the Gospel of peace his ministers the Ambassadours of peace his natural Son the Author of peace his adopted sons the children of peace if then ye will be the sons of the most highest your endeavor must be this to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Consider what I say and the Lord give you wisdome and understanding in all things Finally to speake unto all and so to make an end of all seeing that we are all Tenants at will and must be thrust out of the doors of these earthly Tabernacles whensoever it shall please our great landlord to call us hence let us have our loines girt and our lampes continually burning that whensoever the Lord shal call us hence in the evening or in the morning at noon-day or at mid-night he may find us ready Happy is the man whom his Master when he comes shall find watching Let us every day sum up our accounts with God Ita aedificemus quasi semper victuri ita vivamus quasi cras morituri let us build as if we would ever live but let us live as if wee were ever ready to dye Then may every one of us in the integrity of heart and syncerity of conscience when the time of his departing is at hand say with the blessed Apostle If have fought a good fight and have finished my course I have kept the faith from hence forth is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Unto this God one eternall omnipotent and unchangeable Iehovah in essence three persons in manner of subsistence the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour and glory power might and majestie both now and forever more Amen Galathians 3. 10. As many as are of the workes of the Law are under the Cuurse for it is written cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to do them IN which words observe two things 1. A Doctrine 2. A Reason of the doctrine in the former part the reason in the latter I have spoken of the doctrine I purpose now to speake only of the reason for it is written c. wherein observe three things 1. It is to no purpose to begin a good course of life unlesse thou hold it out and continue till the end 2. It s not enough for a Christian to performe obedience to some of Gods precepts and to bear with himself wilfully in the breach of others Cursed is he that continueth not in all 3. That the rule of our obedience is no unwritten tradition but the written Word of God that are written in the booke of the Law But before I speak of these I gather from the connexion this conclusion That no man can in this life perfectly fulfill the Will of God it followeth thus because as it is written Cursed c. So it is written This doe and thou shalt live and the man that doth these things shall live in them So that the Apostle takes this for granted or else his argument is of no force this is evidently confirmed by many places of Scripture 1 Kings 8. 49. Eccles 7. 22. Psal 143. 2. Isa 64. 6. Acts. 15. 10. Acts. 13. 39. 1 Ioh. 1. 8. 2. It is confirmed by reason the first is drawn from the corruption of nature which is in the best Christians from which wee may thus argue he that consisteth of flesh as well as of Spirit cannoâ— fulfill the Law no not in his best actions but the best Christian that ever lived consisteth of flesh as wel as of Spirit therfore he cannot fulfill the law The minor hath been formerly proved The Major is plaine for as he is carnall he is sold under sinne The wisdome thereof is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Thus it is proved from the the death of Christ for if righteousnesse be by the workes of the Law then Christ dyed without a cause Gal. 3. 21. and if they which are of the law be heires then saith is made void and the promise is made of no effect Rom. 4. 14. for he came to fulfill the law Matth. 5. 17. which was impossible to be fulfilled of us in as much as it was weake because of the flesh Therefore God sent his sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh Rom. 8. 3. But the Romish Sophisters answer that this maketh against the Pelagians which were of opinion that a man might by the strength of nature fulfill the law not against them which hold that this abilitie comes from grace and that the good workes of a Christian proceed from Christ as the juice in the branches proceedeth from the Vine To this I answer 1. That neither the Pelagians nor these against whom the Apostle disputeth did altogether exclude grace and therefore if it be strong against them it will be of force against the Papists too 2. Their answer is grounded upon a false supposition as that the works of a Christian doe proceed wholly from Christ for they they doe in part proceed from the flesh and therefore though as they are the workes of the holy Ghost who applieth unto the faithfull the force and efficacie of Christs resurrection they be perfect yet in respect of the flesh they be stained and polluted 3. Christ died for us not by any inherent but by his imputed righteousnesse which righteousness is applyed and appropriated unto us principally by the holy Ghost instrumentally by faith whereby wee are incorporate into Christ and so partakers of his righteousnesse wee might be justified I thinke Abraham was as holy a man as Ignatius the father of Jesuits or Dominicus and Franciscus the founders of Friers in whom saith Bellarmine their very adversaries can find nothing that deserveth reprehension praeter nimiam sanctitatem save their too much holiness and yet it was not his good workes but his faith for which he was counted righteous I know that this imputative righteousnesse is counted with them a putative and imaginarie righteousness but herein the injurie is not done unto us but unto him who saith to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Even as David declareth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sinne wee say that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousnesse now it is not written for him only that it was imputed unto him for righteousness but also for us to whom it shal be imputed for righteousnesse c. A third reason to prove that no man can fulfill the Law is because all have need to say forgive us our debts who more excellent amongst the old people saith Austin then the holy Priests and yet the Lord commanded them that
Goliath like give him a sword for the cutting of our own throats Againe Is it so that in the regenerate so long as he remaineth in this earthly Tabernacle there remain not some few reliques but many fragments of the natural man so that there is a combat between the flesh and the spirit where then be the Papists which maintain justification by works Can a clean thing come out of that which is unclean saith Job and can our minds wils and affections wherein the flesh and the spirit are mixed together produce any effect which is not impure and imperfect and therefore farre short of that perfection and righteousnesse which is required by the Law I do not say that they are sinnes that is but a slander of the Papists but they have some degrees of sins and imperfections joyned with them the best come that groweth in our fields hath some grains blasted the best fruits that we can bring forth are in some part rotten the best gold that we can show is much mixed with dross and cannot abide the touchstone it is an easie matter I confesse for a sinfull and unregenerate cloysterer to say somewhat for the dignitie of workes in justifying a man but when we enter into an examination of our own consciences and find so many sins and imperfections lurking in every corner of our hearts it will make us crie out with Bernard meritum meum miseratio domini my merit is the Lords mercie and again sufficit ad meritum scire quod non est meritum Nay if we look up unto God and consider him not as a mans brain considereth him but as his word describeth him unto us with whose brightness the stars are darkned with whose anger the earth is shaken with whose strength the mountains melt with whose wisdom the crafty are taken in their own nets at whose pureness all seem impure in whose sight the heavens nay the very Angels are unclean we must needs confesse with Job that if we should dispute with God we could not answer him one for a thousand and confesse that he found no stedfastness in his Saints yea and when the heaven is impure in his sight much more is man abominable and filthy which drinketh iniquitie like water and therefore pray unto him with David that he will not enter into judgement with us because in his sight shall no man living be justified but I must leave this point and come unto the second All the dayes of my appointed time c. Every man hath an appointed time by God which he cannot passe Though Adams wisdome was such that he could give names to everie creature according to their nature yet he forgate his owne name because of his affinitie between him and the earth the sons of Adam are like their father they are witty enough about the creatures but they quite forget their own names and their natures too and this is the cause why they be so holden with pride and over-whelmed with crueltie they wil contend with Nebuchadnezzar in Isa to advance themselves even above the stars of God and to match their Grand-father the first Adam who though he was made of the earth would with the wings of pride soare into heaven and care little for being like their elder brother the second Adam which from Heaven came unto earth and took upon him our infirmities and miseries but let them secure themselves never so much the tide will tarrie for no man for their Father eat sowre grapes and his childrens teeth are set on edge their Father for eating a grape of the forbidden Vine had this sentence pronounced against him Unto dust thou shalt returne and his children shall be lyable to it till heaven and earth be removed and there be no more death The tender and dainty women which never adventure to set the sole of their feet upon the ground for their sofness and tenderness as Moses speakes have a day appointed when their mouthes shall be filled with mould and their faces which they will not suffer the sun of the Firmament to shine upon lest it should staine their beautie shall be slimed with that earth which they scorned to touch with the soles of their feet those rotten posts which spend themselves in whiting and painting as though they would with Medea recal their years or with the Eagle by casting their old bill renew their youth have a day set them in which deaths finger shall but touch them and they shall fall in pieces and returne to their dust those which cloth themselves with linnen and build them houses of Cedar and add house to house and and to land as though they should continue for ever or at the least as if their journy to the heavenly Canaan lay all by land and nothing by Sea have a determinate time when their unsatiable desires shall be content with a Golgotha a place of dead mens souls a little part of a potters field asmuch as will serve to hide and cover their earthen vessel Cui satis ad votum non essent omnia terrae Climata terra modo sufficit octo pedum Are not his dayes determined saith Job the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot passe it is not nobility of Parents nor wisdom nor comelinesse of person nor strength of bodie nor largenesse of dominions that can lengthen the thred of a mans dayes Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauporum tabernas regumque turres Deaths Arrow will as soon pierce the strong Castle of a King as the poor cottage of a Countrie Swain be thou more zealou then Moses or stronger then Sampson or beautifuller then Absalom or wiser then Solomon or richer then Job or faithfuller then Samuel Ire tamen restat Numa quo devenit Ancus This is the conclusion of all flesh at the time appointed thou must dye yield thy body to deaths Serjeant to be kept Prisoner in the Dungeon of the earth till the great Assises which shall be holden in the clouds at the last day the conclusion is most certain howevsr the premises be most fallible and doubtfull I say not that the time of our lives are equally lengthened or that the dayes our life consist of like houres some see but a winter day and their breath is gone some an â—quinoctial day and they live till their middle age some a long Summers day and live till old age all of them with the Beast called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be sure to dye at night the course of mans life is like the journy of the Israelites from Aegypt to Canaan some dye as soon as they are gone out of Aegypt some in the midle way some with Moses come to the edge and borders of Canaan some indeed with Caleb and Joshua enter the promised Land alive such as shall be living at the last day but this is without
and their knees to smite one against another But to leave these and to make an end of this point Seeing that sinne is such a burden unto our consciences let us take head that we do not load them too much if we were fully perswaded that such and such meats would cause an ague we would willingly abstain from them Now sinne causeth a greater sicknesse unto our soules then is an ague unto our bodies viz a troubled conscience and a wounded spirit who can bear how then dare wee commit it when Rebecca felt the strugling of Esau and Jacob in her wombe she wished she had been barren and said if it be so why am I thus Sinne may be pleasant in getting but it is bitter in bearing better we were barren then feel the pains and throwes before we be delivered of it And if it be so why are we thus Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur alter Better to give this guest no entertainment at all then discredit our selves with God for harbouring it Therefore before thou do any thing consider with thy selfe whether it be a sinne or no examine it by the law of God if it be a sinne see thou do it not lest afterward thou feel the pain when it shall come into thy bowels like water and like oyle into thy bones When the remembrance of it shall burn within thee like fire and gnaw like a worm upon thy heart perchance thy conscience is so heardned that thou canst not feel nor call to remembrance thy sinnes which if it be so miserable and wretched art thou for without a feeling of sinne and repentance for the same there is no remission to be expectedyet there will a day come when God knowes but certainly it will come when thou shalt find them to be heavier then lead upon thine heart When thy master shall call thee to a reckoning and the day of thy departing cometh then will the book of thy conscience be laid open and thou shalt read such a Catalogue of thy sinnes therein that even then thou sha't plainiy perceive the never dying worm to gnaw upon thy soule and the unquenchable fire to beginne to burn within thee unlesse the Lord in merey shall give thee grace to repent that so thou mayest be saved therefore strive alwayes to hav a good conscience and if thou wilt be carefull that thine eye because it is the most tender and precious part of thy body be not troubled with the least mote Be much more careful of thy conscience the eye of thy soul that it be not troubled with beams of great and horrible sinnes Wilt thou never be sad live well this is the best means to gain the joy and peace of conscience Happy is that man who when his fatal hour approacheth can say with Paul I have in all good conscience served God until this day Verily this will more availe him then if he should conquer the whole world and have all the Monarchs of the earth to cast down their scepters before his footstoole Thus much of the first point his condemnation I proceed to the second his mortification or imperfect repentance He repented himself c. THis repentance was an extreme grief of heart arising from the curses of the law and apprehension of Gods wrath which as it was in Judas so was it in Pharaoh and Ahab and the Ninevites and many of the heathen Orestes and Nero when they had killed their Mothers were exceedingly troubled and wished to be clensed and Hercules in the Tragedy when he had kill'd his wife and children runnes up and down like a madman and cries out that if the whole sea should runne through his hands it would not wash him from that bloudy fact So that this is no part of true mortification yet it is a preparative thereunto The wheat must be threshed with the flayle before it be fanned from the chaffe with the wind and a natural man must be as it were threshed with the terrours of the law before he be fanned from his corruptions with the wind of the Spirit In natural mutations before a substantial forme be corrupted andan other educed è potentiâ materiae certain alterations or previal dispositions are required as necessary for hastning of this change So in a Supernatural mutation when a sonne of wrath is to be made a sonne of God the terrours of the law are required as necessary precedents for hastning this change The law like the shoomakers elson pricks the heart legal sorrowes and fears like the bristle come after and true mortification like the thread comes in the last place Take the elson and the bristle from the shoomaker and he cannot use his thread take legal sorrow and compunction of heart from a natural man and he cannot be brought to true repentance So that Judas goes well thus farre he goes yet further he makes confession of his fault first in general I have sinned then in particular I have been a traytour I have betrayed and which is worst of all I have betrayed the innocent blood If Judas this repentance notwithstanding be damned to hell merciful God what shall become of thousands amongst us which go under the name of Christians and come short of Judas in repentance They are seldome touched with any sorrow for their sinnes but say they be surely not half of that sorrow that Judas was in admit they be come they to the next step do they make confession admit this too come they to a third do they make satisfaction doth the sacrilegious Church-robber bring back again that which he hath wrongfully taken from the sonnes of Levi and say I have sinned doth the bloud-sucking Usurer restore that which he hath wrongfully taken from the poor by sundry practises of covetousnesse and say I have sinned is there any who after that he hath done wrong is sorry for it and confesses his fault and is ready to make amends and say thus and thus have I done thus and thus have I sinned all these are necessary to salvation but these are not all that are necessary to salvation We must go thus farre with Judas but we must not here stay with Iudas Iudas by stepping a foot short got a break-neck fall and is tumbled into the pit of hell We must go a step further and fasten our feet upon the corner stone by a true and saving faith and then our sinnes be they never so many never so grievous shal not bring us to condemnation but though they be as Crimson they shall be made white as snow though they be red like scarlet they shall be as wool We read in the Gospel of 3 whom our Saviour rased from death to life the first was Iairus his daughter she was dead in the house and Christ raised her in the house The second was the widowes sonne of Naein he was dead in the way they were carrying him to the place of burial and Christ raised him in
time will I waite till my changeing shall come Whence this note doth naturally arise That in this life in the regenerate man there is a combat and conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit A naturall man of himselfe is like a heavie bodie which in a well disposed medium moveth downwards of it self without resistance he goes downwards without violence nay praecipitat non descendit he throwes himselfe downe as Sathan would have perswaded Christ to cast himself downe from the Pinacle of the Temple and doth not descend downe by staires but a regenerate and spirituall man as he cannot easily fall downe being holden up with the two wings of saith and hope so can he not easily ascend being pressed down by a weighty burthen too heavie for him to beare he is like to the Gyant under Sicily Nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe Dextrae sed Ausonio manus est subjectae Peloro Laeva Pachine tibi Lylibaeo crura premuntur Aetna caput Upon his right hand lye presumptuous sins upon his left honour and feare upon his feet and thighs the lusts and affections of the flesh upon his head blindness and ignorance doubting and unbeliefe so that oftentimes the good which he would that he cannot doe but the evill which he would not that he doth or he may be compared to a man that swims against the stream with much ado he gets upward but if he misse the stroke the streame carryeth him back again or to one which ascendeth up to the top of a Hill with a but then on his back much panting and sweating hath he before he can get up and if his foot chance to slip so heavie is the load on his back that he will hardly recover himself without a fall the spirit strives against the streame to swim up to the fountaine of goodnesse and the flesh strives to beat him back and as it were with an easie tyde to carrie him down into the Ocean of sin and iniquitie the spirit strives to creep up the hil upon hand and foot as Jonathan and his armour bearer did between the two rocks Bozez and Seneh when they went against the Philistims but the flesh striveth to beate him backward and to tumble him down like Nebuchadnezzars stone from the top of the mountain so that it fareth with a regenerate man as it did with Rebecca when she was with Child the flesh and the spirit fight and strugle one with another as the Children did in her womb so saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to another so that wee cannot doe the thing which we would which is not so to be understood as though the body fought against the soule or that these two the flesh and the spirit were locally separated for as the flesh is partly spirituall so the spirit is partly carnall these two are mingled and joyned in both body and soule and in every part and facultie thereof In the understanding there is knowledge mixed with ignorance and blindness there is spirit mixed with flesh in the Will there is a willing and a nilling in the affections there is a desiring and forsaking of that which is good as Medea in the Poet had between naturall reason and carnall appetite Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor The reason is manifest For as a Child becomes not a perfect man in an instant but groweth by little and little So after our regeneration when we are new born of water and the spirit wee become not presently strong men in Christ Jesus but wee grow dayly in perfection wee ascend as it were up Iacobs ladder wee climb from one degree or staire of perfection to another till all imperfections be removed from us For howsoever justification be actus individum simul totus as judicious writer truly aver-Justification is an individuall act and admits of no degrees yet sanctification comes by parts and degrees for it fareth with him as it doth with cold water when it is made hot by fire as the cold is by degrees expelled so is the heate brought in by degrees omnis remissio est per admissionem contrarii In like manner as the old man which like the earth is cold perisheth so the new man heated by the fire of the spirit quickneth and reviveth and again as there is a strugling and mutuall conflict and encountring betwixt the the contrary qualities Frigida cum calidis pugnant humentia siccis One indeavouring to captivate and destroy the other so it is betwixt these two the spirit indeavoureth to conquer the flesh but like a naturall agent agendo repatitur it suffereth blows of the flesh which rebelleth against it and leadeth it captive to the law of sinne only here is the difference that two contrary qualities may be so tempered as that a mean consisting of both and not specifically distinguished from both may be produced of them but the flesh and the spirit will never make one and therefore the spirit saith to the flesh as Alexander did to Darius who offered him half of his kingdome so that he might quietly enjoy the other half but as one world cannot have two suns so one kingdom must not have two kings and therefore 't wil endeavour utterly to dispossesse the flesh and depose it from its estate which it holdeth in man as Alexander did to depose Darius from his kingdom it can no more live in agreement with the flesh then Sarah could with Hagar and her sonne and therefore it saith as she did to Abraham Cast out this bond-woman and her sonne for the sonne of the bond-woman may not be heire with my sonne Isaac Of heate and cold may be made one individuall quality which wee call luke-warme but the flesh and the spirit cannot be mixed no Christian may be luke-warm for such will Christ spue out of his mouth Thus you see that so long as a Christian remaineth in this world so long there is a contention betwixt the regenerate and carnall part the flesh which like a Zopyrus keeps within the wals of the City is ever ready to betray him unto his enemies hands it is to him as the Canaanites were to the Israelites thorns in their eys and pricks in their sides so that a Christian may say of it as David did of Absalom Even my sonne which comes out of my bowels seeks my life or take up that complaint which the Prophet doth elswhere it is not my open enemie that doth me this dishonour for then peradventure I could have borne it neither was it mine adversarie that did magnifie himselfe against me for then peradventure I could have hid my selfe from him but it is thou my guide and mine own familiar friend my flesh which eatest my bread that liftest up thy heele against me on the other side the spirit seeks to root out the earthy affections
and lusts of the flesh as the Hebrews by little and little rooted out the Cananites it seeketh to represse this rebellion as David did the plots of his son Absalom Experience we have in the main pillars of the spirituall Temple David a man after Gods owne heart so moved at the prosperity of the wicked that he begins to say that certainly he hath cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in innocencie there is a carnall David which make his feet almost to goe and his steps well-nigh to slip but when he goeth in the Sanctuarie of God then he understandeth the end of these men there is spirituall David which makes him condemn his former thoughts and speeches so foolish was I and ignorant even as it were of a Beast before thee Peter who sometime was so confident as to continue true unto his Master that he made protestation that if all should deny him yet he would never doe it presently after he begins to follow afarre off and anon after the rock of Peters faith is so shaken with the voice of a damosel that he begins to curse and sweare that he never knew him but presently again at the crowing of a Cock the spirit is awakened and goes about to take some avengement of the flesh he went out and wept bitterly who more strong in the spirit then Paul was in zeale fervent in labours abundant in nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles and yet he hath given him a prick in the flesh the Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which makes him say when he would doe good evill is present with him and that he finds a Law in his Members rebelling against the law of the mind and carrying him captive to the law of sinne and good reason it should be so for if the spirit should so domineer over the flesh then there were no resistance and reluctation then would we not have an earnest and longing desire to be out of this world we would not with the faithfully say Come Lord Jesus come quickly we would not desire to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven but would say as Peter did Master it is good for us to be here To end then that wee should long after our future perfection when corruption shall put on incorruption and mortallity shall be swallowed up of immortallity we find this conflict in our own bowels that we may be wearie of this present state and say as Rebecca did when Esau and Iacob strugled in her womb if it be so why am I thus Only here is our comfort that though the flesh be still lusting against the spirit and we have more flesh then spirit for flesh is like to Goliath the spirit is like to little David yet the spirit shall be in the end sure to prevaile as David prevailed against Goliath for though it be little in quantity yet it is fuller of activity as a little fire hath more action though lesse resistance then much earth for it fareth with these two as with the house of Saul and David the spirit like the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger but the flesh like the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker it is with them as it was with John Baptist and Christ I must decrease saith John but he must increase the flesh which like John is before it must decrease but the spirit which like Christ comes after whose shoe latchet the flesh is not worthy to loose it must grow and increase and this is plain and of this place for whereas the flesh objecteth that man is sick and perisheth and where is he and again If a man dye shall he live again the Spirit replyeth and puts the flesh to silence All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come Is it true beloved Christians That the Children of God yea even in such as have obtained the greatest perfection that a meer man hath obtained in this life there is reluctation between the flesh and the spirit Oh then let as many of us as long after life and desire to see good daies even life everlasting and daies which never shall have an end Let us I say labour to subdue this Rebel and bring it into subjection to the Spirit for it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh will profit nothing The flesh is like Caligula who as Tacitus saith of him was a good servant but an ill master It will be a good servant if we keep it in subjection to the spirit but it will be an exceeding bad master if it once get the upper hand and it will use the spirit as the Scythians servants dealt with their masters who when their masters had for many years warred in the Southern parts of Europe and Asia in the mean time married their wives and got possession of whatsoever they had and therefore we must use it as these Scythians used their servants who when they could not prevail against them with open war at length handled them like servants and slaves took rods and beat them and so recovered their ancient possessions We must not proceed against the flesh as against an equal enemy but we must use rods and scourges we must chasten and correct it and so bring it again in subjection to its lawful commander It is like the dumb divel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting we must implore the assistance of Gods spirit being of our selves unable that we may be strengthened and enabled to overcome it we must by fasting withdraw its food wherewith it is nourished I do not mean only our meat and drink but all worldly delight and enticing allurements to sin wanton and idle spectacles they be food of our carnal eyes these we must withdraw away and with Job Make a covenant with our eyes that we will not look upon wantonness foolish and undecent speeches be the delight of the tongue those we must remove away and pray with David Set a watch O Lord before our mouthes and keep the dore of our lips In a word whatsoever will be an incitement to sin and is like to strike fire in the tinder of our corrupt affections that must be debarred and kept from them Let us then use the flesh as the enemy useth a besieged City observe and watch the by-wayes that there be no intercourse or secret compact between it and Sathan that there be no provision carried by Sathan and his vassals into it that so it may be inforced to yeild it self or as the Hunters use Mole and Foxes in the earth stop the passages that through hunger it may be at last inforced to come out and leave its habitation otherwise if by excessive eating and drinking we nourish it if by gorgeous and costly attire wee deck it if by epicureous and voluptuous delights wee pamper it what doe we but arme our enemies against us and
hangeth over your heads like Damocles his sword for our iniquities flatter your selves no longer in your own sinnes but turn unto him by speedy and unfained repentance that he may repent him of the evill and turn away his plagues from you let the wanton leave his dallying and the drunkard his carrowsing and the Usurer his biting and the swearer his blaspheming and the oppressor his grinding and every one amend one in time before the Lords wrath be further kindled then will the Lord be mercifull unto this land he will quickly turn the sowre looks of an angry and sinne-revenging Judge into the smiling countenance of a milde and gentle Father Hee will take the rodde which he hath prepared for you and burn it in the fire These plagues which do hang over you for your iniquities he will blow away with the breath of his nostrils as he did the Egyptian Grashoppers into the red-sea hee will command his destroying Angel to put up his sword into the sheath he will open the windowes of heaven and powre down a blessing upon you without measure Then shall you be blessed in the City and blessed in the field blessed at your going out and blessed at your comming in and whatsoever you put your hands unto shall be blessed your sons shall grow up as Olive branches and your daughters shall bee as the polished corners of the Temple Your grounds shall so abound with grane that the tillers shall laugh and sing your garners shall be full and plenteous with all manner of store your presses shall abound with Oyle and wine your sheep shall bring forth thousands and tenne thousands in your fields Every thing shall prosper nothing shall stop the current of Gods blessings there shall be no decay nor leading into captivity and no complaining in your streets and which is better then all these he will give you faithfull and painfull Pastors to feed you his spirit to comfort you his word to instruct you his wisdom to direct you his Angels to watch over you his grace to assist you and in a word He will be your God and you shall be his people thus shall it be done unto all those whom the King of heaven shall honour so that all the world shall wonder at your felicity and say Blessed be the Lord which taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants and happy are the people that be in such a case yea blessed are all they which have the Lord for their God thus will he be with you and direct you in the desert of this world till he bring you into a faire and goodly place the promised land a land that floweth with better things then abundance of Milke and Honey the celestial Paradise the heavenly Canaan the kingdome of glory prepared for you from the beginning of the world even that kingdome where the King is verity the Lawes charity the Angels your company the Peace felicity the life eternity To this kingdom the God of all mercy bring us for his sake that bought us with his own blood to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit three persons in trinity and one God in unity be ascribed all honour and glory power and Majesty both now and for evermore Amen TO THE Right reverend father in God the Lord Bishop of CARLILE RIGHT REVEREND WHen I preached at Carlile at the last Assises I made no other account but that my sermon should like Aristotles Ephemeron have died the same day that it took breath Since which time I have been intreated by divers to make it common to whom I would not yield the least assent as doubting that their desires proceeded rather from affection towards the speaker then from a sound judgement of the things spoken But when I perceived how distastfull it was to some that beare Romish hearts in English breasts I resolved as David did when Michal mocked him for dancing before the Arke to be yet more vile by publishing that unto their eyes which before was delivered to their eares hoping that the more it displeaseth them the better acceptance it shall finde with the true Israelite Which now at length I have effected So as that before they heard it or at least heard of it so now they may read it And if I have evill spoken let them beare witnesse of the evill but if I have said well why doe they smite me It seems to them a meere calumniation to say that there is no probability that a Papist shall live peaceably with us and performe true and sincere obedience towards our Prince To whom I might returne the short answer of the Lacones to their adversary Si if it were so my speech was not to no purpose because not only rebels to the King but much more to God and his true worship and service are to be rooted out of a Christian commonwealth And if those be worthy a sharpe censure which agreeing with us in the fundamental points of Divinity cannot away with the carved worke of our Temple but cut it downe as it were with Axes and Hammers how much more those Sanballats and Tobiahs that strike at the foundation thereof and say of it as did the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem down with it down with it even to the ground But I rather say O si I wish it were so and that there were no feare of danger by their meanes and devises But this I doubt cannot be effected unlesse there be I will not say with the Oratour a wall but a sea between them and us Till then there is as great probability of peace between us as there was of old time between the Catholicks and the Donatists the Orthodoxall and the Arians the Hebrewes and the Aegyptians the Iewes and the Samaritans Immortale odium nunquam sanabile vulnus And for true loyalty and faithful obedience there is as great probability as that the two poles shall meet The King and the Pope are two contrary masters none can truly serve them both Either he must hate the one and love the other or he must leane to the one and despise the other The obedience which either of them requires is so repugnant that they cannot lodge within one breast This loyalty which our adversaries do outwardly pretend is but equivocal no more true loyalty then a dead hand is a hand it wants the very forme and soule if I may so speak of true dutifulnesse which is to perform obedience voluntarily and with a free heart for Gods cause as to Christs immediate Vicar over al persons within his dominions It is with some secret reservation till their primus motor the man of sin upon whom their obedience depends shal sway them another way rebus sic stantibus the state standing as it doth donec publica bullae executio fieri possit untill they may have power and strength to resist So that I may use the same words unto them which
must live with the Cananites with the Spouse in the Canticles thou must be as an apple tree amongst the wild trees of the forrest or as a lilie amongst the thornes Let not these wild trees which are moved with every blast of winde by the shaking of their boughes beate downe thy fruit and though the thornes pricke thee yet keepe still a lilies beautie Thou must touch pitch but beware of being defiled with it Thou must walk upon coales beware of burning thy feet though thou lie among the pots among the washpots of the Lord as Moab is called among the vessels of dishonour that are kept for the day of wrath yet must thou be as the wingr of a dove that is covered with silver wings and her feathers like gold Be not like the Apothecarie that carryeth the smell of his shop about him nor like the River Jordan which looseth his sweet waters in the lake Asphalites But like the fish in the salt sea which still retaine their freshnesse passe through the brinish Ocean of this world as Arethusa doth under the Sicilian sea Doris amara suâ—â—â— non intermiseat undam In a word though thou canst not wholy separate thy selfe from the workers of darknesse yet have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknesse but even reprove them rather Nay from such works as much as thou mayest lawfully separate thy selfe for thou wilt in time joy in the latter if thou long enjoy the former it is a matter of some difficulty to be continually handling pitch and birdlime and to have none cleave to thy hands Aristotle noteth it of his master Plato that conversing long with the Pythagorians he learned from them many erronious opinions which afterward he stifly maintained Alexander by conversing with the effeminate Persians and Annibal by living in Capua did abate so much of their former valour that it was doubted whether they were the same men they had been before Julian in profession sometimes a Christian by conversing with Libanius and Maximus became an Apostata To go no further with the examples of heathen men you know that Joseph living in Pharaohs Court began to swear by the life of Pharaoh And the Hebrewes dwelling among the Idolatrous Egyptians which worshipped an oxe did meetly well imitate them for they worshipped a calfe And pitching for a time in the plain of Moab they sacrificed to Baal Peor and ate the offerings of the dead An infected sheep will sooner spoile a whole flock then a whole flock will cure an infected sheep It is no hard matter to change wine into vineger but to turn vineger or to change water into wine Hoc opus hic labor est This is such a miracle as will never be wrought unlesse Jesus be at the feast It is an easie matter to be infected with the plague of sinne If thou remove out of the fresh ayre into the company of contagious persons And though thou be regenerate and the old man hath got his deadly wound yet is there a sympathy between thee and the wicked Thy affections are like tinder ready to kindle with every sparkle that the wicked shall strike in them And sinne once kindled is like wilde-fire it will not be quenched with every kinde of water This poison perhaps will not be perceived at the first yet like the biting of a madde dogge it will never cease infecting thy blood till it come at thy heart Beware then of dogs Avoid as much as is possible such contagious places as are dangerous to infect and keep thy selfe in the fresh ayre where the spirit that quickneth doth blow But whereas thou canst not wholly avoid the company of sinners for as before was said the good and bad fish swim together in Gods net avoid their sinnes hearken unto Solomon My sonne if sinners intice thee consent thou not My sonne walk not thou in the way with them refraine thy foot from their path but contrariwise when they entice thee to evil perswade them unto that which is good Be to them as Noah was to the old world a preacher of righteousnesse as Lot was to the Sodomites who dwelling amongst them vexed his soul with their unlawful deeds as Christ was to the woman of Samaria who by desiring of the water of Iacobs well to quench his thirst brought her to desire the water of life whereof whosoever drinketh shall never more thirst and as he was with Publicans and sinners who refused not to go to their corporall banquets that he might feed them with spirituall food as Iohn was with the Pharisees and Saducees who preached unto them faith and repentance and as Paul was amongst the Idolatrous Athenians who went with them through their idolatrous temples and read the titles and inscriptions written upon their altars but to this end to take a text and argument thence to perswade them to the worship of the true God So much of the person delivering The action followeth deliver 13. Treason is a sinne so odious that even the heathen which were guided but with a glimpse of natures light howsoever sometimes for their own advantage they approved the fact yet they could never away with the author of it It was Augustus his saying of Rimotalchus the King of Thrace which vanted himself for the betraying of Antonie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I may love the treason but I hate the traitour And it was the saying of Antigonus Proditores tantisper amo dum produnt ast ubi prodiderint odi I love a traitour when hee commits the treason but when he hath done it I detest him These speeches though plausible at the first argue corruption in the speakers For if the traitour be evil surely the treason cannot be good The old Romanes could abide neither For when Pyrrhus his physitian seeking to gratifie the Romanes promised to give his master poyson the Romanes made Pyrrhus acquainted with it and willed him to look unto himselfe And when the schoolmaster of the Phalascides children offered to betray those which were committed to him to Camillus his hand Camillus sent them bak again and made his own schollers to beat him This fact of it selfe so hainous is further aggravated by the person betrayed If Judas had betrayed one of his fellowes the sinne had been horrible but he makes it farre worse he betrayeth his master He goes yet further for behold whither man doth fall if the spirit of God do not direct his steps he delivereth him into the hands of his hatefull enemies who came to deliver us from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us He delivereth him to death who came to restore us that were dead in our sinnes to life who to satisfie for our hunting after vanities was himselfe hunted like a Pelican in the wildernesse to satisfie for our carnal and sensual pleasures left the bosome of his
especially in tempering the spirits received from the heart I mean in using those spiritual admonitions and instructions which he shall receive from the minister of the Gospel for the good and benefit of all those that are under him As the body is in best estate when all these are well disposed so it is most miserable when there is a dyscrasie and distemperature in any of them So in the state likewise Wo unto that Common-wealth where the Physitian for wholsome physick ministreth hemlock and the Divine for sound doctrine broacheth heresie and the Magistrate turneth justice into wormwood Of all these three the brain is subject to most diseases and of all these three the Magistrate is most obnoxious to fals both because he hath many ineitements unto sin which others want and because he is deprived of a benefit which others have that is he is not so freely reproved for his offences as commonly others are And lastly because of those Cubiculares consiliarij as Lipsius cals them tinea sorices Palatij as Constantine tearmed them the very mothes and rats of a court which live by other mens harmes à quibus bonus prudens cautus venditur imperator as Dioclesian an ill Emperour said well which sell the magistrates favours as if one would sell smoak as did Zoticus the faire promises of Heliogabalus and are alwayes ready for their own advantage to give an applause unto his worst actions By these he is ledde whithersoever they will have him Ducitur ut nervis alienis mobile lignum Even as an arrow is led by the bow-string Therefore David in this Psalm maketh a sharp sermon against the corruption of Magistrates out of which I have made choyce of this one branch I have said yee are Gods but ye shall die like men As if he had said truth it is your authority is great your power extraordinary ye are Gods yet set not up your horns on high and speak not with a stiffe neck ye are no transcendents ye have no more reason to boast of your superiority then the moon hath to bragge of the light which she borroweth from the sunne or the wall of the beam which it receives in at the window ye have it only from me I have said and though ye be Gods yet ye are but earthly Gods ye are Gods in office not Gods in essence ye are made of the same metal that others are and your end shall be like other mens you shall die like men In which words not to stand upon the divers acceptions of any of them may it please you to observe these three points 1. The party from whom Magistrates receive their authority it is from God I have said and Gods saying is his doing 2. Their preheminence above others in that they are called Gods ye are Gods 3. The limitation of their dignity ye shall die as men Out of which I collect these three propositions 1. Magistrates and Judges of the earth do receive their authority from God 2. They are Gods deputies to minister justice and to judge between party and party 3. Though they be extolled above their brethren according to their office yet they must die as other men where is implied this general conclusion that it is the lot of all men once to die These are the pillars of my intended discourse of which while I shall plainly entreat in the same order that I have now proposed them I beseech you all to afford me your Christian attention 2. Of all the corporeal creatures that God made none is more exorbitant then man The highest moveable is constant in his motion He doth not hasten nor neglect his course The Sunne is precise in his course under the Ecliptick line and turneth not an hair breadth unto the right hand or unto the left but cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a gyant to run his race The rest of the Planets though they turn to both sides of the Zodiacke and are the most of them sometimes direct and sometimes stationarie and sometimes retrograde as Astronomers speak by reason of their motion in their imaginary Epicicles yet they have their constancie in this inconstancie Thou O God hast given them a law that shall not be broken The elements keep themselves within their bounds The beasts of the forrest in their kinde have their policie and society The raging sea goes not beyond his limits God hath bound it to use Jobs words as a child in swadling bands he hath given it doores and barres and said unto it hither shalt thou go and thou shalt go no further here shalt thou stay thy proud waves But man is more exorbitant then all these no bounds can keep him in Therefore God hath written in the heart and conscience of every man that comes into the world a law which we call the law of nature as that God is to be worshipped good is to be embraced evil is to be avoided That which thou wouldest not another man should do unto thee thou must not do to another man And according to these general notions hee would have every person to direct his actions But this law like an old inscription upon a stone is written in the stony heart of man in such blind characters that he is put to his shifts before he can spell it And howsoever he understand it in Thesi yet in Hypothesi in the particular he makes many soloecismes and oftentimes calls good evil and evil good Therefore God hath written with his own finger a paraphrase upon it which we cal the moral law and added a large commentary of judiciall lawes by the hand of Moses Which benefit though not the same numero he hath not onely granted unto Christian Common-wealths but even to the heathen also amongst whom in all ages he hath stirred up men of excellent spirit to make lawes for the better government of their several states The best of which did acknowledge that they had them from God Howbeit after the custome of nations which held a plurality of Gods they did not all agree in one name Lycurgs affirming that he received his lawes from Apollo Minos from Jupiter Solon and Draco from Minerva Numa from the Nymph Egeria Anacharsis from Zamolxis the Scythian God 3. But all this will not confine man within his bounds for it is true of him which was spoken of the Athenians that they knew what was to be done and yet did it not And which was objected by the Cynick against the old Philosophers of Greece that they gave good rules but put none in practise video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor said Medea when she was overcome with passion It is true of most men though they know the law how that they which commit sinne are worthy of death yet they do not only the same themselves but also favour them that do it The law of it self is but
lose the goale of everlasting felicity but a true Christian must be constant in his course he must resemble the sunne which comes forth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to runne his course and yet in one thing he must be unlike the sun he ascendeth above the horizon in the morning and travaileth to the meridian where he sheweth himself in his best strength at noon-day but from that hour he declineth and casteth his beams more and more obliquelie waxing faint by degrees till at length he hide himselfe under the western horizon a Christian must not be like the afternoon sunne he must still strive towards the top of Heaven he must never decline let all the powers of Hell stand in his way they shall never make him runne away perhaps they will beate him downe on his knees but then he fals to prayer if they bring him to the ground then he is humbled and so Antaeus like stronger then he was before perhaps they may violenly drive him backwards but yet he will strive against them and passe through the midst of them as our Saviour passed amongst the Jewes when they would have stoned him dangers before him honors and worldly preferments behind him riches on the right hand pleasures on the left hand all these shall not make him discontinue his course but with greater speed to flie towards Heaven as a Dove into the window he must keep a streight course like the two kine that carried the Arke from Ekron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left Thus have we seen what a danger it is for a man to fall into such sinnes as he hath once left to drinke the deadly poyson of iniquitie after he hath once been recovered to runne into the danger of his spirituall enemies after he hath been once cured of his wounds that were inflicted upon him it may here be demanded whether a man relapsing into sinne may repent and so be again received into Gods favour Montanus the Heretick denied all hope of salvation after a relapse This Heresie was by the Novatians who for their uprightness did proudly tearm themselves Cathari Puritans The Donatists who were the right Cathari because they deemed their Church love without spot or wrinkle refused to communicate with such as they suspected to be polluted with any sinne Tertullian who was much addicted to the heresies of the Montanists insomuch that in his old age he became a Montanist granteth that a man may once repent after a relapse but no more then once And of this opinion saith B. Rhenanus were many old writers and amongst others St. Austin but Austin meaneth only that publick repentance which he calleth humilima poenitentia and Lombard and the school-men tearm poenitentia solennis which was imposed onely for such grievous offences as whereby a Citie or Common-Wealth was greatlie scandalized And the reason why it was but once granted by the Church was lest the medicine being made too common should lesse profit the sick as Austin speaks in an Epistle written to Macedonius in which Epistle he plainly averreth that a sinner relapsing after this solemne repentance and afterward repenting of his fall may obtaine a pardon at the hands of God But wee have a better witnesse of this point then Austin even God that cannot lye who by the mouth of his Prophet hath promised that Whensoever the wicked turneth from his wickednesse that he hath done and shall doe that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soule and live And therefore be not dismaied thou faint and drooping soul which hast fallen into such sinnes as were somtimes hateful in thine eyes It may be that Sathan will object the place of the Apostle before cited if wee sinne willingly c. for answer whereof thou must know that the Apostle speaketh not of every kind of backsliding But First Of that which is committed with a full consent of the Will if wee sinne willingly and this the child of God after his conversion can never commit because he is partly flesh and partly Spirit so that though the carnall part be still ready to draw him unto most hainous and grosse sinnes yet the Spirit is at his elbow ready to pull him back againe it is unto him as the Angel was to John when he was ready to worship him see thou doe it not said the Angel see thou doe it not said the Spirit or as Abigail was to David who met him in the way as he was going to kill Naball and disswaded him from that bloodie fact and though it doe not still prevaile by reason that the flesh is like an headstrong horse that can hardly be curbed yet it prevaileth thus farre that the Will giveth not his absolute consent to the committing of such sinnes and again the Apostle meaneth not every sinne wherein the Will yeildeth his full assent for without doubt the elect before their conversion fall into such sinnes but of a generall malicious and purposed revolting from the knowne truth and a proud and scornsul rejecting of the blood of Christ once offered for sinne such as was in Julian who first professed Christianitie but afterward became a most bloodie Persecutor of Christians even till his last gaspe so that when he was deadlie wounded with an Arrow and ready to yield up the Ghost he thrust his hand into the wound and threw his blood into the aire crying blasphemously against the Sonne of God Vicisti Galilee O Galilean thou hast overcome So that this place is understood of sin against the holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come of which also the Apostle speaketh Heb. 6. 4 5. 6. it is impossible that they which were once lightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost if they fall away shall be renewed by repentance In which places if every relapse were understood then who should be saved for the dearest of Gods Children have sliden backwards after their conversion Lot into incest Noah into drunkennesse David to murther and adulterie Solomon to Idolatrie Peter to forswearing his Lord and Master 2. The consideration whereof made Constantine bid Acesius a Novatian Bishop who refused to communicate with such as had fallen after baptisme set a ladder for himselfe to climbe into Heaven noting his intollerable pride as if he and his followers had guided their feet so well that they had never slid after baptisme It is very dangerous to commit such sinnes as have been once left and forsaken as hath been already proved but yet Gods Children have no particular priviledge For First their inbreâ—d corruption though it be quelled yet it is not killed And therefoâ—e it is still ready to give them the foile and carrie them captives to the Law of sin again the causes remain which may move God to give over his Children a little unto themselves and
God affords us in this land of the living in a conscionable walking with God after the example of Enoch and Noah To omit the generall as every man hath a particular calling so let him make conscience to use as to Gods glory so to the good and benefit of his Country the Minister in a faithfull dispensation of the Word of God to them that are committed to his charge the Magistrate in using the sword of Justice put into his hands for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of him that doth well He is Vir gregis the Belweather in Christs little Flock and as he goes the rest will follow if by honest and upright and conscionable dealings he shall lead them the right way the lesser and weaker Sheep will be ready to follow him into the green Pastures of the Lord that are beside the waters of comfort To this purpose let him remember that God hath set him in his own room and stiled him with his owne name The studie of a Poet that every speech and action and gesture be sutable to the person hee brings upon the Stage Sit Medea Ferox c. The fifth Sermon MATTH 7. 22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied And then I wil professe to them I never knew you THAT which our Saviour delivered in the former part of the Precedent verse That not all that professe Christ to be their Lord shall be saved is in these two verses confirmed for a man may have most excellent gifts and in respect of his Calling come neer unto Christ be his Vice-gerent and supply his roome and for all that misse heaven Many will say unto me c. In which words note 1. The plea of certaine persons 2. Christs answer Then will I professe c. In the Plea note 1. The persons described by their Offices they are Prophets and they have taken pains in their calling Have not wee prophesied 2. Their number Many 3. The time when this plea shall be made At that day 4. The Judge before whom Vnto me The first will be as much as I shall be able to runne through at this time which I purpose not to handle ut thema simplex but as it hath relation to Christs answer Have not we in thy name That is by thy authority and appointment as being called by thee to that office Prophesied that is either foretold things to come that 's the proper signification of the word or else explained and expounded the word The Prophets in the time of the Law did both and in the New Testament it is used both wayes In those days there came certain Prophets from Jerusalem to Antiochia Act. 11. 27. That is such as by revelation of the Spirit did foretell things to come such was Agabus and the daughters of Philip Acts 21. There you have it in the former signification Despise not prophesie 1 Thes 5. 20. Covet spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesie 1 Cor. 14. 1. And in the next verse Prophesie is defined A speaking unto men to edification and to exhortation and to comfort there you have it in the letter here it 's taken generally as infolding both these particulars So that from hence may be gathered these two propositions which shall be the subject of my speech at this time 1. A man may be a Prophet that is a foreteller of things to come and be a reprobate 2. A man may be a learned Preacher and a meanes of saving others and for all that be damned himselfe To foretell future contingents as they are considered in themselves and not in their causes for so they are in some sort present its proper to him from whose all-seeing eyes nothing is hidde Who calleth things that are not as though they were and understandeth the thoughts of our hearts things of all other most purely contingent long before and therefore the Lord brings this as an argument against the Idols of the Heathen to prove that they were no gods because they could not foretell things to come Isa 41. 23. It 's hee and none but hee that could name Josias long before he came into the world and call Cyrus his Shepheard above 100. yeares befor he was borne and number the years of the Jewes captivity before they were carried to Babylon and foresee the foure great Monarchies of the world before they were notwithstanding as the true Prophets have foretold these and other future events not by help of Melancholy which made them more addicted to contemplation as Bodin fondly dreameth but meerly by divine illumination so hath the Lord revealed some of the like nature unto such as were not of the houshold of faith which as it is plain by my Text so also by the example of Caiphas an enemie to Christ and Balaam A stranger from the common-wealth of Israel and Saul a reprobate and the Devill himselfe who could never certainly have foretold Sauls death unlesse the Lord had revealed it unto him which places are so plain that Bellarmine De gratia libero arbitrio lib. 1. cap. 10. confesseth as much in substance as now I labour to prove If it please you to leave the Scriptures a little and to passe to heathen men you shall find that they were not without their Prophesies Hierom upon his Epistle to Titus saith that Epimenides whom Paul calls a Prophet of Crete wrote a booke of Predictions out of which the Apostle borrowed that heroicall verse which is cited in the first Chapter of that Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning their Oracles although they were oftentimes given in amphibologicall termes when the event could not be known such as was that to Pyrrhus if such was given which Tully doubts Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse And that given to Croesus Croesus Halyn penetrans pervertet plurima regna Croesus passing Halys shall great Kingdomes overthrow viz. either of his owne or others and such as was given to Alexander King of Epirus that he should beware of the Citie Pandosia and the river Acheron those two being in Epirus and others of that name in Italie where he was slain and sometimes were of things already begun to be done the news whereof was carried by Spirits in a moment of time unto places far distant such as that was in the first book of Herodotus where the Oracle tells Croesus his messengers what he was doing at that time in his own house and sometimes were of such things as had naturall causes unknown to men yet known to Devils by reason of their greater subtilty and quick apprehension yet were they not all of these kinds some being of such nature as could never be knowne without divine revelation To tell Alexander the time place and manner of his death as the Indian Oracle did if that Epistle be not counterfeit which