span-long and mine Age is as nothing before thee surely euery man in his best state is altogether vanitie THE Text is a sad Story of man's frailtie here And 't is a Prophet's and a King's a King as mightie in Religion as in valour one that knew as well how to tune his sorrowes as his triumphs and had often warbled sweetly to them both and sung many a dainty Antheme in his Israell so that here wants neither eloquence nor state nothing that may perswade an auditorie or awe it I need not begge then either your patience or attention the one is enioyn'd you from a Prophet the other from a King a good Prophet and a King Dauid the King and the Prophet after God's owne heart whose words here are are as Compact as they are powerfull so ioynted and knit together in one piece a piece so vniforme and exact that should I disranke or sunder them I must either deface this beautie or destroy it I take them then as I first found them in their rich pyle and fabricke wherein I haue obserued three stories or ascents Dayes in the first and these dayes measured and in that measure resembled Instar pugilli as a span-length and this length punctuall and prefixt not alterable by any power of man for in posuisti thou hast made it so In the next these Dayes are an Age and this Age weigh'd and compar'd fals light in the scale tanquam nihil as nothing not absolutely nothing but comparatiuely Ante te before thee In the third these Dayes and this Age are man's not man 's in his Autumne or declination but in his best state and man thus in his best state is but vanitie no peice-meale vanitie but omnimoda vanitas altogether vanitie man is altogether vanitie man is so not man in particular this man only not I Dauid the Prophet or the King but vniuersus homo euery man as well the Begger as the King or the Prophet all mand-kinde euery man euery man in his best state is altogether vanitie Thus I haue shew'd you the front of the Text and what it promise's in the rooms within if not so fully as you expect or desire please you to take a review and then you may see more at large Dayes in the first part these dayes proportion'd who did it and how and all this in a Tu posuisti thou hast made them and thou hast so made them that they are as a span long there I beginne Thou hast make my dayes as a span-long A span-long Pars prima TO weigh the miserie of things transitory with the glory of others more permanent and solid is the most exact way to iudge of either the life of opposites is in Comparing them when the good seeme better and the bad worse Our Prophet therefore in a deepe speculation of the Almighty and the fraile rarities of his creatures here below looking vp at length to the beautie of the Celestiall hoast Sunne moone and starres brings vp man vnto to them not to riuall their perfection but to question his and after some stand and pause in steed of Comparison makes an enquiry a double one first what man is and then what is the sonne of man in his eighth Psalme the fourth verse Here is Homo and filius hominis and both in the text haue their energia and weight of emphasis The word enosc or enosh translated man signifies miserum calamitosum hominem saith Musculus a man of calamitie and sorrow Musc in Psal 8.4 and 't is giuen to all men as a remembrance of their mortality so Psal 9.20 Let the Heathens know that they bee Enosc men mortall men Moreouer sonne of man hath in the roote Adam vt primae originis admoneamur Musc ibid. to minde vs of our carnall pedigree and that our source and ofspring is but Adamah and so all man-kinde earthie And therefore some translations following closely the tracke of the originall Aynsworth Psal 8.4 read thus what is sorry man that thou remembrest him and the sonne of Adam that thou visitest him not what is man that rare creature indued with wisedome and vnderstanding the Almightie's Master-piece the Image of his maker and modell of the vniuerse But what is Enose what is Adam What the sonne of calamitie and sorrow the sonne of earth and frailiâ—â— what is he nay what is he not what not of calamitie and earth insomuch that the patient man vnder the groane and sense of humane imperfections and the dayly bruise of his manifold affliction is driuen to his expostulation also with a quid est homo what is man Iob. 7.17 where we meet againe with the word Enosc misellus homo wretched man and not nakedly the word but a particle ioyn'd with it not mah Bolduc in Cap. Iob. 17. but mi as Bolducus obserues non quis sed quid quaerere intendens as if the enquiry look't not to the person but his condition not who is man but what he is knowing that man is not only the concrete miserable but the very abstract misery it selfe such a misery as may bee an example and president of all others And if we but obserue the criticismes and curiosities of expositours vpon the word man they are neither impertinent nor fruitlesse for wee shall neuer meet it through the whole current of sacred Story without some descant and paraphrase from the Hebrew To particular in that of Esay where in one text words of opposite signification maske vnder a single antithesis as in the fifth of that Prophesie Bolduc in cap. 4. Iob. 17. Incuruabitur homo humiliabitur vir man shall be brought downe and man shall be humbled Homo there is in the originall Adam quod nomen infirmitatis est a name of crazines and languishment Vir Ise or Ish Heroem magnumque importans which inuolues something of eminence renowne and so our new translation giues it Esa 5. the meane man shall bee brought downe and the mighty man shall bee humbled so that let man bee of what condition or estate soeuer hee shall not bee long in it without a bringing downe or an humbling If he be Isc mighty in possession and name humiliabitur he shal be humbled if he be Adam of course and popular condition and so humble already yet he must be lower incuruabitur hee shall bee brought downe brought downe and humbled with a witnesse ad infernum sayes the Text euen vnto Hell Aperit infernus os suum the 16. verse of that Chapter Esa 5 16. But Hell is the misety of another Age our Text hath little to doe with that and so this place makes not for our purpose but the word Sheol will befriend vs here and make this infernum a graue too and thither we are humbled euery day and then we aske nomore Quis or quid est homo who or what is man but Vbi homo where is man Iob. 14.10 for so the
he will not so much as enioyne his Philemon but labours with an Obsecro when he might haue vs'd a Mando Though I might be much bold in Christ to enioyne thee yet for loue 's sake I rather beseech thee Phil. 7.8 So that where Loue is there is still an Obsecro where it is not there is commonly a Damno Hence 't is that the Pulpit is so often the Mount of Terror and of Vengeance the Throne of personall eiaculations the Altar where some belch nothing but fire and brimstone vomit the Ite maledicti too vncharitably and which is worst too particularly who scare and terrifie when they should entreat and in stead of Beseeching fall to Reuiling Rom. 12.11 who vnder a pretence of feruency of the Spirit and seruing the Lord sincerely ransacke God's dreadfull Artillery and call out all his Instruments of Iustice to assist them his furbisht sword and glittering speare his bowe of steele and sharpe-set arrowes his horse with warre-like trappings neighing for the battell his smoaking iealousie and deuouring pestilence his flaming meteors and horrid earth-quakes his storme his whirle-wind and his tempest flouds and billones and boylings of the deepe his cuppe of displeasure and vials of indignation his dregs of fury and besome of destruction his haile stones and his lightnings his coales of Iuniper and hot thunder-boles Thus in fearefull harnesse hauing muster'd vp all God's Iudgements in a sull volly they at once discharge them against the pretended corruptions of particular men whom their virulence labours rather to traduce then their Deuotions to reforme And this is but a spirituall-distraction a deuout phrenzy a holy madnesse through which like the Lunaticke in the Gospell they fall sometimes into the water Marke 9.22 sometimes into the fire Nothing will satisfie them but flouds and flames flouds to o'er-whelme the sinner or flames to martyr him But Quis furor ô ciues quae tanta dementia Publicke reproofes when they are cloath'd with Terror not onely disparage but dis-hearten They breake the bruizedreede Esay 42.3 and quench the smoaking flaxe run many on the shelues of despaire where they make an vnhappy shipwracke of their faith and not of their faith onely but of their body also exposing it to poyson or the knife to strangling or to the floud to the wilfull precipitation of some Towre or Cliffe or the vnnaturall butchery of their owne hands and so tormenting the body for the soule by a temporall death at length they feele the torments both of soule and body by an eternall death Thus if Incisions bee made too deepe in the vlcers of the Soule and the spirituall wound search'd too roughly it more relishes of cruelty then of Loue and he that doth it rather preaches his owne sinne then endeuours to cure anothers Qui delinquente superbo vel odioso animo corrigit Jsid lib. 3. de summo Bono cap. 91. non emendat sed percutit Rebukes which taste of enuie or superciliousnesse do not reforme but wound and in stead of lenifying and making more tractable indifferent dispositions they stubborne them knowing that reproofes too tartly season'd are the seruices of Spleene and not of Zeale 't is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeale from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seething and boyling of a pot Now a pot you know not temperatly fir'd boyles ouer and certainely if Moderation sometimes blow not the Cole but wee make virulence the bellowes of our zeale it not onely seeths and rises to passion and distemper but boyles ouer to Enuy and Vncharitablenesse And therefore our Apostle deuiding the properties of true Charity from a false zeale makes this one Symptome of that great vertue Charitas non aemulatur Estius in 1. Cor. cap. 13.3 Cyp. lib. de zelo Linore 1 Cor. 13.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall non zelat That is as Cyprian reades non inuidet enuies not for zeale in her perfection and as it leanes to vertue is but emulation but screw'd vp to vice 't is enuy Enuy Nay 't is fury Isid lib. 3. de summo Bono cap. 91. Quicquid proteruus vel indignans animus protulerit obiurgantis furor est non dilectio corrigentis saith the Father what in way of Admonishment passion produces is Reuiling and not admonishment and doth not touch so properly on sincerity as malice And therefore Enuies and Euill-speakings are link'd with Guile and Hypocrisie By Saint Peter Lay aside all guile Hypocrisies and Enuies and euill-speakings 1 Pet. 2.1 A temperate reproofe will mould and worke vs to reformation when an Inuectiue fires vs In cap. 5. Luae Illa pudorem incutit Haec indignationem mouet saith Ambrose That touches vs with remorce and slumbers and becalmes all passion This kindles our Indignation and with that our stubbournesse For certainely harsh speeches doe not so properly moue as startle vs and are like sharpe sawces to the stomacke which though they sometimes stirre the appetite yet they gnaw And for this Error some haue censur'd Saint Chrysostome himselfe That if He could haue moderated his zeale and temper'd his reproofes with a little mildnesse especially to the Empresse Eudoxia He might haue done more seruice to his Church and rescued his honour from the staine both of Imprisonment and Exile I presse not this so farre Beloued to fat and pamper vice or rocke and lull men in a carelesse sensuality Though I doe Beseech yet I would not fawne This were to kill our young with colling them and with the Iuie barren and dead that tree which we embrace I know a Boanerges is sometimes as well requir'd as a Barnabas a sonne of Thunder as of Consolation But these haue their vicissitudes and seasons There is an vncircumcised heart and there is a Broken Spirit There is a deafe Adder that will not be charm'd and there are good Sheepe that will heare Christ's voyce For these there is the spirit of Meekenesse for the other loud and sharpe Reproofes If Nabal's heart be stony the Word is call'd a Hammer let that batter it If Israel haue a heart that is contrite and wounded Gilead hath Balme in it and there is oyle of comfort for hïm that mournes in Sion Thus as our Infirmities are diuers so are the cures of the Spirit sometimes it terrifies sometimes it Commands sometimes it Beseeches But let not vs terrifie when we should but Command nor Command when wee should Beseech lest wee make this Liberty a Cloake for our Maliciousnesse 1. Pet. 2.16 In all exhortations first make vse of the still voyce and if that preuaile not Cry alowd vnto the Trumpet and if that be not shrill enough raise the Thunder-clap Aug. lib. 2. de sermone Domini in monte seâ—m 1. But this latter Rarò magnâ necessitate saith Augustine seldome and vpon great necessity Ità tamèn vt in ipsis etiam obiuâ— gatienibus non nobis sed Deo seruiatur intestinus If we must needs
skin and shell of Christianity Let vs now compare them a little with our owne and wee shall finde that they haue not any-whit gone beyond vs in the Externall profession of sincerity tho in their suffering and Tortures they haue much We haue deceitfull workers as well as they 2. Cor. 11.13 Transforming themselues into the Apostles of Christ 2. Cor. 5.20 whïch glory in appearance and not in heart We abhorre That Age should out-doe ours either in Hypocrisie or prophanenesse wee haue our Donatists and Catharists and Anabaptists as plentifully as they and some besides They had not the Brownist the Barrowist and the Familist and one more that both fosters and incloses all these may he be whifper'd without offence my Brethren the Puritan but he will not be Titled so the very Name hangs in his Iawes and the chiefe way to discouer him is to call him so That fires and nettles him and so repining at the Name he ownes it and questionlesse 't is his though he shrowd and vaile it vnder the word Brethren in the Text whose Purity consists much in washing of the out-ward-man Vide Ro. Art 19. A. 1. prop. vbi citat H. N. 1. exhort c. 1. § 10. the Brownists to Cartwright page 39. Barrow in his discouery p. 33. whilst their Tenents looke towards a Legall righteousnesse and a triumphant and glorified condition of man here vpon earth professing by their open Pamphlets that the visible Church the true visible Church is deuoid of Sinne and Sinners and for Manners cannot erre and therefore Paradox it That the Assemblies of good and bad together are no Church but Heapes of prophane men as if in one field Math. 25. there were not as well Tares as Corne in one house vessels of wood and earth as of gold and siluer a Mixture of good and bad Math. 2.3 in all Congregations which as an Embleme of the Church visible our Sauiour types-out in the parable of the Sower the Marriage and the Virgins Math. 13. Nay his Blessed Spouse of her selfe freely professes her deformity Tho' I am comely I am blacke Cant. 1.5 O yee Daughters of Ierusalem blacke as the Tents of Kedar And yet These will haue her all cleane and louely like a face without spot or wrinkle when wee know a Mole or Wart sometimes beautifies a feature and in this Warre of opposites there is both gracefulnesse and Lustre and therefore I suppose the Church was first compar'd vnto the Moone not so much for change as obnubilation being obuious to clouds and Eclipses and when 't is at clearest 't is not without a mole in her cheeke neither at least-wise to an ocular apprehension or if it were all faire and Lucid yet 't is by way of Influence beam'd from a greater light borrowed not her owne so is this of the Church too one Sun of righteousnesse enlightens Both and therefore Woe vnto them that call Light Darkenes Darknes Light make a Church of it selfe shine which cannot or not shine which might if they were not by others dogmatically perēptorily laying downe that where Errors are there is no True Church when there was neuer any nor will be whil'st 't is militant without them But They are no more of the substance of our Religion or any Essentiall part of our Churches Doctrine ' Ro. Artic. in the Preface then ill humours which be in are of the Body or Dregs in a vessell of wine part of the wine or vessell 'T is true some Ceremonies we retaine yet as matters of Indifferency and not of Substance and these forsooth are so hainous that they are Thornes in their sides and prickles in their eyes matter of Ceremony is now matter of Conscience and rather then subscribe Silence Suspension Imprisonment they venture on and sometimes suffer too where A Brethren-Contribution more fats them then all the Fortunes they were masters of before and this beloued cannot be zeale but Schisme or if it bee zeale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 10.2 it wants Eyes and Intellectuals 't is not according to knowledge For what Iudgement would expose our Body vnto prison our Calling to the staine of Separation and Reuolt for a thing meerely of indifferency and Ceremony No there is more in it then This the Rochet Tippet and the Surplesse is not that they shoot at but the thing call'd Parity Moses and Aaron they like not for the Ephod and the Rod they speake power and command and so intimate obedience But these struggle for equality the Ecclesiasticke Hierarchy they would demolish Episcopall corruption is the great Eye-sore Downe with it downe with it euen to the ground And yet I dare say there are some subtle Pioners and secret Mutiners in Common-wealth pretending plausibly to the flourishing of Religion which if they could once glory in that Babel they endeuour to erect they car'd not if Ierusalem were An heape of stones 'T is impossible that Ciuill Authority can euer subsist without the other and if there be once a full rent flaw in Church-policy what can we expect from that of State or either but vast Anarchy and Confusion Thus he that strikes at the Myter God grant he catch'th not at the Scepter and if he could graspe it the very Thunderbolt no Bishop no King and so by consequence no God He proclaimes himselfe the God of Order and These would make him the Father of Confusion and so in circumstance disgod him too seeing his greatest glory consists in the Harmony of his Creatures the Peace of his Church and vnanimity of his Saints and Seruants and therefore brethren let me beseech you in the words of the Apostle Marke them which cause Diuisions Rom. 16.17 18. and offences contrary to the Doctrine which you haue heard and auoyd them For they that are such serue not our Lord Iesus Christ but their owne Belly and by good words and faire speeches deceiue the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.17 18 ver I haue yet but Beseech't you in the words of an Apostle Let me warne you also in the Language of a Sauiour Beware of Those which come to you in sheeps-clothing with such a Cast of Mortification and Integrity as if their conuersation spake nothing but Immaculatenesse when within they are rauening wolues such as will not onely tondere pecus and deglubere but deuorare too subuert whole houses for filthy lucre Tit. 1.13 You shall know them by their fruite Their fruite vnto the eye beautifull and glorious but to the finger Dust and Smoake or if not by their fruite by their Leaues you may a few wind-falne vertues which they piece and sowe together to couer their owne Nakednesse Will you haue them in their full Dresse and portraiture Take the draught and paterne then from the Pharisee Mathew 23. There the character is exact where if you obserue They are twice called Blind Guides Blindnesse of knowledge brings on Blindnesse of Heart and
is at once folly and madnesse 't is miserable to follow error by example That this man hugg's his Mammon is no authority for my Auarice I must chalke out my proceedings by the line of precept square them by the rules of Diuine truth and that tel's mee RÃches are but snares thornes vanities shadowes nothing 1. Tim 6.9 Math. 13.22 Wilt thou set thine eyes vpon that which is not saith the Wise man For certainly Riches make themselues wings they flye away as an Eagle towards heauen Pro. 18. Marke all their pompe is without certainty or station Things not onely fleeting but voluble they steale not from vs but they flye away flye away as an Eagle doth both with strong and nimble wing Their Ebbe is as sodaine as their flowe doubtfull the Text onely presupposes the one with a si affluxerint if they flow about thee as if their increase were meerely casuall But if they doe what then Nolite cor opponere set not your heart vpon them They are transitory obiects they flye away not only with the pinions of an Eagle but with the wings of a Doue of the Doue in the Psalmist whose wings were couered with siluer and her feathers with gold Riches I confesse haue their Beauty and lustre but they are false like globes of Christall which though they take the eye both with varietie and delight of Obiects yet haue of themselues but a hollow and brittle glory nihil ex his quae videmus manet currit cum tempore Winds and Seas are not so roling and vnstable as Riches are when they begin to surge and swell the Heart that is set vpon them vides quia fluunt Ambros ad Mamme non vides quia praeter fluunt fluenta sunt quae miraris quomodò veniunt sit transeunt et receduntvt discas superflua non acquirere Loe how the Father playing on the word chide's his folly and opening the stickle condition of these sliding Temporalls prohibite's all desire of vnnecessary Treasure to sweate after superfluities and vaine Abundance since the way to them is both steepe and slippery and like the climbing of a sandie hill to the feete of the Aged No man can be possessed of a peaceable and quiet life that toyle 's much about the inlargement of it Seneca's habere quod necesse est quod sat est may well compleat all earthly happines and terminate our desires in way of riches to haue that which is necessary that which is sufficient But this latter we must bound againe with the rules of Nature not opinion The Epicure tels vs If we liue according to Nature we shall neuer be poore if according to opinion neuer rich Our naturall desires haue their lists and Bounds Those that are deriued from false opinion haue no pale to him that goeth in a right way there is an end Error is infinite As therefore there are diuers sorts of Riches so there are of Desires too there are Riches naturall and there are Riches Artificiall there are Desires of Nature and there are Desires of Choice Naturall Riches such as are surrogated to man for the supply of naturall defects as meate drinke clothing Artificiall by which Nature is not immediately relieued but by way of consequence as Coyne Plate Iewels and the like which the Art of man first found out for easier trafficke and exchange or as the vnhewed language of the Schoole man rough's it propter mensuram rerum venalÃum Now naturall desires shake hands with naturall Riches they are not infinite but haue their measure and growth and proportion with the other Artificiall Riches are without period and come vp to those desires of Choice which because inordinate and not modified are noe lesse then infinite Hee that drinke's of this water saith Christ by temporalls shall thirst againe Ioh. 4. The Reason is because their insufficiencie is most knowen when they are had and therefore discouer's their imperfection more so that Naturall Riches are more exquisite because they haue naturall desires which are infinite The other not without Confusion and Disorder because their desires depend on Choice which are mutable and various and so Infinite Aquin. secunda secundae q. 1. art 1. ad secundum Cato That Rigid censor of the Romanes was both Home and witty to the superfluous vanities of his time Any thing will suffice if what we want we require of our selues hee that seeke's for content without him looseth both himselfe and it not to desire Vis fieri diues Pontifice nil cupias Mart Sen. Epist 119. and haue are of a nere Bloud Quare igitur à fortunâ potius impetrem vt det quà m à me nè petam saith the Stoicke Why should I rather desire of Fortune that she would giue mee then of my selfe that I would not desire Riches haue nothing solid in them for if they had they would sometimes either fill or please vs but they play with our appetites as the apples did with the lips of Tantalus which he might kisse not Taste or suppose Tast them 't is but as water to one sicke of a violent feuer now drinking eagerly to allay his thirst enlarges it and seeking something to coole his Torments he enflame's them Wee are neuer in our selues but beyond Feare or Desire or Hope draw vs euer to that which is to come and remoue our sence and consideration from that which is to muse on that which shall be euen when wee shall be no more Inuentus est qui concupisceret Aliquid post omnia There are some that hauing all things haue notwithstanding coueted somewhat like wide-mouth'd Glasses brimb'd-vp with rich Elixars put gold in them They are ne're the fuller And this is a punishment euer waites vpon vnbridled and immoderate Appetites Hee that loueth siluer shall not bee satisfied with siluer nor hee that loueth Abundance with increase Eccle. 5.10 Miserable Desires haue miserable effects They degrade and deuest Man of that preheminence he hath aboue other Creatures and bring him down to Beasts nay vnder them For they hauing quenched their Desires by their Fruition remaine fully satisfied till Nature quicken againe their Appetites like plants in a fat soyle which neuer require shewers but in drought those of Man are euer rauenous and insatiate like barren thirsty ground which euen then lacks moisture when ouer-flowed Thoughts which streame towards wealth or Honour haue no certaine channell but like a Torrent or full tide either beate downe'or else ouer-runne their bankes There was neuer Mammonist whose Excesse of Treasure or Extent of Fortune could limit his Concupiscence but it might well riuall the Ambition of those Proud Kings of old who not satisfied with the Glory of their owne Crownes and hauing nothing more on earth to bee desired would counterfaite the Lightning and Thunder to haue themselues thought powerfull in Heauen also make him Lord of the whole Earth giue him her Mynes of Gold Coasts of Iasper Rocks of