him Apoc. 1.7 even they that nailed him to the Crosse and pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him Yea and Amen then he shall bring or send forth judgement unto victory He brought forth judgement in his life by preaching the Gospel in his owne person and he sent it forth after his death by the ministery of his Apostles and doth still by propagating the Church but hee bringeth not forth judgement unto victory in the Evangelists phrase because this his judgement is much oppressed the light of his truth smoothered the pure doctrine of the Gospel suppressed the greater part of the Kings of the earth and Potentates of this world refusing to submit their scepter to his Crosse and saying as it is in St. Lukes Gospel Luke 17.14 Wee will not have this man to reigne over us but when the sonne of man shall display his banner in the clouds and the winds shall have breathed out their last gaspes and the sea and the waters shall roare when heaven and earth shall make one great bonefire when the stage of this world shall be removed and all the actors in it shall put off their feigned persons and guises and appeare in their owne likenesse when the man of sinne 2 Thes 2.3 8. that exalteth himselfe above all that is called God shall be fully revealed and after consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and be destroyed by the brightnesse of his comming then he shall suddenly confound the rest of his enemies Atheists Hypocrites Jewes Turkes Idolatrous Gentiles and Heretikes and breake the neckes of all that stubbornly resist him and then the truth shall universally prevaile and victoriously triumph All this variety of descant which you heare is but upon two notes a higher and a lower the humility and the majesty the infirmity and the power the obscurity and the glory the mildnesse and the severity of our Lord and Saviour his humility upon earth his majesty in heaven his infirmities in the dayes of his flesh and his power since hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father the obscurity and privacy of his first comming and solemnity of his second his mildnesse and clemency during the time of grace and mercy and his wrath and severity at the day of Judgement and Vengeance Ecce tibiâ cecinimus vobis Behold out of this Scripture I have piped unto you recording the pleasing notes of our Redeemers mildnesse and mercy who never brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe now I am to mourne unto you sounding out the dolefull notes of his justice and severity which shall one day bring forth judgement unto victory But before I set to the sad tune pricked before mee in the rules of my Text I am to entreat you to listen a while till I shall have declared unto you the harmony of the Prophet Esay and the Evangelist S. Matthew the rather because there seemeth some dissonancy and jarre between them For in Esay we reade Esay 42.3 Hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth that is give sentence according to truth but in St. Matthew He shall send forth judgement unto victory which importeth somewhat more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that the judgement he shall send forth viam inveniet aut faciet shall either finde way or force it take place or make place no man or divell being able to withstand it Besides this discord in their notes there is a sweet straine in the Prophet he shall not faile Verse 4. nor bee discouraged till hee have set judgement on the earth left out in the Evangelist To the first exception the Jesuit Maldonat saith that the Syriack word signifieth both truth and victory and that Saint Matthew wrote not in pure Hebrew but in the Hebrew then currant which was somewhat alloyed and embased with other languages which if it were granted unto him as it is not by those who defend that the Greeke in the New Testament is the originall yet the breach is not fully made up For still the originall Hebrew in Esay and the Greeke in Saint Matthew which hath been ever held authenticall are at odds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifying truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke signifying victory and not truth I grant the truth of Christ is most victorious and hath subdued all the false gods of the Heathen as the Arke laid Dagon on his face and the rod of Aaron devoured all the rods of the Magicians yet truth and victory are not all one A weake Judge may bring forth judgement unto truth yet not unto victory as on the contrary a potent and corrupt Judge may bring forth judgement unto victory yet not unto truth Tully in a bad cause prevailed against Oppianicus by casting dust in the Judges eyes And Aeschines prevailed not against Ctesiphon in a good cause Right is often overcome by might and sometimes by the sleight of a cunning Advocate for the false part To the second objection Beza answereth that these words that hee will not faile nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement on the earth were anciently in St. Matthew but of late through the carelesnesse of some transcriber from whose copy ours were drawne are left out But sith this Verse is wanting in all the copies of Saint Matthew now extant neither can Beza bring good proofe of any one in which this Verse was ever found it is not safe to lay any such imputation upon the first transcribers of St. Matthewes Gospel whereby a gap may be opened to Infidels and Heretickes to cavell at the impeachable authority of the holy Scriptures in the originall languages A safe and easie way to winde out of these perplexed difficulties is to acknowledge that the Evangelist who wrote by the same spirit wherewith the Prophet Esay was inspired tyed nor himselfe precisely to the Prophets words but fitteth the Prophets sense to his owne purpose and what the Prophet delivered in two Verses he contracteth into one For what is hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth and he shall not faint nor be discouraged till hee hath done it but that he shall doe it effectually and powerfully and what is that but he shall send forth judgement unto victory Hee shall send forth Cal. in Mat. 1. Hoc verbum educere quo utitur Propheta significat officium Christi esse Regnum Dei quod tum inclusum erat in angulo Judeae propagare in totum orbem This phrase reacheth forth unto us a twofold observation the first touching the extent the second touching the freedome of this judgement here spoken of By judgement is here meant the Kingdome of Christ which must not bee confined to Jury nor bounded within the pale of Palaestine but hee sent forth that is propagated and spread over the whole world according to the prophecy of the Psalmist a Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send a rod of thy strength out
similitudes of true things similitudines auri with studs or points of silver id est scintillis quibusdam spiritualis intelligentiae that is points spangles or sparkles of precious and spirituall meaning For example Aarons mitre and his breast-plate of judgement engraven with Urim and Thummim and his golden bells were similitudines auri similitudes of gold or golden similitudes and the studs or points of silver that is sparkles or rayes of spirituall truth in them were Christ his three offices His Priestly represented by the breast-plate His Princely by the mitre His Propheticall by the bells Againe in the breast-plate of Aaron there were set in rowes twelve precious stones here were similitudes of gold or golden similitudes and the studs of silver that is sparkles or rayes of spirituall meaning were the l Apoc. 21.14 twelve Apostles laid as precious stones in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Church Take yet a third example in the Arke there were the two m Heb. 9.4 Tables and the golden of Manna and the rod that had budded these were similitudines auri golden similitudes and the puncta argenti that is the cleere and evident points of spirituall truth in them are the three notes of the true Church 1 The Word or the Old and New Testament signified by the two Tables 2 The Sacraments prefigured in the golden pot of Manna 3 Ecclesiasticall discipline shadowed by Aarons Rod. Thus I might take off the cover of all the legall types and shew what lieth under them what liquor the golden vessell containeth what mysteries the precious robes involve what sacraments their figures what ablutions their washings what table their Altars what gifts their oblations what host their sacrifices pointed unto The Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes observeth such an admirable correspondency betweene these things that in this respect the whole Scripture may be likened to one long similitude the protasis whereof or first part is in the Old Testament the antapodosis or second part in the New For in the Old as the Apostle testifieth there were n Heb. 9.23.24 similitudes of true things but in the New we finde the truth of those similitudes Which if our new Sectaries of the precisian or rather o Mr. Whittall Bradburn and their followers circumcision cut had seriously thought upon they would not like Aesops dog let fall the substance by catching at the shadow they would not be so absurd as to goe about to bring the aged Spouse of Christ to her festraw againe and reduce all of us her children to her p Gal. 4.2.3 nonage under the law they would not be so mad as to keepe new moones and Jewish Sabbaths after the Sunne of righteousnesse is risen so long agoe and hath made us an everlasting Sabbath in heaven These silly Schismatickes doe but feed upon the scraps of the old Ebionites of whom q Hay hist sac l. 3. Ebionitae pauperes interpretantur verè sensu pauperes ceremonias adhuc legis custodientes Haymo out of Eusebius writeth thus The Ebionites according to the Hebrew Etymologie of their name are interpreted poore and silly and so indeed they are in understanding who as yet keepe the ceremonies of the old Law Nay rather they licke the Galathians vomit and therefore I thinke fit to minister unto them the purge prescribed by the r Gal. 3.1 2 3. Apostle O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath beene evidently set forth crucified among you This onely would I learne of you received yee the Spirit by the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith Are yee so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh Behold I ſ Gal. 5 2. Paul testifie unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing we may adde If you keepe the Jewish Sabbath or abstain from swines flesh out of conscience and in obedience to the ceremoniall Law Christs flesh shall profit you nothing if you abstaine from bloud in any such respect Christs bloud shall profit you nothing For I testifie againe saith St. Paul to every man that is circumcised that he is become a debter to the whole Law And will they not yet learne that Mosaicall rites and ceremonies were at severall times 1. Mortales or moriturae 2. Mortuae 3. Mortiferae They were mortales at their first constitution mortuae that is dead at Christs death and now mortiferae deadly to all that observe them Will they put off the long white robes washed in the bloud of the Lambe and shrowd themselves with the old rags or as St. Paul termeth them beggarly rudiments of the Law If they are so minded I leave them and fill up this Border with the words of Saint t Ser. 7. Antiqua observatio novo tollitur sacramento hostia in hostiam transiit sanguinem sanguis excludit legalis festivitas dum mutatur impletur Leo The ancient rite is taken away by a new Sacrament one host passeth into another bloud excludeth bloud and the Legall festivity is fulfilled in that it is changed The second exposition of this Scripture which understandeth the golden borders and silver studs of the glorious and pompous splendour of the Christian Church seemeth to come neerer unto the letter faciemus wee will make thee the verbe in the future tense evidently implyeth a promise or prophesie and the sense of the whole may be illustrated by this or the like Paraphrase O glorious Spouse of Christ and blessed Mother of us all who art compassed with a straight chaine about thy necke that suffereth thee not to breathe freely being confined to the narrow limits of Judea in the fulnesse of time the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and in stead of a straight chaine of gold or small string of pearle we will make thee large borders we will environ thee with Christian auditories and congregations as it were borders of gold and these borders of gold shall be set out and supported with studs of silver that is enriched with temporall endowments and upheld by regall authority u Esay 49.23 King shall bee thy nursing fathers and Queenes shall be thy nursing mothers Nay such shall be thy honour and power that thou shalt binde Kings with x Psal 149.8 chaines and Nobles with linkes of iron who for their ransome shall offer unto thee store of gold to make thee borders and silver for studs Which prophesie seemed to have been fulfilled about the dayes of Constantine or a little after when such was the sumptuous statelinesse of Christian Churches and so rich the furniture thereof that it dazled the eyes of the Heathen Foelix the Emperours Treasurer blessing himselfe when hee beheld the Church vessels and vestments saying En qualibus vasis ministratur Mariae filio See what plate the sonne of Mary is served
worse may be is the case of Christs Spouse the true Inheritrix of his Crosse which he bequeathed her at his death having indeed little else to leave her for his soule he was to surrender to God his Father his body Joseph of Arimathea begged of Pilat his cloathes the souldiers parted among them onely his crosse and nailes and crowne of thornes remained to dispose of for his dearest Spouse which she continually beareth about with her and in this vision carried with her into the wildernesse whither she fled to save her life And the woman Fled This picture might have beene taken of the Church as she fled from Pharaoh into the wildernesse or as she fled into Egypt from Herod or as she fled into all parts of the earth in the time of the ten first persecutions from heathen Emperors or in the succeeding ages from the Arrian Emperours and last of all from Antichrist and his instruments in all which her trialls and troubles she gained more than she lost For as Justine Martyr rightly observed t Just apolog Id est persecutio Ecclesiae quod vineae putatio persecution is that to the Church which pruning is to the vine whereby it is made more fruitfull with whom Tertullian accordeth thus jearing at the Gentiles who made full account by their barbarous cruelty to exhaust the whole Church and extinguish the name of Christians u Tert. apolog c. ult Nequicquam tamen proficit exquisita quaeque crudelitas vestra illecebra est magis sectae plures esficimur quoties metimur a vobis semen est sanguis Christianorum What gaine you by your exquisite crueltie and studied torments which you inflict upon us they are no scarre-crowes to fright but rather baites and lures to draw men to our profession we ever grow faster and thicker after we are mowed by you the shedding the bloud of Christians is the sowing the seed of the Gospell And St. Leo x I eoserm 1. in nat Petri Pauli Non minuitur persecutionibus Ecclesia Dei sed augetur magis ager Dominicus segete ditiore vestitur dum grana quae singula cadunt multiplicata nascuntur The Church of God is not diminished by persecutions but increased rather the Lords field is cloathed with a richer crop whilest the seed or graines which fall one by one after they are dead in the earth rise up againe in great numbers Moreover whilest in the chief Cities those who are called by God to depose for his truth win many thousands to the Christian faith other servants of Christ to whom he hath vouchsafed meanes to escape by dispersing themselves into all parts of the world propagate the doctrine of the Gospell and plant new Churches Upon this flight of the woman in my text many of the learned Interpreters take occasion to handle that great case of conscience whether it be lawfull to fly in time of persecution or whether all zealous Christians are not bound to stand to their tackling and strive for the truth even to the effusion of their bloud y Aug. l. 22. de civ Dei c. 7. Pullulatura foecunditis cum in sanguine Martyâ—um seretur y Tert. infug in erscâ—ut Tertullian in his booke professedly written of this subject is altogether against flight grounding his judgement upon the words of our Saviour John 10.11 c. I am the good shepheard the good shepheard giveth his life for the sheepe But he that is an hireling and not the shepheard whose owne the sheep are not seeth the Wolfe comming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth the hireling flyeth because he is an hireling c. And Marke 8.35 38. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of mee and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commeth in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels But Saint Austin and others allow of flight in some case and they bring very good warrant for it Christs expresse command Matth. 10.23 When they persecute you in this city flee into another And Matth. 24.15 16. When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountaines And to the end we should count it no shame to flye in this case they bring noble presidents for it and shew us the footsteps in Scripture of Jacob when he fled from Esau and Moses when hee fled from Pharaoh and Eliah when hee fled from Ahab and Jezabel and David when hee fled from Saul and Joseph and Mary when they fled from Herod They adde also that by this flight of many in time of persecution the Church reapeth a double benefit first hereby many worthy Doctors and eminent Professours reserve themselves for better times next they in their flight scatter the seeds of the Gospel whereby the great Husbandman gathereth a plentifull crop If the Apostles had not been scattered by the persecution of Herod and the primitive Christians by the persecutions of the Heathen Emperours and the true Professours in later times by the persecution of Antichrist many countries in all likelihood had not been sowen with the pure seed of the Word The resolution of this question may be taken from my Text in such a case as the womans was here we may flie that is when there is no safety in staying and God offereth us Eagles wings that is a faire and certaine meanes to escape danger Yea but Christian courage will rise up against this and object Is not Martyrdome a garland of red Roses is not the bloud of Saints the best watering of Gods field can wee shew more love to Christ than to signe the Gospell with our bloud will you perswade Christian souldiers to flye from their colours nay from their crowne God forbid I answer all are not appointed by God to bee Martyrs nor qualified for so noble and eminent service To a Martyr two things are required 1. A speciall calling 2. An extraordinary spirit Even in our Courts of justice a witnes that offereth himself is not accepted he must be brought in by order of law neither will Christ have any depose for him that are not called to it whom he calleth he endueth them with an heroicke spirit and armeth them with faith and patience like armour of proofe into which the fiery darts of the wicked cannot enter Every sincere beleever hath not a spirit of fortitude given him to conquer the violence of fire and dull the edge of the sharpest swords and weary all tortures and torments Moreover God like a provident Husbandman though he send much corne to the Mill to be ground as Ignatius and others that they might be served in as fine manchet at his owne table yet he reserveth alwayes some corne for seed I meane
not propitiatory for their or our sinnes Bloud spilt for Christ is no staine but an ornament it doth no way deforme the body of a Martyr as the foolish heathen imagined whom Saint Austin there justly taxeth but maketh them more lovely in the eyes of God and all his Saints yet because their bloud is some way defiled it cannot cleanse or purge much lesse make white their or our robes These are the three priviledges of the cleane and pure bloud of the immaculate Lambe Christ Jesus which h Apoc. 1.5 Washeth i John 1.7 Cleanseth k Apoc. 7.14 Whiteth It washeth us in our regeneration cleanseth us in our justification and whiteth us in our glorification it washeth away the filth of sinne in our regeneration it cleanseth us from the guilt of sinne in our justification and maketh us white that is perfectly just and righteous not by imputation only but by inhesion or as the schooles speake inherent righteousnesse in our l Heb. 12 23. To the spirits of just men made perfect glorification They washed Their robes Not their robe in the singular but their robes in the plurall number because as every guest at the Kings supper had his peculiar wedding garment so here every Saint hath his robe of glory all are long and downe to the feet yet some longer than other according to their stature that ware them For the proportion of glory in heaven answereth the proportion of grace here Some straine the letter farther and from hence inferre that all Saints have a double robe given unto them one in this life another in the life to come the one washed indeed but yet not without some spots cast upon it through carnall frailty which are covered by Christ the other is whited and without any spot or staine and this is reserved for us in the wardrob of heaven But I rather inferre from hence that if there be such vertue in Christs bloud that it not onely washeth the Saints robes but maketh them perfectly white if it can change the colour hiew of any sinne of the deepest dye and though it be as m Esay 1.18 red as scarlet make it as white as wooll that there is no need at all of Romish holy water or Maries milke or the soape of Saints merits If Christs bloud purgeth us from all sinne and all drosse is sinne what remaines for Purgatory fire to worke upon but the gold of their purses that have faith in those imaginary flames St. n Delicatus est Christi sanguis alienum non patitur Bernard truely observeth that the bloud of the Lambe is most pure and delicate bloud it will endure no mixture with any other thing All things by the law were purified by the bloud of sacrifices and in the Gospel by the sacrifice of Christs bloud Yea but it is said o Acts 15.9 Faith purifieth the heart how then is it here said that their robes were washed and made white with Christs bloud I answer that Christs bloud whiteth as the soape or nitre but faith as the hand of the Laundresse Christs bloud healeth us as the plaister faith as the finger of the Apothecary applying it Christs merits and death acquit and free us as the ransome tendered for our redemption faith is as the hand that receiveth this summe from Christ and tendereth it to the Father for the redeeming of our soules When the Temple of Jerusalem was on fire nothing could quench the flame but the bloud of the slain in like maner when Gods wrath is kindled against his servants which are living Temples of the Holy Ghost nothing can quench the flame but the bloud of the immaculate Lambe that was slaine from the beginning of the world Secondly from hence I would inferre for the comfort of all affrighted consciences that if they have renued their covenant in Christs bloud and purified their hearts by faith before their death they need not feare to come into the presence of God For though his eyes are most pure and they full of sores and corruption yet they need not any way be dismaid because there shall be long white robes given unto them to cover all from the sight of God Mary Magdalen washed Christs feet with her teares but Christ washeth not onely our feet but our hands head and whole body with his owne bloud and thereby fetches out all the staines of our consciences and makes our soules appeare most faire and lovely in the eyes of Almighty God O royall bath O the true Mare rubrum or red Sea in which the spirituall Pharaoh and all his host are destroyed and through which we passe not as the Jewes did into the wildernesse but into Paradise In this royall bath or rather indeed red Sea of Christs bloud I will drown my discourse at this present and shut up all with that Epiphonema of St. John p Apoc. 1.5.6 To him that loved us and washed our sinnes in his owne bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever Amen SERMONS PREACHED AT SERJEANTS-INNE IN FLEETSTREET THE CHRISTIAN VICTORIE THE XXV SERMON APOC. 2.17 To him that overcommeth will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. MEdals and small pictures that are shewed us under the cover of a chrystall glasse are most delightfull to the eye Pref. such are the images of divine truth and heads of heavenly doctrine whereof you have a glympse in my text through the mirrour of an elegant allegorie The glasse of art giveth both light to the pictures and delight to the beholders Notwithstanding for your more exact view and my particular handling of them I will open the Chrystall cover and take them out one by one in order as they are set in the letter wherein 1 A condition is propounded to him that overcommeth 2 A promise upon condition is made I will give Divis 3 Three gifts upon promise are specified 1 Hidden Manna which some make a type of election 2 A white stone an embleme of justification 3 A new name an imprese of glorification In the review of the words marke I beseech you the connexion of the doctrinall points which stand as it were out of the words 1 No man knoweth the new name save he that receiveth it Connex 2 No man receiveth it but he that hath the white stone 3 No man hath the white stone but he that eateth the Manna 4 No man eateth the hidden Manna but he to whom it is given 5 It is given to none to eate thereof but to him that overcommeth the Divell by his faith the World by his hope the Flesh by his charity all baites and allurements by his abstinence all crosses and afflictions by his patience all conflicts and assaults of
owne the pearles of the Gospell To heare one who hath the tongue of the learned discourse of the worke of grace enlightning the minde regenerating the heart rectifying the will moderating the desires quieting the affections and filling the soule with unspeakable joy is a great delight to us yet nothing to that we take when we feele grace working upon our soules and producing all these divine effects within us When wee read in holy Scriptures what are the priviledges of the sonnes of God wee see the hidden Manna but when the p Rom. 8.16.17 Spirit testifieth to our spirit that wee are the sons of God and if sonnes then heires heires of God and joint heires with Christ then we eat The hidden Manna Some take the hidden Manna in my text for the mysteries of the Gospel others for the secret vertues of the Sacraments q Primasius in Apoc. Christus factus est homo ut panem Angelorum comederet homo Primasius for Christ himselfe who as he saith was made man that man might eate Manna the food of Angels Pererius for incomparable sweetnesse in the contemplation of heavenly things Cornelius à Lapide for spirituall comforts after temptations all in generall speake to good purpose But if you demand of me in particular what is this hidden Manna I must answer as Cato did when one asked him what he carried so fast lockt up in a chest It is lockt up saith he that thou shouldest not looke into it nor know I cannot tell you what it is because it is hidden onely this is open and manifest in the Scriptures that in the Word the Sacraments Prayer and Meditation the Elect of God find hidden Manna that spirituall sweetnesse which may be compared unto or rather preferred before the relish of Manna to the corporall taste And what St. Cyprian speaketh of the worke of grace in our conversion Sentitur priusquam dicitur it is felt before it can be uttered may be applied to this hidden Manna gustatur priusquam dicitur no tongue can speake of it worthily that hath not tasted it as r Psal 119.103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste 〈◊〉 they are sweeter than hony to my mouth David did who preferreth it before the hony and the hony-combe And St. Å¿ Aug. confes l. 9. c. 1. O quam suave mihi repentè fuit carere mundi suavitatibus quas amittere metus fuit am dimittere gaudium crat tu enim proâ—â—s intraâ—as omni voluptate dulcior Austine O what pleasure tooke I in abandoning all worldly pleasure for thou O Lord enteredst into me for them sweeter than any pleasure And St. Jerome who calleth God to witnesse that sometimes he found heaven upon earth and in his spirituall elevations and raptures thought that hee communed with quieres of Angels And St. t St. Eph. Domine recede à me parumper quia vasis infirmitas ferre non potest Ephraim who was so over-filled with joy in the Holy Ghost that he made a strange prayer O Lord for a little while depart from me and restraine the influence of spirituall joy lest the vessell breake And St. u Mihi hae pruna rosae videntur Citat Cornelius à lap Comment Tiburtius whose inward joyes and spirituall raptures so drowned his bodily tortures that when he trod upon live coales he cryed out saying These live coales seeme to me no other than red roses The scholars of Pythagoras beleeved that the celestiall bodies by their regular motions caused an harmonicall sound and made admirable musicke though neither he nor any other ever heard it and shall not we beleeve that there is hidden Manna though we never tasted it if not upon the report of these Saints who spake of their owne sense and experience yet upon the credit of him who both promiseth to give this hidden Manna and is it himselfe x John 6.51 I am the living bread which came downe from heaven Christ and his word retaine not only the name of Manna but the chiefe qualities and properties thereof First Manna rained from the skies Christ and his word came from heaven Secondly Manna had a most sweet yet a new and strange taste so hath the word it is sweeter than hony to the spirituall tast though the carnall man like better of the flesh pots of Egypt than of it Thirdly Manna relished according to the stomackes of them that ate it and answered all appetites so the word of God is milke to children and strong meat to men Fourthly Manna erat cibus reficiens nunquam deficiens the children of Israel fed on Manna in the wildernesse till they entred into the earthly Canaan in like manner the Word and Sacraments are our spirituall food till we arrive at the celestiall Canaan Fiftly Manna was eaten by it selfe without any other meat or sauce added to it the word of God must not be mingled with human traditions and inventions They who goe about to sweeten it with such spices marre the tast of it and may more justly be taxed than that King of Persia was by Antalcidas who by pouring oyntment upon a garland of roses corrupted the naturall smell and fragrancie thereof by the adulterors sophistication of art Sixtly some portion of the Manna was laid up in the Arke and kept in a golden pot for after-times and part of the mysteries of holy Scripture are reserved for us till we come to heaven and in regard of such truthes as are not ordinarily revealed in this life some conceive the word to be here termed Hidden Manna Howbeit we need not restraine the words to those abstruse mysteries the declaration whereof shall be a part of our celestiall happinesse for the whole doctrine of the Gospell may in a true sense be called hidden Manna because it containeth in it Sapientiam Dei in mysterio the wisedome of God x 1 Cor. 2.7 hidden in a mysterie For albeit the sound of the word is gone into all the world yet the harmonie in it is not observed by all The chapters and verses of the Scripture are generally knowne but not all the contents He that saw the outside of Solomons tents could not ghesse at the royaltie of that Prince but he that entred in and took a particular view and inventory of his pretious furniture rich hangings massie plate full coffers orient jewels and glittering apparell might make a good estimate thereof A blind man from his birth though he may heare of the Sun and discourse of his golden raies from the mouth of others yet can he not possibly conceive what delight the seeing eye taketh in beholding that glorious brouch of heaven and Prince of the starres When we heare the last will of a rich man read unto us which we beleeve little concerneth us though it be never so well penned or copied out it little affecteth us but if we have certaine notice that by it some great legacie in lands or money is
mandasse ne quis se dominum deinceps vocaret divinantem credo verum Principem orbis terrarum ac mundi totius natum esse Platina writeth Augustus by a Proclamation forbad that any should call him Lord whereby though he intended no such thing yet God who secretly moved him to it may seeme to give all men to understand that no Lord ought to be named the same day with his sonne that when he came into the world all other Lords and Kings were as much obscured as the starres are at the rising of the Sunne m Hom. Il. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In his presence and in comparison of him there is no King Lord or Master For as all Kings are but his subjects all Lords his servants so all Masters his scholars in whose schoole there is great difference betweene the scholars some are able to construe a lecture to others but none can give a lecture but he who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the wisedome and the word of God From whence we heare n Mat. 11.29 Learne of me of whom we heare o Mar. 3.17 This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased heare him p Col. 2.3 In whom we heare all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid to whom wee heare St. q John 6.68 Peter beareth record Thou hast the words of eternall life and St. Ignatius r Ignat. epist ad Philad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is my ancient record and Tertullian ſ Tert. Nobis non opus est curiositate post Christum nec inquisitione post Evangelium cum hoc credimus nihil amplius credere desideramus hoc enim prius credimus nihil ultra esse quod credere debeamus There needs no curiositie after Christ nor farther enquiry after or beyond the Gospell when we beleeve it we desire to beleeve no more and St. Cyprian t Cyp. ep l. 2. ad Cacil It is agreeable to the Religion we professe and our reverence to God to keepe the truth of that which our Lord hath delivered and according to his commands to correct what is amisse that when he shall come in his glory and majesty he may find that we hold that he admonished us to keepe and observe what he taught and doe what he did and St. Jerome u Hier. ep 57. Nullum primum nisi Christum sequentes We follow none as first but Christ and Vincentius Lerinensis adver heres Keepe the Depositum x Quid est depositum quod tibi creditum non quod à te inventum quod accepisti non quod excogitasti Custodi fidei catholicae talentum esto spiritualis tabernaculi Bezaleel pretiosas divini dogmatis gemmas exculpe fideliter coapta adorna sapienter adjice gratiam splendorem venustatem intelligatur te exponente illustriùs quod ante obscurius credebatur eadem tamen quae credidisti ita doce ut cum dicas novè non dicas nova What is the Depositum That wherewith thou art trusted not which thou hast found out that which thou hast received not which thou hast invented keepe the talent of the Catholike faith be thou a Bezaleel of the spirituall Tabernacle cut the gems of divine doctrine shining in his word insert them curiously in thy discourse set them off with a good foyle let men understand that by thy exposition clearly which before they beleeved obscurely yet be sure to teach no more than thou hast learned of Christ though thou speake in a new manner yet deliver no new matter If we teach not that which we have learned of Christ or teach any thing as needfull to salvation which we have not learned of Christ we hazzard if not lose the name of Christians for Disciples of Christ Christians are all one no Disciple of Christ no Christian every one so far a Christian as a Disciple of Christ What Christians then are Papists whose Creed consisting of foure and twenty articles twelve of them they learned of Christ the other twelve of Antichrist as may be seene in the Bull of Pope y Bu la S.D.N.D. Pii Papae quarti super formâ juramenti professoris affix ad Conc. Trid. p. 439. Pius affixed to the Councel of Trent Shall we simply affirm that they are Christians we wrong then our selves and all the reformed Churches who have severed from them Shall we absolutely deny that they are Christians we wrong them who hold with us the profession of the Trinity the two Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper and the three Creeds the Apostles the Nicene or Constantinopolitane and that of Athanasious Although the Roman Cardinall might justly be blamed who caused his Painter to draw King Solomon halfe in heaven and halfe in hell yet I suppose they could not justly be censured who should draw Popery or the Church of Rome as she is at this day partly in heaven and partly in hell in heaven in respect of those heavenly truthes which she maintaineth with us against Atheists Jewes Turkes and all sorts of Infidels and many ancient Heretiques but in hell in respect of many pernicious and hellish errours which she pertinaciously defendeth against the cleere letter of Scripture and doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church The blessed Apostle resolveth a like question concerning the Jewes who received the Old Testament but rejected the New in a like manner y Rom. 11.28 As concerning the Gospell they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the Fathers sake Wee can hardly come off this controversie upon better tearmes than these that Papists as concerning the principles of the common faith are Christians but as touching their proper errours by addition to it detraction from it corruption of it they are no Christians You wil say this is no simple or direct answer neither need it so to be because the question is not simple As it is superfluous to give a mixt or double answer to a simple question so it is dangerous to give a simple and single answer to a mixt question or a question of a mixt subject 1 For instance let the question be concerning Ayat the Jew who used indifferently either of his hands as we use our right hand Whether was he a right handed or a left handed man 2 Or concerning a part of speech which taketh part of a noune and part of a verbe Whether is it a noune or a verbe 3 Or concerning a Myrmaid which in the upper part resembleth a maid in the lower a fish Whether is it a fish or a maid 4 Or concerning the Muscovy Monster which feedeth like a sheepe yet groweth like a plant and hath his root affixed to the earth Whether is it a beast or a plant 5 Or concerning an Androgyne that hath in it both sexes Whether is it a man or a woman 6 Or concerning the apple mentioned by Seneca that hath in it a middle kinde
word of God both conceived by the holy Ghost and brought forth in sacred sheets that as the one consisteth of two natures humane and divine visible and invisible so the other of two senses externall and internall externall and visible in the shadow or letter internall and invisible in the substance or spirituall interpretation either tropologicall or allegoricall or anagogicall as the learned distinguish Doth e Sen. ad Lucil. ep 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti experience teach us that the richest metals lie deepest hid in the earth Shall we not think it very agreeable to divine wisdome so to lay up heavenly knowledge in Scriptures that the deeper we dig into them by diligent meditation the veine of precious truth should prove still the richer Surely howsoever some Divines affect an opinion of judgement it is judgement in opinion onely by allowing of no sense of Scripture nor doctrine from thence except that which the text it selfe at the first proposing offereth to their conceit yet give me leave to tell them that they are but like Apothecaries boyes which gather broad leaves and white flowers on the top of the water not like cunning Divers who fetch precious pearles from the bottome of the deepe St. f L. 2. confes c. 31. Sensit omnino ille cogitavit cum ea scriberet quicquid hic veri potuimus invenire quicquid nos non potuimus aut nondum possumus tamen in t is inveniri potest Austine the most judicious of all the Fathers is of a different judgement from them herein For he confidently affirmeth that the Pen-man of the holy Ghost of purpose so set downe the words that they might be capable of multiplicitie of senses and that he intended and meant all such divine truthes as we can finde in the words and such also as we have not yet or cannot finde and yet by diligent search may be found in them Now as the whole texture of Scripture in regard of the variety of senses may not unfitly be likened to the Kings daughters g Psal 45.14 raiment of needle-worke wrought about with divers colours so especially this of the Canticles wherein the allegoricall sense because principally intended may be called literall and the literall or historicall as intended in the second place allegoricall Behold here as in a faire samplar an admirable patterne of drawne-worke besides King Solomon in his royall robes and his Queene in a vesture of gold divers birds expressed to the life as the white h Cant. 5.12 ver 11. â— 2.2 ver 13. c. 4.14 c. 2.1 c. 5.14 c. 1.17 c. 5.15 c. 1.10 Dove washed with milke and the blacke Raven divers trees as the thorne the fig-tree and the vine the myrrhe spikenard saffron calamus cinamon with all trees of frankincense divers flowers as the Rose and the Lilly divers precious stones as the Berill and the Saphir lastly divers artificiall woâ—kes as Houses of Cedar Rafters of Firre Tents of Kedar Pillars of Marble set in sockets of fine gold rowes of Jewels Chaines and here in my text Borders of gold and Studs of silver Sanctius and Delrio upon my text observe that Solomon alludeth to the i She shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold 13. verse of the 68. Psalme and what the Father prophesied of the Spouse the Sonne promiseth to her viz. to make her borders or as the Hebrew signifieth also k Brightman in Cant. Turtures aureas alii murenulas aliilineas septuaginta similitudines turtles of gold enameled with silver Howbeit it seemeth more probable that these words have a reference to the 9. verse of this chapter and that Solomon continueth his former comparison of a troup of horses in Pharaoh's Charriot and thus the borders and chains in the 10th and 11th verses are linked to the 9th O my beloved and beautifull Spouse as glorious within through the lustre of divine vertues and graces as thou art resplendent without in jewels and precious stones to what shall I liken thee or whereunto shall I compare thee Thou art like a troupe of milke white horses in Pharaoh's princely Charriot adorned with rich trappings and most precious capparisons For as their head and cheekes are beset with rowes of stones so thy cheekes are decked with jewels that hang at thine eares as their neckes shine with golden raines so thy necke is compassed with chaines of gold and pearle and as their breasts are adorned with golden collars quartered into borders enamelled with silver so that thou must herein also resemble them wee will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver to hang about thy necke and downe thy breast Thus much of the letter or rather letters of my text which you see are all golden flourished over with strikes or as Junius translateth the words points of silver now let us endevour to spell the meaning As artificiall pictures drawne by the pencill of a skilfull Opticke in the same part of the frame or table according to divers sites and aspects represent divers things looke one way upon them you shall see a man another way a lion so it is in this admirable piece drawne by the pencill of Solomon according to divers aspects it presenteth to our view divers things looke one way on it and there appeareth a man to wit King Solomon looke another way and there appeareth a lion the lion of the tribe of Judah looke downeward upon the history and you shall see Solomon with a crowne of gold and his Queen in her wedding garment looke upward to the allegory and you shall see Christ crowned with thornes and his Spouse the Church in a mourning weed and under the one written a joyfull Epithalamium under the other a dolefull Elegy Agreeable to which double picture drawne with the selfe same lines and colours wee may consider the chaines and borders of gold in my text either as habiliments of Solomons Queene or ornaments of Christs Spouse If wee consider them in the first sense they shew his royall magnificence and pompe if in the second either they signifie the types and figures of the Jewish Synagogue under the law or the large territories and rich endowments of the Christian Church under the Gospell k Faciemus tibi similitudines aurâ— cum puncturis argenti Origen who taketh the seventy Interpreters for his guide thus wadeth through the allegory The Angels saith he or Prophets speake here to the Spouse before her husband Christ Jesus came in the flesh to kisse her with the kisses of his lips and their speech is to this effect O beautifull Spouse wee cannot make thee golden ornaments we are not so rich thy husband when bee commeth will bestow such on thee but in the meane time wee will make thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
what face doe I see this is none of my workmanship I never drew this feature Saint r Jerom. ep ad Furiam Quid facit in facie Christianae purpurissa cerussa fomenta libidinum impudicae mentis inditia quomodo flere potest pro peccatis suis quae lachrymis cutem nudat sulcos ducit in facie quâ fiduciâ erigat ad Deum vultus quos conditor non agnoscat Jerome takes the like up in his time as sharply What makes paint and complexion on the face of a Christian it is no other than the fire of youth the fuell of lust the evidence of an unchaste minde How can shee weep for her sinnes for feare of washing away her paint and making furrowes in her face How dare shee looke her Maker in the face who hath defaced his image in her selfe But because I see it will be to no purpose to draw this their sinne of painting in its proper colours before them for they cannot blush I therefore leave them and come to her in my Text Which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse As Novatus the Schismaticke ordained himselfe a Bishop so Jezebel the Nicolait annointed or rather painted her selfe a Prophetesse that by this meanes shee might teach more freely and perswade more powerfully The true Prophets of God received their name and calling from God and wonderfully confirmed the sincerity of their doctrine by the truth of their miracles and the truth of their miracles by the holinesse of their doctrine So many tongues as they spake with with so many testimonies so many miracles as they wrought with so many hands they signed and sealed their calling but deceivers and impostors grace themselves with high and strange titles and glorious names to bleare the eyes of the simple So Psaphon called himselfe and taught the birds to call him magnus deus ſ Run Comment in Aristot Rhet. MS. Psaphon great god Psaphon Theudas said he was some great one Simon Magus stiled himselfe the great power of God and gave it out among his scholars That hee delivered the Law to Moses in Mount Sinai in the person of God the Father and in the reigne of Tiberius appeared in the likenesse of the sonne of man and on the day of Pentecost came downe upon the Apostles in the similitude of cloven tongues Montanus arrogated to himself the title of Paracletus the comforter and to his three minions Priscilla Maximilla and Quintilla the name of Prophetesses * Manes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manes bare himselfe as if hee were an Apostle immediately sent from Christ and his followers would be thought to be termed Manichei not from their mad master but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but because they poured manna out of their mouthes The great Seducer of the Jewes who in Theodosius time drew thousands after him into the sea and there drowned them perswaded his followers that he was Moses and the abomination of the Turkes Mahomet calleth himselfe Gods great Prophet t Plin. nat hist lib. 1. Inscriptionis apud Graecos mira foelicitas favus Cornucopia ut vel lactis gallinacei sperare possis haustu◠Musae Pandectae inscriptiones propter quas vadimonium deseri possit at cum intraveris dii deaeque quam nihil in medio invenies Pliny derideth the vanity of the Greekes in this kinde who usually set golden titles on leaden Treatises And Heretickes alwayes like Mountebankes set out their drugs with magnificent words Nestorius though he were a condemned Hereticke yet covered himselfe with the vaile of a true Professour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ebion though he held with the Samaritans yet would be held a Christian The Turkes at this day though it appeares out of all stories that they descended from Hagar yet assume to themselves the name of Saracens The Donatist Schismatickes impropriate to their conventicles the name of the true Church And no marvell that the Salmonian off-spring of Ignatius Loyola christen themselves Jesuits sith the Prince of darknesse not only usurpeth the name but also taketh upon him the forme of an u 2 Cor. 11.14 Angel of light It is a silly shift of a bankrupt disputant in the schooles to argue a vocibus ad res from the bare name of things to their nature and yet Bristow in his motives and Cardinall Bellarmine in his booke of the notes of the Church and other of the Pope his stoutest Champions fight against us with this festraw We are say they sirnamed Catholikes therefore we are so By this kind of argument Pope Alexander the sixt his incestuous daughter might prove her selfe to be a chaste matron because she was called Lucrece Lucrecia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nurus And Philemon his theevish servant might prove himselfe to be honest because his name was Onesimus and the three Ptolomies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profitabl◠whereof the first killed his Father and the second his Mother and the third his Brother might prove themselves to be full of naturall affection because the one was sirnamed 1 A lover of his Father Philopater the other 2 A lover of his Mother Philometor the third 3 A lover of his Brother Philodelphus Were mens names alwayes correspondent to their nature x Eras apoph in Philip. Philip of Macedon had lost a witty jest which he brake upon two brothers Hecaterus and Amphoterus thus inverting their names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He whose name is either of the two deserveth to be called both because hee is worth both and he whose name is both shall be called neither because he is of no worth at all But to throw away foyles and come to the sharpe Will they thus argue in good earnest Protestants are called Sectaries or Schismatickes and Papists Catholikes therefore they are so Will they condemne the Primitive Christians for Atheists because the heathen usually so termed them in regard they had no faith in their gods Will they brand St. Paul for an Heretick or the Truth himself for a Seducer because ignorance and malice fastened these calumnies and blasphemies upon them Protestants are termed Heretickes by Papists and are not Papists also by Protestants what gaine then the Papists hereby Papists are termed Catholikes I would know by whom If by any Protestant they know well it is but by a Sarcasme or Ironie as Alexander was called a god by the Lacedaemonians Quoniam Alexander vult esse deus sit deus Yea but they are so stiled by all that adhere to the Church of Rome and were not the Arrians called Catholikes by Arrians the Nestorians Orthodoxe by Nestorians the Novatians the best Christians by Novatians the Donatists sole members of the Church by Donatists the most impure Sect of Anabaptists the Family of love by those of their owne cut If this argument may passe for currant Papists terme themselves Catholikes therefore they are so what exception can be taken against these and the like The
saith he is not of those that take up their mansion or long home but of sojourners and factours who continue for a while in forraine countries till they have dispatched their affaires Adde lastly to all these the map of the whole earth in every leafe of grasse describing the truth of this doctrine inscripti nomine vitae nascuntur flores with those insufferable passions pangs and angariations which the common mother to us all is put unto till shee be rid of us as the Whale of Jonas A word of application and it shall be the explication which some very learned Expositors give upon cadaver meum Wee have hitherto taken it to be the word of Christ to his Father they say rather it is the word of the Prophet to his brethren as if in effect hee had said I preach to you no other doctrine than that I beleeve my selfe I teach that the dead shall live and I am assured that with my body shall they rise In which sense it is a parallel to that Magna Charta that great and memorable record which Job transmitteth to all posterity I know my Redeemer liveth and I my selfe shall see him with these eyes and no other concionantur profani homines the fashion of these worldly men is to prate of the life of the righteous as Balaam of their death like men in a trance without sense or affection after it The food of the soule is unto them as Barzillai his bodily food was unto him they eate it without any appetite or rellish Hath thy servant any taste in that he eateth saith he to David and the comforts of the Gospel to them as musicke to him Can I heare the voice of singing men or women They behold Canaan from the Mount and the goodnesse of God afarre off my meaning is they can talke of cadavera aliorum but minde not or at least hope not for cadaver meum Odi sapientem qui sibi non sapit qui sibi nequam cui bonus Nequam saith Saint Bernard is as much as nequaquam all that this man knoweth or doth is as much as nothing sith it availeth not himselfe his case is like that of Tantalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato saith who hath apples at his lips and water at his chinne and yet pines for want O unhappy man goe to the prodigall childe he came to his father with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to that childe of the world who came to our Saviour Magister dic fratri ut dividat mecum haereditatem that is suffer not a goodly inheritance of a joyfull resurrection to be taken away by the violent but thrust thou in for thy part among them and when they shall say corpora nostra our bodies shall rise say thou with a fiduciall faith cadaver meum so shall my body rise and let every one that heareth mee this day say with the Prophet Remember mee O Lord with the favour of thy people and visit mee with thy salvation that I may see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the joy of thy people and glory with thine inheritance THE THIRD ROW And in the third row a Turkeys an Agate and an Amethyst FEw there are but know the Turkeys tanquam ungues digitosque suos wearing it usually in the pale of their rings An excellent property it is said to have of changing colour with the sick party that weareth it and thereby expressing a kinde of sympathy Rueus a great Lapidary averres upon his owne knowledge as much I was acquainted saith hee with a man whose Turkeys suddenly upon his death changed colour Rueus de gem Ego novi quendam quo mortuo Turcois apparuit obscurior and fell in the price The Agate is a gemme of divers colours spots and lines the concurse whereof is sometimes so happy that it representeth the lineaments of men beasts and other naturall bodies Nunc formas rerum dans nunc simulachra deorum Of all that of Pyrrhus was held by him in greatest estimation of others in admiration wherein the lines and spots were so drawne by nature Plin. l. 37. c. 1. In Pyrrhi Achate novem Musae Apollo citharam tenens spectabantur non arte sed sponte naturae ita discurrentibus maculis ut Mulis quoque singulis sua redderentur insignia that Apollo with the nine Muses and their severall instruments were conspicuous in it As for the Amethyst it is a gemme of a middle colour between wine and violets so named either because applyed to the navell it is a remedy against drunkennesse ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steretico 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as saith Pliny quod ad vini colorem accedens priusquam degustet in violam desinat Of this third ranke of stones this may suffice for the application to the third Speaker and his doctrine himself touching the infirmities of the Clergy Laity so feelingly resembled the Turkeys which the Jewelists make the emblem of compassion His Sermon for the variety of good learning in it was a curious Agat most like that of Pyrrhus above mentioned wherein the nine Muses were pourtrayed the parts thereof were like the Amethyst parti-coloured partly like wine partly like violets like wine in his matter of confutation strong and searching like violets in his exhortation sweet and comfortable His description of Christs bloudy death was like wine the bloud of the grape but of the resurrection like violets the first-fruits of the Spring The embossment of gold wherein these gemmes of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of A Sermon preached on Easter Monday by Master Dunster fellow of Magdalen Colledge and Proctor of the University of Oxford APOC. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of hell and of death THese words are a parcell of that booke the reading whereof the ancient Church esteemed so profitable and needfull that they enjoyned all upon paine of excommunication to reade it once a yeere between Easter and Whitsontide Qui eam à Paschate ad Pentecosten non legerit excommunicationis sententiam habeat The words of my Text in speciall are verba pronuntiata verbi annuntiati the words spoken of the word fore-spoken the Sonne of God who is so carefull not to breake the bruised reed that hee seeketh to expectorate all feare out of the mindes of all true beleevers by the force of many arguments The first is drawne à potentiâ Dei I am the Creatour and Judge of your persecuters therefore feare them not The second à praerogativâ Christi I am the first and the last and will take notice of every one that hath been unjustly put to death and make inquisition of bloud from the bloud of the righteous Abel to the bloud of the last Martyr that shall bee shed upon the earth and will require it of them that have spilt it I am the first for
setting his foot on his neck advanced himselfe blasphemously wresting the Scripture and applying those words of the Psalmist to himselfe Psal 91.13 Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Basilisk it was Pope Adrian who was afterwards choaked with a flie I could relate unto you in what Councell divine majestie is ascribed to the Pope and a power above all powers in the Councell of Lateran under Leo the tenth But I tremble at such horrible blasphemies and leave the Authors and maintainers of them to the censure of the true Melchizedek who as he is a Prince of peace so he is also Rex justitiae King of righteousnesse and will one day right himselfe and all his servants and destroy the man of sin with the breath of his mouth and brightnesse of his presence 7. The next point in which this Text instructeth us is the strength and validity of an oath God when he would shew unto us the immutability of his decree concerning Christs Priesthood confirmeth it unto him by an oath thereby declaring that the greatest evidence of truth and strongest assurance of faith between man and man nay between God and man is an oath It is the soveraigne instrument of justice the indissoluble bond of amity the safest refuge of innocency the surest warrant of fidelity the strongest sinew of all humane society Detestable therefore and â—amnable is their doctrine and practice who straine and weaken the sinew which holdeth the members of all politike bodies together who cancell that bond which being made on earth is registred in the high Court of heaven and the three persons in the blessed Trinity are witnesses thereunto who either untye this everlasting knot by cunning equivocation or cut it asunder by Papall dispensation O my deare brethren hold not with them who breake with God sweare not to their doctrine who maintaine forswearing take not part with that religion which taketh away all religious obligation Is that thinke you the Orthodoxe faith which alloweth and in some case commendeth g Aug. de mendac ad consent perfidiousnesse and treachery Is their doctrine truth Qui dogmatizant mendacium who doctrinally teach the lawfulnesse of an equivocating lye anâ— that they may verifie their doctrine of lyes belye the Truth himself and endeavour to make that which I tremble to utter Jesum ipsum h See Parsons sober reckoning with Thomas Morton and the same L. Bishop of Duresme Tract de aequivocat Jesuitam Jesus himselfe in this point a Jesuit O ubi estis fontes lachrymarum Of all beasts we have those in greatest detestation which devoure their owne young What are our words and promises our vowes and oathes but the issue of our owne mouth which they who resume and recall what doe they other than eate and devoure their owne off-spring The first that brake his allegiance in heaven was the Divell and thereby became a Divell and the first that brake promise on the earth was likewise the Divell to Adam and Eve whose scholars they shew themselves who teach that the Pope can dispense with the oath of allegiance that oathes are better broken than kept with Heretickes Such was Julius the second who if we may beleeve i Bodin de rep l. 5. c. 6. Bodin was not ashamed openly to professe Fidem dandam omnibus servandam nemini Such was Alexander the sixth who when his son Borgias had drawne in the ring-leaders of the contrary faction by faire promises and deepest protestations and oathes of pardon and reconciliation and as soon as he had them all in his power put them to the sword his father applauded this his perfidious and barbarous act and cryed out O factum benè O well done and according to my hearts desire Such was k Cocleus hist Hussit l. 5. anno 1423 Noris te dare fidem haereticis non potuisse peccare mortâ—liter â—â— servaris Martin the fifth who when Alexander Duke of Licuania had sworne to protect the Hussites wrote to him in these words Know that thou couldest not nor mightest not give faith to Heretickes and that thou sinnest mortally if thou keepest thy word and oath with them Such was Hambertus the Embassadour of l Sleia l. 6. Anno 1527. Anno 1577. Charles the fifth who when the Lady Katherine the youngest sister of that Emperour was espoused to John Frederick Duke of Saxony the instruments were drawne and sealed as soone as ever there was a change of Religion in Saxony he perswaded the young Lady to break off the match affirming openly that faith was not to be kept with Heretickes Such were the Popish Divines of Paris who both in their Sermons and printed bookes taught openly that the m Aug. Thual hist l. 63. Aperto capitein concionibus evulgatis scriptis ad fidem sectariis servandam non obligari principem contâ—ndebant allato in cam rem Concilii Constantiensis deoreto Prince was not bound to keep faith with Sectaries and to that purpose alledged a decree of the Councell of Constance Such was Clemens the seventh who when Charles the fifth had resolved upon an expedition against the Moores to which hee had formerly bound himselfe by oath sendeth unto him a Bull whereby hee releaseth him of all oathes that hee had taken for the expulsing those Infidels notwithstanding any constitution Apostolicall statute ordinance or oath to the contrary yea though ratified by the See of Rome with an expresse clause of excluding any dispensation or relaxation whatsoever Such was Julian the Popes Legate who perswaded Uladislaus King of Hungarie Bohemia to undertake a wicked warre against Amurath the Turke contrary to oath assuring him that the Pope allowed of it and there is no doubt he did so but as n Loc. ant cit Bodin observeth religiously Pontifex probavit Deus immortalis non probavit Almighty God allowed not of it for Uladislaus the King was slaine in the battell his whole army put to flight Julian the Popes Legate mortally wounded to whom as he was now breathing out his last perjured breath Gregory Sarmosa exprobated his wicked counsell and pestilent doctrine saying o I nunc Juliane dic â—egi tuo apud inferos Haereticis fidem non esse servandam Goe to Julian and tell the King now in the other world or in hell that faith is not to be kept with Heretickes and Infidels You have heard how this Text thundereth against the Fathers of the Romane Church all who embrace or practice their perfidious tenets mark I beseech you now a while how it lighteneth upon the children of our Church and all who defend the certainty as well of morall as theologicall faith As when there came a p John 12.28 voice from heaven Jesus said This voice came not because of mee Ver. 30. but for your sakes so we may truly say of the oath in my Text God tooke not it so much because of Christ to secure him
danger of the Councell but whosoever shall say thou Foole shall bee in danger of hell fire Here say they wee may see that there are two punishments lesse than hell fire and that hee onely is in danger of it who breaketh out into that outrage to raile at his brothet and call him foole not hee who is unadvisedly angry Whereupon they inferre that the last of the three sinnes mentioned by our Saviour is mortall not the two former Their second allegation is out of z Mat. 7.5 Moat out of thy brothers eye Matth. 7. and a Luk. 6.41 Luk. 6. and 1 Cor. 3. and such other texts of Scriptures in which some sinnes are compared to very light things as to b 1 Cor. 3.12 Hay and stubble hay to stubble to a moat to a * Mat. 5.26 The uttermost farthing farthing Surely say they they cannot bee grievous and weighty sinnes which are compared to such light or vile things of no value Their third allegation is out of Saint James c Jam. 1.15 Sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Marke say they not every sinne nor sinne in every degree but when it is come to its perfection bringeth forth death whereby hee insinuateth that no sinnes are mortall but those which are consummate brought into act and committed with full consent of the will The fourth is out of d Mat. 12.36 Matth. 12. I say unto you yee shall give an account for every idle word at the day of judgement Hee saith not wee shall bee condemned for every idle word but onely that wee shall bee called to answere for it as wee shall be for all sinnes Sol. 1 To the first allegation wee answere That no doctrine of faith may bee grounded upon a meere parable as the Schooles rightly determine Theologia parabolica non est argumentativa Now that which our Saviour here speaketh of three severall punishments is spoken by allusion to the proceedings in the Civill Courts in Judaea and all that can bee gathered from thence is but this That as there are differences of sinnes so there shall bee differences of punishments hereafter Secondly hell fire is no more properly taken for the torment of the damned than the other two the danger of the Councell and of Judgement which all confesse to bee taken figuratively and analogically Thirdly Maldonate the Jesuite ingenuously confesseth that by Councell and Judgement the eternall death of the soule is understood yet with this difference that a lesse degree of torment in hell is understood by the word Judgement than Councell and a lesse by Councell than by gehenna ignis that is the fire in the valley of Hinnom Sol. 2 To the second allegation wee answere First that though some sinnes in comparison of others may bee said light and to have the like proportion to more grievous sinnes as a moat in the eye hath to a beame a farthing to a pound yet that no sinne committed against God may bee simply tearmed light but like the talent of lead mentioned Zech. 1.5 Whereupon Saint e Super Ezek. l. 2. Omne peccatum grave est Gregory inferreth Every sinne is heavie and ponderous and Saint f Jer. Epitaph Paulae Ita levia peccata deflebat ut gravissimotum scelerum diceres ream Et ep 14. Nescio an possemus leve aliquod peccatum dicere quod in Dei contemptum admittitur Jerome writeth of Paula That shee so bewailed light sinnes that is such as are commonly so esteemed that a man would have thought her guilty of grievous crimes and hee elsewhere yeeldeth a good reason for it Because saith he I know not how wee may say any thing is light whereby the divine Majesty is sleighted Secondly admitting that some sinnes are to bee accounted no bigger than moats yet as a moat it it bee not taken out of the eye hindereth the sight so the least sinne hindereth grace and if it bee not repented of or pardoned for Christs sake is sufficient to damne the soule of the sinner Thirdly neither Christ by the farthing in the fifth of Matthew understandeth sinne nor the Apostle by hay and stubble lesser or veniall sinnes but Christ by farthing understandeth the last payment of debt Saint Paul light and vaine doctrines which are to bee tryed by the fire of the Spirit For in that place the Apostle by fire cannot meane the fire of Purgatory because gold and silver are tryed that is precious doctrines or good workes by the fire Saint Paul there speaketh of whereas Purgatory fire is for mens persons to cleanse and purge them from their lesser sinnes as the Papists teach Sol. 3 To the third allegation we answer That the Apostle is so farre from denying in that place that all sinnes are mortall that on the contrary he there sheweth how all sinnes become mortall and in the end bring the sinner to eternall death What lesser sinne than lust or a desire in the mind yet this as Saint James affirmeth hath strength enough to conceive sinne and sinne when it is finished to bring forth death Sol. 4 To the fourth allegation we answer That the same phrase is used concerning all kindes of sinnes yea those that are greatest and most grievous as we reade in Athanasius Creed All men shall rise againe with their owne bodies and give an account of their owne workes and if their account be not the better that dreadfull sentence shall passe against them Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire Let us lay all these particulars together and the totall arising out of them will be this That though there be a great difference of sinnes whereof some are lighter compared to a fescu or moate others heavier compared to a beame some smaller likened to gnats others greater to g Mat. 23.24 camels some easier to account for resembled to mites or farthings others with more difficulty as talents and in like manner although there are divers degrees of punishments in hell fire as there were divers degrees of civill punishments among the Jewes yet that we are accountable for the least sinnes and that the weakest desire and suddenest motion to evill is concupiscence which if it be not killed in us by grace will conceive sinne and that sinne when it is consummate will bring forth death We need no more fightings the truth hath already gotten the victory by the weapons of her sworne enemies and Goliah is already slaine with his owne sword yet that yee may know how strong the doctrine of our Church is I will bring forth and muster some of her trained band First we have two uncontrollable testimonies out of the booke of Deuteronomy h Deut. 27.26 30.19 Cursed is hee that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to doe them and Behold I have set before you this day life and good death and evill blessing and cursing The former is cited by Saint Paul to prove that all that hoped to be justified by the
grievous unto you to punish and d 2 Cor. 7.11 take revenge of your selves often who transgresse more often to afflict your soules often who e Eph. 4.30 grieve Gods holy spirit more often whereby yee are sealed to the day of redemption Sit par medicina vulneri let the remedy bee answerable to the malady let the plaister fit the wound if the wounds be many let the plaisters be divers if the wounds bee wide let the plaisters bee large Now to perswade all that heare mee this day willingly to apply these smarting plaisters to undertake joyfully this taske of godly sorrow and perform chearfully this necessary duety of mourning for our sinnes I have chosen this Text wherein God by expressing his desire of the life of a penitent sinner assureth us that wee shall obtaine our desires and recover the health of our soule if wee take the Physicke hee prescribeth Have I any desire that a sinner should dye and not that hee should returne from his wicked way and live Vers 22 24. If the wicked shall turne from all his sinnes that hee hath committed and keepe all my statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right hee shall surely live hee shall not dye All his transgressions that hee hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousnesse that hee hath done hee shall live But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee live All the righteousnesse that hee hath done shall not bee mentioned in his trespasse that hee hath trespassed and in his sinne that hee hath sinned in them hee shall dye That is briefly If repentance follow after sinne life shall follow after repentance if sinne follow finally after repentance death shall follow after sinne O presumptuous sinner despaire not for repentance without relapse is assured life O desperate sinner presume not for relapse without repentance is certaine death Art thou freed from desperation take heed how thou presumest hast thou presumed yet by no meanes despaire Nec spera ut pecces nec despera si peccasti Neither hope that thou maist continue in sinne neither despaire after thou hast sinned but pray and labour for repentance never to bee f 2 Cor. 7.10 repented of But before I pitch upon the interpretation of the words give mee leave to glance at the occasion which was a Proverbiall speech taken up by the Jewes in those dayes wherein Ezekiel prophecied Ch. 18..2 The g Jer. 31.29 In those dayes they shall say no more the fathers have eaten a sowre grape and the childrens teeth are set on edge fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge of which wee may say as h Vell. Pater hist l. 2. Disertus sed nequā facundus sed malo publico Velleius Paterculus doth of Curio It is a witty but a wicked Proverb casting a blot of injustice upon the proceedings of the Judge of all flesh i Aristot l. de mirabil auscul Aristotle reporteth it for a certaine truth That vulturs cannot away with sweet oyntments and that the Cantharides are killed and dye suddenly with the strong sent and smell of roses which makes it seeme lesse strange to mee that the doctrine of the Gospel which is a savour of life unto life should prove to some no better than a savour of death unto death and the judgements of God which were sweeter to Davids taste than the honey and the honey comb should taste so sower and sharpe in the mouthes of these Jewes with whom the Prophet had to doe that they set their teeth on edge and their tongue also against God himselfe whom they sticke not to charge with injustice for laying the fathers sinnes to the sonnes charge and requiring satisfaction of the one for the other Our fathers say they have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge What justice is there in this why should wee smart for our forefathers sinnes and lye by it for their debt The depulsion of which calumny is the argument of this Chapter wherin the Prophet cleareth the justice of God from the former foule aspersion both by denying the instance and disproving the inference upon it They were not saith hee the grapes your fathers ate that have set your teeth on edge but the sowre fruit of your owne sinne Neither doth God seeke occasion to punish you undeservedly who is willing to remit the most deserved punishments of your former sinnes upon your present sorrow and future amendment So far is he from laying the blame of your fathers sinnes upon you that he will not proceed against you for your owne sins if you take a course hereafter to discharge your consciences of them The sufficiency of which answer will appeare more fully by laying it to the former objection which may be thus propounded in forme He who punisheth the children for the fathers fault offereth hard and uneven measure to the children But God threateneth to doe so and he often k Plut. de ser num vind Antigonus propter Demetrium Phylenus propter Augaeum Nestor propter Neleum poenas sustinuere Hes op diei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 20.5 Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third fourth generation doth so For l Herod in Clio Croesus quintae retrò aetatis poenas luit hoc est Abavus qui cùm esset satelles Heraclidum Dominum interemit Croesus lost his kingdome for the sinne of his great great great grand-father Rhehoboam the ten Tribes for the sinnes of Solomon The posterity of Ahab was utterly destroyed for the sin of their parents and upon the Jewes forty yeeres after the death of our Saviour there came all the righteous bloud shed upon that land from the bloud of righteous Abel unto the bloud of Zacharias the sonne of Barachias whom they slew between the Temple and the Altar m Matth. 23.35 36. Verely saith our Saviour all these things shall come upon this generation Ergo God offereth hard and uneven measure to the children In which Syllogisme though the major or first proposition will hardly beare scale in the uneven ballances of mans judgement for in some case the sonne loseth his honour for his fathers sake as of treason yet the Prophet taketh no exception at it but shapes his answer to the assumption which is this in effect that their accusation is a false calumny that he that eateth the sowre grapes his teeth shall be set on edge that the sonne shall not beare the iniquity of his father but that the soule which sinneth shall dye For howsoever God may sometimes spare the father for many excellent vertues and yet cut off the sonne for the same sinne because he is heire of his fathers vices but not of his vertues or he may launce sometimes the sinne in the
her husband on the sudden loseth him which I call God to witnesse saith x Orig. in Cant. Conspicit Sponsa Sponsum qui conspectus statim abscessit frequenter hoc in toto carmine facit quod nisi quis patiatur non potest intelligere saepe Deus est testis Sponsum mihi adventate conspexi mecum esse subitò recedentem invenire non potui Origen I my selfe have sensible experience in my meditations upon this book And who of us in his private devotions findeth not the like Sometimes in our divine conceptions contemplations and prayers we are as it were on float sometimes on the sudden at an ebbe sometimes wee are carried with full saile sometimes we sticke as it were in the haven The use we are to make hereof is when we heare the gales of the Spirit rise to hoise up our sailes to listen to the sound when we first heare it because it will be soon blown over to cherish the sparkes of grace because if they be not cherished they will soone dye There came a sound Death entred in at the windowes that is the eyes saith Origen but life at the eares z Gal. 1.8 For the just shall live by faith and faith commeth by hearing The sound is not without the wind for the Spirit ordinarily accompanieth the preaching of the Word neither is the wind without the sound Away then with Anabaptisticall Enthustiasts try the spirits whether they be of God or no by the Word of God To the y Esay 8.20 Law and to the testimony saith the Prophet Esay If they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them And if we saith the Apostle or an Angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than what ye have received that is saith St. * Aug. contr lit Petil. l. 3. c. 6. Praeterquam quod in Scripturis legalibus Evangelicis accepistis Anathema sit Austine than what is contained in the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings let him be accursed From heaven This circumstance affordeth us a threefold doctrine 1. That the Spirit hath a dependance on the Son and proceedeth from him for the Spirit descended not till after the Son ascended who both commanded his Disciples to stay at Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father which yee have a Act. 1.4 heard saith he from mee and promised after his departure to send the b John 15.26 When the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Act. 1.5 Yee shall be baptized with the holy Ghost not many dayes hence spirit and accordingly sent him ten dayes after his ascension with the sound of a mighty wind in the likenesse of fiery cloven tongues 2. That the Gospel is of divine authority As the Law came from heaven so the Gospel and so long as we preach Gods word ye still heare sonum de coelo a sound from heaven Thus c Lactan. instit l. 3. c. 30. Ecce vox de coelo veritatem docens sole ipso clarius lumen ostendens Lactantius concludes in the end of his third booke of divine institutions How long shall we stay saith he till Socrates will know any thing or Anaxagoras find light in darknesse or Democritus draw up the truth from the bottome of a deep Well or Empedocles enlarge the narrow pathes of his senses or Arcesilas and Carneades according to their sceptick doctrine see feele or perceive any thing Behold a voice from heaven teaching us the truth and discovering unto us a light brighter than the sunne 3. That the doctrine of the Gospel is not earthly but of a heavenly nature that it teacheth us to frame our lives to a heavenly conversation that it mortifieth our fleshly lusts stifleth ambitious desires raiseth our mind from the earth and maketh us heavenly in our thoughts heavenly in our affections heavenly in our hopes and desires For albeit there are excellent morall and politicke precepts in it directing us to manage our earthly affaires yet the maine scope and principall end thereof is to bring the Kingdome of heaven unto us by grace and us into it by glory This a meer sound cannot doe therefore it is added As of a rushing mighty wind This blast or wind is a sacred symbole of the Spirit and there is such a manifold resemblance between them that the same word in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine spiritus signifieth both what so like as wind to the Spirit 1. As the wind bloweth where it d John 3.8 listeth so the Spirit inspireth whom he pleaseth 2. As wee feele the wind and heare it yet see it not so wee heare of the Spirit in the word and feele him in our hearts yet see him not 3. As breath commeth from the heat of our bowells so the third person as the Schooles determine proceedeth from the heat of love in the Father and the Son 4. As the wind purgeth the floore and cleanseth the aire so the Spirit purifieth the heart 5. As in a hot summers day nothing so refresheth a traveller as a coole blast of wind so in the heat of persecutions and heart burning sorrow of afflictions nothing so refresheth the soule as the comfort of the Spirit who is therefore stiled Paracletus the Comforter 6. As the wind in an instant blowes downe the strongest towers and highest trees so the Spirit overthrowes the strongest holds of Sathan and humbleth the haughtiest spirit 7. As the wind blowing upon a garden carrieth a sweet smell to all parts whither it goeth so the Spirit bloweth upon and openeth the flowers of Paradise and diffuseth the savour of life unto life through the whole Church 8. As the wind driveth the ship through the waves of the sea carrieth it to land so the gales of Gods Spirit carrie us through the troublesome waves of this world and bring us into the haven where wee would bee Cui cum Patre Filio sit laus c. THE MYSTERIE OF THE FIERY CLOVEN TONGUES THE LXV SERMON ACTS 2.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them AMong the golden rules of a Cael. Rodig lib. antiq lect Nunquam de Deo sine lumine loquendum Pythagoras so much admired by antiquity this was one that we ought not to speake of God without light the meaning of which precept was not that we ought not to pray to God or speake of him in the night or the darke but that the nature of God is dark to us and that we may not presume to speak thereof without some divine light from heaven Nothing may be confidently or safely spoken of him which hath not been spoken by him In which regard b Salv. de gubern lib. 1. Tanta est Majestatis sacrae tam tremenda reverentia ut non solùm illa quae
there But Christ himselfe assureth us to the contrary not every one that saith Lord Lord z Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Doing and life working and salvation running and obtaining winning and wearing overcomming and reigning in holy Scripture follow one the other Wherefore the young man puts the question to our Saviour What a Mark 10.17 thing shall I doe that I may attaine evelasting life and the people likewise and the Publicans and the Souldiers to b Luk 3.10.12.14 S. John and the keepers of the prison to c Act. 16.30 Saint Paul and the Jewes in my text to Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles What shall wee doe not What shall wee say or What shall wee beleeve but What shall wee doe This is the tenour of the Law Doe this and thou shalt live Whosoever doth these things shall never fall And the Gospel also carryeth the same tune full d Mat. 7.24 If ye know these things happie are yee of yee doe them Hee that heareth and doeth buildeth upon a rocke Not the hearers but the doers of the e James 1.22 Ezek. 1.8 Law shall bee justified Why are the Cherubims described with the hands of a man under their wings but to teach us that none shall see God who under the wings of faith and hope whereby they flâ—e to heaven have not the hand of charity to doe good workes As Darius used the Macedonian souldiers whom hee tooke prisoners so the divell doth those over whom hee hath any power hee cutts off their hands that they may be able to do no service The heathen Philosopher observed that of three of the best things in the world through the wickednesse of men three of the worst things proceeded and grew 1 Of vertue envie 2 Of truth hatred 3 Of familiarity contempt Wee Christians may adde a fourth viz. of the doctrine of free justification carnall liberty The catholike doctrine of justification by faith alone is the true Nectar of the soule so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it keepeth from death yet this sweetest Wine in the Spouses Flagons proves no better than Vinegar or rather poyson in their stomackes who turne grace into wantonnesse and liberty into licence fit Nectar acetum Et vaticam perfida vappa cadi But let no man adulterate the truth nor impose upon Christs mercy what it will not beare nor endeavour to sever faith from good workes lest hee sever his soule from life For though faith justifie our workes before God yet our workes justifie our faith before men though the just shall g Habac. 2.4 Rom. 1.17 live by his faith yet this his faith must live by h James 2.20 charity as never man any dyed with a living faith so never any man lived by a dead faith I grant when we have all done wee may nay wee must say i Luk. 17.10 Wee are unprofitable servants yet while we have time k Gal. 6.10 we must doe good unto all especially to those of the houshold of faith None may trust in their owne righteousnesse but on the contrary all ought to pray that they may be found in Christ l Phil. 3.9 not having their owne righteousnesse yet their righteousnesse must exceed the m Mat. 5.20 righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees or else they shall never enter into the kingdome of heaven It is evident unto all except they be blinde that the eye alone seeth in the body yet the eye which seeth is not alone in the body without the other senses the forefinger alone pointeth yet that finger is not alone on the hand the hammer alone striketh the bell yet the hammer which striketh is not alone in the clocke the heate alone in the fire burneth and not the light yet that heate is not alone without light the helme alone guideth the ship and not the tackling yet the helme is not alone nor without the tackling in a compound electuarie Rubarb alone purgeth choler yet the Rubarb is not alone there without other ingredients Thus wee are to conceive that though faith alone doth justifie yet that faith which justifieth is not alone but joyned with charity and good workes Many please themselves with a resemblance of Castor and Pollux two lights appearing on shippes sometimes severally sometimes joyntly If either appeareth by it selfe it presageth a storme if both together a suddaine calme yet with their good leave be it spoken this their simile is dissimile For those lights may be severed actually are often but justifying faith cannot be severed from charity nor charity from it Thus farre onely it holdeth that unlesse we have a sense and feeling of both in our soules we may well feare a storme S. Bernards distinction of via regni and causa regnandi cleareth the truth in this point Though good workes are not the cause why God crowneth us yet we must take them in our way to heaven or else we shall never come there It is as impious to deny the necessity as to maintaine the merit of good workes sed Cynthius aurem Vellit The time calleth mee off and therefore that it may not exclude mee I will conclude with it In this holy time of Lent three duties are required Prayer Fasting and Almes prayer is the bird of Paradise fasting and almes are her two wings the lighter is fasting but the stronger is almes use both to carry your prayers to heaven that you may bring from thence a blessing upon you through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ Cui c. THE LAST OFFER OF PEACE A Sermon preached at a publike Fast THE LXX SERMON LUK 19.41 42. 41. And when he was come neere he beheld the City and wept over it 42. Saying If thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes WHen the Romans fought a pitched field after the rankes of their prime Leaders and chiefe Souldiers which they called Principes had charged valiantly if the enemy still kept his ground the Triarii containing the whole shock of the army put on and upon their prowesse and valour depended the fortune of the day and chance if I may so speake of the bloudy die of war Whereupon it grew to be a proverb a Eras chil Res rediit ad Triarios it now stands upon the Triarii as if you would say it is now put to the last plunge And is it not so now my Christian brethren We have taken to us the proper weapons of Christians fasting prayers and teares to fight against the fearfull combinations of powerfull vigilant enemies The rank of our Principes the King himself the Princes Nobles and Peeres have already watered this field with their teares and put on with all their force of zealous praiers how far they have prevailed
God only knowes Jam ad Triarios res rediit now the whole shock of the army and the maine battell is to advance and upon the sinceritie of the humiliation and fervency of devotion and strength of our united praiers sighes this day dependeth much the safety and life of our State and in it of our Church and in it of our true and incorrupt Religion Let no man goe about with Mercuries inchanted rod to close the eyes of our Argus's let no man sow pillowes under the elbowes of our true Patriots to make them sleep in security lest destruction steale upon us at unawares It is certaine our enemies sleep not and it is most certaine that our crying sinnes have awaked Gods justice it standeth us therefore upon to watch and pray Judgement is already begun at the house of God the Angel hath poured out his viall of red wine upon the Churches of Bohemia and their fields are thicke sowne with the blood of Martyrs the same Angel hath emptied another viall upon the Churches in the Palatinate and the sweet Rhenish grape yeelds in a manner now no liquor but blood a third viall runneth out at this houre upon the reformed Churches in France and our sinnes as it were holloe to him to stretch his hand over the narrow sea and cast the dregges of it on us who have beene long settled upon our lees and undoubtedly this will bee our potion to drinke if wee stretch not our hands to heaven that God may command his Angel to stay his hand If hee have already turned his viall and wee see drops of bloud hanging in the ayre yet the strong wind of our prayers may blow them away and dispell them in such sort that they shall not fall upon us a gale of our sighes may cleare the skie Moses praiers manicled the hands of Almighty God and shall not the united devotions of this whole Land either stay or turne his Angels hand Away with all confidence in the arme of flesh away with all hope in man away with all cloakes of sinne and vizzards of hypocrisie there is no dissembling with God no fighting against him Albeit our land bee compassed with the sea as with a moat and environed with ships furnished with ordnance as with brazen and iron walls though the most puissant Princes on earth should send us innumerable troupes to succour and aide us yet we have no fence for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we lye open to heaven wee are naked to the arrowes of the Almighty and no carnall weapons for succours can stand us in any stead onely the helmet of salvation and the buckler of faith and the powder of a contrite heart and the shot of pious ejaculations may doe us some good It is our pride Beloved that hath throwne us downe and it is humility which must raise us our divisions have weakened us and it is union that can strengthen us our luxury hath imbezelled us and now nothing but fasting and abstinence can recover us our sinnes have made a breach and nothing but repentance can make it up our profane oathes our sinfull pleasures our carnall security and sensuality hath driven away the Spirit of grace and comfort from us and nothing can wooe him to returne backe againe but our vowes of amendment unfeigned teares and sorrowfull sighes Let us therefore ply sighes and b Cyp. ep 1. Incumbamus igitur gemitibus assiduis deprecationibus crebris haec enim sunt arma coelestia quae stare perseverare fortiter faciunt haec sunt munimenta spiritualia tela divina quae protegunt nos Et serm de laps Oportet transigere vigiliis noctes tempus omne lachrymosis lamentationibus occupare stratos solo adhaerere cineri in cilicio volutari sordibus prayers for these are the spirituall weapons we alone can trust to through the intercession of Christs bloud which speaketh better things for us than the bloud of Abel These weapons our Lord himselfe made tryall of in my Text and sanctified them to our use viz. passionate teares and compassionate prayers When hee drew neere to Jerusalem and fore-saw in spirit that shee drew neere to her ruine his eyes melted with teares he beheld the City and wept and his heart breaketh out into sighes Oh that thou knewest Teares trickle not down in order neither are sighes fetched by method Expect not therefore from mee any accurate division or methodicall handling of this passionate Text only in the first place fasten the eye of your observation upon the eyes of our Saviour and you shall discerne in them 1. Beames of love He beheld 2. Teares of compassion He wept over it In the next place bow the eares of your religious attention towards his mouth and ye shall heare from him 1. Sighes of desire Oh or if that thou knewest 2. Plaints of sorrow But now they are hid from thine eyes I have pitched as you see upon a c Hom. Il. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moist plat or fenny ground wherein that your devotion may walke more steadily I have laid out for you five knolls or steps to rest upon and pawse 1. Venit He came 2. Vidit He beheld 3. Flevit He wept 4. Ingemuit He sighed 5. Oravit He prayed 1. Venit or appropinquavit he drew neere The end of our Saviours life here was the sacrifice of his death he was borne that he might die for us and by one oblation of himselfe on the crosse satisfie for the sinnes of the whole world Now all sacrifices by the Law were to be offered at Jerusalem to Jerusalem therefore hee comes up to finish the worke of our redemption and he maketh the more haste because Easter was neere at hand when he was to eate the Paschall Lambe with his Disciples and to be eaten of them in the mysterious rite of the Sacrament to kill the passover in the type but to be killed himselfe in the truth Oh how farre hath our Saviour left us behind him in his love He came with a swift foot to us we returne with a slow foot to him he made more haste to give himselfe than we make to receive him After hee received the commandement from his Father to lay downe his life for his sheep he rode more cheerfully into Jerusalem and was led more willingly to the altar of the crosse where hee lost his life than we repaire to his holy table there to be partakers of the bread of eternall life He came neere to the City that he might view it he viewed it that hee might weep over it hee wept over it that hee might testifie a threefold truth 1. Naturae of his Nature 2. Amoris of his Love 3. Doctrinae of his Doctrine or prophesie 1. Veritatem naturae the truth of his humane nature He must needs be a true man who out of compassion sheds teares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic fatur lachrymans Cold stone or metall relenteth not a phantasme