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
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
a threefold inconvenience of sinfull courses because they who pursue them reape no fruit from them sustaine much losse by them come to an evill end through them for the End The end is taken 1 Either physically 2 Or morally Either for the finall cause or for the finall effect Death is not the finall cause of sin but the finall effect for no man sinneth for death but dieth for sinne Others distinguish of ends which are 1 Intermediate as wealth honour or pleasure 2 Ultimate as happinesse Death say they is not the intermediate end but profit or delight but it is alwayes the ultimate end of sinne unrepented of A third sort make a difference betweene the end 1 Peccantis of the sinner that is the end which the sinner intendeth 2 Peccati of sinne that is the end to which sinne tendeth this distinction seemeth to mee coincident with the first Death say they is not the end of the sinner but of the sinne not the end which the sinner propoundeth to himselfe but the end which his sinne bringeth him unto Withall they acutely observe that the Apostle saith not the end of those men is death but the end Of those things By those things hee understandeth the state of the unregenerate or those sinnes which were rife among the Romanes and are reckoned up chap. 1. which may bee reduced to three heads 1 Impiety against God 2 Iniquity against their neighbours 3 Impurity against their owne body and soule yea and against nature also 1 Impiety with this hee brandeth them vers 21. 2 Iniquity with this hee chargeth them vers 29. 3 Impurity with this hee shameth them vers 24 27. Of those things the end is Death The second death say some for he that hath no part in the first resurrection hath his portion in the second death A double death saith Saint Ambrose à morte enim ad mortem transitur for a sinner from one death passeth to another Others more fully thus The end of those things is death 1 Of your estate by ruine of your fortunes 2 Of your good name by tainting your reputation 3 Of your body by separation from the soule 4 Of your soule by separation from God The most naturall interpretation and most agreeable to this place is That by continuing in a sinfull course all our life wee incurre the sentence penalty and torment of eternall death for that death is meant here which is opposed to eternall life Verse 23. which can bee no other than eternall Yea but is sinne in generall so strong a poyson that the least quantity of it bringeth death and that eternall are all sinnes mortall that is in their owne nature deserving eternall death It seemeth so for hee speaketh indefinitely and without any limitation and as before hee implyed all sinne to bee unfruitfull and shamefull so also now to bee deadly What fruit had ye in those things that is in any of those things whereof ye are now ashamed Now it is certain that the regenerate are ashamed of all sins therefore in like manner it followeth that the end of all sinnes is death For the Apostle here compareth the state of sinne and state of grace in generall and as hee exhorteth to all good workes so hee endevoureth to beat downe all sinne as unfruitfull shamefull and deadly See what will ensue hereupon first that there are no veniall sinnes secondly no pardons for them in purgatory thirdly no fee for pardons If all sinnes are mortall and which all Papists will they nill they must confesse no man is free from all sinne for t Jam. 3. ◠in many things wee offend all saith Saint James and u 1 Joh. 1.10 if we say that we have no sin wee deceive our selves saith Saint John what will become of their Romish doctrines concerning the possibility of fulfilling the law the merit of congruity or condignity and works of supererogation Si nulla peccata venialia nulla venalia if no sinnes are veniall then no sale to bee made of sinnes no utterance of pardons no use of the Church treasury no gold to bee got by the Monks new found Alchymy Yee will say this is but a flourish let us therefore come to the sharpe Mitte hebetes gladios pugnetur acutis The speech of Cornelius Celsus the Physitian is much commended by Bodine Nec aegrotorum morbi nec languentium vulnera dicendi luminibus curantur Soft words cure no wounds wee may say more truely soft words give no wounds and therefore are not for this service of truth against errour and heresie up in armes against her * Hom. Il. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hector truely told Paris that his golden harpe and purfled haire and beautifull painting would stand him in no stead in the x Sen. ep 51. In primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus field it is not the wrought scabbard but the strong blade nor the bright colour but the sharpe edge of it that helpeth in danger and hurteth the enemy In which regard I hold it fittest to handle schoole points scholastically in tearmes rather significant than elegant and labour more for force of argument than ornaments of speech First then after their plaine method I will explicate the state of the question next meet with the adversaries objections and last of all produce arguments for the truth and make them good against all contrary cavils and frivolous exceptions Sins may bee tearmed veniall or mortall two manner of wayes 1 Either comparatè in comparison of others 2 Or simplicitèr simply and in themselves and that three manner of wayes Either 1 Ex naturâsuâ of their owne nature 2 Ex gratiâ by favour or indulgence 3 Ex eventu in the issue or event Wee deny not but that sinnes may bee tearmed veniall comparatè that is more veniall than others and if not deserving favour and pardon yet lesse deserving punishment than others Secondly veniall ex eventu or in the issue wee acknowledge all the sinnes of the Elect to bee and some sinnes of the Reprobate also or veniall ex gratiâ that is by Gods favour and clemency all the question is whether any sinne of the Elect or Reprobate bee veniall ex suâ naturâ that is such as in its owne nature deserveth not the punishment of death but either no punishment at all or at least temporary onely The reformed Churches generally resolve that all sinnes in their owne nature are mortall the y Bellar. de amis grat stat pec c. 9. Qui dixerit fatue reus erit gehennae ignis ex his tale conficitur argumentum manifestum convitium facit reum gehennae ignis non item subita iracundia c. Romanists will have very many to be veniall Their allegations are chiefly these the first out of Matthew 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Racha shall bee in
come to one first cause that setteth all on working and it selfe dependeth upon no other former cause This truth the Poets fitly resembled by a golden chaine upon which heaven and earth hang whose uppermost linke was fastened to Jupiters chaire The morall Philosophers also yeeld a supply of their forces to aid this truth There can be but one chiefe good say they which wee desire for it selfe and all other things for it but this must needs be God because nothing but the Deitie can satisfie the desire of the reasonable soule and because in the highest and chiefest of all good there must needs be an infinitie of good otherwise we might conceive a better and more desirable good now no infinite good can be conceived but God Neither is it a weake pillar wherewith the Statesman supporteth this truth Nulla fides regni sociis omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit No one Kingdome can stand where there are two p Bod. de rep l. 2. c. 20. De vnius dominatu supreme and uncontrollable commanders therefore neither can the whole world which is a great Empire or Kingdome be governed by two or more supreme Monarchs This argument may be illustrated by the fact and apophthegme of the Grand Seignior who when his sonne Mustaphas returning from Persia was received and entertained with great shouts and acclamations of all the people he commanded him presently to be slaine before him this oracle to be pronounced by the Priest Unus in coelo Deus unus in terris Sultanus One God in heaven one Sultan on the earth q Lact. divin institut l. 1. c. 5 Adeo in unitatem universa natura consentit Lactantius also harpeth upon this string There cannot be many masters in one family many Pilots in one ship many Generalls in one armie many Kings in one Realme r De Ira Dei cap. 11. Non possunt in hoc mundo multi esse rectores nec in una domo multi Domini nec in una nave multi gubernatores nec in uno regno multi reges nec in uno mundo multi soles many sunnes in one firmament many soules in one body so the universalitie of things runnes upon an unitie These and the like congruities induced the greater part of the heathen Sages to assent to this truth Mercurius Trismgeistus giveth this reason why God hath no proper name because he is but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orpheus calleth God the one true and first great begotten because before him nothing was begotten whose nature because he could not conceive he saith he was borne of immense aire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythagoras termeth him Animam mundi and Anaxagoras Mentem infinitam Seneca Rector of the whole world and God of heaven and all gods Tully and Plato were confessours of this truth and Socrates a Martyr of it but Beloved we need not such witnesses for we have the testimony of those three that beare record in heaven of God the father I am God and there is ſ Esay 46.9 none other of God the sonne this is t John 17.3 life eternall to know thee to be the only true God whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ of God the holy Ghost O Lord there is u 1 Chron. 17.20 none like thee neither is there any God but thee there * 1 Cor. 8.6 is but one God the father of whom are all things and wee in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him This point is not more cleere in the proofe than profitable in the use which 1. Convinceth the errour of the Manichees who taught there were two Gods and of the Tritheites who worshipped three and of the Greekes who multiply their Gods according to the number of their cities and of the Romans Qui cum omnibus gentibus dominarentur omnium gentium servierunt erroribus who when they had subdued all nations made themselves slaves to the errours of all There was no starre almost in the skie no affection in the minde no flower in the garden no beast in the field no thing almost so vile and abject in the world which some of the Heathen deified not Omnia colit error humanus praeter eum qui omnia condidit This Unity of the Trinity inferreth a Trinity of Unity Viz. 1. Of faith 2. Baptisme 3. Charitie The two former the x Ephes 4.5 Apostle inferreth in that verse wherein hee declineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely there can bee no verity of unity where there is no unity of verity If there bee but one God then the worship of him must needs be the onely true religion if there bee no name under heaven by which we may be saved but the name of Jesus Christ y Acts 4.12 it insueth hereupon which serveth wonderfully for our everlasting comfort and the terrour and confusion of all Infidels that onely the Christian can be saved The Poets fained that the way to heaven was via lactea a milkie way but the Scripture teacheth that the only way thither is via sanguinea not a milkie but a bloudie way by the crosse of Christ 3. From unity of faith and Sacraments there followeth a third unity to wit the unity of love For how can they bee but united in love who are members of one mysticall body and quickened by one and the selfe same spirit The neerest and strongest tie among men is consanguinity how neare and deare ought then all Christians to bee one to another who are not only made all of one bloud as all men and women are but also are redeemed by one bloud the bloud of Christ and participate also of one bloud in the Sacrament Where the union is or should be firmer the division is alwayes fowler how then commeth it to passe that as in the Church of Corinth one said z 1 Cor. 1.12 13. I am of Paul another said I am of Apollo another I am of Cephas so in our Church one saith I am of Luther another I am of Calvin another I am of Zwinglius Is Christ divided Is the reformed religion deformed Is not this a cunning sleight of Satan to divide us one from another that so he may prevaile against us all as Horatius did against the Curiatii the manner whereof * Decad. 1. l. 1. Conserus manibus cum non motus tantum corporum agitatioque anceps telorum armorumque sed vulnera quoque sanguis spectaculo essent duo Romani super alium alius vulnerati tribus Albanis expirantes corruerunt ad quorū casum cum conclamasset gaudio Albanus exercitus Romanas legiones jam spes tota nondum tamen cura deseruerat exanimes vitae unius quem tres Curiatii circumsteterant Forte is integer fuit ut universis solus nequaquam par sic adversus singulos ferox ergo ut segregaret pugnam eorum capessit fugam ratus secuturos ut quemque vulnere
Hence it is compared to a goad m Eccles 12.11 or naile fastened by the masters of the assemblies nay to a n Heb. 4.12 two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and joynts and marrow nay to thunder which breaketh the bones not hurting the yeelding flesh at the sound whereof o Luke 10.18 Satan fals like lightening from heaven This efficacie of the word of God proves the Divinitie thereof as it could not be divine but it must needs be effectuall so it could not be so effectuall as it is if it were not divine As the demolishing the wals of Jericho proved that there was something more in the sounding of the Rams hornes than the violent expulsion or percussion of the aire so the conquering all the eloquence and power and wealth and wisdome of the world and subduing it to the Gospel by the preaching of the Apostles poore simple and illiterate men of no more account in comparison of the Oratours and Philosophers of the heathen than the Rams hornes in comparison of silver trumpets demonstrateth that their words were not the words of men but the words of God p Zab. Phys Zabarel treating of nutrition in the stomacke and perfect concoction propoundeth this question How commeth it to passe that heat being but an accident and a simple qualitie can digest our meat sever the thicker parts from the thinner turne the chylus into chymus and chymus into bloud and disperse this bloud into all parts resolveth it thus that Heat may be considered two wayes either as it is a meere qualitie and accident and so it hath but one simple operation or as it is an instrument of the soule and so it produceth all the effects above mentioned In like manner if it be demanded how the word preached instructeth correcteth and comforteth and maketh the man of God q 2 Tim. 3.17 perfect and thorowly furnished to everie good worke how it frameth and mouldeth the heart how it printeth it like a stamp melteth it like fire bruizeth it like a hammer pricketh it like a naile and cutteth it asunder like a sword the ready answer is that it produceth these effects Non ut sonus sed ut instrumentum Dei not as it is a sound or a collision of the aire but as it is an instrument of God Or to use the phrase of the Apostle as it is the r Rom. 1.16 power of God unto salvation to everie one that beleeveth This power wee may easily beleeve to bee in the whole when wee see such efficacie in one text ſ Junius in vita Junius was reclaimed from Atheisme by casting his eye on the new Testament lying open in his study and reading the first words of S. Johns Gospel In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God These words which strucke such a reverence in the hearts of the heathenish Platonicks that they wrote them in golden letters in their Churches so amazed him with the strange majestie of the stile and profoundnesse of the mysteries therein contained that hee never after entertained the least thought of his former atheisticall conceit As Antony passing in his journey and comming to a Chappell heard the Priest read those words in the Gospel t Luke 18.22 If thou wilt be perfect goe sell all that thou hast and give to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven hee tooke the words as spoken to himselfe in particular and fulfilling the precept of Christ accordingly of a covetous worldling became a most holy recluse What should I speake of S. Austine who was strangely converted by hearing a voyce saying Tolle lege fastening his eies upon the first passage of Scripture he lighted upon which was this u Rom. 13.13 14. Let us walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envying but put yee on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof No sooner was the verse read than the worke of his conversion was finished and a pious resolution for amendment of life setled in him * Aug. conf l. 8. c. 12. Surgens ab Alypio ut flerem de vicinâ domo audivi vocem Tolle lege tum cogitabam puerine solebant tale aliquid cantare nec occurrebat audivisse me Uspiam represso impetu lachrymarū surrexi interpretans me divinitùs doceri codicem aperire legere Itaque reversus ad locum ubi sedebat Alypius ibi enim posucram codicem aperui legi in caput quo conjecti sunt oculi mei Rom. 13. Non in comessationibus c. Rem Alypio indicavi petit videre quod legissem ostendit ultrà quà m ego legeram quod sequitur Infirmū in fide assumite quod ille ad se retulit Alypius certified hereof desireth to peruse the place and falleth upon the verse immediately following Him that is weake in the faith receive you Rom. 14.1 which he applying to himselfe besought S. Austine to strengthen him in the truth according to the command of Christ to Peter Luke 22.32 Tu conversus confirma fratres When thou art converted confirme thy brethren which taske he so well performed that with a little travell in a short space two twins were brought forth to Christ at one birth To fasten the truth of this observation concerning the efficacie of Scripture texts seasonably applyed I will borrow a golden naile from S. Chrysostome It is not so in the Church where the Word is powerfully taught as it was in the Arke of Noah for there the beast that entred into the Arke received no change nor alteration at all by the imbarking there during the deluge if they were cleane at their comming in they were so at their going out if they came in uncleane they went out uncleane if they came in wilde they went out wilde but it is not so here we come in uncleane but we goe out cleane we come in wild we goe out tame wee come in wolves wee goe out lambs we come in lions we goe out deere we come in vultures wee goe out doves we come in beasts we goe out men or to speake more properly regenerate Christians And thus much concerning compunction in reference to the cause as it is an effect of the word preached now let us consider it in a reference to the subject as it is an affection in the sinner The locusts are described by x Apoc. 9.7 10. S. John with faces like men but stings in their tailes like scorpions not to disparage any mysticall interpretation a morall may be this Sinnes especially of pleasure like these locusts have beautifull faces and a delightfull appearance at the first but those that deale and dally with them shall finde that they have stings in their tailes and leave pricks and venomous wounds in the conscience in the end for