where divers candles or torches in a roome concurre to enlighten the place the light of them remaineth impermixt as the Optickes demonstrate by their severall shadowes so all the divine graces conjoyne their lustre and vertue to adorne and beautifie the inward man yet their nature remaines distinct as their speciall effects make it evident to a single and sharp-sighted eye God was in the bush that burned and consumed not yet God was not the bush The holy Ghost was in the fiery cloven tongues yet the holy Ghost was not the tongues The spirits runne along in the arteries with the purer and refined blood yet the spirits are not the blood The fire insinuateth it selfe into all the parts of melted metall and to the eye nothing appeareth but a torrent of fire yet the fire is not the metall in like manner zeale shineth and flameth in devotion love godly jealousie indignation and other sanctified desires and affections it enflameth them as fire doth metall it stirreth and quickeneth them as the spirits doe the blood yet zeale is not those passions neither are all or any of them zeale howsoever the schooles rather out of zeale of knowledge than knowledge of zeale have determined the contrary 2 Secondly zeale is defined to bee not a morall vertue but a divine gift or grace of the Spirit the Spirit of God is the efficient cause and the Spirit of man is the subject which the Apostle intimates in that phrase i Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fervent or zealous in Spirit This fire like that of the Vestals is kindled from heaven by the beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse not from any kitchen on earth much lesse from hell They therefore qui irae suae stimulum zelum putant they who imagine the flashes of naturall choler are flames of spirituall zeale toto coelo errant are as farre from the marke as heaven is distant from the earth No naturall or morall temper much lesse any unnaturall and vitious distemper can commend us or our best actions to God and men as zeale doth The fire of zeale like the fire that consumed Solomons sacrifice commeth downe from heaven and true zealots are not those Salamanders or Pyrausts that alwayes live in the fire of hatred and contention but Seraphims burning with the spirituall fire of divine love who as Saint Bernard well noteth kept their ranke and station in heaven when the other Angels of Lucifers band that have their names from light fell from theirs Lucifer cecidit Seraphim stant to teach us that zeale is a more excellent grace than knowledge even in Angels that excell in both Howbeit though zeale as farre surpasse knowledge as the sunne-beame doth a glow-worme yet zeale must not be without knowledge Wherefore God commandeth the Priest when hee k Exod. 30.8 lighteth the lamps to burne incense though the fire bee quicke and the incense sweet yet God accepteth not of the burning it to him in the darke The Jewes had a zeale as the l Rom. 10.2 Apostle acknowledgeth and the Apostle himselfe before his conversion yet because it wanted knowledge it did them and the Church of God great hurt No man can bee ignorant of the direfull effects of blind zeale when an unskilfull Phaeton takes upon him to drive the chariot of the sunne hee sets the whole world in a combustion What a mettled horse is without a bridle or a hot-spurred rider without an eye or a ship in a high winde and swelling saile without a rudder that is zeale without knowledge which is like the eye in the rider to choose the way or like the bridle in the hand to moderate the pace or like the rudder in the ship to steere safely the course thereof Saint m Inser 22. in Cant. Bernard hits full on this point Discretion without zeale is slow paced and zeale without discretion is heady let therefore zeale spurre on discretion and discretion reyne zeale fervor discretionem erigat discretio fervorem regat Discretion must guide zeale as it is guided by spirituall wisedome not worldly policy and therefore Thirdly I adde in the definition of zeale that it quickeneth and enflameth all our holy desires and affections according to the direction of spirituall wisdome For wisdome must prescribe zeale when and where and how far and in what order to proceede in reforming all abuses in Church and State and performing all duties of religious piety and eminent charity What Isocrates spake sometime of valour or strength is as true of zeale viz. n Isoc ad Dem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that zeale and resolution with wisedome doth much good but without it doth much mischiefe to our selves and others like granadoes and other fire-works which if they be not well looked to and ordered when they breake do more hurt to them that cast them than to the enemie Yet that we be not deceived in mistaking worldly policy for wisdome I adde spirituall to difference it from carnall morall or civill wisedome for they are too great coolers they will never let zeale exceed the middle temper of that * Vibius Statesman in Tiberius Court who was noted to bee a wise and grave Counseller of a faire carriage and untainted reputation but hee would o Juven sat 4. Ille igitur nunquam direxit brachia contra torrentem never strike a stroake against the streame hee would never owne any mans quarrell hee would bee sure to save one Such is the worldly wise man hee will move no stone though never so needfull to bee removed if hee apprehend the least feare that any part of the wall will fall upon himselfe The p Cic. de orat l. 1. Tempus omne post consulatum objecimus iis fluctibus qui per nos à communi peste depulsi in nosmetipsos redundarunt Romane Consul and incomparable Oratour shall bee no president for him who imployed all his force and strength to keepe off those waves from the great vessel of the State which rebounded backe againe and had neere drowned the cocke-boate of his private fortune Hee will never ingage himselfe so farre in any hot service no not though Gods honour and the safety of the Church lye at stake but that he will be sure to come off without hazzard of his life or estate Hee hath his conscience in that awe that it shall not clamour against him for not stickling in any businesse that may peradventure reflect upon his state honour or security In a word peradventure he may bee brought with much adoe to doe something for God but never to suffer any thing for him This luke-warme Laodicean disposition the lesse offensive it is to men the more odious it is to God who is a jealous God and affecteth none but those that are zealous for his glory he loveth none but those that will bee content to expose themselves to the hatred of all men for his names sake Hee q
sound and their zealous fiery cloven tongues serve but to put fire and make a rent in the Church of God The organ pipes must bee filled with wind before the instrument give any sound our mouthes lips and tongues are the instruments and organs of God and before they are filled with the wind in my Text they cannot sound out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his wonderous workes whereof this is one as followeth And suddenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every circumstance like graines in gold scales addeth to the weight e Oecumen in Act. c. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumenicus conceiveth that this sound came on the sudden to scare the Apostles and out of feare or amazement to draw them together And indeed this sudden noise in this upper roome the Apostles sitting still and there being no wind abroad stirring seemeth not lesse strange than the sudden calme after Christ rebuked the f Mat. 8.26 wind and the sea Windes are not raised to the height on the sudden but grow more and more blustering by degrees this became blustering on the sudden and which is more strange it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privative and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appareo without any cause appearing To heare a thunder clap in summer when we see a blacke cloud overcasting the whole skie or a report where we know there is a canon mounted no way amazeth us but to heare thundering in a cleere sun-shine when there is no cloud to be seen in all the skie or the report like that of a canon where there is no peece of ordnance or a sudden light in a darke roome without lamp candle torch or fire somewhat affrighteth and amazeth us so it was here a noise is heard as of a mighty rushing wind yet no wind or if a wind a wind created of nothing without any cause or prejacent matter There is a great controversie among the Philosophers about the causes of winds Some as Democritus imagined that many atomes that is such small bodies and motes as wee see in the beames of the Sunne meeting together and striving for place stirred the aire and thereby made winds others as Agrippa that the evill spirits ruling in the aire as they raise tempests so also they cause winds Aristotle endeavoureth to demonstrate that the rising up of dry exhalations from the earth generateth the winds which so long rage as the matter continueth after that faileth the wind lies The Divines resolve with g Psal 135.7 David that God draweth them out of his hidden treasures To which our Saviour seemeth to have reference The h John 3.8 wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but knowest not whence it commeth that is originally There came a sound Some will have this sound to bee an eccho or a sound at second hand because so it will bee a fitter embleme of the Apostles preaching to the people and ours to you For first the sound of the Gospel comes from God to us and then it rebounds from us to you but the word in the originall is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eccho but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sound besides the eccho comes by reverberation from below but this sound came from above From heaven Lorinus and other Commentatours are of opinion that heaven here as in many other Texts of Scripture is put for the aire as God is said to i Gen. 7.11 open the windowes of heaven and to raine fire and k Gen. 19.24 brimstone from heaven But I see no reason why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here may not signifie the efficient cause and heaven bee taken properly For though the sense of hearing judged it that the sound began but in the aire yet it was there made without any apparent cause and why may not this sound be as well from heaven properly as we reade of a voice from heaven saying l Mat. 3.17 This is my well beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased and another voice from heaven saying m John 12.28 I have both glorified it my name and will glorifie it againe and yet a third voice from heaven saying Blessed are the n Rev. 14 13. dead which dye in the Lord But what manner of sound was this As of a rushing mighty wind or rather a rushing blast For in the originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ruentis flatus not venti As our breath differeth from our spirit and breathing parts so the spirit which the Apostles received was not the holy Ghost himselfe the third person but some extraordinary gifts and graces of the spirit Though Peter Lumbard the great Master of the sentences seemed to encline to that opinion that the Apostles received the very person of the holy Ghost yet this conceit of his is pricked through with an obelisque and à magistro hic non tenetur by the later Schoolmen who rightly distinguish between the substance of the spirit and the gifts The infinite substance neither is nor can bee imparted to any creature but the finite graces whereof they were only capable The Law the Gospel both came to the eares of men by a sound the one from Sinai the other from Sion that was delivered in thundering lightening with darknesse and an earth-quake this in a sound of a gale of wind and in the likenesse of shining tongues the Apostles sitting still the place being filled but not shooke with the blast As in lessons skilfully pricked the musicall notes answer to the matter of the ditty so the manner of the publishing of the Law and Gospel was correspondent to the matter contained in them that was proclaimed in a dreadfull manner this in a comfortable For the o Rom. 4.15 Law worketh wrath but the Gospel peace the Law feare the Gospel hope the Law an obscure the Gospel a more cleere and evident knowledge according to that sacred aphorisme of Saint Ambrose Umbra in Lege imago in Evangelio veritas in coelo there was a shadow in the Law an image in the Gospel the truth it selfe in heaven Moses himselfe quaked at the giving of the Law but we reade not that the Apostles were terrified but exceedingly comforted at the receiving of the Gospel as the roome was filled with the blast so their hearts with joy And it filled the place where they were sitting The Apostles expected the fulfilling of Christs promise and it is very likely that they were praying on their knees yet they might be truly said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our translators render sitting For the word in the originall importeth only a settled abode as it is taken in the verse following There appeared cloven tongues like fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it sate upon each of them Sitting as the word is taken in our language is a kind of posture of mans body which cannot
ceaseth to offer up prayers to God with strong cries till hee be eased of them Are wee such bruised reeds We often in stead of denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts have with Peter denied our Master but doe wee weep bitterly with him and as hee whensoever hee heard the Cocke crow after the deniall of his Master fell on weeping afresh so doe the wounds of our consciences bleed afresh at the sight of every object and hearing of every sound which puts us in mind of our crimson sinnes We have polluted our beds with David but doe wee cleanse them as he did doe wee make our couches to swimme with teares of repentance Wee have intertained with Mary Magdalen many soule sinnes like so many uncleane spirits but have wee broken a boxe of precious oyntment upon Christs head or kneeled downe and washed his feet with our teares If wee have done so then are we bruised reeds indeed and shall not be broken but if otherwayes wee be not bruised in heart for our sinnes and breake them off by mature repentance wee shall bee either broken for them by sore chastisements in this world or which is worst of all like unfruitfull and rotten trees be reserved to be fuell for Hell fire But because the bruised reed was the measure of my former discourse I will now fall to blow the smoaking flaxe which Christ will not quench To quench the light especially the light of the spirit in our hearts seemeth to bee a worke of darknesse how then may it bee ascribed to the Father of lights or what meaneth the Prophet to deny that Christ will doe that which is so repugnant to his nature that if he would he could not doe it Religiously learned antiquity hath long ago assoyled this doubt teaching us that God quencheth as he hardneth Non infundendo malitiam sed subducendo gratiam not by pouring on any thing like water to quench the flame but by taking away that oyly moisture which nourisheth it Our daily experience sheweth us that a lampe or candle may bee extinguished three manner of wayes at least 1. By a violent puffe of winde 2. By the ill condition of the weeke indisposed to burne 3. By want of waxe or defect of oyle to feed it Even so the light of the Spirit may be quenched in us by three meanes either by a violent temptation of the evill spirit as it were a puffe of wind or by the inbred corruption of our nature repelling grace which fitly resembleth the indisposition of the week to take fire or keep in it the flame or lastly by subtraction of divine grace which is the oyle or sweet waxe that maintaineth this light By the first meanes the Divell by the second man himselfe by the third God quencheth the light of the spirit in them who love darknesse more than light but such are not those who in my Text are compared to smoaking flaxe For though they have small light of knowledge to shine to others yet they have heat of devotion burning in themselves Hil. In haec verba igniculum fidei concipientes quadam dilectione cum carne juxta fumantes quos Christus non extinxit sed incendit in iis ignem perfectae charitatis they are such saith St. Hilary Who conceiving in themselves a small sparke of faith because they are in part still flesh burne not cleerly but as it were smoakily whom Christ will not quench but kindle in them the fire of perfect charity St. * Greg. in Evan. Dom. Quod sacerdotes lineis uterentur vestibus Gregory by smoaking flaxe understandeth the Aaronicall Priesthood now dimly burning and ready to go out he thinketh the flaxe to have some reference to the Priests linnen garments made of it Tertullian paraphraseth the smoaking flaxe Momentaneum gentium fervorem The momentary fervour of the Gentiles in whom the light of nature by sinfull filthinesse being extinct exhaleth most pestiferous fumes of noysome lusts St. a Chrysost in Matth. ca. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostome and St. Austin through the smoake discerne the Scribes and Pharisees and other enemies of Christ their envie and malice which soultred within them but brake not out into an open flame Whom Christ quenched not that is destroyed not though he could have as easily done it as breake a reed already bruised or tread out a stinking snuffe cast upon the ground But these expositions in the judgement of later Divines seem either constrained and forced or at the lest too much restrained and narrow They therfore extend the meaning of them to all weak Christians either newly converted or relapsed b Pintus In quibus tamen relucet aliquid bonae spei c Junius Scintilla aliqua pietatis veluti moribunda d Aquinas Tepidi ad opus bonum habentes tamen aliquid gratiae e Arboreus Extinctioni vicini f Guilliandus Qui sceleribus gravissimis seu fumo quodam oculos bonorum offendunt veluti foetore corruptae famae mores piorum infestant Breathing out bitter fumes for their sinnes offending the godly with the ill savour of their lives luke-warm to good workes neere extinction in whom yet remaines some light of faith and hope though very obscure some warmth of charity some sparke of grace Comfort then O comfort the fainting spirits and cheare up the drouping conscience say to the bruised reed that is now unfit to make a pipe to sound or a cane to write the praises of God thou shalt not be broken and to the smoaking flaxe which gives but a very dimme light and with the fume offendeth the eyes of the godly and with the stench their noses thou shalt not bee quenched Nothing is so easie as to breake a reed already bruised the least weight doth it nothing so facile as to quench smoaking flaxe the least touch doth it yet so milde was our Saviour that he never brake the one nor quenched the other The flaxe or weeke smoaketh either before it is fully kindled or after it is blowne out If we consider it in the first condition the morall or spirituall meaning of the Text is that Christ cherisheth the weake endeavours and small beginnings of grace in his children For we must know that in our first conversion the measure of grace is but small in us and mixt with much corruption which if Christ should quench there would be found never a cleere burning lampe in his Church but hee most graciously preserveth it and augmenteth it because it is a sparke from heaven kindled by his owne spirit and it much illustrateth his glory to keep it from going out notwithstanding the indisposition of the weeke to burne and continuall blasts of temptation ready to blow it out I said in my haste quoth David I am cast out of thy sight there is smoake in the flaxe Psal 31.22 yet was not the flaxe quenched for he addeth yet thou heardest the voice of my prayer
also doth the like Ovid. Met. l. 1. Cuncta priùs tentanda sed immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est ne pars sincera trahatur Si frustra molliora cesserint Seneca l. 1. de irâ— ferit venam For Physicians first minister weak and gentle potions and as the disease groweth apply stronger medicines And good Surgeons Homer l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like Machaon in Homer first lay plasters and poultesses to wounds and swellings and never launce or burne the part till the sore fester and other parts be in danger whom good Magistrates ought to imitate and never to use violent and compulsive remedies but when they are compelled thereunto nor to take extreme courses Senec. l. 1. de ira Ultima supplicia motibus ultimis parat ut nemo pereat nisi quem perire etiam pereuntis intersit but when the malady is extreme Desperate remedies are never good but when no other can be had for they that are of a great spirit if they be well given will not if they be ill cannot be amended by such meanes They resemble Jeat which burneth in water but is quenched with oyle or the c Plin. nat hist l. 31. c. 7. Uno digito mobilis idem si toto corpore impellitur resistens ita ratio est libra menti Colossus at Tarentum which you may move with your finger but cannot wagge if you put your whole strength to it As for those that are of a weaker spirit and are easily daunted harsh courses will doe them more hurt than good for they resemble tender plants which dye if they are touched with a d Rustici frondibus teneris non putant adhibendam falcem quia reformidare ferrum videntur cicatricem nondum pati posse knife or iron instrument The sixth rule is to sweeten the sharpest censures with mild speeches This rule is delivered by Lactantius in these words Circumlinere poculum coelestis sapientiae melle when wee minister a wholsome but bitter potion to annoint the side of the cup with honey when we give the patient a loathsome pill to lap it in sugar The manner whereof the Spirit sheweth us in divers letters sent to the Churches of e Apoc. 2.3 Asia First we are to professe the good will wee beare to the party and make it knowne unto him that whatsoever we doe we doe it in love f Apoc. 3.19 I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Secondly to acknowledge their good parts if they have any g Apoc. 2.2 4. I know thy workes and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not beare them that are evill neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love Thirdly to give them some good advice and counsell with our reproofe h Apoc. 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou maist bee rich and white raiment that thou maist be clothed and that the shame of thy nakednesse may not appeare and to annoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maist see Lastly to promise them favour upon any token of amendment i Apoc. 3.20 Be zealous therefore and repent behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Some there are who like best a resolute Chirurgian who be the patient never so impatient will doe his duty and quickly put him out of his paine though in the meane time he putteth the party to most intolerable torture Give me a tender-hearted Chirurgian who being to set an arme or legge that is out of joynt handleth it so gently that the patient scant feeleth when the bone falleth in Thus Nathan the Prophet handled King David 2 Sam. 12.3 4 5 6 7. and by telling him first a parable of a poore man that had but one lambe c. and afterwards applying it unexpectedly to the King himself ere he was aware as it were set not his body but his soule in joynt The seventh rule is to keep the execution of justice within certaine bounds set by equity and mercy This rule is laid downe by the Prophet Micah Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6.8 and what the Lord requireth of thee to doe justice and to love mercy and by Solomon Eccles 7.16 Be not just overmuch Cut not too deep nor launce too farre Ne excedat medicina modum It is better to leave some flesh a little tainted than cut away any that is sound It is more agreeable to Gods proceedings to save a whole City for ten righteous mens sake than after the manner of the Romans when there was a mutiny in the Campe to pay the tythe to justice by executing every tenth man through the whole Army For as Germanicus cryed out in Tacitus Tacit. annal l. 1. Non medicina ista est sed clades when hee saw a great number of souldiers put to the sword for raising up sedition in the Army Stay your hand this is not an execution but a slaughter not a remedy but a plague not severity of justice but extremity of cruelty For which Theodosius the Emperour was justly excommunicated by St. Ambrose and Aegyptus sharply censured by the Poet Ovid. l. 1. de Pont. Eleg 9. qui caede nocentum Se nimis ulciscens extitit ipse nocens And Scylla was proscribed by the Historians and Poets of his time to all ages because hee was not content with the punishment of sixty thousand in Rome who were executed with most exquisite torments but entring afterwards into Praeneste there left not a man alive and else where also his cruelty raging in the end as Lucan observeth hee let out the corrupt bloud but when there was in a manner no other bloud left in the whole body of the Common-wealth Lucan de bel ci l. 1. periere nocentes Sed cum jam soli poterant superesse nocentes What was this else Sabast conjur Caâ—il Vastaâ—e civitatem non sanaâ—e than as Salust speaketh to exhaust a city not to purge it I am not against the cutting off a rotten member to preserve the whole body I know the sword is the only cure of an incurable wound which yet hath no place when there is no sound part in the whole body a Bodin de rep l 3. c 7. Et si salutare est putre membrum ad universi corporis salutem urere aut secare non propterea si omnia membra extabuerint aâ—t gangâ—ena inficiantuâ— sectionibus erit aut ustionibus utendum Bodine speaketh pertinently to this purpose It doth not follow that because it is good Surgery sometimes to burne out rotten flesh or cut off a member to save the whole that therefore if a gangrene overspread the whole we are to apply a Razor or Cupping-glasse b Sen.
inferiour to the chiefe Apostles neither in preaching nor in working miracles nor in dignity but in time Saint Chrysostome acutely observeth that the Apostle redoubleth his forces and not content with that hee had said before in 2 Cor. 11.5 I suppose I was not a whit behinde the very chiefest Apostles he addeth in the Chapter following with more confidence and authority In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles though I be nothing What not inferiour to Saint Peter no not Saint Peter for so it followeth in Saint Chrysostome he sheweth himselfe to be equall in dignity to the rest and he m Chrys in Gal. 2. v. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compareth himselfe not to other of the Apostles but to the chiefe shewing that he was of equall ranke with him See saith n Occumen in Gal. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumenius how he equalizeth himselfe to Peter or sets himselfe upon even ground with him These were Fathers of the Greeke Church what will our adversaries say if o Leo serm de laud. Petri Pauli De quorum meritis virtutibus quae omnem superāt dicendi facultatem nihil diversum sentire debemus nihil discretum quos electio pares labor similes mors fecit aequales Leo Bishop of Rome who extolled Peter above the skies and admitteth him after a sort into the fellowship of the individuall Trinity yet maketh Saint Paul his match saying Let no man cast a golden apple of contention betweene these glorious instruments of Christs Gospell Peter and Paul of whose merits and vertues which exceed all faculties of speech or can never bee sufficiently commended wee ought to thinke nothing divers or put no difference at all in any respect betweene them whose calling to the Apostleship made them equall and their travell in their office like and their martyrdome parallel Saint Paul then in Leo his judgement may goe everywhere hand in hand with Peter and in very deed hee hath the hand of him in the Popes seale which putteth Bellarmine to much trouble and great feare lest Saint Paul should bee taken to bee the better man of the two because in the Popes seale which confirmeth all his Buls and unerring Decrees ex cathedra Saint Paul hath the right hand and Saint Peter the left But hee may set his heart at rest for no Protestant goeth about to set Saint Peter below Saint Paul or any other Apostle all that wee contend for among the Apostles is but for a parity a parity there may bee in the Apostolicall power and function and yet Peter have some preheminency in respect of his yeeres or gifts such a primacy may be granted him without any power or jurisdiction over the rest some power hee might have over the rest and bee a kinde of President in the Apostles Colledge yet not Christs Vicar generall or Head of the whole Church Head hee might bee of the Church in some sense yet his Headship as his Apostleship dye with him and not descend upon his successors descend it might upon his successors to wit upon his undoubted successors in Antiochia not be appropriated to his questionable successors at Rome lastly it might be after a sort entayled to his successors at Rome yet with a qualification to all his lawfull successors not to usurpers to men as Linus not to women as Pope Joane to Catholickes as Saint Gregory and Damasus and all the Popes for 300. yeeres not Heretickes as Liberius and Honorius and many of the latter to such as entred canonically as Cornelius and Stephanus and the ancient Popes generally not such as thrust themselves into that See and purchased the Papacy either by art Magicke as Sylvester the second or by an imposture as Hildebrand or simony and faction as almost all since Lastly upon Apostolicall men in life and doctrine not apostaticall or apotacticall as those fifty Popes reckoned by Genebrard his Holinesses Chronicler one after another By all which particulars seriously considered Urban his supremacy derived from Saint Peter appeareth to be a rope of sand or a castle of Table-men piled one upon another without any thing to hold them together which fall allasunder with a fillep or an old ruinous paire of staires the ground-cell or foot whereof viz. Peters superiority to the rest of the Apostles is not sure and all the consequences deduced from thence like staires built upon it are all rotten and therefore I will stand no longer upon them but leape into my third and last part The manner of the Apostles consecration and first of the mysterious rite Hee breathed The truth and substance Christ himselfe who put an end to all legall shadowes commanding all to worship God in Spirit and truth ordained notwithstanding mysterious rites in the Sacraments of the new Testament and used visible and significant gestures in his miraculous cures he gave sight to the blinde not without touching the eye and hearing to the deafe not without thrusting his finger into the eare and speech to the dumb not without wetting the tongue he fetched not Lazarus breath back againe without fetching a deepe sigh nor inspired his Disciples with the holy Ghost without breathing upon them Gestures p Cic. de orat l. 3. Gestus est sermo quidam corporis in religious actions are as significant and more moving than words Decent Ceremonies in the substantiall worship of God are like shadowing in a picture which if it bee too much as we see in the Church of Rome it darkeneth the picture and obscureth the face of devotion but if convenient and in fit places it giveth grace and beauty to it Superstition may be and is as properly in such who put Religion in not using as in those who put Religion in using things in their owne nature meerely indifferent Christian liberty is indifferently abridged by both these errours about things indifferent And as a man may be proud even of the hatred of pride and contempt of greatnesse so he may be superstitious in a causlesse feare and heady declining of that which seemes but is not superstitious Which is the case of some refined Reformers as they would bee thought who according to their name of Precisians ungues ad vivum resecant pare the nailes of pretended Romish rites in our Church so neere that they make her fingers bleede For feare of monuments of Idolatry all ornaments of the Church if they might have their will should be taken away for feare of praying for the dead they will not allow any prayer to be said for the living at the buriall of the dead for feare of bread-worship they will not kneele at the Communion for feare of invocating the Saints deceased they will not brooke any speech of the deceased in a funerall Sermon for feare of making matrimony a Sacrament they will have it no sacred rite but a meere civill joyning the parties contracted in the congregation not by the hand of the
suos pietas impietas est apud Deum What Seneca speakes of words may bee a good rule in these teares still are volo non currere let them drop like precious water out of a Lymbecke not run like common water out of a spout o Horat. carm l. 2 ed. 20. Absint inani funere naeniae Luctusque turpes querimoniae Compesce clamorem Demang in Hebrew signifying a teare hath great affinity with Demama signifying silence to teach us that our teares ought to bee silent not querulous or clamorous Let nature have her course but let religion set bounds to it p Horat. l. 2. carm ed. 9. Ne semper urge flebilibus modis Mysten ademptum Let us water our plants but not drown them as those that mourne without hope Joseph loved his Father Jacob better than the Egyptians yet his teares were but the tithes of theirs for hee mourned but q Gen. 50.3 seven dayes but they seventy Rachel though otherwise a good woman yet in this was too womanish and wayward that shee would not bee comforted neither is her reason good nor true if wee take it as the words sound because they are not for wee know they are and living too all live to God wee know where they are that dye in the Lord with Christ in Paradise wee know what manner of dwellings they have tabernacles not made with hands eternall in the heavens wee know of what congregation they are of the congregation of the first borne and the spirits of just men made perfect wee know what they doe they follow the lambe wheresoever hee goeth wee know what they say also they cease not to cry day and night Holy holy holy c. lastly wee know what they sing Halelujah Wherefore as Xenophon when newes was brought him as he was sacrificing of his sonnes death put off the crowne hee had on his head and gave vent to his sorrowes at his eyes but after hee understood that hee dyed valiantly and worthy such a Father put on his crowne againe and finished his sacrifice so when newes shall bee brought unto us of the death of our dearest friends let us first put off our crowne of joy and let nature and love melt us into teares but when wee heare againe that they dyed penitently and religiously with hope full of immortality let us put on our crowne againe and comfort ourselves and finish our Christian course with joy as those religious people did of whom Saint Austine speaketh putting himselfe among them * Aug. ser 35. de divers Contristamur in nostrorum mortibus necessitate amittendi sed cum spe recipiendi inde angimur hinc consolamur inde infirmitas afficit hinc fides reficit inde dolet humana conditio hinc sanat divina promissio the consideration of the losse of our friends cutteth us but the hope of receiving them againe healeth us And now at the length to release your long captivated attention I will speake but one word of admonition to you concerning your owne end and so an end Is death nothing but a sleep why then are you so much scared at the mention or thought of it When the Prophets of God or some other your deerest friends deale faithfully with you telling you there is no way but one and advising you to set your house in order for you must dye and cannot live why doe you fetch many a deep sigh turne to the wall and mourne like a dove or chatter like a crane why doe you not rather struggle with your owne infirmitie and with resolute Hilarion even chide out your soules hankering at the doore of your lips Egredere quid times egredere anima mea quid dubitas sexaginta prope annis servisti Christo mortem times Goe out my soule why art thou afraid goe out why makest thou any difficulty thou hast served Christ well nigh sixty yeeres and dost thou now feare death You will hardly finde any little childe much lesse man that is afraid to goe to bed nay travellers after a tedious journey in bitter weather are not content to pull off their cloathes they teare them for haste to get into their soft and warme beds When our day is spent and wee are come to our journeyes end why doe we not as it were pull off our cloaths by stripping ourselves of worldly cares and businesses and settle our selves to sleepe in Jesus and breathe out our soules betweene his armes Plato when hee died had the booke of Sophronius the Musitian under his pillow When we lye on our death bed let us have under our pillow to support us not the booke of Sophronius the Musitian but the bookes of the sweet singers of Israel David and Salomon and the rest of the inspired Writers so shall wee be sure that God will make our beds in our sickenesse and we shall sweetly fall into our last sleepe as did the most religious Matron Paula who when some about her as shee was now drawing on read to her the second of Canticles so soone as shee heard the Bridegroome calling Surge speciosa mea surge columba mea veni Arise my Love arise my Dove arise my Faire one and come away the winter is past the raine is over and gone she answered as it there followeth the flowers appeare in the earth the time of pruning or as it is in our translation the time of singing is at hand With which word shee made an end of her life and I will of my Sermon committing you as shee did her soule to God beseeching him who hath taught us the doctrine of the resurrection by his word to accomplish it in us by his Spirit that having part in the grace of the first resurrection here wee may hereafter participate in the glory of the second through JESUS CHRIST Cui c. THE TRUE ZEALOT A Sermon preached at the Archbishops visitation in Saint Dunstans THE FOURTEENTH SERMON JOHN 2.17 The zeale of thine house hath eaten mee up THe parcell of Scripture whence I have taken my text is a sacred sculpture or Hieroglyphicke consisting of 1 An embleme or imprese 2 A motto or word The embleme presenteth to us the Temple with a kinde of Faire in it and a man which is the sonne of man with a scourge of small cords driving out all the buyers and sellers and powring downe their money and overthrowing their tables and stalles The motto word or sentence is that which I have already spoken in your hearing viz. The zeale of thine house hath eaten mee up The exemplification of the embleme I commend to him to whom our Saviour hath left his whip to void cleanse this temple and to discipline all sorts of bad merchants in it The motto or word belongeth properly to them to publish proclaime it whose stile is vox clamantium the voice of a Mat. 3.3 cryers not the sweet voice of singers to lull men asleep in security with melodious streines of time-serving
that were served in at the Idols table Let them therefore beware of some fearfull judgement of God who without any calling or commission out of meere curiosity enter into the house of Rimmon and behold those Idolatrous rites wherewith Romish superstition hath corrupted the pure worship of God How can they bee there with them without offence If they joyne not with these Idolaters in censing bowing before offering unto and kissing their Images in calling upon Saints and praying for the releasing of soules out of Purgatory they give offence to them if they joyne with them they give greater offence to the Church of God and not onely receive a p Hom. against rebellion the Pope is called the Babylonish beast marke from the beast but a grievous wound The Corinthians whom S. Paul in these words plucks as it were violently out of the idols Temple had as colorable a pretence as these Naamans can have They pleaded that they went not to the idols temple to worship but to make merry with their neighbors and feede their bellies with the idols relicks these in like manner say that they resort not to places where Masses are said to worship the wafer or breaden god but to feede their eyes with their garish shewes and please their eares with their exquisite musicke They proceeded farther in their defence alledging that they knew the idoll was nothing and in their eating of things offered to it they had no relation to the Paynim deity nor purpose to worship it but the true God whose creatures they received with cheerefulnesse and thanksgiving And is not this the fairest glosse they set upon their foule and scandalous practise in pressing into Popish chappels that they know the sacrifice of the Masse is nothing neither doe they any reverence at all to image or picture but to God to whom they pray against those superstitions even when they are at them But what doth the Apostle answer to the Corinthians viz. That though the idoll bee nothing in it selfe yet sith it is a supposed Deity in the minde of the Idolater who intendeth a religious worship thereunto in keeping those heathenish feasts a Christian may not joyne with him in the outward action of his idoll service whatsoever the intention be without receiving a foule staine both in his conscience and in his good name To lift up the heart to God when they fall downe with their body before the Hoste or Image will no more acquit them from idolatry than it will cleare a woman from adultery to thinke upon her husband when shee prostituteth her body to the impure soliciter of her chastity Neither is it easie to sever the soule from the body in one and the selfe same act as q Aug. confess l. 6. c. 8. Alypius ab amicis violenter in amphitheat um adductus dicens si corpus meum in illum locum trahitis numquid animum adero itaque absens sic vos illa superabo ille diuclausis oculorum foribus interdixit animae ne in tanta mala procederet utinam aures obturasset nam quodam pugnae casu curiositate victus aperuit oculos percussus est graviore vulnere in animâ quam ille in corpore Alypius found by his woefull experience who being violently drawne by his friends into the Romane Theater thus reasoned with himselfe What though you have drawne my body into this place you shall not draw my soule seeing you will have it so I will stay with you but I resolve to be absent when I am present and so I will deceive you and them According to which his firme purpose hee kept the liddes of his eyes shut that his soule might not as it were goe out of them and gad after these vanities And it had beene happy for him saith Saint Austine if hee had locked up the gates of his eares also for on the suddaine hearing a great shout and applause ere hee was aware hee opened his eyes and by seeing that bloody spectacle received a deeper wound in his soule than the hurt Fencer in his body Is it not to bee feared that as the r Gen. 30.39 And the flockes conceived before the rods and brought forth cattell ring streked speckled and spotted sheepe which conceived before the coloured roddes brought forth spotted lambes so the prayers and meditations which are conceived before idols will receive some impression from the image and bee tainted with idolatry or spotted with superstition Was it unlawfull for the Corinthians to partake with idolaters in meats offered unto idols and can it bee lawfull for these men to communicate with Papists in prayers offered unto them If they answer they pray to Saints and before images and not idols let them know that any image or creature to which religious worship is given thereby becommeth an idoll If Saint Cyprians zeale transported him not too farre when hee peremptorily determineth there can bee no society betweene faith and perfidiousnesse or betweene the true and false worship of God If the ſ 2 Cor. 6.14 What fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse c. Apostle alloweth of no more communion betweene Christians and Idolaters than betweene righteousnesse and unrighteousnesse or light and darkenesse or t Ver. 15. Christ and Belial certainely all Interimists and Pseudo-Cassanders and catholike Moderators of these times who goe about to bring Christ and Antichrist to an enterview sodder unity and schisme piece faith and heresie and make the Whore of Babylon and Christs spouse good friends are like to have a hard taske of it For what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols but yee are the Temple of God Doctr. 3 Yee The light of the sunne is common unto all but not his influence in like manner there are certaine enlightning gifts which are not denied to the unregenerate but the sanctifying and saving graces of the spirit are peculiar to Gods children God forbiddeth in the Law the annointing any thing with the holy u Exod. 30.33 oyle save the things that are there specified he maketh it death to put that holy oyntment to any common use and shall wee thinke that hee will shed the oyntment of his spirit into any impure or prophane heart will hee cast his pearle before swine The piety of Paynims is Necromancy or Idolatry of Heretickes is Will-worship of Hypocrites is Formality of Schismaticks is Faction There can be no true devotion without illumination of the understanding and renovation of the will and purifying the heart by faith there is no Temple of God which is not built upon the corner stone Christ Jesus Ye and none but such as ye are The Church in the song of Solomon is compared to a * Cant. 4.12 A garden enclosed is my sister my spouse a spring shut up a fountaine sealed garden enclosed or a fountaine sealed The prophane and ungodly drinke not of the river of her pleasures they taste not of her
perish You have here as before I shewed you the Church of Christ drawne as it were with a coale and expressed with three darke and sad markes 1 Frailty A woman 2 Perplexity Fled 3 Obscurity To the wildernesse Her nature is frailtie The woman Her state is uncertainty Fled Her glory obscurity remained in the wildernesse a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes From the frailty of her nature let us learne a lecture of sober watchfulnesse from the unsettlednesse of her estate a lecture of prudent moderation from her obscurity or latencie a lecture of modest humilitie 1 If the mother be fraile the daughter is like to be weake They who are subject to slip and fall must carefully avoyd high and narrow ridges as also slippery places and precipices or downefalls We scarce stand f Seneca de ira Recedamus quantum possumus à lubrico vix in sicco firmiter stamus sure upon drie firme and plaine ground therefore let us beware with all diligence how we come nigh high ridges with the ambitious or slipperie places with the voluptuous or downefalls with the presumptuous sinner let us pray to God 1 To make his way plaine before us 2 To order our steps in the plaine path 3 To support us continually with his right hand 2 If the Spouse of Christ be a pilgrime and flieth from place to place from Citie to Citie from Kingdome to Kingdome let us learne by her example and from the Apostle's mouth that g Heb. 13.14 we have here no continuing Citie but seeke one to come St. James by an elegant metaphor calleth the affaires of this world h Jam 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the course of nature a nowne derived from a verbe signifying to runne because the world runneth upon wheeles As in triumphes and pompous shewes we see towers and rockes and castles but enpassant carried in procession not staying any where such is the glory of this world The portable Arke in the Old Testament and the flying woman in the New are images of the militant Church in this world the one was drawne by beasts from place to place the other was carried with the wings of an Eagle from Country to Country neither of them was fixed When two Noble men strived about a fish pond and could by no meanes be brought to an agreement Gregorius Thaumaturgus by miracle suddenly dried it up so God in wisedome taketh away from us the things of this life if we too much strive for them Wherefore let us not build upon the sailes of a wind-mill let us not cast the anchor of our hope on the earth for there is nothing to hold by riches get themselves wings possessions change their Lords great houses according to Diogenes his apophthegme vomit and cast up their owners The favours of men are like vanes on the top of houses and steeples which turne with the wind The Church in many respects is compared to the moone she receiveth her light from the Sun of righteousnesse she hath her waxing and waining is never without spots is often eclipsed by the interposition of the shadow of the earth I meane the shadowes of earthly vanities Those who professe the art of turning baser metals into gold first begin with abstractio terrestrietatis à materia the abstraction or drawing away of earthlinesse from the matter of their metall in like manner if we desire to be turned as it were into fine gold and serve as vessels of honour in God house our earthly dregs and drosse must be drawne out of us by the fire of the Spirit that is our earthly cares our earthly desires our earthly hopes our earthly affections Hercules could never conquer Anteus donec à terra matre eum levasset till hee had lifted him up above the earth his mother no more can the Spirit of grace subdue and conquer us to the obedience of the Gospel till hee hath lifted up our hearts from the earth with these levers especially the consideration of 1 The vanity of earthly delights 2 The verity of heavenly comforts 3 The excellency of our soule 4 The high price of our redemption Can we imagine that so incomparable a jewell as is the soule of man was made to be set as it were in a ring on a swines snout to dig and root in the earth Did God breathe into us spirit and life nay did Christ breathe out his immortall spirit for this end to purchase us the happinesse of a mucke-worme that breedeth and feedeth liveth and dyeth in the dung or at the best the happinesse of an Indian i Chrysost hom 7. in ep ad Philipp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emmet that glistereth with gold dust about her St. Austin hath long agoe christened the contentments of this world in the font of teares by the names of solacia miserorum non gaudia beatorum solaces of wretched not joyes of blessed ones at the best they are but reliefes of naturall necessities For what is wealth but the reliefe of want food but the reliefe of hunger cloathing but the reliefe of nakednesse sleepe but the reliefe of watching company but the reliefe of solitarinesse sports and pastimes but the taking off the plaister and giving our wounds a little aire and our selves a little ease from our continuall labour and paines Like the gnats in Plutarch we run continually round in the circle of our businesse till we fall downe dead traversing the same thoughts and repeating the same actions perpetually and what happinesse can be in this The more we gild over the vanities of this world with the title of honours pleasures and riches the more we make them like the golden apples which hung at Tantalus his lips which were snatched away from him when he offered to bite at them For the k 1 John 2.17 world passeth away and the lust thereof Albeit the earth abideth and shall till the end of the world which cannot be now farre off yet all Monarchs Kingdomes States Common-wealthes Families Houses passe There is written upon them what Balthasar saw the hand writing upon the walls of his Palace Mene mene tekel upharsin Admit they abide for a large time yet we are removed from them by persecution invasion peregrination ejection and death Albeit our Lawyers speake of indefeisable estates and large termes of yeeres to have and to hold lands on earth yet they speake without booke for no man can have a better estate than the rich man in the Gospell to whom it was said l Luke 12.20 Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided so is he that layeth up treasure for himselfe and is not rich towards God Wherefore if ever we looke to arrive at the faire haven we must cast anchor in heaven and not trust in uncertaine riches but in the living God who here provided for the woman both a
unto our spirits that wee are the sonnes of God Pretious metals are digged out of the bowels of the earth and pearles are found in the bottome of the sea and truely seldome shall we fall upon this treasure of spirituall joy and pearle of the Gospell but in the depth of godly sorrow and bottome and lowest point of our humiliation before God 1. The first taste wee have of the hidden Manna of the Spirit is in the beginning of our conversion and nonage of our spirituall life when after unutterable remorse sorrow and feare arising from the apprehension of the corruption and guilt of our naturall estate and a dreadfull expectation of wrath laid up for us against the day of wrath and everlasting weeping howling and gnashing of teeth with the damned in hell wee on the suddaine see a glympse of Gods countenance shining on us and by faith though yet weake hope for a perfect reconciliation to him 2. A second taste wee have when wee sensibly perceive the Spirit of grace working upon our heart thawing it as it were and melting it into godly sorrow and after enflaming it with an everlasting love of him who by his infinite torments and unconceivable sorrowes hath purchased unto us eternall joyes 3. A third taste wee have of it when after a long fight with our naturall corruptions wee meet with the Divels Lievtenant the sinne that reigneth in us which the Scripture calleth the plague of the heart that vice to which either the temper of our body or our age or condition of life enclineth us unto our bosome abomination to which for a long time wee have enthralled our selves and having perfectly discovered it by employing the whole armour of God against it in the end wee get the victory of it 4. A fourth taste wee have after some heavie crosse or long sicknesse when God delivereth us above hope and sanctifieth our affliction unto us and by his Spirit calleth to our remembrance all his goodnesse to us from our childhood and anointeth our eyes with eye-salve that wee may see the manifold fruits of the crosse and finde in our selves with David that it was good for us thus to bee afflicted 5. A fift taste wee have at some extafie in our life or a trance at our death when wee are rapt up as it were into the third heaven with St. Paul and see those things that eye never saw and heare words that cannot be uttered Thus have I opened unto you five springs of the waters of comfort in which after you have stript your selves of wordly cares and earthly delights you may bathe your soules in the bottome whereof you may see the white stone which Christ promiseth to him that overcommeth saying To him that overcommeth I will give to eate of the hidden Manna To whom c. THE WHITE STONE THE XXVII SERMON APOC. 2.17 And I will give him a white stone Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IT was the manner of the Thracians to reckon up all the happy dayes of their life and marke them in a booke or table with a white stone whereunto the Poet alluding saith a Pers satyr Hunc Macrine diem numera meliore lapillo May it please God by his Spirit to imprint those mysteries in your hearts which are engraven upon this stone I doubt not but this day in which I am to describe unto you the nature of it will prove so happy that it shall deserve to bee scored up with the like stone For this white stone is a certaine token and pledge of present remission of sinnes and future admission into Christs kingdome Whereof through divine assistance by your wonted patience I will speake at large after I have refreshed the characters in your memory of my former observations upon this Scripture which setteth before all that overcome in the threefold christian warre 1 Forraine against Sathan Recapitulat 2 Civill against the world 3 Servile against fleshly lusts three boones or speciall gifts 1 Hidden Manna a type of spirituall consolation 2 A white stone the embleme of justification 3 A new name the imprese of glorification There is 1 Sweetnesse in the hidden Manna 2 Comfort in the white stone 3 Glory in the new name The sweetnesse of the hidden Manna wee tasted 1 In the mysticall meaning of the Word 2 In the secret power of the Sacrament 3 In the unutterable comfort of the Spirit And now I am to deliver unto you in the next place the white stone In the handling whereof I will levell at those three scientificall questions mentioned by b Aristot analyt post l. 2. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notand quod sit referti ad an sit ubi de accidente quaeritur quia accidentis esse est messe Aristotle in his bookes of demonstration Divis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An sit aut quod sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propter quod sit First whether there be any such white stone Secondly what it is Thirdly to what end it is given and what use wee are to make of it for our instruction correction or comfort First of the An sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether there be any such stone or no. There hath beene for many ages a great question De lapide Philosophico of the Philosophers stone to which they ascribe a rare vertue to turne baser metals into gold but there is no question at all among the sincere professours of the Gospell De lapide theologico of the divine stone in my text which yet is far more worth and of greater vertue than that For that if we have any faith in Alchymy after much labour and infinite cost will turne base metall into gold but this will undoubtedly turne penitent teares into pearle and drops of blood shed for the testimony of the Gospell into rubies and hematites to beset our crowne of glory With this stone as a speciall love-token Christ assureth his dearest spouse that c Rom. 8.28 all things shall turn to her good and worke together for her endlesse happinesse Hee that hath this white stone shall by the eye of faith see it suddenly turne all temporall losses into spirituall advantages all crosses into blessings all afflictions into comforts What though some heretickes or profane persons have no beliefe of this white stone no more than they have of that d Mat. 13.46 pearle of great price which the Merchant sold all that hee had to buy What though some have beene abused by counterfeit stones like to this shall wee not therefore regard this or seeke after it This were all one as if an expert Gold-smith should refuse to look after pure gold because some ignorant Merchant hath beene cheated with sophisticated alchymie stuffe for gold or if a skilfull Jeweller should offer nothing for an orient Diamond because an unskilfull Lapidary hath beene corisened with a Cornish or Bristow stone in stead of it The
obedience bee better than sacrifice the sacrifice of obedience must needs be the best sacrifice Yet so hath the Divell blinded many that they place the greatest Religion in disobedience God accepted not Corah his sacrifice because he sacrificed in schisme nor will hee of their outward religious acts who stand in opposition to the Churches authority Government is as necessary in the Church as in the Commonwealth 3. Qualitatem sacrificiorum sacrifices of righteousnesse that is sacrifices rightly offered Chrysostome sheweth the maner the sanctified will saith he is the altar charity the fire the sword of the Spirit the knife the hand faith 4. Effectum the effect of these sacrifices As good works partake in the name so have they the effect and vertue of sacrifices In a good construction they may be said to appease Gods wrath and to procure unto us spirituall and temporall blessings they may be said to appease Gods wrath three wayes 1. By taking away the fuell thereof viz. sins For as light expelleth darkness so the sacrifice of righteousnesse expelleth impiety and iniquity which provoke Gods wrath 2. By brightning the Image of God in us and making it more conspicuous this 〈…〉 enflame Gods love to us in his beloved Christ Jesus Certainly as 〈◊〉 â—â—aments jewels make a Spouse more amiable in the eies of her hus◠〈◊〉 good works when their imperfections are covered with the robes of 〈◊〉 righteousnes make the soule more amiable in the sight of God and men 3. By making us capable of a greater measure of Gods love and favour For though they are no way meritorious causes of Gods blessings spirituall or temporall yet are they as precious dispositions and conditions in the subject and as these appease Gods wrath so they may bee said to impetrate of God spirituall and temporall blessings In this argument this grave and learned Divine expatiated alledging many remarkable passages out of the ancient Fathers namely out of Saint Chrysostome in Heb. hom 33. Talibus sacrificiis placatur Deus S. Ambrose de penit l. 2. c. 4. Qui agit poenitentiam non solum diluere lachrymis debet peccatum suum sed etiam emendatioribus factis operire tegere delicta superiora ut non ei imputetur peccatum Gelas cont Pelag. concil Tom. 2. Tam jugi supplicatione quam eleemosynis caeterisque bonis actionibus expiandum est peccatum August ep 54. Misericordiae operibus expiatur peccatum Fulgent ep 2. Agnoscamus opera bona locum orationis habere apud Deum Hilar. in Matth. can 4. Charitas errorum nostrorum ad Deum ambitiosa est patrona Tertull. de patient c. 13. Mortificatio aures Christi aperit severitatem dispergit clementiam illicit Greg. moral 9. c. 14. Verba nostra ad Deum sunt opera quae exhibemus Et in Psal 7. poenit Quid est manibus Deum exquirere nisi sanctis operibus invocare Salvatorem Cyp. ep 8. Admoneo religiosam solicitudinem vestram ut ad placandum atque exorandum Dominum non voce solâ sed jejuniis lachrymis omni genere deprecationis ingemiscamus Chrysost 2. Cor. hom 20. Spiritum vocas non verbis sed factis opus clamat fit sacrificium And now that I have set before you the gift of the fourth Speaker viz. a border of gold with studs of silver it remaineth that I work in it as in the three former his embleme consisting of an Image and a Motto the Image is Cotta the Motto the words of Cicero de claris Oratoribus Inveniebat acutè Cotta dicebat purè nihil erat in ejus oratione nisi siccum sanum Cotta his invention was acute his elocution was pure and there was nothing in his Sermon which was not solid and sound THE REHEARSERS CONCLUSION OR THE FASTENING THE BORDERS TO THE SPOUSE HER NECKE AND BREAST PLiny a Plin. l. 2. nat hist c. 44. Metellae Crassi uxoris sepulchrum ita constructum est ut quinquies candem verborum sententiam regerat writeth of an Eccho sounding from the Tombe of Metella Conclusion which repeated the same sentence five severall times this five-fold Eccho I am now become in your eares eandem sententiam quinquies regerens rehearsing now my Text five times foure in repetition and application to the foure Preachers and now the fifth time in the conclusion and application to my selfe Vary the translation as you please yet the collation will still hold if you stand to the last and reade the words wee will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver the collation is already made for the foure borders are the foure methodicall discourses beautified with variety of art and learning which I have imperfectly rendered and nothing remaineth but that as it were with a silke string or ribbon I gather the rowes of pearle and all the borders of gold together which before I tooke off that we might more particularly view them and fasten them all to the Spouse her neck breast by drawing towards an end and pressing close my exhortation to the heart of this great assembly If you follow learned Junius his translation Faciemus tibi aureas lineas cum punctis argenteis you may be pleased to interpret the foure lines of gold drawne at length to bee the foure Texts handled and unfolded at large by the Preachers and the puncta argentea or the points of silver speciall notes of observation upon them placed as points or prickes in a line some in the beginning some in the middle and some in the end The points beginning and continuing wee have already passed and are now come to puncta terminantia the closing points or rather period and full poin of all But if you preferre the Seventies translation before either and will have the Text rendred thus Faciemus tibi similitudines auri cum punctis argenteis Wee will make thee similitudes or resemblances of gold with points of silver my application shall bee in the words of Origen Nos tibi aurea ornamenta facere non possumus non tam divites sumus ut Sponsus qui aureum tibi monile largietur nos similitudines auri faciemus And indeed what are the imperfect notes which I have imparted to you but similitudines obscure resemblances of those borders of gold I spake but now of In which respect as when Marcellus in his Pageant brought in golden Statues or Images of the Cities hee had taken and afterwards Fabius brought in the same carved in wood Chrysippus said wittily Has illarum thecas esse so it may bee truly said that the Sermons which I have repeated were but illorum thecae covers or at the best tables and indexes of theirs the blame whereof lyeth not wholly upon the broken vessell of my memory or my noters for though the vessell be sound and set direct under the spouts mouth it is not possible but that some drops should fall besides and others be blowne away with the
1.5 messengers of Christ 3. The dwelling of Angels is in Heaven and there is or ought to be the a Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven conversation of the Ministers of the Gospel 4. The life of Angels is a continuall b Matth. 18.10 beholding the face of God and what is the life of a good Minister but a continuall contemplation of the divine nature attributes and workes 5. The Angels gather c Mat. 24.31 the Elect from the foure windes and the Ministers of the Gospel gather the Church from all corners of the earth 6. The Angels d Apoc. 16.1 poure out the vialls of the wrath of God upon the earth and the Ministers are appointed to denounce Gods judgements and plagues to the wicked world 7. The Angels e 1 Cor. 15 52. sound Trumpets at the last resurrection and the Ministers of the Gospel at the first 8. When Christ was in an agony f Luke 22.43 there appeared an Angel strengthening him and when Gods children are in greatest extremity God sendeth the Ministers of the Gospel to g Job 33.23 If there bee a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew to man his uprightnesse c. comfort them 9. The Angels carry the soules of them that dye in the Lord into Abrahams bosome Luke 16.22 and the Ministers of the Gospel give them their passe and furnish them with their last viaticum Now if it bee demanded why God so highly advanceth the dignity of the Ministry I answer to advance his glory He lifteth up the silver Trumpets of Sion on high that the sound of his praise may be heard the further As the visible Sunne casteth a more radiant and bright beame upon Pearle and Glasse which reflecteth them againe than upon grosse and obscure bodies that dead the rayes thereof even so the Sunne of righteousnesse casteth the fairest lustre upon that calling which most of all illustrateth his glory To other vocations God calleth us but this calleth us unto God all other lawfull callings are of God but of this God himselfe was and if it bee a great honour to the noblest orders of Knighthood on earth to have Kings and Princes installed into them how can wee thinke too worthily of that sacred order into which the Sonne of God was solemnly invested by his h Psal 110.4 Father I speake nothing to impeach the dignity of any lawfull profession make much of the Physicians of your body yet not more than of the Physicians of your soule yeeld honour and due respect to those that are skilfull in the civill and municipall Lawes yet under-value them not who expound unto you the Lawes of God At least take not pride in disgracing them who are Gods instruments to conveigh grace into your soules grieve not them with your accursed speeches who daily blesse you load them not with slaunders and calumnies who by their absolution and ghostly comfort ease you of the heavie burden of your sinnes goe not about to thrust them out of their temporall estate who labour by their Ministery to procure you an eternall It is not desire of popular applause or a sinister respect to our owne profit but the zeale of Gods glory which extorteth from us these and the like complaints against you For if Religion might bee advanced by our fall and the Gospel gaine by our losses and God get glory by our dis-esteeme we should desire nothing rather than to be accounted the off-scouring of all things on the earth that so wee might shine hereafter like precious stones in the foundation of the celestiall Jerusalem But if the Preachers and the Gospel the Word and Sacraments and the Ministers thereof Religion and Priests the Church and Church-men are so neere allies that the dis-reputation of the one is a great prejudice to the other and the disgrace of the one the despising of the other if the truth wee professe if our Religion if the Gospel if Christ if God suffer in the disgraces that are put upon our calling and the manifold wrongs that are done to it we must adjure you for your owne good and deeply charge you in Gods cause that as you looke to receive any good from him so you take nothing sacrilegiously from the Church as you hope to be saved by the Ministery preserve the dignity and estimation thereof be not cursed Chams in discovering the nakednesse of your ghostly fathers Alexander thought that he could not lay too much cost upon the deske in which Homers Poems lay and we daily see how those who take delight in musicke beautifie and adorn the instrument they play upon with varnish purfle gilt painting and rich lace in like maner if you were so affected as you should be at the hearing of the Word if you were ravished with the sweet straines of the songs of Sion ye would make better reckoning of the Instruments and Organs of the holy Spirit by which God maketh melodie in your hearts yee would not staine with impure breath the silver trumpets of Sion blowne not with winde but with the breath of God himselfe yee would not trample under foot those Canes that yeeld you such store of Sugar or rather of Manna Yee will be apt enough upon these and the like texts to teach us our dutie that we ought as Messengers of God to deliver his message faithfully and as neere as we can in his owne words as Angels to give our selves to divine contemplation and endevour to frame our lives to a heavenly conversation Let it not then be offensive to you to heare your dutie which is as plaine to be read as ours in the stile here attributed to the Pastour of Laodicea the Angell It is that you entertaine your diligent and faithfull Pastours as the i Gal. 4.14 Ye received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus Galathians did St. Paul and as Monica did St. Ambrose tanquam Angelos Dei as the Angels of God receive them as Abraham and Lot did the Angels sent from God unto them defend them according to your power from wrong and make them partakers of the best things wherewith God hath blessed you Angelo to the Angel in the singular number chiefe Pastour or Bishop of the Church All Ministers as I shewed you before may challenge the title of Angels but especially Bishops who watch over other Ministers as Angels over men who are to order the affaires of the Church and governe the Clergie as the Peripatetickes teach that Angels direct and governe the motions of the celestiall spheres therefore Epiphanius and St. Austine and most of the later Interpreters also paraphrase Angelo by Episcopo illic constituto and verily the manner of the superscription and the contents of the letter and the forme of governement settled in all Churches at this time make for this interpretation For supposing more Ministers in London of equall ranke and dignitie as there are who would indorse a
And the Musicians will tell us that some discords in a lesson binding wise as they speake and falling into a concord much grace the musicke 2. Secondly wee wish that all Magistrates Ecclesiasticall and Civill would first make proofe of gentler remedies and seeke rather to winne men by perswasions than draw them to Church by compulsion Monendo potiùs quà m minando verbis magis quà m verberibus to use rather commonitions than comminations words than blowes discourses than legall courses arguments than torments 3. Thirdly in making and executing penall Statutes against Heretickes and Idolaters all Christian Princes and States must wash their hands from bloud and free themselves from all aspersion of cruelty For no fish will come into the net which they see all bloudy and they who are too quick in plucking at those that differ from them in Religion root up those oft-times for tares which if they had been permitted longer to grow might have proved good corne 4. Fourthly they must put a great difference between those that are infected with Hereticall opinions whereof some are ring-leaders some are followers some are obstinate others flexible some are turbulent others peaceable on some they ought to have g Jude 22 23. compassion making a difference and others save with feare pulling them out of the fire 5. Lastly nothing must be done herein by the intemperate zeale of the heady multitude or any private motion but after mature advice and deliberation be appointed by lawfull authority To the particular instances brought from our neighbour Nations that are repugnant to this rule wee answer with Saint h Serm. 66. in Cant. Approbamus zelum factum non laudamus Bernard Wee approve their zeale yet wee allow not of their proceedings These cautions observed that religions differing in fundamentall grounds are not to be tolerated in the same Kingdome we prove 1. First by the Law of i Deut. 22.10 11. Moses which forbiddeth plowing with an Oxe and an Asse together or to weare a garment of divers sorts as of woollen and linnen together The morall of which Law according to the interpretation of the best Expositors hath a reference to diversities in Religions and making a kinde of medley of divers worships of God 2. Secondly by the grievous punishment of Idolaters appointed by God himself k Deut. 13.6 8 9. If thy brother or son of thy mother or thine own son or thy daughter or the wife that lieth in thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine own soule entice thee secretly saying Let us goe and serve other gods thine eye shall not pity him neither shalt thou keep him secret but thine hand shall be upon him and then the hand of all the people to stone him to death Solùm pietatis genus est hic esse crudelem It is piety in this kinde to shew no pity It is not in the power of Kings and Princes to reverse the decrees of Almighty God or falsifie his Oracles who saith No l Matth. 6.24 man can serve two masters For what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse and what m 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16. communion hath light with darknesse or what concord hath Christ with Belial and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols 3. Thirdly if these testimonies of everlasting truth perswade us not that God who is truth must be worshipped in truth and not with lyes and in a false manner yet Christ his inditing the Angel of Thyatira for suffering Jezebel and the Angel of Pergamus for not silencing false Teachers I have a few things against thee saith the Spirit that thou hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Baalam The Spirit chargeth not the Angel with allowing or countenancing but tolerating only false doctrine Therefore the toleration of Heresie and Idolatry is a sinne which God will not tolerate in a Magistrate which I further thus demonstrate 4. Fourthly God will not hold any Prince or State guiltlesse which permitteth a pollution of his name but the worship of a false god or the false worship of the true God is a pollution of his name as himselfe declareth n Ezek. 20.39 Pollute my name no more with your gifts and your Idols God is a jealous God and will endure no corrivall if wee divide our heart between him and any other hee will cut us off from the land of the living as hee threatneth I o Zeph. 1.5 will cut off the remnant of Baal and them that worship the host of Heaven upon the house tops and them that worship and sweare by the Lord and by Malcham 5. Fifthly what shall I adde hereunto save this that the bare permission of Idolatry was such a blurre to Solomon and most of the succeeding Kings of Juda that it obscured the lustre and marred the glosse of all their other Princely endowments For after the description of their vertues this blot is cast upon their reputation But the high p 1 Kin. 15.14 places were not taken away But thrice happy q 2 Kin. 18.4 Hezekiah who by demolishing the brasen Serpent which Moses had made because the children of Israel burned incense to it erected to himselfe an everlasting monument of praise And yet more happy r 2 Kin. 23.25 Josiah after whom the Holy Ghost sendeth this testimony Like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like unto him Why what eminent vertues had Josiah above others what noble acts did he which the Spirit values at so high a rate no other than those which we find recounted in the books of Kings and Chronicles Hee brake downe the Altars of Baalim and cut downe the Images that were on high upon them hee brake also the groves and the carved Images and the molten ſ 2 Chron. 34.4 5. Images and stamped them to powder and strewed it upon the graves of them that sacrificed to them and hee burned the bones of the Priests upon the Altar He defiled Topheth which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom that no man might make t 2 Kin. 23.10 11 12 13. his sonne or his daughter passe through the fire to Moloch and he took away the horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the Sun and the Altars that were on the top of the upper chambers of Ahaz the Altars which Manasseh had made in the two Courts of the house of the Lord and the high places that were before Jerusalem which Solomon had builded and so he tooke away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel and u 2 Chro. 34.33 compelled all that were found in Israel to serve the Lord their God 6. Sixthly farther to teach Magistrates that they ought sometimes to use violent and
one field tares and wheat out of one mouth proceeds cursing and blessing Behold an ambitious simoniacall Priest of the Romane constitution and that but for a yeer vaunt over him that is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek Behold bloudy Caiphas consulting nay determining to put Christ to death not for any fault of his but because it was profitable to the Priests it is expedient for us yet doth hee colour his bloud-thirsty appetite with a varnish of common good If wee let him alone all men will beleeve in him and beleeving him to be a God will advance him to be a King the Romans will come take away this place and our Nation He is but one man what is the bloud of one man to the quiet of a publike state Melius est ut pereat unus quà m unitas let one man dye that the whole Nation perish not This is Caiphas his meaning vouchsafe we a look to it before we consider the meaning of a much better spirit Solomon his Lilly is most beautifull among thornes The Rose sayes Plutarch is never so fragrant as when it is planted by the Nettle the doctrine of the Holy Ghost seemeth never more excellent than when it is compared with the doctrine of Divels It is expedient he should dye he saith not it is just or lawfull Bonum commodis non honestate metitur Caiphas profit is become the rule of justice in whose hands now it is not only to judge according to the rule of law but to over-rule the law also In imitation of whom I verily thinke it was that Clemens the fifth being demanded how the Templer Knights might be cut off made this answer Si non licet per viam justitiae licet saltem per viam expedientiae But if it be profitable to whom cui bono to whom is it so to us now hee speakes like himselfe To S. Paul all things were lawfull yet many things did not seem expedient to Caiphas that is expedient which is not lawfull But shall a just innocent man a Prophet nay more than hee that was more than a Prophet lose his life for nothing but your commodity the answer is that though he be all these yet in a manner he is but unus one man and we are many better it were that he suffer a mischiefe than we an inconvenience therefore be his quality what it may be let him dye Ne saevi magne Sacerdos Let not the high Priest be angry will nothing but his death appease you You have a guard keep him sure manacle his hands fetter his feet only spare his life bring not his bloud upon your head Tush it is for our profit His bloud be upon us Thus crudelitas vertitur in voluptatem jam occidere hominem juvat it was meat drink to them to spill the bloud of Christ Jesus and being pleased to consider him but as a man they trampled on him as a worme and no man Ystel in Exod. Behold here in another sense Caiphas a bloudy Ruby yet as the Rubies about Egypt aureâ bracteâ sublinuntur so hath he gold foyle Scripture in his mouth the words of the Holy Ghost who not only out of the mouth of babes and sucklings will have his praise out of the mouth of asses and brute beasts will have his power to be knowne but also out of the mouth of reprobates and incarnate divels will have the same truth in the same words confirmed which holy Prophets and the holy Spirit by which they spake would have revealed For not onely holy men as the Preacher observed but sometimes also unholy men speake as they are moved by the Holy Ghost Agit Spiritus Dei per bonos per malos per scientes per nescientes quod agendum novit statuit but in a different manner The Holy Ghost so touched the hearts of holy Prophets that their hearts enditing this matter of Christs passion their tongues became the pen of ready writers but on the contrary as Caiphas did honour God with his lips while his heart was farre from him so saith Saint Chrysostome the Spirit of God touched his lips but came not neere his heart It is expedient In the exposition of Caiphas the meaning is it is good for us pretending common good to kill Jesus but the sense of the Holy Ghost is that the precious death of our Saviour would be expedient for us and his alone bloud once shed for his people an all-sufficient ransome for their soules Expedient it was and behoovefull in the first place that he who should satisfie for sinne the wages whereof is death should bee a man subject to death Secondly that he should dye Thirdly inasmuch as with respect to his people he became a man subject to death so that hee should in the end lay downe his life for the people Fourthly that he should be sufficient by his alone death to satisfie in their behalfe for whom he dyed Lastly we must enquire whether the profit of his passion be such as extendeth to our selves or not we shall find it doth for so are the words of the Text It is expedient for us Expedient it was that the Saviour of man should be a man Ecce homo behold he is so for comming to save man suscepit naturam quam judicavit salvandam he became in all things sinne only excepted like unto us It was fit it should be so for if the Deity had opposed it selfe non tam ratio quà m potestas Diabolum vicisset what mystery had there bin for God to vanquish the Divell how should the Scripture have bin fulfilled The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head yet there is an experiment beyond all this Experiar Deus hic discrimine aperto an sit mortalis saith the spirituall Lycaon if hee carry about with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a body subject to dissolution doubtlesse hee is a man Thus therefore that hee might shew himselfe a man it was expedient that hee should die Is this thy reward O sweet Saviour for stouping thine infinite majesty so low as to become earth and thirty three yeeres to converse amongst us must thou dye It must bee so yet not for any necessity of justice in respect of himselfe for never Lambe more innocent nor of constraint for at the very time of his apprehension when hee had lesse than twelve Apostles hee had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his becke at the breath of his mouth the majesty of his countenance the force of those his words I am hee a whole troupe of his persecuters fell backwards but it must bee so because the determination of the Trinity and the conformity of his owne will thereunto will have it so Oblatus est quia voluit saith the Prophet I lay down my life saith himselfe Yea Caiphas said as much in effect It is meet not that one should be put to death but that he
Court of justice in which the lesser flyes are strangled but the greater easily breake through them And bee the lawes of any Commonwealth or Kingdome never so exact yet Seneca his observation will bee true Angusta est justitia ad legem justum esse it is but narrow and scanty justice which extendeth no further than mans law A man may be ill enough and yet keepe out of the danger of the lawes of men which are many wayes imperfect and defective but the law of God is no way subject to this imputation it is perfect and as the Prophet David speaketh c Psal 119.96 exceeding broad it reacheth to all the actions words and imaginations of all the sonnes of Adam not a by syllable can passe not a thought stray not a desire swerve from the right way but it falleth within the danger and is lyable to the penalties annexed to it which are most certaine and most grievous 1 Externall in the world 2 Internall in the conscience 3 Eternall in hell The arguments that are hence drawne to deterre men from sinne and wickednesse are of a stronger metall and have another manner of edge than reason can set upon them d Heb. 4 12. For the word of God is quick and powerfull sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The Hyperbolicall commendation which the e Cic. de orat l. 1. Fremant licet omnes dicam quod sentio bibliothecas omnes Philosophorum unus mihi videtur duodecim tabularum libellus si quis legum fontes capita viderit autoritatis pondere utilitatis ubertate superare Orator giveth of the Romane lawes published in twelve Tables of right belongeth to this member of the Apostles exhortation it hath more weight of reason and forcible arguments of perswasion to holinesse of life and detestation of vice in it than all the discourses of morall Philosophers extant in the world Hence we learn that their losses who trade with Satan are inestimable and irrecoverable that wicked and ungodly courses and means to gain thrive by not onely deprive us of the comfortable fruition of all earthly but also of the possession of all heavenly blessings that even small offences when they come to light are sufficient to cover the sinner with shame and confusion that all the filthinesse that lyeth in the skirts of the soule shall be discovered in the face of the sun before men Angels that not only outward acts but inward motions and intentions not only loud crying sins but also still and quiet that lye asleep as it were in the lap of our conscience not only hainous crimes and transgressions of an high nature but also those seeming good actions that have any secret filthinesse or staine in them if it bee not washed away with the teares of our repentance and blood of our Redeemer shall bee brought into judgement against us and wee for them condemned to death both of body and soule in hell No tragicall vociferation nor the howling and shricking of damned ghosts can sufficiently expresse the horrour and torments of that endlesse death which is the end of sinne What sinne hath proved for the time past yee have heard wee are at this present to consider what it is for the present it hath beene unfruitfull what fruit had yee it is shamefull whereof ye are now ashamed Shame is defined by f L. 2. Rhet. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle Agriefe and trouble of minde arising from such evils as seeme to tend to our infamy and disgrace somewhat more fully it may bee described A checke of conscience condemning us for some intention speech or action whereby wee have defiled our conscience before God or stained our credits before men This affection is in all men even in those that are shamelesse and impudent who are not so called because they are without this irkesome passion but because they shew no signe thereof in their countenance nor effects in their lives As impossible it is that in the conscience of a sinner g Rom. 2.15 thoughts should not arise accusing him as that there should bee a fire kindled and no sparks flye up To pollute the conscience with foule sin and not to be ashamed is all one as to prick the tenderest part of the body and to feele no paine h Suet. in Tib. Tiberius who let loose the raines to all licentiousnesse yet when hee gave himselfe to his impure pleasures caused all the pictures to bee removed out of the roome and Alexander Phereus that cruell tyrant when hee beheld a bloody Tragedy in the Theater and therein the ugly and monstrous image of his barbarous cruelty drawne to the life was so confounded therewith that hee could no longer dissemble his terrour of minde nor expect the end of that dismall Scene Now how deepe an impression shame and infamy make in the soule wee may perceive by those who preferred death before it i Xen. l. 7. Cyr. Paed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Panthea solemnly wished that shee might bee buried alive rather than constrained to staine her blood and good name by keeping company with any how great soever hee were contrary to her vow to her dearest Abradatus And k Ovid. Epist Phillis Demophoonti Phillis having lost her honour voweth to make amends for it by her voluntary death Stat necis electu tenerum pensare pudorem Which Lucretia also practised flying out of the world to shun the shame thereof and spilling her blood which the tyrant had a little before stayned and Europa thought one death too light a revenge for wronged chastity Levis una mors est Virginum culpae If shame and infamy were not the sharpest corrasives to a guilty conscience the Prophet David would not so oft use these and the like imprecations against the enemies of God Let them be confounded and perish that are l Psal 71.11 83.17 against my soule and let them bee counfounded and vexed evermore let them bee put to shame and perish let mine adversaries bee clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their owne confusion as with a cloake Yea but if shame and confusion are the very gall and wormewood of Gods vengeance against the wicked most bitter to the taste of the soule what construction are wee to make of those words of the Prophet m Ezek. 36.32 O yee house of Israel bee ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes doth the Prophet here give them counsell to pull down Gods vengeance upon themselves Nothing lesse To cleare this point therefore wee must distinguish of shame which is taken 1 Sometimes for a vertuous habit and disposition of the minde consisting in a mediocrity betweene two extremes impudency in the defect reproved in the Jewes by the Prophet n Jer. 8.12
it the more vertue we shall finde in it and use to be made of it I have already counted many particulars in my former discourses upon these words and the supply of the rest together with the summe of the whole shall be my taske for the remainder of the time I will begin with the occasion which was a deepe wound of griefe which the Angel of Laodicea might seeme to have received from that keene and cutting reproofe Because thou art neither hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my mouth Now that he might not take on too farre by reason of so grievous and heavie a message the Spirit verifieth his name Paracletus and healeth and suppleth the wound with these comfortable words As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Gather not too much upon my former sharp reproofes and threats against thine owne soule there is yet place for thy zealous repentance despaire not of my favour nor wrong my love in thy over-weening conceit I would not have so rebuked thee if I had not loved thee Are those that are in Gods place to rebuke sinne and chasten offenders so carefull not to drive them to desperate courses will they daigne as God here doth to yeeld a reason of their proceedings and mitigate their sharpe censures with favourable expositions take away all scruples out of mens minds which their speeches and actions might otherwise leave in them Yee see the occasion and by it the scope of the Spirit and connexion of the words which carry this sense I rebuke with conviction and chasten with instruction all those whom I love not onely at large as I doe all mankind but in a speciall manner as I doe those whom I intend to make heires and co-heires with my only begotten Son Here wee have a speciall action of Gods carefull providence over his children Now the actions of God may be considered in a double respect either as they come from the Soveraigne of all power above us or as he is the patterne of all goodnesse to us as they are actions of soveraignty they require of us obedience and an awfull and a trembling regard of them as they are examples of goodnesse we are to seeke to imitate them and expresse them in our lives According to the former consideration these actions of God and words of my Text rebuke and chasten strengthen those that are under the rod but according to the latter they direct those that are to use it the former when they are chastened the latter when they chasten are to take notice of the severall circumstances set down in the Text. More particularly and plainly thus 1. We learne out of the words Gods care of his whom he reclaimes by threats and chastenings from their evill courses 2. The condition of the Church militant which is seldome without rebukes and chastenings 3. The imperfection of inherent righteousnesse and difficulty or rather impossibility of performing the Law now after our fall all Gods deare children are rebuked and chastened by him and therefore are not without blame or fault These are the speciall observations Their use must be to informe our judgement in the true estimate of the things of this life to stirre up our love to God who taketh such care of and paines with us as it were to call us home unto him by threatning of judgements and correcting us with a fatherly and compassionate affection Let us yet resume the words and consider the proceedings of the Almighty and wee shall see in God his actions the Magistrate his direction and charge and in the Magistrate his charge of distributing these tokens of Gods love the duty of all inferiours to receive them with the same affection wherewith they are given The Minister is to reprove the Judge to convince the Father to nurture the Magistrate to punish the Master to discipline those that are under them without partiality with moderation and in love those that are under their authority they may not revile but rebuke not torment but chasten not some in a spleen but all in love by the example of the Spirit in my Text God rebuketh whom he liketh and chasteneth whom he rebuketh and loveth whom he chasteneth Amor ille fraternus saith Saint d Aug. confes lib. 10. c. 4. Respirent in bonis suspirent in malis Austine we may say paternus sive approbet me sive improbet me diligit O that fatherly mind which whether it approve mee or reprove mee still loveth mee is worth all Amor saith the old man in the Poet est optimum salsamentum Love is the best sawce of all it giveth a rellish to those things that are otherwise most distastefull and loathsome It is most true of Gods love for it maketh rebukes gratefull and even chastenings comfortable I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Happy are we if we are of these many for e Job 5.17 blessed is he whom God correcteth Howsoever all chastening seemeth grievous unto us for the present yet it after bringeth the f Heb. 12.11 quiet fruit of righteousnesse to those that are exercised thereby Wherefore it is worth the observation that David prayeth not simply O Lord rebuke mee not neither chasten mee for that had been as much as to say O Lord love mee not for God rebuketh and chasteneth every one whom he loveth but he addeth g Psal 6.1 Rebuke mee not in thine anger neither chasten mee in thine heavie displeasure or as Junius rendereth it out of the Hebrew in aestu irae tuae in the heat of thy wrath I rebuke Was it enough to allay and coole the boyling rage of the young man in the comedy Pater est si non pater esses were thou not my father shall not this word I in my Text and this consideration that Gods hand is in all our afflictions be more forcible to quell the surges of our passions within the shore of Christian patience that they break not forth and fome out our own shame It was the speech of Laban Bethuel though devoid of the knowledge of the true God h Gen. 24.50 This thing is proceeded of the Lord we cannot therefore say neither good nor evill We who are better instructed must alter the words and say This thing is proceeded of the Lord this crosse is sent us from him therefore we cannot but say good of it we must thanke him for it In this losse sicknesse disgrace banishment imprisonment or whatsoever affliction is befallen us the will of our heavenly Father is done upon us and is it not our daily prayer Fiat voluntas tua Thy will be done Looke we to the author and finisher of our salvation hee bowed his will to take upon it his Fathers yoake shall we with a stiffe necke refuse it Father saith he let this cup passe let it passe if it be possible let it passe Ye heare he prayeth thrice against the drinking of it with all
a fearfull expectation of eternall death I doubt not but that some of you were pricked in heart with this sharp reproofe of sinne which ye heard in the handling of the former Verses and ye resolved forthwith to turne from your evill wayes and walke in the pathes of Gods commandments what remaines but that yee hold on your holy course to the end that ye may winne a garland of the flowers of Paradise Beware of turning out of the way to take up the golden apples which the Divell casteth before you if ye turne never so little aside ye endanger your crowne of glory and hazzard your lives All your former righteousnesse which ye have done shall not be mentioned and in the trespasse that yee have trespassed and in the sinne that ye have sinned in them yee shall dye What a soule and shamefull thing is it with the dogge to returne to your vomit of luxury and with the swine to your wallowing in the mire of sensuall pleasures As in the diseases of the body so also much more of the soule all relapses are dangerous and in some diseases altogether incurable the reason whereof alledged by some learned Physicians is this that when wee first take our bed the malignity of the disease worketh upon corrupt humours in the body which when they are purged and we restored to health if after by any distemper we fall into the same malady the malignity of the disease worketh upon our vitall spirits in like manner the malignity of sinne before our conversion worketh but upon our corrupt nature but after upon the graces of Gods Spirit Remember the possessed man in the Gospel who when the t Luke 11.26 uncleane spirit went out of him returned to his owne home and finding it swept and garnished took seven worse spirits than that which before haunted him and so his last state was worse than his first u John 8.11 Sinne no more saith our Saviour to the impotent man lest a worse thing befall thee * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Improbè Neptunum accusat qui bis naufragium fecit Eras Adag Lysimachus was wont to say that it was impardonable carelesnesse to stumble twice at the same stone The first time we offend we may plead ignorance and over-sight but hee that twice runneth upon the same rocke if hee bee cast away cannot blame his hard chance but his retchlesse folly x Tertul. de poenitent Comparationem videtur egisse qui utrumque cognoverit judicato pronunciasse eum meliorem cujus se rursus esse maluerit Tertullian acutely observeth that he who after his conversion to God and giving his name to Christ falls againe to serve Sathan in any vicious course of life seemeth to have put God and the Divell in the same ballance and having weighed both their services deliberately and upon a settled judgement to have preferred the service of the Divell and pronounced him the better Master of the two whom he the second time chuseth to serve after hee hath made tryall of both To be overtaken with some kind of temptation or other is the lot of all the sonnes of Adam but when God hath delivered us out of the snare of the Divell and we have escaped the danger and undertaken a new course of life and held it for some time then to turne backe to the wiles of sinne and walke of Sathan what is it else than to breake all our former promises and vowes made to God to resist the motions of the Spirit to strive against grace to cast his feare and commandements behind us and presuming upon his gentlenesse and patience to runne desperately upon the point of his glittering sword which hee hath whet and threatned to make it drunke with the bloud of all retchlesse and presumptuous sinners Notwithstanding all these great and fearfull dangers which we incurre by relapses how many turnings doe we make in our way to Heaven how often doe wee slacke our pace how often doe wee unbend our desires nay rather flye backe like a broken bow After wee have made an open confession of our sinnes and a solemne profession of amendment after wee have protested against our former courses and vowed to walke in newnesse of life and taken the holy Sacrament of our Lords blessed body and bloud upon it yet how soone doe we looke backe to Sodome with Lots wife how soone doe we forget that in private which we promised in publike how soone doe we leave the strait pathes of Gods commandements and follow the sent of our former sinfull pleasures After we have eaten the food of Angels we devoure Sathans morsels after we have drunke the bloud of our Redeemer we greedily swill in iniquity like water Wee find in Scripture many desperately sicke yet cured the first time by our Saviour but where doe we reade in all the Gospel of any blind mans eyes twice enlightened of any deafe eares twice opened of any tyed tongue twice loosened of any possessed with Divels twice dispossessed of any dead twice raised No doubt Christ could have done it but we reade not that ever he did it that we should be most carefull to avoid relapses into our former sins the recovery whereof is alwayes most difficult and in some case as the Apostle teacheth us impossible I tremble almost to rehearse his words y Heb. 6.4 5 6 7 8. It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them againe unto repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Sonne of God afresh and put him to an open shame For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft upon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which bringeth thornes and bryars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The z Plin. nat hist l. 9. c. 43. Scolopendra hamo devorato omnia interiora evomit donec hamum egerat deinde resorbet Scolopendra having devoured the bait when shee feeleth the hooke to pricke her casteth up all that is in her belly till shee have got up the hooke but as soone as ever that is out of her bowells she suppeth up all that which before she had cast from her How excellently hath nature in the property of this fish set before our eyes the condition and manner of a sinner who after he hath devoured Sathans morsells feeling the hook in his conscience and being pricked with some remorse rids the stomacke of his soule by confession and never leaveth fasting and praying and sighing and sobbing till the hooke be out and the wound of his conscience healed with the balme of Gilead but that being done resorbet interiora omnia he returneth to his former vomit and greedily
and this queere I leave it and insist rather upon those that follow the first whereof is the consideration of the time or rather duration of this infirmity in the people How long They that are sound in their limbes may by a small straine or blow upon their legs halt for a while but sure long to halt is a signe of some dangerous spraine or rupture now this people as it should seeme halted in this manner at least three yeeres The strongest and soundest Christian sometimes halteth in his minde betweene two opinions nay which is worse betweene religion and superstition faith and diffidence hope and despaire but hee halts not long Christ by his word and spirit cureth him As in our bodies so in our soules we have some distempers doubts suddenly arise in our minds as sparks out of the fire which yet are quenched in their very ascending and appeare not at all after the breath of Gods spirit hath kindled a flame of truth in our understanding Heresies and morall vices are like quagmires wee may slightly passe over them without any great danger but the longer we stand upon them the deeper wee sinke and if wee bee not drowned over head and eares in them yet we scape not without much mire and dirt Hereof e Confess lib. 3. c. 11. Novem ferme anni sunt quibus ego in illo limo profundi tenebris falsitatis cum saepius surgere conarer gravius alliderer volutatus sum S. Augustine had lamentable experience during the space of many yeeres in which he stucke fast in the heresie of the Manichees Had I but saith he slipt onely into the errour of the Manichees and soone got out of it my case had beene lesse fearefull and dangerous but God knowes that for almost nine yeares I wallowed in that mud the more I strived to get out the faster I stucke in Beloved if wee have not beene so happy as to keepe out of the walke of the ungodly yet let us bee sure not to stand in the way of sinners much lesse sit in the seat of the scornefull if wee are not so pure and cleane as we desire at least let us not with Moab settle upon the lees of our corruption if wee ever have halted as Jacob did yet let us not long halt with the Israelites whom here Elijah reproveth saying How long Halt yee It may be and is very likely that many of the Israelites ran to Baals groves and altars and yet they were liable to this reproofe of Elijah For though we run never so fast in a wrong way we doe no better than halt before God Better halt saith S. Austine in the way than run out of the way This people did neither they neither ran out of the way nor limped in the way but halted betweene two wayes and missed both Betweene two opinions Had they beene in the right way yet halting in it the night might have overtaken them before they came to the period of their journey but now being put out of their way and moving so slowly as they did though the Sun should haue stood still as it did in the valley of Ajalon they were sure never to arrive in any time to the place where they would be Yet had they beene in any way perhaps in a long time it would have brought them though not home yet to some baiting place but now being betweene two waies their case was most desperate yet this is the case of those whom the world admireth for men of a deep reach discreet carriage they are forsooth none of your Simon Zelotes Ahab shall never accuse them as hee doth here Elijah for troubling Israel with their religion they keepe it close enough whatsoever they beleeve in private if at least they beleeve any thing they in publike wil be sure to take the note from the Srate either fully consort with it or as least strike so soft a stroake that they will make no jarre in the musick Besides other demonstrations of the folly of these men their very inconstancy and unsettlednesse convinceth them of it for mutability and often changing even in civill affaires that are most subject to change is an argument of weaknesse but inconstancie in religion which is alwayes constant in the same is a note of extreme folly Whence it is that the spirit of God taxeth this vice under that name as Oh yee foolish Galatians who hath bewitchâ—d you Are yee so foolish f Chap. 3.1 3 4. having begun in the Spirit are yee now made perfect in the flesh Have yee suffered so many things in vaine And g Ephes 4.14 Be not like children tossed to and fro and carried about with everie wind of doctrine If religion be not only the foundation of Kingdomes and Common-wealths but also of everie mans private estate what greater folly or rather madnesse can there be than to build all the h Matth. 7.26 securitie of our present and hope of our future well-fare upon a sandie foundation He that heareth my words and doth them not is likened to a foolish man which buildeth his house upon the sand All the covenants betweene God and us of all that we hold from his bountie are with a condition of our service and fealtie which sith a man unsettled in religion neither doth nor ever can performe hee can have no assurance of any thing that hee possesseth no content in prosperitie no comfort in adversitie no right to the blessings of this life no hope of the blessednesse of the life to come what religion soever gaine heaven he is sure to lose it Whether the Lord be God or Baal be God neither of them will entertaine such halting servitours Were he not worthy to be begged for a foole that after much cautiousnesse and reservednesse would make his bargaine so that he were sure to sit downe with the losse such matches maketh the worldly-wise man howsoever the world goe whether the true or the false religion prevaile in the State while hee continueth resolved of neither hee is sure to lose the pearle which the rich merchant sold all that he had to buy What shall I speak of inward wars and conflicts in his conscience Now he hath strong inducements to embrace the Gospel shortly after meeting with a cunning Jesuit he is perswaded by him that he is an Enfant perdue out of all hope of salvation if he be not reconciled to the Roman Church the next day falling aboord with the brethren of the separation he beginneth to thinke the Brownists the onely pure and refined Christians for all other Christians if we beleeve them build upon the foundation hay and stubble but they gold silver and precious stones When he is out of these skirmishes and at leisure to commune with his owne heart his conscience chargeth him with Atheisme indifferencie in religion and hollow-hearted neutralitie Adde we hereunto the judgement of all understanding men who esteeme such as
upper roome at Jerusalem where Christ appointed them to wait for the k Act. 1.4 promise of the father 1. Of the time In the Syriacke and Latine wee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dies dayes in the plurall number but in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day in the singular The Syriacke and the Latine had an eye to the whole number of dayes which now amounted unto fiftie the originall designeth in the singular the precise day which made it up fiftie the day by the accesse whereof to the 49. the number of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fiftie was made complete Word for word according to the originall wee should thus reade my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or upon the fulfilling of the fiftieth day from the feast of first fruits Metall upon metall is no good Heraldrie yet feast upon feast is good Divinitie especially when the one is the type the other the truth For this reason l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Severianus conceiveth that our Saviour was offered up for our sinnes on the crosse the day and time of the day when the Paschall Lamb according to the Law was to be killed to set the face to the picture the truth to the type that the body might as it were drive out the shadow and occupie the space thereof And in like manner m In haec verba ut ostenderet tum spiritum sanctum legem tulisse nunc legem ferre Theophylact imagineth that hee sent the spirit fiftie dayes after when the Jewes kept a feast for the Law to shew that as then the holy Ghost proclaimed the Law so now also then the law and covenant of works now the law of faith and covenant of grace S. o Aug. hom de Pent Sicut 50. post pascha die lex lata fuit manu Dei scripta in tabulis lapideis ita spiritus cujus officium erat eam cordibus inscribere condem diebus post resurrectionem Christi qui est pascha nostrum implevit quod in legis promulgatione figuratum erat Austine giveth another rellish of his owne As saith he fiftie dayes after Easter the Law was given written by the finger of God in tables of stone so the spirit whose office it is to write it in the hearts of men just so many dayes after Christs resurrection who is our Passover fulfilled that which was figured in the publishing of the Law S. p Chrys hom de Pent. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostome striketh upon a different string yet maketh good musicke others fetched the congruitie from the Law hee from nature What saith he is Pentecost It signifieth that season of the yeare wherein the Jewes thrust their sickle into the corne-harvest In like sort the Lord of the harvest disposed that now the Apostles should put their sickle the sickle of the Word into the harvest of the world and reape it I shall not need to straine farther for congruities S. Cyrill and S. Ambrose give me the hint of another synchronisme for they affirme that on this day the Angell descended into the poole of Bethesda and after the troubling the water cured the sicke whatsoever the disease was And what fitter day could have beene thought upon for the holy Ghost to descend to bestow the gift of miraculous cures than upon this day of healing I could tell you of the Jubilee which fell upon the fiftieth yeare in which all possessions returned to their former owners and acquittances were given for all debts but because the best stomacks rather desire solid than sweet meats I therefore content my selfe at this present with q Calv. com in Act. 2. Festo die quo ingens multitudo Hierosolymae confluere solebat editum est miraculum quo illustrius redderetur Calvin his observation upon the circumstance of time This solemnitie being next to that of the Passover was the fittest time to make the miracle wrought upon it more illustrious For this reason Christ came up so often to Jerusalem at their solemne feasts and S. Paul made haste in his journey that he might be there at the feast of Pentecost to win more soules by the preaching of the Gospel in a time of so great confluence of people from all parts There is no fishing to the sea and now it was full sea at Jerusalem all the cities in Palestine like so many rivers emptying themselves into it The gift of tongues could not at any time so fitly have been bestowed as at this when there were present at Jerusalem men of everie nation under heaven Acts 2.5 6. To convince all gaine-sayers of the miracle What are these say they that speak Are they not Galileans How then heare we every one speake in our owne tongue where wee were borne Parthians and Medes and Elamites and they that dwell in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia Pontus and Bithynia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Jewes and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians we doe heare them speake in our tongues the wonderfull works of God vers 7 8 9 10 11 As we read in the 19. Psalme vers 2. Dies ad diem eructat sermonem nox ad noctem ostendit scientiam Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge or giveth intelligence so here Lingua ad linguam eructat sermonem the tongues of men of all nations gave testimony to the miraculous gift of tongues in the Apostles It is the wisdome of State to appoint beacons to be set up on the highest hils to give notice to all the Countrey And Christ himselfe commandeth us not to hide a candle under a bushell but to set it on a candlesticke that it may give light to all that are in the house And in this consideration those Preachers of the glad tidings of salvation who have had the best foyle of modestie to set off the lustre of their knowledge have yet been desirous to deliver their Embassage from God to men in the fullest assemblies not to gaine thereby more applause to themselves but more soules to God When the eares stand thicke in a corne-field not a drop of raine falleth besides them on the ground And this is a principall end of our celebration of Christian feasts to draw multitudes together to heare Christ preaching by his Ministers and working still miraculous cures upon the soules of men by the Sacraments administred in the Church And so from the holy day I proceed to the sacred persons assembled on it viz. the Apostles They were all together Beza telleth us of an ancient manuscript in which he found the substantive added to the adjective omnes viz. Apostoli which words though I finde not in our copies yet by comparing this verse with the last of the former chapter it appeareth that the all here must bee restrained to the Apostles or principally meant of them for they were as S. Austine
setteth them r Aug. serm de Pent. Tanquam duodecim radii solis seu totidem lampades veritatis totum mundum illuminantes forth twelve beames of the sunne of righteousnesse or twelve great torches of the truth enlightening the whole world They were as the twelve Patriarks of the new Testament to be consecrated as oecumenicall Pastours throughout all the earth they were as the ſ Exod. 15.27 twelve Wels of water in Elim from whence the chrystall streames of the water of life were to be derived into all parts they were as the twelve t Apoc. 12.1 starres in the crowne of the woman which was cloathed with the sunne and the moone under her feet and as the twelve u Apoc. 21.14 pretious stones in the foundation of the celestiall Jerusalem The present assembly in this upper roome was no other than a sacred Synod and in truth there can be no Synod where the Apostles or their successours are not present and Presidents For all assemblies how great soever of Lay-persons called together about ordering ecclesiasticall affaires without Bishops and Pastours are like to Polyphemus his vast body without an eye Monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen ademptum But when the Apostles and their successours Bishops and Prelates and Doctours of the Church are assembled and all are of one accord and bend their endevours one way to settle peace and define truth Christ will make good his promise to be in the * Matt. 18.20 When two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them And middest of them and by his spirit to lead them into x John 16.13 When the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth all truth With one accord All the ancient and later Interpreters accord in their note upon the word accord that Animorum unio concordia est optima dispositio ad recipiendum Spiritum sanctum that Unitie and concord is the best disposition of the minde preparation for the receiving of the holy Ghost The bones in Ezekiel were y Ezek. 37.7 8. joyned one to another and tyed with sinewes before the wind blew upon them and revived them so the members of Christ must bee joyned in love and coupled with the sinewes of charitable affections one towards another before the holy Spirit will enlive them Marke saith S. z Serm. de Temp. Membrum amputatum non sequitur spiritus cùm in corpore erat vivebat precisum amittit spiritum Austine in the naturall body how if a member bee cut off the soule presently leaveth it while it was united to the rest of the members it lived but as soone as ever it was severed it became a dead peece of flesh so it is in the mysticall body of Christ those who sever themselves by schisme or faction from the body and their fellow-members deprive themselves of the influence of the holy Spirit Peruse the records of the Church and you shall finde for the most part that faction hath bred heresie When discontented Church-men of eminent parts sided against their Bishops and Superiours Gods spirit left them and they became authours of damnable heresies This was Novatus his case after hee made a faction against Cyprian Donatus after hee made a faction against Meltiades Aerius after hee made a schisme against Eustatius and doe we not see it daily in our Separatists who no sooner leave our Church but the spirit of God quite leaveth them and they fall from Brownisme to Anabaptisme from Anabaptisme to Familisme and into what not The Church and Common-wealth like the * Plin. l. 2. nat hist c. 105. Lapis Tyrrhenus grandis innatat comminutus mergitur Lapis Tyrrhenus while they are whole swimme in all waters but if they be broken into factions or crumbled into sects schismes they will soone sinke if not drowne And so I passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from their unanimitie of affection to their concurrence in place In one place The last circumstance is the place which was an upper chamber in Jerusalem The Apostles and Disciples stayed at Jerusalem after the ascension of our Lord partly in obedience to his a Acts 1.4 command which was not to depart out of Jerusalem till they were indued with power from above partly to fulfill the prophecie the b Esay 2.3 Law shall goe out of Sion and the word of God out of Jerusalem They kept all together out of love and for more safetie and they tooke an upper chamber that they might bee more private and retired or because in regard of the great confluence of people at this feast they could not hire the whole house or as Bernardinus conceiveth to teach us that the spirit of c Com. in Act. Ut discamus quod datur spiritus iis qui se ab imis attollunt rerū sublimium contemplatione ut cibo se oblectant God is given to such as raise up themselves from the earth and give themselves to the contemplation of high and heavenly mysteries Now to descend from this higher chamber and to come neare to you by some application of this text It will be to little purpose to heare of the Apostles preparation this day if wee prepare not our selves accordingly to discourse of their entertainment and receiving the holy Spirit if wee receive him not into our hearts It is a mockerie as Fulgentius hath it Ejus diem celebrare cujus lucem oderimus To keepe the day of the Spirit if wee hate his light If wee desire to celebrate the feast of the Spirit and by his grace worthily receive the Sacrament of Christ his flesh wee must imitate the Apostles and Disciples in each circumstance 1. Rely upon Gods promises by a lively faith of sending the spirit of his Sonne into our hearts and patiently expect the accomplishment of it many dayes as they did 2. Ascend into an upper chamber that is remove our selves as farre as wee can from the earth and set our affections upon those things that are above 3. Meet in one place that is the Church to frequent the house of God and when we are bid not to make excuses but to present our selves at the Lords boord 4. Not onely meet in one place but as the Apostles did with one accord to reconcile all differences among our selves and to purge out all gall of malice and in an holy sympathy of devotion to joyne sighs with sighs and hearts with hearts and hands with hands and lifting up all together with one accord sing Come holy Ghost so as this day is Pentecost in like manner this place shall be as the upper roome where they were assembled and we as the Apostles and Disciples and the Word which hath now beene preached unto us as the sound of that mightie rushing wind which filled that roome and after wee have worthily celebrated the feast of the Spirit and administred the
Sacrament of our Lords body and bloud wee shall feele the effects of both in us viz. more light in our understanding more warmth in our affections more fervour in our devotions more comfort in our afflictions more strength in temptations more growth in grace more settled peace of conscience and unspeakable joy in the holy Ghost To whom with the Father and the Sonne bee ascribed c. THE SYMBOLE OF THE SPIRIT THE LXIV SERMON ACTS 2.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting SAint Luke in the precedent verse giveth us the name in this the ground of the solemne feast we are now come to celebrate with such religious rites as our Church hath prescribed according to the presidents of the first and best ages The name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the feast of the fiftieth day from Easter the ground thereof the miraculous apparition and if I may so speake the Epiphany of the holy Spirit in the sound of a mighty rushing wind the light of fiery cloven tongues shining on the heads of the Apostles who stayed at Jerusalem according to our Lords command in expectation of the promise of the holy Ghost which was fulfilled then in their eyes and now in our eares and I hope also in our hearts After God the Father had manifested himselfe by the worlds creation and the workes of nature and God the Sonne by his incarnation and the workes of grace it was most convenient that in the third place the third person should manifest himselfe as he did this day by visible descension and workes of wonder Before in the third of Matthew at the Epiphany of our Saviour the Spirit appeared in the likenesse of a dove but here as yee heare in the similitude of fiery cloven tongues to teach us that we ought to be like doves without gall in prosecution of injury done to our selves but like Seraphins all fire in vindicating Gods honour This morall interpretation Saint a Greg. tert pas Omnes quos implet columbae simplicitate mansuetos igne zeli ardentes exhibet Et ib. Intus arsit ignibus amoris foras accensus est zelo severitatis causam populi apud Deum lachrymis causam Dei apud populum gladiis allegabat c. Gregory makes of these mysticall apparitions All whom the spirit fills he maketh meeke by the simplicity of doves and yet burning with the fire of zeale Just of this temper was Moses who took somewhat of the dove from the spirit and somewhat of the fire For being warme within with the fire of love and kindling without with the zeale of severity he pleaded the cause of the people before God with teares but the cause of God before the people with swords Sed sufficit diei suum opus sufficient for the day will be the worke thereof sufficient for this audience will be the interpretation of the sound the mysticall exposition of the wind which filled the house where the Apostles sate will fill up this time And lest my meditations upon this wind should passe away like wind I will fasten upon two points of speciall observation 1. The object vehement the sound of a mighty rushing wind 2. The effect correspondent filled the whole house Each part is accompanied with circumstances 1. With the circumstance of 1. The manner suddenly 2. The sourse or terminus à quo from heaven 2. With the circumstance of 1. The place the house where 2. The persons they 3. Their posture were sitting 1. Hearken suddenly there came on the sudden 2. To what a sound 3. From whence from heaven 4. What manner of sound as of a mighty rushing wind 5. Where filling the roome where they were sitting That suddenly when they were all quiet there should come a sound or noise and that from heaven and that such a vehement sound as of a mighty rushing wind and that it should fill the whole roome where they were and no place else seemes to mee a kind of sequence of miracles Every word in this Text is like a cocke which being turned yeeldeth abundance of the water of life of which we shall taste hereafter I observe first in generall that the Spirit presented himselfe both to the eyes and to the eares of the Apostles to the eares in a noise like a trumpet to proclaime him to the eyes in the shape of tongues like lights to shew him Next I observe that as there were two sacred signes of Christs body 1. Bread 2. Wine so there are two symboles and if I may so speake sacraments of the Spirit 1. Wind 2. Fire Behold the correspondency between them the spirit is of a nobler and more celestiall nature than a body in like manner the elements of wind and fire come neerer the nature of heaven than bread and wine which are of a more materiall and earthly nature And as the elements sort with the mysteries they represent so also with our senses to which they are presented For the grosser and more materiall elements bread and wine are exhibited to our grosser and more carnall senses the taste and touch but the subtiler and lesse materiall wind and fire to our subtiler and more spirituall senses the eyes and eares Of the holy formes of bread and wine their significancie and efficacy I have heretofore discoursed at large at this present by the assistance of the holy Spirit I will spend my breath upon the sacred wind in my Text and hereafter when God shall touch my tongue with a fiery coale from his Altar explicate the mystery of the fiery cloven tongues After the nature and number of the symboles their order in the third place commeth to be considered first the Apostles heare a sound and then they see the fiery cloven tongues And answerable hereunto in the fourth verse we reade that they were filled with the holy Ghost and then they began to speake with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance For b Mat. 12.34 out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh With the c Rom. 10.10 heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and then with the tongue he confesseth unto salvation My d Psal 45.1 heart saith David is enditing a good matter and my tongue is the pen of a ready writer first the heart enditeth and then the tongue writeth They who stay not at Jerusalem till they are endued with power from above and receive the promise of the Father but presently will open their mouthes and try to loosen the strings of their fiery tongues I meane they who continue not in the schooles of the Prophets till they have learned the languages and arts and have used the ordinary meanes to obtaine the gifts and graces of the holy Spirit and yet will open their mouthes in the Pulpit and exercise the gift of their tongues doe but fill the eares of their auditors with a