A SERMON PREACHED AT SAINT MARIE SPITTLE April 10. 1615. BY THOMAS ANYAN Doctour of Divinity and President of Corpus Christi College in Oxon. AT OXFORD Printed by Ioseph Barnes Printer to the Vniversity HONORATISSIMO ET ILLVSTRISSIMO VIRO THOMae EGERTONO MILITI AVRATO BARONI DE ELLESMERE TOTIVS ANGLIAE ET ACADEMIAE OXONIENSIS CANCELLARIO SVMMO ET INTEGERRIMO MVSARVM GRATIARVMQVE PATRONO SINGVLARI SACRATAE REGIAE MAIESTATI A SECRETIS CONSILIIS INTER PRIMOS SPECTATISSIMO DOMINOQVE SVO OMNI OBSERVANTIA COLENDISSIMO LEVIDENSE HOC DEVOTISSIMI OBSEQVII TESTIMONIVM D. D. D. Capellanus Honori Tuo Devinctissimus T. A. ACT. 10. 34. 35. 34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said Of a truth I perceaue that God is no accepter of persons 35 But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnes is accepted with him MY Text is the beginning of a Sermon endited by Him who at his Ascension inspired the Holy Ghost preached by that great Apostle glorious Martyr of Iesus Christ S t Peter delivered at Caesarea a garison town by the Sea-coast of Palaestina occasioned by the strange and wonderfull conversion of Cornelius an Italian Centurion and is an Evangelicall Speech well suiting so blest an occasion so divine a Speaker Wherein I obserue 1 The Speaker of the Speech Peter 2 The Maner of his Speech which was not by letters but by words not by writing but by preaching not by substitution or deputation but by teaching himselfe in his owne person 3 The truth of his Speech and asseveration thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In veritate comperio 4 His confidency and apodeicticall knowledge of what he taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I plainely perceaue or am constantly perswaded 5 The Speech it selfe God is no accepter of persons c. Wherein we may see as in the Vision of the Prophet Ezechiel rotam in rotâ two propositions one linked within the other which cary with them much weight and a glorious lustre of God's vnpartiall Iustice and Majesty The first is negatiue and generall God is no accepter c. The second is affirmatiue with a particular exception out of the generall negatiue But in every nation c. In the first God's Iustice overpoiseth his Mercy in the second his Mercy is transcendent over his Iustice In the first hee appeares a terrible Iudge to spare none in the second a mercifull Father to spare all that feare him and worke righteousnes For they are accepted of him not by merit but by favour not by workes ex condigno but by mercy and ex dono These are the parts of my Text of which in their order Peter What Christ elsewhere promised here hee performed makes a poore Fisher-man to become a fisher of men The Sea wherin he fished is the Oceā of this World swelling with pride livid and blew with envy boiling with wrath deepe with covetousnes foaming with luxury swallowing all by oppression dangerous for rockes of presumption and desperation rising with waues of passion ebbing and flowing with inconstancie and last of all Mare amarum bitter with all kind of misery The chiefe fish which at this time came to his net was Cornelius an Italian Centurion and with him many other Gentiles The Net wherewith he fished and caught him and them was the glad tidings of the Gospell and Faith in Iesus Christ which is compared in Scripture to a Net and consisteth of manic Articles as a Net of many threds The casting of this net was the vnfolding of the Word Then Peter opened his mouth The plummets that keepe such downe as are taken in the Net from presumptiō are the threatnings of the Law and the severe Iustice of God God is no accepter of persons The Corkes that beare them vp in all the surges of this world that they sinke not downe into the depth of despaire are the promises of the Gospell and the sweete mercies of Almighty God But in every nation c. This great Fisher of men S t Peter was naturâ Homo gratiâ Christianus abundantiore gratiâ vnus idemque primus Apostolus He was by nature saith S t Austin but a man by grace a Christian man by abundant grace not only one but a cheife Apostle He was the first that confessed Christ to bee consubstantiall with his Father he was the first that preacht Christ the first that baptizeà in his name and stil the forwardst man in the execution of his Apostolique function He was with Christ whil'st he liu'd on earth most familiar conversant with his secret counsailes best acquainted most observant of his words and precepts and because saith Cyprian vnit as ab exordio dependet to preserue order to avoid schisme amongst the guides of the Church he was by Christ set before the rest vnto whom all the rest of the same ranke and order in religious matters of importāce should haue recourse as to a persō more honorable then the rest Iohn indeed was that Apostle whom Christ lou'd aboue the rest but S t Peter was he that lou'd Christ more then Iohn or any of the Apostles Ille melior qui plus diligit Christum illefeiicior quem plus diligit Christus In that S. Iohn was best belou'd of Christ he was the happier man but in that S. Peter lou'd Christ better then they all he was the better man Better not in commission but in place and order he was before him or the rest not aboue him or any of the rest he was a chiefe Pecre of the Apostles not their Prince he was in order their Superiour not their Soueraigne he had a Primacy amongst them not a Supremacy ouer them he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a prince of the Apostles but a fellow Elder as he himselfe termes himselfe 1. Pet. 5. 1. There is saith Almaine in his Tracte de Potestate Ecclesiasticâ a double Primacy there is Primatus Ordinis and Primatus Iurisdictionis a Primacy of Order a Primacy of Power and Iurisdictiō the former is properly Primatus the other Potestas The first wee yeeld vnto Peter giue him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first place the first and best imployment the sitting and speaking first the moderation direction of other mens speeches the publishing and pronouncing of the Conclusion agreed vpon by the Synode of the Apostles but Primatum Potestatis a power to doe any ministeriall Act which another hath not a power to restraine others in the performance of their Acts of Ministery such a Primacy wee denie vnto Peter th' Apostles all being as Cyprian saith pari consortio praediti Potestatis all ioynt Commissioners endued with equal power This Primacy of Order which wee ascribe vnto Peter is the originall of all the Superioritie that Archbishops Metropolitans haue over the Bishops of their Provinces and the foundation vpon which is built all the fabricke of Ecclesiasticke discipline whereby the vnitie
spake What was this Musing but his Meditation What was this fire but the light of God's Spirit What was the kindling therof but the inflammation of his affections that so he might speake Ignita Dei eloquia with a tongue toucht with a cole of Meditation from Gods holy Altar For by opening of the mouth in this place is not to be vnderstood a bare dissevering of the lips but a preparation of the heart out of the abundance of which the tongue should speake and is indeed a pleonasme or redūdancy of the Hebrew tongue signifying to begin to speak after long silence with Religiō in this sense our Church Liturgy prayeth O Lord open thou our Lips So that as Moses first spake with God before he spake to the people so S t Peter first speaketh with God's Spirit by Meditation before hee delivered to Cornelius this Sermon which is the subject of my Discourse The greatest perfection of a man is his Wisedome and the best herald to proclaime his wisedome is his Speech and the richest treasure to adorne his speach is Meditation Meditatio est quasi mentis ditatio saith Bernard it is the enriching of the soule with the treasures of Wisedome nay it is the chewing of the food of the Soule which maketh it taste sweeter in the mouth digest better in the stomack and you know those beasts that chewed not the cudde are reckoned among the vncleane beasts in the Arke I know no greater difference betweene a wise man and a foole then that one speaketh all things rashly the other all things maturely and advisedly the one hath his tongue in his heart the other hath his heart in his tongue as the Wise man speaketh For want of which serious consideration of the Majestie of the person of whom they speake and of the holynes of the place wherein they speake many bold and vnworthy speakers contrary to the Law both of God and the Church start vp into the Pulpit and being dull and heavy bodies contrary to the Law of Nature they ascend vp to fill a vacuitie These empty vessels make the greatest sound in many places of this City and like Vessels fill'd with new wine they wil rather break then not vent though it be but their owne Emptines and Ignorance their words are full of winde and like Aeolus Windes Quâ data porta ruunt turbas turbine perflant Their mouth like the Cocke of a Conduit-pipe if it be but once opened will run out two Howre-glasses and that twise or thrise a weeke Before Ezechiel could haue his Commission to speake to the people he was enioined not to touch to open or to put into his mouth but to eate the roule Ezech. 3. 1. and to receiue the wordes into his heart Ezech. 3. 10 but these men never doe so much as touch the Roule or open the booke They ran from the Seminaries of learning like Lapwings from their nests with their shels vpon their heads the portion of learning they brought with them was like the bread wine of the Gibeonites their bread was hot that day they departed therefore it was moulded and dry their bottels because they were new were rent Iosh 9. 13. These men need never feare to bee taken for Mercury with S t Paule because they seeke to vent their wares by number never weighing them Of these too hasty Pulpit men S t Bernard saith wittyly Quia nimis properè minùs prosperè rem peragunt When the Materiall Temple was built there was not so much as the noise of a hammer heard there all things were so prepared before but in the building of the Immateriall Temple of God and edifying of mens soules in the faith of Christ whose Temples we are there is oft times amongst these extemporary preachers who never prepare what to speake but onely to open the mouth and speake such a stammering and hammering of words such a rude noise of jarrings in sense and construction that I hold it farre better for the Church they shoulde looke grauely and say nothing then make so many shallow frivolous inconsequent discourses And so I come from his Maner of speech to his asseveration which is In truth He was the Legate of the God of truth the Apostle of him in whose mouth there was found no guile and being by Cornelius required to speak only that which God had commanded as it is in the verse before my text he could not but speake the truth and therefore doth adorne the forefront of his speech with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of a truth This is the insoluble bond of Amity the safest refuge of Innocency the surest warrant of Fidelity the strongest sinew of humane Societie the authenticall evidence of Iustice the ensigne of Christianity the soveraigne influence of God nay it is God himselfe for God is truth Detestable therefore and more then Diabolicall is their doctrine and practise who straine and weaken this sinew which holdeth peace and society together who cancell this bond which being made in earth is registred in the high court of heaven subscribed and signed by God himselfe who either vntie this everlasting knot of truth by cunning Aequivocation or cut it asunder by Papall Dispensation How can wee better argue that the Pope is not Peters Successour at least in doctrine then by vrging this one argument here in my text Peter beginnes his Plat-forme of speech Of a truth but the Pope adviseth his Disciples oft times in their speech to vse a Mentall Reservation which is in plaine tearmes a Lye and so to begin their speech not with S t Peter Of a truth but Of a lye How could wee demonstrate the Pope to bee the man that exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God if hee sate not in the Temple of God as Iudge of God's law nay as God of GOD himselfe whose commands he controles by adding to taking from and dispensing with them Far be it therefore from vs to hold with him that breakes with God himselfe to joine with them in truth of doctrine that maintaine Equivocating and forswearing to partake of that Religion which taketh away all religious obligation Is that the faith of a Christian which alloweth and in some cases commendeth Perfidio usnesse and vnnaturall treasons Can their doctrine be truth qui dogmatizant mendacium who make an equivocating lye a doctrine and that they may verifie this their lye belie the truth it selfe and make IESVS himselfe I tremble to speake it to become a Iesuite teaching by many arguments that Christ himselfe vsed this kinde of Equivocation both vnto the High Prtest and his Disciples and that all his speeches were not like vnto this of Peter's Of a truth Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum Of all beasts we haue those in greatest detestatiō which devour their own young What are our Words Promises what are our Oaths Vowes but the issue of our mind which they that resume and recall what
doe they else but devoure and eate their owne ofspring The first that brake this bond of truth in earth was the Divell Gē 3. whose scholers they shew themselues who teach that Oathes Vowes and Promises of truth are better broken then kept with Heretikes that they may lawfully violate them at their pleasure as Iulius 2. was not ashamed openly to professe fides danda omnibus servanda nemini And of this profession was Alex. 6. and his son Borgias of whom it is reported that the one would never speake what he meant to doe nor the other ever doe what hee spake These were two of the greatest mōsters which nature ever yet produced For what monster can there be in nature more prodigious then a Liar or Equivocator whose speech is not Of a truth All other creatures in the world bring forth the same issue which they conceaue but a Lyar or Equivocator bringeth forth of his mouth that which hee conceaueth not or rather a contrary issue to that which he conceaueth He conceaueth or rather concealeth the truth and bringeth forth a lye and so the issue of his mouth is contrary to the conception of his heart The heathen Philosopher Zeno rather then hee would be the Father to beger or suffer his tongue to bee the Mother to bring forth such a monster bit of his tongue and spit it in the face of the king of Cypres who had a long time tortured him to tell a Lie Pliny in his 37. Booke of Naturall History reporteth that if a perjured person dip hand or foot into the river Olachas in Bithynia hee feeleth as great torments as if he were throwne into a fornace of melting lead And Solinus seconds this relation with the like of a river in Sardinia Periuros furto facto quos lumine coecat And Philostratus telleth as strange a miracle of a river neere Tyara in which if a perfidious person that hath forsworne himselfe doe but bath the water sinketh into all parts of his body and breedeth an incurable dropsie But alas what is Olachas in Bithynia or any river in the earth to that River of Brimstone in hel which boyles with a continuall fire and much wood In which without long and bitter repentance they shall boyle for ever who make no conscience of making a lye breaking the truth Great surely are the tortures which Dives and with him all the damned doe and must suffer in hell yet no part of Dives body was so much tortured as his Tongue He was prowd and clad in fine linnen hee was a Glutton and fared deliciously every day and therefore in all likelyhood a wanton too Nam epulas comitatur voluptas he was vncharitable to the poore and denied Lazarus the crums that fell from his table yet none of these sins were punished so severely as the sins hee committed with his tongue Ex poena indicat culpā quia illud membrum maximè omniū puniebatur they are S t Gregories words l. 1. Mor. c. 5. and may teach vs to put a watche before our lips to make a conscience of breaking the truth which should be the cognizance of euery Christiā mans speech as here it is placed in the frontispice of S t Peters Of a truth I Perceaue S t Peter was not till this time ignorant of God's vnpartiall Iustice to vniversal man but now he doth see that truth cōfirmed in particulars which before he knewe in generall hee knewe it before and now his knowledge was by a sensible probatiō more confirmed Iob in his prosperity knewe that God would not punish the innocent yet hee would never acknowledge so much till he had a sensible experience of it Iob 9. 28. The sincere affection and filiall obedience of Abraham to God could not bee hid from God himselfe yet there was no evidence of it expressed by God till he refused not to sacrifice his Sonne Gen. 22. 12. And although the Apostle before this time had a notion of this truth which here hee preacheth yet a manifest experimentall overture he never learned till he saw the gate of the Church now opened to the Gentiles also The Mistresse of truth is Experiēce the best knowledge hath it's assurance frō particulars By a Generall knowledge we know as he that had bin blind saw confusedly Men like trees but by a collection of Particulars which are obvious to the sense especially in matters practike morall our mind rests assured without hesitation The one I may call Notitia th' other Fiducia the one resides in the vnderstanding th' other in the will th' one is Theoricall th' other Practicall the one consists in General notions the other in Particular Experiments the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the one wee may knowe Good from Bad by the other Better from Good In the knowledge therefore of divine verities we must not cōtent our selues with the first operations of the Spirit which are but generall but we must striue for particular directions and assurances we must not only haue our harts disposed but informed not only ploughed vp but sowen For as all other Sciences and Professions must needs savour of much rawnesse and imperfection if they be studied only in passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gaine popular estimation or to content the state in which we liue So much more is it with religious knowledge if a man professe it only with relation and fashion superficially not syncerely and exactly For though that a weake faith and confused knowledge of Divine things be of that admirable and working nature that the very least corne and graine of it is able to effect the salvation of him in whom it is to lift him vp to heaven were he as grosse and heavy as a mountaine yet neverthelesse this must not content a Christian man but hee must make a continuall progresse from faith to faith from knowledge to knowledge till at length he be not only able in grosse to knowe but evidently to perceaue the mysteries of religion and properties of God himselfe whereof this is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee is No accepter of persons God is an agent infinite whose will is nothing else but Deus volens as S t Austin saith essentially God himselfe without whom there is no mouing or efficient cause of his operations but his will is a law to himselfe and to all things else whatsoever the only cause of what and why he worketh It was his pleasure to create this goodly fabricke of the world wee see in time and not before It was his pleasure to permit the lapse of the first created man and his posteritie and being fallen to sequester out of the corrupted masse some few to bee the inheritors of his kingdome and to leaue the major part in their deserved perdition Beyond his pleasure to make a Quaere of his actions were saucie curiositie and yet to thinke his will