TWO SERMONS THE FIRST PREACHED AT St MARIES in OXFORD Iuly 13. 1634. being Act-Sunday THE SECOND IN THE CATHEDRALL CHVRCH OF SARVM AT THE Visitation of the most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Arch-Bishop of Canterbury May 23. 1634. By THOMAS LAVRENCE Dr of Divinity and late Fellow of Allsoules Colledge and Chaplaine to his MAIESTY in ORDINARY OXFORD Printed by IOHN LICHFIELD Anno Dom. 1635. EXOD. 20.21 And the people stood a farre off and Moses drew neere vnto the thicke darknesse where God was GOD made man placed him in Eden spake to him in the second of Genesis and man was not afraide God came in a walking voice Votem itantem Iun. Trem. in the third of Genesis and man was afraid because he had not sinned in the second chapter and had sinned in the third For where no sinne is there is no feare perfect loue saith S. Iohn casteth out feare which therefore is not fit company for heaven because loue is perfect there The happinesse of that place consists in the vision of God in whose presence is the fulnesse of ioy saith David which therefore the soules vnder the Altar as S. Iohn or in their chambers as Esdras speakes long to see saying when cometh the fruit of our reward in the second of that story the fourth chapter at the fiue and thirtieth verse And who desires what hee trembles at or joyes in that hee feares But t is otherwise here In Heaven wee shall bee ravished with God not afraid of him in earth wee are afraid of any messenger from heaven An Angell appeared to b Iud. 6.22 Gedeon and hee was afraid an Angell appeared to c C. 13.22 Manoah and he was afraid an Angell appeared to the d Luc. 2.10 Sheapheards these were afraid an Angell appeared to the e Mat. 28.5 Maries and they were afraid Afraid all of those Angells which brought the message of joy For because ever since an Angell guarded Paradice with a drawn sword we haue deserved no good news from aboue we conceiue no other designe of such Messengers but to strike And what shall Israel feare from God himselfe if these imagined no lesse then death from the sight of an Angell That glorious just Lord cannot bespeake my damnable vilenesse but in thunder and therefore if Moses intend they shall liue to keepe the Law Moses himselfe must deliver the Law God must speake no more least they dye v. 19 He comforted thē indeed and said feare not v. 20. which is all one as if hee should say sinne not for while they were guilty of sinne they must be subiect to feare Bounds were defined vnto which they came not and yet they came too neere Gods command remoues them farre and their owne feare remoues them farther And the people stood a farre The words represent the duty of the Laity in Israel the people and the priviledge of the Clergy in Moses their Priest So the holy Ghost esteemed him Moses and Aron among the Priests Psal 99.6 so those Apostolicall constitutions esteemed him L. 6. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 2. c. 29. so hee esteemed himselfe sanctifying the assembly Exod. 19.14 dedicating the Tabernacles hallowing the vessells offering sacrifice consecrating Aron with his Sonnes and officiating both for the Scepter and the Mitre too the Prince and the Priest to shew that there is no naturall repugnancie betwixt the Ephod and the Maze the Tribunall and the Altar but that both thriue the better for the vicinity of each other as the Vine helpes the Elme and by this neighbourhood climbes the higher The duty of the Laity requires 1 An obsequious attention to God the people stood 2 An humble distance from God The people stood a farre off The priviledge of the Clergy discovers 1 The approximation or immediatnesse of their accesse Moses drew neere 2 The limitation of this approximation Moses drew neere vnto the thicke darknesse 3 The condition of this limitation Moses drew neere vnto the thicke darknesse where God was 1 Vox vagina sensus Language is the sheath of sense Bel. de not Ecc. l. 4. c. 12. saith the Cardinall and words are the attire of the minde saith the Oratour he therefore whose tongue is too big for his heart that speakes more then he thinkes cases a needle in a scabberd and presents little David in great Goliahs armour or rather araies a child with the clothes of a gyant and so invests him not with a suit but enstates in a house God is no friend to the hypocrisy of complement and therefore in Scripture ever meanes more then he speakes Psal 12.6 the words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried seaven times in the fire saith the Psalmist calcined and sublimated from this drosse for he is a God of truths not of varnishes of realities not of shadowes He hates that mouth which belies the minde and likes men on earth best when they resemble the Saints in Heaven where soules commerce per verbum mentis without tongues and thoughts are seene without the mediation of words t is so in my Text where a syllable of Gods signifies more then a volume of mans a word of His then a Library of mine and the peoples standing here comprehends as much as the people should doe and much more indeede then they would First standing is a posture of respect wee kneele and stand to our superiours Kneele to shew our subiection and stand to shew our obedience that we are ready to execute what these are to command Seest thou a man diligent in his businesse hee shall stand before Kings Prov. 22.29 and although the Angells turned their faces to Sodome Abraham stood yet before the Lord Gen. 18.22 Standing and Kneeling then become inferiours sitting doth not the Lord said to my Lord sit thou at my right hand ther 's an equality of nature betwixt the Father and the Sonne and therefore one sits by the other Psal 110.11 and when the sonne of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory then shall yee also sit vpon twelue Thrones Iudging the twelue Tribes of Israel there 's an equality of grace or favour betwixt the Iudge and his Assessors therefore these haue Thrones together Mat. 19.18 so that those Antipodes which tread crosse to the World which fast at the birth of our Saviour and feast at his passion which will not say Christmas and yet will call a Christian Demas which sit at the Altar because we kneele say not with the Syrophaenician Lord I am not worthy to eate the crummes vnder thy table but Lord I am worthy to sit at thy table I am as good as thy selfe Standing then is a posture of respect and respect is a preparatiue to attention for no man listens to what he scornes Lydias affection must be warmed before she can attend regard S. Paul shee must before she can heare him when God shall open her heart then will she open
it bee for your honour from the Lord 2. Chron. 26.18 And if any now say of Ierusalem Psal 137.7 as formerly Edom did downe with it downe with it even to the ground I must pray against this Atheisme as Moses did arise ô Lord into thy resting place thou and the arke of thy strength thou hast said this shall bee thy rest for ever and ô Lord let it ever be so T was the Sacrilegious zeale of those times What vse haue wee of Churchmen now Who ever wore a Cope for armour or in a pitcht-field exchanged a head-peece for a Miter And my reply shall be that of Moses to the Rebells seemeth it a small thing vnto you that the God of Israel hath separated these from the congregation of Israel to bring them neere to himselfe to doe the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister vnto them Num. 16.9 there is vse of these while there are prayers to be heard or sinnes to bee pardon'd or God to be served or men to be saved Those onely haue no vse of these Liegers that desire no correspondency or intercourse with Heaven fewer victories haue beene won by swords then by prayers and therefore in most of Iuries warres the Arke followed the Campe the ensigne was attended with the Ephod my Father my Father 2. Reg. 2.12 the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof saith Elisha to Eliah Lay-devotions are the infantery the foote but the strength of the battell the Chariots the horse are the oraisons of the Clergy the land was better secured by this man of peace then those men of warre nor was it Ioshuahs hand overcame Amalek Nah. 1.15 Am. 5.18 but Moses prayer the day of the Lord saith the Prophet is darknesse all wee see of him being evening and night a perception onely that wee cannot see him and who walkes safely in the darke without the guidance of a light For how gloomy a midnight is this to thee that was a thicke darknesse to Moses the limitation of his accesse and my fourth generall 4 The Lord concealed not himselfe only from Moses in thicke darknesse but threatned also in lightning and thunder and although he climb'd the Mount by especiall command and that to receiue the Law by his appointment and the Cabala or exposition as the Rabbies say to dispense such fundamentall truths on earth which might conveigh them to Heaven being entertained as an Embassadour extraordinary by the joynt-commission of God and the people rated him yet out of a a tempest too Moses being rapt out of himselfe So doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify the word of the 70 the Apostle Heb. 12.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist by the assault of a suddaine and impetuous winde for nothing so much hinders the sight and apprehension as this The Lord admits him not into his presence while he is himselfe least hee should fall a longing for his glory as once he did nor must he discourse with God while he is Moses And all this to shew what Cato afterwards said rebus divinis magnam inesse caliginem that the nature counsells of God are not only a great depth as David calls them but a thicke darknesse besides deepe and darke too so to the best eyes his foot-steps vnknowne to the Psalmist that continually traced them his wayes vnsearchable to S. Paul that was rapt into the third Heaven and to Moses that talkt with God so in one aspect and yet not so in another for religion is meate and milke 1. Cor. 3.12.3 saith the Apostle and hath provision both for men and babes there are arcana Dei secret things that belong vnto the Lord and there are revelata Dei 1. Tim. 3.15.9 Heb. 3.3.5.6.1.2.5 c. 4.17 Ephes 2.21 revealed things that belong to vs. Every faithfull soule is a building and every true Church a house saith the holy Ghost Wherefore as in a house so in the Church like the foundation and the pillars some are necessary or essentiall parts and some are like the imagery or sculpture vnnecessary and accidentall there ensues no ruine of the pile vpon the absence of those no hazard to the soule on the ignorance of these Quid opus est vt vel affirmentur vel negentur vel definiantur cum discrimine quae sine discrimine nesciuntur Aug Ench. ad Laur. c. 59. Psal 119.105 2. Pet. 1.19 Every man hath eyes for one but every man hath not eyes for the other and what an Artizan values at a talent I may not prize at a Crowne thy word is a light vnto my feete saith David and a light shining in a darke place saith S. Peter it discovers essentiall radicall truths to my faith as this doth present greater obiects to my sight a bed or a table a cubbord or a stoole but it discovers not metaphysicall accidentall truths as this shewes not the lesse a cobweb an atome a gnat or a pin I vse a light to search for bookes or mony I vse not a light to search for a haire or fly God being to vs in our journey to heaven as he was to Israel in their journey to Canaan where we need direction a fire where wee need no direction a cloud a fire by night and a cloud by day And as according to that modesty of the Hebrew prouerbe the expectation of Elias must adiourne our longings in accessories or superstructions so must it after some circumstantiall respects in substantialls and fundamentalls too for although we know as much as wee must because it were vnreasonable to inuite vs to heauen without shewing the way wee know not as much as wee may because God is a voluntary glasse and discloses himselfe no further then he will some he brings by the Peripherie or bowe others by the Diameter or string as the same Period was but a few weekes iourney when Israel went for the necessary prouision of bread many yeeres pilgrimage when Israell lusted for the vnnecessary curiosity of flesh being led thus from Marah to Rephidim from Rephidim to Meribah from thence to Taberah from the heate bitternesse of one contention to another till at length after many discontented and wrangling steppes the children grew wiser by the misery of their Fathers and with the price of their bloud purchased the inheritance of Canaan For as euery profession is a mistery so is religion too Rom. 16.25 nor am I commanded to beleiue what I am able to know the birth of God is a mystery saith S. Paul here 1. Cor. 2.7 and the death of God a mystery saith the same Apostle there the Sacrament a mystery in a third place C. 4.1 C. 15.51 and the resurrection a mystery in a fourth our election in Christ a mystery now our vnion with Christ a mystery then God the Father a mystery Ephes 3.9 C. 5.32 in this place and God the sonne a mystery in
his respect to this makes him vndervalue the rest because hee thinkes none can speake so truly or so powerfully or so profoundly or so eloquently as the other For faction disorders a man as loue doth where affection is not ruled by iudgement but iudgement by affection nor is the person lou'd because worthy but seemes worthy because beloued the eye is iealous of one only and therefore the man esteemes none faire besides There had then beene danger enough had the Schisme beene led by Paul Apollo and Cephas but if Christ himselfe be made a party if the sonne of God seeme a patrone to either What frozen heart will not thaw at this Sun What patient cowardise can moderate the tongue or the hand no marvaile Corinth is divided 't were apostasy to be otherwise for how should I forsake Christ and not renounce my Saviour Nor hath this proiect beene confined to S. Pauls time or to Corinth but hath gained abetters in all ages some divisions in the Church laying claime to Cephas others to Paul a third sort dispersing their errors vnder Apolloes name all vnder Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Naz. Orat. 14. p. 221. Paris 1609. speakes of the Novatians ensnaring their auditors by the fame of their patrons and venting their ridiculous fansies as Presses doe their pamphlets vnder the counterfeit name of some reverenced author or by a leafe of title to scarce a line of sense Thus did Novatus cover his ambition by the repute of his followers and obtain'd credit to his owne dreames from their piety and learning He knew his poysonous errours could not purchase admission while they appeared in their naturall attire and therefore it was his subtlety to present them to the world Hist eccles l. 6. c. 43. graec ed. Paris 1544. not as his owne inventions but clothed with the names and patronage of his associates for if it be thought to come from thence an English blade may sell as deare as another of spaine he had in his retinue as Eusebius relates Maximus a learned and religious Presbyter hee had vrbanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that twice grew into the esteeme of the Church by a free confession of his faith and bad faire for martyrdome hee had Sidonius and Celerinus both of especiall note but the last of the greatest a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fulfilled in his body the passions of his Saviour and to obtaine the mercy of God shewed no mercy on himselfe that wore in his flesh the markes of the Lord Iesus and might count his yeeres by his martyrdomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the same author goes on that strengthned the weaknesse of his flesh by the valour of his faith and endured torments with such scornefull patience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if hee had no body at all or none of his owne Naz. orat cont Iul. p. 36. ed. Eton. of the primitiue martyrs Novatus therefore may disguise the most divelish proiect vnder such seraphicall doctors as those For 't is vnlikely God would reforme the will and leaue the intellect irregular that hee would loose their fetters and not open their eyes that those which sufferd so much for the truth should perish in an error or could walke so well without the benefit of light The rebells Num. 16.2 the Arrians sozom l. 3. c. 18. graec Par. 1544. it would be easy to deduce this truth through every age of the Church were it not so visible in our owne For Novatus is yet aliue and although hee hath no confessors in his retinue professors hee hath many men of meane parts and yet of mighty guifts such as are not watered by the foote as Egypt was but as Canaan with a dew from Heaven no Schismaticall fancy shall want a S. Peter or a S. Iohn to owne it nor can you dissent from this but you erre from the holy Ghost which spake by S. Paul or Esaiah They hate those Micaiahs of elder times because they speake no good of them but evill nor can you heare a discourse but you may know who ownes it by the rebaptization of Cyp. or the Montanisme of Tertullian Scripture shall bee the rule and only they interpreters for 't is not canonicall though it hath the stampe of the Church vnlesse it hath theirs besides and so become themselues that infallible Antichrist they declaime so much against are vpon the point both the old Testament the new thus doe they expose their fondnesse vnder a counterfeit vaile of the spirit as courser beauties draw the beholders from their deformities by the sumptuous art of their dressing that the face might be lost by gazing on the cloths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. orat 14. p. 216. They paint out their ignorance with a tedious catalogue of abused authorities and cover mischiefes with religion the wolfe must be concealed vnder a Lambs fleece and their foule errors perfumed with the Myrrhe and cassia of holy writ noâ—ios succos medicaminum vocabulis praecolorant as Lirinensis speakes they disperse their poysons vnder the name of medicines for who can thinke that a druggist would write conserues over a box of ratsbane or rosewater over Mercury opinions vsually gaining credit according to the esteeme of such as countenance or deliuer them as a man receiues gold without enquiry from his acquaintance but hath weights and a touchstone for a stranger you see how the worst of the Church haue strengthned themselues by pretending to the best doe thus and thou shalt encourage truth yet giue no advantage to errour Let thy industry and care enable thee to giue example and credit thy profession leaue no doubt vnassailed and as Iacob wrestle with God in thy prayers that thou maist vnderstand him in his Scriptures Feare not those sonnes of Anak those Giganticke writers of elder and later times nor bee content with learning which only supplies for sermons like wilde oates the fruit whereof serues only for the next yeeres seeds falling into the earth before the corne is brought into the barne thus saith the Lord stand in the waies and see and aske for the old paths walke therein yee shall finde rest for your soules so that as it was once an omen or signe of victory in the * Chronicles when ye heare a noise in the tops of the trees 1 Paralip 14.15 2 Sam. 5.24 goe on with confidence for God is gone before you in like manner here the voice of God must be our compasse and the voice of God in the tops of the trees too in the heavenlier higher and purer ages of the Church Because to say I say so every heretique ever did but to say the Church ever said so so did every true member of the Church Scripture must be the rule but antiquity the applyer of this rule Scripture the Law but antiquity the expositor hee that goes another way goes out of the way
cite the words of God he may the word of God he cannot finde mazes he shall truths he shall not there is no rest to him that followes his owne phansies in expounding this there is rest to those which follow the traces of the Church with the Church there is against the Church there is not Ier. 6.16 Againe let thy life keepe pace with thy industry and shew thou enioynest not impossibilities by acting what thou commandest Doe not prostitute the Church by thy lewd example which should be presented as a pure virgin to Christ thy life being a contradiction of thy doctrine and the whole weeke a confutation of the Sunday T is one of the reasons Lactantius giues De ver sap l. 4. c. 24. why Christ assumed humane flesh and it may be the reason too why in the government of his Church he rather vsed the ministery of men then of Angells that they might perfect their doctrine by their practice that all might know their precepts were feasable by seeing them done and they intended obedience since they taught it by their owne examples for who will thinke that Physitian can cure a disease in another which is alwaies sicke of the same Lastly carry thy selfe so warily that no side may claime thee but thy owne or if any shall thou maist free thy conscience by the blamelesnesse of thy conversation thanking God with S. Paul at the fourteenth verse of this chapter that although some of Corinth pretend thee for their leader thou hast given them no occasion Leaue Novatus to the censure of the world with Vrbanus and Celerinus as soone as thou perceivest the Church misguided by thy example redeeming with them thy former injury by thy future repentance and carefulnesse Doe not enhance the repute of a faction by setting on it the price of thy owne worth nor encourage a peevish Schismatique by christning his babe without the crosse or the Surplesse if they say lo here is Christ in the plausible disputes of one division or lo there in the zealous phrensy of another behold he is in the secret chambers in the vncharitable Conventicles of the Puritane or behold in the desert in the wilde multitudes of Separatists belieue it not for hee is the God of peace and as his garment was one and vndivided Let them honour God with the rest or honour him alone without thy protection marke such as make contentions and avoide them beseech them with S. Paul that they nourish them not or if they doe protest against them tell them how heinous they are in themselues of what dangerous consequence how neere that Church is to ruine vpon how weake grounds that common-wealth relies in which every one saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ the parties in this Schisme and my second generall The Church of Corinth lately but one II. is multiplied now into severall factions as formerly the west some adhering to his holinesse at Rome and others to a second at Avignion Iudge of the danger by the Apostles gradation in the third chapter at the third verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this dissention about their pastors hatcht contentions in secular affaires their contentions setled into malice and their malice is dissolved againe by a devout and impetuous envy this envy makes them impatient one of the other driuing every side vpon a peculiar bottome they all fight for the truth and yet one against the other Nor is this division private but profest and that with a contempt of the adverse parties they liue no longer in common but in severall every one saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ a monstrous distemper any where especially at Corinth sanctified shee was v. 2. confirmed in Christ v. 6. called into the fellowship of his sonne v. 9. what sanctified and yet prophane partaker of the holy and the vnholy Ghost in and against Christ together and asunder in a communion and a division you that are thus to be so yes for t is the nature of Schisme to make a discontinuation of parts to cause a resolution in the body of the Church and therefore the nature of Schisme is contrary to the nature of God 1 As he is the measure of perfection which consists in vnity and therefore those creatures which come nearest to him are more changed into his nature more simple and one and on the contrary then are they at greatest opposition with this essentiall vnity and life when they become lesse one and tend to privation for this reason are the Angells of a neerer alliance with God because more simple and one not onely in their particular natures but in the generall agreement of their wills and man because of a grosser composition of dissenting affections lesse resembles God though hee be stiled his image and therefore is of lesser perfection The militant Church then is most pleasing to God when it most resembles the triumphant 1. Ioh. 4.8.16 when it is perfect as this is perfect that it is when it is most vnited for therefore is hee in Scriptures vsually called peace and loue to shew that the speediest way to set thee at opposition with God is to divide thee from thy brother this may be seene by a similitude consider some rare piece of extraordinary beauty how leades it every beholder while the parts are fitly vnited How doth it command a generall loue But mangled by some ruder hand and sliced into severall pieces how soone becomes it the obiect of our scorne and pitty Every part mutually graceth each other while they are louingly married and pleaseth not more by his owne goodnesse then what it borroweth The head is more comely for the silky fleece it beares the forehead honoured for the maiesty of the brow The brawny armes are adorned by well proportion'd hands and the leggs decently joyned to suiteable feete let the Levites sword divorce these limbes and divide the body but into twelue parts which is capable of as many hundreds and where is the beauty which but now enflamed so many Beniamites the common ambition and quarell of a whole citty Nor is it otherwise in the body mysticall and therefore S. Paul vsually expresseth this by the other as the Levites wife was so is the Church vnited the fairest amongst women as the Levites wife is so is the Church divided and every part in a Schisme rents a limbe from this body this division is more vgly in the Allmighties sight then the other is in thine nor is it vnseene of thee for want of truth but of eyes the body is really mangled and if thou feelest it not thou art not of it hee that dwells in the beauty of holinesse loathes this deformity he detests a Church so vnlike himselfe and Christ is departing though blinde Bartimeus cannot see it 2 As he is the measure of goodnesse which is as diffusiue as his presence not