also doth the like Ovid. Met. l. 1. Cuncta priùs tentanda sed immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est ne pars sincera trahatur Si frustra molliora cesserint Seneca l. 1. de irâ— ferit venam For Physicians first minister weak and gentle potions and as the disease groweth apply stronger medicines And good Surgeons Homer l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like Machaon in Homer first lay plasters and poultesses to wounds and swellings and never launce or burne the part till the sore fester and other parts be in danger whom good Magistrates ought to imitate and never to use violent and compulsive remedies but when they are compelled thereunto nor to take extreme courses Senec. l. 1. de ira Ultima supplicia motibus ultimis parat ut nemo pereat nisi quem perire etiam pereuntis intersit but when the malady is extreme Desperate remedies are never good but when no other can be had for they that are of a great spirit if they be well given will not if they be ill cannot be amended by such meanes They resemble Jeat which burneth in water but is quenched with oyle or the c Plin. nat hist l. 31. c. 7. Uno digito mobilis idem si toto corpore impellitur resistens ita ratio est libra menti Colossus at Tarentum which you may move with your finger but cannot wagge if you put your whole strength to it As for those that are of a weaker spirit and are easily daunted harsh courses will doe them more hurt than good for they resemble tender plants which dye if they are touched with a d Rustici frondibus teneris non putant adhibendam falcem quia reformidare ferrum videntur cicatricem nondum pati posse knife or iron instrument The sixth rule is to sweeten the sharpest censures with mild speeches This rule is delivered by Lactantius in these words Circumlinere poculum coelestis sapientiae melle when wee minister a wholsome but bitter potion to annoint the side of the cup with honey when we give the patient a loathsome pill to lap it in sugar The manner whereof the Spirit sheweth us in divers letters sent to the Churches of e Apoc. 2.3 Asia First we are to professe the good will wee beare to the party and make it knowne unto him that whatsoever we doe we doe it in love f Apoc. 3.19 I rebuke and chasten as many as I love Secondly to acknowledge their good parts if they have any g Apoc. 2.2 4. I know thy workes and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not beare them that are evill neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love Thirdly to give them some good advice and counsell with our reproofe h Apoc. 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou maist bee rich and white raiment that thou maist be clothed and that the shame of thy nakednesse may not appeare and to annoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maist see Lastly to promise them favour upon any token of amendment i Apoc. 3.20 Be zealous therefore and repent behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Some there are who like best a resolute Chirurgian who be the patient never so impatient will doe his duty and quickly put him out of his paine though in the meane time he putteth the party to most intolerable torture Give me a tender-hearted Chirurgian who being to set an arme or legge that is out of joynt handleth it so gently that the patient scant feeleth when the bone falleth in Thus Nathan the Prophet handled King David 2 Sam. 12.3 4 5 6 7. and by telling him first a parable of a poore man that had but one lambe c. and afterwards applying it unexpectedly to the King himself ere he was aware as it were set not his body but his soule in joynt The seventh rule is to keep the execution of justice within certaine bounds set by equity and mercy This rule is laid downe by the Prophet Micah Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6.8 and what the Lord requireth of thee to doe justice and to love mercy and by Solomon Eccles 7.16 Be not just overmuch Cut not too deep nor launce too farre Ne excedat medicina modum It is better to leave some flesh a little tainted than cut away any that is sound It is more agreeable to Gods proceedings to save a whole City for ten righteous mens sake than after the manner of the Romans when there was a mutiny in the Campe to pay the tythe to justice by executing every tenth man through the whole Army For as Germanicus cryed out in Tacitus Tacit. annal l. 1. Non medicina ista est sed clades when hee saw a great number of souldiers put to the sword for raising up sedition in the Army Stay your hand this is not an execution but a slaughter not a remedy but a plague not severity of justice but extremity of cruelty For which Theodosius the Emperour was justly excommunicated by St. Ambrose and Aegyptus sharply censured by the Poet Ovid. l. 1. de Pont. Eleg 9. qui caede nocentum Se nimis ulciscens extitit ipse nocens And Scylla was proscribed by the Historians and Poets of his time to all ages because hee was not content with the punishment of sixty thousand in Rome who were executed with most exquisite torments but entring afterwards into Praeneste there left not a man alive and else where also his cruelty raging in the end as Lucan observeth hee let out the corrupt bloud but when there was in a manner no other bloud left in the whole body of the Common-wealth Lucan de bel ci l. 1. periere nocentes Sed cum jam soli poterant superesse nocentes What was this else Sabast conjur Caâ—il Vastaâ—e civitatem non sanaâ—e than as Salust speaketh to exhaust a city not to purge it I am not against the cutting off a rotten member to preserve the whole body I know the sword is the only cure of an incurable wound which yet hath no place when there is no sound part in the whole body a Bodin de rep l 3. c 7. Et si salutare est putre membrum ad universi corporis salutem urere aut secare non propterea si omnia membra extabuerint aâ—t gangâ—ena inficiantuâ— sectionibus erit aut ustionibus utendum Bodine speaketh pertinently to this purpose It doth not follow that because it is good Surgery sometimes to burne out rotten flesh or cut off a member to save the whole that therefore if a gangrene overspread the whole we are to apply a Razor or Cupping-glasse b Sen.
Of the act Offer To offer is to exhibit and shew forth such workes before God as please him and testifie his power and goodnesse and we are sayd herein to offer unto him in regard of our intention herein to performe acceptable service unto him and our desire to glorifie him not as if God received any things at our hands for our goodnesse a Psal 16 2. Hier. ad Celant reacheth not to him If thou be righteous it is nothing to him what receiveth he at thine hand Obsequio nostro non indiget Deus sed nos illius indigemus imperio And albeit the Scripture attribute hands to God yet it is to give not to receive any thing from us O that our Demi-gods Judges and Magistrates had but such hands O that they were like unto Artaxerxes Longimanus not to take bribes nor extort but to reach justice What doth the c Chrys 2 Cor. hom 30. Sun receive from the eye which it enlighteneth or the d Aug. de civit Dei l. 10. fountain from the mouth which it refresheth and cooleth or the anchor from the ship which it foundeth and establisheth Notwithstanding though God receive nothing from us as any accession to his infinite perfection and his simplicity excludeth any addition thereunto yet he requireth our sacrifices as his rent and fee and we are continually to offer them unto him and that in a threefold respect 1 Of God e Tert. l. 4. cont Marcion Cui omne altum inclinat cui omnes debent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cui omne debemus quod sumus quod possumus from whom we f Jam. 1.17 receive all things 2 In respect of our own condition who are Gods workmanship and therefore ought to be serviceable to him his field and therefore ought to beare fruit unto him his royall Priests and therefore ought to offer spirituall sacrifices unto him 3 In respect of the benefit which redoundeth to us by these spirituall sacrifices Cast up any thing towards heaven it falls downe backe againe even so if we send up the savour of good workes to heaven it will distill downe againe like sweet waters upon our heads as on the contrary the sins of Sodome sent up a steame to heaven which congealed in the aire and turned into a storme of sulphur and rained downe upon their heads To offer unto God what is it else than to scatter seed on earth that we may receive fruit in heaven to open our laps and bosome that Gods treasure may fall into it to lay the sure foundation of a building not made with hands to stoope and kneele downe before God that he may put upon us a Crowne of glorie as Noblemen when they receive a Coronet from the King Herein note the difference between those things which are offered to God and those that are offered to the world those that are offered to God are preserved and returned backe upon us but those things that are offered to the world perish themselves and destroy us as a talent of lead sinkes it selfe and drownes him on whom it is cast Pereat ergo mundi lucrum ne fiat animae damnum There was never heard of such a bankrupt as the world which breaketh every weeke nay every day and undoeth thousands it useth the worldling as g Sueton. in Vesp c. 16. Vespasian did his catchpole officers who when they had filled themselves with rapines and spoyles picked some occasions to squieze them like spunges and crush out all that they had gathered and draw them drie Use 1 Whence we may learne how wise and happy they were who have beene benefactors to Hospitalls Colledges and the like places who whilest they lived offered sacrifices of righteousnesse to God For their gifts are doubly restored unto them in a name among men so long as one stone shall lie upon another in these buildings their praise shall be read secondly in an immarcessible crown in heaven As on the contrary you may discover their folly who offered all their wealth and meanes to the world to pride to lust to riot whose reward is vanity whilest they live rottennesse when they die shame and confusion when they arise 2 This may serve to stirre us up to exhibite willingly our offerings to God Offer of your selves God loveth a chearefull giver How chearfully doth the husbandman goe out to sow his seed yet after he hath sown it it is subject to many casualties How easily doe fruitfull trees part with their ripe fruit A full and frontie eare sheds of himselfe but on the contrary a withered and blasted eare crush it and beat it never so much it will yeeld nothing but chaffe and dust a perfect embleme of a greedy griper a sordid churle hammer him how you will straine him squieze him thump him yet you shall get nothing from him but that which is sordid and illiberall like himselfe 3 This may serve to reprove those qui non afferunt sed auferunt that are so farre from offering unto God that they take away from him either his glorie and worship as the Papists and all Idolaters doe or his tithes and oblations as our sacrilegious harpies of whom we may truly say Nihil tam sacrum quod non inveniat sacrilegum But let these Church-robbers remember that they swallow a golden hooke which shal be raked out of their bellies as Job speaketh Some part offerings between God and Mammon as S. Austin speaketh of Cain Sua Deo sibi seipsum dedit In sum there is a threefold abuse in things offered to God 1 Extreme niggardnesse and h Mal. 1.14 deceit which God accurseth 2 Bribery and corruption in ordering disposing of things offered unto God in conferring Benefices upon Church-men or bestowing places in Hospitals not upon the fittest for such offices and places but such as by their purse can make best friends 3 Diversion of things consecrated unto God to maintaine lust and pride A lamentable thing that Hospitals erected for the maintenance of the poore should not be free from oppression one Bell-wether carrieth away all the wooll and the fat and rangeth whither he pleaseth when the poore Bedesman is kept to his mathematicall line a small pittance God wot a penny a weeke or a morsell of bread a day Thus much of our first observation 2 The second observation from the act is that the word in the originall signifieth mactando offerre to offer as it were by slaughter which intimateth that we must use a kind of violence to our selves in the performances of these duties For we have many lusts and affections in us as envie contention pride covetousnesse which are more clamorous than any beggars and like horse-leaches sucke out all our estate and meanes besides we have many worldly occasions the belly craves the backe craves yea and braves it too the wife claimes yea and exclaimes children aske and friends challenge a great part that even in an ample state little or
to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build up A time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance c. In which distribution of time according to the severall affaires of our life all actions and accidents all intents and events all counsels and acts all words and workes all motions and cessations businesses and recreations beginnings and endings inchoations and perfections yea affections also as joy and griefe love and hatred have some part and portion of time laid out for them sinne only is exempted that is never in season As the Apostle spake to Simon b Acts 8.21 Magus Non est tibi pars neque sors it hath neither part nor lot in this partition and yet it intrudeth upon us and usurpeth upon either the whole or the greatest part of our demised time We heare of a time to build and a time to pull downe a time to spare and a time to spend but not in like manner a time to doe good and a time to doe ill a time to live godly and a time to sinne a time well to imploy and a time to mispend neither God nor Nature hath bequeathed any legacie of time to sinne Sinne should have no existence at all and therefore no time no estate and therefore neither terme Sinne is none of Gods creatures nor the issue of nature therefore hath no just claime or title to time the best of Natures temporall goods much lesse to happy eternity which is the purchase of the Sonne of God to the price whereof Nature cannot come neere Moreover sinne mis-spendeth spoyleth maketh havocke of our time abridgeth it and often cutteth it off and therefore deserveth that not a moment of time should be given to it Will you have yet more reasons ye have them in the Text drawne from all the differences of time sin hath been unfruitfull is shamefull and will prove pernicious and deadly therefore no portion or part of time is to be allowed to it against which all times give in evidence The time past brings in against it all sorts of dammages and losses sustained by it What fruit had yee The present time layeth open the shame filthinesse of sinne Whereof yee are now ashamed The future produceth the great and grievous penalties which the sinner by the breach of the eternall Law incurreth The end of those things is death A wise man holdeth intelligence with the time past by memory with the present by prudent circumspection with the time to come by providence by re-calling that which was fore-casting what will be he ordereth that which is and therefore he cannot but be sufficiently advertised of those hainous and grievous imputations laid upon sinne by the Spirit of God in my Text. It is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable good for nothing What fruit had yee It is shamefull and infamous Whereof yee are now ashamed Nay it is pestilent and pernicious For the end of those things is death If this forcible interrogatory of the Apostle so full of spirit of perswasion worke not in us newnesse of life and a detestation of our former sinfull courses we are not only insensible of our profit prodigall of our credit and reputation but also altogether carelesse of our life Nihili est saith the c Plaut in Pers Certè nihili est qui nihil amat quid ei homini opus est vitâ Poet qui nihil amat he is of no account who makes account of nothing Non spirat qui non aspirat he breathes not who gaspeth not after something What then is that ye desire How bestow ye your affections What object hath the command of your thoughts and soveraignty over your wills and desires Is it gaine wealth and affluence of all things flye then sinne for it is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable Is it glory honour and reputation eschue then vice for it bringeth shame and infamy upon you and your posterity Is it long life nay with Melchizedek to have no end of your dayes abandon all wicked courses for they have an end and that end is death and that death hath no end That sinne is unfruitfull not only formaliter but also effectivè not only negatively by bringing forth no fruit but also positively by bringing forth evill corrupt fruit by making the soule of man barren of the fruits of righteousnesse yea and the earth also and trees barren of the fruit which they would otherwise have brought forth to our great joy and comfort hath been the subject of our former discourses spent especially in the proofe of these particulars That sinne eclipseth the light of our understanding disordereth the desires of the will weakneth the faculties of the soule distempereth the organs of our body disturbeth the peace of our conscience choaketh the motions of the spirit in us killeth the fruits of grace inthralleth the soule to the body and the body and soule to Sathan lastly depriveth us of the comfortable fruition of all temporall and the fruition and possessions of all eternall blessings All which laid together will make a weighty argument bearing downe and forcing our assent to this conclusion That sinne is sterill and barren and consequently that every sinner is an unthrift and in the end will prove bank-rupt how gainfull a trade soever hee seeme to drive with Satan for as Christ cursed the figge-tree in the Gospell so God curseth all trees that beare the forbidden fruit of sinne and therefore the Apostle truly tearmeth the works of darknesse unfruitfull saying d Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darknesse but reprove them rather The godly man whose delight is in the law of the Lord is likened e Psal 1.3 4. to a tree planted by the rivers of waters which bringeth forth fruit in due season but the wicked to chaffe which the winde scattereth abroad For although they may sometimes build palaces upon the ruines of the Church and fill their houses with the treasures of wickednesse and their coffers with the Mammon of unrighteousnesse yet in the end they will appeare to bee no gainers no nor savers neither by their trafficke with the Devill For if they gain wealth they lose grace if they gaine glasse they lose pearle if they gaine earth they lose heaven if they gaine an estate for tearme of yeares among sinners they lose an eternall inheritance with the Saints in light if they gaine a small portion of the world they f Mar. 8.36 lose their whole soule and what advantageth it a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule Alas what gained g Josh 7.25 Achan by his Babylonish garment and wedge of gold nothing but a heape of stones wherewith hee was battered in pieces What gained Gehezi h 2 Kin. 5.27 by his great bribe a leprosie that cleaved to him and his posterity after him What gained i Judg. 8.27 Zeba and Zalmunna by
there But Christ himselfe assureth us to the contrary not every one that saith Lord Lord z Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Doing and life working and salvation running and obtaining winning and wearing overcomming and reigning in holy Scripture follow one the other Wherefore the young man puts the question to our Saviour What a Mark 10.17 thing shall I doe that I may attaine evelasting life and the people likewise and the Publicans and the Souldiers to b Luk 3.10.12.14 S. John and the keepers of the prison to c Act. 16.30 Saint Paul and the Jewes in my text to Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles What shall wee doe not What shall wee say or What shall wee beleeve but What shall wee doe This is the tenour of the Law Doe this and thou shalt live Whosoever doth these things shall never fall And the Gospel also carryeth the same tune full d Mat. 7.24 If ye know these things happie are yee of yee doe them Hee that heareth and doeth buildeth upon a rocke Not the hearers but the doers of the e James 1.22 Ezek. 1.8 Law shall bee justified Why are the Cherubims described with the hands of a man under their wings but to teach us that none shall see God who under the wings of faith and hope whereby they flâ—e to heaven have not the hand of charity to doe good workes As Darius used the Macedonian souldiers whom hee tooke prisoners so the divell doth those over whom hee hath any power hee cutts off their hands that they may be able to do no service The heathen Philosopher observed that of three of the best things in the world through the wickednesse of men three of the worst things proceeded and grew 1 Of vertue envie 2 Of truth hatred 3 Of familiarity contempt Wee Christians may adde a fourth viz. of the doctrine of free justification carnall liberty The catholike doctrine of justification by faith alone is the true Nectar of the soule so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it keepeth from death yet this sweetest Wine in the Spouses Flagons proves no better than Vinegar or rather poyson in their stomackes who turne grace into wantonnesse and liberty into licence fit Nectar acetum Et vaticam perfida vappa cadi But let no man adulterate the truth nor impose upon Christs mercy what it will not beare nor endeavour to sever faith from good workes lest hee sever his soule from life For though faith justifie our workes before God yet our workes justifie our faith before men though the just shall g Habac. 2.4 Rom. 1.17 live by his faith yet this his faith must live by h James 2.20 charity as never man any dyed with a living faith so never any man lived by a dead faith I grant when we have all done wee may nay wee must say i Luk. 17.10 Wee are unprofitable servants yet while we have time k Gal. 6.10 we must doe good unto all especially to those of the houshold of faith None may trust in their owne righteousnesse but on the contrary all ought to pray that they may be found in Christ l Phil. 3.9 not having their owne righteousnesse yet their righteousnesse must exceed the m Mat. 5.20 righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees or else they shall never enter into the kingdome of heaven It is evident unto all except they be blinde that the eye alone seeth in the body yet the eye which seeth is not alone in the body without the other senses the forefinger alone pointeth yet that finger is not alone on the hand the hammer alone striketh the bell yet the hammer which striketh is not alone in the clocke the heate alone in the fire burneth and not the light yet that heate is not alone without light the helme alone guideth the ship and not the tackling yet the helme is not alone nor without the tackling in a compound electuarie Rubarb alone purgeth choler yet the Rubarb is not alone there without other ingredients Thus wee are to conceive that though faith alone doth justifie yet that faith which justifieth is not alone but joyned with charity and good workes Many please themselves with a resemblance of Castor and Pollux two lights appearing on shippes sometimes severally sometimes joyntly If either appeareth by it selfe it presageth a storme if both together a suddaine calme yet with their good leave be it spoken this their simile is dissimile For those lights may be severed actually are often but justifying faith cannot be severed from charity nor charity from it Thus farre onely it holdeth that unlesse we have a sense and feeling of both in our soules we may well feare a storme S. Bernards distinction of via regni and causa regnandi cleareth the truth in this point Though good workes are not the cause why God crowneth us yet we must take them in our way to heaven or else we shall never come there It is as impious to deny the necessity as to maintaine the merit of good workes sed Cynthius aurem Vellit The time calleth mee off and therefore that it may not exclude mee I will conclude with it In this holy time of Lent three duties are required Prayer Fasting and Almes prayer is the bird of Paradise fasting and almes are her two wings the lighter is fasting but the stronger is almes use both to carry your prayers to heaven that you may bring from thence a blessing upon you through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ Cui c. THE LAST OFFER OF PEACE A Sermon preached at a publike Fast THE LXX SERMON LUK 19.41 42. 41. And when he was come neere he beheld the City and wept over it 42. Saying If thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes WHen the Romans fought a pitched field after the rankes of their prime Leaders and chiefe Souldiers which they called Principes had charged valiantly if the enemy still kept his ground the Triarii containing the whole shock of the army put on and upon their prowesse and valour depended the fortune of the day and chance if I may so speake of the bloudy die of war Whereupon it grew to be a proverb a Eras chil Res rediit ad Triarios it now stands upon the Triarii as if you would say it is now put to the last plunge And is it not so now my Christian brethren We have taken to us the proper weapons of Christians fasting prayers and teares to fight against the fearfull combinations of powerfull vigilant enemies The rank of our Principes the King himself the Princes Nobles and Peeres have already watered this field with their teares and put on with all their force of zealous praiers how far they have prevailed
eleven Apostles or to more than five hundred brethren that saw him all at one time nay what to more than five millions of Confessors and Martyrs signing the truth of it with their blood and shewing the power of it as well by the wonders which they wrought in his name as the invincible patience wherewith they endured all sorts of torments and death it selfe for his name I might produce the testimony of Josephus the learned Jew and tell you of Paschasinus his holy Well that fils of his owne accord every Easter day and the annuall rising of certaine bodies of Martyrs in the sands of Egypt and likewise of a Phoenix in the dayes of Tyberius much about the time of our Lords resurrection rising out of her owne ashes m Lactant. in Poem Ipsa sibi proles suus pater suus haeres Nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi Ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia ipsa nec ipsa Eternam vitam mortis adepta bono But because the authours of these relations and observations are not beyond exception I will rather conclude this point with an argument of Saint n De civit Dei l. 22. c. 5. Haec duo incredibilia scil resurrectionem nostri corporis rem â—am incredibilem mundum esse crediturum idem dominus antequam vel unum horuÌ„ fieret ambo futura esse praedixit unum duorum incredibilium jam factum videmus ut quod erat incredibile credeâ—et mundus curid quod reliquum est desperatur Austines to which our owne undoubted experience gives much strength The same Spirit of God saith hee which foretold the resurrection of Christ foretold also that the doctrine thereof should bee publickly professed and believed in the world and the one was altogether as unlikely as the other But the latter wee see in all ages since Christs death and at this day accomplished in the celebration of this feast why then should any man doubt of the former The Apostles saw the head living but not the mysticall body the Catholike Church of all places and ages We have read in the histories of all ages since Christ and at this day see the Catholike Church spread over the whole face of the earth which is Christs body how can wee then but believe the head to bee living which conveigheth life to all the members I have set before you the glasse of the resurrection in the figures of predictions of the Old Testament and the face it selfe in the history of the New may it please you now to cast a glance of your eye upon the Image or picture thereof in our rising from the death of sinne to the life of grace All Christs actions and passions as they are meritorious for us so they are some way exemplary unto us and as none can bee assured of the benefit of Christs birth unlesse hee bee borne againe by water and the Spirit nor of his death unlesse hee bee dead to sinne nor of his buriall unlesse hee have buried his old Adam so neither of his resurrection unlesse hee bee risen from dead workes and continually walketh in newnesse of life See you how the materiall colours in a glasse window when the sun-beames passe through it produce the like colours but lesse materiall and therefore called by the Philosophers intentionales spiritales on the next wall no otherwise doth the corporall resurrection of Christ produce in all true believers a representation thereof in their spirituall which Saint John calleth o Apoc. 20.5 the first resurrection Saint Paul p Heb. 6.1 repentance from dead workes Sinnes especially heinous and grievous proceeding from an evill habit are called dead workes and such sinners dead men because they are deprived of the life of God have no sense of true Religion they see not Gods workes they heare not his Word they savour not the things of God they feele no pricke of conscience they breath not out holy prayers to God nor move towards heaven in their desires but lye rotting in their owne filthinesse and corruption The causes which moved the Jewes so much to abhorre dead corpses ought to be more prevalent with us carefully to shunne and avoid those that are spiritually dead in sinnes and transgressions they were foure 1 Pollution 2 Horrour 3 Stench 4 Haunting with evill spirits 1 Pollution That which touched a dead corpse was by the law uncleane neither can any come nigh these men much lesse embrace them in their bosome without morall pollution and taking infection in their soules from them 2 Horrour Nothing so ghastly as the sight of a dead corpse the representation whereof oft-times in the Theater appalleth not onely the spectatours but also the actours and yet this sight is not so dreadfull to the carnall man as the sight of those that are spiritually dead I speake of foule notorious and scandalous offenders to them that feare God Saint John would not stay in the same bath with Cerinthus and certainely 't is a most fearefull thing to bee under the same roofe with blasphemous heretickes and profane persons who have no feare of God before their eyes 3 Stench The smell of a carkasse is not so offensive to the nostrils as the stench of gluttony drunkennesse and uncleannesse in which wicked men wallow is loathsome to God and all good men 4 Haunting with evil spirits We read in scriptures that the men that were possest of the divel came q Mat. 8.28 out of the tombs and graves and we find by dayly experience the like of these rather carkasses than men that the devill hankereth about them and entereth into their heart as he did into Judas filling them with all wickednesse and uncleannesse After they have exhausted their bodies with incontinency their estate with riotous living and have lost first their conscience and after their credit they fall into the deepest melancholy upon which Sathan works and puts them into desperate courses r Psal 73.19 O how suddenly doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Me thinkes I heare some say wee heard of places haunted by evill spirits in time of popery are there now any such not such as then were solitary houses ruined pallaces or Churches in which fearefull noyses are said to have beene heard and walking spirits to have beene met For at the thunder of the Gospell Sathan fell like lightning from heaven and hath left those his old holds but places of a contrary condition such where is the greatest concourse of people I meane profane Theaters disorderly Tavernes Ale-houses places of gaming and lewdnesse yea prisons also which were intended for the restraint of wickednesse and punishment of vice are made refuges of Malefactors and schooles of all impiety and wickednesse Quis custodes custodiet ipsos As in the hot sands of Africa where wilde beasts of divers sorts meet to drinke strange monsters are begotten which gave occasion to that proverbe Å¿ Eras
an infinite reward p Aug. in Psal 36. Quid appendis cum infinito quantumcunque finitum no finite thing be it never so great can q Ber. serm in annunciat Quid sunt merita ad tantam gloriam weigh downe that which is infinite That our workes may beare scale in the Sanctuary and poyse the reward five graines must be added to them 1 Propriety 2 Liberty 3 Utility 4 Perfection 5 Proportion First propriety wee can merit by nothing that is not our owne worke no more than wee can oblige a man to us by repaying him his owne coyne Certainly that which is not our worke is not our merit Secondly liberty wee can challenge nothing by way of merit for a worke which wee are engaged by duty to performe no more than oblige a man to us for discharging a bond which wee were bound under a great penalty by a precise day to satisfie Thirdly utility or profit if that wee doe to another no way advantage him if hee be no whit the better by it what colour have wee to exact or reason to expect a reward from him for such a worke Fourthly perfection unlesse a worke be done sufficiently the labourer cannot in justice demand his hire nor the workeman require his price Fiftly proportion no labour or worke can merit more than in true estimation it is worth the labourer deserveth his hire such a hire as is correspondent to his paines but no other Hee that labours but a day deserveth not two dayes much lesse a weeke or a moneths hire If the plea of merit is overthrowne by the defect of any one of these conditions how much more by the defect of all 1. If wee have no interest in the worke be it never so meritorious in it selfe wee cannot merit by it because it is not ours 2. Let it bee ours and meritorious in another that were not bound to performe it yet weee cannot merit by it if wee are any way obliged in duty to performe it because it is not free 3. Let the worke be free yet if what wee doe no way redound to his benefit from whom we expect a reward wee cannot justly demand any recompence from him because our worke is not profitable to him 4. Let the worke be profitable yet if it bee not done as it should bee in every circumstance wee cannot sue for the price agreed upon because the worke is not perfect 5. Let the worke bee perfect and exact yet wee can exact no more for it than the skill or the paines together with the materials deserve Presse we each of these circumstances and much more if we presse them all together they will yeeld the doctrine of Saint r Basil in psal 114. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil upon the 114. Psalme There remaines a rest eternall for them who here strive lawfully not according to the merit of workes but according to the grace of our most bountifull God Let us once more squeze them First a meritorious act must be our owne if wee have any expectance for it these wee call ours are not so By the grace of God saith the Apostle I am that I am and his grace in mee was not in vaine But I laboured more than they all yet not I but the ſ 1 Cor. 15.10 grace of God which was with mee And this the Propht t Esay 26.12 Esay professeth in his prayer to God Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our workes in us If these texts are not cleare enough the Apostles question is able to non-plus all the Pelagians in the world u 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received There is no good worke which is not comprised within the will or the deed and both as we heard before are the work of grace in us Upon this firme ground Saint * In psal 102. Si de tuo retribuis peccatum retribuis omnia enim quae habes ab illo habes tuum solum peccatum habes Enchirid. ad Laur. c. 302. Ideo dictum intelligitur non est volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei ut totum Deo detur qui hominis voluntatem bonam praeparat ad juvandam adjuvat praeparatam Austine buildeth a strong fort for grace against mans merit If thou renderest any thing to God of thine owne thou renderest sinne for all the good thou hast thou hast received from God thou hast nothing which thou maist call thine owne but sinne And elsewhere when the Apostle saith It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that hath mercy wee are thus to understand him That wee ought to ascribe the whole unto God who both prepareth the will of man to bee helped and helpeth it being prepared Secondly a meritorious act must be free in our power and at our choice to doe or leave undone our workes are not so for when x Luk. 17.10 wee have done all that wee can wee are commanded to say wee are unprofitable servants we have done that which it was our duty doe This wedge Marcus the y Tract de iis qui putant ex operibus justificari c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hermite driveth in forcibly The Lord saith hee willing to shew that all the commandements are of duty to be performed and that the adoption of children is freely given to man by his blood saith when yee have done all things that are commanded you say wee are unprofitable servants c. therefore the kingdome of heaven is not the hire of workes but a gift of the Lord prepared for his faithfull servants Thirdly a meritorious worke must bee of use and some way beneficiall to him of whom a reward in strict justice is demanded ours are not so for z Psal 16.2 our goodnesse extendeth not unto God hee is farre above it This naile Saint a L 10. de civ Dei c 5. Totum hoc quod recte colitur Deus credendum est homini prodesse non Deo neque enim fonti se quisquam dixerit profuisse quod biberit Austine excellently fasteneth If we serve and worship God as wee ought the whole benefit thereof accrueth to our selves and not unto God for no man will say that the fountaine gaineth any thing by our drinking of it c. Fourthly a meritorious act must bee compleat perfect and without exception ours are not so for b Vide Plat. in dial Euthyph b Rom. 8.26 wee cannot pray as wee ought and our very best actions are so stained that the Prophet Esay calleth them no better than c Esay 64.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesse is as filthy ragges filthy ragges or menstruous clouts This arrow Saint d Moral in Job l. 5. c. 7. Ipsa justitia nostra si ad examen justitiae
wretched and miserable and blind and naked Wherefore the Spirit n Ver. 17. counselleth them to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that they may be rich and white raiment that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakednesse doe not appeare And to annoint their eyes with o Ver. 18. eye-salve that they may see 7. Lastly by the name Thyatira so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to runne mad after and spend ones selfe they may bee put in minde of those in Thyatira who ranne awhoring after Jezebel and spent their estates upon her and committed filthinesse with her Cap. 2. Ver. 20. which because the Angel winked at the Spirit sharply reproveth him And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write I know thy workes c. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee c. These Verses resemble the branches of the p Apoc. 22.2 tree of life which bare twelve maner of fruits 1. The first I gather from them is the dignity of the Ministers of the Gospel to whom the Son of God writeth stiling them Angels To the Angel of Ephesus of Smyrna c. 2. The second the difference of degrees in the Ministry for the Son of God endorseth his letter not to the inferiour Ministers which were many in each of these Churches but to the Angel in the singular number the Bishop or Super-intendent of the place to whom the government of the Church and ordering Ecclesiasticall affaires chiefly if not onely appertained 3. The third is the glorious majesty and divinity of our Saviour who was before stiled the Sonne of man but is here called the Sonne of God and described with eyes like a flame of fire piercing through the thickest darknesse and with feet like fine brasse walking through the midst of all the Churches and yet no way defiled according to the words of the Prophet the q Hos 14.9 waies of the Lord are undefiled 4. The fourth is mildnesse in just reproofe the physician of our soules who hath cured all our wounds with the smart of his prescribeth the weak Angel of Thyatira but one pill and that a gentle one yet see how he rowles it in sugar I know thy workes and thy love c. Of many faults he mentioneth but a few and of those few insisteth but upon one 5. The fifth is the condition of good workes to which foure things are required faith love service and patience they must be done in faith proceed from the love of God with a desire to doe him service thereby and lastly the performers of them must be constant in them and resolve patiently to endure all crosses and oppositions from men or Satan who seek to stay them in their godly proceedings 6. The sixth is growth in grace or proficiency in godlinesse those who were ever good are best at the last I know thy workes that they are more as the last than at the first 7. The seventh is the state and condition of the Church Militant which at the best is like the Moone at the full in which wee may discerne some blacke spots The sweetest r Eras Adag Omnibus malis punicis putridum granum inest Pomegranet hath some rotten graine the fairest beauty hath a freckle or wrinckle the most orient Ruby a cloud and the most reformed Church in the Christian world hath some deformity in her In ſ James 3.1 many things we offend all and many in all they are but a few against whom the Sonne of God hath but a few things Notwithstanding I have a few things 8. The eighth is the duty of a Magistrate who like a good Gardener is to plucke up noysome weeds by the rootes It is not sufficient for him to doe no evill he must not suffer it the Angel is not here blamed for any sin of commission or omission in himselfe but for the bare permission of evill in others I have somewhat against thee because thou sufferest 9. The ninth is a caution to looke to the weaker sexe for often the Divell maketh of them strong instruments to dispread the poyson of heresie t Hieron ad Ctes Simon Magus heresin condidit Helenae meretricis adjutus auxilio Nicolaus Antiochenus omnium immunditiarum repertor choros duxit foemineos Marcion Romam praemisit mulierem quae decipiendos sibi animos praepararet Simon Magus had his Helena Marcion his femall fore-runner Apelles his Philumena Montanus his Maximilla Donatus his Lucillia Elpidius his Agape Priscillian his Galla Arius the Prince his sister Nicolaus Antiochenus his feminine troupes and quires and all Arch-heretickes some strumpets or other to serve them for midwives when they were in travell with monstrous and mishapen heresies Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel Yet to doe the sexe right I willingly acknowledge with Flacius Illyricus that as the Divell hath used bad women in all times as Brokers to utter his deceitfull and dangerous wares so God hath made choice of many good women to be conduits of saving grace and great instruments of his glory Not to goe out of this City of Thyatira for instance we can produce a Lydia for a Jezebel where the Divell now vented poyson by the impure mouth of Jezebel God poured out before the sweet oyntment of the Gospel by the mouth of Lydia whose u Acts 16.14 heart he opened that shee attended to those things which were spoken of Paul 10. The tenth is an observation concerning the nature of Heresie which fretteth like a canker and if it be not looked to corrupteth the sound members of Christ Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel to seduce my servants 11. The eleventh is a consideration of the odious filthinesse of Idolatry which the Scripture termeth the soules naughtinesse and spirituall fornication To commit fornication 12. The last is a wholsome doctrine concerning the contagion of Idolatry which not only infecteth our bodies and soules but our meates and drinkes also and turneth the food of the body into the poyson of the soule to such as familiarly converse and table with Idolaters and feed upon the reliques of Idols sacrifices And to eate things offered unto Idols And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira Glorious things are spoken of you O yee Ministers of the Word and Sacraments Yee are stiled Embassadours of the King of Heaven Stewards of the houshold of faith Interpreters of the Oracles of God Dispensers of the mysteries of salvation Keepers of the Seales of grace Yee are the Salt of the earth the Light of the world the Starres of the skie nay the Angels of Heaven To the Angel The Ministers of the Gospel resemble Angels in many things 1. Angels are x Heb. 1.14 ministring spirits and the Preachers of the Gospel are spirituall Ministers 2. Angels according to the derivation of their name in Greeke are y Matth. 11.10 Malac. 3.1 messengers of God and the Ministers of the Gospel are z 1 John
care of keeping and feare of losing and expectation of punishment for ill getting them by tyranny exaction oppression forged cavillation fraud simony or sacriledge no place is left for any joy or comfort in possessing or well using them 4. By putting the seeming profits and advantages of sinne in one scale and the losses and disadvantages by it in the other which being done the scale of dammages and losses will beare downe to the ground nay to hell In all bargaines we are to consider not so much what the commodity is we trade or trafficke for as what the price is for though the merchandize we bargaine for be of great value yet if we must over-buy it giving for it an unreasonable rate the bargaine cannot be good By which rule if we examine our trafficke we shall find that if wee hold on our trade with Sathan our merchandize will no way countervaile our charge our gaines in the beginning will be no way answerable to our losses in the end for we shall lose the inheritance of a Kingdome in heaven and our owne soules Unfruitfulnesse shamefulnesse and deadlinesse are three proper adjuncts and as the Logicians usually speake passions of sinne For all sinne is mortall that is deserving death and nothing is mortall in that sense but sinne all sinne is shamefull and nothing shamefull but sinne all sinne is unfruitfull and nothing absolutely is unfruitfull but sinne The Serpents feed upon and consume that poysonous matter which otherwise would infect the earth water and ayre Physicians make treakle and antidotes of poyson the ashes of a Viper the oyle of a Scorpion the wings of the Cantharides are soveraigne remedies against the poyson of those Serpents yea the very doung of the earth serveth for very good use and fatteneth the ground onely sinne as it is deprived of the good of being a nature so it depriveth nature of all good If any things come neere to sinne in this they are the grapes of Gomorrah and apples of Sodome which have no taste at all in them but as soone as they are touched fall to dust and the dust is of that nature that it serves not as doung to fatten the earth but rather as unsavoury salt which maketh it barren All the endeavours operations of nature when they are not set out of their course by sinne forcibly tend to some good and obtaine it also For if they produce not and leave behind them some worke the worth whereof may recompence the labour about it yet the very contention and exercise of the faculty breedeth a dexterity and facility of doing the like it perfecteth the skill strengtheneth the faculty accommodateth the organ and thereby maketh the whole body more serviceable to the soule and the soule better disposed to vertuous acts and habits The Archer who often misseth the marke set before his eyes yet in some sort hitteth the marke he aimed at in his mind which was the exercise of his arme and learning to shoot As the sons of the husbandman in the fable who being told by their father lying on his death-bed that he left much gold buried under the ground in his Vineyard fell on delving and digging all about the Vines and though they found no gold yet by stirring the mold about the rootes of the trees gained a great vintage that yeere even so it falleth out in the labours and travells of our calling though by them wee reape not alwayes that profit we expect yet thereby wee may manure if I may so speake the ground of our hearts and gaine great store of those fruits which the branches that are graffed into the true Vine Christ Jesus beare But in sinfull labours and travells it fareth otherwise they are not as moderate exercises which strengthen but as violent fits which weaken nature Sinne in the understanding darkeneth the thoughts in the will depraveth the desires in the sensitive appetite disordereth the affections in the outward sense corrupteth the organs and in the whole body breedeth loathsome and painfull diseases Sinne is not only unfruitfull to speake in the language of the Schooles formaliter but also effectivè not only unfruitfull in it selfe as the d Mat. 21.19 figge-tree in the Gospel cursed by our Saviour but also in its effects as that other tree which was to be plucked up ne terram redderet infructuo sam that it might not make the ground e Luke 13.7 barren For sinne maketh the spirit barren of the fruit of good motions the understanding barren of the fruit of good meditations the will barren of the fruit of good resolutions the sensitive appetite barren of the fruit of good affections the whole man barren of the fruit of good works nay the earth and trees also barren of their fruit and increase For the sinne of man God cursed the earth and it f Gen. 3.18 brought forth thornes and thistles and the heaven and skie also and it became as g Deut. 28.23 iron over mens heads the experience whereof brought the Heathen to acknowledge this truth h Senec. in Oedip Sperare poteras sceleribus tantis Dare regnum salubre Fecimus coelum nocens Our sinnes have tainted the influence of the starres dryed up the clouds infected the ayre blasted the fruits of the earth And Claudian in his investive against Eutropius Quae connubia prolem Aut frugem laturus ager quid fertile terris Aut plenum stirili possit sub consule nasci Is it possible any thing should thrive or flourish under the shade of such a Consul Saint i Advers Demet Quereris quod minus nunc tibi uberes fontes aurae salubres frequens pluvia fertilis terra obsequium praebeant quod non ita utilitatibus voluptatibus tuis elementa deserviant Tu enim Deo servis per quem tibi cuncta deserviunt Tu famularis illi cujus nutu tibi unviersa famulantur Cyprian also attributeth the great dearth in his time to the want of charity and the sterility of fruits in the earth to the sterility of fruits of righteousnesse Thou complainest that the springs are not so full the ayre so healthy the showers so frequent the earth so fruitfull as in former time thou thinkest much that the elements are not so obsequious to thee as they have been that they serve not thy profit and pleasure Why art thou so obsequious to God Doest thou serve him by whose appointment all these things serve thee As it was the manner of the Persians when a noble person committed a fault to beat his clothes in stead of him so it pleaseth our most indulgent Father when the noblest of his creatures men his children offend often for them to punish the beasts of the field and fruits of the earth which feed and clothe them As he threatneth k Deut. 28.38 39 40. Thou shalt carry out much seed into the field and shalt gather but little for the Locusts shall consume it
upper roome at Jerusalem where Christ appointed them to wait for the k Act. 1.4 promise of the father 1. Of the time In the Syriacke and Latine wee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dies dayes in the plurall number but in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day in the singular The Syriacke and the Latine had an eye to the whole number of dayes which now amounted unto fiftie the originall designeth in the singular the precise day which made it up fiftie the day by the accesse whereof to the 49. the number of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fiftie was made complete Word for word according to the originall wee should thus reade my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or upon the fulfilling of the fiftieth day from the feast of first fruits Metall upon metall is no good Heraldrie yet feast upon feast is good Divinitie especially when the one is the type the other the truth For this reason l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Severianus conceiveth that our Saviour was offered up for our sinnes on the crosse the day and time of the day when the Paschall Lamb according to the Law was to be killed to set the face to the picture the truth to the type that the body might as it were drive out the shadow and occupie the space thereof And in like manner m In haec verba ut ostenderet tum spiritum sanctum legem tulisse nunc legem ferre Theophylact imagineth that hee sent the spirit fiftie dayes after when the Jewes kept a feast for the Law to shew that as then the holy Ghost proclaimed the Law so now also then the law and covenant of works now the law of faith and covenant of grace S. o Aug. hom de Pent Sicut 50. post pascha die lex lata fuit manu Dei scripta in tabulis lapideis ita spiritus cujus officium erat eam cordibus inscribere condem diebus post resurrectionem Christi qui est pascha nostrum implevit quod in legis promulgatione figuratum erat Austine giveth another rellish of his owne As saith he fiftie dayes after Easter the Law was given written by the finger of God in tables of stone so the spirit whose office it is to write it in the hearts of men just so many dayes after Christs resurrection who is our Passover fulfilled that which was figured in the publishing of the Law S. p Chrys hom de Pent. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostome striketh upon a different string yet maketh good musicke others fetched the congruitie from the Law hee from nature What saith he is Pentecost It signifieth that season of the yeare wherein the Jewes thrust their sickle into the corne-harvest In like sort the Lord of the harvest disposed that now the Apostles should put their sickle the sickle of the Word into the harvest of the world and reape it I shall not need to straine farther for congruities S. Cyrill and S. Ambrose give me the hint of another synchronisme for they affirme that on this day the Angell descended into the poole of Bethesda and after the troubling the water cured the sicke whatsoever the disease was And what fitter day could have beene thought upon for the holy Ghost to descend to bestow the gift of miraculous cures than upon this day of healing I could tell you of the Jubilee which fell upon the fiftieth yeare in which all possessions returned to their former owners and acquittances were given for all debts but because the best stomacks rather desire solid than sweet meats I therefore content my selfe at this present with q Calv. com in Act. 2. Festo die quo ingens multitudo Hierosolymae confluere solebat editum est miraculum quo illustrius redderetur Calvin his observation upon the circumstance of time This solemnitie being next to that of the Passover was the fittest time to make the miracle wrought upon it more illustrious For this reason Christ came up so often to Jerusalem at their solemne feasts and S. Paul made haste in his journey that he might be there at the feast of Pentecost to win more soules by the preaching of the Gospel in a time of so great confluence of people from all parts There is no fishing to the sea and now it was full sea at Jerusalem all the cities in Palestine like so many rivers emptying themselves into it The gift of tongues could not at any time so fitly have been bestowed as at this when there were present at Jerusalem men of everie nation under heaven Acts 2.5 6. To convince all gaine-sayers of the miracle What are these say they that speak Are they not Galileans How then heare we every one speake in our owne tongue where wee were borne Parthians and Medes and Elamites and they that dwell in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia Pontus and Bithynia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Jewes and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians we doe heare them speake in our tongues the wonderfull works of God vers 7 8 9 10 11 As we read in the 19. Psalme vers 2. Dies ad diem eructat sermonem nox ad noctem ostendit scientiam Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge or giveth intelligence so here Lingua ad linguam eructat sermonem the tongues of men of all nations gave testimony to the miraculous gift of tongues in the Apostles It is the wisdome of State to appoint beacons to be set up on the highest hils to give notice to all the Countrey And Christ himselfe commandeth us not to hide a candle under a bushell but to set it on a candlesticke that it may give light to all that are in the house And in this consideration those Preachers of the glad tidings of salvation who have had the best foyle of modestie to set off the lustre of their knowledge have yet been desirous to deliver their Embassage from God to men in the fullest assemblies not to gaine thereby more applause to themselves but more soules to God When the eares stand thicke in a corne-field not a drop of raine falleth besides them on the ground And this is a principall end of our celebration of Christian feasts to draw multitudes together to heare Christ preaching by his Ministers and working still miraculous cures upon the soules of men by the Sacraments administred in the Church And so from the holy day I proceed to the sacred persons assembled on it viz. the Apostles They were all together Beza telleth us of an ancient manuscript in which he found the substantive added to the adjective omnes viz. Apostoli which words though I finde not in our copies yet by comparing this verse with the last of the former chapter it appeareth that the all here must bee restrained to the Apostles or principally meant of them for they were as S. Austine
God only knowes Jam ad Triarios res rediit now the whole shock of the army and the maine battell is to advance and upon the sinceritie of the humiliation and fervency of devotion and strength of our united praiers sighes this day dependeth much the safety and life of our State and in it of our Church and in it of our true and incorrupt Religion Let no man goe about with Mercuries inchanted rod to close the eyes of our Argus's let no man sow pillowes under the elbowes of our true Patriots to make them sleep in security lest destruction steale upon us at unawares It is certaine our enemies sleep not and it is most certaine that our crying sinnes have awaked Gods justice it standeth us therefore upon to watch and pray Judgement is already begun at the house of God the Angel hath poured out his viall of red wine upon the Churches of Bohemia and their fields are thicke sowne with the blood of Martyrs the same Angel hath emptied another viall upon the Churches in the Palatinate and the sweet Rhenish grape yeelds in a manner now no liquor but blood a third viall runneth out at this houre upon the reformed Churches in France and our sinnes as it were holloe to him to stretch his hand over the narrow sea and cast the dregges of it on us who have beene long settled upon our lees and undoubtedly this will bee our potion to drinke if wee stretch not our hands to heaven that God may command his Angel to stay his hand If hee have already turned his viall and wee see drops of bloud hanging in the ayre yet the strong wind of our prayers may blow them away and dispell them in such sort that they shall not fall upon us a gale of our sighes may cleare the skie Moses praiers manicled the hands of Almighty God and shall not the united devotions of this whole Land either stay or turne his Angels hand Away with all confidence in the arme of flesh away with all hope in man away with all cloakes of sinne and vizzards of hypocrisie there is no dissembling with God no fighting against him Albeit our land bee compassed with the sea as with a moat and environed with ships furnished with ordnance as with brazen and iron walls though the most puissant Princes on earth should send us innumerable troupes to succour and aide us yet we have no fence for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we lye open to heaven wee are naked to the arrowes of the Almighty and no carnall weapons for succours can stand us in any stead onely the helmet of salvation and the buckler of faith and the powder of a contrite heart and the shot of pious ejaculations may doe us some good It is our pride Beloved that hath throwne us downe and it is humility which must raise us our divisions have weakened us and it is union that can strengthen us our luxury hath imbezelled us and now nothing but fasting and abstinence can recover us our sinnes have made a breach and nothing but repentance can make it up our profane oathes our sinfull pleasures our carnall security and sensuality hath driven away the Spirit of grace and comfort from us and nothing can wooe him to returne backe againe but our vowes of amendment unfeigned teares and sorrowfull sighes Let us therefore ply sighes and b Cyp. ep 1. Incumbamus igitur gemitibus assiduis deprecationibus crebris haec enim sunt arma coelestia quae stare perseverare fortiter faciunt haec sunt munimenta spiritualia tela divina quae protegunt nos Et serm de laps Oportet transigere vigiliis noctes tempus omne lachrymosis lamentationibus occupare stratos solo adhaerere cineri in cilicio volutari sordibus prayers for these are the spirituall weapons we alone can trust to through the intercession of Christs bloud which speaketh better things for us than the bloud of Abel These weapons our Lord himselfe made tryall of in my Text and sanctified them to our use viz. passionate teares and compassionate prayers When hee drew neere to Jerusalem and fore-saw in spirit that shee drew neere to her ruine his eyes melted with teares he beheld the City and wept and his heart breaketh out into sighes Oh that thou knewest Teares trickle not down in order neither are sighes fetched by method Expect not therefore from mee any accurate division or methodicall handling of this passionate Text only in the first place fasten the eye of your observation upon the eyes of our Saviour and you shall discerne in them 1. Beames of love He beheld 2. Teares of compassion He wept over it In the next place bow the eares of your religious attention towards his mouth and ye shall heare from him 1. Sighes of desire Oh or if that thou knewest 2. Plaints of sorrow But now they are hid from thine eyes I have pitched as you see upon a c Hom. Il. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moist plat or fenny ground wherein that your devotion may walke more steadily I have laid out for you five knolls or steps to rest upon and pawse 1. Venit He came 2. Vidit He beheld 3. Flevit He wept 4. Ingemuit He sighed 5. Oravit He prayed 1. Venit or appropinquavit he drew neere The end of our Saviours life here was the sacrifice of his death he was borne that he might die for us and by one oblation of himselfe on the crosse satisfie for the sinnes of the whole world Now all sacrifices by the Law were to be offered at Jerusalem to Jerusalem therefore hee comes up to finish the worke of our redemption and he maketh the more haste because Easter was neere at hand when he was to eate the Paschall Lambe with his Disciples and to be eaten of them in the mysterious rite of the Sacrament to kill the passover in the type but to be killed himselfe in the truth Oh how farre hath our Saviour left us behind him in his love He came with a swift foot to us we returne with a slow foot to him he made more haste to give himselfe than we make to receive him After hee received the commandement from his Father to lay downe his life for his sheep he rode more cheerfully into Jerusalem and was led more willingly to the altar of the crosse where hee lost his life than we repaire to his holy table there to be partakers of the bread of eternall life He came neere to the City that he might view it he viewed it that hee might weep over it hee wept over it that hee might testifie a threefold truth 1. Naturae of his Nature 2. Amoris of his Love 3. Doctrinae of his Doctrine or prophesie 1. Veritatem naturae the truth of his humane nature He must needs be a true man who out of compassion sheds teares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic fatur lachrymans Cold stone or metall relenteth not a phantasme