owne house for two thousand yeares and vpwards to feed his eldest children onely with tradition Surely the diuers restitutions and reformations of Gods true worship argue that those times were not generally so fortunate for Religion But suppose that in one or two families when men were at the fewest their hearts at the purest and their liues at the longest Religion were a while retained yet was it not onely by tradition but by Visions Oracles Elements and Rudiments which might be vnto them in stead of writing Writing began with Moses very conueniently when the number of men was much increased and their yeeres much shortned that so Gods worship might bee propagated both downwards to succeeding generations This shall bee written for the generation to come and the people which shall bee created shall praise the Lord Psalm 102. And abroad to diuers Nations before Christ in some diuine glimses obscurely shining through the chinkes and crannies of the then-decaying partition wall as appeareth in the Eunuch after Christ in a brighter and more cleare light at the noonetide of the Gospell Goe therefore and teach all nations And who will presume to except this manner of teaching By which that it was their purpose to teach I could gather further out of their owne seuerall writings and if it needed I could adde both the suffrages of primitiue Fathers and Histories but they being Gods witnesses and Ambassadors haue as you see written and therefore may not bee thought except wee saw greater contrarie proofes to haue done what they did besides their Commission All which considered the lesse maruaile may it be that we deale in strict termes with our aduersaries holding stifly Tertullians plea against Hermogenes Scriptum doceat Hermogenis officina for whence the needlesse ouerplus of their vnwritten supplies proceed we know not from themselues in all likely-hood that are parties who must not think to be conueied into the roome of Iudges by this couzenage but these written euidences wee are sure are Gods owne deedes and specialties wherein moreouer wee are taught that the Lord will reproue them and they shall be found liars The Lord will adde vnto them the plagues of this Booke and they shall be cursed and abominable that shall offer to peece his word to mend his workeman-ship to mingle and imbase his precious gold of the Temple with the drosse and vnsanctified refuse of their owne inuentions Let it then bee acknowledged among vs for Papists I hope are absent a silly shift of Romish brokery for vent of tradition any way to discredit the Scripture yea let it be grauen with an iron pen in lead or in stone for euer that they who would sometimes haue set vp those vnwritten verities fell in the end to open rayling at the Scripture that all after-ages may bee filled with questions and exclamations What were all colours spent was there no cauill left did the luxuriant wits of Rome end in such barrennesse and beggerie that nothing could bee forged but a mute or a brute a dumbe or dead letter a blacke Gospell or a peece of inky-diuinity O thou that destroyest the wisedome of the wise and castest away the vnderstanding of the prudent how hast thou confounded the disputers of this world that they should thus turne the edge of their malice from our cause to thine ordinance and at the lowest ebbe in the ruines of their strength bid battell vnto the Lord of Hostes their strongest and their mightiest enemy They might haue knowne that whatsoeuer may cause their ioy to bee full whatsoeuer may perfect them for euery good worke whatsoeuer may make them wise vnto saluation all this is written and therefore a man of God should not presume or bee wise aboue that which is written certainely a man of reason should not presume or be wise against that which is written But wee that bee both men of God and men of reason enioying the places of sober and religious Christians are bound while we liue to magnifie the grace of God in this vnspeakable benefit had hee but obscurely signified a word of his will Angels in reason must haue stooped and obeyed And therefore if our Fathers had but told vs some part of our duties many whole Countries to this day without God in the world might haue enuied our happinesse But since wee take not what we take vpon trust of mens report hauing yet a more sure word of the Prophets and Apostles since whensoeuer wee will we suruey at the full that great mystery of godlinesse which I say not Kings and Princes but Saints and Angels haue desired to behold Behold in it I beseech you a marueilous high point of mercifull prouidence a blind man my brethren may perceiue how we that can read though we could but read are almost as farre beyond them that cannot as he that hath seeing eies in his head surpasseth a blind man And yet the late inuention of Printing may make vs farther doubt whether euer learning hath so much excelled ignorance as Scholers haue in this case excelled Scholers Gods will is neere as well knowne as his workes and the Booke of grace is now become like the Booke of heauen His arcana notis terra pelagoque feruntur their sound yea now if wee will their line is gone forth into all the earth and their words into the end of the world Wherefore I hope wee cannot enter into our large Studies but they will put vs in mind of the time when a Deske in some narrow window was taken for a little Library yea the store of our learned volumes now must needs I trow remember vs of that ancient scarcity which like that old woman that sold bookes vnto Tarquin Dionys Hal. lib. 4. antiq enhaunced the price to so high a rate as might haue made a Tarquins ransome When questionlesse many men in this place laid both wit and wealth together to compasse with a common purse the ioynt purchase of a little outworne darke difficult manuscript If this were but one of the Themes of our meditations it would sinke at length into our affections if our affections were truely mooued they would call vpon vs for thankfulnesse if thankfulnesse did appeare clearely to bee our debt we would returne it and expresse it as neere as wee could in the same or the like kinde striuing to the vtmost of our power to enlarge the meanes of knowledge both by words and writing GOD knowes I desire not that any who trauell onely with the winde should be deliuered of their emptines I doe not I need not here exhort the soming braines of this age to soile cleane paper with their vnchaste scurrility such weeds being nourished in the composte of carnall humors grow too too fast of themselues I should rather commend the Procrustes of Rome that would proportion the bodies of all writers to the bed of the harlot for inhibiting profane and obscene Pamphlets did I not thinke that it were not so much for
or somewhat else it wants due complement and circumstance O God must the foundation of our honour needes bee laid in thy dishonour Lord Iesus was it the end of thy diuers sufferings to minister vnto men diuers formes of swearing or to take away the variety of their soules diseases To take away the variety of their soules diseases without all controuersie Therefore let them feare that they haue little or no part in the merit who thus abuse euery part in the paines of his sufferings If the loue of God with all the bonds of all the benefits wee haue receiued or hope to receiue cannot perswade vs to couenant with our lips against this euill from which of all euils wee haue most power of abstinence to which of all euils we haue fewest temptations yet remember from whence it ariseth from the first cause of euill Sathan whither it falleth into the last effect of euill damnation and in the middle point the short spanne of our life what mischiefe and vengeance it procureth for the sentence I know is Apocryphall but the sense compared with this flying Booke appeares to bee most Canonicall A man which vseth much swearing Eccles 23. shall bee filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house which continuance of the plague was the third part in my first diuision Some would in this place obserue a raigning and a domineering nature in the curse of this Booke which shrinkes not into corners but takes possession in the middle roome most honourable Mediâ dominatur in aulâ Kings indeede haue sometimes chosen the middle place of Kingdomes for their seat because that I may speake in that olde similitude the way to keepe a stiffened hide from rising at the sides round about is to set your feete vpon the center but the language originall shewes me small odds betweene In the house and in the midst of the house Therefore I rather obserue the stubburne quality of vengeance which like a froward Inmate once admitted vnder any roofe wil neither suddenly remoue nor remaining cease to be troublesome God hath ordained to put a difference betweene his friends whom he chastiseth out of that anger which Saint Augustine calleth an anger of consummation and his enemies whom he plagueth out of another anger an anger of consumption that the rod of the wicked shall not rest vpon the lot of the righteous Psal 125. That was the ground of that heroicall confidence of Athanasius when hee pronounced of Iulians hot persecution Nubecula est citò transibit it is but a cloud and a cloud will quickly vanish As for the vnbeleeuer The wrath of God abideth vpon him Ioh. 3. which words haue a double aspect one backwards according to Saint Augustine as if it were a wrath of great antiquity it comes not now t was before vpoÌ„ him another aspect it hath forwards in the Greeke Fathers exposition noting the continuance of wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall not depart from him In this sense it abideth and I know not whether there may not lurk in the word vpon him some secret intimation of aduantage froÌ„ an vpper place as though reuenge did stand continually preying vpon a wicked man like the rauenous bird in the fable vpon Prometheus or that other vpon Titius in hell whereof if any demaund Why is mine heauinesse continuall and my plague desperate and cannot be healed they haue matter enough for answere within themselues their owne obstinate continuance in sinne whereof though the particular acts are transeunt yet the staine and guilt is permanent A consideration which abundantly iustifieth the tenour of Gods temporall punishments in earth forasmuch as it quitteth his eternall iudgement executed vpon the damned in hell whereof Saint Gregorie Ad distrâ—cti Iudicis iustitiam pertinet vt nunquam can eant supplicio quoram mens in hac vita nunquam voluit carere peccato it concernes the iustice of the strickt Iudge that they neuer want punishment whose mindes would neuer haue wanted sinne yea they desperately cast themselues into a state irrecouerable and they would haue liued for euer onely that they might haue sinned for euer And therefore no maruaile if the flying Booke heere lodge all night with the impenitent malefactours because impenitencie deales with it as the Romanes dealt with victorie clipping the wings of it that it cannot fly away It shall remaine in the midst of his house It is no Christian wisedome then but carnall weaknesse for men any way visited by the hand of heauen to sigh and groane and aske how long out of ignorance and wonder that the terme of their heauy visitation is not yet expired In such a lamentable condition the Church may teach them how to correct and direct their spirit in the third of Ieremies Lamentations First there must be an inquisition after the proper cause Why is man liuing sorrowfull man suffereth for his sinnes then a resolution to vse the proper remedie Let vs search and try our wayes and turne vnto the Lord. Otherwise as when you are dead all the while any moisture remaineth the wormes will not forsake your carcasse so while you liue the curse will waite close vpon the cause still a sinner and still a sufferer Now the sinne of them which either deuoure holy things which is abomination or rob and oppresse their brethren remaines still as long as the spoyles themselues are vnrestored Israel could not stand before their enemies till they had put away the execrable thing from among them Jâ—sh 7.11 no more will the curse of the flying Booke vntill the treasures of wickednesse be returned backe againe to their owners Let the great Goliahs and Anâ—kims of the world who grinde the faces of the poore as they feare a weight greater then a milstone about their necks when these shallow riuers of temporarie punishment shall run into the sea of eternall torments come downe from their pride and imitate euen the greatest of them the example of little Zachâ—â—â— the greatest example that euer was for effectuall and substantiall restitution and let them breake off their sinnes with righteousnes which giueth euery man his owne for if wee beleeue Saint Augustine in his fifty foure Epistle ad Macedonium non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum Without restitution no remission and where there is no remission of the guilt of sin there can be no decrease of the power of sinne and where the power of sinne decreaseth not the plague of sinne increaseth like a spreading plague or Leprosie which spares neither house nor walles of the house which is my last generall part the consequent or effect of the curse It shall consume the house with the stones thereof and the timber thereof What Salomon at the fourteenth of the Prouerbs deliuereth in generall The house of the wicked shall be destroyed you may conceiue heere verified in a speciall manner of destruction It shall consume it A consumption which Bildad
detestation of them as to countenance his other expurgations more cruell to the dead then euer was Spanish Inquisition to the liuing But because the penne of Antichrist commands so many ploughs in Europe and you whose hearts haue indited good matters may weepe with that great Calculator before you die Suissetus because you cannot reade your owne obseruations for the priuate and publike good I beseech you that as your tongues haue been like the pens of ready writers so your pennes would be like the tongues of ready speakers Great must be their reward who treading in the steps of the blessed Prophets Apostles shall write of the great things of the Law whereof I am now to speake in the next place The great things of my Law By this addition of greatnesse attending vpon the Law you plainely perceiue the great Law-makers purpose to giue it heere an honorable commendation whereunto because it is our duty like good subiects to subscribe we may doe it in Dauids language The Law of the Lord is perfect Psal 19. the testimony of the Lord is sure the statutes of the Lord are right the commandement of the Lord is pure I confesse Saint Paul seeketh the Law ceremoniall Gal. 4. by the names of Impotent and beggerly rudiments But it is comparatiuely not absolutely not as it was a schoolemaster vnto Christ but as it was without Christ or rather as it was set vp against Christ I deny not that hee speaking of the morall Law sheweth how the same commandement which was ordained vnto life was found to bee vnto him vnto death not directly but occasionally as himselfe interpreteth himselfe Rom. 7. Sinne tooke occasion by the Law t was then a scandall taken not giuen Otherwise in it selfe considered this heauenly doctrine cannot want any praise which choise and variety of Scripture can giue to the best of Gods ordinances yet let me speake but once more for it before I come to iustifie what I speake by comparison An expounder of the Law who had not obserued the least Math. 22. asked our Sauiour which was the great commandement to this end as Saint Ierome thinkes that whereas all the things which God had commanded were great vpon assignation of any one aboue the rest he might take occasion to accuse him wherefore Christs answere is full of good circumspection deliuering him first an Epitome of the former Table and then subioyning that the second was like vnto it Lastly adding that in both did hang all the Law and the Prophets as if all were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wonderfull things of God the great things of the Law And indeede bee it that this greatnesse is a word of quantity or let it note perpetuall dignity or largenesse of extent betweene it and mens precepts you shall finde no resemblance of proportion for besides that eternall blisse the end heereof I meane of this whole doctrine is aboue the reach and beyond the Horizon of all humane learning whatsoeuer the Author in respect of whom part of it is tearmed the Royall Law Iam. 2.8 hath so ratified it that it giues all other decrees of man though they were as of the Medes Persians challenge in this behalfe vnanswerable None of them all can match this eueruerlasting Gospell themselues being iudges in vnchangeablenesse For suppose Iohn Gersons construction of Socrates modestic and the Academicks reseruatiuenesse were too too charitable whereas 〈◊〉 hee thinketh their reason of it might bee because they might thinke no stable truth or constant Law was to bee looked for but in God alone yet that testimony which Saint Augustine borroweth from Seneca Lib. 6. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 11. is a plaine confession how the Iewes accounted otherwise but a contemptible people wheresoeuer they came victivictoribus leges dederūt Being conquered gaue Lawes to their Conquerors What doe I spend my breath in this argument since all men the chiefest point of whose maiefty is to make a Law will grant that their best Topick places to commend their learned constitutions lyeth in the deriuation of them from Gods commandements they truly thinke that they can no way 〈◊〉 cōfirme thē bettter hen by confessing whence they stole thē Wherfore vpon experience that Gods Law stil continueth mens Lawes are transitory euery man may say with the Prophet Dauid I haue seene an end of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding large exceeding large indeed for in extent it reacheth to the very secret purposes and most inmost affections entring thorow like that other thundering voyce of the Lord which maketh the Hindes to calue diuiding the soule and the spirit there like an Anatomist searching and prying into euery peece of a member and reading a long lecture vpon the smallest portion of euery particle spelling like a Critick the fractions of vnperfect and as yet vnshapen cogitations of concupiscense whereas of a thought kept within the compasse of a thought if a sinner can wash his bloudy hands with Pilate and not betray his bloudy heart by word deede or writing no Law of mortall man can possibly determine And therefore it is excellently spoken by Lactantius Sapentia corum vt plurimum efficiat Lib. 3. cap. 26. non abscindit vitia sed abscondit The vtmost effect of this worlds wisedome is but to driue corruption inwards in making men cōformitants many times to make them hypocrites Nay farther so short hath it come of this outward conformity that we finde in histories how men wise men haue not only winked at grosse transgressions but themselues grossely transgressed and that not in their actions alone but in their constitutions the plaine conclusions secōdary precepts of nature threatning to trespasse almost vpon the very common principles whilest murder among some hath been scarce punishable adultery pardonable and theeuery among many commendable but Gods more pure perfit and vnchangeable Law leaues no euill vncensured no good vncommended for which large comprehension the ten Commandements are by Peter Martyr compared to the tenne predicaments wherefore I trust I may well conclude this point with Moses What nation is so great that hath ordinances and Lawes so righteous as I set before you this day Here the very worth and the exceeding great perfection of this sacred doctrine though all aduocates should bee corrupt and all Champions Cowards seemes to mee to plead yea to fight for its owne right and interest not that it may bee a bare aduertisement which is granted by the aduersary but a rule as it is called Gala. 6. Phil. 3.1 Cor. 10. nor a potentiall rule only in regard of fitnesse may it please the Church so to pronounce it for that it preferres the voyce of men before the voyce of God but an actuall rule nor partiall onely for that is contrary both to the nature of it selfe and of a rule too neither of which can admit addition but totally definitiue and directiue for Gods seruice and all