Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A00726
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A learned sermon preached before the King at VVhitehall, on Friday the 16 of March: by M. Doctor Field: Chaplaine to his Maiestie; Learned sermon preached before the King at Whitehall, on Friday the 16 of March.
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Field, Richard, 1561-1616.
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1604
(1604)
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STC 10855; ESTC S115098
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14,831
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44
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partakers of it For the Apostle Saint Paule protesteth against this frensie saying Knowe you not that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God And againe bee not deceaued neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor couetous persons nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdome of God Touching this matter there were foure dangerous errors in the primitiue Church the first of Origen who thought that all euen the deuils themselues after certaine reuolutions of times shall 〈◊〉 saued the second of them who not daring â—ing to proceed so farre as Origen did â—et thought that all men shall in the end be saued as by fire The third that not â—ll men but all Christian men notwithâ—tanding whatsoeuer wickednes Schisâ—e or Heresie shall in the end bee saued The fourth that not all Christians but â—ll Catholique Orâ—hodoxe and right â—eleuing Christians shall in the end bee â—ued as by fire holding the foundatiâ—n of a right profession This last error â—any of the fathers fell into as appeareth â—y very pregnant places in Hierome and â—hers tending to that purpose and by â—ustines owne confession where hee â—riteth against it calling it a mercifull â—ror of some Catholique diuine Against this error Austine opposeth himselfe but very fearfully professing 〈◊〉 he will not peremptorilie denie but at a mitigation or suspension of the â—â—nishments of the wicked may be obâ—â—ned after they are departed out of this â—â—rld so that their punishments bee â—nfessed to be eternall And if this will â—â— satisfie them from whom he is vnâ—ling to dissent he sayth that though men professing the faith being wholy wicked and voyde of loue cannot bee saued as by fire but must perish eternally yet hee dareth not deny but that men that doe beleiue aright and haue loue though mingled with much imperfection may bee saued by a kinde â—â— purging fire after this life which whether it be so or not he cannot tell Thus wee see in what sort Austine was driuen vpon the opinion of purgatory and how doubtfully he speaketh â—â— it yet was he the first that euer spake â—â— this kinde of purgatorie in the Churcâ— of God So doubtfull a beginning haâ—â— this article of the Romanistes faith whâ—â— yet rest not in the iudgment of this fâ—ther that only some lighter sinnes aâ— wasted and consumed away in this puâ—ging fire but imagine that the iusticed God in it is satisfied and the punishmeâ—â— of mortall sinnes suffered the faulâ— anâ— not the punishment being remitted 〈◊〉 this life which things Austine neâ— dreamâ— of But to returne to the wordes of the Apostle Saluation is sayde to be commâ—â— â— absolute vnto all but vnto them that â—re called and sanctified of GOD and â—serued in Christ Iesus As in nature the best things things â—f necessitie are eyther absolutely and â—qually or at least in some mediocritie â—mmon vnto all but thinges of ornaâ—ent delight are proper to some fewâ—â— is it in the matter of fayth and saluatiâ—â— Among the things of nature vvhat better then ayre fire water earth â—owers of raine the fruites of the fielde â—uses to dwell in garments to put on â—alth and strength of bodie length of â—yes comely proportion and statuâ—e body quicknes of sence sharpnes of â—â— and faithfulnes of memory the vse â—â—d benefit of these is in some sort comâ—on vnto all and the poore man often â—oyeth them with more contentment â—n the rich neyther is there any man â—nd to be so great a Tyrant as to deâ— to enioy these common benefits aâ—â— but gold pearles precious stones â—t aray and thinges of that kinde are 〈◊〉 peculiar lot portion of some few likewise in the matter of fayth and grace the Law the Prophets the couenaunts of Grace the sufferings of Châ—ist regeneration the Gospell the giuing of the Spirit Faith Hope Loue and eternall Saluation are common vnto all that are called and sanctified of GOD noâ— as Manna in a certaine measure but euery one taketh as much of them as heâ— will the gyfts of tongues myracles prophecie the degrees of ministerie 〈◊〉 like are proper to some few VVhen the Law was giuen vppoâ— Mount Sina Moses the Elders onâ—ly went vp the people though prepâ—red and sanctified to meete the Lorde had boundes set vnto them and migâ—â— not so much as touch the Mountaine Moses only entred into the clowde coâ—muned with GOD and receiued froâ— him the tables of the Law but vvhâ— Moses came downe from God the Laâ— the Couenaunts the Sacrifices ceremâ—nies and all that Moses learned of Goâ— was imparted and communicated to 〈◊〉 the people Thus much of the Apostles diligenâ—â— in writing The matter whereof he wâ—â—teth followeth It was necessary for me to writ vnto you to exhort you to contend c. In the matter whereunto the Apostle exhorteth them three things are to be obserued For first they must contend secondly they must contend earnestly thirdly they must contend for the maintenance of the faith It may seeme a thing very needles to exhort men to contend For the world is and euer was to full of contentions The contentions of Christians haue scandalized many they haue beene the cause of the ouerthrow of many famous Churches and the remouing of those golden Candlestickes in the midst whereof the Sonne of God someâ—ime walked So that all good men disswade from contentions and seeke to extinguish the flames of that fire which hath alreadie wasted and burnt downe so many so worthy parts of the house of God Austine vnderstanding of the bitter invectiues that Hierome and Ruffinus had published one against another breaketh forth into these words expressing the sorrow of his hart Hei mihi qui vos â—licubi simul inuenire non possum fortè â— nunc moueor vt doleo vt timâ—â— prâ—cidâ—rem ad pedes vestros flerem quantum vâ—lâ—rem rogarem quantum amarem 〈◊〉 vnumquenque vestrum pro seipso nunc vtrumque pro alterutro et pro alijs et mâ—ximè infirmis pro quibus Christus mortâ—â—s est qui vos tanquam in theatro huius vâ—taâ— cum magno suo periculo spectant ne de vobis ea scribendo spargatis quae quandoque concordes delere non poteritis Woe is me saith he that I can no where meet with you two togeather for if I could as now I stand affected as I sorrowe for these beginnings and feare what will be the issues of things so ill begunne I would fall at â—our feete and weepe till I had dryed vp the Fountaine of teares I would entreate you so long as the affection of loue that raigneth in me could suggest vnto me one word of entreatie noâ— entreating and beseeching each of you for himselfe now either of you for other and for others most of all the weake for whom Christ dyed which not without great periâ—â— behold you in these your contentions brought vpon the stage of this world to be gazed on I would entreate you not to publish
they find amongst vs they obserue wherin each man is most likely to excell and imploy him accordingly some in writing some in reading some in preaching some in disputing they haue some for Schoole diuinitie some for positiue â—ome for the studie of the Fathers and courses of antiquitie But with vs all theâ— things are neglected and therefore 〈◊〉 goe before vs not in the goodnes of 〈◊〉 cause but in the good and wise managing of an euill cause For I dare vndertake that if a choyce be made and meâ— may haue those helps encouragemenâ— that are fit for men so imployed this nationall Church will yeeld men more thâ—â— matchable with the greatest of the aduerse faction in all those courses of learning wherein they seeme most to excell But to returne to the words of the Apostle we must contend not for thingeâ— indifferent not mistaking one another but for the maintenaunce of the fayth Aâ—â— the name of hope sometimes signifieth the things we hope for as when the Apostle saith If we had hope onely in this life we were of all men the most miserable sometime the desire and expectation of the same thinges so the name of faytâ— sometimes signifieth the act or habite of beleeuing sometimes that sum of Christian doctrine the conclusions whereaâ— are not demonstrable by reason but 〈◊〉 he belieued by faith This doctrine of fayth least we mistake it is described by two circumstances It was once deliuered and it was deliuered to the Saints It is said to haue been once deliuered to expresse the difference betweene the manner of the diuine reuelation formely and since Christ appeared For before the heauenly truth was reuealed not all at once but in diuers sorts and degrees according as the time wherein the reuelation vvas made was neerer or more remote from the appearing of Christ but in the last times God spake by his owne sonne and bâ— him at once deliuered all that that shal be knowne concerning himselfe till the ends of the world So that we which are Christians must beâ—â—eue nothing but that which was deliuered at the first beginning of Christianitie So that the error of the Montanists is to be reiected which imagined that Christ reuealed not all the mysteries of his kingdome to Peter on whom he promised to build his Church to Iohn the disciple he â—o deerely loued which leaned on his breast at the mysticall supper and to the rest of that blessed company but reserued many things till the spirit descended vppon Montanus and his prophetesses as also the phrensie of those heretickes in Fraunce which affirmed that as the Father was author of the old Testament the Sonne of the New so the holy Ghost in the last times must be the author of a third which is a law of loue which because it is the last to continue for euer to haue none after it may as they suppose be rightly termed the eternall Gospell so abusing the place of the reuelations of Saint Iohn But passing by these errors of phanaticall and vaine men in that the faith is said to haue beene once deliuered we obserue two things the fâ—rst that that onelie is true which was deliuered at the first For howsoeuer many things be more fullie distinctly and expresly knowne in latter times then they were formerly yet they were deliuered at the first infolded in generalities out of which they are afterwards more distinctly and expresly deduced euen as a child when it is first borne hath all those parts of body that euer after it hath though not expressed and enlarged as afterwards they are as Vincentius Lerinensis most aptly noteth Secondly we may obserue that vvhatsoeuer may be proued to be most auncient is vndoubtedly true as being immediatly inspired from the spirit of truth Quod primum verissimum the truth is before the counterfeite the thing before the imitation of the thing the habite before priuation and good before euill the good seede was first sowed and then the enuious man came et superseminauit zizania and sowed tares where the good seede was before We deny not therefore but most willingly graunt vnto our aduersaries that Antiquitie is a note of the true Church not as if that Church were alwaies purest and most vncorrupt which first reâ—eiued the fayth and hath longest contiâ—ued in the profession of it for then the Aethiopian and Asian Churches would proue themselues as pure or purer then â—ny Churches in the world but because â—hat is the truest and purest Church which holdeth that doctrine and discipline that was first deliuered The Romanists are wont to stand much vppon this note of Antiquitie but hovv wil they proue they haue the faith which was first deliuered They proue it because they once had it and it cannot be shewed when they departed from it For aunswer wherevnto we say that in many things we can shew when the alteration beganne For who knoweth not that Charles the Emperour with threates and punishments forced all the Clergie in the Prouinces subiect vnto him to forsake the ancient formes of diuine seruice publique administration they had formerly vsed and to receiue the Romane order and that the Spanyards as beeing most stiffe in all theyr courses held their owne rites till in the time of Gregory the seauenth they were forced by Alphonsus the sixt to leaue them which they did not without great sorrow expressed with teares And though we could not preciselie note the time when theyr errors abuses entered into the Church yet the consequent were not good that therefore they haue not departed from the first and originall puritie For there are and haue beene many errors in the Church not onely so iudged by vs but confessed to be so by them the precise time of the beginning whereof is not knowne The opinion of the necessitie of giuing the Sacrament of the Lords body vnto infants and the practice of the same continued in the Latine Church as Maldonatus confesseth sixe hundred yeeres and is retained in all the Orientall Churches to this day This was an error and yet neyther the time when it began nor the author of it knowne The opinion that none shall see GOD nor enter into heauen till the resurrection was the error of many of the auncient yet the author of it the time when it beganne is vnknowne The opinion of two resurrections the one of the iust the other of the wicked there beeing betweene the one and the other aboue a thousand yeres was an error amongst the auncient the Author of â—t and the time when it beganne is not â—nowne To leaue these things that were auncient and to come to the things now priuayling in the Church of Rome it vvas the old custome that the Sacrament of the Lords body and blood was giuen to all that were present at the time of the mysticall blessing consecration and operation all the Catechâ—meni poenitents not communicants missis et exclusis being