grew in the banks of Nilus ministred matter for paper I remembred those Aegyptian frogs in Aelian who taking in their mouthes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saue themselues from being deuoured by the water Serpent the rather because me thought it might be a fit embleme to shew that the weakest conceits taking hold of writing cannot bee consumed by reuolution of yeares whose Hyeroglyphicke was a serpent And as the tyrannie of time which like Saturne would deuoure his owne children is by this art greatly beguiled so Heretikes also who winde themselues into the Church as marginall notes oft creepe into the text are refuted and reiected by recourse vnto this originall You may be told of Pythagoras and as those Pagan * Druides Priests of France that in their rules abhorred writing But where are their precepts how many footsteps are there now remaining of their learning their very names in these dayes had beene vnknowne but for writing and happily their owne opinions been vnwritten but that they were in their owne times accounted Paradoxes But was not this the discipline of Gods