King Agrippa's leave almost a Christian was three parts an Atheist Such a glimmering light of zeal is like a Morning mist which quickly vanisheth away and it is Christus suffuratus as the Souldiers said Christ stoln away and pilfered out of our heart I know not how He that never saw the Sea is as near his journeys end to pass it over as he that wades but to the ankles The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands shall finish it Zach. iv 9. that was a blessing from the Lord. To be of Caesars mind Nil actum credens cum quid superesset agendum to think nothing done when any thing was undone that was a Spirit to make a Conquerour My love is a bundle of Myrrh Cant. xiii As if she were like Seleucus shafts which could not be broken in the cluster Such a bundle of Myrrh is in St. Peter 2 Epist i. 5. Give all diligence and add to your faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to all these charity What will all these serve the turn when they stand as thick as corn in harvest Yes says the Apostle Si abundaverint if they abound in you they will make you you shall not be barren and fruitless Thus then Truth and Mercy will forsake us if we do not further the gift of God take away the single Talent and give it to him that hath ten more The next way to make our heart cast this happy brood and to miscarry when it travels with Truth and Mercy is admotione contrarii by taking part both with God and Belial Asahal was not more nimble than St. John to fly away when he spied Cerinthus the eldest Son of Satan in the same Bath with him and therefore do not think to make your soul an Ark for the clean and unclean beasts to lie together A little frosty air is so forcible that it bursts the clouds and forceth out the hot exhalation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spirted out between the fingers and gone before you can think of it Beloved that field in Israel was hated like Aceldama which was sown with divers seeds and Nehemiah cursed the children that spake one half in the Hebrew Tongue and another part in the Language of Ashdod Covetousness is so wealthy and it thrives so fast that it easily purchaseth the whole heart of man and whom at first you entertained like a foreiner to have one moyety in your heart it buys the whole possession over Mercies head Veios migrate coloni and so casts it forth And likewise so incompatible is truth with the least falshood that the haters of the Lord were found liars at our Saviours arraignment when he spake nothing Is it not strange Very strange That Christ should come before unrighteous Judges be impeached by malicious Adversaries all this while hold his peace and yet the Witness not agree Will you know the reason There came two false Witnesses Mat. xxvi Averring that this fellow said I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to build it again in three days There is another tale told Mar. xiv We heard him say I will destroy this Temple made with hands and will build another without hands But what said our Saviour in very deed You shall find his saying Joh. ii 19. Neither I can destroy with the former nor I will destroy with the latter But vos solvite do you destroy and solvite templum hoc the Temple of his body and in three days I will raise it up You cannot clap good and bad together but with waxen pins if you move them a little they fly asunder the wax melteth and it confounds the Chariot and his Rider For what agreement hath light with darkness or the Temple of the Lord with Idols Touching the third manner and the last how a quality may cease to be desitione subjecti when that faileth wherein it is it hath no place only in Truth and Mercy Other things indeed we can expect to remain no longer than the house of our body lasteth beauty ceaseth with the bloud and strength faileth with the sinews nay tongues shall cease and knowledge shall vanish away but mercy and charity abideth for ever Yea and truth also but veritas in visione not in fide Truth in the clear vision of God and not darkly in faith In a word as Joseph furnished his Brethren both with food for their travel and Corn to keep house with in the Land of Canaan So there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. James gifts for our Pilgrimage in this life and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts to abide with us in our Country above perfect gifts descending from the Father of lights So some endowments drop away with this house of flesh but after glorification this voice shall no more be heard in our ears let not Mercy and Truth forsake thee But this uncomfortable deserant that Gods gifts may forsake us is to view Jacob but as a Criple halting and failing in his combate but nè deserant let them not forsake thee shews Israel wrestling with the Angel and keeping God as I may speak it with reverence fast unto him with a chain of Faith To begin therefore with Mercy there are two ways to keep a firm possession of it by Meditation and by Petition The Meditations also shall be twain and very short ones for the time sake First Consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it the deep engagement of our Charity in the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our brethren and no otherwise Lord what a deep curse do we bring upon our soul if this be not said in earnest Secondly Consider the compassion of all the Members in that mystical body whereof Christ is the head He that is hard hearted against a Christian is cruel against a part of himself Nero might fill the streets with the slaughtered bodies of the Saints For why he was none of ours but a Lion in the Sheepfold but a little bitterness a disdaining contempt a reviling malediction the neglect of the misery of a Christian at the hands of a Christian is more unnatural It was St. Basils counsel and most elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as he that looks upon the sore eye of another man may chance to provoke the rheum in his own eyes so our eyes should grow feeble and conceive tears when we see the tears of our brother If we chance to offend against Mercy and to forget one of these Meditations it is very likely that it will stop at the other but if both fail then we must fly unto uncessant Prayer and Petition That is Anchora sacra for the last refuge let us fall down before his footstool and confirm Gods grace to our soul as Elias made the heavens of brass I do not mean so
the same end to make us magnifie God for his Wisdom Goodness and Justice Nay I add compare the Law of Works imposed upon Adam and the Law of Faith imposed upon Christians and both of them are possible to be done For the first man according to the integrity wherein he was created and by the virtue of supernatural Grace bestowed upon him might have obeyed the Commandement given if he had not turned to disobedience and by the Divine help of the same grace we to whom God hath preached the glad tidings of his Son are endewed with power to believe that we may be saved Now in a word let us lay the difference of these two one against another God gave the Law in Paradise as a King in his Justice but he gave the Gospel in Sion as a Father of Grace and Mercy according to that Law the reward had been given ex debito by debt and due say the Schoolmen but to him that believes the reward is given by mere Grace which excludes boasting He that disobey'd that Law was to look for the most strict severity of Justice so condemnation belongs likewise to the unbeliever according to Justice but perhaps it shall be temper'd with some moderation for Christs sake Finally this is the main disagreement the first Covenant made with Adam did exclude all hope of remission of sins but the second Covenant made in Christ runs in this tenour to them that live by Faith your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquities forgotten After you have understood the first point how there was a Law imposed upon Adam when he was created and endewed with original Justice you must now give ear to the next thing in order what heavy and astonishing matter is contained in that Law which was given by Moses to the Children of Israel and remember that I consider the Law deliver'd in the two Tables at Mount Sinai Seorsim and by it self separated from all the promises contained in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David These then are the remarkable differences between the Covenant written in Tables of stone and this Covenant of the New Testament in the Blood of Christ First God gave the Law at Sinai being wrath with our sins for whereas we had lost both the wisdom of our understanding and the loyal obedience of our will by the transgression of our first parent yet God impos'd his Commandement upon us and exacts such measure of holiness which we are not able to perform Therefore that Law was given in the barren Wilderness because it is not able to bring one soul unto God likewise it was delivered with signs full of wrath thunder and lightning and a dreadful noise to shew that God was full of indignation when he laid it upon us On the contrary he made the new Covenant of peace being reconciled to them that were lost or at least proffering reconciliation in his beloved Son Read this Doctrine Heb. xii from the 18. to the 24. verse Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and that burnt with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard entreated they might hear it no more They could not endure that which was commanded And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake but ye are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God c. Wherefore the Gospel was presented with manifest tokens of love and benevolence Ecce Evangelizo behold I bring you good tidings 2. There 's a difference arising between the first Testament and the last from the several Mediators that came between God and the people Moses was a servant faithful in the Family and he was the Mediator of the Old Testament Christ is the Son and Heir of all he was the Mediator of the New The Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 3. The old Covenant was ratified with the blood of Beasts but loe the New Covenant doth much surpass it which was ratified with the precious Blood of that immaculate Lamb which took away the sins of the world which is therefore called the Blood of the New Testament 4. The old Law in St. Paul's phrase contained poor and beggerly rudiments not able to bring to life It was a killing letter the ministry of death and condemnation it worketh wrath it entred that sin might abound it is like Hagar which gendreth children unto bondage Gal. iv 24. The Gospel is the power of salvation to every one that believeth a quickening Spirit it purgeth us from our sins it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel 5. That which Moses brought was an heavy burden which neither the Fathers nor the Children could bear but of the Gospel Christ saith his yoke is easie and his burden is light and in it you shall find rest for your souls Lastly the Old Testament endured unto Christ and no longer wherefore because it passed away it is called the Old the New Testament remaineth for ever so says St. Paul of our Blessed Saviour taking flesh who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life No passage or comparison can be made between them but the Law given at Mount Sinai will appear to be an harsh and most unwelcome injunction and that which doth clear us from the curse thereof is Evangelium the best tidings that ever arriv'd at the ear of man Hitherto I have consider'd the Old Testament in no respect but as it contains the killing letter of the Law but you must not mistake that the Holy Spirit hath interlaced many fast-holdings of Faith and promises Evangelical almost every where in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David Nay the Old Testament is rather Promise than Law yet it was fit the rigour of the Law should be repeated that it might more appear how necessary the promise of Grace was that we could not live without it and that every man being convicted in his conscience by the sentence of the Law we might more ardently fly to Grace for the end of the Moral Law is double to set us a rule what we should endeavour to do and to discover our own impotency unto us what we are not able to do that we may seek a remedy in the satisfaction of Christ But this I say that the darkness and obscurity of the Old Testament was enlightned with many excellent promises that the believing Israelites might be partakers of Faith and of everlasting life they had the same Gospel which we have the same Christ the same Faith the same Spirit sealing the truth of promise unto them Where is then the priviledge you will say that the tidings are better to us then unto them or far surpassing on our side every way Israel that believed in the promised seed was an heir but under age
days and three nights in the belly of the Whale so shall also the Son of man be in the lower parts of the earth as if Christ had been studious or rather would teach us to be studious to keep the pattern as near as we can of the good Generations that went before us I would be sorry such ignorance should be in any here to make a question whether Christ could have continued to fast not only for the space of so many days but all his life without the corruptible aliments of meats and drinks But if he had produced his abstinence from all food longer than Moses and Elias for the space of many months or many years it would have been incredible to many that he had been perfect man of the substance of his Mother and Heresies would have had strong grounds for delusions that he had not a fleshly but a celestial body How much better did his humility condescend to the likeness of his own Prophets And because he came but in the shape of a servant he would not exceed all example or outgo the miraculous fast of his fellow-servants he would have the world take knowledge of him to be a mighty Prophet at least no ways inferiour to the best that ever lived therefore he fasted forty days and forty nights like Moses and Elias But in this the one is as divers from the other and as much excels the other as can be imagined Moses and Elias were preserved by Gods mighty arm that their natural complexion might subsist without sustenance but Christs vertue was in himself and of himself absolute independent they were kept safe by an external power Christ by his own Godhead and by no derivative vertue Such glorious miracles are rather to be adored with admiration than to be followed with imperfect imitation And because a large field of controversie lies before me in this Point touching the observation of our Lenten temperance for forty days whether that ordinance were regulated by the example of Christ I will lay down three several heads of opinions in their order and bring you by degrees I hope to the truth of the controversie 1. I will enquire whether Christ did intend to ordain a prefixt time of abstinence in the Church for forty days by his example 2. If that be not so sound to hold yet whether it were an Apostolical Tradition 3. If that can neither be proved yet whether it be a laudable Ecclesiastical Constitution To the question of the first enquiry many of the greatest Doctors in the Church of Rome answer that the observance of the Quadragesimal Fast binds all Christians from our Saviours example So Cardinal Bellarmine Non verbis praescripsit hoc jejunium Christus sed exemplo praecepit we have no such ordinance in express words throughout all the Scripture to say do thus but it is an ordinance from Christs example And Maldonat the Jesuit though Lent be not founded upon Christs Commandment yet it is founded upon his Example and that is enough to say it leans upon divine Authority Beloved it behoves not us to lay burdens upon mens shoulders which God himself hath not imposed Whatsoever is commended to us for decorum and order sake we do it for conscience sake but whatsoever is no more but indifferent in it self and is obtruded upon us sub opinione necessitatis as necessary and irrefragable from divine Authority when it is not so we reject it Stand fast in the liberty wherewith God hath made you free says St. Paul Gal. v. 1. So St. Cyprian in the like case opposing them that invented traditions of their own and called them Gods Ordinances Periculosum est in divinis rebus ut quis cedat jure suo It is of a dangerous consequent to yield any thing to be a divine injunction which is not Therefore advising upon these rules I give a flat Negative upon the first question the Quadragesimal Fast is not necessarily to be observed from Christs example The old rule of divinity is a sure one Imitamur in moralibus admiramur in miraculosis in miraculous works we adore Christ with admiration in Moral Institutions we will follow him with imitation He anointed the eyes of the blind man with spittle and clay contraries to the cure according to nature and therefore we magnifie him is it not a most Heterogeneal Mimick from hence to make a mixture of spittle and oyl to an Infant baptized as if the Apostles had wanted ceremony to the Sacrament when they baptized with nothing but water If any man love me he will keep my sayings says our Lord but he never added If any man love me he will tie himself to my example where I never prescribed him to follow me For my part that which hapned to St. Peter works exceedingly upon my understanding in this case when he saw his Master walk upon the Sea as upon a solid Pavement he desired he might do the like and to let him know such miracles are to be lookt upon with the veneration of faith he sunk into the waters and was in peril of his life To stop every cranny of objection that can be made I read that the examples of Christs mighty works are sometimes pressed upon us to be drawn into an Analogical imitation 1 Pet. ii 21. Christ suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps How is that Being reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not and as he died for us so we should offer our selves up to him as spiritual Sacrifices and as he died and rose again the third day so we should die unto sin and rise again unto newness of life From hence says Maldonat this is right our case for we take not upon us to eat nothing for forty days as Christ did but we keep a canonical temperance for forty days Imitamur quia sequimur quamvis non assequimur This is no more than the Analogical imitation Those other imitations of some similitude have a precept in the Book of God and this hath none Therefore let them teach that their imitation being not Scripture proof is but a voluntary and a diaphorous Constitution of the Church and the Church of England will never be their adversary For so it is frequent in the Writings of good Antiquitie to alledge Christs example for their observance of the forty days fast not according to the Roman Tenet at this day that Christ established it necessarily in all places from that time forth unto the end of the world but they alledged Christs example to countenance their voluntary and Ecclesiastical Sanctions What can be more direct on my side than St. Chrysostome Homil. 47. in Mat. Christ did not say as I fasted forty days so do ye follow me in fasting but learn of me because I am meek and lowly and ye shall find rest for your souls Surely if he had given any particular order for fasting in the New Testament the
Supreme Magistrate of the Church to proclaime observations both for convenient seasons and for ordinary times of fasting I find indeed that one Aerius by name cried out for Christian liberty and pretended that Canonical Fasts were unjust thraldom but I find that the Church remitted none of her Discipline for all his clamour and he was counted but an Heretick for his labour But is it lawful not only to ordain a time of abstinence but also during that space to turn our ordinary food into another species and quality It is For that you may see what power the Church hath the first Canon that ever the Apostles made in the face of a publick Council was an ordination to inhibit the Brethren from meats offered to Idols and from bloud and from things strangled A temporary Canon it was to last for the space while the Jews took offence at the Gentiles converted unto the Faith but after the scandal was taken away the force of the Canon ceased witness one Text for all 1 Cor. viii 8. for in all appearance the worst of those meats forbidden was that which was offered to Idols yet St. Paul when he wrote that Epistle says it was lawful for a man to eat that meat offered to an Idol so he did not eat it with the conscience of an Idol Well then the Church did frame an injunction to make all men refrain from certain meats for a time As for this exception against some kind of diet for forty days which is called the quality of Fasting to say the troth the conscionable Writers of the Church of Rome will confess it is nothing less than a Fast properly taken Be it so that Flesh yields the most copious nourishment yet the greater sort of men are better pleased with the delicacies of Fish choice of Wines suckets and Electuaries it can be no Fast to replenish a mans self with these not only for necessity but even to flatter his Palate and to give his appetite satiety therefore even these things according to the intent of the Church should be taken with greater parsimony and abstinence than we do at other times And then I will shew it was impossible for the Church to take better care for the avoidance of gluttony than to appoint order for the quality of diet for no proportion can be set down in a general form and direction for the special quantity what every man should take for the space of forty days for a little pittance is a great meal to some queasie stomachs and a great allowance again would be too little to keep others in health who are of strong and sudden concoction Consider this reason and it will satisfie you for what cause your diet is moderated for forty days in the quality of our meat and not in the quantity Daniel fasted but half a Lent but three weeks and he inhibited himself for that space not to taste of Flesh or Wine In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks I eat no pleasant bread neither came Flesh or Wine into my mouth neither did I anoint my self at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled Dan. x. 2. Howsoever to close this Point obedience single by it self is better than fasting for fasting is reduced to the vertue of temperance obedience to the vertue of justice giving honour to whom honour belongeth and of all the cardinal vertues Justice is the fairest and the principal A lawful Constitution I have proved it but because many things are lawful which are not expedient it remains to be sifted and nothing remains but it whether it be a laudable appointment Certainly it is laudable in a very great degree both to rectifie our appetite in the concupiscible and in the irascible part In the concupiscible to abate our inclination toward the pleasure of our Palate and make us abstinent In the irascible to curb our lawless stubbornness and make us obedient Seneca an Heathen did perceive there was some defect in their Government that the people were not prohibited some kind of food for a time to make them know their subjection to the Magistrate Nullis animalibus nisi ex fastidio pax est says he The Creatures can never be at rest and quiet any time of the year when the Laws will have it so but when we loath them and we aim at temperance by our own palate and stomach not by the Law of the Magistrate Remember how directly you tread in the steps of Adam and follow the first sin that ever he committed if you set more by the pleasure of your Palate than by the duty of obedience St. Austin conceived this benefit would redound by that partial abstinence Qui ista vitamus quae aliquando licent imprimis peccata fugimus quae omnino non licent We that for a while deny our selves those things which are lawful will be the better prepared to shun iniquity which is altogether unlawful I omit one thing for in this copious subject I must make an Epitome not a full Treatise I omit I say the enumeration of all Political Emoluments those are in every mans tongue and knowledge to maintain Fishing to enrich the imployment of Mariners to inure us to hardness in the times of peace if Wars should exercise us abroad or at home to spare every young thing in the Spring of the year and to preserve the multiplication of the beasts of the field these things are commonly dictated from the bar of the Civil Governour But will you know the spiritual advantages Why we appease Gods wrath by humiliation and dejecting our selves for the sins of the whole year which we committed before It is a special time destined to sweep away the filth of the whole house for as in Moses Law Lev. xvi 30. All the people once a year did afflict themselves for expiation of their common sins so it is good to have a publick time allotted to deprecate the Divine Wrath that it may not fall upon the whole Nation Again all the Writers of all Ages cannot be deceived and all confess with one mouth that a moderation of diet especially continued for some considerable time of temperance must needs abate the violence of voluptuousness and luxury And because we see it in the examples of Peter and Daniel and many more in Scripture that Fasting doth elevate the mind and make it more capable of spiritual thoughts therefore it is well ordained that the most notable Fast in the year should go before the great Anniversary Communion of Easter I know some will say divers of the Reformed Churches have disused this ceremony to profess an abstinence in the quality of their meats for forty days They can best answer for themselves and do answer that their people if they retained that use would be seduced with Superstition But for our parts we have more cause to fear a pound of Gluttony than a dram of Superstition and more reason they should conform to us than we
Non ex authoritate sed pacto Not by any power and vertue which they have but by compacts and infernal Sacraments between them and Satan The Apostles and Evangelists did cast out Devils Non ex authoritate sed ministerio not by their own authority and strength but as ministerial instruments which God appointed over the evil Angels But Christ with absolute and independant authority lays his charge upon the Prince of Devils and he could not keep his ground against him Now let me ask you Beloved whether will you be led gently by the word of Exhortation Or be compelled violently as stubborn and stiff-necked whither you would not by the dreadful and irresistible word of indignity Let me invert those words for this motive which Christ used to Peter When thou wert young thou walk'd whither thou wouldst riotously intemperately prophanely But when Christ comes to judge thee for these things another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not Draw near to God in Prayer and in the works of mercy then Faith and Sanctification will pluck you a little nearer and nearer if your iniquities separate between the Lord and you you shall be cast afar off O who is able to endure that word Decede Depart from me ye wicked Lord whither should we go For in thy presence there is life and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore Another reason why he fled from the presence of Christ is Quia victus he was so beaten out of all falshoods and inventions by the evidence of truth that he was ashamed to appear any longer before the face of the Conquerour So St. Ambrose Etsi invidere non desinat tamen instare reformidat quia frequentiùs refugit triumphari Satans envy to hurt the Saints is never mitigated yet he loves not to deal with those that foil him often lest men should triumph over him for his fruitless endeavours If a penitent sinners humility breed joy in heaven an innocent mans stedfastness against tentations must breed envy and amazement in hell The frustrating of bad attempts against our soul will add honour to the reward which we shall have in heaven and Satan will be loth to make any man too much a Conquerour lest he get too much glory in the Kingdom of heaven for his victories If he could have foreseen that heroick vertue in Job and in the rest of the Martyrs certainly he would have recoiled away and never have touched their persons As it was said of M. Anthony that Augustus his fellow Triumvir had been so fortunate against him in all Games and Recreations that in the end he durst encounter him in nothing Formidavit genium Augusti genius Antonii There was a Genius in Augustus which did over-awe the Genius of Anthony So the Ghostly Adversary is afraid of such devout persons as Zachary and Elizabeth who walk blameless in all the Commandments and Ordinances of God if he do but see their lips move in Prayer he is suspicious of his own weakness and their fortitude that they will bruise his head Therefore St. Chrysostome likens him to a Dog that waits at Table while you feed him he stirs no◠from you shew him no kindness but kick him and spurn him from the Table and he runs away from your severity which is thus Morallized in an Apostolical rule Resist the Devil and he will fly from you Jam. iv 7. Or if he do not fly because he is overcome by you do you fly first and that is an undeniable means to overthrow him walk not in the counsel of the ungodly abhor their ways abandon the occasions which entrap your frailty fly Fornication 1 Cor. vi 18. My dearly beloved fly from Idolatry 1 Cor. x. 14. And in another passion The love of money is the root of all evil O man af God fly these things 1 Tim. vi 11. Joseph fled from his Mistresses importunity and so overcame the Devil of lust Upon which St. Austin speaks Non verendum fugere castitatis palmam desideranti obtinere It is no cowardize in him to fly away that would wear the palm of chastity Antigonus being put to disadvantage gave ground to his enemies what says an hot-spur that was near him Do you fly Not fly says Antigonus but Vtilitatem à tergo sitam persequor I only prosecute that profit or advantage which is behind me So if it be useful to avoid the baits of sin make away as fast as your feet can carry you where such evil occasions cannot overtake you For this cause some are said to leave the world and to retire unto their Prayers not that any man can go out of the world till God receive his Spirit at the last hour but because they are sequestred into a strict course of life as into another world where the old man and his concupiscence cannot find them out And so much for the second reason why the Tempter did leave Christ Quia victus he was beaten and deluded the sting of the Dragon would not enter into Christ and yet he had ended all his temptation Put the last reason to the former why he left our Saviour and the Point is done Quia idololatriae convictus because he was both guilty and convicted of Idolatry for the Antecedent suggestion If therefore thou wilt fall down and worship me all shall be thine No disputation is to be held about such blasphemy as this but take that which is thine own and be gone without any longer parly There is no Society no Communion in Christ to be held with Idolaters they must leave us or we must leave them Whether the Idolatry be Error personae a quite mistake in the person taking those things for God which by nature are no Gods this was Idolatry indeed at the worst and in the most loathed deformity or though it be but error in modo colendi an idolatrous manner of worshipping the true God whosoever are infected with either of these crimes are to be shunned much more than those in the Old Law that had the infection of Leprosie in the flesh The Children of Israel worshipped the true God in the Calf that Aaron made I have said enough of that before there was no error in the person whose honour they propounded they meant all to God but it was a misbegotten invention of their own which could not consist with the pure and sincere worship of the divine glory the superstitious manner was enough to cut them off from the Congregation of their Brethren For Moses charged the Sons of Levi not to excommunicate them but to be their Executioners a particular severity for that fault and for no other put every man his Sword by his side and go in and out from Gate to Gate throughout the Camp and slay every man his Brother and every man his Neighbour and every man his Companion and they did so All Neighbourhood Companionship and Brotherhood was to be dissolved with Idolaters
the old Greek Proverb goes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in every Pomgranat there are some corrupt kernels so there are some wicked ones in every Church 4. As the seeds of the Pomegranat are of a bloudy colour so the Robes of the Apostles and others the best kernels of the Church were red in the bloud of Martyrdom but made white in the bloud of the Lamb. The sum is in the whole Pomgranat in the lump we are the Body of Christ but take us one by one and consider us as sometimes we were darkness and now light in the Lord and that this fire was kindled in us all from the Altar of Christ Jesus and by them that minister at it so Jerusalem which is above is the Mother of us all For the most proper work of a Mother is to bring forth Children and the most proper work of a good Mother is to bring them up And because of these two Solomon in the same Canticle hath used this appellation which my Text doth I will bring thee into the House of my Mother that is the Church And though he were the greatest King one of them that ever the Earth saw yet it is no disparagement to him to call that his Mother which God calls his Spouse I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and faithfulness Hos ii 19. The Bridegroom hath taken this Bride unto him and their Offspring are multiplied and happy are those and none but they who are the legitimate Children of this sacred Marriage The Font of Baptism is the Womb of the Church the Spirit that moves upon the waters to sanctify them is the Father and from these two are brought forth the Sons of the Most High that shall dwell in glory for evermore And because of this indissoluble connexion between the Holy Ghost and this Spouse who is always present with it St. Austin notes that she must not only be a fruitful Mother in abundance of issue but also a pure Virgin because she knows none other Husband Ecclesia virgo est parit Mariam imitatur quae Dominum peperit the Church is both a Virgin and a Mother like the Mother of our Lord although a Mother yet of unquestioned virginity St. Ambrose runs more division upon the same string on this sort Sancta Ecclesia immaculata coit◠foecunda part◠virgo est castitate mater prole the holy Catholick Church keeps her Bed immaculate and yet her Offspring is innumerous a Mother by perpetual propagation and yet a Virgin by perpetual chastity Parit nos non dolore membrorum sed gaudio Angelorum nutrit nos non corporis lacte sed Apostolorum she is delivered of us with no pain or sorrow but with the joy of the Angels in Heaven she feeds us not with the breasts of a woman but the Milk of the Apostles which is better than Nectar to the Soul and the Manna that comes down from Heaven It is yet more admirable what God hath wrought upon this Jerusalem by demonstration of the Spirit and of power We are the dispersions of the Gentiles that are now the People of the Lord we were as a Strumpet that went a whoring after Idols and God hath betrothed this Church unto him and made it an unpolluted Virgin I deny not but lament it that there are some Christian stations affected towards Idolatry which renews the infamy of our ancient whoredoms But whatsoever our Mother is now our Grandmother was chaste and pure in Hegesippus dayes Take it in that sincerity of practice and Doctrin and then you may see the mighty works of Christ to turn an Harlot into a Virgin and a Virgin into a Mother Magna est sponsae singularis dignitas meretricem invenit virginem fecit says St. Austin this is the great and singular dignity of the Bride which hath prepared her self to meet the Bridegroom that comes from Heaven he hath changed her whoredom into virginity and multiplied her virginity into foecundity that she is the Mother of us all You see the Mother through whose Ministery every Christian is born again of water and of the Holy Spirt neque parcit unigenito pro sic genito the Father did not spare his only begotten Son that we might be thus begotten But is there no more that belongs to a Mother than to bring forth yes says Clemens Alexandrinus and I quote him because he speaks of the Church every thing that brings forth is obliged by nature to supply nourishment unto that which it brings forth I am not so rigid but I will grant that in cases of weakness and divers accidental indispositions that which nature doth ordinarily urge and provide for may be dispensed but this rule is born with every Female that which is so fruitful as to be a Mother should be so careful as to be a Nurse And so is the Church Not only Moses the Law-giver carried the People of Promise as a nursing Father carrieth his Child Num. xi 12. by tenderness by ordering their steps by breeding them in good Precepts and Laws but the Apostles were much more laborious to feed the Christian Proselytes with the Word of life that they might grow up from grace to grace unto the stature of perfect righteousness I have fed you with Milk says St. Paul to the newly converted Corinthians 1 Cor. iii. 2. and he suppeditated stronger meat to them that could digest it And for all manner of sweetness and forbearance he behaved himself gently among the Thessalonians as a Nurse cherisheth her Children 1 Thes ii 7. Every Rule and Doctrin which is delivered sincerely and in truth is Milk to those that thirst to drink of the Well of salvation Honey and Milk are under thy tongue says Solomon speaking of this Mother and Nurse Cant. iv xi Milk is a pleasant food so is the Gospel to them that have a spiritual taste there is no Aloes or bitterness in it but to them that have a carnal palat It is Antalcidas his answer in Plutarch to one that asked how he might speak that which might be accepted says he Si loquaris jucundissima praestes utilissima if you will deliver that which is most pleasant and season it with that which is most profitable so that which is sucked from the Breasts of this Parent arrides the taste with sweetness and it is as profitable as sweet and called Milk because it is a most growing nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Naturalists as they were accounted plain and innocent above all other People so they did excel for health and magnitude of body Be admonished therefore that such Christians as wax not better and better take some other thing for their nourishment than the Milk of the Church which doth not prosper in them If you do not grow and add virtue to virtue you have chosen a Nurse with dry breasts and whose complexion is diverse