it there being a promise that if the Kingdome of God be first sought all other things shall be added even it selfe is a Sermon For the temptations with which a good man is beset and the ways which he used to overcome them being told to another whether in private conference or in the Church are a Sermon Hee that hath considered how to carry himself at table about his appetite if he tell this to another preacheth and much more feelingly and judiciously then he writes his rules of temperance out of bookes So that the Parson having studied and mastered all his lusts and affections within and the whole Army of Temptations without hath ever so many sermons ready penn'd as he hath victories And it fares in this as it doth in Physick He that hath been sick of a Consumption and knows what recovered him is a Physitian so far as he meetes with the same disease and temper and can much better and particularly do it then he that is generally learned and was never sick And if the same person had been sick of all diseases and were recovered of all by things that he knew there were no such Physician as he both for skill and tendernesse Just so it is in Divinity and that not without manifest reason for though the temptations may be diverse in divers Christians yet the victory is alike in all being by the self-same Spirit Neither is this true onely in the military state of a Christian life but even in the peaceable also when the servant of God freed for a while from temptation in a quiet sweetnesse seeks how to please his God Thus the Parson considering that repentance is the great vertue of the Gospel and one of the first steps of pleasing God having for his owne use examined the nature of it is able to explaine it after to others And particularly having doubted sometimes whether his repentance were true or at least in that degree it ought to be since he found himselfe sometimes to weepe more for the losse of some temporall things then for offending God he came at length to this resolution that repentance is an act of the mind not of the Body even as the Originall signifies and that the chiefe thing which God in Scriptures requires is the heart and the spirit and to worship him in truth and spirit Wherefore in case a Christian endeavour to weep and cannot since we are not Masters of our bodies this sufficeth And consequently he found that the essence of repentance that it may be alike in all Gods children which as concerning weeping it cannot be some being of a more melting temper then others consisteth in a true detestation of the soul abhorring and renouncing sin and turning unto God in truth of heart and newnesse of life Which acts of repentance are and must be found in all Gods servants Not that weeping is not usefull where it can be that so the body may joyn in the grief as it did in the sin but that so the other acts be that is not necessary so that he as truly repents who performes the other acts of repentance when he cannot more as he that weeps a floud of tears This Instruction and comfort the Parson getting for himself when he tels it to others becomes a Sermon The like he doth in other Christian vertues as of faith and Love and the Cases of Conscience belonging thereto wherein as Saint Paul implyes that he ought Romans 2. hee first preacheth to himselfe and then to others CHAP. XXXIV The Parson's Dexterity in applying of Remedies THe Countrey Parson knows that there is a double state of a Christian even in this Life the one military the other peaceable The military is when we are assaulted with temptations either from within or from without The Peaceable is when the Divell for a time leaves us as he did our Saviour and the Angels minister to us their owne food even joy and peace and comfort in the holy Ghost These two states were in our Saviour not only in the beginning of his preaching but afterwards also as Mat. 22.35 He was tempted And Luke 10.21 He rejoyced in Spirit And they must be likewise in all that are his Now the Parson having a Spirituall Judgement according as he discovers any of his Flock to be in one or the other state so he applies himselfe to them Those that he findes in the peaceable state he adviseth to be very vigilant and not to let go the raines as soon as the horse goes easie Particularly he counselleth them to two things First to take heed lest their quiet betray them as it is apt to do to a coldnesse and carelesnesse in their devotions but to labour still to be as fervent in Christian Duties as they remember themselves were when affliction did blow the Coals Secondly not to take the full compasse and liberty of their Peace not to eate of all those dishes at table which even their present health otherwise admits nor to store their house with all those furnitures which even their present plenty of wealth otherwise admits nor when they are among them that are merry to extend themselves to all that mirth which the present occasion of wit and company otherwise admits but to put bounds and hoopes to their joyes so will they last the longer and when they depart returne the sooner If we would judg ourselves we should not be judged and if we would bound our selves we should not be bounded But if they shall fear that at such or such a time their peace and mirth have carryed them further then this moderation then to take Jobs admirable Course who sacrificed lest his Children should have transgressed in their mirth So let them go and find some poore afflicted soul and there be bountifull and liberall for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Those that the Parson findes in the military state he fortifyes and strengthens with his utmost skill Now in those that are tempted whatsoever is unruly falls upon two heads either they think that there is none that can or will look after things but all goes by chance or wit Or else though there be a great Governour of all things yet to them he is lost as if they said God doth forsake and persecute them and there is none to deliver them If the Parson suspect the first and find sparkes of such thoughts now and then to break forth then without opposing directly for disputation is no Cure for Atheisme he scatters in his discourse three sorts of arguments the first taken from Nature the second from the Law the third from Grace For Nature he sees not how a house could be either built without a builder or kept in repaire without a house-keeper He conceives not possibly how the windes should blow so much as they can and the sea rage as much as it can and all things do what they can and all not only without dissolution of the whole but also
of Noblemens cloaths He is a great Necromancer for he asks counsell of the Dead i.e. books A man is known to be mortal by two things Sleep and Lust Love without end hath no end says the Spaniard meaning if it were not begun on particular ends it would last Stay a while that we may make an end the sooner Presents of love fear not to be ill taken of strangers To seek these things is lost labour Geese in an oyle pot fat Hogs among Jews and Wine in a fishing net Some men plant an opinion they seem to erradicate The Philosophy of Princes is to dive into the Secrets of men leaving the secrets of nature to those that have spare time States have their conversions and periods as well as naturall bodies Great deservers grow Intolerable presumers The love of money and the love of learning rarely meet Trust no friend with that you need fear him if he were your enemy Some had rather lose their friend then their Jest Marry your daughters betimes lest they marry themselves Souldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer Here is a talk of the Turk and the Pope but my next neighbour doth me more harm then either of them both Civill Wars of France made a million of Atheists and 30000 Witches We Batchelors laugh and shew our teeth but you married men laugh till your hearts ake The Divell never assailes a man except he find him either void of knowledge or of the fear of God There is no body will go to hell for company Much money makes a Countrey poor for it sets a dearer price on every thing The vertue of a coward is suspition A man's destiny is alwayes dark Every man's censure is first moulded in his own nature Money wants no followers Your thoughts close and your countenance loose Whatever is made by the hand of man by the hand of man may be overturned FINIS The Authour's PRAYER before SERMON O Almighty and ever-living Lord God! Majesty and Power and Brightnesse and Glory How shall we dare to appear before thy face who are contrary to thee in all we call thee for we are darknesse and weaknesse and filthinesse and shame Misery and sin fill our days yet art thou our Creatour and we thy work Thy hands both made us and also made us Lords of all thy creatures giving us one world in our selves and another to serve us then did'st thou place us in Paradise and wert proceeding still on in thy Favours untill we interrupted thy Counsels disappointed thy Purposes and sold our God our glorious our gracious God for an apple O write it O brand it in our foreheads for ever for an apple once we lost our God and still lose him for no more for money for meat for diet But thou Lord art patience and pity and sweetnesse and love therefore we sons of men are not consumed Thou hast exalted thy mercy above all things and hast made our salvation not our punishment thy glory so that then where sin abounded not death but grace super abounded accordingly when we had sinned beyond any help in heaven or earth then thou saidest Lo I come then did the Lord of life unable of himselfe to die contrive to do it He took flesh he wept he died for his enemies he died even for those that derided him then and still despise him Blessed Saviour many waters could not quench thy love nor no pit overwhelme it But though the streams of thy bloud were currant through darknesse grave and hell yet by these thy conflicts and seemingly hazards didst thou arise triumphant and therein mad'st us victorious Neither doth thy love yet stay here for this word of thy rich peace and reconciliation thou hast committed not to Thunder or Angels but to silly and sinfull men even to me pardoning my sins and bidding me go feed the people of thy love Blessed be the God of Heaven and Earth who onely doth wondrous things Awake therefore my Lute and my Viol awake all my powers to glorifie thee We praise thee we blesse thee we magnifie thee for ever And now O Lord in the power of thy Victories and in the wayes of thy Ordinances and in the truth of thy Love Lo we stand here beseeching thee to blesse thy word wher-ever spoken this day throughout the universall Church O make it a word of power and peace to convert those who are not yet thine and to confirme those that are particularly blesse it in this thy own Kingdom which thou hast made a Land of light a store-house of thy treasures and mercies O let not our foolish and unworthy hearts rob us of the continuance of this thy sweet love but pardon our sins and perfect what thou hast begun Ride on Lord because of the word of truth and meeknesse and righteousnesse and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things Especially blesse this portion here assembled together with thy unworthy Servant speaking unto them Lord Jesu teach thou me that I may teach them Sanctifie and inable all my powers that in their full strength they may deliver thy message reverently readily faithfully fruitfully O make thy word a swift word passing from the ear to the heart from the heart to the life and conversation that as the rain returns not empty so neither may thy word but accomplish that for which it is given O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do so for thy blessed Son's sake in whose sweet and pleasing words we say Our Father c. BLessed be God! and the Father of all mercy who continueth to pour his benefits upon us Thou hast elected us thou hast called us thou hast justified us sanctified and glorified us Thou wast born for us and thou livedst and diedst for us Thou hast given us the blessings of this life and of a better O Lord thy blessings hang in clusters they come trooping upon us they break forth like mighty waters on every side And now Lord thou hast fed us with the bread of life so man did eat Angel's food O Lord besse it O Lord make it health and strength unto us still striving prospering so long within us untill our obedience reach thy measure of thy love who hast done for us as much as may be Grant this dear Father for thy Son's sake our only Saviour To whom with thee and the Holy Ghost three Persons but one most glorious incomprehensible God be ascribed all Honour and Glory and Praise ever Amen Mr G. HERBERT To Master N.F. upon the Translation of VALDESSO MY dear and deserving Brother your Valdesso I now return with many thanks and some notes in which perhaps you will disover some care which I forbear not in the midst of my griefes first for your sake because I would do nothing negligently that you commit unto me secondly for the Authour's sake whom I conceive to have been a true servant of God and to such and all that is theirs I owe
humblenesse very sutable to Christian regeneration which exceedingly delights him as by way of exercise upon himself and by way of preaching to himself for the advancing of his own mortification For in preaching to others he forgets not himself but is first a Sermon to himself and then to others growing with the growth of his Parish He useth and preferreth the ordinary Church-Catechism partly for obedience to Authority partly for uniformity sake that the same common truths may be every where professed especially since many remove from Parish to Parish who like Christian Souldiers are to give the word and to satisfie the Congregation by their Catholick answers He exacts of all the Doctrine of the Catechisme of the younger sort the very words of the elder the substance Those he Catechizeth publickly these privately giving age honour according to the Apostles rule 1 Tim. 5.1 He requires all to be present at Catechizing first for the authority of the work Secondly that Parents and Masters as they hear the answers prove may when they come home either commend or reprove either reward or punish Thirdly that those of the elder sort who are not well grounded may then by an honourable way take occasion to be better instructed Fourthly that those who are well grown in the knowledg of Religion may examine their grounds renew their vowes and by occasion of both inlarge their meditations When once all have learned the words of the Catechisme he thinks it the most usefull way that a Pastor can take to go over the same but in other words for many say the Catechisme by rote as parrats without ever piercing into the sense of it In this course the order of the Catechisme would be kept but the rest varyed as thus in the Creed How came this world to be as it is Was it made or came it by chance Who made it Did you see God make it Then are there some things to be beleeved that are not seen Is this the nature of beliefe Is not Christianity full of such things as are not to be seen but beleeved You said God made the world Who is God And so forward requiring answers to all these and helping and cherishing the Answerer by making the Question very plaine with comparisons and making much even of a word of truth from him This order being used to one would be a little varyed to another And this is an admirable way of teaching wherein the Catechized will at length finde delight and by which the Catechizer if he once get the skill of it will draw out of ignorant and silly souls even the dark and deep points of Religion Socrates did thus in Philosophy who held that the seeds of all truths lay in every body and accordingly by questions well ordered he found Philosophy in silly Trades-men That position will not hold in Christianity because it contains things above nature but after that the Catechisme is once learn'd that which nature is towards Philosophy the Catechism is towards Divinity To this purpose some dialogues in Plato were worth the reading where the singular dexterity of Socrates in this kind may be observed and imitated Yet the skill consists but in these three points First an aim and mark of the whole discourse whither to drive the Answerer which the Questionist must have in his mind before any question be propounded upon which and to which the questions are to be chained Secondly a most plain and easie framing the question even containing in vertue the answer also especially to the more ignorant Thirdly when the answerer sticks an illustrating the thing by something else which he knows making what hee knows to serve him in that which he knows not As when the Parson once demanded after other questions about mans misery since man is so miserable what is to be done And the answerer could not tell He asked him again what he would do if he were in a ditch This familiar illustration made the answer so plaine that he was even ashamed of his ignorance for he could not but say he would hast out of it as fast he could Then he proceeded to ask whether he could get out of the ditch alone or whether he needed a helper and who was that helper This is the skill and doubtlesse the Holy Scripture intends thus much when it condescends to the naming of a plough a hatchet a bushell leaven boyes piping and dancing shewing that things of ordinary use are not only to serve in the way of drudgery but to be washed and cleansed and serve for lights even of Heavenly Truths This is the Practice which the Parson so much commends to all his fellow-labourers the secret of whose good consists in this that at Sermons and Prayers men may sleep or wander but when one is asked a question he must discover what he is This practice exceeds even Sermons in teaching but there being two things in Sermons the one Informing the other Inflaming as Sermons come short of questions in the one so they farre exceed them in the other For questions cannot inflame or ravish that must be done by a set and laboured and continued speech CHAP XXII The Parson in Sacraments THe Countrey Parson being to administer the Sacraments is at a stand with himself how or what behaviour to assume for so holy things Especially at Communion times he is in a great confusion as being not only to receive God but to break and administer him Neither findes he any issue in this but to throw himself down at the throne of grace saying Lord thou knowest what thou didst when thou appointedst it to be done thus therefore doe thou fulfill what thou didst appoint for thou art not only the feast but the way to it At Baptisme being himselfe in white he requires the presence of all and Baptizeth not willingly but on Sundayes or great dayes Hee admits no vaine or idle names but such as are usuall and accustomed Hee says that prayer with great devotion where God is thanked for calling us to the knowledg of his grace Baptisme being a blessing that the world hath not the like He willingly and cheerfully crosseth the child and thinketh the Ceremony not onely innocent but reverend He instructeth the God-fathers and God-mothers that it is no complementall or light thing to sustain that place but a great honour and no less burden as being done both in the presence of God and his Saints and by way of undertaking for a Christian soul He adviseth all to call to minde their Baptism often for if wise men have thought it the best way of preserving a state to reduce it to its principles by which it grew great certainly it is the safest course for Christians also to meditate on their Baptisme often being the first step into their great and glorious calling and upon what termes and with what vowes they were Baptized At the times of the Holy Communion he first takes order with the Church-Wardens that
man wel mounted is ever Cholerick Every one is a master and servant A piece of a Church-yard fits every body One mouth doth nothing without another A master of straw eates a servant of steel An old cat sports not with her prey A woman conceals what she knowes not He that wipes the childes nose kisseth the mothers cheeke Gentility is nothing but Ancient Riches To go where the King goes a foot i.e. to the stool To go upon the Franciscans Hackney i. e on foot Amiens was taken by the Fox and retaken by the Lion After Death the Doctor Ready mony is a ready Medicine It is the Philosophy of the Distaffe It is a sheep of Beery it is marked on the nose applyed to those that have a blow To build castles in Spain An Idle youth a needy Age Silke doth quench the fire in the Kitchin The words ending in Ique do mocke the Physician as Hectique Paralitique Apoplectique Lethargique He that trusts much Obliges much says the Spaniard He that thinks amiss concludes worse A man would live in Italy a place of pleasure but he would chuse to dy in Spain where they say the Catholick Religion is professed with greatest strictness Whatsoever was the father of a disease an ill dyet was the mother Frenzy Heresie and Jealovsie seldome cured There is no heat of affection but is joyned with some idlenesse of brain says the Spaniard The War is not don so long as my Enemy lives Some evils are cured by contempt Power seldome grows old at Court Danger it selfe the best remedy for danger Favour will as surely perish as life Feare the Bedle of the Law Heresie is the school of pride For the same man to be an heretick and a good subject is incompossible Heresie may be easier kept out then shooke off Infants manners are moulded more by the example of Parents then by stars at their nativities They favour learning whose actions are worthy of a learned pen. Modesty sets off one newly come to honour No naked man is sought after to be rifled There 's no such conquering weapon as the necessity of conquering Nothing secure unlesse suspected No tye can oblige the perfidious Spies are the ears and eyes of Princes The life of spies is to know not bee known Religion a stalking horse to shoot other foul It 's a dangerous fire begins in the bed-straw Covetousnesse breaks the bag Fear keepes and looks to the vineyard and not the owner The noise is greater then the nuts Two sparrows on one Ear of Corn make an ill agreement The world is now adayes God save the Conquerour Unsound minds like unsound Bodies if you feed you poyson Not only ought fortune to be pictured on a wheel but every thing else in this world All covet all lose Better is one Accipe then twice to say Dabo tibi An Asse endures his burden but not more then his burden Threatned men eat bread says the Spaniard The beades in the Hand and the Divell in Capuch or cape of the cloak He that will do thee a good turne either he will be gon or dye I escaped the Thunder and fell into the Lightning A man of a great memory without learning hath a rock and a spindle and no staffe to spin The death of wolves is the safety of the sheep He that is once borne once must dy He that hath but one eye must bee afraid to lose it Hee that makes himself a sheep shall be eat by the wolfe He that steals an egge will steal an oxe He that will be surety shall pay He that is afraid of leaves goes not to the wood In the mouth of a bad dog fals often a good bone Those that God loves do not live long Still fisheth he that catcheth one All flesh is not venison A City that parlies is half gotten A dead Bee maketh no Hony An old dog barks not in vain They that hold the greatest farmes pay the least rent applyed to rich men that are unthankful to God Old Camels carry young Camels skins to the Market He that hath time and looks for better time time comes that he repents himself of time Words and feathers the wind carries away Of a pigs taile you can never make a good shaft The Bathe of the Blackamoor hath sworne not to whiten To a greedy eating horse a short halter The Divell divides the world between Atheisme and Superstition Such a Saint such an offering We do it soon enough if that we do be well Cruelty is more cruell if we defer the pain What one day gives us another takes away from us To seek in a Sheep five feet when there is but four A scab'd horse cannot abide the comb God strikes with his finger and not with all his arme God gives his wrath by weight and without weight his mercy Of a new Prince new bondage New things are fair Fortune to one is Mother to another is Step-mother There is no man though never so little but sometimes he can hurt The horse that drawes after him his halter is not altogether escaped We must recoile a little to the end we may leap the better No love is foule nor prison fair No day so clear but hath dark clouds No hair so small but hath his shadow A wolfe will never make war against another wolfe We must love as looking one day to hate It is good to have some friends both in heaven and hell It is very hard to shave an egge It is good to hold the asse by the bridle The healthfull man can give counsell to the sick The death of a young wolfe doth never come too soon The rage of a wild boar is able to spoil more then one wood Vertue flies from the heart of a Mercenary man The wolfe eats oft of the sheep that have been warn'd The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken To play at Chesse when the house is on fire The itch of disputing is the scab of the Church Follow not truth too near the heels lest it dash out thy teeth Either wealth is much increased or moderation is much decayed Say to pleasure Gentle Eve I will none of your apple When war begins then hell openeth There is a remedy for every thing could men find it There is an hour wherein a man might be happy all his life could he find it Great Fortune brings with it Great misfortune A fair day in winter is the mother of a storme Wo be to him that reads but one book Tithe and be rich Take heed of The wrath of a mighty man and the tumult of the people Mad folks in a narrow place Credit decaid and people that have nothing A young wench a prophetesse and a Lattin bred woman A person marked and a Widdow thrice married Foul dirty wayes and long sicknesse Winde that comes in at a hole and a reconciled Enemy A step-mother the very name of her sufficeth Princes are venison in Heaven Criticks are like brushers