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
against his owne body doth not his conscience tell him that God is highly displeased with him doth hee not feele the effects of his wrath in his soule and oftentimes in his body and estate also and if the hand of God upon him bring him not to a sight and a sense and an acknowledgement and a detestation also of his sinne dare any man secure his salvation On the contrary if after his relapse his heart smite him and hee feeles the pricke of conscience if there bee any sparke in the weeke any bitter fume drawing teares from his eyes any fervour of zeale any heate of love in him any vehement desire of saving grace though hee receive the sentence of death in himselfe and breathe out his last gaspe in a disconsolate sigh and with a lamentable groane yet none doubteth but that he may passe even by the gates of Hell into Heaven There is nothing so easie or frequent as for a man to slip or fall who walketh upon the ice and what is this world compared by Saint John to a sea of glasse Apoc. 15.2 but slippery ice in which though they who goe most warily slide often and receive grievous falls yet they may take such hold on the one side upon the promises of God Jer. 31.40 I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from mee and on the other side upon Christs praier I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not that they fall not irrecoverably or so dangerously as that they dye of their fall Luke 22.31 For whose comfort in their fearfullest conflicts with dispaire I will lay such grounds of confidence as will amount to a hope that maketh not ashamed and at least to a morall assurance of the recovery of their former estate In the ninth of Proverbs and the first wee have a description of a house built by Wisedome b Prov. 9.1 Wisedome saith hee hath built her an house shee hath hewen out her seven pillars By this house albeit some of the Ancients understand the incarnation of the Sonne of God who is the Wisedome of his Father and might bee said then to build him an house when hee framed a body to himselfe yet may it bee applyed to the spirituall house which every Christian buildeth by faith upon the rocke Christ Jesus for as that so this standeth upon seven pillars 1. The constancy of Gods love in Christ 2. The certainty of his decrees 3. The truth of his promises 4. The power of regenerating grace 5. The efficacy of Christs prayer and intercession for all Beleevers 6. The safegard of the Almighties protection 7. The testimony of the true ancient Church which the Apostle himselfe graceth with the title of the pillar and ground of truth The first pillar to support this building is the constancy of Gods love to all that are in Christ which may be thus hewen to our purpose They upon whom God setteth such an especiall affection in Christ that hee maketh a covenant of peace and entreth into a contract of marriage with them can never bee cast utterly out of favour much lesse grow into eternall hatred and detestation in such sort that they become the objects of endlesse misery and subjects of everlasting malediction For this kindnesse whereby the Lord our Redeemer hath mercy on us Esa 1.54.8 With everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Ver. 10. The mountains shal depart and the â—â—ls be removed but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed is everlasting The covenant of this peace is immoveable this contract is indissoluble * Hos 2.19 20. I will betroth thee unto mee for ever I will betroth thee unto mee in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will betroth thee unto mee in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord. But all true beleevers are embraced with this love comprised within this covenant parties in this contract What then can steale their hearts from Christ or alienate his love from them z Rom. 8 35.38 What shal separate them from this love of God in Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill No neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That fire which generateth and produceth its owne fuell can never goe out and what is the fuell which nourisheth this heavenly flame but grace and vertue in us which it selfe continually worketh in all them that are new creatures in Christ Men affect others because of worth but contrariwise Gods affection causeth worth in all who are indeared unto him All the spirituall beauty they have wherewith he is enamoured is no other than the reflection and glisening of the beames of his grace which a Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the beginner and finisher of our faith beginneth and consummateth all good in us b Phil. 2.13 For it is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure working in us both the wil the deed Philosophy teacheth that the celestiall and superiour bodies work upon the terrestriall and inferiour but not on the contrary The stormes or calmes in the aire change not the motions or influence of the starres but contrariwise the motions conjunctions and influences of the Starres cause such variety in the ayre and earth The rayes of the visible Sunne are not moved at all by the motion of the object but immoveably flow from the body of that Planet and though blustering windes tyrannize in the ayre and remove it a thousand times out of its place in an houre yet they stirre not therewith in like manner though our affections are transported with every gale of prosperity and storme of adversity and our wills somewhat yeeld to every wind of temptation yet Gods affections like the beames of the Sunne remaine immoveable where they are once fixed Wee play fast and loose even with those oftentimes to whom wee are bound in the strongest bonds of duty and love wee praise and dispraise with a breath frowne and smile with a looke Esay 55.8 love and hate with a conceit but Gods affections are not like ours John 13.1 nor are his thoughts our thoughts For having loved his owne which were in the world 2 Tim. 2.13 hee loveth them unto the end and though we beleeve not yet hee abideth faithfull he cannot deny himselfe The second pillar is the certainty of Gods decree for the salvation of the Elect 2 Tim. 2 19. and thus I reare it up The foundation of God standeth sure having this seale The Lord knoweth them that
the Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ For he strove not nor cryed nor was his voice heard in the streets A still small voice naturally produceth no eccho For as a ball layd softly on the ground boundeth not up againe but if it be strook downe with a vehement stroake riseth from the ground again and again so a low and whispering voice which gently moveth the aire is not returned againe by an eccho but a strong and a loud sound which forcibly smiteth the aire is reverberated from mountains rocks by a double or treble eccho Yet here a still small voice is returned by an eccho For the words which I have read unto you in S. Matthew are no other than the eccho of the voice of the Prophet Esay As Esay of all the Prophets is most Evangelicall that is most plainly delivereth the story of Christ his life and death by way of prediction so S. Matthew of all the foure Evangelists is most Propheticall that is alledgeth most passages out of the Prophets in his Gospel None so frequently inserteth testimonies out of the Old Testament into his story as hee which hee so pertinently applyeth that in his Gospel every man may discerne the truth of that observation of the Ancients viz. that the New Testament is vailed in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New The Prophets Evangelists being the organs of the same holy Spirit like divers instruments of musick playing the same tune though in different keyes Or rather like opposite looking-glasses reflecting the same image one upon the other to wit the brightness of God his glory Hebr. 1.2 the expresse image of his person Or like thick bright clouds on both sides of the Sun which receiving the beams therof with them an impression of the similitude of that Prince of the celestiall lights reflect the same one upon another make as if there were divers Sunnes in the sky which are indeed but parelii pictures and representations of the selfe same Sunne Malach. 3.1 Esa 42.1 2 3. the Sunne of righteousnesse The Prophet Esay pointeth to the Messias as it were afarre off saying Behold the servant of God whom he upholdeth his Elect in whom his soule delighteth upon whom he hath put his spirit he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets a bruised reed shall hee not breake and smoaking flaxe shall hee not quench till hee bring forth judgement unto truth The Evangelist viewing Christ neere at hand findeth all those markes in him by which the Prophet describeth him Which you shall plainly descry if you cast backe your eye on the story set down a little above my Text. There shall you find Christ stretching out his hand of mercy to a withered hand and healing it on the Sabbath day and the Pharisees murmuring at it and conspiring against him for it Against whom notwithstanding hee made no forcible resistance nor so much as opened his lips but giving place to their wrath leaveth that country and though hee were so ill requited for his good deeds and miraculous cures yet he goes about still doing good in all places healing their sicke curing their blind lame and deafe and withall charging them that they should not make him knowne That it might bee fulfilled saith the Evangelist c. That it was fulfilled which God spake by the Prophet Esay and how it will evidently appeare by comparing the predictions of the Prophet with the history of the Evangelist Behold my servant saith the Prophet The sonne of man came not to bee ministred unto but to minister Matth. 20.28 Luke 23.35 Mat. 3. ver ult Luke 2.32 saith the Evangelist Mine Elect saith the Prophet Christ the chosen of God saith the Evangelist In whom I delight saith the Prophet In whom I am well pleased saith the Evangelist Hee shall bring judgement to the Gentiles saith the Prophet A light to lighten the Gentiles saith the Evangelist Hee shall not strive saith the Prophet Hee did not strive saith the Evangelist neither here with the Scribes and Pharisees nor in the garden with them that sought his life but contrariwise when St. Peter drew a sword in his defence Matth. 16.52 53. and strooke off a servant of the high Priests eare he rebuked him saying Put up thy sword thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and hee shall presently give mee more than twelve legions of Angels but how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled He shall not cry Mat. 27.14 Acts 8.32 nor lift up his voice saith the Prophet Hee was silent and answered not a word saith the Evangelist but was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a Lambe dumbe before the shearer A bruised reed shall he not breake saith the Prophet The Evangelist testifieth he did not For the people which lay maimed and diseased like bruised reeds upon the ground he went not over but raised them up and the Scribes and Pharisees whose malice smoaked against him he did not destroy or extinguish when hee might as easily have done it as tread out the weeke of a candle on the ground with his shooe For hee came not to quench but to kindle not to destroy but to save not to launce but to plaster not to revenge but to reconcile not to punish but to suffer not to breake the bruised reed but to be beaten and bruised with reeds and whips yea and to be broken also upon the crosse You have heard how this Text is inferred Now in the second place listen what it inferreth both against the Jew and for the Christian 1. It inferreth for the reproofe of the Jew that the first comming of the King Messias was to be private and silent without any outward pompe or great noise 2. For the instruction of Christians that the members ought to bee conformable to the head and frame their dispositions to his most sweet and gracious temper 3. For the comfort of all that the Judge of all flesh is meeke milde and mercifull to all that bow to him or fall downe before him like bruised reeds First we have here the character of the true Messias and the manner if I may so speak of his stealing into the world at his first comming Wherein judicious Calvin willeth us to observe the difference between the Messiah and other Kings and Princes They when they ride in progresse send their Harbingers before to take up lodgings and Martials to make way and when they enter any City it is with great noise and tumult ringing of Bels sound of Trumpets peales of Ordnance ratling of Speares clattering of Coaches and clamours of the People but our King the Prince of peace entred the world in a far different maner As in the building of the materiall Temple there was not heard the noise of any toole so neither in the building of the spirituall Temple I meane
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
so wonderfully for nought but that he reserved him for some greater worke and service to his Church as wee see this day There remaineth yet one clause in my text And the mouth of every one that speaketh lies shall bee stopped and answerably an appendix to the narration of the conspiracie of the Gowries for stopping the mouthes of all that shall call in question the truth of that relation Which besides the conscience of his Majesty the deposition of his servants the publicke justice of the Parliament of Scotland the solemne piety and devotion of the Churches of great Brittaine and Ireland was sixteene yeeres after the plotting thereof and eight yeeres after the acting confirmed by the publicke free and voluntarie confession of p Vid. a booke intituled the examination of G. Sprot published with a learned preface to it by G.A. Dr. D. and Dean of Winchester George Sprot arraigned and executed at Edinburgh for it Thus have I fitted each member of this prophecy to the severall parts of the storie of his Majesties deliverance as on this day betweene which there is such good correspondencie that the prophesie seemeth text to the storie and the storie a commentarie on the prophesie Observe I beseech you the harmony of them and let your heart dance with joy at every straine 1. The first is They that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe downe c. This was exemplified and according to the letter accomplished in Alexander Ruthwen who sought the ruine of our David and was himselfe throwne downe the staires and after part of him into the lowest parts of the earth a deepe pit into which his bowels were cast 2. The second is They shall cast him downe by the edge of the sword This was accomplished in the Earle Gowrie whom the Kings servants smote in the study with the edge of the sword that hee died and fell at their feet 3. The third is And they shall be a portion for foxes that is lie unburied for a prey to the fowles of heaven and beasts of the earth this was accomplished in all the Traitors who were according to the Lawes of the kingdome hanged drawne and quartered and their quarters set up upon the most eminent parts of the Citie where the fowles preyed upon them till they dropped downe to the ground and were made an end of by some ravenous beasts 4. The fourth is The King shall rejoyce in God This was literally verified in our King who joyfull after hee was plucked out of the jawes of death gave publicke thankes to God and ascribed the whole glory of his deliverance and victorie over his enemies to his gracious goodnesse and in memorie of this so great a benefit commanded this feast which wee now celebrate to be solemnly kept in all his Dominions yeerely 5. The fifth is And all that sweare by him that is all which worship the true God the God of our Jacob or all that sweare to him that is allegiance to his Majestie shall glorie This as it was accomplished in other congregations so is it in us here present assembled to glorie in the Lord for this wonderfull delivery of their then and now also our Soveraigne 6. The sixt and last is And the mouth of all that speake lies shall bee stopped This was also fulfilled by the meanes of George Sprot who by his pious behaviour and penitent confession at his death and a signe which he promised to shew after his breath should be stopped and accordingly performed after he had hanged a great while clapping his hands above his head stopped the mouth of all such as before spake lies against the truth of the precedent relation To the lively expression whereof I have borrowed as you see Davids princely characters and set the presse placing each letter in his ranke and part in his order What remaineth but that I pray to God by his spirit to stampe them in our hearts and so imprint them in our memories that he that runneth may reade our thankfulnesse to God for this deliverance and confidence in his future protection of our Soveraignes person and love and loyaltie to his Majestie whom God hath so strangely saved from the sword to save the sword from us that in peace and safety he might receive and sway the Scepter of these Kingdomes of great Brittaine and Ireland Which long may hee with much prosperity and honour to the glory of God and propagation of the truth libertie and safetie of the Church and Common-wealth exceeding joy and comfort of all his friends and remarkeable shame and confusion of his implacable enemies So bee it Deo patri c. THE LORD PROTECTOR OF PRINCES OR DEUS ET REX GOD AND THE KING A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon August 5. 1620. THE SIXTH SERMON PSAL. 21.1 The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Or as wee reade in the Bishops Bible The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation THat manifold or to make a new compound to translate a compound in the Originall a Eph. 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multivarious wisedome and goodnesse of God which hath illustrated the firmament with varietie of starres some more some lesse glistering and glorious enamell'd the meadowes with choyce of flowers some more some lesse beautifull and fragrant inriched the sands of the Sea with pearle some more some lesse orient and veines of the earth with metals some more some lesse pretious hath also decked and garnished the Calendar of the Church with variety of Feasts some more some lesse holy and solemn You may observe a kinde of Hierarchy among them some have a preheminence over the rest which we call greater and higher Feasts Among which this day challengeth his place on which we refresh the memorie of his Majesties rescue out of the prophane and impious hands of the Earle Gowry and Alexander Ruthwen A paire of unnaturall brethren brethren in nature and brethren in a most barbarous and unnaturall attempt against their Soveraigne the Lords annointed brethren by bloud and brethren also in bloud who by the just judgement of God cleansed that study with their owne bloud which they would have for ever stained by the effusion there of the Royall bloud of the most innocent Prince that ever sate on that or this Throne whom almighty God seemeth not so much to have preserved from those imminent dangers he then escaped as reserved for these unvaluable blessings we now enjoy by the prorogation of his life enlarging of his Scepter and propagation of his Issue In his life the life of our hope is revived in his Scepter the Scepter of Christ is extended in his stocke the root of Jesse is propagated and shall I hope flourish to the end of the world For this cause the King shall rejoyce c. he shall rejoyce in thee we in
did Quid est veritas what is the truth How will the Lawyers work upon this advantage how far will the Counsell go in a bad cause upon the strength of a large fee what false glasses will they set before the eyes of such a Judge to deceive him and lead him by the nose Neither will skill in the municipall law alone suffice and yet that law hath a large walke and many turnings where hee may lose his way hee must be well experienced in the affaires of the world hee must sinke deepe into mens dispositions as well as their speeches he must be able to weigh reasons poyze witnesses reconcile lawes compare presidents in a word hee must be like an Angel of God to discerne betweene good and evill Among the many titles of a good Judge who is stiled the soule of the law the oracle of the city the priest of justice the tutour of pupils the father of orphans the sanctuary of innocents unjustly pursued me thinks none so fitteth him as Regula or rather x Arist Rhet. l. 1. Regulator juris a rule or rather the ruler of right For orders in Court you call rules and judge cases in law ruled cases now that a man may rule well that is in your phrase judge well sixe things are requisite 1 That he hath skill to rule 2 That his paper or parchment bee spread abroad and lye even before him 3 That his eye be on his rule 4 That he have nothing in his hand save his pen or plummet 5 That his hand on his ruler be steady 6 That his hand on his plummet be quick to draw a line speedily Upon these sixe ruled lines wee may write a faire copy for a Judge according to the forme following 1 He must have skill to rule knowledge to judge 2 He must have his paper or parchment spread that is the case unfolded before him 3 He must fixe his eye on his rule which is the law 4 He must have nothing in his hand but that wherewith hee ruleth hee must be empty-handed 5 His hand on his ruler must be steady it must not shake through feare 6 His hand on his plummet or pen must be swift and ready he must have a desire and dexterity to rid worke out of his hand and speedily to set a period to tediously protracted suits I had forgot one more circumstance if the last word of my text earth had not put me in minde of it which is this That a man cannot well rule or draw exact lines by a ruler upon his paper or parchment but hee must needs how himselfe and looke downe up on it neither can any man bee a good Judge who is not humble For Lypsius truly observeth that it is a very hard thing for a man y Lyp polit l. 4. Difficile est in alto positum non alta sapere in high place not to bee high minded z Sen. de ira l. 2. c. 21. Quicquid leve inanc in animo est secunda fortuna sustollit c. Honour lifteth up the heart above measure especially when it is armed with power Knowledge also puffeth up especially when it is blowne with the breath of flattery Wherefore lest wise Kings and learned Judges should too much reflect upon the eminency of their place and gifts and forget the frailty of their condition the Prophet giveth them an alloy in the word immediately following the title of their dignities Terrae of the earth Of the earth When Bees are most angry in their swarming cast but a little earth upon them and they are presently quiet and leave their humming Though nothing else can * Plin l. 1. c. 104. 106. Limum flagrantem maltham dictam terra tantum extingui docuere experimenta Ignem montis Chimaerae extingui terra fimo tradit Guidias quench the burning slime of Samosaris or the fire in the hill Chimaera yet earth and dung can so though nothing else can asswage the tumour of the proud or quench the burning desire of honour in the ambitious of wealth in the covetous of pleasure in the voluptuous yet the consideration of the grave can Hee that seriously thinketh with himselfe these scarlet robes of mine clothe nothing but dung all my dainty fare feeds but wormes I who have power of other mens lives have no power of my owne life no not for a moment even whilest I sit upon prisoners and condemne guilty persons I am arraigned in my conscience and plead guilty before God Hee that keepes downe his heart with these thoughts can no more be overthrowne with pride than a ship which is well ballast be blowne away in a storme Great personages the stronger guard they have about them the more they lye open to envie the more secure they are by their authority the more in danger they are of surprizall by pride Judges were Princes among the Jewes before the dayes of Saul and Princes were Judges among the Romanes as Augustus and Adrian I finde the title of a Psal 82.1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty he judgeth among the Gods v. 6. I have said ye are Gods Gods in Scripture attributed not onely to Soveraigne Kings who are the supreme Judges but to inferiour Judges also subordinate to Princes their b Bodin de rep c. 4. Lex Horatia est Jovi sacrum esse caput ejus qui Judici nocuerit persons by the Roman lawes were sacred hee who hurt them was presently to be sacrificed In France when a Gallant in his ruffe strucke a Judge by an arrest of the Parliament at Paris his hand was suddenly cut off and a heavie fine layd upon him The priviledges of Judges granted to them by Princes in whose seat they sit their power their wealth their clyents their retinue their robes their maces their officers their titles will exalt them too high in their owne conceit if they consider not with Trajan c Plin. in panegyr Se non minus hominem esse quam hominibus prae esse cogitet that though they are above men yet they are but men Pliny the elder having related a strange story of a child whose life was taken away by the snuffe of a candle takes all the potentates of the earth to taske and rings them a peale in their eare saying d Plin. nat hist l. 7. c. 7. Tu qui te deum credis aliquo successu tamen tanti perire potuisti atque etiamnum potes aut minoris ut Anacreon acino uvae Fabius Praetoâ— in lactis haustu pilo Thou which art so puffed up with the happy successe of some battell fought by thee or some great fortune fallen unto thee that thou takest thy selfe to bee a God maist purchase thy death at as low a rate as this childe or a lower as Anacreon the Poet came to his end by a raisin stone and Fabius the Pretor by a haire in his milke No posture of the body
of sinnes is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit and by a metonymie termed the Holy Ghost Barradius bringeth us an answer out of the schooles that z Barrad in harmon Evang. remission of sinnes is a worke of Gods goodnesse and mercy now workes of goodnesse are peculiarly attributed to the holy Spirit who proceedeth as they determine from the will of the Father and the Sonne whose object is goodnesse as workes of wisedome are attributed to the Sonne because hee is the word proceeding by way of generation from the understanding of his Father This reason may goe for currant in their way neither have I any purpose at this time to crosse it but to haste to the period of this discourse in which that I may better discover the path of truth in stead of many little lights which others have brought I will set up one great taper made of the sweetest of their waxe The Holy Ghost is sometimes taken for the person of the Comforter which sealeth Gods chosen to salvation sometimes for the gifts effects or operations of the Holy Ghost as it were the prints of his scale left in the soule these are principally three 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall power or authority 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue or ghostly ability to worke wonders and speake with divers languages 1 Is common to all them that are sanctified 2 Is peculiar to Christs Ministers 3 Restrayned to the Apostles themselves and some few others of their immediate successors z Joh. 3.5 Exceâ—t a man be borne of the water and of the spirit 1 Regenerating grace is termed the holyGhost 2 Spirituall order or ministeriall power is called the Spirit or holy Ghost in this place and Luk. 4.18 Esay 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospell c. 3 Miraculous vertue is called the holy Ghost Act. 2.4 And they were filled with the holy Ghost and spake with divers tongues 1 The Spirit of grace and regeneration the Apostles received at their first calling 2 The Spirit of ecclesiasticall government they received at this time c. 3 The Spirit of powerfull and extraordinary operation they received in the day of Pentecost 1 In their mindes by infallible inspiration 2 In their tongues by multiplicity of languages 3 In their hands by miraculous cures Receive then the Holy Ghost is 1 A ghostly function to ordaine Pastors and sanctifie congregations to God 2 Spirituall gifts to execute and discharge that function 3 Spirituall power or jurisdiction to countenance and support both your function and gifts Thus have I opened the treasury of this Scripture out of which I now offer to your religious thoughts and affections these ensuing observations And first in generall I commend to the fervour of your zeale and devotion the excessive heat of Christs love which absumed and spent him all for us flesh and spirit His flesh he offereth us in the Sacrament of his Supper his spirit hee conferreth in the sacred rite of consecration His body hee gave by those words Take eate this is my body his spirit hee gave by these Receive ye the holy Ghost a gift unestimable a treasure unvaluable for it was this spirit which quickned us when wee were dead in trespasses and sinnes it is this spirit which fetcheth us againe when wee swoune in despaire it is this spirit that refresheth and cooleth us in the extreme heat of all persecutions afflictions sorrowes and diseases to it we owe 1 Light in our mindes 2 Warmth in our desires 3 Temper in our affections 4 Grace in our wils 5 Peace in our consciences 6 Joy in our hearts and unspeakeable comfort in life and death This is the winde which bloweth a Cant. 4.16 Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits upon the Spouse her garden that the spices thereof might flow out This is the breath which formeth the words in the cloven tongues this is the breath which bloweth and openeth all the flowers of Paradise This is the blast which diffuseth the savour of life through the whole Church This is the gale which carryeth us through all the troublesome waves of this world and bringeth us safe to the haven where we would be And as the Spouse of Christ which is his mysticall body is infinitely indebted to her head for this gift of the spirit whereby holy congregations are furnished with Pastors and they with gifts and the ministery of the Gospell continually propagated so wee above all nations in the world at this day are most bound to extoll and magnifie his goodnesse towards us herein among whom in a manner alone this holy seed of the Church remaineth unmixed and uncorrupt not onely as propagated but propagating also not children onely but Fathers Apostolicall doctrine other reformed Churches maintaine but doe they retaine also Apostolicall discipline laying of hands they have on Ministers and Pastors but consecration of Archbishops and Bishops they have not And because they want consecrated Bishops to ordaine Pastors their very ordination is not according to ancient order Because they want spirituall Fathers in Christ to beget children in their ministery their Ministers by the adversary are accounted no better than filii populi whereas will they nill they even in regard of our Hierarchy the most frontlesse Papists must confesse the children begot by our reverend Fathers in the ministery of the Gospell to be as legitimate as their owne For albeit they put the hereticke upon us as the Arrians did upon the Catholike Fathers calling them Athanasians c. yet this no way disableth either the consecration of our Bishops nor the ordination of our Priests not onely because we have proved the dogge lyeth at their doores and that they are a kinde of mungrils of divers sorts of heretickes but because it is the doctrine of their Church b See Croy in his third conformity Whitaker in fine resp ad demonstrat Sanderi Rivet procem de haeref q. 1. Cath. orthod that the character of order is indeleble and therefore Archbishop Cranmer and other of our Bishops ordained by them if they had afterwards as Papists most falsly suppose fallen into heresie could not lose their faculty of consecration and ordination The consecration of Catholicke Bishops by Arrians and baptisme of faithfull Christians children by Donatists though heretickes is made good as well by the decrees of ancient as later Councels determining that Sacraments administred even by heretickes so they observe the rite and forme of words prescribed in holy scripture bee of force and validity Praysed therefore for ever bee the good will of him that dwelt in the bush that the Rod of Aaron still flourisheth among us and planteth and propagateth it selfe like that Indian fig-tree so much admired by all Travellers from the utmost branch whereof issueth a gummy juyce which hangeth
holy place the Temple I come to the Holy of holies the owner of this holy place the Doctr. 6 Living God The Apostle so stileth God here in my Text to terrifie the Corinthians from provoking him either to jealousie by their Idolatry or to anger by their impure conversation with the Gentiles whose gods were dead and senselesse stockes not able to apprehend much lesse revenge any wrong offered unto them by their worshippers and therefore they might bee bold with them as the Philosopher was with Hercules putting him to his thirteenth labour in seething his dinner and Martial with Priapus in threatning to throw him in the fire if hee looked not well to his trees and * Eras apoph l. 5. Jovi Olympio detraxit magni ponderis amiculum dicens aestare grave hyeme frigidum Aesculapii auream barbam detraxit quod negaret decorum patrem Apollinem imberbem ipsum barbatum conspici Dyonisius with Aesculapius in cutting off his golden beard alledging for it that it was not fit the sonne should have a beard seeing the Father had none but let Christians take heed of the least provocation of the living God x Heb. 12.29 for hee is a consuming fire A childe may play at the hole of a dead cockatrice and a silly woman may strike a dead lion but who dares handle a live serpent or play with the paw of a ramping and roaring lion how much more fearfull by infinite degrees a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God who with the breath of his mouth is able to blow downe the whole frame of nature and destroy all creatures from the face of the earth There is spirit and life in this attribute living which comprehendeth in it all that wee can comprehend and all that wee cannot comprehend of the Deity For the life of God is his beeing and his beeing is his nature and his nature is all things When wee call upon the living God wee call upon the true God the everlasting God the Father of spirits the Author of life the Almighty All-sufficient All-working God and what is not comprised in all these The more excellent the nature is of any thing the more excellent is the life thereof as is the life of beasts than of trees of men than of beasts of Angels than of men What then may wee conceive of the life of God himselfe from whence hee hath his name in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and because it is his chiefest attribute hee most frequently sweareth by it in holy Scripture As I live saith the Lord. This attribute living is applyed to God in a threefold regard 1. To distinguish him from the false gods of the Gentiles which were dead and senselesse stockes bearing for the most part the image of a dead man deified after death 2. To represent unto us the sprightly and actuous nature of God which is alwayes in action and ever moving in it selfe 3. To direct us to the Fountaine of life from whom all life is derived into the creature by a threefold streame of 1 Nature 2 Grace 3 Glory 1 First the true God is stiled the living God in opposition to the heathen Idols which were without life sense or motion they had eyes and saw not eares and heard not hands and handled not whereas the true God hath no eyes yet seeth no eares yet heareth no hands yet worketh all things The heathen Idols were carried upon mens shoulders or camels backs as the Prophet y Esa 46.1.2.3 Esay excellently describeth the manner of their procession but contrariwise the true God beareth his children and supporteth them from the wombe even to their old age and gray haires Mothers and nurses carry children but for a short space God beareth his children all the dayes of their life The heathen gods as Saint z L. 1. de civit Dei Neque enim homines a simulachtis sed simulachra ab hominibus servabantur quomodo vero colebantur ut patriam custodirent cives quae suos non valuere custodire custodes Austine observeth in the siege of Troy saved not them that worshipped them but were saved by them from fire and spoyle whereupon hee inferreth What folly was it to worship such gods for the preservation of the city and countrey which were not able to keepe their owne keepers but the true God preserveth them that serve him and hideth them under the shadow of his wings 2 God is called the living God because hee is all life hee understandeth and willeth decreeth and executeth beginneth and endeth observeth and ordereth appointeth and effecteth all things hee whirleth about the heavens raiseth stormes and tempests thundering and lightning in the aire hee moveth upon the waters and shaketh the pillars of the earth hee turneth about the whole frame of nature and setteth all creatures on work in a word as Trismegistus excellently expresseth this truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He potentiateth all acts and actuateth all powers 3 Living because hee giveth life to all that enjoy it and preserveth also it in them to the period thereof set by himselfe All other living creatures as they have but one soule so they have but one life man to whom divers Philosophers assigne three soules hath a threefold kinde of life 1 Vegetative 2 Sensible 3 Reasonable But over and above every faithfull man hath an estate of three lives in Gods promises 1 The life of nature which implyeth the former three at our entrance into the world 2 The life of grace at our entrance into the Church 3 The life of glory at our entrance into Heaven Nature is the perfection of every creature grace the perfection of nature glory the perfection of grace The life of nature is given to us to seek the life of grace which bringeth us to the life of glory That God is the author of the life of nature nature her selfe teacheth a Act. 17.28 In him wee live c. as some of your Poets have sayd In ipso vivimus In him wee live move and have our being That hee is the author of the life of grace Saint John whose name signifieth grace testifieth b Joh. 1.2 In ipso vita erat In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkenesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Lastly that hee is the author of the life of glory Christ who is the way the truth and the life declareth sâ—ying c Joâ— 11.25 I am the resurrection and the life whosoever believeth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live There remaineth nothing to the illustration of this point but the removing of an objection which somewhat cloudeth the truth For thus a man may argue If God as the Prophet speaketh is the Well of life in which there are the three springs abovenamed one above the other then is life conveighed to all creatures according
Turkes call themselves Saracens therefore they are the off-spring of Sarah they of Satans Synagogue call themselves y Apoc. 3.9 Jewes therefore they are Jewes indeed the Angel of Sardis had a name that he z Apoc. 3.1 lived therefore he was not dead the Angel of * Apoc. 3.17 Laodicea said he was rich and needed nothing therfore he was not wretched miserable and poor blind and naked Jezebel called her selfe a Prophetesse therefore she was so indeed Without question Jezebel set some fairer colour upon the matter than this else she could never have dazled the eyes of Gods servants well she might offer to teach in the Church under this pretence which yet S. Paul expressely forbids a a 1 Cor. 14.34 woman to doe but certainely she could never have foyled any servant of God with so weake an argument grounded upon a bare title assumed by her selfe yet the Spirit saith that she not onely taught but prevailed also with some and seduced them To teach and seduce my servants I doubt not but at the reading of these words your thoughts trouble you and you begin to question whether this doctrine is not a seduction to teach that any of Gods servants can be seduced Can any elect child of God fall from grace Is it possible to plucke any of Christs members from his body Can the Sun-beames by any winde or tempest be stirred out of their place b 1 John 2.19 Doth not St. John dispute strongly They went away from us because they were not of us for if they had beene of us they would not have departed from us Is not St. c Cypr. de simplic Praelat Triticum non rapit ventuâ— nec arborem solidâ radice fundatam procella subvertit inanes paleae tempestate jactantur invalidae arbores turbinis incursione evertuntur Cyprians observation as true as it is elegant The winde bloweth not away the corne neither is a tree that hath taken a deepe root in the earth overthrowne in a tempest it is but chaffe which the winde scattereth abroad and they are hollow and rotten trees that are blowne downe in a tempest To dispell all mists of ambiguity and cleare the truth in this point I must acquaint you with two sorts of Christs servants or retainers at least some weare his cloth and cognizance but doe him little or no service others perform faithful service unto him some give him their names only others their hearts also some professe outwardly that they are Christians but have unbeleeving hearts others are within that they professe without some are called onely to the knowledge of the truth others are chosen also to be heires of salvation Of these latter our Saviour speakes in St. John d Joh. 10.27 28 My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I will give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man plucke them out of my hands But of the former the words of my text seeme to bee meant Howbeit because the Discerner of all hearts calleth them his servants saying to seduce my servants and it is not likely that he would grace hypocrites with so honourable an appellation wee may yeeld somewhat more in this point and without prejudice to the truth acknowledge that the true servants of God and ministers also of Christ Jesus may be sometimes seduced out of the right way but not farre I am sure not irrevocably The difference betweene them and others in this respect is like that which the e Cic. tusc 1. Boni in ertorem sicut aes Corinthium in aeruginem incidunt rariùs facilius revocantur Oratour observeth betweene the Corinthian and common brasse as the brasse of Corinth is longer ere it rust and when it is rustie is sooner scowred and more easily recovers the former brightnesse than other brasse so good men are hardlier withdrawne from the true faith and more easily reclaimed from their errours than those who beare no sincere love to the truth but are wedded to their owne opinions whatsoever they are and oftentimes blinded by obstinately setting their eyes against the bright beames of the Word Out of the Arke of Noah which was a type of the Church there flew two f Gen. 8.7 birds a Raven and a Dove the Raven after hee had taken his flight returned not againe but the Dove came backe with an Olive branch in her bill The Dove saith Saint g Cypr. adver Nâ—vit Prosp l. de prom c. 7. Cyprian represented the seduced Catholike who after hee is gone out of the Church never findeth rest till hee returne backe with an Olive branch of peace in his mouth and bee reconciled to the Church But the Raven is the obstinate Hereticke who leaveth the Church with a purpose never to returne to her againe And many such Ravens have beene of late let flye out of the Arke which never returne againe or if they returne it is to prey upon the sicke and weake members of our Church and to picke out the eyes of her dearest children and I pray God wee may never have cause to renew the Poets complaint Dat veniam corvis vexat censura columbas To commit fornication Fornication as h Lyra in Apoc. c. 2. Fornicatio est quadruplex in â—nimo simulierem concupiscâ—s in actu in cultu Idolorum in amore terrenorum Lyranus harpeth upon the word is committed foure manner of wayes 1. By the impure lust of the heart 2. By the uncleane act of the body 3. By the religious worship of Images or Idols 4. By the immoderate love of earthly vanities For when the soule turneth away from God and setteth her love wholly upon vile and base creatures so farre below her that God hath placed them under her feet what doth shee but like a Lady of noble descent married to a Prince which disloyally leaveth his bed and maketh love to the groome of her chamber Certainely this is sordidum adulterium not onely filthy but base adultery Howbeit I take it this was not the staine of the Church of Thyatira but either fornication properly so called which is corporall Idolatry or idolatry which is spirituall fornication For idolatry defileth the Spirit as adultery polluteth the flâ—sh idolatry provoketh God as adultery doth man to jealousie as adultery is a just cause of separation betweene man and his wife so idolatry maketh a breach betwixt God and the soule and causeth in the end a divorce by reason of which separation for disloyalty and unfaithfulnesse Saint i Cypr. de hab virg Prius viduâ—s quam nuptas non mariti sed Christi adulteras Cyprian wittily tearmeth certaine virgins widowes before they were married wives yea and adulteresses too not to their husbands which they had not but to Christ to whom they had plighted their troth And looke how a jealous husband would bee transported with passion if hee should finde his
whom that great Patriarch should doe homage and pay tythes save Sem. Lastly those prerogatives of Melchizedek without father without mother without beginning of dayes or end of life agree best to Sem who might be said to be without these either in the notice of the text or in the speech of men because he was now so aged and had lived so long after the Floud that no man then living remembred his Parents He might likewise be said to be without beginning of dayes in respect of the new world after the Floud and without end of life in respect of the old world before the Floud Refut 5 Notwithstanding all these allegations in the behalfe of Sem the truth goeth not so cleare for him but that it is encountred with many and great difficulties For there is no ground to beleeve that Sem left the East and set up his rest in g Calvin in Gen. 14. Neque enim virum aeternâ memoriâ dignum Dominus novo tantum obscuro nomine indicasset ut maneret ignotus neque probabile est Semum ex Oriente migrasse in Judaeam Judea neither is it likely that the Spirit would have described a man worth eternall memorie in such an obscure manner and under such a new name that he remaines yet unknowne Were he Sem why should Moses conceale his name Moreover the Apostle in the seventh of the h Ver. 6. Hebrewes saith in expresse words that the pedegree of Melchizedek is not accounted among men but Sems is as we reade in i Gen. 10.22 Genesis neither is it a solid answer which yet is given by many learned men to say that Sems genealogie is not accounted by the name of Melchizedek For no more is Jacobs accounted by the name of Israel yet none thereupon would say that Jacobs genealogie is not set downe by Moses The Apostles comparison standeth not in the bare name but in the person of Melchizedek whether by the name of Melchizedek or by the name of Sem his pedegree be set downe it is certaine hee cannot be that man whom St. Paul in this resembleth to Christ that he was without father or mother accounted among men for his Parents are upon record 6 What then shall we conclude Either that he was a Ruler of Canaan Confirm 6. whose genealogie is no where set downe nor the day of his birth nor death or that he was a man immediately sent from God and shewed onely to the earth and afterwards taken away after the maner of Enoch or Elias that he might be likened in all things to the Sonne of God or that the Apostle hath an eye onely to Moses his relation in that place where Melchizedek is brought in by him blessing Abraham and receiving tithes from him without any mention there of his Parents in the flesh or successour in his office or day of his birth or death So are wee to conceive of our high Priest who was without father according to his manhood without mother touching his Godhead and in his person which was meerely divine without beginning of dayes or end of yeeres 3 Touching his order or offices it is certaine that he was both King and Priest For he was King of Salem and Priest of the most high God the conjunction of which two offices was not unusuall in those elder times among the heathen for by the light of nature they saw such majestie in the person of a King and eminencie in the office of a Priest that they judged none so worthy of the Priesthood as their Kings nor any so capable of the Kingdome as their Priests and therefore in most places they either crowned their Priests and gave them power or sacred their Kings and gave them orders Right so doth Virgil describe Anius as Moses doth Melchizedek invested with both dignities k Virg. Aen. 3. Rex idem Anius Phoebique Sacerdos At this day the Kings of the East Indians are stiled Brameres that is Priests and by the law are to die in a holy place as persons sacred to God l Arist pol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle remembreth such an ancient custome among the Grecians Res divinae committebantur Regibus and m Cic. pro dom ad Pontif. Cum multa divinitus a majoribus nostris inventa atque instituta sunt tum nihil praeâ—larius quam quod eosdem religionibus deorum immortalium summae reip prae esse voluerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Lips polit l. 4 c. 1. Tullie among the Romans and Stobeus setteth a faire colour upon it The best of all that is God ought to be honoured and served by the best that is the Prince and the service of God which is or should be in all well ordered States the chiefest of all cares ought to be the care of the chiefest that is the King which made Lycurgus the Law-giver of the Lacedaemonians ambitious of the title of the Priest of Apollo and Solon of Priest of Minerva and induced Mercurius Trismegistus Augustus Titus and Trajan to assume this sacred title into their stile and annexe the Priesthood to the Crowne n Ovid. Fast l. 1. l. 3. Et fiunt ipso sacra colente Deo Accessit titulis Pontificalis honos Wherein they may all seeme to have taken Melchizedek for their patterne who the first of all that ever we reade mingled both oyles and compassed the Mitre with a Crowne bearing a Scepter in one hand and a Crozure in the other more fully to represent the Sonne of God who remaineth a Priest and reigneth a King for ever This resemblance betweene them satisfieth not our Adversaries they straine this text hard to draw bloud from it even the bloud of Christ sacrificed in the Masse If say they Christ be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek then he must daily offer a sacrifice unto God under the formes of bread and wine as also did Melchizedek And this is the fairest evidence they bring out of Scripture for the sacrifice of the Masse Against which we object 1 That neither the Hebrew letter nor the vulgar Latine the authority whereof no Papist dare impeach importeth that Melchizedek offered bread and wine but o Gen. 4.18 brought forth protulit non obtulit 2 Admit of the word offered what say they to Rabbi Solomon Tertullian Ambrose yea Andradius also and other Papists of note who referre this offering to Abraham not to God the bread and wine he offered was a present to Abraham not a sacrifice to God Obtulit say they Abrahamo panem vinum and will they make no difference betweene an office of civility and a sacrifice of religion 3 Admit Melchizedek offered this bread and wine or some part of it to God yet doth not the Spirit of God recommend his Priesthood as being any way remarkable for the sacrifice he offered but for the blessing wherewith he blessed Abraham For so it followeth in the text ver
love Nay how canst thou not be perswaded sith hee himselfe hath said it I chasten as many as I love which words that thou maist take more hold of he hath often repeated them in holy Scripture Desirest thou greater assurance than his words which is all that heaven and earth have to shew for their continuance yet if thou desire more rather helpes of thine infirmity than confirmations of this truth observe who are oftenest longest under Gods afflicting hand who are fullest of his markes if they are deepest in sorrow who are highest in his favour if they mourne in Sion who sing Halelujah in the heavenly Jerusalem if they goe in blacke and sables here who are arrayed in long white robes there if they lay their heart a soake in teares who are men after Gods owne heart if Benjamins portion be greatest in afflictions assuredly manifold tribulations and Gods favour may stand together In the truth of which assertion all those Texts of Scripture may establish us which set before us the sweet fruits that are gathered from the crosse as 1. Knowledge It is good for mee that I have been k Psa 119.71 afflicted that I may learne thy statutes 2. Zeale I will l Hosea 5.15 goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offences and seeke my face in their affliction they will seeke mee diligently 3. Repentance I truly am m Psal 38.17 18. set in the plague and my heavinesse is ever in my sight I will confesse my wickednesse and be sorry for my sinnes When the people were stung with fiery serpents they came to Moses and said We have n Num. 21.7 sinned for wee have spoken against the Lord and against thee And againe In their o 2 Chro. 15.4 trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him and he was found of them When the Prodigall was pinched with famine he came to himselfe and said How many hired p Luke 15.16 17 18. servants in my fathers house have meat enough and I perish with hunger I will arise therefore and goe to my father c. 4. Patience Tribulation worketh q Rom. 5.3 4. patience and patience experience and experience hope 5. Joy in the Holy Ghost Receiving the Word with much affliction with r 1 Thes 1.6 joy in the Holy Ghost 6. Triall of our faith which like Å¿ 1 Pet. 1.7 gold is purged by the fire of afflictions Though he t Job 13.15 slay mee yet will I trust in him Our u Psal 44.18 19 20. heart is not turned backe nor our steps gone out of the way no not when thou hast smitten us into the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death 7. Righteousnesse No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but * Heb. 12.11 grievous neverthelesse yet afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby 8. Holinesse It x Heb. 2.10 became him for whom were all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to consecrate the Captaine of our salvation through afflictions The y Heb. 12.10 fathers of our flesh for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but hee for our profit that wee may bee partakers of his holinesse 9. Estranging our affections from the world and earthly desires Eliah requested that he might dye It is z 1 Kin. 19.4 enough Lord take away my life I am no better than my fathers We that are in this tabernacle doe * 2 Cor. 5.4 groane being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 11. Humility The a 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet mee and that I should not be exalted above measure there was given mee a thorne in my flesh 11. Renovation and ghostly strength Therefore I b 2 Cor. 12.10 take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for when I am weake then am I strong and though our outward man decay yet our inward man is renewed day by day 12. Freedome from everlasting torments When c 1 Cor. 11.32 wee are judged wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not bee condemned with the world 13. Encrease of celestiall glory For our d 2 Cor. 4.17 light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory The Heathen that never tasted the least part of these fruits yet feeling by experience that the mind cloyed with continuall felicity grew a burden to it selfe was deprived hereby of matter and occasion of excellent vertues and not so onely but infatuated and wholly corrupt thereby maintained this memorable Paradoxe e Demet. apud Sen. Nihil eo infelicius cui nihil intelix contigit That none was so unhappy as bee who knew no mishap nor adversity at any time Nay they went farther in that their conceit and thereby came nearer to my text affirming that store of wealth large possessions high places and great honours were not alwaies signes and tokens of the love of God God saith the wise Poet and the best Philosopher taketh it out of him f Aristot Rhet. l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sendeth many men great prosperity not out of love and good will but to the end that they may bee capable of greater misery and that the calamities which they are after to endure may bee more g â—uven sit Numerosa parabat excelsae turris tabulata unde altior esset casus impulsae praeceps immane rumae eminent and signall Tolluntur in altum Ut lapsu graviore ruant Misery is alwayes querulous and even weake objections often ruine them who are already cast downe with griefe such as are these Doth not God threaten to powre out his plagues upon the wicked Doe wee not read in Saint h Rom. 2.9 Paul Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Are not losses infamy captivity banishment tortures and torments judgements of wrath how then can they bee arguments of love I answer that originally all the evils of this life came in with sinne and were punishments of it and they retaine their nature still in the wicked but in the godly by the mercy of God and merits of Christ they are changed from judgements of wrath into chastisements of love from stings of sinne to remedies against sinne from executions of vengeance to exercises of excellent vertues and the inflicting of them so little prejudiceth Gods love to his chosen that hee no way more sheweth it to them than by thus awaking them out of their sleepe and by this meanes pulling them out of hell fire And therefore the Prophets threaten it after all other judgements as the greatest of all that for their obstinacy and impenitency God would punish them no more
upper roome at Jerusalem where Christ appointed them to wait for the k Act. 1.4 promise of the father 1. Of the time In the Syriacke and Latine wee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dies dayes in the plurall number but in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day in the singular The Syriacke and the Latine had an eye to the whole number of dayes which now amounted unto fiftie the originall designeth in the singular the precise day which made it up fiftie the day by the accesse whereof to the 49. the number of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fiftie was made complete Word for word according to the originall wee should thus reade my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or upon the fulfilling of the fiftieth day from the feast of first fruits Metall upon metall is no good Heraldrie yet feast upon feast is good Divinitie especially when the one is the type the other the truth For this reason l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Severianus conceiveth that our Saviour was offered up for our sinnes on the crosse the day and time of the day when the Paschall Lamb according to the Law was to be killed to set the face to the picture the truth to the type that the body might as it were drive out the shadow and occupie the space thereof And in like manner m In haec verba ut ostenderet tum spiritum sanctum legem tulisse nunc legem ferre Theophylact imagineth that hee sent the spirit fiftie dayes after when the Jewes kept a feast for the Law to shew that as then the holy Ghost proclaimed the Law so now also then the law and covenant of works now the law of faith and covenant of grace S. o Aug. hom de Pent Sicut 50. post pascha die lex lata fuit manu Dei scripta in tabulis lapideis ita spiritus cujus officium erat eam cordibus inscribere condem diebus post resurrectionem Christi qui est pascha nostrum implevit quod in legis promulgatione figuratum erat Austine giveth another rellish of his owne As saith he fiftie dayes after Easter the Law was given written by the finger of God in tables of stone so the spirit whose office it is to write it in the hearts of men just so many dayes after Christs resurrection who is our Passover fulfilled that which was figured in the publishing of the Law S. p Chrys hom de Pent. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostome striketh upon a different string yet maketh good musicke others fetched the congruitie from the Law hee from nature What saith he is Pentecost It signifieth that season of the yeare wherein the Jewes thrust their sickle into the corne-harvest In like sort the Lord of the harvest disposed that now the Apostles should put their sickle the sickle of the Word into the harvest of the world and reape it I shall not need to straine farther for congruities S. Cyrill and S. Ambrose give me the hint of another synchronisme for they affirme that on this day the Angell descended into the poole of Bethesda and after the troubling the water cured the sicke whatsoever the disease was And what fitter day could have beene thought upon for the holy Ghost to descend to bestow the gift of miraculous cures than upon this day of healing I could tell you of the Jubilee which fell upon the fiftieth yeare in which all possessions returned to their former owners and acquittances were given for all debts but because the best stomacks rather desire solid than sweet meats I therefore content my selfe at this present with q Calv. com in Act. 2. Festo die quo ingens multitudo Hierosolymae confluere solebat editum est miraculum quo illustrius redderetur Calvin his observation upon the circumstance of time This solemnitie being next to that of the Passover was the fittest time to make the miracle wrought upon it more illustrious For this reason Christ came up so often to Jerusalem at their solemne feasts and S. Paul made haste in his journey that he might be there at the feast of Pentecost to win more soules by the preaching of the Gospel in a time of so great confluence of people from all parts There is no fishing to the sea and now it was full sea at Jerusalem all the cities in Palestine like so many rivers emptying themselves into it The gift of tongues could not at any time so fitly have been bestowed as at this when there were present at Jerusalem men of everie nation under heaven Acts 2.5 6. To convince all gaine-sayers of the miracle What are these say they that speak Are they not Galileans How then heare we every one speake in our owne tongue where wee were borne Parthians and Medes and Elamites and they that dwell in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia Pontus and Bithynia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Jewes and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians we doe heare them speake in our tongues the wonderfull works of God vers 7 8 9 10 11 As we read in the 19. Psalme vers 2. Dies ad diem eructat sermonem nox ad noctem ostendit scientiam Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge or giveth intelligence so here Lingua ad linguam eructat sermonem the tongues of men of all nations gave testimony to the miraculous gift of tongues in the Apostles It is the wisdome of State to appoint beacons to be set up on the highest hils to give notice to all the Countrey And Christ himselfe commandeth us not to hide a candle under a bushell but to set it on a candlesticke that it may give light to all that are in the house And in this consideration those Preachers of the glad tidings of salvation who have had the best foyle of modestie to set off the lustre of their knowledge have yet been desirous to deliver their Embassage from God to men in the fullest assemblies not to gaine thereby more applause to themselves but more soules to God When the eares stand thicke in a corne-field not a drop of raine falleth besides them on the ground And this is a principall end of our celebration of Christian feasts to draw multitudes together to heare Christ preaching by his Ministers and working still miraculous cures upon the soules of men by the Sacraments administred in the Church And so from the holy day I proceed to the sacred persons assembled on it viz. the Apostles They were all together Beza telleth us of an ancient manuscript in which he found the substantive added to the adjective omnes viz. Apostoli which words though I finde not in our copies yet by comparing this verse with the last of the former chapter it appeareth that the all here must bee restrained to the Apostles or principally meant of them for they were as S. Austine
Joh. 6.10 11 12 13. multiplyed the loaves and fishes hee gave this sensible and undeniable proofe of the truth of this miracle both by saturitie in the stomacks of the people and by substantiall remnants thereof in the baskets When they were filled saith the Evangelist hee said to his disciples Gather the fragments that remaine that nothing be lost Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above to them that had eaten Cloven tongues The holy Ghost which now first appeared in the likenesse of tongues moved the tongues of all the Prophets that have spoken since the world began For the l 2 Pet. 1.21 prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Of all the parts of the body God especially requireth two the heart the tongue the heart whereby m Rom. 10.10 man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and the tongue whereby he maketh confession unto salvation the heart to love God the tongue to praise him Out of which consideration the Heathen as Plutarch observeth dedicated the Peach-tree to the Deitie because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart of man and the leafe his tongue And to teach us that the principall use of our tongue is to sound out the praises of our maker the Hebrew calleth the tongue Cobod that is glory as My heart was glad n Psal 16.9 30.13 57.9 Buxtorph Epit radic and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue also Hebrew my glory also rejoyceth They who glorifie not God with their tongue may be truly said to have no tongue in the Hebrew language and verily they deserve no tongues who make them not silver trumpets to sound out the glory of God And if such forfeit their tongues how much more doe they who whet them against God and his truth whose mouths are full of cursing and bitternesse direfull imprecations and blasphemous oathes These have fierie tongues but not kindled from heaven but rather as S. o Chap. 3.6 James speaketh set on fire of hell and their tongues also are cloven by schisme faction and contention not as these in my text for a mysticall signification Cloven Some by cloven understand linguas bifidas two-forked tongues and they will have them to be an embleme of discretion and serpentine wisdome others linguas dissectas slit tongues like the tongues of such birds as are taught to speake and these conceive them to have beene an embleme of eloquence For such kinde of tongues p Hieroglyph l. 33. Pierius affirmeth that the Heathen offered in sacrifice to Mercurie their god of eloquence and they made them after a sort fierie by casting them into the fire ad expurgandas perperam dictorum labes to purge out the drosse of vain discourses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tongues parted at the top but joyned at the roote and they represented saith q In Act. Quia in proximo debebant dividi in omnes terras Gorrhan the dispersion of the Apostles which after ensued into all countries These tongues were not of fire but As it were of fire The matter of which these tongues consisted was not grosse and earthly but aeriall or rather heavenly like the fire which r Exod. 3.2 Moses saw in the bush for as that so this had the light but not the burning heat of fire It is not said of fires in the plurall but of fire in the singular number because as the silver trumpets were made all of one piece so these twelve tongues were made of one fierie matter to illustrate the diversitie of gifts proceeding from the same spirit And it sate Sitting in the proper sense is a bodily gesture and agreeth not to tongues or fire yet because it is a gesture of permanencie or continuance the word is generally used in the originall for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ſ Chrys in Act. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to abide or reside and so it may expresse unto us the continuance of these gifts of the Spirit in the Apostles and may put us in minde of our dutie which is to sit to our preaching and continue in the labours of the ministrie Give t 1 Tim. 4.13 14 15. attendance saith the Apostle to reading to exhortation to doctrine Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecie with the laying on of the hands of the presbyterie Meditate upon these things give thy selfe wholly to them that thy profiting may appeare to all Upon each of them Whether these tongues entred into the mouths of the Apostles as Amphilochius writeth of S. Basil or rested upon their heads as S. Cyril imagined whence some derive the custome of u Lorinus in Act. c. 2. imposition of hands upon the heads of those who are consecrated Bishops or ordained Priests it is not evident out of the text but this is certaine and evident that it sate upon each of them It sate not upon Peter onely but upon the rest as well as him S. Chrysostome saith upon the * Chrys in act c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hundred and twentie that were assembled in that upper roome those who say least affirme that it rested upon all the Apostles For howsoever the Papists take all occasions to advance S. Peter above the rest of the Apostles that the Roman See might be advanced through him as Hortensius the Oratour extolled eloquence to the skies that hee might bee lifted up thither with her yet the Scripture giveth him no preheminence here or elsewhere for Christ delivereth the keyes of heaven with the power of binding and loosing into all x Matt. 18.18 Whatsoever ye binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever yee loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven of their hands he breathes vpon them all John 20.21 22. and sendeth them with as full commission as his Father sent him All their names shine in the y Apoc. 21.14 foundation and gates of the heavenly Jerusalem and here in my text fierie cloven tongues sate upon each of them And there appeared unto them c. As in the Sacrament of Christs body so in these symbols of the spirit we are to consider two things 1. The signes or outward elements 2. The thing signified by them Of the signes yee have heard heretofore hold out I beseech you your religious attention to the remainder of the time and yee shall heare in briefe of the thing signified by them Miracles for the most part in holy Scripture are significant the cloudie pillar signified the obscure knowledge of Christ under the Law the pillar of fire the brighter knowledge of him in the Gospell the renting of the veile at the death of our Saviour the opening of the way to the Sanctum Sanctorum into which our high