love they have forsaken like vow-breakers and adulterers They can be content to acknowledge this to bee the true Church and yet in a pharisaicall humour they will not sticke to cut themselves from it Some for filthy lucre teaching such things as they ought not as the Priest of Bell and Hyminaeus and Philetus and Demas departing for the love of this present world And as Paulus Samosatenus gaping for preserment from Zenobia Queene of Arabia Some for ambition as Donatus because he could not get a Bishoprickei â—n Carthage And Novatiâ— missing the cushion for another in Italy And Arrius greatly stomacking the matter because his schoole-fellow Eustathius was Ierome in 13. Zach consecrated Bishop of Pontus and not he Some as sicke as ever they can hold of selfe-love their very conceit is their Idol The covetous man worships his money and the Hereticke his opinion both like to the Athenians worshipping an unknowne God Simon Magus said hee was the great power of God the Father to the Samaritans the Sonne to the Iewes and the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles Some amongst us like the Manichees Tertul. who take their name from Manna all that they say is Angels food Some like Montanus who said he was the Comforter none edifie but they Some like Novatus calling himselfe Moses and his brother Aaron their Pastor and Elder Some like Donatus there is no Clem. Alex. Church but in their Affrica causing our charitie to wither like grasse on the house top and truth to bee disguised like Ieroboams muffled wife hardly to be known and our concord to fall in pieces like sand and to be cut in the head like the greeke letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was an harlot you know would not suffer Salomon to cut in pieces her living child yet these miscreants can indure to divide their ever-living Saviour Some hold of Paul some of Apollos some of Cephas who if they had any grace might at length heare their Saviour to complaine I was torne with speares rent with nailes shed my blood and laide downe my life ut te mihi conjungerem Aug. con Ar. tu dividis me to joyne thee to my selfe and thou dividest mee Christ is the head of the Church and the Church is the fulnesse of his body as they are not to be divorced so they should not bee divided The Olive Tree must be left with her fatnesse the Iudg 9. 9. Fig-tree with her sweetnesse the Vine with her wine that cheereth the heart of man and the bramble bush forsooth must bee annointed King that men may trust under the shadow of her branches As if wee could gather grapes of thornes or figges of thistles It is impossible to gather wholesome grapes sound doctrine good life true worship dutifull subjection of thornes mutinous mindes turbulent spirits throats full of adders poyson feete swift to shed blood Or figges of thistles bread for hungry soules certaine for doubting spirits comfort for pined consciences they are both full of stinging prickes malice and melancholly humours and rumours conceit and deceit disorder and discord madnesse and badnesse Thistles indeed that have in their tops flowers like wooll but are tossed to and fro of every winde Their libels are more then standerous their scoffes more then histrionicall and their calumniations more then Sycophanticall They would bee petty Popes in their parishes Princes in their priviledges and Neroes after their five and few yeeres governement Vtinam abscindantur say I with the Apostle I wold to God they were even cut off that thus disquiet you They pretend that the zeale of Gods house hath even eaton them up when indeede the zeale of their owne houses would eate up Gods house Zealous Peter would faine build three tabernacles one for Christ one for Moses and one for Elias In that hee wot not what hee said hee was wrapt Zealous Boanerges Iames and Iohn those Sonnes of thunder at one time would faine have commanded lightning from heaven to destroy the unbeleeving Samaritans at another time they desired to sit the one at the right hand the other at the left hand of Christ in his Kingdome In neither of which knew they of what spirit they were or what they asked Christ grants his Disciples no such busie warrants as Antichrist Et ad quid perditio isthaec said Iudas in his thriftie zeale This oyntment might have beene sold and given to the poore But wee all know he was a purse-bearer Zealous Iewes crucifie the Lord of light as a blasphemer making himselfe the Sonne of God And zealous Pharises will part his Garment amongst them even that tunicam inconsutilem that seamelesse coate the Vnity of the faith and pretend all conscience without science they will loose life and living and yet not for righteousnesse sake These are the strongest bolts they shoote upon the suddaine and the choisest arrowes in all their quiver All things they Rom. 11. say are lawfull for them but all things are not expedient Which being spoken by the Apostle of things indifferent nothing at all concerne matters of necessity Fides docet quid debet charitas quid decet Our faith shewes us what is lawfull our charity what is expedient And therefore the ordinances of the Church are necessary quoad benè esse being the fosterers of faith and cherishers of charity The second arrow which is feathered with folly shafted with errour and armed with blindnesse is this Stand fast in the liberty which Gal. 5. yee have received in Christ Iesus and bee brought no more into the bondage of beggerly rudiments Let them proove that they are the traditions of men unwashed hands the bondage of the world and not the wholsome discipline of the true Church of God inspired by the holy-Ghost warranted by Scriptures admitted by Councels and approoved by presidents and wee shall quickly yeeld Otherwise it will bee told them their colorable insinuations and metaphoricall shaddowes à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter The ceremonies Leviticall of the Law are abolished Ergo our Injunctions are abhominable Such men such matter It is well knowne the Aple speakes there of justification by workes and faith and not of the ceremonies of the Gospell And yet forsooth these men in substance of religion can come and build with us as did the men of Samaria by Zerubbabel But to steale away the hearts of the people as Absolon did Proclaiming fasts as did Iezabel but to massacre Naboth Devouring Widdowes houses in pretence of long prayer they kisse like Iscariot but they kill like Iudas If reasonable and judicious men would not willfully suffer themselves to be hood-winked and flattered in their folly they might easily discerne these Gibeonites for all their rent sackes old shooes dryed and moulded bread I beare them record they have a zeale indeed but not according to knowledge I could rather wish they would have an inoffensive conscience both towards God and Man then
THE MIRROR OF pure Devotion OR THE DISCOVERY of Hypocrisie Delivered in sixe severall Sermons in the Cathedrall Church of Chichester by way of an exposition of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican By R. B. Preacher of the Word at Chidham in the County of Sussex 1 Corinth 2. 14. The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Verse 15. But he that is spirituall discerneth all things yet he himselfe is judged of no man Aut appare quodes aut esto quod appares LONDON Printed by Iohn Legatt for Richard Thrale dwelling at the Crossâ—-â—eyes by Pauls gate 16â—5 TO THE WORSHIPFVLL RIGHT worthy and his much honoured Mecaenas William Drury Esquire one of the Gentlemen of His Majesties most honorable Privy Chamber all increase of temporall with endlesse succession of eternall happinesse Iámque opus exegi AS Ovid concludes his Poetry so may I begin my Divinity I am at length delivered of that birth which mine unfained zeale to Gods glory mine humble service to his Church and my respective observance unto your worship have beene this many yeeres conceiving in mee and whereof neither the barrennesse of the wombe nor the hardnesse of the travell nor the unskilfulnesse of the midwife nor the rough handling of some ill disposed Gossips could being so graciously assisted by the Almightie make mee miscarry How timely and comely the fruit may be the predominant End I ayme at the glory of God gives mee sufficient boldnesse and the two subordinates my service in generall to the Church in particular to your worship give mee sufficient incouragement to present it to the eye of the world wherein if it shall finde but churlish entertainment I shall not marvell I know sufficiently the world cannot brooke its nature the discovery of an hypocrite or a Pharisee deserves no lesse then a Crucifige at the worlds hands that is so full fraught with both But I know againe there be some in the world that are called out of the world because they are not of the world that will bid my child good wellcome such as leane neither to the right hand of Schisme nor the left of heresie but worship the Father in spirit and in truth amongst which small number your worship is well noted and approoved for sincere and eminent To these therefore under your worships protection I desire to commend my first fruit with Saint Iohns blessing in his 1. Epist 4. 4. Little babe thou art of God and therefore thou shalt overcome the world for greater is he that is in thee then he that is in the world So he that is in thee keepe thee in him and he that hath overcome the world for thee defend thee from the world and from the men of the world whose teeth are speares and arrowes and their tongue a sharpe sword And the God of peace tread Sathan under thy feet shortly Amen Your Worships in all humble and true-hearted observance alwayes to bee commanded in the Lord Iesus RO BALL THE MIRROR OF PVRE DEVOTION OR THE DISCOVERIE OF HYPOCRISIE Luke 18. â— Also hee spake this parable unto certaine which trusted in themselves that they were just or righteous and despised others OVR Blessed Saviour having in the former part of this Chapter most powerfully exhorted and perswaded his disciples to the undeniable and never-ceasing importunitie of Faith by a resemblance traduced from an importunate widdow and almost inexorable Iudge beginnes now to draw them to humility of heart in confession of sinne by a parable of two men a Publican become the sonne of God and a Pharisee the servant of Mammon Better is a penitent offender then a presumptuous justiciarie for in that the one humbleth himselfe hee is no longer an offender Every valley shall bee exalted and in that the other swelleth with an imaginarie opinion of selfe-conceited purity he is no longer righteous Every mountaine and hill shall bee brought lowe Esa 40. 4. It was long since rung in the eares of curiositie presuming to Eras Ap. out-reach humane capacitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God every day pluckes downe high things and lifes up base things Our God is in heaven saith David and doth whatsoever pleaseth him As God judgeth not after the outward appearance like unto man so his proceedings are quite contrary to the course of the world they grow from a little to more from a base meane there amounts a mighty matter The world it selfe was made of nothing The eternall Word it selfe was compared to a slender graine of mustard seede Christ himselfe came out of Galile a contemptible citie and heere a penitent Publican is justified rather then a presumptuous Pharisee But the course of the world is altogether retrograde like Ahaz his diall it runs backeward from greater to lesse from ostentation to confusion Balshazar in his princely royaltie at supper but in the hand-writing upon the wall he and his Monarchy numbred weighed and divided to others So here a fullswollen Pharisee all glorious in the sight of his owne eies but most odious and abominable in the sight of God The Saints preferment it seemes comes neither from the East nor from the West It is the Lord that judgeth whose eies are puritie whose eares jealousie Bern. whose word veritie whose hand equitie and whose daies eternitie Invocat pauper et exaudit Dominus flet miserabilis et flectitur misericors agnoscit Publicanus ignoscit et Christus The poore man cals upon and the Lord listens unto the miserable man mournes and the mercifull God is mooved the sinner confesses and the Saviour forgives Confessio salus animarum Amb. dissipatrix vitiorum restauratrix virtutum oppugnatrix Daemonum quid plura obstruit os inferni aperis portas Paradisi The confession of sins is the saving health of soules the dispersing of vice the repaire of vertue the overture of the Divel What shall I say more saith S. Augustine it stoppeth Aug. the very gulfe of hell and openeth unto us the everlasting doores of Heaven The whole Parable depends upon these foure Generalls The Preface The Parable it selfe The Event And the Application The Preface is set downe in this ninth verse 9. Also he spake this parable to certaine that trusted in themselves that they were just or righteous and despised others The Parable it selfe in the 10 11 12 and 13. verses 10. Two men went up into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee and the other a Publican 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himselfe thus God I thanke thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as that publican 12. I fast twice in the weeke I give tithes of all that I possesse 13. But the Publican standing afarre off would not lift up so much as his eies to heaven but smote his brest saying O God be mercifull to
murder upon his wife and children Percute percute ictu valido non enim debent molliteÌ„r tractari ea pectora quae tanti sceleris conscia extitêrunt Strike and strike valiantly for such corrupt hearts or breasts as these ought not to be favoured that are guiltie of such outragious and abominable wickednesse But to draw towards a conclusion of the first part which is the manner of the Publicans devotion Without question these three postures of his a mannerly distance in the Temple standing a farre off dejection of the countenance not prefuming so much as to lift up his eyes to heaven and smiting his hand upon his brest must needs bee true signes of hearty humiliation if heartily performed But let mee give you this Caveat by the way whosoever hee bee that shall so eagerly affect the outward Ceremony as not principally to intend the inward sincerity the non sum sicut caeteri will quickly steale upon that man and an arrogant conceipt of proud humility as was formerly premised even in these commendable gestures will spoile all the service For example sake The Ninivites Ion. 3. Proclaimed a fast and Ion. 3. put on Sackecloth from the greatest even to the least of them and God was so well pleased with it that hee repented him of the evill that hee said hee would doe unto them and he did it not The Israelites againe Isai 58. they fared Isal 58. as hardly and went as coursely as ever the Ninivites did and yet God was so infinitely displeased with them that he sleighted and altogether neglected their service whereupon they exclaime and cry out hand-smoothe upon him Wherefore have wee fasted and thou seest it not And punished our selves and thou regardest it not The Holy Ghost gives a reason of both in both places God saw the Ninevites workes but he saw nothing but shewes in the Israelites The one turned from their evill wayes the other followed their owne inventions The one fasted from sinne as well as from food Every man turned from his evill way saith the text and from the wickednesse that was in his hands the other when they fasted from food feasted on sinne whereupon the Lord by his Prophet most justly against them Is this the fast that I have have chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a day or hang downe his head like a Bull-rush or lye downe in Sackecloth and ashes Wilt thou call this an acceptable fast unto the Lord Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickednesse to take off the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed goe free and that yee breake every yoake Is it not to deale thy bread unto the hungry and that thou bring the poore that wander into thine house when thou seest the naked that thou clothe him and lude not thy selfe from thine owne flesh It seemes it is not the emptinesse of the craw nor the roughnesse of the garment nor the tumbling in ashes which are but outward signes of an inward Maroâ— is â— signia Teâ—t cause rather passiones quà m opera as one truely terms them passions then actions not sought or affected or studdied for but such as in sorrow or feare or some such like perturbations offer themselves and are consequent of their owne accords as helpes to expresse unto the world our inward dispositions I say none of all these simply considered in themselves can give any pleasure or contentment to the Almighty but the unfained sorrow of the heart and the true humility of the minde which these outward humiliations of the body give some assurance and testimony of So likewise stood the case with the Sacrifices of the old Law Nunquam in odoribus Sacrificiorum August delectatus est dominus nisi in side desiderio offerentis The sensible and ceremoniall handling of these sacrifices without the inward oblation of the heart with the other did but signifie was never accepted or approoved of God Without this how abhominable was the outward countenance or lineaments of the Israelites sacrifices Isai 1. Their Rammes their â—ai 1. fed Beasts their Bullockes their Lambes their Goates their incense their Sabbaths their new Moones their Festivals Alas the Searcher of all hearts knew this was but the dead carkasse of Religion without the quickning spirit and therefore he protesteth that he will have nothing to doe with them hee is full and over-full they are loathsome and burdensome and abhominable unto him How much more boldly then may I assirme of our sacrifices of Christianity under the Gospell or indeed but the very huskes of them without a faithfull and humble heart which is their Ioshuah and Captaine to goe in and out before them I may either speake mildly with Origen they Origen are but nutus tantum opus mutum bare ceremony and dumbe shew they have neither speech nor language For certainely the crouching of the body or the dejection of the countenance or the knocking of the brest or any other bodily exercise either within or without the Temple of itselfe profiteth nothing unlesse the inward operation of the spirit give life to quicken it Or to speake some thing more tartly with Lactantius They are not sacrifices Lact. but sacriledges robbing God of the better part and as Ieremy stiles the idle repetitions of the Iewes The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord this is the Temple of the Lord Verba mendaciâ— Lying words so may I these Opera mendacil Lying workes or of lesse substance yet Vmbrae mendacii Lying shaddowes so fraudulently handled and so hypocritically dissembled as if men went about to lye unto the Holy Ghost and to cheate if it were possible the Searcher of all hearts Would you know then how the Publicans postures may safely be performed in the Temple with a good conscience to the Servitor and a commendable grace unto service that all things may be done decently and in order then briefly thus The Philosopher compares the heart of man seated in the middest of the body to a Princely Monarch in the middest of his kingdome sitting in his chaire of State commanding as his subjects every facultie of the minde and every member of the body to doe him service saying to the foot goe and it goeth to the tongue speake this and it speaks it to the hand doe this and it doth it Now you know it is lawfull and just that the King should command the subject but no reason or conscience that the subject should command the King Whatsoever commendable postures then are performed by the privitie of the heart they are lawfully warranted by the King and they are thanke-worthy But if either the body shall bowe or the head droope or the hand smite and not the heart consent such postures as these must needs be preposterous altogether irregular and hypocriticall and whosoever shall looke for thanks or recompence for such fancies as these he doth