worse may be is the case of Christs Spouse the true Inheritrix of his Crosse which he bequeathed her at his death having indeed little else to leave her for his soule he was to surrender to God his Father his body Joseph of Arimathea begged of Pilat his cloathes the souldiers parted among them onely his crosse and nailes and crowne of thornes remained to dispose of for his dearest Spouse which she continually beareth about with her and in this vision carried with her into the wildernesse whither she fled to save her life And the woman Fled This picture might have beene taken of the Church as she fled from Pharaoh into the wildernesse or as she fled into Egypt from Herod or as she fled into all parts of the earth in the time of the ten first persecutions from heathen Emperors or in the succeeding ages from the Arrian Emperours and last of all from Antichrist and his instruments in all which her trialls and troubles she gained more than she lost For as Justine Martyr rightly observed t Just apolog Id est persecutio Ecclesiae quod vineae putatio persecution is that to the Church which pruning is to the vine whereby it is made more fruitfull with whom Tertullian accordeth thus jearing at the Gentiles who made full account by their barbarous cruelty to exhaust the whole Church and extinguish the name of Christians u Tert. apolog c. ult Nequicquam tamen proficit exquisita quaeque crudelitas vestra illecebra est magis sectae plures esficimur quoties metimur a vobis semen est sanguis Christianorum What gaine you by your exquisite crueltie and studied torments which you inflict upon us they are no scarre-crowes to fright but rather baites and lures to draw men to our profession we ever grow faster and thicker after we are mowed by you the shedding the bloud of Christians is the sowing the seed of the Gospell And St. Leo x I eoserm 1. in nat Petri Pauli Non minuitur persecutionibus Ecclesia Dei sed augetur magis ager Dominicus segete ditiore vestitur dum grana quae singula cadunt multiplicata nascuntur The Church of God is not diminished by persecutions but increased rather the Lords field is cloathed with a richer crop whilest the seed or graines which fall one by one after they are dead in the earth rise up againe in great numbers Moreover whilest in the chief Cities those who are called by God to depose for his truth win many thousands to the Christian faith other servants of Christ to whom he hath vouchsafed meanes to escape by dispersing themselves into all parts of the world propagate the doctrine of the Gospell and plant new Churches Upon this flight of the woman in my text many of the learned Interpreters take occasion to handle that great case of conscience whether it be lawfull to fly in time of persecution or whether all zealous Christians are not bound to stand to their tackling and strive for the truth even to the effusion of their bloud y Aug. l. 22. de civ Dei c. 7. Pullulatura foecunditis cum in sanguine Martyâ—um seretur y Tert. infug in erscâ—ut Tertullian in his booke professedly written of this subject is altogether against flight grounding his judgement upon the words of our Saviour John 10.11 c. I am the good shepheard the good shepheard giveth his life for the sheepe But he that is an hireling and not the shepheard whose owne the sheep are not seeth the Wolfe comming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth the hireling flyeth because he is an hireling c. And Marke 8.35 38. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of mee and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commeth in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels But Saint Austin and others allow of flight in some case and they bring very good warrant for it Christs expresse command Matth. 10.23 When they persecute you in this city flee into another And Matth. 24.15 16. When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountaines And to the end we should count it no shame to flye in this case they bring noble presidents for it and shew us the footsteps in Scripture of Jacob when he fled from Esau and Moses when hee fled from Pharaoh and Eliah when hee fled from Ahab and Jezabel and David when hee fled from Saul and Joseph and Mary when they fled from Herod They adde also that by this flight of many in time of persecution the Church reapeth a double benefit first hereby many worthy Doctors and eminent Professours reserve themselves for better times next they in their flight scatter the seeds of the Gospel whereby the great Husbandman gathereth a plentifull crop If the Apostles had not been scattered by the persecution of Herod and the primitive Christians by the persecutions of the Heathen Emperours and the true Professours in later times by the persecution of Antichrist many countries in all likelihood had not been sowen with the pure seed of the Word The resolution of this question may be taken from my Text in such a case as the womans was here we may flie that is when there is no safety in staying and God offereth us Eagles wings that is a faire and certaine meanes to escape danger Yea but Christian courage will rise up against this and object Is not Martyrdome a garland of red Roses is not the bloud of Saints the best watering of Gods field can wee shew more love to Christ than to signe the Gospell with our bloud will you perswade Christian souldiers to flye from their colours nay from their crowne God forbid I answer all are not appointed by God to bee Martyrs nor qualified for so noble and eminent service To a Martyr two things are required 1. A speciall calling 2. An extraordinary spirit Even in our Courts of justice a witnes that offereth himself is not accepted he must be brought in by order of law neither will Christ have any depose for him that are not called to it whom he calleth he endueth them with an heroicke spirit and armeth them with faith and patience like armour of proofe into which the fiery darts of the wicked cannot enter Every sincere beleever hath not a spirit of fortitude given him to conquer the violence of fire and dull the edge of the sharpest swords and weary all tortures and torments Moreover God like a provident Husbandman though he send much corne to the Mill to be ground as Ignatius and others that they might be served in as fine manchet at his owne table yet he reserveth alwayes some corne for seed I meane
some pastours and eminent professours to sow his field in future times and propagate Religion to posterity These may and ought to flie in time of persecution provided first that they flie not when their conscience perswadeth them that their flight will be a great scandall to Religion and a discouragement to the weaker and they feele in themselves a great and earnest desire to glorifie God by striving for his truth unto bloud For being thus called by God and enabled and encouraged they must preferre Gods glory before their life and a crowne of martyrdome before any earthly condition 2. That they leave not the Church destitute For Christ giveth it for one of the characters of an hireling to y John 10.13 flie when hee seeth the Wolfe comming and looke to his owne safety taking little care what becommeth of his flocke 3. They must not use any indirect meanes to flye they may not betray Gods truth or their brethren to save their owne life he that saveth his life upon such termes shall lose it and he that loseth his life in Gods cause shall finde it You will say peradventure how may this be I answer as that which is lost in Alpheus after a certaine time is undoubtedly found againe in Arethusa so that which is lost on earth shall be found in Heaven Hee that loseth his life for Christs sake in this vale of teares shall finde it at the last day in the z Psal 16.11 river of pleasures springing at the right hand of God for evermore When the Starres set here they rise in the other hemisphere so when Confessours and Martyrs set here they rise in heaven and shall never set againe Therefore as Christ spake of Virginity wee may say of Martyrdome what he spake of the garland of white roses we may of the garland of red Qui potest capere capiat Hee that is able to receive it let him receive it he that is not able let him trace the footsteps of the woman here that fled Into the wildernesse Not by change of place saith a In Apoc. c. 12. Fugit non mutatione loci sed amissione status ornatus Pareus but change of state and condition I see no reason of such a restraint the Church may and sometimes doth flye two manner of wayes 1. Openly when being persecuted in one country shee posteth into another 2. Secretly when shee abideth where shee was but keepeth her selfe close and shunneth the eye of the world and worshippeth God in secret mourning for the abominations and publike prophanations of true Religion Thus then wee may expound the words the woman fled into the wildernesse that is she withdrew her selfe from publike view kept her exercises of Religion in private held her meetings in cryptis hidden places as vaults under ground b Heb. 11 38. They wandred in deserts mountaines and dens and caves of the earth dens and caves in the earth or if persecution raged above measure and without end removed from country to country and from city to wildernesse for safety By wildernesse some learned Expositors understand remote countries inhabited by Paynims and Gentiles where yet the fire of persecution is not kindled For say they though such places be never so well peopled yet they may be termed deserts because never manured by Gods husbandry never sown with the seed of the Word never set with plants of Paradise never watered with the dew of heavenly grace And if the Church had not removed into such wildernesses she had never visited us in England severed after a sort from the whole world Toto divisos Orbe Britannos But such hath beene Gods goodnesse to these Ilands that the woman in my text was carried with her c Ver. 14. And to the woman was given two wings of a great Eagle Eagles wings into these parts before the Roman Eagles were brought in here our Countrey submitted it selfe to the Crosse of Christ before it stooped to the Roman scepter Howbeit I take not this to be the meaning of this Scripture For the propagation of the Church and the extending her bounds to the remotest regions of the world maketh her catholike and by it she becommeth glorious whereas the Spirit speaketh here of her as in some eclipse The wildernesse therefore here meant must needes be some obscure place or region to which she fled to hide her selfe If you demand particularly when this prophecy was fulfilled I answer partly in those Hebrewes of whom St. Paul writeth that they lay in wildernesses and dennes and caves of the earth partly in those Disciples that were in Jerusalem in the time of the siege and a little before who mindfull of our Saviours commandement fled into the mountaines and were miraculously preserved in Pella as Eusebius writeth partly in those Christians who in the dayes of Maximinus and Dioclesian fled so farre that they never returned backe againe into any City but were the fathers of them that live in woods and desarts as Hermites or inclosed within foure walls as Recluses and Anchorites partly in those Orthodoxe beleevers who in the reigne of the Arrian Emperours tooke desarts and caves under ground for sanctuary of whom St. Hilarie writeth saying d L. adver Auxent Ecclesia potius delituit in cavernis quam in primariis Urbibus eminebat The Church rather lurked in holes and vaults under ground in those dayes than shewed her selfe openly in the chiefe Cities partly in those professours of the Gospell who ever since the man of sinne was revealed have beene by him put to great streights and driven to lie hid for many yeeres in solitary and obscure places in all which persecutions of the Church God prepared for her not only a place to lodge in but a table also that they should Feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Some referring this prophesie to the Jewes abode in Pella find the time to be precisely three yeeres and an halfe others by dayes understanding yeeres reckon from the declining age of Constantine till the great reformation in our age neere upon a thousand two hundred and threescore yeeres in all which time the true Church hath played least in sight and beene in a maner buried in oblivion But neither is this calculation exact neither as I conceive doth St. John speake of one flight onely nor of any particular place nor definite number of yeeres but after the manner of Prophets putteth a definite number for an indefinite and foresheweth that the true Church must for a long time lie hid and withdraw her selfe out of the worlds eye as it is afterwards exprest a time times and halfe a time a time under the heathen Emperours times under severall Heretikes and last of all halfe a time in that last and greatest tribulation immediately before the utter overthrow of Antichrist For that e Mat. 24.22 persecution shall be shortened as our Saviour intimateth for the Elects sake lest all flesh should perish You have here as before I shewed you the Church of Christ drawne as it were with a coale and expressed with three darke and sad markes 1 Frailty A woman 2 Perplexity Fled 3 Obscurity To the wildernesse Her
ready mind 3. Neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but being ensamples to the flock 4. And when the chiefe Shepheard shall appeare yee shall receive a crowne of glory that fadeth not away The Tree of saving knowledge page 145. A Sermon preached in Lent March 16. before the King at Whitehall 1 Corinth 2.2 I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Primitiae Sepulchri page 162. A Sermon preached at the Spitall on Munday in Easter week April 22. 1 Corinth 15.20 But now Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept The true Zealot page 185. A Sermon preached at the Archbishops Visitation in Saint Dunstans in the East John 2.17 The zeale of thine house hath eaten mee up The Salters Text. page 196. A Sermon preached before the company of the Salters at Saint Maries Church in Breadstreet Marke 9.49 For every one shall be salted with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt The spirituall Bethesda page 207. A Sermon preached at a Christening in Lambeth Church the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie and the Lord Duke of Buckingham being Godfathers Octob. 29. 1619. Marke 1.9 And it came to passe in those dayes that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galile and was baptized of John in Jordane The living Temple page 217. A Sermon preached at the Readers feast in the Temple Church 2 Corinth 6.16 For ye are the Temple of the living God The Generall his Commission page 231. A Sermon preached at S. Jones before the right Honourable the Earles of Oxford Exeter and Southampton and divers other Captaines and Commanders ready to take their journies into the Low-countries 1621. Josuah 1.9 Have not I commanded thee be strong and of a good courage be not affraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest The Crowne of Humility page 240. A Sermon preached in Wooll-Church April 10. 1624. Matthew 5.3 Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven Christ his new Commandement page 251. A Sermon preached in Wooll-Church John 13.34 A new commandement I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another The Stewards account page 261. A Sermon preached in the Abbey Church at Westminster Luke 16.2 Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward The Passing Bell. page 280. A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell at the Funerall of Master Bennet Merchant Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise then they would understand this they would consider their latter end The embleme of the Church Militant page 292. A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell Apoc. 12.6 And the woman fled into the wildernesse where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes The Saints Vest page 307. A Sermon preached on All-Saints day at Lincolnes Inne for Doctor Preston Apoc. 7.14 These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe Sermons preached at Serjeants Inne in Fleetstreet The Christian Victory page 319. Apoc. 2.17 To him that overcommeth will I give to eate of the hidden Manna and I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it The hidden Manna page 329. Apoc. 2.17 I will give to eate of the hidden Manna The white Stone page 341. Apoc. 2.17 And I will give him a white stone The new Name page 354. Apoc. 2.17 And in the same stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it Satanae Stratagemata page 369. 2 Corinth 2.11 Lest Sathan should get an advantage of us for wee are not ignorant of his devices Sermons preached at Saint Pauls Crosse or in the Church The beloved Disciple page 385. John 21.20 The Disciple whom Jesus loved which also leaned on his breast at Supper The Yeere of Grace page 397. 2 Corinth 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation The Spouse her precious Borders page 408. A Rehearsall Sermon preached 1618. at the Crosse Cant. 1.11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver The Angel of Thyatira endited page 454. A Sermon preached at the Crosse 1614. Revel 2.18 19 20. 18. And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write these things saith the Sonne of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like fine brasse 19. I know thy workes and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy workes and the last to be more than the first 20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eate things sacrificed unto Idols Jezebel set out in her colours page 474. A Sermon preached in Saint Pauls Church 1614. Revel 2.20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eate things sacrificed unto Idols Sermons preached at Oxford Foure rowes of precious Stones page 498. A Rehearsall Sermon preached in Saint Maries 1610. Exod. 28.15 16 17 18 19 20 21. 15. And thou shalt make the breast-plate of judgement with cunning worke 16. Foure square shall it be being doubled 17. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones even foure rowes of stones the order shall be this A Ruby a Topaze and an Emrald in the first rowe 18. And in the second rowe thou shalt set a Carbuncle a Saphir and a Diamond 19. And in the third rowe a Turkeise and an Agate and an Amethyst 20. And in the fourth rowe a Beril and an Onyx and a Jasper and they shall be set in gold in their inclosings or imbosments Hebrew fillings 21. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel twelve according to their names like the engravings of a signet every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve Tribes The devout soules Motto page 537. A Sermon preached at Saint Peters Church in Lent 1613. Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee The Royall Priest page 551. A Sermon preached in Saint Maries Church 1613. Psal 110.4 The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek The Arke under the Curtaines page 570. A Sermon preached at the Act July 12. 1613. 2 Sam. 7.2 The King said unto Nathan the Prophet See now I dwell in an house of Cedar but the Arke of the Lord dwelleth within curtaines Pedum Pastorale page 584. Concio ad Clerum habita Oxoniae octavo Cal.
Quo cunque loco Roma duobus erit Martial epigr. Wheresoever wee two are wee make that place as Rome to us have wee not great reason to thinke that wheresoever God and the faithfull soule are together and the one enjoyeth the presence of the other there is Paradise nay there is Heaven This sweet flower I gather from this wildernesse to which David was driven by the pursuit of Saul his dreadfull and powerfull enemy It was a vast and wilde place a thirsty land without water verse the first yet here David is refreshed with waters of comfort and rivers of pleasure there was neither Church nor Chappell in it yet here David seeth the glory of God as in the Sanctuary verse the second It was a barren soile yeelding no manner of sustenance for men or cattell yet here David is satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse verse the sixth It was a hot and scorching place yet here David findeth a shade to coole himselfe viz. under the shadow of Gods wings verse the eighth In regard of which commodities of this wildernesse I cannot but breake out into the praises of it as Saint e Hierom. epist ad Heliodor O Desertum Christâ— floribus vernans O Solitudo in qua illi nascuntur lapides de quibus in Apocalypsi civitas magni Regis extruitur O Eremus familiarús Deo gaudens Quà m diu te tectorum umbrae premunt quà m diâ— fum sarum u bium ca cer includit nescio quid hic plus lucis aspicio Jerome doth into the commendations of the Desart of Syria O Wildernesse enameled with the flowers of Paradise O Desart in which those stones grow of which the heavenly Jerusalem is built O solitude enjoying the familiarity of God and his Angels Why doest thou keep under the shade of houses Why doest thou shut thy selfe up in the prison of smoaky Cities come hither to mee thou shalt finde here freer aire and much more light Such pleasure this holy Father took in that solitary and uncouth place And Saint f Hilar. con Auxent Malè vos parietum amor cepit montes mihi sylvae solitudines lacus voragines sunt tutio res in illis enim Propherae aut demersi aut manentes Dei Spiritu prophetabant Hilary seemeth to be in love with the like places by those speeches of his You doe ill to dote upon walls to build your faith upon stately buildings I for my part preferre hills and woods desarts and dens and caves and rockes and lakes for these have been the habitations and lodgings of Gods dearest servants the Prophets The Law was first given in the Wildernesse of Arabia The Gospel was first preached by John the Baptist in the Wildernesse of Judeah The noblest duell that ever was fought was between Christ and the Divell and the pitched field was the Wildernesse The woman that was clothed with the Sunne and had the Moone under her feet lived obscurely in the Wildernesse a thousand two hundred and sixty dayes and many of Gods dearest children all the daies of their life Apoc. 12.6 The number of whom was so great and their labours so profitable and their lives so admirable in the Primitive Church that as the Prophet spake of the barren woman that she had more children than she that had an husband so we may say of the barren soile and wildernesse that it hath brought forth a greater increase to the Church than many inhabited countries and better husbanded land There are divers sorts of plants and fruits that must be set in the Sunne or else they will not prosper but others are scorched with the heate thereof and better thrive in the shade such were Paulus g Vid. Hieron in â—ita Paidi Hilarionis Marianum Victorinum in vita sancti Hieronomi Eremita St. Antony St. Hilarion St. Basil S. Jerome St. Isidore Pelusiotes and others which proved the fairest flowers in the garden of the Church and prime-roses of Christs Spouse yet grew in the Wildernesse with whom the Bishops of the greatest Sees may not compare least of all the Bishops of Rome of whom their owne creature h Platina in vitis Pontif. Hic Pontifex nihil memoriâ dignum reliquit hic pontifex nisi podagram habuisset omnind ignoraretur Platina hath often nothing to say but that he can say nothing This Pope saith he left nothing behind him worth memory Well fare this Popes gout but for it he had gone out of the world without any notice taken of him i Baron tom 10. ad ann 900. Intrudebantur in Petri sedem meretricum Amasii pseudo-Pontifices qui non sunt nisi ad consignanda tempora in Catalogo Romanorum Pontificum scripti Baronius himselfe who received a Cardinals cap to burnish the Popes triple golden Mitre reckons himselfe up a dicker of Popes who served for nothing but as ciphers to fill up the number of Bishops or Chronologicall markes to designe the times But I am affraid lest I shall lose my selfe in this Wildernesse of Ziph and therefore I will make haste out of it and come into the rode of my Text. They that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe c. Doctr. 2 Davids confidence in God in this Epitasis of all his troubles and Crisis of all his affaires and the height of his hope in the depth of misery ought to settle fast the anchor of our hope in all the surges of tentations Wee see in him what is the carriage of Gods Saints in their greatest extremities They never cast away the buckler of their faith but lift up their hearts and hands to the God of their salvation and hope even above hope in him who is able to save beyond all means Thus resolute Martin Luther when he had stirred up the whole world against him and there was no other appearance but that the doctrine of the Gospel should have been stifled in the cradle flyes to his God layes hold on him by faith and offereth violence unto him by prayer and never leaveth wrestling with him till he received comfort from him and rising up chearfully from his devotion comes out of his closet triumphantly to his fellow-labourers saying Vicimus We have overcome at which time k Sleidan in com sui temporis Vicimus Sleidan observeth that there came out a Proclamation from Charles the fifth that none should bee farther molested for the profession of the Gospel What speake I of a noble Champion of Christ Numa Pompilius a Heathen King of the Romans when newes was brought him of his enemies that they were at hand ready to surprize him put the messenger off with this memorable speech l Plutarch apoph in vit Numae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What tell you me of dangers or enemies doe you not see that I am about sacrificing to God Numa his confidence was paralleled by m Raleigh hist of the World c. 6.
City here present were wise then would wee understand this this spectacle of our nature this embleme of our frailty this mirrour of our mortality Applicat ad defunct and in it consider our later end which cannot bee farre off For our deceased brother is here arrested before our eyes for a debt of nature in which wee are as deeply ingaged as hee and if either the wealth of the world or gifts of nature or jewels of grace might have redeemed him if either skill of Physicians or love and care of his friends or prayers and teares of his kindred and his dearest second selfe could have bayled him hee had not been laid up as now you see him But let no man sell you smoake to dazâ— your eyes in such sort but that you may all see your owne faces in thiâ— broken glasse There is no protection to bee got from King or Nobles iâ— this case no rescuing any by force from this Sergeant of God death aâ—â— baile or mainprise from this common prison of all mankinde the grave all our comfort is that we may hereafter sue out an habeas corpus which the Judge of all flesh will not deny us at the generall Assizes that we may make our corporall appearance at his barre in the clouds and there have our cause tryed Doe you desire to know how this debt with infinite arrerages groweth upon us and all mankinde Saint Austin giveth you a good account the woman tooke up sinne from the Serpent as it were by loane consensu Adam fecit cautionem usura crevit posteritati Adam by consenting sealed the band the interest hath runne upon all his posterity and the interest that death had in him by sinne and upon us by him and the interest upon interest by numberlesse actuall sinnes eateth us out one by one till death that swalloweth us up all in the end be swallowed up into b 1 Cor. 15.15 victory and then shall be fulfilled that prophesie O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory At which Goale-delivery of all deaths prisoners wee that are living shall not prevent our brother that lyeth asleep before us in his winding sheet upon whose hearse after I have strowed a few flowers I will commit him to the earth and you to God 1. The first flower is a Rose the embleme of charity For a Rose is hot in nature it spreadeth it selfe abroad and after it is full blowne shattereth both leaves and seeds so charity is hot in the affection spreadeth it selfe abroad by compassion and scattereth seeds by almes-deeds Our deceased brother like a provence or double Rose for God doubled the blessings of this life upon him spread himselfe abroad every way by largesse and shed seeds plentifully but withall so secretly that his left hand knew not what his right hand did his Legacies by his death were not great because his will was in this kind to be his owne executor by his life time 2. The second flower is the Lilly the embleme of purity and chastity For the Lilly is perfect white in colour and cold in operation and thereby representeth pure chastity which cooleth the heat of lust this flower he kept unblasted in the time and place of most danger in the prime of his youth and in his travels beyond the sea where hee chose his consort out of pure love and ever loved his choice with a constant and loyall affection unto death 3. The third flower is the Violet the embleme of humility For the Violet is little as the humble is in his owne eyes and groweth neere the ground from whence the humble taketh his name humilis ab humo and of all other flowers it yeeldeth the sweetest savour as humility doth in the nostrils of God and man Of his humility hee gave good proofe in his lovely and lowly carriage towards all in his refusing places of eminency in renouncing all confidence in his owne merits at his death and forbidding that a Trumpet should bee blowne before his workes of piety or charity Wherefore I must be silent of the dead by the command of the dead with whose Christian and happy end I will conclude I was the happinesse of Homer to bee borne in Rhodes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rosa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viola a place taâ—â—â—g the name from Roses and to bee buried in Chios taking the name â—â—â—m Violets this was the happinesse of our brother who was borne and buried in the garden of Christs Spouse where he drew in his first and let out his last breath in the sincere profession of the Gospel which is the savour of life unto life which happinesse God grant unto us all for his Son Jesus Christ his sake To whom c. THE EMBLEME OF THE CHURCH MILITANT A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell THE XXIII SERMON APOC. 12.6 And the woman fled into the wildernesse where shee hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Right Honourable right Worshipfull c. THe a Caussin parab hist Ceraunias in locis fulmine tactis invenitur Naturalists write of a precious stone called Ceraunias that it is found only in a day of thunder glistering when the skie is overcast with darknes With these gems the Spouse of Christ is adorned whose faith constancy and patience shine most brightly in time of adversity and persecution when all the earth is full of darknesse and cruell habitations As b Plin. nat hist l. 2. In Troglodytis fons solis circa meâ—idiem maximè frigidus mox paulatim tepescens ad noctis medium ferventissimus est c. 103. the fountaine of the sunne in the country of the Troglodytes is cold or lukewarme at mid-day but most extreme hot at mid-night such is the nature of zeale in the day of prosperity and high noone of temporall glory it is cold or at the best luke-warme but in the night of adversity and dead time of persecution it is most fervent and flagrant Then the sincere professors open their hearts most freely in prayer to God and their bowels of Christian charity and compassion to their afflicted brethren the feare of their enemies husheth their private differences their losse of goods and lands is an inducement to them to contemne the world and as having little or no comfort in this life to set their hearts wholly upon Heaven On the contrary peace usually breeds carnall security abundance luxury wealth pride honour ambition power oppression pleasure sensuality and earthly contentments worldlinesse the bane of Religion In which consideration especially we may conceive it is that our blessed Lord the Husband of the Church who loveth her more than all the world besides which hee preserveth onely for her sake yet seldome crowneth her in this world with worldly happinesse and eminent greatnesse but exerciseth her now under the crosse as hee did under the bondage of Egypt and captivity of
Babylon before his comming into the flesh and after his death first under the fury of the Heathen next the cruelty of the Arrian Emperours and since that under the insolency of the Turke in the East and tyranny of Antichrist in the West As hee is termed by the Prophet Esay Vir dolorum a man of sorrowes so we finde her Uxorem lachrymarum a wife of teares as he was crowned with thorns so she lyeth in the briars as he was laid in wait for at his birth so she at her new birth as he fled from Herod into Egypt so she from the Dragon into the wildernesse as he was tempted once so she is alwayes as he bare his crosse to Golgotha so she hath borne hers in all parts and ages of the world Indeed sometimes she hath had lucida intervalla times of lightsomenesse and joy when Kings have been her nursing fathers and Queenes her nursing mothers but for the most part she sitteth in darknesse as a close mourner yet solacing her selfe with c Micah 7.8 Rejoyce not against mee O my enemy When I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be light unto mee hope of better times Hence it is that all the pictures that are drawne of her in Scripture are either taken from a d Apoc. 12.13 child-bearing woman frighted by a Dragon gaping to devoure her babe or a e Lament 1.1 widow making lamentation for her husband or a mother f Matth. 2.18 weeping for her children or a g Psal 39.12 pilgrime passing from country to country or an hermite lodged in the wildernesse as here in my Text. The Saints of God are described in holy Scripture clad in three sutes of apparrell different in colour 1. Blacke 2. Red. 3. White Blacke is their mourning weed Red their military ornament White their wedding garment They mourne in blacke for their sinnes and grievous afflictions They fight in red against their bloudy persecutours They triumph and sit at the marriage feast of the h Apoc. 16.11 And white robes were given to every one of them Lambe in white Two of their sutes they are well knowne by on earth the third is reserved in Gods Wardrob and shall be given them in Heaven The two former may be called their working day apparrell but the last their Holy-day or Sunday For they weare it not but upon their everlasting Sabbath in Heaven Their red and blacke vests doe not so much cover their bodies as discover their state and condition in this world where they alwayes either stand and fight with their bodily and ghostly enemies or sit downe and i Job 7.1 weep for their irrecoverable losses and incurable wounds Their life is a i Job 7.1 continuall warfare upon earth three potent enemies continually bid them battell 1 The World Without 2 The Flesh Within 3 The Divell Both within and without The Divell never ceaseth to suggest wicked thoughts the World to present dangerous baites the Flesh to ingender noysome lusts The Divell mainly assaulteth their faith the World their hope the Flesh their love and they fight with three speciall weapons 1 Temptations 2 Heresies 3 Persecutions Temptations I call all vitious provocations heresies all false doctrines in matter of faith and salvation persecutions all outward afflictions Temptations properly lay at the will heresies at the understanding persecutions at the whole person which though the Church of Christ for the most part in her noble members couragiously endureth and therefore is fitly compared to the Pyrausts which are nourished in the fire and to the Phoenix because she riseth againe out of the ashes of the burnt bodies of Martyrs yet sometimes especially in her weake and more feeble members to escape this fire she flies into some wildernesse or remote or obscure place where God alwayes provideth for her Division And the woman there is the frailtie of her nature fled there is the uncertainty of her state into the wildernesse there is the place of her retirednesse where she is nourished by God there is the staffe of her comfort a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes there is the terme of her obscuritie and the period of all her troubles And the woman c. Though all the prophecies of this booke are darkned with much obscurity yet by illustrating the vision set downe through this whole chapter and hanging it as it were a great light in the most eminent part of it we shall easily discover what divine truth lyeth hid in every corner thereof The holy Apostle and the Evangelist S. John in a divine rapture saw a most faire and glorious woman in travell and an ugly red Dragon with seven heads and ten hornes standing before her with open mouth ready to devoure her child of which she was no sooner delivered but her son was taken up to the Throne of God and she carried with the wings of an Eagle into the Wildernesse the Dragon thus deceived of his prey after which his mouth watered cast out of his mouth water as a floud after her to drowne her Such was the vision marke now I beseech you the interpretation thereof By the woman all that have dived deepe into the profound mysteries of this booke understand the Church whose beautie and glory is k Ver. 1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the Sunne and the Moone under her feet and upon her head a crowne of twelve starres illustrated by the Sunne cloathing her and the Moone supporting her and the Starres crowning her The Sunne either signifieth the knowledge of Gods Word which enlighteneth the Church throughout or Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse who cloathes her with the robes of his righteousnesse Mal. 4 2. and exalteth her to his throne of glory above the Moone on which she standeth and thereby sheweth her contempt of this uncertaine and mutable world ruled by the Moone and subject to as many changes as that planet Thus it seemeth cleere what is meant by the Sunne and Moone but what shall we make of the crowne of twelve starres set upon her head It seemeth to represent either the number of the twelve Patriarkes the Crowne of the Jewish or the twelve Apostles the Crown of the Christian Church The man child which this woman had no sooner brought forth but he was caught up unto God in his Throne Ver. 5. and was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron is undoubtedly our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as by comparing the fift verse of this chapter with Psal 2. v. 9. and Apoc. 2.27 and 19.15 appeareth most evidently As for the Dragon he is so set out in his colours v. 9. that any may know him there he is called the old Serpent the Divell and Satan which deceiveth the whole world The waters which he casteth out of his mouth are multitudes of people which he stirreth up to persecute the Church He is described with
seven heads and ten hornes like to the woman whereby the Roman Empire or Church is meant called Babylon the Mother of fornications and abominations on the earth ver 5. because the Dragon employed the seven heads and ten hornes Apoc. 17 3.5 that is the policie and strength of the Roman State especially to suppresse the true Religion and overthrow the Church Other Kingdomes and States have beene stained with the bloud of Christians but Rome is that Whore of Babylon which hath died her garments scarlet red with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Christ others have licked or tasted thereof but she in regard of her barbarous crueltie in this kind is said to be l Apoc. 17.6 drunke with their bloud The vision thus cleared the meaning of my text and the speciall points of observation in each word therein may easily be discerned The first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the woman figureth unto us the Church her 1 Originall 2 Fruitfulnesse 3 Tendernesse 4 Weakenesse 5 Frailtie 1 First her Originall As the first Adam being cast into a slumber the woman was formed of a rib taken out of his side so when the second Adam fell into a dead sleepe on the Crosse his side was opened and thence issued this woman here in my text Christs dearest Spouse 2 Her fruitfulnesse The honour of women is their childbearing For therefore was Heva called the mother of the living because all save Adam came from her such is the Church a most indulgent and fruitfull mother Heva mater viventium the mother of all that live by faith And as St. m Cypr de unit Eccles Deum non habet patrem qui ecclesiam non habet matrem Cyprian concluded against all the Schismatikes in his time we may resolve against all the Separatists in our daies they cannot have God to their Father who acknowledge not the Church for their Mother 3 Her tendernesse Mulier saith Varro quasi mollior women take their name in latine from tendernesse or softnesse because they are usually of a softer temper than men and much more subject to passions especially of feare griefe love and longing their feare is almost perpetuall their griefe immoderate their love ardent and their longing most vehement such is the temper of the militant Church in feare alwayes weeping continually for her children never out of trouble in one place or other sicke for love of her husband Christ Jesus and ever longing for his second comming 4 Her weakenesse or impotencie Women are the weaker n 1 Pet. 3.7 Giving honour to the wife as to the weaker vessell vessels they have no strength in comparison of men they are able to make small or no resistance and in this also the militant Church resembleth a woman for howsoever she be alwayes strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and albeit for a short time when she had Kings and Princes for her Champions as in the daies of David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah and other Kings of Judah and in the reigne of Constantine Theodosius Martianus Justinian and other Emperours of Rome by the temporall sword she put her enemies to the worst and had a great hand over them yet in other ages as well before Christs incarnation as after she hath bin destitute of the arm of flesh and hath had no other than womens weapons to defend her self viz. prayers and teares These alone St. Ambrose tooke up for his defence against the Arrian Emperour o Amb. ep 33. R gamus Auguste non pugnamus We bow downe before thee we rise not up against thee our dread Lord. For my owne part I can sorrow I can sigh I can weepe by other meanes I neither may nor can resist 5 Her frailtie Women are not only weaker in body than men and lesse able to resist violence but also weaker in mind and lesse able to hold out in temptations and therefore the Divell first set upon the woman as conceiving it a matter of more facilitie to supplant her than the man I would the militant Church were not in this also too like the weaker sexe Faire she is I grant but p Cant. 6.10 faire as the Moone in which there are darke and blacke spots Origen in Cant. homâ— an illa verba Nigâ—a sâ—â— Nigra est sponsa pulchra tamen inter mulicres ita ut habeat aliquid Aethiopici candoris Or as St. Origen noteth pulchra inter mulieres not perfectly faire but faire among women her brightest colours are somewhat stained her graces clouded her beauty Sun-burnt Let the Pelagians and Papists stand never so much upon the perfection of inherent righteousnesse they shall never be able to wash cleane the q Esay 64 6. We are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse is as filthy ragges menstruous cloutes and filthy ragges the Prophet Esay speaketh of St. Austin who was more inward to the servants of God in his time and better acquainted with their thoughts than any Heretikes could be telleth us that if all the Saints from the beginning of the world were together upon earth and should joyne in one prayer it would be this or the like Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Nothing is so easie as to slip whilest wee walke upon a r Apoc 15 2. And I saw as it wâ—re aâ—ea of glasse mingled with fire sea of glasse For this reason it is that our Saviour teacheth us to pray Å¿ Mat. 6.13 lead us not into temptation because there is not any temptation so weake that putteth not our frailtie to the worse and albeit it overcome not our faith yet it maketh our sinewes so shrinke as Jacobs did after hee wrestled with the Angell that by it we are lamed in holy duties All those usuall similitudes whereby the Scripture setteth the Church militant before our eyes shew her frailtie and imbecilitie She is a vine a lilly a dove a flocke of sheepe in the midst of ravening wolves What tree so subject to take hurt as a vine which is so weake that it needeth continuall binding and supporting so tender that if it be prickt deepe it bleedeth to death No flower so soft and without all defence or shelter as a lilly no fowle so harmlesse as the dove that hath no gallat all no cattell so oft in danger as sheep and lambes in the midst of wolves Yet neither the weake vine nor the soft lilly nor the fearefull dove nor the harmelesse sheepe so lively expresseth the infirmitie and danger of the wayfaring or rather warfaring Church as the travelling woman in this vision What more pitifull object or lamentable spectacle can present it selfe to our eyes than a woman great with child scared with a fierie serpent ready to devoure her child and driven to fly away with her heavie burden with which she is scarce able to wag This and worse if
lodging and a table in the wildernesse Wherefore let us cast the burthen of our care upon the providence of our heavenly Father who feedeth the young ravens that call upon him and undoubtedly will never suffer his children to starve There is nothing more choaketh the seed of faith and dampeth the light of the spirit and troubleth the peace of conscience than worldly cares especially when they are immoderate inordinate and distrustfull immoderate in the measure inordinate in the meanes and distrustfull in the cause when we say in our hearts What shall we eate and what shall we drinke or wherewithall shall we be cloathed We have but a little oyle in our cruse and a little meale in our pot and when that is spent what shall become of us The cure of these worldly cares is threefold by 1 Diversion 2 Devotion 3 Deposition of them 1 By diversion when we withdraw our mind from these carking cares and vexing thoughts to other more pleasant cogitations of Gods former mercies to us and the present blessings we enjoy As Painters when their eyes be dazled through long poring upon over-bright objects recover them againe by looking upon greene glasse or some darker colours which congregate radios visuales the sight beames or as husbandmen when their ground is overflown with much water make ditches and water furrowes to carry it away so if our mindes be overflowne with the cares of this world there is no better meanes to draine them than by making another passage for them and diverting them to the contemplation of a better subject as David did his m Psal 119.23.24 Princes did sit and speake against mee but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes Thy Testimonies are my delight and Counsellors 2 By devotion and prayer to Almighty God as Hanna did n 1 Sam. 1.15 I am a woman of a sorrowfull heart I have drunke neither wine nor strong drink but have poured out my soule before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial for out of the abundance of my complaint and griefe have I spoken hitherto Then Eli answered and said Goe in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him And shee said Let thine handmaid finde grace in thy sight So the woman went her way and did eate and her countenance was no more sad 3 By deposition when being at a stand in our deliberations and having used all meanes to little purpose to relieve our necessities we in the end lay downe our burthen of cares and wholly rely upon Gods promises o Psal 37.3 5. Trust in the Lord and doe good and verily thou shalt be fed Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and hee shall bring it to passe And p Psal 34.9.10 O feare the Lord yee his Saints for there is no want to them that feare him And q Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee r 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all our care upon him who careth for us assuring our selves that he who prepared Zoar to save Lot in the burning of Sodome and Goshen to preserve the Israelites from the plagues of Egypt and Pella to rescue his Disciples in the siege of Jerusalem hee who provided a fountaine of water to refresh Hagar in extremity of thirst and a cake of dough to satisfie Elias in extremity of hunger and the shadow of a gourd to coole Jonas in extremity of heat and an Angell from heaven to comfort our Saviour in the extremity of his agony will never leave us utterly destitute in our greatest perplexities The woman in my text was faine to fly into the wildernesse from savage men to savage beasts unprovided of a place to lie in or any manner of food to sustaine life yet God on the sudden prepared for her both lodging and diet So did he for the Israelites brought to a like exigent Å¿ Psal 107.4.5.6 They wandered in the wildernesse in a solitary way they found no Citie to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soules fainted in them then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and hee delivered them out of their distresse t Mat. 6.32 Take no thought therefore saith our Saviour for your life what you shall eate and what you shall drinke or wherewithall you shall be cloathed for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things He that cloatheth the lillies and feedeth the fowles of heaven will he leave his children unprovided of things necessary No if ordinary meanes faile he will lay an unusuall imposition upon all creatures to relieve his chosen The aire shall serve-in Manna for corne the hard rocke shall gush out with streames of water the dry cruse shall spring with oyle the Lions jawes shall drop with hony the fowles of heaven shall bring in meat in their bills and the fish of the sea bring money in their mouthes to supply their severall wants and defray their necessary charges Therefore trouble not your selves overmuch with the cares of this life but when you have done your utmost endevours ease your selves by relying upon Gods providence and be confident that he who feedeth you with the bread of life will not faile to give you your daily bread hee that offereth you the cup of salvation full of the price of your redemption and the grace of sanctification will not suffer you to die for thirst he that cloatheth your soules with the robes of his righteousnesse and deckes them with the jewels of his grace will undoubtedly provide a covering for your bodies 3 If the Church be truely represented by a woman flying into the wildernesse and there continuing for a long season certainely outward pomp and temporall felicity and perpetuall visibility are no certaine notes of her but rather of the malignant Church For so is the Whore of Babylon described u Apoc. 17.3.4 A woman set upon a scarlet coloured beast arrayed in purple decked with gold and pretious stones and pearles having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations And ver 15. The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and nations and multitudes and tongues The darke foyle setteth off the Diamond and the Church when she is most obscure outwardly is most glorious within Albeit temporall felicity giveth her some lustre and furnisheth her with meanes to encourage Proselytes and erect stately monuments of piety and charity yet withall it ministreth matter of luxury and pride it breedeth faction and schisme it withdraweth the mind from celestiall contemplation it abateth her longing desire after the second comming of Christ on the contrary the Crosse is like a file that brighteneth all her spirituall graces quickeneth her zeale putteth her noblest vertues to the test wisedome by dangers faith by conflicts courage by terrours patience by torments and perseverance by perpetuall assaults Witnesse the prime age wherein she warmed her zeale at the embers
of the Martyrs sepulchres when she had no Churches but caves under ground no wealth but grace no exercises but sufferings no crowne but of martyrdome yet then she thrived best then she spread farthest then she kept her purity in doctrine and conversation then she convinced the Jewes then she converted the Gentiles then shee subdued Kingdomes whence I inferre three corollaries 1 That the Roman Church cannot be the true Church of Christ For the true Church of Christ as she is described in the holy Scriptures hath for long time lien hid beene often obscured and eclipsed by bloudy persecutions but the Roman or Papall Church hath never beene so her advocates plead for her that she hath beene alwayes not onely visible but conspicuous not onely knowne but notorious And among the many plausible arguments of perswasion and deceiveable shewes of reason wherewith they amuse and abuse the world none prevaileth so much with the common sort and unskilfull multitude as the outward pomp and glory of the Papall See For sith most men are led by sense and judge according to outward appearance the Church of Rome which maketh so goodly a shew and hath born so great sway in the world for many ages easily induceth them to beleeve that she is that City whereof the Prophet speaks x Psal 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God What more glorious and glittering to the eie than the Popes triple crowne and the Cardinals hats and their Archbishops Palls and their Bishops miters and crozures their shining images their beautifull pictures their rich hangings their gilt rood lofts their crosses and reliques covered in gold and beset with all sorts of pretious stones These with their brightnesse and resplendency dazle the eyes of the multitude and verily if the Queenes daughters glory were all without and the kingdome of Christ of this world and his Church triumphant upon earth all the knowne Churches in the Christian world must give place to the See of Rome which hath borne up her head when theirs have beene under water hath sate as Queene when they have kneeled as captives hath braved it in purple when they have mourned in sackcloth and ashes But beloved y Rom. 10 17. faith commeth not by sight but by hearing and we are not to search the Church in the map of the world but in the Scriptures of God where we find her a pilgrim in Genesis a bondwoman in Exodus a prisoner in Judges a captive in the book of Kings a widow in the Prophets and here in my text a woman labouring with child flying from a red Dragon into the wildernesse I grant that Christ promiseth her a kingdome but not of this world and peace but it is the peace of God and joy but it is in the Holy Ghost and great glory but it is within z Psal 45.13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within c. 2 That none ought to despise the Churches beyond the seas under the Crosse but according to the command of the blessed Apostle a Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversitie as heing our selves also in the body Their turne of sorrow is now ours may be hereafter God hath begun to them in a cup of trembling it is to be feared it will not passe us but we and all the reformed Churches shall drink of it Our Church in Queene Maries dayes resembled this woman in my text theirs now doth both never a whit the lesse but rather the more the true Churches of Christ because they weare his red livery and beare his Crosse 3 That we ought not to looke for great things in this world but having food and raiment as the woman had here in my text to be therewith contented and as she withdrew her self from the eye of the world so ought we to retire our selves into our closets there to have private conference with God to examine our spirituall estate to make up the breaches in our conscience to poure out our soules in teares of compunction for our sins of compassion for the calamities of our brethren of an ardent desire and longing affection for the second comming of our Lord when he shall put an end as to all sinne and temptation so to all sorrow and feare Amen Even so come Lord Jesu To whom c. THE SAINTS VEST A Sermon preached on All-Saints day at Lincolnes-Inne for Doctor Preston THE XXIV SERMON APOC. 7.14 These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe question which the Elder moved to Saint John in the precedent verse to my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what are these mee thinks I heare some put to mee at this present saying What are these holy ones whose feast yee keep what meane these devotions what doe these festivities intend what speake these solemnities what Saints are they Virgins Confessours or Martyrs whose memory by the anniversary returne of this day you eternize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence came they or rather how came they to bee thus honoured and canonized in our Kalendar My direct answer hereunto is my Text These are they c. and the exemplification thereof shall be my Sermon The palmes they beare are ensignes of their victory the robes they weare are emblemes of their glory the bloud wherein they dyed their robes representeth the object of their faith the white and bright colour of them their joy and the length of them the continuance thereof Yea but these holy ones you may object at least the chiefe of them had their dayes apart the blessed Virgin hers apart and the Innocents apart the Apostles apart and the Evangelists apart how come they now to be repeated why committeth the Church a tautologie in her menologie what needeth this sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or congeries of feasts blending of devotions thrusting all Saints into one day and that a short one in the rubricke It is that men may see by that which we doe what we beleeve in that Article of our Creed the communion of Saints Wee joyne them all in one collect wee remember them all upon one day because they are all united into one body admitted into one society naturalized into one Kingdome made free Denisons of one City and partakers of one a Col. 1.12 inheritance of the Saints in light In a word we keep one feast for them all upon earth because they all keep one everlasting feast in heaven the marriage b Apoc. 19.9 supper of the Lambe The Romanes beside severall Temples dedicated to severall deities had their Pantheon or all-gods temple See wee not in the skie here single starres glistering by themselves there constellations or a concourse of many heavenly lampes joyning their lights do we not heare with exceeding delight in the singing of our Church
nature is frailtie The woman Her state is uncertainty Fled Her glory obscurity remained in the wildernesse a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes From the frailty of her nature let us learne a lecture of sober watchfulnesse from the unsettlednesse of her estate a lecture of prudent moderation from her obscurity or latencie a lecture of modest humilitie 1 If the mother be fraile the daughter is like to be weake They who are subject to slip and fall must carefully avoyd high and narrow ridges as also slippery places and precipices or downefalls We scarce stand f Seneca de ira Recedamus quantum possumus à lubrico vix in sicco firmiter stamus sure upon drie firme and plaine ground therefore let us beware with all diligence how we come nigh high ridges with the ambitious or slipperie places with the voluptuous or downefalls with the presumptuous sinner let us pray to God 1 To make his way plaine before us 2 To order our steps in the plaine path 3 To support us continually with his right hand 2 If the Spouse of Christ be a pilgrime and flieth from place to place from Citie to Citie from Kingdome to Kingdome let us learne by her example and from the Apostle's mouth that g Heb. 13.14 we have here no continuing Citie but seeke one to come St. James by an elegant metaphor calleth the affaires of this world h Jam 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the course of nature a nowne derived from a verbe signifying to runne because the world runneth upon wheeles As in triumphes and pompous shewes we see towers and rockes and castles but enpassant carried in procession not staying any where such is the glory of this world The portable Arke in the Old Testament and the flying woman in the New are images of the militant Church in this world the one was drawne by beasts from place to place the other was carried with the wings of an Eagle from Country to Country neither of them was fixed When two Noble men strived about a fish pond and could by no meanes be brought to an agreement Gregorius Thaumaturgus by miracle suddenly dried it up so God in wisedome taketh away from us the things of this life if we too much strive for them Wherefore let us not build upon the sailes of a wind-mill let us not cast the anchor of our hope on the earth for there is nothing to hold by riches get themselves wings possessions change their Lords great houses according to Diogenes his apophthegme vomit and cast up their owners The favours of men are like vanes on the top of houses and steeples which turne with the wind The Church in many respects is compared to the moone she receiveth her light from the Sun of righteousnesse she hath her waxing and waining is never without spots is often eclipsed by the interposition of the shadow of the earth I meane the shadowes of earthly vanities Those who professe the art of turning baser metals into gold first begin with abstractio terrestrietatis à materia the abstraction or drawing away of earthlinesse from the matter of their metall in like manner if we desire to be turned as it were into fine gold and serve as vessels of honour in God house our earthly dregs and drosse must be drawne out of us by the fire of the Spirit that is our earthly cares our earthly desires our earthly hopes our earthly affections Hercules could never conquer Anteus donec à terra matre eum levasset till hee had lifted him up above the earth his mother no more can the Spirit of grace subdue and conquer us to the obedience of the Gospel till hee hath lifted up our hearts from the earth with these levers especially the consideration of 1 The vanity of earthly delights 2 The verity of heavenly comforts 3 The excellency of our soule 4 The high price of our redemption Can we imagine that so incomparable a jewell as is the soule of man was made to be set as it were in a ring on a swines snout to dig and root in the earth Did God breathe into us spirit and life nay did Christ breathe out his immortall spirit for this end to purchase us the happinesse of a mucke-worme that breedeth and feedeth liveth and dyeth in the dung or at the best the happinesse of an Indian i Chrysost hom 7. in ep ad Philipp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emmet that glistereth with gold dust about her St. Austin hath long agoe christened the contentments of this world in the font of teares by the names of solacia miserorum non gaudia beatorum solaces of wretched not joyes of blessed ones at the best they are but reliefes of naturall necessities For what is wealth but the reliefe of want food but the reliefe of hunger cloathing but the reliefe of nakednesse sleepe but the reliefe of watching company but the reliefe of solitarinesse sports and pastimes but the taking off the plaister and giving our wounds a little aire and our selves a little ease from our continuall labour and paines Like the gnats in Plutarch we run continually round in the circle of our businesse till we fall downe dead traversing the same thoughts and repeating the same actions perpetually and what happinesse can be in this The more we gild over the vanities of this world with the title of honours pleasures and riches the more we make them like the golden apples which hung at Tantalus his lips which were snatched away from him when he offered to bite at them For the k 1 John 2.17 world passeth away and the lust thereof Albeit the earth abideth and shall till the end of the world which cannot be now farre off yet all Monarchs Kingdomes States Common-wealthes Families Houses passe There is written upon them what Balthasar saw the hand writing upon the walls of his Palace Mene mene tekel upharsin Admit they abide for a large time yet we are removed from them by persecution invasion peregrination ejection and death Albeit our Lawyers speake of indefeisable estates and large termes of yeeres to have and to hold lands on earth yet they speake without booke for no man can have a better estate than the rich man in the Gospell to whom it was said l Luke 12.20 Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided so is he that layeth up treasure for himselfe and is not rich towards God Wherefore if ever we looke to arrive at the faire haven we must cast anchor in heaven and not trust in uncertaine riches but in the living God who here provided for the woman both a
faithfull and thy faith to be sound and thy patience to bee invincible and thy workes and the last to be more than the first The faire and magnificent Colledges lately founded and Churches sumptuously repaired and Libraries rarely furnished and Schooles richly endowed and Students in the Universities liberally maintained and the poore in Hospitals charitably relieved are standing testimonies and living evidences thereof Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee that thou sufferest the woman that sitteth upon seven hils the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth Jezabel of Rome which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse and Mistresse of all Prophets and Prophetesses by Priests and Jesuites to teach and deceive my servants to make them commit spirituall fornication and freely communicate with Idolaters and I gave her space to repent sixty yeers at least that she might not complain that I began with violent extreme courses and launced her wounds whilest they were greene but all this while she hath not repented of her Superstitions and abominable Idolatries therefore I will lay it heavie upon her I will send plague after plague and heape sorrow upon sorrow and adde affliction to affliction and if all will not serve I will poure out the dregges of my red wine on her and quench the fire of my wrath with her stained bloud I will kill her children with death and all the Churches shall know that I am hee that searcheth deep into the wounds of the heart and reines and discover filthinesse corruption in the inward parts and I will give unto every one according to his workes but unto you I say and to the rest in great Britaine as many as have not this doctrine of the Romish Jezabel and which have not knowne the depths of Sathan her mysteries of iniquity I will put upon you no other burden of Lawes or Canons but that which you have already Hold fast till I come to judgement In this Letter observe we 1. The superscription mysterious Ver. 18. 2. The contents various presenting to our religious thoughts 1. A sweet insinuation Ver. 19. 2. A sharpe reprehension Ver. 20 21. 3. A fearfull commination Ver. 22 23. 4. A comfortable conclusion Ver. 24. In the superscription wee have an admirable description of the glorified body of our Redeemer which shineth more brightly than a flame of fire or the finest metall glowing in the furnace Secondly an eminent title attributed to the Bishop or Super-intendent of the Church in Thyatira The Angel To the Angel in Thyatira saith the Sonne of God who hath eyes like a flame of fire to a Bullengerus in hunc locum Illuminat alios alios igne sempiterno concremat inlighten the godly and burne up the ungodly and feet like brasse to support his Church and bruise the enemies thereof I know thy workes proceeding from thy love and thy love testified by thy service and thy service approved by thy faith and thy faith tryed by thy patience and that the silver springs of thy bounty have more overflowed at the last than at the first Thus farre the sweet insinuation which afterwards falls into a sharpe reprehension like as the sweet river b Solinus c. 20. Hypanis Scythicorum amnium princeps haustu saluberrimus dum in Exampeum fontem inferatur qui amnem suo vitio vertit Hypanis into the bitter fountaine Exampeus Notwithstanding I have an action against thee that thou sufferest the filthy Strumpet Jezebel to corrupt the bodies and soules of my servants by permitting corporall fornication to them and committing spirituall with them whose judgement sleepeth not no not in her bed but even there shall surprise her For behold I will cast her into a bed where she hath cast her selfe in wantonnesse I will cast her in great weaknesse and will make her bed of pleasure a racke to torment her Ubi peccavit punietur where she swilled in her stolne waters that rellished so sweet in her mouth shee shall take downe her bitter potion Ubi oblectamentum ibi tormentum Of which plagues of Jezebel when God shall open the vials mouth at this time I purpose to gather some few observations from the two former branches of this Scripture but to insist wholly upon the third in the explication whereof when I have proved by invincible arguments that Jezebel is not to be tolerated in the application I will demonstrate that the Pseudo-catholike Romane Church otherwise called the Whore of Babylon is Jezebel or worse if worse may bee as God shall assist mee with his Spirit and endue mee with power from above for which I beseech you all to joyn with mee in prayer O most gracious God c. And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write c. The Naturalists observe that the thickest and best hony is that which is squeezed last out of the combe and usually the daintiest dish is served in at the last course and Musicians reserve the sweetest straine for their close and Rhetoricians take speciall care of their peroration The last speech of a dying friend leaves a deep impression in our hearts and art imitating nature holdeth out the last note of the dying sound in the organ or voice which consideration should stirre up our religious thoughts and affections to entertain with greatest alacrity and singular respect the admonitions and prophecies delivered in this booke as being the last words of our Lords last will and testament d Sen. ep 12. Gratissima sunt poma cùm fugiunt deditos vino potatio extrema delectu c. and the last breath as it were of the Spirit of God If that of the Poet be true that the beames of the c Esse Phoebi dulcius solet lumen jamjam cadentis Sunne shine most pleasantly at his setting how pleasant and deare ought the light of this Propheticall booke be unto us which is the last irradiation and glissoning of the Sunne of righteousnesse In it discerne we may 1. Counsels chapt 2.3 2. Predictions of the state of the Church 1. Militant from the 4th to the 21. 2. Triumphant from the 21. to the end The manner of delivery of both to Saint John was by speciall revelation which you will better conceive if you be pleased to take notice of the meanes whereby all knowledge divine and humane is conveighed into the soule As all water ariseth either from Springs below or falleth from the Clouds above so all knowledge is either gathered from the creatures by naturall reason grounded upon experience or immediately descendeth from the Father of lights and is attained unto by supernaturall illumination Supernaturall illumination is either 1. By ordinary inspiration common to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost who wrote the dictates of the Spirit and were so assisted by him that they could not set downe any thing amisse 2. By extraordinary revelation which may be either 1. Of things past whereof there remaine no records monuments or memorialls to furnish
gente Antei cuiusdam in stagnum quoddam regionis ejus duci vestituque in quâ—rcu suspenso … nare abire in desertum transfiguratique in lupos Pliny writeth of certaine people of the family of Anteus in Arcadia who having put off their clothes and swom over a deep standing poole wander in the wildernesse runne among Wolves and are transformed into their shape and after returne backe and doe great mischiefe in their owne countrey I beleeve not that there is any such family in Arcadia but I am sure wee have a sort of men in England who putting off the habit of English men and Scholars crosse the narrow Seas converse with Romish Wolves and degenerate into their nature and after they returne backe into their owne countrey make havocke of Christs flocke Here I cannot but cry aloud with zealous Bullenger t In Apoc. c. 2. Quae quaeso clementia est crudelissimis lupis blandiri ut oves innocentes Christi sanguine redemptas impunè dilâ—nient quae haec patientia sinere vineam Domini ab immanissimis monstris devastati What clemency call you this to suffer the Lords Vineyard to bee spoiled and laid waste by cruell Monsters What mercy to spare the Wolves which spare not Christs sheep redeemed with his precious bloud who plot treason against their naturall Prince scandalize the State and staine with impure breath the gold and silver vessels of the Sanctuary who turne religion into Statisme or rather into Atheisme Let it bee accounted mercy not to execute the rigour of penall Statutes upon silly seduced sheep certainly it is cruelty to spare the Wolves which worry them If any pricked at the heart at the consideration of these things say with the Jewes in the Acts y Acts 2.37 Quid faciemus What shall wee doe Wee have used all diligence to find out these Romish Wolves and those that come within our reach wee smite at the rest we set our strongest Mastives and fray them out of our coasts I answer If this were sincerely done of all hands if some shepheards were not seen by the Wolves before they spie them and thereby lost their voices according to the Proverb Lupi videre priores I say if the shepheards and the dogges bestirred themselves as they should yet the wise man in Livie will tell them All will be to no great purpose till the woods and thickets be cut down to which they flie there hide themselves Nunquam defuturi sunt lupi donec sylvae exscindantur you shall never be rid of these Romish wolves so long as in all quarters of this Kingdome they have so many places of shelter to lurke in I had almost sayd Sanctuaries of defence I am now come home to the point I first thought upon when I was sommoned to speake to this honourable assembly This Sermon was preached during the Parliament whereof many were present consisting of so many noble and worthy members of the high Court of Parliament and therefore here I will land my discourse after I have given you but one memento out of the Psalmist Remember the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem how they sayd Downe with it downe with it even to the ground or rather Up with it up with it to the trembling ayre Blow up King Queene Prince Parliament Clergie Laitie Nobilitie Gentrie Commons Lawes Statutes Charters Records all in a cloud of fire that there remaine not so much as any cinders of them upon the earth lest perhaps the Phoenix might revive out of her owne ashes But praysed be the God of heaven who discovered and defeated that plot of hell our soule is escaped as a bird out of the snare the snare is broken and we are delivered I will close up all with those sweet straines of the hundred forty ninth Psalme O sing unto the Lord a new song let his praise be heard in the great congregation let Israel rejoyce in him that made him and let the children of Sion be joyfull in their King for the Lord hath pleasure in his people and will make the meeke glorious by deliverance let the Saints be joyfull with glory let them rejoyce in their beds let the high Acts of the Lord be in their mouthes and a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the Romish Jezebel and rebuke her proselites to bind her Priests in chaines and her Chemarims with linkes of iron that they may be avenged of them as it is written Such honour have all his Saints To whom c. JEZEBEL SET OUT IN HER COLOURS A Sermon preached in Saint Pauls Church Novemb. 20. Anno 1614. THE XXXIV SERMON REVEL 2.20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eate things sacrificed unto Idols Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IN this letter indited by the Spirit and penned by St. John I observed heretofore 1 Superscription and therein 1 The party from whom with his eminent quality the Sonne of God c. 2 The partie to whom it was sent with the title of his dignity the Angel of Thyatira 2 The contents which are so manifold and of such importance that if I had the tongue of an Angel I could hardly deliver them all in particular I have heretofore presented you with twelve sorts of fruits answerable to the fruits of the tree of life a Apoc. 22. described all growing upon the two former branches of this Scripture and this of my text and yet I have not gathered the halfe It resembleth that wonderfull tree which Pliny saw at b Lib. 17. c. 16. nat hist Arborem vidimus â—uxta Tiburtes Tulias omni genere pomorum onustam alio ramo nucibus alio baccis aliunde vite ficis pyris punicis malorumque generibus Tiburts which bare all kind of delicious and wholesome fruits Seneca his observation is true that c Sen ep 23. ad Lucil. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alâ—o latet vena assidoè plenius responsura fodienti baser metals are found neere the top but the richer lie deep in the earth affording great store of precious oare Such is the Mine I have discovered in this passage of Scripture into which that you may search deeper with more profit and lesse danger I will beare before you a cleere light made of all the expositions of the best learned Scribes in the house of God who to enrich our faith bring forth out of their treasuries new things and old And to the Angel that is the Bishop or chiefe Pastour as heretofore I proved at large unto you In the Old Testament we reade of the ministery of Angels but here we finde Angels of the ministery to whom the Sonne of God himselfe kindly and familiarly writeth Our usuall forme of sommoning your attention is Hearken unto the
have somewhat against thee that thou sufferest The woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Com. in Apoc. Ambrosius Ansbertus Richell Dionysius Carthusianus and Hugo Cardinalis translate the word in the Originall uxorem thy wife which is the rather worth the noting in these Popish Interpreters who yet condemne Priests marriage Doubtlesse this Angel was a good Bishop for he is highly commended by our Saviour yet had he his wife by their confession Why therefore may not sacred persons enter into the sacred bands of matrimony Is it because as Pope Sirycius and after him Cardinall Bellarmine bear us in hand conjugall acts and matrimoniall duties stand not with the sanctity of the Priests function Now verily this is a strange thing that marriage according to the doctrine of their Church is a Sacrament conferring grace and yet a disparagement to the most sacred function marriage is a holy Sacrament and yet Priests are bound by a Sacrament that is an oath never to receive it marriage was instituted in Paradise in the state of mans innocencie when the image of God which the Apostle interpreteth to be holinesse and righteousnesse shined most brightly in him and yet it is a cloud nay a blurre to the most holy calling marriage was appointed by God as a speciall remedie against fornication and all uncleannesse and yet is an impeachment to holinesse The Aaronical Priesthood by Gods owne order was to be continued in the line of Aaron by generation not election and yet marriage cannot stand with the holinesse of Priesthood Who of the Patriarkes before the Flood was holier than Enoch who walked with God and was translated that he should not see death of the Prophets under the Law than Ezekiel of the Apostles than St. Peter and Philip and yet of Enoch we read that f Gen. 5.22 he begat sonnes and daughters and Saint g Chrysost in Gen. homil 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostome bids us take speciall notice of it that the Holy Ghost saith in the same Verse he walked with God and beg at sonnes and daughters to teach us that the bonds of matrimony are no such fetters that they hinder us from walking with God Ezekiels h Ezek 24.16 wife is mentioned in his prophecy and Peters i Mat. 12.14 wives mother in the Gospel and Philips k Acts 21 9. daughters that prophesied in the Acts with whose examples l Clem. strom l. 3. p. 327. ' H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clemens Alexandrinus mightily confoundeth and convinceth those ancient Heretickes the fore-runners of our Papists who disparaged this holy ordinance of God What saith hee will they blame the Apostles themselves For Peter and Philip begat children Philip also gave his daughters in marriage Neither can our adversaries evade these instances by saying that the Apostles indeed had wives before they were ordained Priests but after they entred into that holy calling forsooke them and had no more commerce with them For m Clem. strom l. 7 p. 529. Arunt B. Petrum cum vidisset uxorem suam duci ad mortem nomine quoque compellâsse ac dixisse Heus tu memento Domini Clemens informeth us that Saint Peters wife kept with him till her death and that when he saw her led to martyrdome he called to her by name and encouraged her saying Remember the Lord. Howbeit the major part of the Expositors take not Jezebel here for the Bishops wife but a disciple of the Nicolaitans who is here named Jezebel because shee resembled Jezebel especially in three particulars 1. As Jezebel brought amongst the Israelites the false worship of the Idoll Baal so this woman laboured to bring into this Church of Thyatira Idolatry and other pernitious errours in doctrine and practice 2. n 2 Kin. 9 22. Jezebel was given to fornication for which vice the Holy Ghost brandeth this woman also 3. Jezebel was a woman of authority and by her place and dignity did countenance and maintaine Idolatry and so it is likely that this was a woman of some place and ranke which she abused to countenance wicked opinions and seduce Gods servants o Hieron de nom Heb. Jezebel in the Hebrew signifieth fluxum sanguinis or stirquilinium an issue of bloud or doung both which were verified in the wife of Ahab whose abominable life and fearfull death yee may see set forth in lively colours in the booke of p 2 Kin. 9.33 ad finem They threw her downe and some of her bloud was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he trod her under foot Ver. 37. The carkeis of Jezebel was as doung upon the face of the field Kings to breed in all men and women a detestation of the one by the shame and horrour of the other A lamentable spectacle deare Christians to see the daughter and wife of a King trampled under foot in the dirt and the dogges tearing her flesh and licking up her bloud Shee who spent so much time in dressing and tricking up her selfe at the window is throwne downe headlong out of that window shee that looked so high falls full low and is trod under foot by her servant shee who spilt Naboths innocent bloud in Jezreel expiateth the place with her owne bloud that face on which shee a little before had laid costly colours and oyntments is now besmeared with dirt and stained with her owne bloud that flesh of hers which she pampered with all kindes of delicious meates is now cast to dogges Let them heare this and feare who weare Jezebels colours and tread in her steps who defile themselves with corporall or spirituall fornication who either idolatrize or idolize worship painted images or make themselves such Jezebel was the first we reade of that tooke the pensill out of the hand of her Maker endeavouring to mend his workmanship and what became of her you heard but now And howsoever some of late as they have sowed pillowes under mens elbowes so have tempered colours also for women and made apologies for painting yet all the ancient Fathers condemne it as a foule sinne Saint q Cyp. de hab virg Nonne metuis oro quae talis es ne cum resurrectionis dies venerit artifâ—x tuus te non recognoscat ad sua praemia promissa venientem excludat removeat increpans vigore censoris judicis opus hoc meum non est nec haec imago nostra est cutem falso medicamine polluisti crinem adultero colore mutásti Deum videre non poteris cùm oculi tibi non sint quos Deus fecit sed quos Diabolus infecit Cyprian thus schooles a young Jezebel in his dayes Art not thou afraid saith hee that plaisterest thy face and paintest thy body lest at the day of judgement thy Maker will not know thee but when thou pressest among the rest to receive the promised rewards to his servants will put thee backe saying Who art thou
Turkes call themselves Saracens therefore they are the off-spring of Sarah they of Satans Synagogue call themselves y Apoc. 3.9 Jewes therefore they are Jewes indeed the Angel of Sardis had a name that he z Apoc. 3.1 lived therefore he was not dead the Angel of * Apoc. 3.17 Laodicea said he was rich and needed nothing therfore he was not wretched miserable and poor blind and naked Jezebel called her selfe a Prophetesse therefore she was so indeed Without question Jezebel set some fairer colour upon the matter than this else she could never have dazled the eyes of Gods servants well she might offer to teach in the Church under this pretence which yet S. Paul expressely forbids a a 1 Cor. 14.34 woman to doe but certainely she could never have foyled any servant of God with so weake an argument grounded upon a bare title assumed by her selfe yet the Spirit saith that she not onely taught but prevailed also with some and seduced them To teach and seduce my servants I doubt not but at the reading of these words your thoughts trouble you and you begin to question whether this doctrine is not a seduction to teach that any of Gods servants can be seduced Can any elect child of God fall from grace Is it possible to plucke any of Christs members from his body Can the Sun-beames by any winde or tempest be stirred out of their place b 1 John 2.19 Doth not St. John dispute strongly They went away from us because they were not of us for if they had beene of us they would not have departed from us Is not St. c Cypr. de simplic Praelat Triticum non rapit ventuâ— nec arborem solidâ radice fundatam procella subvertit inanes paleae tempestate jactantur invalidae arbores turbinis incursione evertuntur Cyprians observation as true as it is elegant The winde bloweth not away the corne neither is a tree that hath taken a deepe root in the earth overthrowne in a tempest it is but chaffe which the winde scattereth abroad and they are hollow and rotten trees that are blowne downe in a tempest To dispell all mists of ambiguity and cleare the truth in this point I must acquaint you with two sorts of Christs servants or retainers at least some weare his cloth and cognizance but doe him little or no service others perform faithful service unto him some give him their names only others their hearts also some professe outwardly that they are Christians but have unbeleeving hearts others are within that they professe without some are called onely to the knowledge of the truth others are chosen also to be heires of salvation Of these latter our Saviour speakes in St. John d Joh. 10.27 28 My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I will give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man plucke them out of my hands But of the former the words of my text seeme to bee meant Howbeit because the Discerner of all hearts calleth them his servants saying to seduce my servants and it is not likely that he would grace hypocrites with so honourable an appellation wee may yeeld somewhat more in this point and without prejudice to the truth acknowledge that the true servants of God and ministers also of Christ Jesus may be sometimes seduced out of the right way but not farre I am sure not irrevocably The difference betweene them and others in this respect is like that which the e Cic. tusc 1. Boni in ertorem sicut aes Corinthium in aeruginem incidunt rariùs facilius revocantur Oratour observeth betweene the Corinthian and common brasse as the brasse of Corinth is longer ere it rust and when it is rustie is sooner scowred and more easily recovers the former brightnesse than other brasse so good men are hardlier withdrawne from the true faith and more easily reclaimed from their errours than those who beare no sincere love to the truth but are wedded to their owne opinions whatsoever they are and oftentimes blinded by obstinately setting their eyes against the bright beames of the Word Out of the Arke of Noah which was a type of the Church there flew two f Gen. 8.7 birds a Raven and a Dove the Raven after hee had taken his flight returned not againe but the Dove came backe with an Olive branch in her bill The Dove saith Saint g Cypr. adver Nâ—vit Prosp l. de prom c. 7. Cyprian represented the seduced Catholike who after hee is gone out of the Church never findeth rest till hee returne backe with an Olive branch of peace in his mouth and bee reconciled to the Church But the Raven is the obstinate Hereticke who leaveth the Church with a purpose never to returne to her againe And many such Ravens have beene of late let flye out of the Arke which never returne againe or if they returne it is to prey upon the sicke and weake members of our Church and to picke out the eyes of her dearest children and I pray God wee may never have cause to renew the Poets complaint Dat veniam corvis vexat censura columbas To commit fornication Fornication as h Lyra in Apoc. c. 2. Fornicatio est quadruplex in â—nimo simulierem concupiscâ—s in actu in cultu Idolorum in amore terrenorum Lyranus harpeth upon the word is committed foure manner of wayes 1. By the impure lust of the heart 2. By the uncleane act of the body 3. By the religious worship of Images or Idols 4. By the immoderate love of earthly vanities For when the soule turneth away from God and setteth her love wholly upon vile and base creatures so farre below her that God hath placed them under her feet what doth shee but like a Lady of noble descent married to a Prince which disloyally leaveth his bed and maketh love to the groome of her chamber Certainely this is sordidum adulterium not onely filthy but base adultery Howbeit I take it this was not the staine of the Church of Thyatira but either fornication properly so called which is corporall Idolatry or idolatry which is spirituall fornication For idolatry defileth the Spirit as adultery polluteth the flâ—sh idolatry provoketh God as adultery doth man to jealousie as adultery is a just cause of separation betweene man and his wife so idolatry maketh a breach betwixt God and the soule and causeth in the end a divorce by reason of which separation for disloyalty and unfaithfulnesse Saint i Cypr. de hab virg Prius viduâ—s quam nuptas non mariti sed Christi adulteras Cyprian wittily tearmeth certaine virgins widowes before they were married wives yea and adulteresses too not to their husbands which they had not but to Christ to whom they had plighted their troth And looke how a jealous husband would bee transported with passion if hee should finde his
licitos esse censuisset When ye walked in lasciviousnesse lusts revellings banquettings and unlawfull and abominable idolatries What need saith hee Saint Peter deterre us from unlawfull idolatries if some kind of idolatry were not lawfull Good God! Idolatry lawfull holy hypocrisie pious frauds honest sodomy Did ever Nicolaus of Antiochia or Jezebel of Thyatira set abroach such impure and unsavoury doctrine did ever the Carpocratians who let the reines loose to all kinds of lewdnesse and villany maintaine more damnable positions But to keepe close to the patterne in my text and to draw a perfect picture of the Church of Rome by notes taken from Jezebel Imposture First Jezebel called her selfe a Prophetesse and doth not the Church of Rome usurpe the same title and boast of her Propheticke Spirit If any be ignorant hereof let him cast but a looke into * L. 4. c. 15. Dâ—odecima nota est lumen propheticum Bellarmine his booke of the notes of the Church there shall he see Lumen propheticum the light of prophesie drawne out in a faire and goodly character for the twelfth note of the Romane Church You see the first marke of Jezebel visible in the Church of Rome As Jezebel calleth her selfe a Prophetesse so the Church of Rome arrogateth to her selfe that supernaturall gift Impurity The second marke is as foule as the other is faire in shew She teacheth to commit fornication I would be loth to cast so foule an aspersion upon the Roman Church if the ancient Rubrick in the Canon law blushed any thing at these words q Distinct 34. Qui non habet uxorem loco illius concubinam debet habere He that hath not a wife ought to have a concubine in stead of her or the Pope his holinesse were ashamed to draw a revenue of many thousand Duckets by the yeere out of somewhat worse than Vespasian his tribute ex lotio But sith the Marozia of Sergius the Matildis of Gregory the s venth the Lucretia of Alexander the sixt the Magdalena of Leo the tenth the Constantia of Paul the third were as infamous as Ovids Corinna sith ancient Popes have erected stewes and later take toll of them at this day in Rome Vid. Wessâ—l Groniâ—g de indulgent Avennion and elsewhere sith ancienter Popes have dispensed with unnaturall lusts and the later with incestuous marriages sith the Riarius of Sixtus the fourth the Germanus of Julius the second the Hippolytus of Leo the tenth and Innocentius de monte of Julius the third gave but too much cause to Mantuan and other later Poets to proclaime to the world Sanctus ager scurris venerabilis ara cinoedis Servit honorandae divûm Ganymedibus aedes Sith their owne r L. method concord Ne admittantur sacra concubinariorum quos Deus magis odit quâ—m manifestarios incestus Wicelius professeth himselfe scandalized at the allowed concubines of Masse-Priests and the Germans in their Å¿ L. centum gravam Gervam Episcopi eorum Officiales non tantum sacerdotum tolerant concubinatum dummodo certa persolvatur pecunia sed Sacerdotes continentes qui absque concubinatu degunt concubinatus censum persolvere cogunt grievances put up this for one That the Bishops and their Officials doe not onely tolerate concubines in Priests so they pay a certaine rate for them but also constrain Priests who live continently and keepe no concubines to pay the former taxe sith Picus Mirandula in ep ad Leo. 10. and Cardinal Alliacus in his treatise of the reformation of the Church report of their Cels that they were become meere stewes sith Costerus yea and Cardinal Bellarmine teach in expresse words That it is a greater sinne in a Priest or Votary to marry than to commit fornication Est majus malum sic nubere quà m fornicari sith Panormitan their great Lawyer delivereth it for a ruled case t Panor extra de consang affin Ideo hodie ex simplici fornicatione clericus non deponitur That a Clergy man is not to be deposed for simple fornication nay sith the Councell of Toledo u Concil Tol. Potest admitti ad communionem qui concubinam habet modo non sit uxoratus admitteth such persons to the holy Communion who keepe a concubine so they bee not married no Papist can have an action of slaunder against me for charging their Church with somewhat more than bare toleration of simple fornication Verily * Espenc com in Tit. c. 1. Espenceus had good cause to affirme That more naughtinesse and filthinesse might bee learned out of Taxa camerae Apostolicae whereunto I adde Zanche's de Matrimonio and other Casuists than out of all the obscene satyres and epigrammes of profane Poets What Christian eares can endure that preface of Pope Gregory x Greg. extrav de jud c. 4. De adulterio aliis minoribus criminibus potest Episcopus cum Clericis post poenitentiam dispensare For adultery and other lesser sinnes the Bishop may dispence with a Priest after penance But I list not to bring to light other of their works of darknesse let the night cover her owne shame I proceed from Jezebels corporall to her spirituall whoredome wherein the Church of Rome exceedeth her For Jezebel taught onely that it was lawfull to keepe company and make merry with Idolaters and partake of their offerings but the Church of Rome partaketh with them in their Idoll-worship For albeit shee pretendeth that shee tendereth no religious service to the Idols of the Heathen the enemies of God but to the images of Saints and shrines of Martyrs this no way cleareth her from spirituall uncleannesse For it will not be allowed for a good plea in a disloyall wife to say that she gave no entertainement to any of her husbands enemies but onely made much of his dearest friends and admitted them into bed for his sake The adulterie in it selfe is foule with whomsoever it be committed and Idol-service in it selfe is abominable to whomsoever it be performed To pay the debt of conjugall love to any save her husband in a wife is adulterie and to tender divine honour to any save God is idolatrie Therefore if wee can bring any good proofe hereof that the Church of Rome doth this and avoweth the doing of it we doe her no wrong to call her the great Whore of whose cup of abominations whosoever drinke become so giddie that they fall before stockes and stones like men whose braines are intoxicated take images and pictures for men and women bring presents to them put costly apparell on them speake to them embrace and kisse them y Lactan. divin instit l. 2. Adorant insensibilia quisentiunt irrationabilia qui sapiunt exanima qui vivunt terrena qui oriuntur è coelo O sottish folly the living image of God falleth downe before dumb and dead pictures and statues men to whom God hath given sense and reason adore
jewells but in the judgement and estimation of vertue doubtlesse they have more true honour done unto them whom the best reverence in their minds for their eminent gifts and graces how obscure soever their condition and place be than those of lesse or no worth to whose office and place they give the cap and knee When the Asse that carried the Idoll of Isis upon his backe saw all the people fall downe before the goddesse he lift up his head and kicked up his heeles and never left braying as being proud of so great honour done unto him which folly of the silly beast the people checked in such sort for the present that it grew afterwards for a Proverbe Non tibi sed r Eras chil Isidi Alas stupid beast the worship is not performed to thee but to the image which thou bearest I know ye prevent mee in the application and therefore I presse these things no further only give mee leave to offer to them who are out-stripped by men of inferiour quality in their way of preferment these considerations following That the coale which is healed in the ashes liveth when that which is raked out and blowne soone dieth the jewell in the casket is safe and most resplendent when that which is taken out and worne is soyled or lost Publike offices and eminent places in Church and Commonwealth expose those that hold them to the view of all as their good parts are taken notice of so their bad cannot bee concealed Now if any man or woman otherwayes faire or beautifull should yet have some one foule deformity in their face were it a cut or scarre or boile or botch or the like would they desire much to bee seene would they not either keepe in or by a maske or vaile cover this imperfection Beloved Christians there is none that hath not some or other greater imperfection in his minde than any deformity in the body can bee Privacie and places of small or meane employment cast a vaile over those infirmities and imperfections in such sort that none or very few espy them publike callings and places of great action discover them to the view of all In which consideration if wee compare one with the other the setting forth of their vices and imperfections with the blazing of their vertues and good parts if they have any I am perswaded that never any proud and worthlesse or vaine-glorious or ambitious person obtained their end the constant applause and praise of men For though for a time they are upon the tongue of all and entertained with greatest acclamations before their blinde sides and manifold imperfections are known yet after veritas temporis filia hath brought in her evidence against them their acclamations are turned into exclamations against them their name putrefieth even whilest yet they are alive If a Souldier that hath done good service in a countrey where there were no good coyne but brasse or lead pieces made currant by the Princes command for the present necessity should have this condition offered him that if hee would bee content with so much of his pay as might defray his necessary charge and forbeare the rest till hee returned to his owne countrey hee should receive so much in quantity in the purest gold as he might there in basest coine could hee except against it nay should hee not be very unwise to refuse so good an offer The like condition is propounded by God unto them that daily fight his battels for the good service they doe and the losses wounds infamy or disgrace they suffer glory and honour is due unto them at least by promise the glory of this world is of lesse value in comparison of celestiall than the basest coine in comparison of the purest gold yet the countrey wherein they serve this earth affordeth no better but if they forbeare till they returne to their owne home in heaven there they shall receive gold for copper pearle for glasse a massie crowne of gold for a gilt paper coronet glory from God and his Angels for glory from men Lastly the words of the Apostle Saint Peter are very remarkable to this purpose ſ 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time they who are not yet may be exalted in due time if the due time fall by their life time no man shall be able to crosse them in their advancement nor defeat them of it if not they cannot commence any suit of unkindnesse against our gracious God for not exalting them sooner than he did the greatest instruments of his glory the Prophets and Apostles nay and his only begotten Son who became obedient unto death before he exalted him The belssed Apostle S. Paul expected not his garland before he had t 2 Tim. 4.8 I have finished my course I have kept the faith therefore is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse run his race neither did any of the Roman Captains think it long to stay for their donatives till the day of triumph when they received a Crowne from the Emperour not below in the streets but above in the Capitoll Our day of triumph is the day of judgment when we are to receive a crown of righteousnesse not on earth but in heaven In the meane while if any preferments or honours bee cast upon us let us not esteeme them as our hire but take them onely as earnests but if wee lead our life ingloriously and breath out our last breath in silence and obscurity let this bee our solace that as there can bee no darknesse where the sunne shineth so neither is there any place to bee accounted private or inglorious where God and his Angels are present There needs no other proofe where God is an eye-witnesse of our labours and performance no applauders where his Angels are spectators I fill up this border therefore with a flower taken from Saint * Cyp. l. 4. ep 5. Nec minor est martyrii gloria non publicè inter multos periisse cùm pereundi causa sit propter Christum perire sufficit ad testimonium martyrii testis ille qui martyres probat coronat Et ib. Solus non est cui Christus in fugâ comes est solus non est qui templum Dei servat ubicunque fuerit sine Deo non est Cyprians samplar This Martyr understanding of the discontent taken by some Martyrs in his dayes that the Proconsull had so ordered that they should bee put to death privately and thereby made Martyres sine martyribus witnesses deposing for the faith of Christ without any to testifie their constancy or take example by their patience thus hee quieteth their mindes The glory of your martyrdome saith hee is nothing eclipsed by the privacy of your suffering so the cause be for the faith of Christ it will bee abundantly sufficient proofe of your patience and assurance to you of your reward that